Chương 16: Personal Inventory Realm

Alaric wasn't surprised that Ryland made his displeasure known immediately after the conditions had been stated.

"I have suppressed much of my magic so as not to alarm anyone unduly," Ryland said.

"Though it seems the effort didn't quite match the outcome, going by your reactions so far, Headmaster."

"Oh, believe me, it certainly did." Alaric wasn't going to explain every single warning he had received about Ryland, but he turned the clock on his desk around to face his guests.

"Unfortunately, it seems even you cannot evade all scrutiny, Ryland. However, rest assured that things would be several times worse had you not… suppressed yourself."

"I understand and agree with your point, Headmaster, but hiding away isn't the point. I certainly don't intend to if the situation calls for it." Viren's head was switching between the two men. He was starting to look anxious. Truth be told, Alaric could feel the tension rising, which was silly because this felt like such a minor thing. All the casual aloofness Ryland had held onto so far had evaporated like morning mist.

"It's rather clear, Ryland," Alaric said.

"That you've been away from society for a while. However, now that you've returned, surely you understand that there exist certain non-negotiable rules that even you must follow. And you've already been doing so, if what Viren says is true. So why be belligerent now?"

"I would appreciate it if you didn't mischaracterize firmness as belligerence," Ryland said quietly.

"And while I respect your position, I do not respect being patronized." The protective Glyphs Inscribed on Alaric's clothes and body burned in warning. On his desk, the clock ticked into its face. Before he could speak again, Ryland rerouted the conversation.

"Allow me to make a prediction, Headmaster."

"A prediction?" Alaric asked.

"Yes. There will come a time, sooner or later, where I will need to choose between the convenience of keeping everyone in the dark that you seem to prefer and taking a necessary stand to prevent a calamitous disaster. What choice do you think I will make then?" Alaric very carefully noted that he wasn't asked his opinion on what was the right choice.

"Whichever choice leaves me dealing with the fallout, I imagine." Ryland smiled challengingly.

"I'd rather not hide the truth unnecessarily." Right. Wily man was digging straight to the heart of the matter. Because he was right. He was absolutely right. However much Alaric might try containing the situation, it was already well beyond him. He was pretty certain other significant figures in the city had picked up the same warnings from the Inscribed [Warding] spell. So instead of complying with Alaric's worldview, Ryland was proposing a counter-condition that would make Alaric exercise Ryland's worldview.

After all, he had been alarmed beyond basically anything else he had ever faced in his life. It was a reckoning the rest of the academy—perhaps the city and even Androvia at large—would need to deal with eventually. That was the undeniable truth Ryland had no intention of shying away from. This man… This man was shrewd. Not in the sense that he possessed an underhanded cunning, but rather, someone who spoke with enough experience to always strike through the distracting veils and get to the heart of a matter.

Forsaken Calamities, as if it wasn't bad enough that he seemed to be inconceivably powerful.

"Fine, then," Alaric said with a sigh.

"It seems I have little choice but to accept. I will warn you though, Ryland, that not everyone will be as accepting as I have been." Ryland nodded.

"I would be rather surprised if that was the case. After all, most aren't as strong as you, Headmaster, and you've already been suppressing yourself just like me, in a manner of speaking." He turned to the bespectacled boy.

"Viren, what is he ranked?" Alaric was trying not to goggle. Had his reaction to all the alarms and warnings been that obvious? Had Ryland known all along exactly what Alaric felt throughout their conversation?

"Um." Viren gulped.

"The Headmaster is Primordial-ranked, sir."

"Primordial-ranked! That's quite high, yes? Much higher than my Silver. And—""In no way are you Silver, come on," Alaric said. Ryland arched an eyebrow, and Viren stared. It took a few seconds more before Alaric realized how uncouthly he had expressed his disbelief. He briefly thought about tugging his beard off his face entirely.

"It's true," Ryland said, and Alaric's Glyph of Truth confirmed it was.

"The Grand Frame says I'm merely Silver-ranked. You did say I was away for a while."

"Yes, but it still should have characterized you properly for where you truly stand…" Ryland just shrugged. Alaric leaned back and rubbed the spot between his eyes for a bit.

"The Entrance Trials are in two days. If you pass them, Ryland, then I will happily welcome you into our graduate student body. You have suspiciously fortuitous timing, now that I think about it." Slowly, Ryland smiled.

"Your suspicion is not without merit, Headmaster." Alaric sighed. This man… His apparent aloofness and casual demeanour was a front. He really was shrewd. All this time, he had planned for the fact that he'd need to enrol in the academy again. He hadn't appeared at a random time. Not at all.

"Good luck, Marionys Ryland," Alaric said. Then he shook his head. Who was he kidding?

"Not that you're going to need it."

"I'll take my leave, Headmaster," Ryland said, getting to his feet.

"But before I go, there's one little reminder I'd like to give—please look into the matter of the Excursion Club. Spats between students are one thing, but for the club to leave behind one of their own…" If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Alaric frowned heavily. He had done so before, when they had explained the circumstance of how Viren was in Ryland's company.

Excursion Club members were rigorously trained to prevent the exact sort of scenario that Ryland was complaining about. It was unconscionable that such a thing had come to pass.

"Rest assured," Alaric said.

"That the matter will receive the right resolution."

"Thank you, Headmaster." After the rather successful meeting with the Headmaster, Ryland and Viren parted ways for the time being. Viren had things to take care of at the academy, like letting his club and other academy authorities know that he was back. Ryland was still miffed that the club hadn't appeared to be concerned about Viren. He had entertained the benefit of a doubt on his journey to Arcoryx.

It could very well have been that they had missed each other on their journeys, that members of the club were taking the return train back to Sunstile to find Viren. But if that had been the case, shouldn't Ryland have heard or seen something once they reached Arcoryx? Shouldn't the Headmaster or his secretary have known about a missing student? No matter. Alaric was aware of the issue now. The Headmaster's reassurance had sounded rather convincing, so Ryland would wait and see what came of it.

For the time being, Ryland strolled through Arcoryx City to enjoy its sights. It was nice to visit the spots he was familiar with, especially when contrasted against the many neighbourhoods and locales he had no recollection of. There were a lot of those. The city had changed a great deal. In the evening, he met up with Viren again. The boy was still insistent that he owed a great deal to Ryland, so he was determined to treat Ryland that night.

Admittedly, the cuisine at the seafood restaurant they went to was fantastic. It helped that their seating was top-of-the-line thanks to Ryland flashing his five-star card, and that they'd been receiving nothing short of stellar service.

"I'm so excited you're in the Entrance Trials," Viren said.

"Can't wait to see how everyone else feels when they see what you're capable of." Ryland stifled his laughter. What Viren really meant was that he was eager to see his own flabbergasted expressions reflected on others for a change. What an un-heroic sentiment.

"Were you serious, sir?" Viren asked in between bites of his sauce-slathered dish. At least he was making sure not to talk with his mouth full.

"That you have no intention of suppressing your magic? There's going to be a lot of people observing the Trials." Ryland savoured his food for a moment. The breaded stick of fried fish was so good, he was half-tempted to ask if the chef was Inscribing Glyphs on the food in secret.

"It depends on the situation entirely, Viren. But the point of the matter is that I have no reason to lie."

"No reason, huh?"

"Lies are like fears, Viren. Grow strong enough, and at a certain point, they no longer hold any value."

"That's more… pragmatic than moral." Ryland half-smiled.

"You did say I don't act like a hero." Viren grumbled to himself and proceeded to digest both his food and what he had heard for a while.

"So you're saying hiding is a form of lying?" Viren asked.

"Indeed," Ryland said.

"There is no point in having power if you are forced to hide it everywhere all the time. That said, it would be foolish to ignore the implications of using said power willy-nilly without thinking about consequences, so it isn't as if the Headmaster's concerns are baseless. Nevertheless, I certainly don't intend to hide. Not in truth."

"But what if people target you for it, sir?" Viren eventually asked in rebuttal.

"When they see you've got this tremendous power, won't they bother you? Won't they come after you for one reason or another? What if they come after people close to you instead of you directly?" Ryland narrowed his eyes at Viren.

"You sound like you've given it a lot of thought."

"The Turnalians' book has a lot of interesting supervillains, sir. It's kind of amazing all the ways they go about being nuisances." Ryland chuckled.

"That makes sense, I suppose." He cleared his throat after taking a sip of his cold drink.

"In all the cases you mentioned, there is a simple remedy. One's power must be so utterly absolute that it should leave no other impression in any observer's mind except for the fact that doing anything against the wielder of such power would be a fatal mistake." Ryland fixed Viren with a hard look.

"Do you understand?" Viren swallowed.

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now let's enjoy this shrimp." They did so, and not just the shrimp. The rest of the dishes were great too. Ryland particularly enjoyed the cupcake dessert that the chef recommended.

"I'm paying for it, sir," Viren announced when they were done and were getting ready to leave.

"And I'm not about to take any arguments."

"I certainly wasn't going to argue," Ryland said.

"Merely point out that this meal probably cost more than the first-class tickets."

"Ha! I was aware of that. I'm not that dumb, you know. But I have it covered." Viren proceeded to pay the exact amount that the server said was due. Ryland noted that the currency here had shifted to paper notes as well. Hmm. Had the entirety of the Accorded Realms abolished the use of hard gold and silver coinage then?

"There," Viren said, returning to Ryland with a wide smile of self-satisfaction.

"Told you I'd be able to pay for everything."

"I'd ask if you were a royal prince in secret or something," Ryland said.

"But I recall we confessed we didn't have a drop of noble blood in our veins."

"Nope, no secret benefactors for me." Viren thumped his chest proudly as they exited the restaurant.

"I just took out an advance on the stipend the academy provides and used it to pay the bill." Ryland's eyebrows started rising before he could get a hold of them.

"And how much of an advance did you just use up, Viren?"

"About three months' worth."

"Three months, is it?"

"Don't worry, sir. I promise I have it covered." They came to a stop outside the restaurant. Viren's good cheer started fading as he saw that Ryland's brows had clouded over.

"Was that not a bit impulsive to spend that much money?" Ryland asked. He was trying not to sound harsh. Poor decision or not, it came from a good place. Viren had a noble heart. He still felt like he owed Ryland an impossible debt, so he was determined to make up for it any way he could.

"What are you going to do in the next three months?" Viren shook his head stubbornly.

"It was a good use of my money. I'll just stick to the academy and not spend anything. It's not like I have to pay for food or lodging since the academy provides that for free. And you can borrow any stationary or supplies you need from the library too. I've got everything covered, sir, believe me."

"Was one extremely expensive meal really a good use?"" Yes. It's not about the food. It's—it's not about any of this, really." Viren hesitated.

"It's just…" Ryland said nothing. Viren wasn't done, after all.

"After I came here last year," he eventually said.

"I haven't celebrated my birthday. Not really. Because there's no one to celebrate with." He seemed embarrassed by that admission so quickly added, "Not yet! But that's not the point. The point is that I know what it's like to have no one appreciate you, to celebrate with you." He looked up, steely-eyed behind his glinting spectacles.

"So I decided I'd celebrate for you." Ryland met the boy's unwavering look for a while before finally cracking a small smile. Then he walked past Viren.

"Come with me."

"Uh, where are we going, sir?" Ryland's magic flared, his Soul Glyph's of Aegis and Rift burning to life in separate spell circles.

"You'll see. [Dimensional Barricade]. [Translocate]." Creating random rifts within the city was probably not a good idea, but Ryland targeted his spell on their bodies exactly, so that the rift took on their forms and transported only them. By not making it an open doorway, by preventing any exchange of matter between the rifted space and Arcoryx City, besides themselves, any alarms should be minimal. Viren gasped as they arrived at their destination. He wasn't sick after this rift.

For one, his body had garnered a bit of resistance to it, though that still would have been overshadowed by the sheer distance they had travelled. The more important protection was Ryland's first spell. [Dimensional Barricade] essentially ensured that the spatial coordinates of Viren's body remained constant, so his body was fooled into thinking nothing had really changed. There was no need to violently vomit all over the place in abject terror.

"What is this place?" Viren asked, unable to decide if he ought to stare at the rows upon rows of shelves filled with all sorts of paraphernalia or the open starry sky far above them.

"My personal inventory Realm," Ryland said. Viren's mouth had fallen open. Ryland smiled.

"Come on, I believe I have something you'll like."