Part 1

Two months have gone by ever since the kidnapping incident and things finally felt as if they all settled up. It was decided that the persecutors of the act were to be expelled and to never be admitted again in the academy. A grace I shall say. Getting the law involved would have been much more effective. Nonetheless the effects could be seen. I was finally having a breather from all the ruckus Gallher caused since the very start.

He was forced to back down a little in his pursuit of revenge since Roven spilled his name when asked for the reason for the kidnapping. Alas, no actions were taken against Gallher. In the end it was simply the word of a noble against that of the son of a duke. Furthermore there was no concrete proof of his involvement with Roven other than their friendship But even if Gallher could still hypothetically attempt something else, in reality he was forced to stand down and lay low for a while.

Other than a tighter security on the academy grounds, with guards and seasoned mages making rounds, those who were rallies up to “my cause” by Amelie voiced their complaints publicly both in and out of the academy. As a result, Gallher’s reputation began sinking like a broken ship in the midst of a storm, rapidly and inevitably.

That being said, I still had to deal with two more headaches. One called Danthe Hannes, who kept his eyes on me every time I went out training. And another called Floyd Nave who really loved to bother me with his preaches about my foolishness for having Gallher “unjustly” go through this hate at any given time. Having to deal with them was a pain for sure but at the very least I felt like I was growing closer to my ideal type of school life. I could finally devote myself solely on what I had neglected for far too long. Studying!

Part 2

The academy was a huge place. With training faculties, a bird tower, the huge student dorms, ecc, it was difficult to find a place without that huge number of students. A place without noisy noble women gossiping about their lovers, without any of Gallher’s goons looking at me sideways, without immature grown-up childs with too much power on their hands. One such place existed, and fairly close to the center of the academy at that.

It was a tower, a grey tower. Unlike the majority of the buildings’ whitish bricks which seemed to be purposely made to attract attention, the tower had them of a light grey colour. If everything else was made to attract attention, this tower was made to repel it. From the exterior it would look like a simple tower: three stories high, larger at the bottom and thinner at the top, a reddish roof and a set of red stained glass windows that made it very difficult for those outside to see what the tower held. That building was the academy’s library.

One single particular stood out from the antique feeling disguised as “boredom” of the tower. That particular was it’s door. Two meters of robust dark brown wood acted as a double door, both sides in a semi-arch shape. What was peculiar of this door was the fact that it held a story completely carved on it’s surface. There were no words involved, just drawings so masterfully carved that every detail, tiny as it be, could be seen so beautifully in display.

From the left frame to the right one, the door could be real like a book and the story it told was of the founder of the academy. From his early days as an apprentice to the death of his master, from his rise to a renowned mage to the bloody battle with the orcs to defend Alamara and, finally, the creation of the academy. His whole life was written on that door. A tribute to the great man he was or a lesson for future generations?

Whether the answer may be I didn’t care much for the only thing I felt whenever I came against this door was pure and utter respect. Not for the man pictured in the drawings but for the skillful hand that carved them. Be it only a second before opening or an entire minute, I was always in awe of that door. And on the other side was one of the rooms I treasured most in the academy.

Part 3

“Oh, good morning Raphael-kun!-” Said cheerfully the elderly woman reorganizing books at the front desk “- I see you are as early as always”

“Good day Miss Rasberry. Is there anyone else other than me today?”

“I would be shocked if there were! You seem to be the only one who likes to spend soo much time in a forgotten place like this...oh, right, the book you asked for last week finally came. I left it on your usual spot”

“An angel as always Miss. Then if you’ll excuse me” I said with a slight bow of my head.

The woman who was now gently weaving her hand was Miss Rasberry. I did not know the name, nor I asked since she introduced herself like that. She was the librarian, and a good one at that. We began some kind of friendship where we talked soley about books. Their topic didn’t matter. Whether they be about magic, history, geography or whatever other topic, Miss Rosberry was astonishingly knowledgeable about everything. Then again, she lived for the books.

The library was divided into three levels. The ground floor was open to the public. Everyone, from first years to professors, could get access to it, borrow books or use the place to study. Here the collection of books was the widest, ranging from basic tier spell books to low grade advanced tier spell books, from most common historical facts to some world maps. Basically this floor contained a huge amount of fairly common knowledge.

The first floor, on the other hand, was a more restricted one. In it one could find spell books up to the adept tier, other than detailed books about monsters, controversial historical facts and more. Despite the temptation of exploring the first floor I still stood confined on the ground one. The first floor was only accessible to fourth and fifth year’s.

Lastly, the second floor. I was unsure of what that floor held, the only things I knew were that it held some records of the previous headmasters and the only ones who were permitted access were professors.

Even without all the knowledge of the upper floor I was satisfied with that of the only floor accessible to me. Ever since I began frequenting the library I was able to finally solve some of my questions and even discover new things about this world.

Ever since recently I knew that there were more continents other than mine, Raiden, the so-called human continent. But now I finally found out that there are three more continents without counting the smaller islands. South from Raiden there’s the “free land”: Esden. The title free land was achieved thanks to the ban on slavery and “peace of races treaty” stipulated by the kings of each region. Elves and Dwarfs are the majority followed by beastmen and finally humans as the minority. Esden is divided in three countries: the kingdom of Argon where elves and humans rule, the kingdom of Genoma where dwarfs dug their tunnels and the Elven Republic where the conservative elves live and prosper in the old ways.

West of Esden one can find the “Sand continent” or “the endless desert”. As the name implies the whole place is a giant desert. There is no kingdom, union or anything similar. Bandits and monsters roam free upon the sands and because of the burning heat during the day and freezing cold at night, this continent is said to be the grave of many brave adventurers. It’s a place where the rule of the stronger wins, with so few cities, travellers can only rely on camps and protection from the groups that roam the desert. One such group is the one captained by a man called “The Ruler of the Sands”. A scary title in my opinion, but without further information I could not make out if this ruler was real or not.

The last continent is supposed to have a name but I could not find it anywhere. Sometimes entire pages of the books were ripped off whenever the subject started to dwell on it. Only the title remained: the Demon continent. There the demon kind lives. Tyrannically ruled by the demon king and his generals, the Demon continents is a harsh place where one should guard both from monsters and it’s inhabitants.

No more information was written about it. Who the Demon King was? How the terrain on the continent was? Nothing of the sort, only that being sent there is a death sentence. I was skeptical about it. I found out that racism is a thing in this world too and humans, as high and mighty they think they are, really like to hate on races different from them.

Another interesting fact I learned was written inside the book that Miss Rasberry prepared for me. The time flew by as I sat on the wooden chair, speeding through the pages as if it was a matter of life and death.

“Dungeons and lairs by Constantine G...Are you perhaps interested in this sort of thing, Raphael-kun?” Asked in a sweet tone the ashened hair lady as soon as I put down the quill on my notes.

“Oh Miss, I didn’t even notice you!”

“Ho ho, my younger self tendencies are still kicking at this age...but I believe you were just too focused on your reading. So, was it worth waiting?”

“You can bet it was!” I exclaimed as I stretched my stiff shoulders.

“May I ask why you’re so interested in the matter?”

“Mhh, you know me and my brother work as adventurers as a side-job, right?”

“That I do, if my memory still holds I recall you saying it was not to burned your family with your expenses”

“Yes, precisely. Anyway, once I was at the guild and came across a request for a dungeon party. Not knowing what it was I refused and found out later that those who entered that dungeon never came back. Perhaps I was lucky that time, but if I was just a little greedier I wouldn’t be talking to you right now miss. Thinking about it made me feel uneasy soI decided to find out what those dungeons are”

“Mhh I see, I see. You are talking about the tragedy that happened four months ago right? Such shame for all the lives lost. Perhaps the gods were watching over you...mmhhh, there is no one here today and work is slower than usual. Would you like my help?” Asked the woman.

“How can you be of help miss?”

“Oh my, is that the way to talk to a lady? Haha, jokes aside, would you mind illustrating what dungeons are to me? I’ll make sure to correct you if I find something wrong”

“Oh, that would actually be of much help! Then…”

For the next half an hour I began explaining the notes I took that morning.

Dungeons can be divided into two categories. Natural dungeons and “lairs” or labyrinths. Natural dungeons are, as the name suggests, dungeons that generate naturally. They are mostly caves or hidden places like small volcanoes and such. It is unknown how dungeons came to be but the book warns of two things. First, dungeons are vastly populated by monsters, the bigger the dungeon the many different kinds of monsters one’ll find. Second, at the very end of the dungeon there’s a boss waiting, or just a stronger monster than the rest. How those bosses come to life is still unknown but the sure thing is that they guard a treasure and in case of natural dungeons they are mana crystals. The biggest mana crystal was found in a dungeon in the Sand continent, it was the size of a full-grown dwarf. Other than mana crystals other treasures can be considered the belongings of dead adventurers. As such, natural dungeons are both the most common type to be found and the most deadly since greedy adventurers tend to lose their lives without even reaching the boss.

The other type is the lairs or labyrinths. Those dungeons are not naturally generated like caves but instead they are created when a “boss” monster decided to nest in a place like a labyrinth or a forgotten ruin. Those kinds of dungeons are not so common but their deadliness is only compensated by the vast amount of riches one can find in them. Relics of an ancient past, legendary materials, forgotten spells and books and enough gold to fill an entire house. Those are the things one can find at the end of such dungeon, if he’s able to reach the end. Few beings were able to fully conquer lairs and their names became legends. Among such names there were the ones of the six gods.

“...to conclude, it is better to stay away from dungeons unless one has full confidence in his power and enough information to survive inside it.”

“Yes, brilliant as always Raphael-kun. There’s nothing I should correct...but I wonder, you make it sound like you hold no interest towards dungeons but is that really the truth?” Asked with a questioning glare the woman.

“Who knows?-” I replied with a shrug of my shoulders “- I should get going now Miss, it was a pleasure talking with you as always”

Rapidly taking my notes and writing instruments, I walked myself to the door, leaving behind the pondering woman. She didn’t have to know that all this knowledge served as stepping stone for my future plans.