"To add, Florentine wanted to keep the project for himself because he was afraid that someone might use it against him to steal the throne," Wilhelm Hugh commented.
Everyone stopped to contemplate.
A phenomenon that prevented people from casting magic was truly something that was too terrifying to imagine. It was understandable that Florentine be wary against it. But wasn't his trust towards his people too fragile?
Lucian inwardly sighed.
"That is its only purpose?" Solare asked to confirm even though the last time he heard the story ended the same way.
Willhelm Hugh's face scrunched up in annoyance. "That's its only purpose?! Don't you see how powerful this phenomenon is?! Hmph. Nothing less to expect from a brute."
Solare sighed. He could never understand researchers. He put the sword down and said, "According to a witness, a man suddenly appeared on top of the platform from out of nowhere. Does your research not say anything about this?"
Hearing this, Hugh was so taken aback that he actually stumbled.
"A-A-Appeared from out… from out of nowhere?! Are you sure about this?" Hugh asked.
"According to the boy, yes," Solare gestured towards Aeon who then waved with a smile.
Seeing Aeon, Hugh rushed towards the railing of his cage. He extended his hand and pointed a shaky finger at Aeon. He then yelled, "YOU! I KNOW YOU!"
"Uh, hi," Aeon greeted with raised eyebrows. He didn't recognize the ragged prisoner who claimed to have known him.
"YOU ARE THAT BRUTE FROM THE MOUNTAIN," Hugh continued.
His voice was so loud that the guards couldn't help checking on him for a second before stepping out again.
"This is Aeon Morgan," Solare introduced. "He's the one who saved you from the mountain surrounded by colossal beasts."
"Save?!" Hugh spat behind him, "he made me leave all of the books! Those books held information about those unknown writings!"
"Ah!" Aeon exclaimed in realization, "you were that crazy guy from the mountain! But why are you in a cell right now? Aren't you supposed to be a professor or something?"
Hugh harrumphed. "Che. What do you care?!"
Aeon shrugged. The man was truly crazy.
"That aside, is it true that you saw a person appear on top of the platform, boyo?" Hugh asked, now serious. In the end, he was still a researcher that had a passion for gaining new knowledge. He wanted to dig deeper into this.
"I did. The platform was glowing with a deep green light. Then, a ray of light shot towards the sky. When the light disappeared, a person came out of nowhere," Aeon answered honestly.
The professor thought for a while, looking down. A couple of times he would appear to open his mouth, but then no words would come out. Then, he would think again.
...
It was only after about three minutes did he finally look at the others. He stared at Solare seriously and said, "This is just my speculation. Even my notes are useless in this case because we didn't think of this possibility."
Hugh paused once more.
After he gathered himself, he slowly said, "The platform might be a teleportation device. It should have been sucking magic from around the area that's why the phenomenon occurred. But ultimately, it should be a teleportation device. Although it is hard to believe because its scope is too wide."
Solare's heart trembled after hearing this. Teleportation device, such a thing was possible? Come to think of it, he did see the white-haired man relocate himself in a blink of an eye.
The Emperor also felt troubled. If that was the case, then the absence of the ships could be explained. If he didn't know about Project Eclipse, he wouldn't have thought about this possibility. Although it was absurd, it could possibly be believable. Isn't using magic itself already inconceivable. But it was real. So why shouldn't the existence of a teleportation device not be possible?
Each person in the room had their own thoughts after hearing the professor's statement. They were still caught up in the moment when they suddenly heard someone's laughter.
It was Hugh's.
"HAHAHAH! You actually believed the bullcrap I just made up on the spot?"
Wilhelm Hugh continued laughing.
However, no one else did.
Aeon, in particular, had a weird expression. He had phased through what should have been a solid wall and appeared in a different place before. Teleportation? Wasn't that similar to what he did?
He had these thoughts, but he kept silent. He didn't want to talk about the labyrinth to anyone. Not just yet.
Aeon discretely left the right side of the tent and went towards the clinic area. Just as he passed by the entrance, he saw a silver-haired man standing outside, appearing to be listening. It was Klaus. And his expression showed that he wasn't pleased. His eyebrows were furrowed and his expression was rather dark.
Aeon didn't care though and moved on.
He silently moved the curtains to reveal a thin old man with a gentle face. Seeing the man's condition, Aeon was rather sad. He used to be full of smiles. Now, he couldn't even wake up.
He heard everything from Solare and Suri when they were on the way there. Why the principal was reduced to such a state.
It was that white-haired man's doing.
Even Solare didn't know how it happened. He only knew from his son, Suri because Aeon's dad told him.
….
According to Suri, Aeon's father did not plan on joining the battle. After all, he couldn't fight as well as he could before because of his legs. They should be able to take the man down anyway with their joint effort.
But when he saw a single strand of lightning render an A-ranked mage like Toran Fiore useless, he realized that the man wasn't so simple. He had to step up.
Amongst all of the mages there, only his father was able to detect the white-haired man's sneak attack.
After Suri shared his part, Solare then asked Aeon how his father was able to stand up. It was obvious that Aeon had an idea because he didn't even react to Solare's story about his father joining the fight and jumping into the battlefield on his two jolly legs.
It was true that Aeon knew about it. Although his dad being able to stand up didn't mean that he was faking it the entire time. Aeon explained using an example.
A dead frog.
If you zap the dead frog with electricity at the right spot, its leg would kick.
The concept that his father used did the same. He zapped his legs to make them perform basic movements. But it wasn't easy. He needed to be precise and accurate. In terms of both the target nerve and the amount of electricity used.
To be able to perform fluid movements such as moving, running, and attacking instead of his leg just jerking around, this was already proof that his father had terrifying control over his magic.
His father didn't think that this method was the solution to his state though.
The real reason why he thought so was that he couldn't maintain it. No. Not couldn't. But shouldn't.
Due to the nature of the lightning element being chaotic, this activity slowly damaged the nerves on his legs. If he prolonged the duration of his lightning running up and down his nerves, they would be damaged beyond recovery. And even that solution wouldn't work anymore.
During their conversation, Aeon was unusually serious. A huge part of the reason why was because he was thinking about the state of the principal.
Using what Aeon knew about lightning, would a strand of it, thin enough to be hidden from the eyes of dozens of people, be enough to damage the brain? The power of lightning was also dependent on its volume as well because it is proportionate to its voltage.
That attack shouldn't have damaged a part of the brain enough to keep a person paralyzed for possibly more than eight months.
So the only explanation Aeon could think of was that the lightning was still lingering inside the target's body.
The spell should just be lingering on Toran Fiore's body, continuously blocking any commands from the brain to move.
However, this was hard to believe as well because if this was the case, then does that mean that the spell, eighth months in, was still taking effect? Based on what his father said about lightning destroying the nerves the longer it lingered, assuming that the case was similar, the principal should've been dead by now.
….
Aeon stared at the principal. He looked so pitiful with all the medical apparatus attached to his body.
Aside from bones, brain injuries were one of the hardest things to heal using their current technology, medicine, and even alchemy. That's why even with the most outstanding equipment provided by the Meredith Empire, they could only keep Toran Fiore alive, not wake him up.
"Hey, you're here," Suri came up from behind Aeon. He had been too engrossed in the discussion about Project Eclipse earlier that he didn't even notice Aeon disappear from the group.
"Ah, yah. I'm just checking up on the principal's condition," Aeon responded without looking behind him.
Suri frowned. It was actually his first time seeing the principal after eight months because he had always been kept away from other people.
To be honest, they hadn't been around Principal Toran Fiore for too long. They only stayed on the Academy premises for only about two months before they went to Grey Forest. However, the old man's presence was something that they didn't lack during their stay.
He had always been there when the students trained. He would sit by the corner of the field and just watch them all with a smile on his face. Of course, the students, having the intention of being taken as the old man's disciple, would work harder and harder.
It wouldn't be an understatement when they say the Toran Fiore was a huge impact on their improvement.
"Uhm, Aeon?"
"Yeah?"
"What are you doing?"
"Uh, I'm just touching the principal."
"Exactly. Why?"
"I think I saw something shine on his forehead."
"You're imagining things!"
"I really did!"
"Hey, hey, stop that!"
"Can you shut up? You're blowing our cover!"
"Shit, this is illegal!"
The curtain slid close, covering Toran Fiore, Aeon, and Suri's figures.
….
Solare and the Emperor spoke back and forth regarding their own thoughts. The Emperor's guards were now nowhere to be seen. Korona was sitting beside a box of magical items, staring at the ground.
"Hey! Hey! I gave you information," Wilhelm Hugh said. "Could you at least get this ring off my neck?"
Solare looked at the old man with an empty expression. The ring on the prisoner's neck was a device that grew spikes inward when the wearer casts a spell. This is how they usually handle criminal mages so that they would die before the spell finishes. Asking for it to be removed was already equivalent to letting him go.
Solare simply answered, "No."
Then, he turned towards the Emperor without paying attention to the old man's protests.
"Actually, there's one more person in this camp that has also seen the white-haired man. He saw him in the capital, Lerith," Solare informed the Emperor after concluding that they'll need more information about the white-haired man.
The Emperor nodded and said, "Is this the person who reported that Lerith had fallen?"
"Yes, Emperor," Solare agreed. "Although he's young and impulsive he has quite the reputation for being the son of Lerith City's general. So he shouldn't joke about situations like these."
The two were just about to conclude their agenda in that tent when they suddenly heard the flaps of the tent open violently. A man walked in with rushed footsteps.
It was Klaus Lorenheim.
He simply bowed to the Emperor as his greeting and faced Solare Samo. With his eyebrows knitted, he said, "General, I didn't know you were a person who broke promises."
Solare responded with a question, "You were listening?"
"Does it matter? What you're doing right now is against the will of the people of the Florentine Empire. How dare you?" Klaus seethed in contained anger. He couldn't lash out because the Emperor himself was there.
"Sharing this information wouldn't hurt," Solare said.
"Won't it?" Klaus asked, his fists trembling.
The Emperor sighed. He turned towards Klaus and seriously said, "Nevermind what General Samo here is doing. I am the one who forced him into this situation, so I apologize on his behalf. We really need the information because there are reports that the foreign invaders you spoke of are preparing to attack as we speak. Don't worry, I'll pay for the information generously."
Klaus chuckled. He didn't believe the person's words. Not one bit. "Emperor, I know the kind of person you are. So if we were withholding some information for our own benefit, then you can not blame us. We were only doing it as a countermeasure in case you hold our citizens as hostages."
The Emperor was genuinely confused about what Klaus was saying. He knew the value of that information. If they didn't have that, they might've underestimated the enemies and suffer for it. But wasn't Klaus being overly zealous?
"Klaus," Solare called out, "let me just remind you that I am also thinking about the welfare of the people, just as you do."
"Then tell me! How are we going to leave this place now?!" Klaus pointed at the Emperor. "Do you think this man will release us? After all that we've done to his Marshall? Do you think we're simply on vacation?"
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
The Emperor suddenly broke out in laughter, causing everyone, even Klaus, to fall silent. It was the first time they saw the Emperor broke his demeanor. He was laughing so hard that he was literally tearing up.
"So that's what this is all about," the Emperor said before laughing again.
When he was finally done, he wiped a tear and focused his attention back on Klaus. Then, he spoke seriously, "When you told me that my friend, Devon, died, to tell you the truth, I was furious. At that moment, I had zero intentions of letting you stay in my Empire, let alone feed your people. But then I thought that, if I did that, wouldn't I just be putting his sacrifice to waste?"
Lucian stared at Klaus and said, "So I changed my mind…"
Klaus was visibly shocked. Even Solare too.
"You can leave anytime you want to," the Emperor smiled, "if Devon valued your lives enough for him to sacrifice his, then I will respect that. I just need the information to keep my own people safe. So I won't end up having the same fate as Florentine's. Please."
The look on the Emperor's face was sincere, making Klaus speechless.
The fact is, he had been too paranoid about the Emperor's kindness. For a long time, their Empires were both at war. Even after that, the animosity between the two did not fade in the slightest.
So when they arrived in Meredith, all he could think about was how the Emperor would be scheming against them. He had suffered for this for many nights. For sure, the man wouldn't change his attitude towards them just because their Empire had fallen.
It was Klaus who proposed keeping a piece of crucial information from the Emperor. And the truth is, it was out of evil intentions.
It was a measure for him so that if the man suddenly mistreats them, they would be left without the information about the white-haired man. This would then guarantee Meredith's loss during their battle if it ever arises in the future.
That's why he had been furious with Solare. He was furious that it didn't go his way.
However, after hearing the Emperor's sincere words, Klaus felt guilty.
Maybe because it was out of his hatred for Devon Morgan that he didn't feel any gratitude towards him even though he saved them. He completely neglected the fact that the man did show his care for them, by putting his life on the line.
Indeed. Klaus felt guilty.
Had he become the schemer he despised so much?
Klaus was in the middle of contemplating his actions when the three suddenly heard some commotion on the other side of the tent. The sound of the curtain swinging back and forth was especially distinct.
Klaus was the first one to react.
"The principal!"
He then rushed towards the other area.
There, he saw Aeon and Suri both panicking.
"Come on Suri, hurry up and just get some water!" Aeon yelled.
Klaus didn't know what was happening, but by the looks of it, it shouldn't be good. He was frozen in place.
The Emperor and Solare arrived behind him.
Suri suddenly exited the curtain and hurried to get a glass of water with trembling hands. In his eyes, the people who stood there didn't exist. He took the water and rushed back.
"Come on, hand it over!" Aeon yelled once more.
Solare cut in front of Klaus who had been too shocked to move and went towards Toran Fiore's bed. He reached for the curtains and opened them wide.
Opening the curtain revealed a thin old man who was sitting up, drinking water silently.
It was Toran Fiore.
He was now awake.
….