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There were many rumors that were spurred on when the Colossal Wyvern attacked the City of Gloria and several other villages were attacked by numerous weyr of wyverns that all descended from the Endless Passes.

Many assumed that it was something even scarier than a colossal winged creature that made them flee from the mountains—maybe not a dragon—but something immense that made them migrate.

As to how the Colossal Wyvern arrived so fast however in the first place at City of Gloria was not lost to many that paid close attention to how the world operated and functioned. The secrets to teleportation was something already long gone from the civilization of humans—and wasn't recovered even when Han gained the scroll of grand teleportation.

It was a well-guarded spell, and the fact that it was even prepared in a scroll made it all the more tantalizing… but Wizard Lavelda did not know that. Even while she smiled happily in front of this stupid Guardsman in front of her.

There was no truth serum in the drink she prepared for the man.

Owen Liddell was a man who unfortunately preferred to keep his recipes to himself, but she did enjoy messing with people's minds when possible. Professor Lavelda held the rod with the beautiful white orb in her hand and continued their conversation.

"These three fugitives you speak of were only mentioned to me by a colleague of mine who came late to the scene…" That was a lie as well. Lavelda hated the fact that the younger teacher received special treatment from his grandfather and so decided to even things out.

It wasn't fair to keep secrets at all, was it?

The success and growth of the Kraelonia Academy depended largely on transparency and not nepotism between the Pierce Household at all. 

While Battle Mage Carnus was just taking it easy with retirement here after taking an injury during the past war and the Swordsman Uriel was actually avoiding his own adventuring group—Lavelda was the only one who actually gave a shit about how their Academy was growing.

Everyone else was just focused on their agenda, even the Cleric was focused on growing and recruiting more people to the worship of Lord Eemis or whoever that deity's name was.

"Haah, I guess the Council's decision to hide that fact was lost because they never thought about discussing this with the Academy."

"Well, we're independent from Gloria but there's unfortunately not much to worry about. Whether it's because of age or Headmaster Pierce is unsuited to his position, there's no interest in this at all except for me. Possibly my colleague, but he's busy with other things."

"So who's this colleague of yours?" The Guardsman asked.

The pinpricks of a Skill jabbed at Lavelda's throat and she quickly deflected it with a grin. "No one that's important to you right now. But I digress... So you want to get this Student of ours and possibly ask for his silence or help in discovering his relationships to these fugitives?"

"Yes, how he came back… I'm afraid if he's maybe some sort of spy or allied to them?"

"Hmm, how about we just ask him ourselves? I'm not sure if I can warrant a good excuse to bring here to the office without alerting other Professors, but I'll ask someone to do it for me." Professor Lavelda closed her eyes and concentrated on a [ Message ] and then blinked them open.

Boaz fidgeted in his seat and looked down at his drink.

"If I may pry—and I wish to… you don't seem to have a lot of charms on your person, have you?"

"Charms? Er, if you're speaking about talismans, they're expensive."

"Haha, I'm just curious on how you've gotten the Diplomat Class if I were to be honest." Lavelda's eyes perked up as she leaned forward across the table. "Did you get that after encountering those fugitives you speak of? It makes me wonder if it's not my Student I should be worried about but you."

"I—that's not a good accusation."

"Eh? How so?" Lavelda sighed and rested a hand on her cheek. "Speaking of which, there's not many witnesses about those three since a majority of them were struck by poison according to Treuse's records."

—-

Affiliations to certain individuals and groups made Kai think twice about heading to the dining hall for lunch. To be honest, he wasn't actually gaining anything yet substantial from helping out Han this much and even introducing him to one of the hidden libraries and gathering news about the Princess.

This was only just him moving and acting because of a suspicion he had that was far-stretched, and yet there was a certainty in it.

"Han," he said.

Han whirled behind him and then offered a relaxed grin. "You could have scared the heck out of me—are we leaving to meet with the Blacksmith now?"

"It was Theodore who was supposed to bring you, not me." Kai frowned at this otherwise too relaxed individual. It was hard to believe that this was the same guy that he was keeping tabs on for something interesting.

… and yet, that [ Light ] spell and the way Han fashioned it never left his mind. The unrealistic colors and juxtapositions between them were clearly out of this world, a statement rarely spoken and had made him start the fruitless endeavor of investigating him.

So far nothing and that was disappointing since he couldn't even speak about how he himself encountered the Princess. 

"Well, uh… what do you need me for then?" Han asked.

"Do you want to join us for lunch?" Sir Leon de Harrington—sixth son of the Lord Harrington— asked him. While the younger man never gave much attention to Kai, and there was no instance for it, the guy asked him right now.

Kai scratched his head and shifted to another transformation spell. He wasn't so eager for this kind of invitation when he was supposed to be finding good to report. But might as well. "If you say so—"

"You're just going to invite him out of nowhere without even consulting us?" Diov suddenly said. The military brat decided to butt in and whether that was prejudicial against Mages in general or he had a [ Sense Intentions ] Skill was enough to make Kai roll his eyes.

Some people could just be really petty either. 

It was kind of disappointing really. At this time and period of swords and sorcery, most of the humans in the Yegarian Kingdom were content to live their days here and focus on their interactions with their friends and family. 

And that was completely fair for Kai—you can enjoy life. However, there were thoughts and ideas that he received while he stayed in the territory of the Beastkins—particularly the Lamias that made him think much further than them.

It was a conversation about the stars and what lay beyond it.

There was religion and multiple deities across the entire Veiled Continent and possibly even outside of it, but it seemed like nobody of them spoke of what lay beyond their world. These deities talked about the stars, sun and other heavenly objects but never actually explained much besides 'I did it' or 'No, I was the one who actually did it.'

Although most of the more reptilian Beastkins enjoyed staying under the sun for naps, they were also one of those who enjoyed watching the stars and celestial bodies. Even the Great Matriarch spoke of the stars.

Kai cleared his throat. "Actually, I remembered something. If Theodore's not going to be here… I might want to borrow Han for awhile."

"Well, it's not like he's ours." Donovan snorted. "Take him, he's usually leaving anyway."

"Getting that Half Elf booty—"

"What the heck did you say?" Han quickly turned to Russel and then looked wildly around the dining hall. Luckily for him, the noise in the dining hall was more than enough to drown Russel's word even for a sharp Half Elf.

"So what do you say, Han? I think I have some news about this upcoming party actually that coincides with the break after finals."

Han stopped in his tracks and looked at him. The only thing that could make this guy stop and pay attention sometimes was his desire to learn about Timothy and the Princess's whereabouts and current conditions.

"Did you guys just say party? Why aren't we invited?" 

—-—-

Author's Note: I'm not good with 'bad guys' and I tend to give so much background for their behavior that somehow it almost feels like they're anti-heroes. Sometimes, I forget about it and then they become anti-heroes or something. That's somewhat wrong and I'm learning how to break free from that and actually write evil and maybe even irredeemable monsters. 

Timothy, Donovan and maybe some others were too mean to Han… maybe especially Timothy during the earlier chapters and while it mostly stemmed from insecurity, jealousy and envy… that doesn't mean you condone it. Er, maybe I'm just blabbering. Jilanya turned into a tsundere even while she killed a group of people in Han and Timothy's village. That's not cool.