'I'm dreaming… aren't I?'
Princess Elis Cericius had been sitting in a small pizza shop somewhere in the Imperial capital, casually eating a slice of pizza — with her hands, no less.
Croy, Ben, and Portis stared open-mouthed as the princess exited the restroom. Princess Elis looked at them in mild confusion, then began touching her face and wiped away a small spot of tomato sauce with a napkin from the counter. Then, without a hint of embarrassment, she elegantly sat back down, greeted the newcomers with a polite hello, and resumed eating.
"Hey, stop staring!" Ella hissed suddenly.
Croy snapped his gaze away from the munching princess and blinked a few times.
"Fredrik worked hard to keep her from being noticed, so don't ruin it now," Ella continued quietly.
Croy glanced around. The other customers were all in high spirits — no one seemed to be paying the students much attention. All he heard were a few laughs at Fredrik's stories.
Croy nodded respectfully at his friend. Fredrik winked back.
'Never change, Fredrik.'
Ben and Portis also slowly turned their gazes away. It was rude to stare at someone while they ate. Although, Croy could have sworn Ben was staring more at the pizza than at the princess.
An awkward silence settled over the table. Sure, Croy had seen Princess Elis at the Academy… but somehow, he'd never pictured one of the Empire's angels in a small pizzeria.
He frowned. What was he even thinking? Why shouldn't she be here? Pizza was delicious, after all. He really shouldn't impose such expectations on people he didn't even know personally.
"Ahem," Fredrik cleared his throat to break the uncomfortable silence.
"So, how's it going so far?"
Croy gladly focused back on the conversation with his friend. He certainly didn't want Princess Elis to think poorly of him. He'd actually be a little sad if she did.
"We've managed to capture four terminals. How about you?"
Fredrik smiled triumphantly.
"Seven."
Portis fell back into his chair in surprise. Croy, too, was impressed. Considering they had to locate each terminal and then defend it, capturing seven by noon was simply absurd.
Ella smiled.
"We have Princess Elis to thank for that. My God, you should see her in action."
Princess Elis set down her pizza and looked at Ella with an expressionless face.
"I told you to call me Elis."
"Uh, right, sorry. Elis."
"Better," Princess Elis said with a small, satisfied smile.
"This must be the best moment of my life," Portis whispered to Croy.
"Three house specials!"
The chef arrived with three plates, setting them down in front of Croy's team. The aroma was mouthwatering.
"Finally!" Ben exclaimed, eagerly digging into his pizza.
Croy, too, felt his hunger intensify at the sight of this masterpiece in front of him.
As he took a bite, he glanced at Fredrik out of the corner of his eye. His friend seemed to sense his look, and even though neither of them said a word, they somehow understood each other.
The silent exchange went something like this:
'Really? A teammate today, a date with her sister tomorrow?'
'I can't believe it either.'
'Aren't you nervous about messing up?'
'Of course I am. I feel like I'm walking on eggshells… by the way, how's the pizza?'
'Delicious.'
'I'm an idiot with more luck than brains, and I hope my friend Croy gets some of it too, because honestly, I don't deserve it.'
…alright, maybe that last part was only in Croy's head.
"I'm finished. We can pay and go," Princess Elis said.
Croy looked over at her. She and Ella stood up and walked to the counter to pay for their pizzas. Princess Elis pulled a credit card from her pocket and held it out to the chef.
"On the house," the man said quietly, giving her a wink.
Princess Elis shook her head.
"I can't accept that. I—"
"Your Majesty," the chef said softly, so none of the other guests could hear, "if I can boast that you once dined in my humble establishment, that's worth more than anything even your father could pay."
He smiled. After a few seconds of silence, Princess Elis slowly put the card away. She nodded, took out her Smartwatch, and tapped something on it. Then she motioned for Fredrik to come along.
Fredrik turned back with a nervous smile toward Croy. The two nodded to each other, and Fredrik and his team left the shop without drawing much attention.
A moment later, Croy heard one of the guests shriek loudly.
"That was Princess Elis Cericius, wasn't it? It was definitely her!"
An older man sitting next to the boy gave him a firm smack on the back of the head.
"Of course, it was, you moron. Now keep quiet, you're disturbing everyone else."
Croy chuckled. So, despite Fredrik's efforts to keep everyone focused on him, they had noticed. And yet, no one had bothered her — perhaps out of reverence, or shock, or simply out of courtesy.
In the end, he and his team were probably the only gawkers.
He shook his head in near disbelief.
"Damn, this pizza is good."
Ben had already finished his.
***
"What do these symbols actually mean?" Croy asked as he watched Ben skillfully engrave the rune spell into the ground.
Lunch break was over, and after an hour of searching, they had found another vacant Academy building. This one was smaller than the previous ones, and, unlike before, some doors here were actually locked, which Croy considered rather unusual.
Ben's finger was enveloped in Mana, and he had explained to Croy that rune spells had to be drawn with Mana, like writing with ink and a quill on paper.
"These are the Four Basic Runes," Ben explained, never taking his concentrated gaze from the rune.
His hand moved swiftly over the ground, and with each stroke, the rune grew more complex.
"Basic Runes?"
Croy had never heard of them. Then again, he knew next to nothing about rune spells.
"Yes, every rune spell is made up of these four basic runes. They're layered, rotated, and distorted, but if you were to deconstruct a rune spell, you'd end up with hundreds, even thousands, of these basic runes in different forms."
Croy looked closer. He realized that Ben repeatedly followed one of four fluid motions, though they sometimes looked a little different each time.
But in the way Ben drew them, Croy couldn't see any pattern. To his eyes, it looked like Ben was randomly choosing one of the four movements each time, then modifying it however he pleased.
"I can't make sense of any of this," he admitted.
Ben chuckled, but his hand didn't stop.
"That's understandable. Even I don't fully understand what I'm doing."
Croy frowned. That wasn't exactly comforting to hear from someone crafting what was essentially a landmine.
"Here's how it works," Ben explained willingly.
"There are two ways to create a rune spell. One is to know the sequence and form of each basic rune the spell requires, then copy them by drawing them in Mana. That's what I'm doing here. But even that isn't as simple as it sounds — you still have to learn it, not just memorize it."
That made sense. Otherwise, with enough time, Croy could have placed this rune spell himself — but he couldn't.
"What's the other way?"
Ben drew the final lines of the explosion rune, examined it with satisfaction, and stood up.
"The other way is to create a rune spell from scratch. But that requires not only knowledge of the symbols as a whole but also an understanding of how Mana is stored in objects. Think of it like applying a math formula versus deriving it from the ground up. New rune spells are only created after years of research or through the flash of insight of a true genius."
Croy nodded slowly as he absorbed Ben's words. In principle, it was like any other spell from the remaining Five Categories, with the exception of Spacetime Spells. Fundamentally, Croy was just copying the activation conditions for his spells as well. Even though he could set up a passive barrier spell faster than most, he didn't alter any of his spells from scratch — except the Mana Bullet.
But even that had taken him a year of constant battles in war to achieve.
He tilted his head.
"How do you activate a rune?"
"Well, that part's actually pretty easy," Ben replied.
He pointed to the tip of his finger.
"The key difference from regular spells is that you need to concentrate the Mana at the contact point between yourself and the object with the rune spell. Otherwise, the waves from your Mana won't transfer effectively. In body spells, this happens automatically, and for other spells, you don't usually have to worry about it."
Croy looked at his fingers and the surface of his hand.
'The contact point is the key?'
"We have company," Portis's voice called from the entrance as he stepped in, careful not to tread on the explosion rune.
Croy and Ben turned to him.
"How many?" Croy asked.
"Looks like two teams this time."
Even though they'd waited until another terminal was activated again, it seemed that the remaining teams were gradually gathering at the locations where terminals were still available.
Croy nodded.
"We need to hold it for nine more minutes. Everyone to your positions."
With that, they split up — Portis and Ben went into the adjacent room and shut the door. This time, the terminal was right next to the entrance, allowing them to keep it activated while they had finished their preparations.
It was Croy's job to lure the teams further into the building. He didn't want a close-quarters fight right at the entrance — not with multiple teams.
He moved about five meters back into the hallway. Deeper inside the building was a spot where he could make better use of his tactical skills. That's where he'd draw them.
He waited patiently.
And waited.
He heard a car pass by on the street outside.
Slowly, he grew restless.
'Where are they?'
The two teams wouldn't fight in the middle of the street, would they? No, that would be against Imperial law.
Had something scared them off?
Someone?
The door slowly creaked open. It wasn't the rush of an opponent, but as if someone were just walking into their own house.
A man entered. Croy's eyes widened in shock. This was no student. The man was in civilian clothing!
"Stop!" Croy shouted desperately, but in the next moment, the unsuspecting man stepped directly onto the explosion rune.