"When does Nathan Modernson plan to return?"
Arthur Paradox asked among the usual number of files, one hand on the table to support the weight of his fatigued face, the other clicking mindlessly on the long table of the Student Council. Behind him stood a figure with his hands crossed behind his back, a black cloak that covered almost every part of his body up to his neck.
"Tomorrow." He answered without any emotion. The scenery outside the window seemed to interest him more than a conversation with Arthur.
"You want to know what I'm thinking?" Arthur suspended his clicking and slammed his hand onto the table, heavy but controlled.
"The story he told at Lostburg."
It wasn't a guess; in fact, it couldn't even be considered an answer. It seemed more like a definitive statement that would not accept a denial.
"I don't understand it." Arthur furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully. "What point was he trying to express?"
"The fable itself is not as deep as you imagine," the figure replied softly. "Reading the surface alone explains the point well. This is your problem, Arthur Paradox: you complicate things more than they are. Let's not forget that that's also information from one month ago; let the past pass so we can focus on the future."
For a moment, Arthur seemed like he was about to argue something back, but he eventually chose to hold it within himself.
"One more question."
"Ask ahead."
"Do you think I could restrain Nathan Modernson without your support?"
Before the figure could answer, a knock on the door interrupted the tense air within the Student Council room.
The other four members of the Student Council entered without waiting for a reply, already too used to the procedure to stop and think. They positioned themselves on their allocated seats and silently placed their resources on the space before them, until they looked towards Arthur's direction and realised that there was an extra person inside the room.
Arthur dismissed their question before it was asked. "Ignore his existence, proceed as normal."
The figure, however, turned around steadily and gestured a greeting to everyone else in the room. Apart from Nicolas Terrast, almost all of them flinched slightly at the rather unsettling appearance.
At first glance, one would misperceive the figure as shrouding his appearance with a mask. However, it was more like a thick pen that could draw on thin air had scribbled chaotically on his face. The only visible part of his body was the long, wildly grown white hair that went down to his shoulders.
Without any further action, he faded away like a ghost, as if he had never been there to begin with. Even Nicolas lifted his eyebrows in shock. To vanish completely without a trace was a type of advanced Rune Arts that few had comprehended, let alone the fact that nobody even saw him cast a Rune Art from start to finish.
"Arthur, if I knew the answer to that question, then I wouldn't have chosen to collaborate with you."
Arthur let out a heavy breath of contempt. He leaned backwards in his seat; nobody could see through his expression.
No one dared to ask who exactly that person was. They followed Arthur's command to report the weekly affairs of the Imperial Academy, which, to everyone's preference, was much less troublesome than the times when Nathan Modernson remained in the academy.
It was either a school property break or how extra funds were needed for a programme that the academy staff didn't bother to manage. Arthur had almost grown bored with how normal the academy had been since Nathan's departure. His Salvation Club seemed to have disbanded completely; he cared too little to investigate its cause deeply. Without Nathan's shadowing identity and bothersome schemes, he didn't believe that they would trouble the academy much in the first place.
He was troubled, however, by how strangely polite Leo Blanc and William Schwarz were to each other. The conflict between their clans seemed not to have reached a personal level in the relationship between the two. Furthermore, Amy Blanc locked Leo inside a room on the spire of the central tower with the lame excuse of extra tutoring, which not only didn't solve the problem, but also locked him out from intercepting in between.
"Call it positive or not, this term holiday has been one of the most peaceful ones for quite a while." Jonathan Schwarz pointed out as his head lay on the table. "President, remember what Miss Blanc did at the midterm holiday two years ago?"
"Still haven't forgotten that?" Amy Blanc ridiculed. "Need a reminder of what you did last year?"
Aside from the Student Council members, Arthur was afraid that everyone in their year remembered what had happened during those times. Though they seemed more like children's play to them now, it was quite the hustle back then. Ever since Amy and Jonathan became the two vice presidents of the Student Council, they had truly begun to engage in meaningful and mature methods.
The Paradox Clan, since its founding, had existed for one true purpose: to uphold the Equilibrium System at all costs. His mother had given him a final test to prove that he was capable of carrying this responsibility. Arthur knew exactly what he had to do; this plan had been under his consideration for quite some time now.
"Enough." He ordered. "There's an announcement that I need to make."
The Student Council room fell silent. Arthur's extra-serious tone gave them a bad feeling about what was about to be announced.
"After careful consideration, I, Arthur Paradox," he intoned,
"Hereby resign from my position as the Student Council President."
"As for who will replace me," Arthur eyed Jonathan and Amy meaningfully, "that's for the students to decide. Nicolas, please pass this announcement to Principal Nox."
"There are three hypotheses in the Tower of Discovery that explore the origin and nature of Rune Arts. I'm positive we are all aware of what they are by now, but my question is: is it possible that none of these hypotheses are correct?"
Ash Robert noted the question briefly in a blank space of his textbook, but was well aware that he would never be picked to answer such a question. As a student who was perfectly mediocre, silent, and without any significant status, most professors chose to ignore his existence in the classroom completely unless they were actively reminded.
"Yes, Maria."
"I think it's possible, sir."
"Fantastic, but if so, what do you think is the origin of Rune Arts?"
"...I don't know, sir."
"Bryan, you got any thoughts?"
"No, I've never thought about that before."
"That's fine. Now, Mr Robert, you seem to have some ideas, or else you wouldn't be writing in your textbook."
Ash lifted his head in disbelief. The professor wasn't wrong that he did have an answer in mind; he just didn't expect him to notice his writing. The room's attention was fixed on him. Eyes of indifference, amusement, and mockery drowned him like always.
"Go on, Ash!" Some students from the back jeered.
He sighed and stood up steadily. He picked the Tower of Discovery as his study direction for the simple reason of avoiding people he couldn't stand, but it seemed like he just wasn't welcomed anywhere. If Nathan Modernson were still in the academy, people would at least have a degree of fear towards him, considering what he did to Edgar Helmander. However, without him, his situation wasn't exactly much better than before.
"I was just thinking, right, what if there isn't an exact 'origin' to Rune Arts? What if Rune Arts just existed in this world due to some random chance?"
The room broke into chaotic laughter; no one seemed to respect his answer in the slightest.
However, the professor signalled the students to silence, his tone serious and acknowledging. "Perfect, exactly the type of answer I needed, and one with some legitimate possibilities. Sit down, please."
Ash sighed again, but this time, in relief rather than anxiety. The students also moved their eyes away, no longer caring about his existence.
"But look, here is how I want you to approach wild ideas you may have." The professor continued his lecture with expertise. "Do you think throughout the 500 years of discovery, your seniors have never thought of such hypotheses before?"
"What Ash said, I assure you, has definitely been proposed by scholars before, and I assure you further, it has also definitely been proven incorrect before."
"The reason why we only care about these three hypotheses is that all else did not withstand the test of time, but they stood firm. Is it possible that they are all wrong? Maybe, but that's when we have to get extremely, and I mean, extremely, creative. This is what the second term of Year 2 of the Tower of Discovery course is all about…"
A bad feeling began to rise in Ash's heart. From the sound of it, this course was also nowhere close to as easy as he had imagined.
When the lecture finally ended, he rushed outside as soon as possible to finally have some free time to himself. Maybe he would go to the first floor of the academy to hang out with the members of the temporarily disbanded Salvation Club. The idea of disbanding the club until the return of Nathan Modernson was an idea offered by Daniel Whitedawn, confirmed by him, and supported by Jennifer Lumendra. Under these three major members' faith and leadership, it was certain that the club could be re-established the moment Nathan returned.
The only thing he worried about was the disappearance of Leo Blanc, but now that the holiday was over, he would most likely appear again.
In his thoughts, he would never have expected the ferocious force that struck the back of his head like a hammer. He bent forward uncontrollably, barely able to stop himself from falling over.
He lifted his head in agony, caressing the point of impact with care. Standing before him was a small group of jerks who always picked on him, their smiles vicious and enraging as always.
"Oops, it's Ash," one of them mocked with an exaggerated tone of apology. "Totally my fault, Ash, I thought it was our mate."
"Yeah, you'll forgive us, right?" Another hooked his arm around Ash's shoulders, giving him a bash in the process.
"Of course," Ash replied calmly. "People all make mistakes." He shook the guy's arm off him politely and walked away with wide steps. Whatever they did to him no longer mattered to Ash at this point. The only thing that mattered to him currently was the Salvation Club and the club members he loved. As long as those jerks didn't lay their hands on them, he couldn't care less about some dry jokes.
He expected more teasing to come his way, but instead came only screams of fear.
"HELP ME, MY SKIN! MY SKIN!"
Ash turned his head around in vigilance. The bullies whom he imagined would continue to laugh in content stared at their arms with eyes as wide as humanly possible. What should have been a layer of skin was now turning into exposed, blazing flesh that could inflict trauma simply by staring at it.
They looked at Ash in a completely different way, like he was a monster who had just put a curse on them. Without any hesitation, they charged towards the medical area of the academy, as if staying for one more second was enough to take their lives.
The few students who were around looked at Ash with suspicion, but the wiser ones had already left to mind their own business rather than choosing to get into trouble.
"Ahh… I'm at the stage where I really can't afford to get hurt anymore, huh?"
Ash followed the direction of the voice and found the culprit behind what had happened. To his surprise, it was an old lady who could not look more friendly and approachable than she already was. Her back was slightly bent forward, but her fingers were spinning the two wands skillfully, a half-green, half-red rune gradually fading away as it resolved.
He had the urge to greet her as a professor of the academy, but on second thought, which professor would hurt a student to that extent?
"Don't be afraid, boy." She walked towards him in unhurried steps. "Just to make sure I found the right person, you are Ash Robert, right?"
"Yes, I am." Ash nodded, still highly alert. "You need something, ma'am?"
"I do, boy, I do." The old lady smiled. "I've been informed that you possess an Elemental Duality consisting of fire and wind, also completely harmonised, just like mine. And as perfectly as fate turned out, it happens that you do not currently have a mentor. Boy, if it doesn't displease you, would you like to be my apprentice?"
Fire and wind were a type of Elemental Duality that was considered a deadly, complementary, yet double-edged sword, extremely devastating, but equally as difficult to learn and master. If mistakes in training occurred, even being able to be sent to the hospital would be considered a fortune. For this reason, Ash was always hesitant to use the two elements together, and since all other suitable mentors had been chosen before he had a chance to, he decided to go mentorless, just like Nathan at the beginning.
"I…" Ash's instincts pushed him to reject the offer, but recalling the horrifying impact her Rune Arts had on his enemies, a sudden flame began to suffocate him from the inside.
"I would be a fool if I said no." He whispered, yet as determined as he could be. "But… could I ask who you are? And also, why do you know so much about me?"
His newly acknowledged mentor nodded with appreciation. "That's my fault, not telling you beforehand." It was as if her presence was soothing in its nature, to the point that Ash could not believe someone like her had just cast the most ruthless Rune Art he had ever seen.
"Who I am… is hard for me to say now, really, but I go by the name Ember. Ironically similar to yours again. The reason why I know you is that I'm trying to find someone like you, and coincidentally stumbled upon the perfect target."
"Let me be clearer with you. You are in close relations with a boy named Nathan Modernson, isn't that right?"