I never expected those two people to show up. I couldn't comprehend the reason why they were needed for this specific problem.
All four of us stared at each other for a few seconds and were brought to focus when the secretary spoke.
"Take your seats"
"...Yeah.."
"...."
Sitting down on the center sofa with quite a distance from each other, Shivan and Sophia immediately looked mesmerized with the headmaster.
They had the same reaction as I did and her charm apparrently affects even the same sex.
They also eventually shook their heads, wanting to maintain face among their present classmates.
Although it was pretty much too late to worry about something like that. Both Amana and I had clearly seen their reactions.
With that in mind, I felt my sense of shame from earlier diminished now that I know others had been shamed like me.
Call it being petty but I really felt good about myself.
*Cough
"First let me take you up to speed"
The secretary then explained the things she said to me and the princess before. Both listened intently to her words.
Sophia seemed like she had immediately understood why she was called for this problem.
Shivan however didn't seem to understand just like me and Amana. His face scrunched up trying to think of a plausible reason.
"So do you understand now?"
After finishing her piece, the secretary asked.
Only Sophia nodded her head in confirmation while us three could only show confused expressions.
"Umm I still don't understand why you need me here?" Shivan asked.
"There's a proper reason why you are needed here. All three of you have something in common"
Vivian explained.
"Something in common?"
"Yes, all three of you are pathfinders correct?"
"""...Yes..""" all three of us agreed, a sudden realization forming in our minds.
'I think I get it now...' I mused.
Glancing at Shivan and Amana, I knew that they had also figured out what Vivian was trying to convey.
At the time of the incident, all the teams present there were unaware of the unusual mana fluctuation.
We were also the first to spot the danger ahead but in my case, I had a preestablished knowledge of the Order's ambush.
Although I would have still sensed it nonetheless even if I didn't know of the assassin's plan beforehand.
Not all pathfinder's have that high keen senses but given we were in Uvelia Academy, it's supposed to be natural that we have abnormal stats from the norm.
The headmaster and the professor's understand this fact.
The pathfinder profession usually focuses on stats that enhances an individual's sensitivity of any kind.
Only the three of us and some others that had specialized in mana perception could have some idea about the unkown effects of the artifact.
Vivian looked at our faces realizing that we had understood what she had implied, smiling satisfactorily, she continued.
"Good, it seems you're quick to catch on. Of course, your input as a pathfinder is important but some of you could have other information you could provide"
She then looked at Amana, Sophia and me respectively.
"Amana Reandelle, we would like for you to use your spirit arts to scan the bits of shards that is left of the artifact in question"
"..I see, I'll do what I can"
Accepting the request, Amana nodded her head as if understanding exactly what the Academy wants her to do.
Spirit arts is a very versatile skill. It could be used for combat, aide, utility and even production.
That is why the royal elven family is special, they're the only ones who have access to this skill at birth.
In the case of this problem, it would probably be used to get any spiritual signs of activity. This means it could be an artifact that utilizes spirit energy and contracts.
Amana knew her spirit arts was an important key to this problem whether her findings would bear fruit or not.
"As for Sophia Foxx, I would like you to work with me in anaylizing it's structure. I assume you already know but my class is [Witch], my magic works differently from normal mages"
"The same goes for you too since you're the only [Sorcerer] in Durevellis, it would be insightful to combine our own interpretation from our own magic system"
"Yes. I'll try my best to meet you're expectations"
Sophia looked excited, working with one of the best mages in all the barrier nations. Any mage would feel the same.
Both have the rare variation of a mage. Witches which focuses on an entirely different spectrum of magic which is close to hexes, curses and rituals.
While sorcerers delves into runes, magic symbols and some level of elemental magic.
My knowledge about the capability of those classes are only on the surface level.
I have no idea what those two would do on their experimentations.
"And as for you, your input is the most relevant" Vivian turned to me.
What she just said made my classmates turn their attention to me.
"Since you're the one that broke the artifact, it makes sense that you would have the most insight on how it worked"
"At least your descriptions would be very clear and vivid than any other person here"
'..So they really knew...'
I mused while looking at Vivian's straight gaze. The headmaster smiled in amusement while her secretary just impasively stood by her side.
Ulden surprised me a bit when he gave me a thumbs up when I looked at his direction. I thought he was sleeping all this time.
'...I see. Ulden must have concluded I did the finishing blow based on my position to the artifact and Marie at the time'
Remembering how he had looked from above on all of us in the fifth layer, he had a bird's eye view of everything.
His memory is also something unbelievable if he had memorized the layout despite fighting those assassins at the same time.
I was both amazed and fearful of this person more than ever.
"Yes...I'll do my best as well"
I reluctantly said, feeling as if all of us had no choice in the matter once we came in through that door.
Unkowingly, no one ever knew or thought that I broke the artifact in purpose but it still made Shivan, Sophia and Amana look at me with focuded eyes.
-----
The headmaster then further elaborated that they could not get assisstance from the production guilds without any form of initial information.
They couldn't possibly ask for their commission when they don't even have anything to work with.
The artifact in their hands were nothing but lumps of shards now and taking that kind of offer is a bad deal for them.
As for other guilds such as the magician's guild, they had also declined the Academy's ask for help on this issue.
The Magician's Guild in Durevellis is known for it's hermit like operations and members. They're a bunch that seldoms lends their members for delver expeditions and refuses to take up public request.
The focal point of their organization was to conduct experiments and study the mysteries of mana and magic.
Anything other than that was irrelevant to them.
Because their partnered with the Alliance. The organization was indirectly funded by an Alliance member.
It was basically another branch of the Alliance under the covers of a privately owned guild.
Shady networks were everywhere and because of the recent conflict with the alliance and the incident spreading around, most public organization are threading lightly with their interaction with Uvelia Academy much more than normal.
The academy already understands the situation and they know that it would be futile to reach out to others more than needed.
It also wasn't efficient for them to ask for outside help since most of their equipment and staff are already top notch.
Just like with Vivian, most guilds coveted her very much including the Magician's Guild.
So in retrospect, it's much more effective for the Academy to solve this thing on their own.
They already have the tools and people to manage to do so.
It seems that after taking our inputs, our very own production class students from the third years and the dwarven professor in charge of the production class would help in creating a counter magic item for the artifact.
Furthermore, it seems both Shivan and I would be reporting to Professor Ulden while Sophia and Amana will be working with Vivian on the leftover shards.
"Sorry for taking your time. Specially when the
midterms is coming. Do any of you want something in return?"
Selena apologized as she gave us a calm smile.
"....It's fine headmaster. This is also for our sakes anyway"
Amana replied while giving them a reason not to fret too much over this issue since it was beneficial for both parties.
Vivian and Selena seemed delighted to see the response of their students
I could have asked for something in return but making them owe us a favor is more than enough for now.
Pushing them too much would be counterproductive in the long run.
Everything that we needed to know had already been said and so we were allowed to leave.
As we left through the door, one thing was weighing on my mind.
'What in the world am I going to report?'