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Arnold bumped into Wistorina in the halls on his way to meet Myrena in the student council office. She had apparently accepted the offer they gave her so she's going to be in that office a lot.
She and Celeste can get to know each other this way.
In any case, just like yesterday, his Halo was still active. Maybe it's his imagination but there were way more uncomfortable eyes on him compared to yesterday.
Is it about Rachel? Do they suspect he's on to their little business?
Arnold walked up to one of them giving him the same strange gaze, a first-year student. The reason for this is because he spotted prickling marks on the student's arm. Like Rachel's there was a purple pigmentation that was barely noticeable unless under direct sunlight.
It seems this boy is quite new to the drug and forgot to cover up his marks. This is the easiest way to get caught.
Arnold was looking out for these sorts of naïve kids and worried he would look all day but he only had to set his eyes on the first year students.
"H-How may I help you?" seeing his towering frame, the first-year boy cowered and asked with a stammering voice. His friends backed away a bit seeing his red eyes staring coldly at the boy.
As if this was some show, the peanut gallery found it amusing enough to stand there quietly and watch the exchange.
"Give me your student ID."
"W-What?"
"Are you deaf?"
"N-No! B-But w-why my student ID?" he asked, since Arnold is also just a student and not an officer of the law, a knight or something like that.
It probably is a bit weird.
The boy timidly handed it to him.
"Hm. First year, Class B." he confirmed the boy's class then gave the ID back.
"The vice president of the Student Disciplinary Committee (SDC) will be needing you for some committee business at the end of the day. Come by the office. They're expecting you."
"D-Did I do something wrong?"
"No, but I can't discuss the specifics. Just be there."
The boy gulped then nodded.
The true reason for this is because he wants to get the boy alone so that he can use his ocular power to jump into the boy's memories.
"Don't be late. I don't want to go look through the dean's list to find your room number."
That's if he has a dorm room, that is. But you could tell from his neat clothes, groomed hair, the familiar cologne that Arnold used to use, and that fancy watch—that the boy comes from a well-off family.
It's sad that children from rich families would resort to drugs. Maybe it's because the academy's standards are brutal and the weight society places on these kids' shoulders.
That's Arnold point of view, at least. Then again, he never had to stress over anything because he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
"What was that about…?" Rina, confused by the earlier exchange, asked after Arnold walked away.
"I was entrusted with a secret mission. The interview this afternoon with the boy is related to that."
Morwenne will interview him first to see if the boy will be honest. But Arnold will also be present if he's stubborn.
It probably won't take more than a few hours so he can still make it to the guild later.
"Is the secret mission also the reason why you're still using that Eye…?"
"Yeah."
He doesn't want to give too much away so he just answered vaguely. Her life might be in his hands but that doesn't mean his work concerns her. She has enough stuff to worry about. Adding a mutated demon that was once a human into the mix, will just stress her out.
"Uhm…"
"Hm?"
As the two walked down the hall, he heard Rina try to say something.
"I made some friends…"
"On the second day? They must really like you."
"…Most of them complained about you and tried to convince me to break off the relationship."
"…"
He swallowed his words upon hearing that. As if she thought she did a bad thing, she looked away awkwardly.
They walked silently through the sea of students for a bit before she spoke up again.
"Can I ask something?"
"Sure."
"Are you… really Plesiduxius' reincarnation?"
"Yeah."
"Have you… met Him?"
They took the first flight of stairs.
"No."
"Eh? But legends say reincarnations of divine beings typically means coexistence with the souls of the human and the divine being. A divine soul holds the memories, subconscious and desires of the entity. It's just the same being but in an astral form."
"If that's the case, something must've prevented us from having our first conference." He said jokingly but he felt pissed inwardly at Oriel. It was probably not intentional but just him being in Arnold's body prevented him from meeting Plesiduxius.
Who knows what benefits their meeting would've had? He might've missed out on the chance to obtain knowledge beyond human comprehension.
"Rina, the dragon lords are sacred to your people, right?" as a thought arose, he asked something.
He didn't want to do the quest for Ladiath since there is no reward in it for him anymore. He already has a magic subclass now. But if he doesn't do the quest, Ladiath will own up to that threat he made when they met.
There's no excuse that will get him out of this. Fighting Ladiath is also impossible.
"Yes? They are worshipped by our country as divine beings. Even more so than Melis Herself."
"What do the legends say about Suarif Elipis?"
She looked down uncomfortably.
"…They don't worship him like the others…"
"What do you mean?"
"I wouldn't say he's… hated but our forefathers—who were the only humans to be able to live in their territory to learn more about them—describe him as a cruel demigod who would cull infants or burn villages if he was bored."
…That's pretty accurate, actually. Suarif is the most hated dragon lord. Players used to farm the dragon lords for rare items and loot since they're high-level world bosses. Stats that were posted publicly back in the day indicated that more people killed Suarif than any other dragon lord. They absolutely hated his guts.
The Ice Dragon Lord—who is basically the big sister in charge of them all—now keeps Suarif in line. Before her, it was said that Plesiduxius acted like the older brother but probably grew tired of this role and became a playboy who chased after human females.
In any case, if Suarif had free reign to do whatever he wants, he would attack villages and demand they bring him all sorts of treasures.
Yes, he's one of those stereotypical dragons who likes gold and other shiny things.
It seems that, like Star Fantasy's community, even the people closest to the Dragon Lords hates Suarif a lot.
"Why are you interested in how we see him?"
"I just wanted to learn more about him in particular. Our forefathers wrote down in records that a flying silver dragon used to burn our frontlines with his breath and steal our cattle. You just confirmed that he's the type of bastard who would do that and would be the most likely to start a fight with me if we ever met."
She laughed awkwardly, "You're right… After Sir Arnold's confrontation with Tyrgavion, he will be interested in fighting you."
"He's no different than hot-headed humans, huh?"
A chuckle leaked out of Rina but she quickly cleared her throat, "I-It is as you say…"
'Hmmm…. What to do?'
Should he try to provoke Suarif into fighting him then kill him and take his soul? But… if news spread of what he did to Tyrgavion—killed him over and over and had his powerful dark magician ally revive him again and again—the Dragon Lords may request that he do the same for their fallen brother. They might even reward him handsomely and as an apology.
The point of killing Suarif is to take his soul. It's already a known fact that reviving a person right after death will keep their soul intact so he can't use the excuse that he lost his soul somehow since it takes at least a day for the soul to disappear from the body.
It seems it's unavoidable to crash their little ritual as a mysterious nameless figure. But in order for this to succeed, he will need to use the Draconic Halo. That will surely narrow down the search as to who it is.
In order to avoid getting identified—since each Halo has a different pattern and shape—he'll need to ensure no one remembers what happened. On top of using the eye's abilities, he will need a memory wipe spell but the kind that will work are very high tier. At least seventh-rank.
He will need to do a lot of studying from now on to increase that intelligence stat of his…
The two of them arrived at the Seventh-Year student wing. Unlike the other student halls, there were no students lazily sitting right in the hall and smoking right in each other's faces.
The classrooms the two of them walked by were open and you could see students inside, eating while reading through notes.
Such disciplined students. But it's a good thing if they want to graduate and make something of themselves.
They reached the student council office. The smell of herbal tea drifted from the slightly open door.
Arnold knocked a few.
The chatter inside stopped and he could hear Celeste inside saying: "Tell whoever that is that we're not able to receive visitors."
Hurried footsteps approached the door.
Myrena was the one who opened the door.
She was surprised for a second then stepped outside and closed the door shut.
"I apologize, they're holding a meeting in there so non-affiliated students can't go in." Myrena looked at Rina, "Are you my king's friend?"
"A bit more than just a friend." He answered in her stead.
"…I see. I'm Myrena." She spoke informally with Rina, despite being the junior.
"Wistorina…" the two shook hands.
Before the atmosphere could get awkward, he brought up the subject, not caring that Rina was here.
"This might seem out of nowhere but I need your help with something. It's an urgent matter so it would be great if you can handle it within the next few days."
"How may I assist you, my King?" Myrena put one hand to her chest and bowed her upper body.
She's fully committed to being his obedient wife, huh?
"I need you to send word back home that I need an army, including Tyrgavion. Have them wait outside the empire's walls for me to come to them. An acquaintance of mine will lead them to where they're needed."
"…An army? My King, forgive my asking but… are you planning on invading a country?" she asked a ridiculous question.
"I-Is this how you're planning on saving my people?" Rina asked nervously.
"No and no. It's hard to explain it to you since neither of you probably know about it. A portal to the dimensions of hell opened up somewhere in the empire's lands."
As expected, the two had confusion written all over their faces. He explained in simple terms what it was.
After about a minute, Myrena nodded in understanding.
"A place where every sin is stored and manifests into monsters…" Myrena muttered.
"S-Shouldn't we take this information to the emperor!?" Rina, on the other hand, panicked.
"No, the things that come out of the portal are unkillable. Even if we have more heads, humans have limited stamina and endurance so we will lose in the end."
Numbers might seem important but one has to understand that what lies beyond that portal is beyond human comprehension. Even if you encounter a monster you think can be taken down by a few S-rankers, your expectations will be betrayed and you will only end up dying for nothing.
Anything thrown into those hellish dimensions, especially the Abyss where the River of Cocytus stream ends, comes out as a walking calamity.
To explain in simple terms the purpose of this hell, it's basically endgame for players who beat the main story and want to attain godhood or ascend their classes.
Lufulur never did this since the grinding was just too hellish. But he knows that Alecs beat a few of the bosses in the first "layer" and was almost close to ascending to Sword God.
And the worst part is that entering is like being reset to level one. Not literally—but close enough. All your broken builds, all your overpowering strength, they get cut down to scraps. You get to keep your gear and experience, but the monsters scale so far above you it's like trying to stab a mountain with a kitchen knife.
Progression is brutal. Grinding for days just to beat one enemy. And every time you adapt, the dungeon adapts back—patterns shift, weaknesses vanish, bosses respawn stronger. It's like the constant fighting is meant to break you.
That's why no one sane ever attempts it, only the crazies in the top guilds. The rewards are power and gear beyond normal comprehension. But the cost? Your humanity, your sanity… maybe your existence itself. It might sound a bit much but that's the mentality of most people that clear the dimension dungeons.
"But isn't that the same for dragons? They may be strong but if the creatures you mentioned are as dangerous as you say they are, even they will only postpone their own demise."
"That's the thing. The fight will be to buy time."
"Would the Halo's abilities not be enough for such a thing?"
"The anti-magic ability I have can do nothing against runic magic."
"Pardon…?"
"The portal I mentioned was create from runes, probably a spell Gods used thousands of years ago."
Myrena's mouth hung open, "N-No human could have cast such a thing…"
He nodded.
"Not without influence from a god-like being, that is."
Suluvuk helped them open it, after all.
Adding on to the Halo's ineffectiveness against this type of magic--Runic magic is powered by runes, not mana. As such, there's no way to break the spell down with an ocular ability. Breaking the individual formations will also require an exceedingly high intelligence stat and understanding of everything about runic magic, something way out of his skillset as a magician.
In any case, just like putting letters together forms words and putting words together forms sentences, creating runic formations creates its own power source.
The reason for that is unknown but it's said that Lauran was able to discover why when she gained all the knowledge about the mysteries of Arcane.
Surely there must be a "somewhere" or "somehow" for why runes can just produce power on their own.
"Oh dear…" Myrena leaned against the wall as if she became lightheaded, "A portal that can only be closed with one method and immortal monsters—if things get out of hand, the entire continent will be swarmed by these unkillable monsters."
"Uhm, what did you mean by buying time?" Rina, remembering what he said earlier, asked.
"Oh, that. There's someone I know—who is a friend's friend—that can close the portal."
"A-A rune master!? In this day and age!?" Myrena, hearing this, fell to her knees and grabbed his leg, "My King, if all goes well with the rune master succeeding in closing the portal, please allow me an audience with them!"
"W-Woah, calm down." He glanced around, noticing the passing students stare at their exchange.
She's just bringing unnecessary attention to him by acting like this, dammit.
He bent down, "Alright, it will be your reward for answering my request."
He doesn't know why she wants to meet Sylphy but it doesn't matter to him since he had other things on his mind.
Tears welled up in her eyes and she hit her forehead against the floor, "Thank you very much, My King!"
'Sheesh…'
"—Myrena, instead of screaming in the hallway, you should come inside. Our guests are thirsty." Celeste's voice came from behind Myrena when the door opened.
"Right away, Ma'am!" her forehead red from rubbing it on the floor, Myrena hurriedly stood up and straightened her back.
"Oh?" Seeing Arnold, her eyes widened slightly, "You never make time for me during lunch breaks but here you are doing it for your new wife."
"Uh, morning…" he greeted her.
She harrumphed, "Actually Myrena, I will handle the beverages myself. You take the new calendars and hand it out to the class monitors for the A classes of each year." She went back inside and returned soon after with a bunch of rolled up paper, "Have the monitors spread it among the rest of the classes. It would have been easier if the school secretary were here but she's not so now the student council has to handle this."
Myrena took the scrolls and nodded, "I shall dutifully carry out this request!"
"Hm, good." Celeste looked at Rina for a second before going back inside and shutting the door.
She looked a bit uncomfortable seeing him together with Rina but he didn't pay that any mind.
His attention was on the calendars.
"Uhm, excuse me, My King. I must carry out the order."
"That's fine. We can walk and talk." Saying so, he followed after her, with Rina following closely behind him.
Rina asked curiously, "Shouldn't those have been prepared like before school reopened?"
"I believe these are new calendars prepared separately from the old 'new' year calendars. The schools receive them first then it will spread among the general populace."
"Let me see for a bit." Hearing that, Arnold grabbed one of them.
The timing was just too coincidental for him not to have a certain thought in mind—as if he knew what they were about.
He took one and unfurled it then his eyes widened slightly—
--
Arthurian Calendar, Holy Year XXX