Regis walked through the pavement near the girl's dormitory.
—Six in the evening is the appointed time for her meeting with Arias and there's still a quarter of an hour before the said time.
Regis decided to stroll near dormitory to past time as he doesn't want to stay in his dormitory room lest he falls asleep and make Arias upset.
When he was nearing the small forest in the back of the dormitory, Regis felt a very faint fluctuation of mana from the direction of the forest.
There's supposed to be nothing magic related inside that small forest since it is said on the academy map that it's a normal vacant forest. If not for his acute sense that only a few people from the academy can rival, he won't notice it.
Regis decided to take a look at it so he entered the forest without a second thought. No matter what it is, he has nothing to be afraid of if it's about his safety. After all, only a few things can hurt him when he gets serious even in this 'body'.
As Regis reached the source of the faint mana he is tracking, a surge of excessive mana distortion can be felt. The mana distortion was only apparent when he came close to it.
"An artificial Magia's Portal in this place?" A frown came on Regis' face.
—Magia's Portal
Like a rift on the dimension, it is a magical gate that connects the Human World and the Magical World, however the Magia's Portal only appears on the location of some ancient ruins where an Elemental God dwelled a long time ago, or so they say.
The Magia's Portal can only be created by an Elemental God if they will intentionally open one, not because they stayed too long on that certain place.
And of course, the Magic King is also able to open one at will because of his vast quantity of mana.—A Magia's Portal can only be opened by someone who has a very vast amount of mana and not even the combined effort of a thousand mages below Magnus rank can open one.
So in common knowledge, finding an artificial Magia's Portal on the academy grounds is really suspicious because if someone wanted to create one, only with the collaboration of at least five [Magnus] ranks are needed for them to succeed.
But there are only three Magnus ranks at the current Edinburgh Empire. And Regis, as the third Magnus five years ago, already transcended to being a Magic King so, in reality, there's only two Magnus right now in the empire.
"..... Although this was only an artificial Magia's Portal, it is still a Magia's Portal that enables anyone and anything from the Magical World to go back and forth to this place."
On the edge of the main courtyard where all trees are seemly identical, on the furthest tree at the corner, if someone with high enough magic perception approach it —mostly mages from Advanced Master Magician rank and above, they will be able to see a small cut on the atmosphere. That way, no normal human or low ranked mages can use an artificial Magia's Portal without help.
'And the main question is—who in the world opened this gate?'
Regis cautiously approached the crack while he increased the level of his magic perception and spread it on the area.
Looking closely to it, he visually measured the size of the crack.
"A more or less half of a meter-sized artificial Magia's Portal… Not bad."
Through that small cut, a normal magician will be able to travel across the Human World to the Magical World by sending out his/her large portion mana and extending his/her magic perception on the other side. That way, as if being sucked by the rift, the body of the magician will fade slowly and reappear on the other side.
The speed of transfer will be depending on the size of the crack and the magician's rank— the bigger the crack and the stronger the mage, the faster they travel to the other world.
If someone above the Grandmaster Magician rank were to travel using an artificial Magia's Portal, even with a one inch-sized artificial Magia's Portal, it won't take even a second for them to transfer the other side.
While an artificial Magia's Portal varies in size and shape because of its creator, a genuine Magia's Portal is a circle-shaped irregularity with a lightless surface in a particular space, normally having a diameter of three to five meters; it will send the users, regardless of their rank or even normal humans to its other pair on the Magical World as long as they pass through the portal.
And using a genuine Magia's Portal is particularly safe because the other sides of the genuine gates are located on the human developed areas where a lot of adventurers live which is greatly the opposite of using an artificial Magia's Portal where the user can be transferred on any random place at the Magical World and it is very dangerous. After all, there are many strong magical beasts lurks everywhere in the Magical World.
But a more or less half of a meter artificial Magia's Portal, even just this small sized Magia's Portal will require at least one Magnus ranked mage to open.
"Is Manaria the one who opened this gate? Or it is an enemy?" Regis wondered.
'With Manaria's aptitude in magic, there's no doubt that she's able to make a Magia's Portal with this size…' Regis knows that she doesn't have a reason to.
Staring at the small artificial [Magia's Portal], Regis felt his anger and excitement swelling up. After all, if his opponents already infiltrated the academy in a much-unexpected way, then he will encounter then sooner than Manaria predicted.
Regis silently invoked his transmission magic with Manaria as its target. Without even a few moments, Manaria immediately accepted it.
"Hey lad, it's not even an hour since the last time we chat and here you are already missing me..."
"I don't have time for your jokes—Manaria, I'm currently at the middle of the small forest at the back of the girl's dormitory. I happened to discover an artificial Magia's Portal here. Did you know anything about this?"
Hearing Manaria's playful tone, Regis didn't even want to bother with it and get to the main topic, in which Manaria replied with the answer he somewhat predicted. But the following words are details he did not expect to hear.
"No. It's the first time I heard of that. You said it is located in the small forest near the dormitory? Hmm… I went there two days ago but I didn't see something like that."
"Huh? Does that mean that this portal was made only a few days ago?"
"Yes, more or less." Manaria confirmed.
"Impossible! Manaria, don't tell me you didn't even sense any magic fluctuation for summoning this Magia's Portal coming from this place since the last two days?"
'—and in this very close location… This is a very serious situation... They can't be underestimated.'
Regis' expression visibly darkened. He can't believe that someone or a group of mages was able to do this without Manaria noticing.
"I'll call an urgent meeting later. I'll inform all the professors and sentries to increase the level of security inside the academy. After all, I don't want some uninvited pest lurking at my little garden…"
"Still, I can't believe they already infiltrated the academy that easily. Very well Manaria, I'll leave the security of the academy to you. I will also stay vigilant. That's all, you're dismissed." said Regis with a serious air on his voice that clearly gives off his authority as a King.
"Okay, Regis. I'll inform you about an update if ever we noticed something."
After the transmission cut off, Regis called upon the source of the Magic King's mana inside his 'body' and invoked his magic.
He cast a high-level seal to the Magia's Portal combined with illusion magic to the whole small forest as a precaution to prevent other mages form discovering the portal. A few minutes is what it takes for Regis accomplish everything.
Only after that, Regis let out a sigh of relief and proceed to meet with Arias.