Chapter 13 - Return

I wake up, Leonore still sleeping like a log as she lightly snores. I decide to perform some much needed cultivation. I’ve practiced a fair bit on the rank 2 rune over however long I was trapped in the caves plus while travelling through the forest. The issue is, is that the rune is ridiculously complex, this is actually a good sign as complexity in runes typically constitutes to strength, at least for external runes but I doubt it’d be different for internal runes.

I will the mana stored in my rank 1 rune to come out, forming a rather large blob of mana. I spread the mana thin like a disk but issues already start to arise because for the rank 2 rune the mana needs to pressed down to a certain density. Fortunately, my strong will allows me to power through this step as I the mana shakily condenses into a small flat disk. The strain on my mind is minimal so I start edging away at the mana disk, using my will to ‘chisel’ out the mana at certain sections of the rune; the increased density making mana manipulation far more difficult. I easily perform my more practiced sections in about an hour, but the difficulty spikes when I’ve got to work on the new sections I haven’t practiced yet. After a few hours of gratingly slow progress, my will gives in as the incomplete runic structure collapses back into its base mana form and flows throughout my body again.

Leonore has roused from her rest while I was cultivating so I ask, “Ready to go?”

As we leave the inn with our knapsacks over our shoulders, I ask, “So how are we going to get back? Just walk it?”

“We could, if we want to lose a whole semester of class!” Leonore says mockingly. We stop by some people and Leonore asks for directions to the adventurers guild causing me to remark, “You want to go to the adventurers guild, are there quests that could take us back to Feiroy perhaps?”

She taps me on the head, jokingly saying, “Ah, so she does have a brain.”

I can’t help but feel my mouth twist eliciting Leonore to talk to me like one talks to a child, “Awww, she’s pouting.”

Ignoring her, we soon arrive at the adventurers guild. Compared to the one in Feiroy this one in Cranny town looks rundown with broken wooden planks, a tilted ‘adventurers guild’ sign and a few shattered windows. But clearly the setting has no influence on hardy adventurers as parties of people can be seen coming and going along with laughter and applause that can be heard coming from inside; this place seems more an inn than where we stayed.

Our entrance unsurprisingly draws a few stares; the robes no doubt. We walk to the quest board, a whole slew of quests presented as pieces of paper line the board with coloured stamps denoting their grade. E-rank quests are stamped green, D-rank quests are stamped blue and there is one notable quest on a larger parchment in the centre of the quest board with a bright orange stamp.

C-rank Dungeon Quest

Mind Labyrinth

Rank-3 Dungeon

Clear the newly formed dungeon north-west of here; in the centre of ‘The Woods of Bore’.

A dungeon infested with mind demons up to the rank of 3 has been discovered by a recent expedition. The intentions of the demons have not yet been uncovered so all adventurers should proceed with caution. The dungeon consists of many rooms that seem to be manipulated by strong illusion magic and/or formations, illusionist mages and formation masters are recommended for advancing parties.

Please refer to the receptionist on duty for further details regarding the quest.

DO NOT remove this paper from the quest board; dungeon quests are open to all.

As Leonore browses through the quests, I remark, “Maybe we could inform the adventurers guild on what we’ve learnt”

“I suppose we could; you do that while I look for a caravan quest.” She says uncaringly while her eyes scan the quest board. Walking over to the counter there is no receptionist in sight, however a small desk bell is placed on the table. Flicking it a person runs out from the back, a woman in glasses, “Why hello mage, how may I help you.”

“I have some information regarding the ‘Mind Labyrinth’.”

Her eyebrows perk in interest, “Oh really? Are you by any chance from the expedition? The survivors already told us everything.”

I nod, explaining, “We are however we may have additional info; we escaped the dungeon just recently.”

Her body jolts as her eyes widen in shock, “Just recently!? The expedition returned about six months ago, you mean to tell me you were in there for six months!”

We were in there for six months! We missed a whole semester of study already, that’s going to be annoying to deal with. After calming down I respond, “Well, yes, I suppose; me and my friend.”

She brings out a quill and parchment, gesturing me to provide details so I recount our story while she jots down whatever is of interest. At the end of the story she nods gleefully, “Great, I will need to verify your identity, I hope you know that there are serious penalties for providing false information.”

Taking out my adventurers card I hand it to her, she looks up at me oddly as she remarks, “Only an E-rank adventurer?”

I remain silent so she just takes it and starts recording some more information while making small talk, “That dungeon has adventurers from all over the duchy flocking here; it’s been really great for local businesses. And the nearby monster populations have reduced drastically.”

“That great.” I reply simply before inquiring, “The dungeon quest must’ve been up for quite a while, why is it that I didn’t see any adventurers at the dungeon?”

“It’s simple really, the dungeon is too high ranked for this duchy, Tian has only a few C-rank teams, I heard ‘The Raveners’ just set off today. We can expect some C-rank teams from out of the duchy to come down here. Depending on how long the dungeon remains uncleared we can expect Cranny town to become only more developed and populous.” The woman explains happily. Leonore comes over but with no parchment in hand, she asks in a tone that provides no room for disagreement, “We’d like to take the caravan quest leaving today, the one contracted by ‘The Smiling Merchant’.”

The reception hesitates as she slowly says, “That will be difficult on such short noti…”

But Leonore’s death stare stops the receptionist speaking, before accepting, “But it will be done for mages such as yourselves, I’ll copy out the quest, pass your credentials please and give me a moment.”

Leonore’s face twists into a satisfied smile while she hands out her adventurers card. The receptionist pulls out another piece of parchment and starts writing down. After but a moment we have our new quest in hand, to escort a caravan to a city called Canok; a city close to Feiroy according to Leonore.

Our trip to Canok is uneventful, having multiple adventurers along with Leonore and myself made any encounters with monster cinch, arriving at the city after about 3 weeks. The atmosphere seems more boring than Feiroy with dark grey stone buildings, higher walls and a seemingly larger guard presence. Departing from the caravan and receiving our measly reward of 20 silvers we spend a night at the inn before continuing our journey to Feiroy, walking the rest of the way. A mere week later we are back at the familiar city of Feiroy.

Entering the city, the usual bustle of Feiroy presents itself. We walk to the academy which seems relatively quiet with the empty academy grounds and only a few students walking around with their textbooks or running errands; it’s likely mid-year break. As we walk past a group of mages, one of them comments while giving us a thumbs up, “Nice robes.”

I smile back at him, and Leonore just puffs her chest out arrogantly; our flamboyant robes really do not fail to grab attention. As we walk through the main building and past the stair to upstairs Leonore suggests, “We should probably go to see the headmaster to get everything sorted out.”

I shake my head, “Not just yet, I’m going to see Aurelie first but you can go now if you want.”

She doesn’t say anything but her not walking up to the headmaster’s office is a clear enough response even if her brows furrow slightly. Reaching the dormitory, the loud chatter between teenagers becomes immediately apparent as we walk inside. Our presence first goes unnoticed until someone speaks out, “Hey, isn’t that Leonore.”

That opens up a deluge of conversation, “Of the De la Rue family.”

Someone points at me saying, “That’s that girl, the murderer, what’s her name.”

“It’s Agnes, Aurelie’s friend.”

Many more obscured whispers and murmurs erupt out as we walk past. It doesn’t take long before some older student comes running towards us before saying, “Greetings fellow mages, I am prefect Fleur, you two are mage Leonore De la Rue and mage Agnes I assume.”

“We are, what happened to mage Rachel?” I ask. Mage Fleur directly replies, “She has graduated I’m afraid.”

I nod before impatiently asking, “Aurelie, Aurelie L’Estocq, is she in her room?”

“She’s moved to the S-class residence.”

“The S-class residence? Where is it?” I ask with slight urgency.

“I’ll tell you but you should also know that it’s recommended to see the headmaster as soon as possible.” Prefect Fleur insists before telling us the directions to the residence.

Standing in front of the S-class residence, I can see why they don’t call it a dorm. It’s a whole mansion with a flat roof, indented windows that have superfluous decorative edgings. Entering we end up in a bare room that has long stairs in the middle of the room going up to the second floor. There doesn’t seem to be anyone around but we can hear talking coming from the next room so we continue onwards.

The next room is an open living room with luxurious furnishings and a high roof. There are a few students in academy robes lounging around on a few couches as they casually converse. One of them notices our presence as his head flicks to us, remarking with a wide smile, “Well who do we have here? New S-classers?”

S-classers, seriously? The other students turn towards us in interest. I shake my head, replying, “As of right now we’re just regular students.”

His smile drops but he still nods before inquiring, “And how can we help you two then?”

“We’re just looking for someone, Aurelie.”

His expression seems to morph back into interest as he says, “Ah, mage Aurelie; I wasn’t aware that lunatic had friends.”

Feeling bewildered, I ask in slight accusation, “I’m sorry, a lunatic did you say?”

“Yes, she’s certainly gone a little mad after she returned from that new dungeon that’s all the rage these days. Have you two heard about it; the ‘Mind Labyrinth’, with a name like that it’s no surprise she went mad.” He laughs along with his friends; these guys are assholes, that’s for sure. Asking for directions to her room we then walk through the hallways. Turning to Leonore, I inquire, “You sure you want to be here Leonore? You two weren’t on the best of terms.”

“You’re suggesting I should go?” She asks heatedly.

“Not at all; just felt I should ask, you know.” I respond as we arrive at a door that should be where Aurelie is residing. What I heard earlier has ignited some concerns, she’s never been the most stable. I breath in deeply before knocking on the door… Hearing only silence I knock again, this time with more force. A quiet voice speaks out, “What do you want?”

Hearing her voice I freeze for a moment before answering, “It’s uh, Leonore and me… Agnes.”

Muffled steps can be heard rushing up to the door before it snaps open to reveal Aurelie. Her hair messy like a bird’s nest, her form more minute after losing considerable weight and her face is drearily tired with gaunt cheeks and black eye bags; she looks awful. Aurelie stares at me in shock as her eyes widen comically before tearing up until she breaks down into uncontrollable sobbing. She then crouches down into a ball while covering her face with her hands, her cries echoing out. Her strong response infectious as I feel my own eyes water, so I crouch down beside her and bring her into a big old hug before soothingly patting her back. She tries to speak but her voice gets all cracked up from her sobbing so instead she looks at me with her eyes to covey what she’s feeling, obvious shame and guilt. I push our hug closer so that her chin is resting on my shoulder as I comfort her, “Shh, relax, it’s not your fault, ok.”

She chokes out a little, “Sorry…”

“No need, please, don’t blame yourself… For my sake.” I insist as I pull our hug even tighter. While hugging I glance up at Leonore who stands around trying to be as unnoticeable as possible while she looks everywhere but where we are. When my eyes manage to catch hers, I direct her with my eyes as I aggressively flick them down to Aurelie, hoping to bring her into the hug; we’re having a moment, at least join in! Leonore hesitates as she looks at Aurelie and then silently shakes her head, but I repeat my eye commands eliciting her to sigh before she crouches down at our side and awkwardly hugs around the both of us as she just rests her arms on our shoulders. My social manipulations to mend the friendship between Leonore and Aurelie have on begun, I’m so evil! Muahaha.

After Aurelie finally calms down and pushes us away she looks at Leonore with an unreadable face before looking back at me and noting my condition, she remarks in concern, “Oh my! You’re all skin and bone.”

I am? Looking down at my bony hands and tiny wrists, I suppose I am, a diet of raw corrupted monster meat was probably not the most nourishing. She continues, whisperingly asking, “What happened?”

I smile, responding, “Heh, make yourself comfortable, Leonore and I have quite the tale to tell.”

We make ourselves comfy before I retell the story to Aurelie with Leonore occasionally interjecting. By the end Aurelie is absolutely stunned, “I can’t believe you fought against rank 3 monsters.”

“Barely, we were overconfident; our lives were always at risk if I look back at it.”

After our long chat Leonore suggests, “We should probably get going Agnes, I’m sure the headmaster is waiting for us now.”

Aurelie looks to Leonore and frowns slightly as she aggressively says, “What, are you to best friends now?”

Great, Aurelie’s already getting jealous over nothing. Just as Leonore’s about to respond I interrupt, saying, “Look Aurelie, Leonore’s right we should get going but we’ll be back soon, yeah?”

She pouts but nods in agreement.

Leonore and I are currently in the headmaster’s office, the trip through that hallway had no oddities this time around; was it because I was with Leonore? Headmaster Edgar comfortably reclines in his chair as he strokes his beard, he remarks with a smile, “You two clearly had a traumatic experience but such experiences build character and accelerate growth; no powerful mage reached their level by hiding behind closed doors and researching.”

He pulls out a small apparatus, continuing, “I can detect some corrupted mana from you two so I will be measuring your mana.”

He takes readings of our mana which causes him to frown before he says, “Hm, you both do indeed seem to have contracted some corruption, look here, see these mana readings.”

Edgar shows the two apparatuses that he used to measure our mana, it shows a bar that stops on 50, but some portions of the bar seem to be fuzzy as they flicker abnormally. He places his figure on the fuzzy bits, explaining, “See these anomalous portions, these are caused by corruption. I measured the amount of mana that is taken up by the corruption so for you mage Leonore, of your 50 mana, 5 mana is corrupted meaning your mana is 10% corrupted. As for you Agnes, of your 50 mana, 4 mana is corrupted which I’m sure you can imply, means your mana is 8% corrupted.”

All throughout that explanation Leonore’s eyebrows furrowed deeper and deeper, now that she is finally able to speak, she asks impatiently, “So, how do we remove it?”

He remains polite as he explains, “I’m afraid there are no methods that I or the academy are aware of to remove it, but like all things in the arcane arts, there is no such thing as impossible. For now, all you can do is increase your cultivation. Corrupted mana only spreads if it reaches a certain percentage which neither of you have reached, so you two can just cultivate and increase your mana pool to dilute the corrupted mana, this will reduce its effects. For example, Agnes, if you reach 100 mana, you will retain the 4 corrupted mana, so the percentage of corrupted mana will decrease to 4%.”

Leonore angrily says, “Yeah yeah, she’s not bloody dumb, why are you treating her like some uneducated pleb.”

Edgar’s face drops slightly as he looks at Leonore disapprovingly so I state suddenly, “So I assume our increased spell damage will decrease overtime.”

He turns back to me with a smile, explaining, “Naturally that benefit will dwindle along with your increasing mana pool, that particular effect occurs because corrupted mana is a higher energy form than regular mana, so when it’s channelled into your spell it will make more with less. But the benefits are certainly not worth the drawbacks, all mages should be of sound mind.”

Now Leonore yells out in rage, “Ok old man, Agnes here is my friend, and I don’t befriend idiots, so you can shut up with your overly convoluted explanations made for complete moro…”

As headmaster Edgar’s face slightly shimmers in rage, I put my hand over Leonore’s mouth, apologising, “I beg your pardon grand mage Edgar, it’s the corruption, I’m sure you understand.”

His face mellows out as he sighs out while looking at Leonore in pity, “You’re right mage Agnes, your circumstances really are unfortunate for young talented mages such as yourselves. I admit I’m not used to being disrespected but your situation is certainly unique. Now let me take a reading of your will and mana manipulation, I’m sure it’s increased drastically.”

He performs the rune creation tests and the will test. Telling us our new results, “Ah yes, mage Agnes your will is now 4.5 which is really quite spectacular for a rank 1 mage, you’ve increased from 4 in a mere 6 months, most people could take half a decade to achieve such results.”

Remembering the strain I put my will under and when my will was severely fractured I say honestly, “It did not come easy.”

He laughs, “I’m sure it didn’t. And mage Leonore, congratulations you made a breakthrough with your will, it is now 3.4, up from your prior 2.9. Performing some quick calculations with your results from last year, you are now eligible for S-class.”

Looking at Leonore with an exited smile, I happily say, “That’s great Leonore.”

“I expected it, I knew I just needed a breakthrough to get into S-class which I managed while in the dungeon.” She says indifferently.

Headmaster Edgar then continues, “Now, let us discuss your future here at the academy, you two have missed a semester of class but that’s nothing we can’t solve with some intensive study this break.”

“Yes, we’ll be doing that.” Leonore says, answering for me.

He nods, “Good, and I assume you’ll be remaining with us for semester 2?”

Leonore smirks as she responds snidely, “You know just as well as I do headmaster Edgar that the true opportunities lie in central.”

Headmaster Edgar sighs, “Yes, I’m aware, I suppose you’ll be leaving then after this break?”

Leonore replies curtly, “We both will.”

“I am?” I ask in astonishment; I didn’t agree to this! Leonore turns to me, explaining, “There are far better opportunities in central, trust me; that’s where we will get the best resources to increase our power.”

I sourly say, “Maybe, but I didn’t agree to that, I’m comfortable here, why go to the effort of moving.”

“Stop being obstinate for no reason Agnes, this is the best option and you will be coming with me!” Leonore says in finality. I suppose I don’t care too much where I study and it’s true I’m getting mad over her deciding without consulting me. There’s no way I’d turn away a better opportunity so I agree, “Fine, I’m coming, but only if Aurelie decides to come; I won’t leave without her.”

Leonore frowns in annoyance while saying, “Ok but we both know Aurelie will do whatever you ask anyway.”

Headmaster Edgar recaptures our attention, asking, “So you mages done? If so I have payment to discuss I’m afraid.”

Leonore waves him off, “You needn’t worry headmaster Edgar, we have found treasures of considerable value, we will need a week to trade some of our treasures for coins if that is acceptable.”

“Of course, we’ll start teaching immediately then, as S-class students your classes are far more flexible thus why you can take classes during break, I will have your new rooms assigned and a tutor ready for you two tomorrow.” He says while pulling the door open with his mana and gesturing us to leave.