Chapter 32: Two Months Later (Part 1)

On November 19, 403 in the new calendar, it was a rainy day. Dark clouds covered the sky; though no rain fell, strong winds blew, and occasional flashes of lightning could be seen.

Although a massive restriction barrier had been set up around Rexox Academy, it was still no match for the power of nature. Before long, the first drops of rain fell on the students who were resting and reading in the Fountain Garden. Soon after, the rain intensified. While nourishing the land, it also drenched the students outside.

Perhaps hearing the panicked voices of the students outside the ancient castle, the old dean, the great mage Gret Kaines, stood up from his dark red desk. Smiling, he stood by the window and watched as the students rushed back to the castle.

However, not all students returned to the castle. The old dean saw many younger students still playing in the Fountain Garden. Most of them were students specializing in water magic, and in such heavy rain, they were able to cast spells beyond their usual capabilities.

But it wasn’t long before the younger students were taken inside by their professors. Seeing their drooping heads, the old dean exhaled a puff of smoke and said with a smile, “Well, well, they really have plenty of energy, these kids!”

After a pause, he turned toward the door.

“Knock, knock, knock!” There was a knocking at the door.

“Come in, Professors Hode and Manhet!” The old dean tapped his pipe, took some tobacco from the pipe holder on his desk, filled his pipe, took a drag, and exhaled a wisp of smoke.

Hearing the old dean’s voice, the door creaked open. It was Professors Hode and Manhet, who entered together.

“Would you like some black tea?” the old dean asked with a smile, pointing to the teapot on the desk.

“No, thank you,” Professor Manhet replied with a slight bow as a gesture of thanks. He closed the door behind him and took out two scrolls from his pocket—one tied with a red ribbon and the other with a silver ribbon.

“Dean, these were received this morning!”

“Oh?” The old dean was momentarily surprised. He focused on the scrolls in Professor Manhet’s hands and asked curiously, “Who sent them?”

“One was sent from the royal city of Sassen,” Professor Manhet replied after a pause, hesitantly. “And the other… seems to have come from Salonia!”

“Salonia?” The old dean’s slightly clouded eyes took on a serious expression. He casually placed his pipe on the table, walked over to Professor Manhet, took the two scrolls of parchment, and after hesitating for a moment, opened the one from Salonia first.

It was a rather ordinary letter, at least on the surface. But when the old dean wiped the paper with his right hand, it emitted a faint glow, and the words on it became strange, as if alive, slowly unfolding into a series of peculiar symbols. Then, those symbols reassembled into words—a truly astonishing process.

However, the old dean paid no attention to these details. What concerned him was the content of the letter. After all, Salonia was the capital of the Church. Although relations between the Church and the Empire had been relatively peaceful in recent years, there were still many conflicts, such as differences in beliefs.

Therefore, aside from normal diplomacy, the Church generally wouldn’t send letters directly to the Empire unless there was something serious—especially letters encrypted with special magic. At the very least, they would give some notice in advance.

“Is something wrong, Dean?” Professor Manhet asked, looking anxious.

“Hmm,” the old dean nodded, frowning as he spoke in a deep voice, “A cardinal from the Church was killed while on a mission…”

“What? Really? How could such a thing happen?” Professor Manhet was shocked. In his memory, the white magic masters at the cardinal level in the Church were all elderly men with the strength of great magic masters. How could they be killed so easily?

Seeming to notice Professor Manhet’s surprise, the old dean smiled and said, “It’s not one of those old men. It’s probably a young person being trained by the Church, perhaps intended to succeed that holy white magic master as bishop…”

“Saint Charles George?” Professor Hod thought for a moment before saying in astonishment.

“Hehe, I’m getting old; I’ve almost forgotten even the names of my old friends,” said the old dean, nodding as he tapped the parchment with his finger and smiled. “After that old fellow left, the position of the cardinal has remained vacant. Hehe, the twelve cardinals are the core strength of the Church—not just anyone can hold that position… It’s been vacant for over a decade until finally a suitable successor was found, only for such things to happen. Hehe, the Church is absolutely furious now, which is why they sent this letter… But the Imperial Magic Association isn’t here—this letter should have been delivered to that old man Wiston, the chief imperial mage. How did it end up here?”
“Uh,” Professor Manhet hesitated for a moment before explaining, “Dean, actually both letters came from the imperial capital. According to the royal knight who delivered them, the great mage recently took on an apprentice and left Sassen with him a month ago… So…”
“So?” The old dean shook his head with a wry smile, unsealing another letter marked with the emblem of the Imperial Magic Association. Frowning, he said, “Hmm… I get it roughly. The guy who killed that cardinal candidate seems to have fled to imperial territory, so Salonia sent a letter to the empire, asking for a team to enter the imperial borders to find the murderer…”
“Send a team to the borders?” Professor Hod was stunned.
“Yes!” The old dean put down the letter, walked over to his desk, took a few puffs from his pipe, and said with a hint of schadenfreude, “The Church must be furious… One cardinal, three monks—four clergy members in total…”
“That’s nothing…” Professor Manhet said in surprise. “When the murderer is unknown, treating this as a top-priority task and forming a team of one cardinal and three monks—isn’t that the Church’s usual approach?”
“Yes,” the old dean nodded with a smile before sighing slightly. “But there are also six Inquisitors in the party!”
“The Inquisition?” Professor Manhet’s eyes widened in shock.
“Hmm… The Church usually avoids letting this department show up to maintain a good image, but this time… Hmph! In those guys’ eyes, we’re all heretics. If any conflicts arise, it’s very likely to strain relations between the empire and the Church again… Sigh! Add to that the situation in the west… It’s a headache. Did that old man Wiston do this on purpose? To make us deal with this huge problem?”

“Hehe,” Professor Manhet exchanged a glance with Professor Hod and said with a wry smile, “How should we respond to the Imperial City regarding the dean’s matter?”
“Hmm… I think we should let them enter,” the old dean tapped his pipe and said in a deep voice. “The cardinal who’s coming this time is Andrew. With him around, those six guys probably won’t cause any trouble. Besides, I also want to take this opportunity to discuss matters related to the western border with him. Although those orcs aren’t showing any unusual activity at the moment, we can’t be careless. Our ancestors paid a heavy price to drive them far to the west—this is land belonging to us humans! It must not be allowed for orcs to destroy our homeland!”
“Yes, Dean. I’ll contact the Imperial City right away and have Bishop Andrew cross the border…”
“Hmm! Go ahead!” The old dean nodded, gave Professor Manhet a slight bow, then turned and left the room.
Watching Professor Manhet’s retreating figure, Professor Hod asked in confusion, “Dean, I think that young man who was killed must have had the strength of a grand mage since he could become a candidate for cardinal, right? And usually, there are multiple monks protecting him. How could he still be killed in such a group?”
The old dean turned to look at the parchment on the table, frowned, and said, “There might be some secrets the Church hasn’t revealed yet. Andrew will naturally tell us once he arrives. By the way, are there any abnormalities in the dense forest?”
“No, Dean,” Professor Hod shook his head. “Since that incident, we’ve inspected the dense forest once every month and haven’t found anything unusual. Maybe it’s true as those three students said—they couldn’t find their way out of the forest, got too tired, and fainted outside it… Moreover, we haven’t found any signs that their memories were altered…”
“Heh, someone skilled in mind magic could do that…” The old dean took a puff from his pipe and sighed slightly before saying cheerfully, “I hope so… Let’s stop the search here. But to prevent the students from getting lost again, no student is allowed to enter the dense forest anymore!”
“Yes, Dean!” Professor Hod nodded. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving now.”
“Hmm,” the old dean puffed at his pipe. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he called out to Professor Hod, who was turning to leave, and said with a smile, “By the way, Hod, how’s that little guy from your class? I heard he got a piece of fire-red stone last time—quite impressive!”

“Is the dean referring to Thors?” Professor Hod was momentarily stunned, then said with a hint of relief, “Hmm… aside from getting distracted during classes, he’s pretty satisfactory. As the dean said, he’s a very interesting little rascal!”
“Hehe, that’s good!” The old dean seemed pleased, smiling as he sucked on his pipe.
“Then I’ll be going, Dean!”
“Hmm!”
“Bang!”
Watching Professor Hod leave the room and close the door behind him, the old dean puffed on his pipe, gazing for a long time at the cloudy sky outside, his expression solemn.
※※※
Meanwhile, Jiang Zhe was also looking out the window in his dormitory, sighing at the weather.
Originally, today’s Fire Blue Magic class was supposed to be a practical exercise, but with such bad weather, not to mention other students, even Jiang Zhe’s fire magic would be much less powerful.
Hopefully, it won’t be changed to a theoretical class…
Otherwise…
Since that incident, a girl named Lavia had been replacing Professor Hod in supervising Jiang Zhe’s studies.
Whenever Jiang Zhe showed the slightest sign of distraction, a soft cough would come from the seat next to him. It was hard to believe how she managed to pay attention to Jiang Zhe’s every move while also listening carefully to Professor Hod’s lessons…
It had made Jiang Zhe a bit neurotic lately.
With a soft click, Scott brought a cup of black tea to the long table beside Jiang Zhe.
“Thanks!” Jiang Zhe thanked him and took a sip of the tea.
To be honest, he hadn’t really liked this kind of black tea at first, but unfortunately, there were no drinks like cola in this world. So, as a compromise, he gradually grew to like it over time.
Of course, his way of drinking tea wasn’t as elegant as Scott’s, full of aristocratic grace. It was more like Allen’s—purely for quenching his thirst.
“Wow, it smells nice!” With a familiar voice, Allen stepped out of the bedroom, his upper body bare, wiping his wet hair with a towel. He casually picked up his cup from the table and sniffed it.
“Can’t you at least put on something?” Scott frowned. As someone of noble birth, he paid great attention to his appearance, so he really disliked Allen walking around the dormitory with his upper body exposed.

“Okay, okay,” probably accustomed to his roommate’s mockery, Allen reluctantly put down his teacup and headed toward the bedroom. As he walked, he suddenly turned around, gave Jiang Zhe and Scott a somewhat gloomy look, then chuckled, clenched his fist into a pose, and said with a strange expression, “Hey, guys, have things changed a lot since yesterday?”
Jiang Zhe instinctively glanced over, his eye twitching, while Scott silently put down his teacup and murmured a spell. As the spell was spoken, a highly dangerous black aura slowly gathered in his right hand, scaring Allen so much that he quickly fled into the bedroom.
“Hmph!” Only then did Scott disperse the black aura.
Speaking of which, compared to Jiang Zhe’s fire magic, Allen was more afraid of Scott’s curses, as those bizarre curses could easily weaken Allen greatly—a far from enjoyable experience for him.
Since class hadn’t started yet, the three of them stayed in the dorm. Scott read a magic book, Jiang Zhe dozed off on the sofa, and Allen seemed restless, unable to tolerate the silence in the room.
“Ahem!” Allen coughed, but it had no effect. Scott continued reading, and Jiang Zhe continued dozing. Frustrated, Allen scratched his head and tried to start a conversation. “By the way, guys, do you know what orcs are…”
“Orcs?” Jiang Zhe, still half-asleep, felt a sudden shock. Scott glanced at Allen, flipped a page in his book, and said indifferently, “That ancient, legendary race mentioned in history?”
“Legends? Hehe!” Allen waved his finger. Seeing Jiang Zhe and Scott turn to look at him, he felt proud and chuckled. “The professors mentioned that orcs have appeared west of the empire!”
“That’s impossible!” Scott pushed up his glasses and frowned. “The books say orcs were driven far to the west. Where did you hear that?”
“Uh,” Allen looked embarrassed at Scott’s question, scratched his head, and stammered, “There was a little incident. In the professor’s office, I heard it from other professors…”
“Professors?” Scott was stunned for a moment before realizing what was going on. He sneered twice, about to speak when he noticed Jiang Zhe’s strange expression. He asked, “Sos, what’s wrong?”
Jiang Zhe shook his head. He didn’t know why either. Just hearing the word “orcs” triggered a strange emotion in him—a negative one…

“Orcs? What kind?”
“Hmm,” Scott pondered for a moment before hesitantly saying, “I remember seeing them in an encyclopedia. It states that a thousand years ago, this place was occupied by orcs. Well, there’s very little description of them… The evaluations of this race are all negative—stupid, barbaric, a primitive race that causes destruction, killing, and devastation. They seem to have some connection to demons as well. They have strong muscles but fangs like beasts. In short, it’s a very cruel race that was later defeated by our ancestors and driven to the distant west…”
“So, orcs are a race that’s somewhat similar to humans but also a bit like beasts?” Jiang Zhe licked his lips and stammered. Before speaking, he compared what Scott had said with his own memories and was surprised to find they were quite similar.
“Hmm, yes, that’s right,” Scott nodded and added, “That’s why some documents referred to them as half-orcs—half like us humans, half like beasts. But that term was too complicated, so they eventually stuck with ‘orc’.”
“Why?” Allen asked curiously.
Scott pushed up his glasses and said solemnly, “The books say that this stupid and cruel race kills all the men when causing destruction, and the women… well! So our ancestors called those barbaric, primitive guys orcs, while the children born to those poor women were called half-orcs. If we called orcs half-orcs, it would be confusing with the term ‘half-orc’—like… a quarter-orc?”
“Hey!” Allen smirked and said, resting his chin in his hand, “By your description, they really are a cruel and violent race…” As he spoke, he clenched his fist, ready to make some declaration, when there was a knock at the door.
Glancing at Jiang Zhe, who waslowering his head thinking about something, Scott got up with a strange smile to open the door. Then, he said politely to the person knocking, “Hello, student Fahualia!”
It was Ravia. She gave Scott a slight bow as a greeting and said politely, “Hello, Ogil. Is Thors here?”
Scott smiled faintly, stepped aside, and pointed to the sofa.
Amidst Allen’s strange giggling, Ravia walked over to Jiang Zhe and said, “Thors, Professor Hod asked me to inform you… Thors?”

“Hm?” Jiang Zhe, who had beenlowering his head thinking about something, raised his head, glanced at Lavia, and said helplessly, “What’s wrong with you now? It’s just because I was late twice due to oversleeping. There’s no need to rush me in every class, right?”
“Hmph, who’s rushing you?” Lavia snorted and said, “Anyway, I’m here to deliver a message from Professor Hod. Today’s outdoor class is canceled. The professor asked us to prepare for the end-of-year assessment. We don’t need to go to the classroom for the next few classes. If you have any questions, you can go see Professor Hod alone…”
“We don’t need to go to the classroom?” Jiang Zhe asked, eyes wide.
“That’s what the professor said,” Lavia nodded and continued, “The professor plans to assess us in about ten days as part of our final grades. Until then, the next few classes will be self-study, so we don’t need to go to the classroom…”
“Great!” Jiang Zhe muttered under his breath.
Lavia was stunned for a moment before suddenly realizing what had happened. Her face turned red with anger as she glared at Jiang Zhe fiercely before turning and leaving.
“Bang!” The door was slammed shut.
“Hey hey,” Allen said, sitting on a chair with his head in his hands, laughing, “Dude, making a pretty girl angry isn’t something we should do! That’s really rude, Thors!”
“Hmph!” Lying on the sofa with his head propped up, Jiang Zhe grunted irritably. Just thinking back to his ‘experiences’ in class over the past two months made him feel extremely frustrated.
Anyone would feel awkward if they were constantly under close observation in class…
Finally, he could have some peace for a while…
Although there were still compulsory courses like Dark Magic Defense and Potion Making, at least Scott and Allen would be around then. Just the Fire Magic course…
Phew…
But before Jiang Zhe could breathe a sigh of relief, there was another knock at the door.
Scott opened the door in confusion, then his expression turned very strange.
There, Lavia stood there, holding a thick stack of materials and documents. Ignoring everyone else, she walked straight to the sofa in front of Jiang Zhe and slammed the materials down on the table with a thud…
“…” Looking into the girl’s eyes, tinged with a hint of flame color, Jiang Zhe helplessly covered his forehead.