At Krakatoa Harbor

After departing from the Seer Port, the group sailed half a month before they arrived at the Krakatoa Harbor. There had been a new member. It was a boy named Robinson. He had been accepted as a student for sorcery learning during the group's brief stay at Apex Port, prior to their arrival at the Krakatoa Harbor. Robinson was garrulous and worse, he divulged people's secrets. The worst, though, was that Grimm had become the target of his yammerings.

Back in the house of the governor of Rothenstein, the city where the Apex Port was located, Robinson had cried with delight when he passed the crystal ball test. He had almost turned the house upside down by chanting and dancing around when he was squelched by Sorcerer Apollo who, in the end, had spared him from any punishment because Grimm spoke up for him. Since then, Grimm had been "forced" to live with Robinson's constant chatter of, in Grimm's mind, trivialities and scandals. He was a nagging problem to Grimm.

"Grimm, Shirley has a birthmark on her butt, did you know?" Robinson said proudly. "I snuck a peek at it while she was in the shower. But don't tell anybody."

"I won't, but who is this Shirley?" Grimm asked half-heartedly because he had no interest in such topics.

"Shirley? You don't know Shirley? Shirley! Badara's lover!" Robinson hissed.

'Badara? I don't know Badara, either,' Grimm grumbled in his mind, but he gave in to Robinson's persistence of "imparting" his knowledge and instead, he said:

"Oh, I see."

Similar situations had occurred dozens of times since they met.

The ship had arrived at and been anchored off the Krakatoa Harbor.

"Get off the ship!" The Sorcerer commanded.

Following Sorcerer Apollo's order, the students hastened to disembark the ship.

The Krakatoa Harbor was the biggest one on the Eastern Coral Island, occupying an area of approximately 960,000 square feet, with one main dredged channel through it, from the mouth to the bay.

There were hundreds of ships anchored off the island, some of them stretched over 1,000 feet in length. A considerable number of people were streaming in and out of the harbor at the time.

"Wow, the Krakatoa Harbor. What a beautiful view!" Lefay gazed out at the sea.

Lefay had seemingly forgotten about her grievances about being coerced to learn sorcery and now basked herself in the splendor of the ships lined in the harbor.

She was tall in stature, around the height of Grimm and she had a slim and tender body. She was wearing a tight dress and a strip of cloth was tied around her waist like a sash. As she faced the sea, she closed her eyes and spread out her arms to the extent that the strip of cloth accentuated perfectly the curves of her body.

"Magnificent! She is truly amazing," Robinson said out and loud, and the noise of him gulping his saliva could be clearly heard by Grimm, who was standing behind him.

Grimm was admiring her beauty, too, only in silence, and his heart was pounding heavily.

"Lefay, my sweetie, look at you, how attractive you are! You are the one I have been awaiting my whole life. You are my destiny. Yes, you are. Lefay, please be my savior, be my girlfriend!" A volley of flattering words tumbled out of Robinson's mouth as he was staring at Lefay affectionately.

'Pursuing Lefay? Has he gone mad?' Grimm scratched his head, thinking about what would befall the poor Robinson. The other students were also gawking at him as if they were expecting something ominous to happen. Meanwhile, Nina York, who was astonished at seeing a public declaration of love, was biting her lips bashfully.

Lefay turned around and glared at Robinson with a gloomy face.

"Be your savior, huh?" Lefay cast a menacing look at Robinson.

The next second she chanted something in a low voice and pointed a finger at Robinson. Out of nowhere, a vine appeared and crept quickly and wound around Robinson. In a moment, Robinson was wrapped up tightly in several rings.

"It was sorcery!" The group marveled.

"Mmm…" Robinson growled as he wiggled to break loose of the vine, only to find himself being gagged by the vine that had rearranged itself.

People who were hurrying by stopped and crowded around to watch what they supposed to be some sort of street performance.

"What was that sorcery you just cast?" the other students asked Lefay.

"The Magical Ring. It's a magical tool! I used my magical force to evoke the ring. That's why I was able to control the vine," she explained gaily because that vine sorcery had worked.

Grimm had finished reading A Guide to Meditation and knew that magical force was related to mental strength. He had tried and failed to improve his mental strength, though, so seeing Lefay commanding her mental strength and magical force really cheered him up and spurred him on.

Half a minute later, Lefay ended the spell, and the vines disappeared immediately.

At the time, a detail of knights led by a man on a fat horse came before the Sorcerer, who had been watching the students' mischief. The man leading the pack dismounted the horse and bent his body toward the sorcerer: "Master, the Duke has been waiting for you. He has had dinner prepared for you."

"Okay," replied the sorcerer casually, disregarding the noises from the bustling audience.

The dinner was great. Grimm had gotten used to the lavish feasts offered by nobles because they had been welcomed by them with a banquet at every stop. And he had learned some social etiquettes about how to communicate and interact with the dignitaries.

The Duke was sitting opposite to Sorcerer Apollo at the table and he gestured to the Sorcerer to enjoy more of the food. He dressed and talked in a manner that displayed that he belonged in a higher rank than that of the marquises of previous cities, and it seemed that he was well-acquainted with the sorcerer.

"Apollo, are you bothered by something?" the duke asked the sorcerer with a caring look.

Sorcerer Apollo was whisking a metal spoon in the gravy boat, although he seemed to have no appetite to enjoy it. Hearing Mr. Duke's caring words, he sighed:

"It's getting out of hand, and sorcerers are going missing. You were right. It is safer here, I mean, in the human world. None of the bad things happening will affect this place."

"Ha!" The duke snorted, "I chickened out. Unlike you, I couldn't move up to a higher rank there, so, I quit and reduced myself to this quiet life here," the duke replied as he dipped the medium-rare steak into the caviar.

The sorcerer fell into silence.

"And who will be here to pick the students up?" the Duke inquired.

"Dior."

"Oh..."

"Life there may not be that hard for them. Lilith Sorcerer Academy, huh? It's easier to get by over there. Things might be a lot different in Black Isotta Sorcerer Academy—"

Sorcerer Apollo interrupted the duke impatiently. He had been bored of the current conversation.

"A huge rift was found in the Underground World. I am going to go check." Apollo switched the topic.

The banquet concluded. Grimm and the other students were led to a beautiful and quiet manor for a rest. They would stay at the Duke's manor for around seven days before they would be carried to Lilith Academy by Dior.

A gentle breeze with a slight hint of fishy smell wafted in as Grimm opened the windows of his room. The manor was located on a cliff facing a sea.

"What is the Sorcerer Continent like?" Grimm wondered. These days he had witnessed the terrific yet dreadful sorceries—the light beam weapon, the red-eyed frog, and the moving vine—and these powers were so wonderful that he craved them dearly. However, he retched about the fact that Sorcerer Apollo was killing people without any remorse.

"Moving along! That's what I should do," Grimm murmured.

He then closed the windows, lit up the candle and immersed himself in the contemplation of his new book—A Guide to Meditation.