While walking, Cyril's thoughts inevitably took him to his recent confrontation.
It was impressive how you managed to do it. Was that your plan from the start?
"Yes, though it worked better than I thought…" Rhamn trailed off, contemplating her words.
"The way they reacted was so obvious. I only needed to press on whenever their expressions faltered, and it was done. Quite easy." She nodded with a smile on her face.
After this event, whenever Cyril encountered another student on his walk, they immediately tried to escape with fear on their faces.
And he was no longer pursued by other students.
The impact was quite significant.
Still, Cyril needed information, so he caught up with one of the escapees.
"I need to ask you something," Cyril said while grabbing the hand of a student.
"Let me go!" A young woman's voice replied.
It was Emily again. Her face was now colored pale.
Cyril let go of his hand, which made Emily almost fall to the ground.
She barely kept her balance and looked warily at him.
"What?" Emily asked with a gloomy expression.
"What happened? Why are you suddenly afraid of me?" said Cyril with a tilt of his head.
He remembered last time she was quite passionate, vowing to find out more about her brother.
"Like you don't know! Are you really not aware of what you've done on that hill!?" Emily snapped back.
"You were there?" replied Cyril with surprise.
"She was"
Fighting against such a crowd, Cyril didn't really pay attention to the faces of all his opponents.
Emily's face paled even more after hearing his words. She blankly stared in the distance.
"Am I that worthless?" she weakly said.
Oh no.
Cyril sighed with helplessness at the situation.
He recently began feeling that his peers were a bit too fragile.
"Never mind that. Do you know where Myra is? Or Cedric?" Cyril quickly changed the topic.
Emily's eyes moved to meet his, and she said in a lethargic voice, "Will you tell me about my brother if I tell you?"
"Again, I don't know much about him. We've only met outside the city once. He told me he was a merchant," Cyril said while shaking his head.
"A merchant, ha!" Emily cynically sneered and went silent for a few seconds.
"Alright, I know where Cedric is at the moment. He was challenged by Leo near a waterfall," she said with a sigh.
There is even a waterfall here?
"Not bad."
"And where is this waterfall?" Cyril further asked with a hand on his chin.
"It's... I will take you there," Emily said after a pause.
Her face still looked a bit pale, but also weirdly determined at the same time.
"Sure, lead the way," Cyril calmly replied.
...
They walked in total silence for the whole road.
Emily's mouth twitched at times, eager to ask something, but always stopping herself at the last second.
Cyril noticed this, but he didn't do anything about it.
She probably wants to know more about Jack. That's a bit troublesome...
"Just tell her where to find him; what's the big deal? Not like we are friends with Jack," asked Rhamn, not understanding Cyril's hesitation.
I still have some patience left.
Eventually Cyril began hearing the sound of running water, as well as the noise of people gossiping.
"We are here," said Emily not long after.
They emerged at a small, shallow lake surrounded by a grove of trees.
In the middle of it lay an arena-like island. Two people stood there: Cedric and Leo. Before them, a pole as tall as a person flew the Empire's flag, swaying under an illusory wind.
Watching them from the coast among the trees were many students from all classes.
Cyril even recognized some of them. Everyone was excitedly talking about the coming fight.
"Leo apparently had an intensive learning schedule these past weeks. Maybe he has a chance?"
"I don't think he'll beat Cedric anyways. I don't want to see him win either."
"I know, right? Leo is such a douchebag."
Cyril inconspicuously stood some distance away, wanting to listen to Leo and Cedric.
However, be it by chance or because Morpho's bright coloring really attracted attention, a student nearby noticed Cyril.
"Cyril is here!" He yelled with all his might and started running away as fast as his feet could carry him.
Everyone else turned their heads at the same time, saw that Cyril was indeed here, and then collectively started running.
Cyril watched with a wry expression as everyone escaped in a panic.
"They are like scared deer," Rhamn mocked with a satisfied smile.
Soon, the only ones left were Emily at his side, and Leo and Cedric on the small island surrounded by water.
Though Leo looked very much like he wanted to escape too.
"Oi! Cyril, good to see you! I was really in a pickle there!" Cedric enthusiastically waved his hand with a wide grin.
Leo at the side was shaking a bit, backing off step by step.
"You got lucky this time, bastard! When I next— But before Leo finished, Cyril interrupted him.
"I will not interfere in your duel; you can go on." Cyril raised his hand to stop Leo from speaking further.
He was here out of pure curiosity, just to see what was happening.
Leo's words were stuck in his throat, and his gaze alternated between Cedric, Cyril, and a particular merciless butterfly.
"That would be fair. What do you say, Leo?" Cedric cautiously said.
Leo Arken's face was becoming more and more red, and finally he raised his hand to cast a spell.
Cedric prepared to block it; however, the spell turned out to be a smokescreen.
Leo immediately started running away, almost stumbling in the process.
Without any parting words, he was soon gone from their sight.
"Coward, as usual."
Cedric awkwardly scratched his hair but soon brightened his expression and turned to Cyril.
"How have you been? Heard of your fight on the hill. Really impressive, but couldn't you have been a bit... lighter on your words?" Cedric confidently looked Cyril in the eyes.
There was nothing malicious or fearful in his gaze. He was still looking with the same friendly expression as always.
Emily shuddered at his words, taking a step to the side, and cautiously observing Cyril's reaction.
"Maybe. But what's done is done," Cyril replied without a change in his expression.
"That's true... Oh well, there will be an opportunity to solve this in the future." Cedric gave a thumbs-up.
Emily stood with her jaw widened. She didn't expect Cyril to reply so... understandably?
"What about Anna? I haven't seen her anywhere yet," suddenly asked Cryil with slight curiosity.
She wasn't at that hill, right?
"...No. She wasn't.
Cedric's smile curved into a grin. "I haven't seen her either. You want to go find her? Though I doubt she will be happy to see us now, haha." There was a kind of satisfied look in his eyes.
"What the hell is he grinning for, huh?"
"No need. If there is nothing else interesting here, I'll go to find Myra now," Cyril said.
He asked about Anna out of pure curiosity. She left a good impression on him as someone who sincerely liked animals, nothing else to it.
"Right"
Remembering something else, Cyril asked again, "What is the object you are guarding?"
Cedric pointed with his thumb behind him to a flagpole calmly swaying under the sky.
"This thing is a bit cumbersome to move, but not that bad." He said and moved to grab the pole.
In one move he pulled it all out of the ground and rested it on his shoulder.
"And yours is that disc? It's easier to carry around; I am a bit envious." Cedric turned around and stared at the crystal in Cyril's hands.
"I was defeated plenty of times because of the pole... I guess it means I need more training." He sighed while shaking his head.
Cyril tilted his head with intrigue.
"You lost already? What happens when the barrier is broken?" He asked with a calm voice.
Emily's expression soured at these words. What a rude question!
Though somehow she got the feeling now that Cyril didn't mean anything bad by it.
Cedric didn't get offended either.
He replied without any problems. "Nothing too special. You are transported into a vast, dark underground complex, and under the academy staff's eyes, you are supposed to go back to the 'starting zone,' as they put it. And then you are back in the forest."
"I see," Cyril said with a nod.
To Emily, seeing such a relatively normal interaction from a person she considered to be evil itself was weird.
It's like some kind of veil was removed from her eyes.
This gave her courage, and she stepped forward, attracting attention from the two other students.
"Cyril, please, I beg you, tell me about my brother! This is important to me." She earnestly bowed, although while shaking a bit.