Chapter 27
The mana absorption stone was in such an obvious place that it was surprising they hadn’t discovered it earlier. In fact, there wasn’t just one. All four pillars supporting the monument’s pedestal were mana absorption stones.
The sense of crisis from being trapped in a confined space, the resulting fear, and the dark cave with malfunctioning lighting magic had clearly narrowed their judgment and vision. Emily looked around at the others with sincere relief.
“…I’m so glad we found it.”
Emily looked at Miss Sarina, who was starting to sob again, Lord Jake, who seemed to feel relief and exhaustion simultaneously, and Miss Kira, who was smiling brightly. Finally, she turned to Lord Eden.
“What can I do to help now?”
When their eyes met, Eden straightened his posture and extended his hand to her. Recalling Eden’s calm demeanor as he assessed the situation without wavering, Emily felt her heart flutter slightly.
“Now we just need to inject mana into this. Could you step aside for a moment?”
Trying to ignore Eden’s strangely overwhelming presence, Emily approached the mana absorption stone, pretending to be nonchalant. She crouched down, placed her hand on the stone, and injected mana. The dust-covered cold stone had a very smooth and flat surface. As she felt the glass-like texture and injected mana, a small amount of force seemed to be drawn from her palm, and the gray absorption stone briefly took on a faint blue color before settling down again.
“…Is it done now?”
In response to Sarina’s anxious question, Eden, who had been standing behind Emily, stepped forward.
“Please wait a moment. I’ll go check quickly.”
“What? Ah, wait. Let’s go together. You’ll need my fire magic to see the path…”
“It’s alright, Miss Kira. I can manage a short distance. I’ll be back soon.”
With those words, Eden disappeared instantly into the darkness. As Lord Eden suddenly vanished, Emily awkwardly stood up, and Lord Jake shrugged and casually remarked.
“Lord Valenti’s sense of physical perception is far more developed than ordinary people, so he can easily navigate this level of darkness. Don’t worry. At his age, with such skill, it’s no wonder his reputation precedes him.”
“What? Do you mean Lord Valenti can see well in the dark?”
“No, Miss Sarina. He probably can’t actually see, but he has a good sense of his surroundings. Like knowing there’s an obstacle in front of him, that sort of thing?”
“But if he can’t see, why didn’t he just go together with someone?”
“Miss Emily, the illusion magic has been lifted. It seems we can get out of here now.”
Before Sarina’s questioning words could finish, the three female students were all startled by Lord Eden’s sudden return. Jake, watching their surprised expressions, chuckled and belatedly answered Sarina’s question.
“Well, that’s because it’s faster that way.”
Eden, puzzled by the girls’ surprised expressions, looked at Lord Jake standing next to him. Jake playfully shrugged and gestured that he didn’t know.
After briefly marveling at Eden’s skills, which seemed even more magical than magic itself, the students quickly walked out into the corridor. Miss Kira floated her flame ahead, followed by Lord Jake, Miss Sarina, and then Emily and Lord Eden.
The mist in the corridor they had seen earlier had disappeared completely, and the winding paths that had branched in all directions were now surprisingly simple, leading only straight ahead and to the left. Following the directions Lord Eden gave from behind, they soon felt a faint, bright light spreading in the distance.
At that moment, everyone instinctively realized it was the light from outside.
The moment Emily saw it, she felt her tension release. She had rolled down the hill, fallen into a mud pit, wandered in the darkness, and even been trapped here for a while.
Until now, she had been unconsciously tense all over, and as relief washed over her, a deep fatigue and weakness tingled down her arms, shoulders, and legs.
“Ah!”
At the same time, she stumbled and almost fell sideways. As Emily suddenly lost her balance, Lord Eden, who was following behind, quickly reached out his hand.
“Miss Emily!”
-Thud
As Lord Eden reached out from behind to support her, Emily barely managed to regain her balance by grabbing his arm just before falling. She staggered back to her feet, having almost leaned her entire body on his arm due to her suddenly weakened left leg.
The others walking ahead turned around in surprise at the sound.
“Miss Emily, did you fall?”
“Are you alright?”
“Eh? Miss Emily, are you hurt?”
As the three spoke almost simultaneously and approached with concern, Emily shook her head, saying she was fine.
“No, I’m okay. My leg suddenly gave out and I almost fell, but Lord Eden caught me. Thank you, Lord Eden.”
“You must have been very startled, Miss Emily. Shall I support you?”
Seeing Emily’s condition, Miss Kira, who had been walking ahead, turned back and tried to support her, but Lord Eden, who had reached out to catch Emily, changed his arm and moved to Emily’s side.
“Miss Kira needs to light the way ahead, so I’ll support Miss Emily instead.”
Kira nodded in agreement, somewhat taken aback by Eden’s seemingly resolute tone. As Kira returned to her original position and floated the flame forward again, the others carefully began to move.
Emily was following along, holding onto Lord Eden’s arm, when she suddenly felt his hot body temperature through her cold palm. At that warmth, Emily unconsciously lowered her gaze, and she could faintly see Lord Eden’s bare forearm in the darkness, with his training uniform sleeve rolled up.
Once she became aware of this, she could vividly feel his firm arm muscles, hot body temperature, and slightly sweaty skin through her palm. Feeling something hard to bear, Emily carefully tried to remove her hand from his arm, but as her hand moved away, Lord Eden turned his head.
“Can you walk to the entrance?”
As he whispered to her in a low voice so that others couldn’t hear, Emily felt a chill run down her spine. Her lips trembled slightly at the sensation of goosebumps spreading from her ears to the nape of her neck.
“Yes, yes. I’m fine.”
“I’m glad. Please walk carefully. You can lean on me more if you need to.”
As he said this, he gently took her hand, which was slightly floating in the air, with his left hand and guided it back onto his right arm. As Emily’s slightly trembling hand touched his skin, he placed his other hand on top of hers, enveloping it, and slowed his walking pace even more.
As Emily’s hand was enveloped by his hot body temperature, her eyes grew hot with embarrassment and shyness. Moreover, as he pulled his arm close to himself while walking, Emily’s fingertips occasionally brushed against Eden’s stomach.
The sensation of his firm stomach under his training uniform suddenly reminded Emily of his abs she had seen in the morning, causing her face to turn bright red with tension, but thankfully, due to the dark corridor, no one noticed her flushed face.
“…Is everyone inside?”
As they finally approached the entrance, they heard murmuring voices, and then Violet’s voice was heard from afar.
“Yes! Teacher, everyone is here!”
Lord Jake, who was walking ahead, answered loudly. At that sound, Violet, who had been walking towards the broken door of the shelter, called out in relief towards the direction of the voice.
“It’s dangerous inside because it’s old, so everyone come out first!”
It seemed Violet had quickly rushed to find the students after receiving the mark Kira had sent to alert them of the dangerous situation.
However, like Emily’s group, it appeared she had been unable to enter due to the illusion magic and had been waiting after requesting support. Just as she was about to forcibly break the magic when the teachers gathered after waiting for a while, Emily’s group appeared, and Violet’s face lit up as she ran over.
Emily and the others followed the teacher’s instructions and walked out of the shelter. As they came out, quite a few students had already gathered around the entrance. They were all curiously examining the shelter, which they were seeing for the first time.
“Is everyone uninjured? Come this way.”
Emily squinted as she walked out of the entrance, her eyes dazzled by the brightness after being in the dark place. At the entrance, a diagonally cut iron door had fallen to the ground. One door was still intact, while the other had been cut in two, with the rather thick cross-section cleanly sliced.
Around the cut door, Swordsmanship Department students were gathered, murmuring. It was a strange sight with Magic Department students looking at the interior of the shelter and Swordsmanship Department students gathered around the cut door.
Emily came out with Eden’s help, stepping over the door piece at her feet. When she turned around, she saw a rather large cave-shaped shelter.
“My goodness, you’re both a mess. How did you end up falling in there? Let’s go back to the academy and get you cleaned up first.”
Violet was startled to see Kira and Emily covered in mud and wrapped them both in blankets she was holding. She also wrapped a blanket around Sarina, who was standing weakly behind them.
The two male students from the Swordsmanship Department standing at the entrance looked relatively fine, so she took care of the three visibly exhausted female students first. Violet began to move, taking the three with her while dispersing the students who had gathered around.
“Professor Alex, I’ll take the Magic Department students back to the academy first. Is it alright to leave this place to you?”
“Ah, yes. Professor Violet. Please do so.”
Emily, Kira, and Sarina were led by Violet towards the academy.
As they walked, they could hear the explanation. It seemed that the place where Emily had fallen was part of the ceiling of the shelter’s corridor. As the shelter was old, the soil foundation leading to the ceiling had gradually softened, and Emily had been swept down along with the soil.
As Violet left with the female students, Alex scratched the back of his head and began to manage the situation.
“Alright, alright, I know it’s interesting, but let’s head back to the academy now. Everyone gather here.”
The students who had been curiously crowding around began to move in an orderly fashion under Alex’s guidance.
