Chương 94: Secured

The aftermath of the whole debacle didn't particularly interest Ryland. His priorities were simple, after all. Was Viren okay? Yes. The trauma of the situation was going to leave a mark, just as nearly losing Tallow had, but that was something they could deal with over time. Ryland wasn't downplaying its seriousness but Viren was an amazingly resilient boy. He had faith in Viren. Was the academy fine?

There were people who had gotten hurt and there was some minor infrastructural damage to the institution, but again, none of them were serious. In fact, by the time Ryland returned with Viren, the Mage Knights, and all the captured Eliminator Mages in tow, the Healer Mages had done a fantastic job of taking care of all the casualties. Was his goal and research about to be seriously impacted? Not particularly.

There would no doubt be some distractions and disturbances here and there, even as things returned to normal, more or less. But Ryland was nothing if not adaptable. One couldn't travel through and claim the power of as many Realms as Ryland had without it. It wasn't that he had no intention whatsoever of seeing what had happened to Dyron and the Eliminators from Kurin. A part of him was interested if they were related.

Had Dyron, after all these centuries, finally gotten fed up with his nation and signed onto the agenda of Kurin? That seemed highly improbable, of course, yet Ryland felt there was some connection between the two incidents of the Empyrean-ranked mage's attack and then the terrorist threat. Something possibly to do with the piece of him he had now absorbed. Regardless, when all the big meetings and gatherings and whatnot occurred, Ryland deftly bypassed them all and focused on his own matters.

Such as taking Viren and Acrypha with him to a restaurant near the academy, where they were allowed to eat as much of the buffet they could stomach. It was a good use of Ryland's salary.

"This flatbread is stuffed with cheese," Viren said in wonder, having never had such a delicacy." And jam."

"If you aren't careful," Acrypha said, eating her food much more daintily.

"Then you'll put this entire buffet out of business." Viren just grinned at her.

"They shouldn't have let a growing boy into a buffet, then." Acrypha nudged her eyes towards Ryland.

"Do you think they could stop you?"'"Well…" Ryland arched an eyebrow in mild offence.

"The owners of this nice little establishment are entirely in their rights to ban whomever they wish for whatever reason, minus baseless discrimination of course. I certainly wouldn't stop them from banning Viren." Viren dropped his fork and stared aghast at Ryland.

"I've been betrayed! Banning me would be discriminating against growing boys!"

"I for one highly encourage the discrimination against growing boys," Acrypha said. Viren shot her a glower while Ryland chuckled. Much as Acrypha liked to remain aloof and icy when she wasn't busy tearing Viren's somewhat fragile ego apart, she did care. Ryland had returned to the Headmaster first to report that Viren was safe and well, and before he could leave to the Healer Mages, Acrypha had already arrived in person to ensure Viren was okay.

Viren himself had seemed touched by it right up until she had complained about the burning stink making her regret ever meeting him in the first place.

"We've got an excursion soon, sir," Viren reminded Ryland for the umpteenth time after they had exited the restaurant post-meal.

"Viren," Acrypha said a little testily.

"This makes it the seventeenth time you've said that exact same thing."

"You're keeping count?"

"Yes. Because I intend to make you suffer for each and every one beyond the first." Viren gave her a venomous look before returning to Ryland.

"You're coming, right sir?" Ryland gave him an appraising look.

"You don't get your fill of adventuring easily, do you?"

"Well, it's why I joined the Excursion Club in the first place. And I wouldn't really call the last one an adventure, sir. It was more like a—""Kidnapping?" Acrypha suggested unhelpfully. Viren adeptly held himself back from spitting at her." Temporary forced displacement." Ryland laughed lightly again at the description. Mostly, he was glad that Viren seemed to be taking it rather well. He supposed good food helped a lot with that.

"I will think about it," Ryland said.

"Let's see when the time comes." Viren appeared slightly agitated at being left in tension regarding whether Ryland was actually going on the excursion or not. In truth, he figured he ought to go. Otherwise, he'd just be a member in name only and that didn't sit well with him. Nevertheless, he didn't want to raise Viren's hopes without confirmation.

"Focus on your classes for now," Ryland said.

"The excursion won't leave without you."

"The academy gave me leave, sir." He almost looked proud of it.

"I can do whatever on my free days."

"Simply because the academy has given leave to students who were attacked doesn't mean you should waste the free time you've gained," Acrypha said.

"I'm not wasting it. Get off my case, already!" Ryland shook his head. Children. Far off to their left, fireworks went off and people danced as the Prime Minister continued his celebrations through Arcoryx City. The events of yesterday were already a minor blip in the eyes of many. Well, maybe not that minor. Ryland personally knew the Headmaster, the High Warden, and several others were all rather concerned at the events. But the Prime Minister wasn't letting the people panic.

Words had no doubt spread, and most of the academy was no longer in the mood to celebrate after the attack. Yet Klyne Faldor believed that it was best to appear to move on from it. Ryland left the politics of the situation to the politicians and moved on. For all that Viren—and several of his other students, to be fair—were overly excited by what had happened during the attack, he managed to somehow make them listen to his lesson about manasoul manifestations. He didn't blame their excitableness.

They were children, after all. At their age, he'd have been a bit easily excited about such things too. It was just age and experience that had tempered his response to things. All that said, the students were very happy with their midterm performance, with many reporting that Intuitive Magic was their top class now. Ryland briefly entertained ideas about making his next exams a little harder, but he discarded the notion pretty easily.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. He had given them appropriate tests, and if the students had done well, then it was due to their own merits. But doing well had also given them newfound motivation to engage with all course content even more energetically than they had already been doing so far. They were now even more determined to absorb everything Ryland could tell them and end the semester on a high.

The day after, Ryland received a message from Alaric.

"The cells are secure," it read.

"Ryland, if you'd like to pay a visit to the gaols, then you should come with me. Please thank High Academ Heldon for the reminder." Ah. The message had been forwarded by his mentor. Ryland ought to catch up with the fellow, such that he could, and submit something like a progress report for his class and his research. He had just gotten a little… distracted with recent events. That said, he accepted Alaric's invitation and headed down into the bowels of the academy.

"I'm surprised you agreed to come," the Headmaster said when they met up.

"I simply didn't care for the political theatre around the recent incidents," Ryland explained.

"However, I do care, to some extent, about what happens to our intrepid mages now. And I'm also curious about their intentions. They aren't in the same location, are they?"

"Oh no. Not at all. The insurgents from Kurin are already with the Inquisitor Mages from the Royal Court." Ryland suppressed a wince.

"Well, that kind of defeats the purpose of me not really being as harsh with them as I could have been." Not that he had been thinking of harshness during the big battle against all the Eliminators from Kurin. He had just wanted to defeat them, one way or another.

"Reasonable," Alaric said quietly.

"Sometimes, I wish I could take a break from being the Headmaster and simply exist as just another Academ."

"Truly, Headmaster?" Ryland asked in some surprise. He had thought that Alaric, though often looking harried, bore his burdens tremendously well. Probably better than Ryland himself would have.

"It's merely a passing fancy. Come on, our guests await us." Their guest was waiting at one of the deepest sections of Arcoryx Academy. Institution for learning though it was, there were a lot of nooks and crannies serving different purposes within the academy. Ryland recalled a section that was now cordoned off built specifically for the precursor of the current version of the duels. Those were a lot bloodier and much more final.

Some people said there were rooms that appeared and disappeared, others spoke of a labyrinth they had gotten lost in ages ago, where they had entered in one place only to come out at the other end of the academy. There were even rumours certain passageways led to Realms tucked away inside paintings. Ryland hadn't really interacted with the more fanciful varieties of those locations.

He suspected it was because he hadn't been at the academy long enough rather than it being a question of whether they even existed or not. One such location was the dungeons. Ryland went deeper and deeper, down more flights of stairs than he probably had hair on his head, before they finally emerged into a long, dank hallway. It was lined with jail cells, the bars of each cell and cell walls all etched with a massive number of Inscriptions to prevent any mages from getting out.

Even Empyrean-ranked mages like Sokolo Dyron.

"You!" he said. He had looked dead and dreary when he had seen Alaric coming in, but when Ryland had popped in from behind, he had instantly gotten to his feet.

"Why did you come? To gloat? Wasn't your victory enough?" Ryland didn't blame Dyron for that hateful look. After all, he had sent the Empyrean-ranked mage into an entirely different Realm where he had been captured by the locals who were more or less immune to most forms of magic, who had then gone on to truss Dyron up and start preparing him for roasting. A little helplessness to add in a dash of humility. Of course, Ryland had brought him back in before he was actually cooked and eaten.

Some of the scars looked like where the tribal cooks had started trying to slice him up. Ah well.

"No," Ryland said.

"I'm curious."

"And why should I be bothered about satisfying your curiosity?"

"Well, we could repeat the last experience. Where you were about to be chopped and roasted." Alaric blinked rapidly and turned to Ryland.

"You were about to cook the only Empyrean-ranked mage on this side of Vyrd?"

"Not me."

"But he just said—""Just the denizens of Realm 59, where I sent him before I dropped him on your and the Prime Minister's lap."

"He didn't want to let me go, you know," Dyron said. His hands lashed out, grabbing the bars of his cell and gripping them tight enough to turn his knuckles white.

"He still had faith in me. He still believed me. He didn't abandon me. It's all because of your binds that I'm here." Ryland couldn't completely fault that observation. After all, before cooking him, the members of the tribe had installed insurance by dressing Dyron up in constricting chains. Said chains had still been active even after he had been rifted back to Vyrd, so he hadn't been able to cast any magic despite being back.

And no one on Vyrd knew how to get those chains off, since they were extremely mana-repellent. So even if it was true that the Prime Minister might have retained some favour for his old advisor, he hadn't really been able to help. Especially after the truth was revealed.

"I've suffered enough already," Dyron said with a growl.

"Is there anything you could do to me that would be a greater threat than getting eaten alive?" Ryland genuinely began considering the question since he had so many other Realms he could send Dyron to. But then, Alaric stepped forward with a more convincing argument.

"How about the revelation that the Prime Minister wanted you to fail miserably, Dyron?" he said. Both Dyron and Ryland turned to Alaric in surprise.

"Impossible!" Dyron protested. He shook the gaol bars, though that didn't really do much.

"He would never! I am his trusted advisor. I have guided him since he was a boy! I-I am his father! Klyne would never—""He has. Take a moment and think about all the little things that add up. You're in a gaol. Surely you've had plenty of time to use that brain. But we can give you a minute or two to reconcile yourself." Dyron's eyes were a storm. He was clearly almost in shock.

"But I—it should never—" Then he focused on Ryland.

"It's his fault!"

"Me?" Ryland asked.

"Yes! You and your deplorable need to take what isn't yours." Ryland blinked once.

"Do you mean this necklace that you were drawing your own power from? Because that was mine from the very beginning."

"You would really lay claim to an item that you haven't used for centuries as yours?"

"Does ownership degrade over time?"

"Perhaps not. But surely you cannot blame others if they find it lying around and have better uses for it?"

"Better uses such as making it a part of your security protocol and not really telling anyone about it?" Alaric asked.

"He knew! He—" Dyron came to a stop, eyes frozen stiff in shock.

"Yes, you see?" Alaric said, driving home the point. The he Dyron had last mentioned wasn't Ryland. It was the Prime Minister.

"So stop with the act and simply end this little discussion." Ryland took a deep breath, deciding to take advantage of Dyron's state as best as he could as well.

"Where did you find the necklace?" It was odd to keep calling it that, but it would be odder still to continually refer to it as a piece of himself. Really, there was no winning here.

"And how did you acquire it?"

"From Rhel," Dyron eventually said. If Alaric's revelation had been a bit shocking, then Ryland was taken aback by this one as well. Although, with recent events coming to the fore, things were starting to play around in a weird circle.

"Why from Rhel?" Alaric asked, clearly interested now too.

"It was a gift," Dyron said reluctantly.

"There is a reason they picked Vyrd and Androvia as one of their first visits before joining the Accords. We have exchanged several favours and crafted beneficial deals already."

"Before the official signing of the Accords?" Ryland asked.

"Bold."

"They are not to be revealed until the actual signing, but in truth, most observant parties are already aware. It might even be what motivated the attack from Kurin." Ryland arched an eyebrow.

"Is that so?"

"Don't worry," Alaric said.

"We've verified he hasn't sold Androvia out to Kurin. It was just an unfortunate coincidence."

"Yes!" Dyron said with some heat.

"That's a preposterous notion. That I would sell out my own nation in favour of those curs from beyond the border."

"So the security breach due to the necklace," Ryland said even as he theorized.

"Only occurred because the Eliminators from Kurin were already seeking to breach said security. And the sudden disappearance of the necklace gave them that breach. Subsequently, they pushed their plans forward rapidly, resulting in their hasty attack at the academy."

"That's what the Inquisitors have been able to gather so far, yes," Alaric confirmed.

"They got emboldened to move their plan forward when they found the hole in the security. Their impatience actually benefited us. I shudder to think how much worse things would have been had they stuck to their original schedule."

"Not too much worse." Nobody argued against Ryland.

"What exactly did you tie the security to?" he asked Dyron.

"We had a Relic that could be empowered to create a secure field of suppressive foreign magic around a specific target, regardless of the Tier of magic. As such, we could ensure the Prime Minister's safety perpetually."

"And you thought drawing from its main wellspring would be perfectly fine?" Alaric asked. Ryland shook his head.

"You even drew so much that I couldn't discern any connections to any Relics at all." Of course, not being aware of the Relic was part of the point. Otherwise, anyone meaning any ill will could target and destroy it without much difficulty. Dyron hung his head in shame.

"Maybe His Honour was right then…" Ryland turned to Alaric.

"I think I have what I needed."

"Already?" the Headmaster asked in surprise.

"You're certainly no Inquisitor Mage."

"Yes. I am not fond of that level of… crudeness. That said, I am not truly done just yet. But the next person I need to speak with isn't here." Alaric needed a moment to figure out what he meant.

"Ah, I see. Then it seems you'll need to join the next Excursion. Because the Prime Minister is joining in too."