Chương 83: Chasing The Enigma

Vyrd has always been a hotbed of political activity. Yet, this was never as intense as it was during the time of the Realmbreaker Wars. Alliances were forged and broken on the same day, backstabbing and betrayals were more common than birthdays, and nations rose and fell at the same rate as the citizens they harboured within their borders.

Even when the Realmbreaker Wars had reached its most dangerous stage, when the various countries were forced to ally with each other just to ensure survival, there was never any true camaraderie between Vyrdians from different states. For reasons delineated elsewhere, one nation took centre stage during this tumultuous time. Androvia rose to prominence through their efforts to turn the tide of the Realmbreaker Wars. Yet, their prominence wasn't without trouble of its own kind.

After all, it was the political pressure from the rest of the Vyrdian nations that forced Androvia to cut loose the greatest of its national treasures, including those who had granted them so many victories before the Accords. Even now, even to this day, resentment against Androvia is rife within supposedly allied nations. One can never rest on one's laurels. Informational Pamphlet on the state of Vyrd Skrinier L. Ryland finished grading the last midterm and sat back with a decent amount of satisfaction.

The grades were overall quite good. It seemed his students had absorbed the lessons he had been looking to impart rather well. Unsurprisingly, Acrypha had scored the highest. In fact, she had scored a hundred and ten percent, thanks to completing the bonus question correctly along with all the regular problems. Almost no one else had even managed full marks, much less getting more than the midterm's stated total. She was something else. Dealing with the midterms freed up some time for Ryland himself.

He could now work on his own academic matters. Which basically meant he needed to put some actual time and effort into his research. None of his Golbirds had returned with any piece of himself yet, although, that wasn't necessarily going to help with form his thesis on Calamities. Just because the piece of him that had been stolen by Academ Folis had turned into one didn't mean all the others would as well. Although, he was still a mite disappointed he hadn't even gotten to see what piece it had been.

But regardless, his actual research needed a different sort of effort. And at first, it was the boring kind of effort. The first thing in nearly every thesis was basically a literature review. He had to formally categorize and present what prior research had taken place that was in any way related to his chosen field. Essentially, it was grunt work involving looking up old texts and repositories like the Glyphtech scroll Academ Soto possessed.

Ryland spent the better part of the next two or three days hunting down various papers in all sorts of journals to create a basic compendium of all researched information about Calamities. There were a quite a few interesting finds that made it feel a little less monotonous than it should have been. For instance, one researcher several decades ago had inspected various Vestiges all across Vyrd and had come to a corroborated conclusion that each Vestige was a vestige in truth of the Calamity's manasoul.

Ryland agreed with that assessment wholeheartedly. After all, evolving manasouls to their next stage was how Calamities were born in the first place, and that evolution made manasouls a lot more… separable. Yet another discovery had gone after the specific trigger that caused Calamities to arise. An Academ known as Fryen had found that every historical instance required a magical catalyst. Something that could grant mana, especially the mana ejected by the pre-Calamity manasoul of the subject, a new property.

Usually a heretofore unseen characteristic. Another assessment that Ryland agreed with. Wild experimentation, terrific magical phenomena, mana going haywire. Just a few of the many possible reasons that triggered the rise of Calamities. His musings and research on thesis was interrupted when a sudden pressure entered the city. It was like a thrum in the air, a low vibration taking root in the walls and floors and windows and every other part of his office room.

Mana felt more alive, more insistent, verging closer to the surface of reality to spike out with tremendous intensity. Ah. This had to be the arrival of the Prime Minister of Androvia. Although, wasn't it a bit earlier than expected? It wasn't Ryland's business. Not at first. But then he sensed it. A piece of himself was somehow coming along with the kind of magical aura he had last felt in the presence of the leader of House Faldor ages ago. His Inscribed Glyph of Detection was adamant about it.

Now that was an unexpected development. Ryland tried to see if anything of who was approaching was visible through his office window. All he saw was the general hustle and bustle of the city in the distance, beyond the academy grounds. It was hard to make anything out. He was considering whether he ought to use [Omniscience] and locate the piece of himself as soon as possible, but then, a knock sounded on his door.

"We could use some help with the preparations, sir," Viren said once Ryland had bidden him to enter.

"Apparently, the Prime Minister decided to make a very early entry, so now everything on the schedule has been moved up." Oh, true. Ryland could already imagine the kind of chaos the Prime Minister's early arrival was going to cause to all the plans that Arcoryx City and Academy had prepared.

"Certainly," Ryland said.

"I'll be happy to help so long as I'm capable of it." This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Viren gave him a strangely flat look.

"Sir, I think you're capable of pretty much anything." Ryland smiled.

"How flattering that you think so."

"I was just telling the truth, sir." Ryland blinked.

"Oh. Well, in that case, that's hardly true. After all, my skills in crochet are vastly limited, as you know."

"Right…" As Viren started detailing everything that was going on with the preparations, Ryland figured a more subtle approach with regards to the piece of himself would be more appropriate. He could already feel the magic all around the city starting to perform strange little "acrobatics" and whatnot. No doubt, if Ryland lanced his way through all that just to get to his desired goal, he'd be setting off a thousand alarms and putting everyone on edge.

In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if there were already a lot of people who had sensed him and were… taking appropriate measures. After all, thanks to that meeting with the High Warden and the Oracle, he was very much a known quantity now. Honestly, it was a little surprising no one had yet followed up on how the oracle had called him a Calamity that day. Though, he supposed with all the chaos during that moment, it was probably a detail that had slipped a lot of people's minds.

Or, they just weren't sure what, if anything, they could or should do about it.

"Does that sound alright, sir?" Viren asked. Ryland nodded.

"It certainly does. Come on. Let's go see what we can do about these preparations of yours." Recent events had High Warden Rother trying to re-evaluate his position in life. He had been one of the topmost mages in all of Arcoryx City just a few months ago. And then things had tumbled about and around so hard, he now felt second-rate at best. Him. The High Warden. If Selia and the children ever heard his self-recriminating thoughts, they'd go mad. And rightfully so, he supposed.

He had no reason to wallow in self-pity. Why was he always comparing himself and his station to that of others? If anything, he ought to be proud. He had successfully taken Arcoryx City to a stage where all these momentous events could happen. He was at least a part of the reason why the city was being blessed with good fortune. Right? Certainly, the latest invasion by Living Mana couldn't be called good fortune by any means.

But they had been visited by the Oracle, and now, they were entertaining the Prime Minister of Androvia himself. That too for the first time in over half a century. Surely that counted towards an amazing accomplishment.

"This is the first location we've identified where the anomaly occurred," the Senior Enforcer said. Rother looked around. They were at the train station in the Seventh District, one of the locations where the Enforcers were investigating for "potential security issues".

"Right." Another Enforcer, one who had visited Arcoryx Academy during the theft of the Vestige, turned to face Rother.

"This is where the disruption in the city's Warding Inscriptions was first noted. Would you kindly confirm that, High Warden?" He nodded.

"Yes, this was where we first received an alert that something had happened, though we didn't have a good idea of what could have caused the disturbance." That was good enough for the Enforcers, who continued their strange and indecipherable investigation. Rother never understood what exactly they got up with all their weird Glyphs and spell circles, but it wasn't his business, so he didn't interfere.

That said, he did spot them rewinding time to see what exactly had happened a few months ago when the disruption to the Inscription had first been noted. He also saw them inspecting the city's defences at that exact location. It awed the High Warden when the portion of the gigantic Inscribed spell circle became visible over the station. So many Glyphs joined together in such an intricate array. And to think one lone man had disrupted the whole thing just by his mere presence alone. Madness.

Rother wasn't being upfront about the existence of Ryland because he didn't need to. They weren't asking him about it either. The Enforcers were maintaining a careful balance of pretending this was mostly about security when in truth they were actually investigating Ryland.

"Time to move on," the second Senior Enforcer said. Despite the muffling of her mask, her voice still cracked like a whip, and the rest of the Enforcers responded accordingly. They all went straight to Arcoryx Academy. Much like the rest of the city, the academy was abuzz with the arrival of the Prime Minister of Androvia. They were being graced by the presence of the most important man in the entire nation. Excitement was an understatement.

Even the academy was sparing no expense to ensure it was ready to receive the Head of House Faldor. This time, they were in the hall with the gigantic bubble of Living Mana, the one that housed the Reality Demesne for the Entrance Trials. They all stared blankly at the Living Mana.

"Well…" said one of the junior Enforcers.

"Should we move on to the next site?" Both Senior Enforcers grumbled under their breaths. The problem with a Reality Demesne was that it was nearly impossible to verify what had gone within it. That was, unless they checked the records.

"Would you kindly bring us the viewing records of the Entrance Trials, High Academ?" the first Senior Enforcer asked. Rother nodded. It was his duty to ensure he did everything in his power to assist the Enforcers in completing their investigation. Soon enough, they were all busy watching everything that had unfolded in the Entrance Trials. The more Rother watched the recording, the more he felt like snatching it away from the Enforcers. They kept returning to the moments where Ryland had cast his magic.

Like the time he had opened a rift to the sun. Or when he had evaded all those Wolbears. Or when he had disappeared into that impossible wintry storm between mountains along with that frightful monstrosity that should have been far beyond anything a lowly grad student could have handled.

"What kind of magic is he casting?" the junior Enforcer asked.

"Did he just… stop that monster with his bare hands?" said another.

"I'm still wondering what in the Realms he did to make that bully so scared," the second Senior Enforcer murmured.

"Without even seeming to cast any real magic…" Rother had wondered the same things when he had first heard of what had happened at the Entrance Trials. Now, however, after the incidents on Sundermount, he was trying not to question things as much. Otherwise, his mind would start spiralling, and that would help nobody. They quickly moved on to the next location of their investigation.

In this case, this was the large hall used for seminars, where all the Enforcers were staring straight up as though there was something in the air. There wasn't. Rother was looking up too and he found nothing. Yet every Enforcer silently came to an agreement before continuing on.

"Ah, I'm afraid even for you, this area is restricted," the High Warden said apologetically.

"The academy doesn't even allow me into the Department of Herbology's restricted zone." Surprisingly, the Enforcers acquiesced and moved on. But who was Rother kidding. They'd investigate in secret later, without any pesky High Wardens blocking them. But for now, they reached the final location of their investigation. A classroom. Yet again, the Enforcers investigated every nook and cranny, using [Rewind] a few times just to see what had happened.

"This magic…" the junior-most Enforcer said again.

"I've never seen anything like it."

"Was that a four-dimensional spell circle?" another asked. That had Rother blinking rapidly too. He had heard of quite a lot of craziness, had already witnessed a good deal of insanity thanks to the subject of their investigation, but this was surely pushing the limits of acceptability. A spell circle where the Glyphs changed with time? The High Warden hadn't even heard of such a thing before.

"Well," said the second Senior Enforcer, voice lashing through the room.

"I think we've gathered enough evidence to prove that our concern is valid and our cause is, as ever, just." The first Senior Enforcer nodded, before turning to Rother.

"High Warden, would you kindly guide us to where our target is located? For the safety and security of the greatest personage in all of Androvia, if not all of Vyrd, we must apprehend Marionys Ryland."