47 One surprise after another

"Listen, Vladimir. I know you are strong enough to duel Baron Thundergod, but you have to stay low-key. Not every noble is forgiving enough to let you provoke him, much less the third prince who has a bad character. Although I am intrigued to see his smile disappear from his face..."

"Miss Maria!"

The shout of Helena brought the black-haired girl back to reality. With an embarrassed smile, she proceeded to talk.

"Please, don't speak to me formally. We are a party now. As for the third prince, I am joking. Without using all the three elements, I can't imagine Vladimir winning against him. He is an official magic knight, after all. He can use both magic and martial arts simultaneously. Most importantly, his sword is a piece of divine equipment. A relic from the age of the gods."

"A piece of divine equipment? What is this?" John asked, but he wasn't the only one who was puzzled. No one except Maria had ever heard anything like that before.

"They were weapons that ancient dwarves forged during the war of fate. Unlike other weapons, they have souls. If they don't acknowledge you as their owner, you can't use them even if you want to. These things can grant you amazing abilities. The third prince's sword allows him to absorb the mana of his enemies and use it as his own."

"Impossible!" John exclaimed emphatically. Using mana of other people is impossible. Every person had a different mindset toward magic making his mana unique. It's what his father taught him, and he found this theory logical enough.

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'Does father know about the existence of an artifact like that? No, he must know it. As an S-ranked adventurer, his knowledge has to be deeper than almost everyone in the Empire. Does that mean that the sword doesn't copy the mana of others, but uses some other tricks? Strangely, he didn't mention the existence of these weapons. He might not know the answer himself, so he let us make our judgment when we come in contact with these things. I have to start to think out of the box. That person in the Forest of Lost Memories could also manipulate time and space. If I count the strange memories in my mind, there are many microorganisms that I can't see with the naked eye. Do they have mana? I wonder what color they have if they exist. Since I can use light magic, I may manage to create something similar to an optical microscope. Now that I think of it, I can use this concept to create new magic...'

"John, you hear me?"

"..."

"John?"

"..."

"John Smith, stop ignoring me!"

The scream scared the brown-haired youth death. He glared at Maria, but she didn't seem to care.

"Since I have now your attention, I can continue. I know why you are doubtful, but these relics truly have these abilities. Not even Sir Frank de Alvin, the great researcher, could discover the reason for this. My father once told me he heard him declare that if he could solve the mystery behind these weapons, humans could become as powerful as they were in the past. Unfortunately, until the end of his life, he didn't manage to do it."

"He must have been an amazing person." John honestly praised. He deeply respected people who were open-minded.

"Yeah. However, not many have the same opinion as us..."

"Did you say something?" he asked Maria as he didn't hear what the girl said, but she decisively shook her head before she opened her mouth.

"Alright! Enough with the chit-chat. It has already become dark. Let's return to the dorms."

*****

'A sword that can absorb mana and allow you to use it. So these are the weapons that humans used to fight against gods. However, I am satisfied with my dagger. If its price was lower...' John thought as he wandered in the darkness. He couldn't help than remember what the merchant asked him to do back in the small port-town. He demanded from him to kill someone, but the brown-haired youth couldn't find him no matter how hard he searched for him.

'If the merchant didn't assure me that the target resided in the Capital, I would suspect he didn't live here. Is he a member of these organizations that I read in the paper the priest gave me? If it's true, things might become complicated. Not to mention that I have to kill that person from the Erebus that Bryan told me. Unfortunately, it won't be easy. Since she is the third princess of the Empire...'

Before he realized it, the youth had reached the Tower of War. His thoughts had made him lose his sense of time. He proceeded to enter, but his steps stopped abruptly.

"If you want to follow someone, you have to learn to hide your presence first."

"It's best not to shout. We don't want anyone else to hear us, after all." a melodious voice sounded in the air, making John honestly surprised. Not because he didn't expect the person behind him to meet him, but because he thought she would come to talk to him a few weeks later and not immediately after he enrolled in the Academy.

"It's been a while, your Highness. Please forgive your servant's insolent behavior." the brown-haired youth said as he bowed gracefully to the imperial princess, Adriana de Grenmar.

"Are you mocking me?" the girl with the scarlet hair said with some irritation as she looked at her former subordinate.

"I wouldn't dare..."

"Then stop talking to me like we are in the palace. Inside the Academy, I am nothing more than a teacher. The only person that has the right to have authority here is only my father and no one else."

"Then... teacher. How can I help you?"

His answer made Adriana suspect that the youth was making fun of her, but since he didn't say anything blamable, she didn't speak out her thoughts.

"I came here to talk to you about the story you related to me..." as she told that, she looked around with vigilance and continued with a quiet voice.

"The one about the destruction of Derman House."

John didn't expect that the princess would be so reckless, mentioning the incident in a place that anyone could eavesdrop them. He wanted to reprimand her, but the young woman wasn't planning on letting him talk.

"Don't worry. I have made sure that nobody will approach this place for five minutes. Come and meet me in three days at my office in the central tower. We'll talk in detail there."

She left like a hurricane, leaving John speechless. He could only watch her walk away until she disappeared in the darkness.

"I don't consider myself a normal person, but why are the people around me weird as well?" the brown-haired youth muttered and headed toward the auditorium. He expected to meet some of his classmates tonight, but he couldn't imagine that every single person from the Rat-Class would be here.

"What the..."

"Oh, it's John! You are late!"

"Since you knew what this test was about, why you didn't tell us?"

"Come on, Reece. He probably wanted us to surpass this trial with our powers."

"William! You are so kind! Even to pests that only care for their well-being and nothing else."

"A-Alisha! You are rude. He can hear you."

"That's why I said it, Zofia."

'How? It's only one day.' John thought as he looked at them dumbfounded.

"Hello, classmate John. I informed everyone about our lesson today. I hope you don't mind." a blonde girl that approached him silently told him with a warm smile.

"You know what you did, Alexandra? It was okay for me to tell you since your act to purchase information, was proof of your ability. However, your decision to reveal the secret of the test unconditionally will force the teacher to fail all of you without exception."

"You worry too much, John. Go to your seat. You too, Alexandra." Matias, who had just entered, said with a stern voice.

The fat middle-aged man looked at his surroundings indifferently before his eyes landed at the female noble.

"Tell me a reason not to expel you."

Alexandra, with a smile, took out a pouch as she let her pleasing voice sound in the air.

"There are inside five gold coins. Is this apology enough, teacher?"

Under the bewildered eyes of the students, Matias counted the money before nodding to the girl with a fatherly expression.

'This is ridiculous! Didn't you tell me yesterday that you planned on making us assassins and spies? Why I only see a greedy merchant in front of me? Where is the mysterious air you had in our conversation?'

"Congratulations! You all passed! You were all magnificent."

"..."