The journey was uneventful. After all, London's public security was still very good. Plus, as an international metropolis, a large number of ordinary people were gathered here. To make a move under such circumstances, regardless of success or failure, if the supernatural world were to be exposed, their crime would be unforgivable.
After arriving at the airport, they took a private plane to the north of Great Britain, and finally, took a dedicated vehicle to the location of the ruins. Sitting in the car, looking at the completely different scenery around him, Aslan felt quite moved.
He had once traveled north before, but at that time, he was riding on the back of Melusine, heading to the front lines to deal with his cheap old dad. Now, times had changed. The scenery he had seen before had become completely different. The once-barren land was now covered by various cities or forests, a stark contrast to the miserable state he had seen when he crossed Britain before.
After getting off the plane, Kenneth casually picked up a fashion magazine from a newsstand at the airport. It seemed he really intended to absorb and learn from the fashion world's sense of style. Hopefully, the fashion world of this era wasn't as exaggerated as one might imagine. Otherwise, it would be a bit of a waste of Kenneth's face, which was still above average.
On the way to the mine, Kenneth was flipping through the fashion magazine, nodding from time to time. Those eyes, which had always been very proud, had become humble. Aslan felt that perhaps in a while, the Clock Tower would be welcoming a new image of Kenneth.
Before long, the vehicle entered the mountain forest and stopped at the entrance of a cave. On the periphery of this cave, there were still traces of a magical barrier. It seemed this was indeed the magical workshop of a certain magus from the past.
Kenneth placed the fashion magazine in his hand on the car seat, then put on a pair of gloves. He got out of the car and looked at the cave before him, frowning slightly.
"I really don't get why those old fossil magi from before loved to stay in places like this. Let's go. Let's see what's waiting for us."
Kenneth's words were a double entendre. On one hand, he was looking forward to this magical ruin having some valuable heritage left behind. On the other hand, he wanted to see just what kind of trap was waiting for him.
After entering the cave, what came into view was a pile of dilapidated and damaged experimental instruments. From these instruments, one could determine that this abandoned magical workshop was likely a remnant from 400-500 years ago.
A magus in a black suit pushed up his glasses. "We discovered that deep within this magical workshop's remains, there are a large number of mineral ores and a fragment of an ancient fae's wing sealed in amber. We speculate that the magus who was once here was probably trying to use the wing fragment in the amber and the mineral deposits here to conduct some kind of experiment."
Arriving at a fork in the road, the magus in the black suit pointed to the two paths. "If you would be so kind as to split up. Lord El-Melloi, please take the left passage. The other two, please follow me."
Kenneth glanced at the magus in the black suit, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. The smile held a hint of disdain and also conveyed a bit of a warning to Aslan and the others. It was obvious that they were planning to cause trouble. He just didn't know what kind of trouble the guys behind this were planning to stir up.
The network of relationships within the Clock Tower was complex, and the factional struggles were severe. Sometimes, even if a core student died, the matter could probably be dropped without resolution.
The current Clock Tower, to some extent, was already rotten to the core. Even Kenneth had to admit that any small matter could be pieced together to become a component that could cause their entire faction to collapse. Once the El-Melloi faction failed, what they would lose was not just their say in the Clock Tower; even the magi of their faction could be threatened, along with their family's magical inheritance and Magic Crests.
Whether it was Kenneth, Aslan, or the people preparing to cause trouble behind the scenes, all three parties were already prepared. Now, they were just waiting to see what kind of good show would be staged. And from the moment Kenneth and Aslan agreed to come here, it already meant that they were willing to step into this trap.
The outcome would be one of two things. Either Aslan and his group would have an "accident," and Kenneth would be implicated. Even if Kenneth wasn't seriously injured this time, it would be enough to disgust him for a while, and at the same time, he would have to pay attention to whether this matter would bring about subsequent changes to their faction. The other outcome was that Kenneth and his group would successfully break the trap, and the people behind the scenes would have to pay the price for it. Of course, the person who was caught causing trouble would probably just be a disposable pawn pushed out in the end.
The reason Aslan deliberately stepped into this trap was simple: he wanted to see just what kind of "interesting" event this was. Akuta Hinako was completely dragged along by him.
As a Lord and a genius, Kenneth had his pride. The other party had already sent an invitation; how could he not come and see? If he were to just ignore it, the opponent who had set up this trap and sent the invitation would probably be secretly laughing at his cowardice at home.
Thinking about it this way, Aslan and Akuta Hinako were probably just people who had been dragged into this factional struggle. It was just a coincidence that they had encountered an assassination attempt, a coincidence that they had become survivors, a coincidence that Aslan was a genius of the Archaeology Department, a coincidence that someone wanted to retaliate against Aslan, and a coincidence that this whole incident could be used by others.
Aslan, of course, wasn't angry over such a thing. On the contrary, he was rather looking forward to it. Of course, if this big show wasn't as interesting as he had imagined, Aslan would also get a little peeved. How could someone make a move on him and not pay any price? As for how to counterattack and get even, Aslan would have to see how this show played out before making a decision.
Continuing deeper into the cave, the light shone on a piece of amber. A huge fragment, like a butterfly's wing, lay quietly within the amber. The first time he saw this amber, Aslan gently shook his head. How should he put it? His expectations were a bit too high. As someone who often dealt with fae in the Inner Sea of the Planet, he could, of course, see that this amber was a fake. Although this butterfly-wing-like fragment was indeed a real object, it seemed that it was probably just the wing of a certain butterfly that had been enlarged and then somehow stuffed into this ancient amber. The wings of a fae carried a special kind of magical fluctuation. After all, wings were a key factor for fae during mating. Did these people underestimate the importance of fae wings to the fae?