Chapter 89 Meeting

As always, Elam was nicely tucked in his blanket on the couch, trying to escape reality and flee to the realm of dreams. Lucas on the other hand was glad that he could ask for whatever he wanted. At first, he thought that the secrets to Advanced Magic were the best choice he had, but he scrapped that idea.

Although he finished the task of Elam, he wasn't any closer to completing the one of Gilbert, if he wanted to continue with both teachers and learn arcane secrets, he would have to please both of them. He wasn't capable of figuring out the solution for the first task as he needed Micheal's help in order to succeed. So it only seemed obvious what to do next.

"I would like you to help me decipher something."

Elam didn't turn around, he even shrank further into a ball, "Why don't you just ask for money, artifacts, tomes? Why do you force me to work?"

Lucas didn't know what to think, his teacher apparently had a fortune tucked away somewhere, but was pissed off when he didn't ask for valuables.

'Does he dislike work so much?'

"I'm sorry, but I don't have much time before my deadline has passed. So if you could help me solve this problem I'll leave you alone for a while longer."

Elam sighed, he didn't want to get off his couch, it was nice and warm. But he was Lucas' teacher, not that he knew his name. After all, Elam introduced himself, but Lucas never bothered and Elam probably wouldn't listen in the first place. "Fine, bring it here.", he said while sticking his arm out to grab whatever Lucas provided him.

Giving the paper with all the runes to Elam, he quickly looked at it for a second before handing it back. "What's wrong? Can't you read it?"

"Are you doubting me? It's so easy, why did you even bother showing me this? You can complete my task but can't even do something so simple?"

Lucas already felt bad that he couldn't complete Elam's task by himself, now he was even further criticized for his only other task. Lucas could try to lie or come up with a decent excuse, but he believed that it wouldn't help his case. Elam could've easily seen through him if it was hastily made.

"Yes, I need your help, I can't seem to differentiate the different runes."

"Fine then, listen closely because I won't say them twice,...", Elam started to ramble all the runes on the sheet of paper at once. Lucas could only keep up since he had two attentive listeners. After all the runes had been said, Lucas wrote them all down before thanking Elam and leaving for the school. He had spent a lot of time on this task, while barely making progress on his other task. Rushing back to Gilbert was the only way he could still be on time.

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Elam saw Lucas leave seemingly in a hurry. 'How strange, he can use advanced magical manipulation that's mostly used for creating new spells, but can't use advanced magic.'

"Haha, what a strange kid, learning how to run before walking, well, I guess this would also work."

'Also, since when does Gilbert ask for such a difficult task? No student, even if they were Rank 1 could decipher these different runes. Only if you already knew them or had the support of a Rank 2 or higher could you figure it out. Or was he aiming to let them fail and taste failure once?'

"Oh well, it's not my business.", he said while making another cup of tea.

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Navigating the school once more almost gave Lucas a headache, the system was just too unclear. All the hallways looked the same and nothing made them stand out. At a certain point, he tried to damage the walls in order to mark the places he walked past, but the arrays protecting the building were too strong.

'It's like that church, why do they need to protect their buildings so much?'

'For idiots like you that would damage the walls in order to remember the way.'

'Hey! I don't want to hear a single remark from you, we're both lost.'

After wandering around for a while, he finally found the classroom he had been searching for. Grumbling a bit due to his frustration he entered, only to see someone he didn't expect.

Micheal and his brothers were there, although Micheal was rather reserved. While his brothers and sisters were interrogating Gilbert, Micheal and Eleven were staying in the background. Micheal noticed the newcomer and greeted him with a smile.

"Hello there my son, how have you been?", his smile was as radiant as ever, as if he had a glowing halo behind him. "Great.., but I would like to know what's going on, what's happening here?"

Lucas didn't like his teacher being surrounded by a bunch of ruffians that looked very angry. Micheal lost his gentle smile for a slightly frustrated look. "I would like to know as well, my brothers and sisters dragged me over here. But I don't know why we are here as well. It seems that your teacher has done something questionable and is thus under investigation. Not that I can confirm if this is the actual case, either way, I don't think you're in trouble my son."

"I see", Lucas was thinking about what Gilbert could've done. He looked like a vampire, yes, but that didn't mean he went out to hunt after humans or anything. He just looked sun deprived.

The leader of the group, Leo looked angry and filled with suspicion. "Listen here buddy, there have been countless people that are saying that you're dealing with the Demonic Cult. There are even teachers supporting this theory. What do you have to say for yourself?!", the way he shouted all his questions bothered Gilbert to no end.

"I'm not in that stupid cult, nor do I have a reason to be. The students are just afraid of me while the teachers hate me. That's all."

Lucas was wondering if there was anything he could do.

'He knows himself pretty well.'

'Who cares, is there anything that we can do to help him out? Is there any proof that we can show?'

'I don't know, why are you asking me? Isn't there someone you should be asking?'

His thinking led nowhere, it even made it harder to pay attention to what was happening. With his own suggestion, he looked at Micheal for a possible solution.

"Micheal, what would you need in order to take away my teacher?"

"It is quite simple really, definitive proof, that's all. We can't take rumors as proof or we would be sentencing half the village in an instant.", Micheal said with his smile. He had gotten over his frustration in a quick manner, as it would've been rude to show such an unsightly expression to his family.

Lucas had to think for a moment, for now, his teacher was pretty much safe. If they didn't have proof, they were fine, but then again.

"...didn't that happen with that woman?", Lucas said under his breath, but loud enough for Micheal to hear.

"Do you mean Franceska? Yes, I was also quite skeptical about her sentencing, but not long after she died, her husband came back in the form of a monster unseen. I can only imagine that the Demonic Cult could create such miscreants. He truly must've suffered if he resorted to such drastic measures. Perhaps if we could have been a bit faster..."

'There was a monster in town?'

'We were probably at Elam's place, either way, this doesn't prove that they had concrete evidence. Any group could have gotten that dude to transform him into a monster and blame it on the Cult, couldn't they? There's no reason to believe this fake.'

But Lucas was inclined to believe in Micheal's story, he had helped him in his task, so he was a bit biased. Gilbert wasn't the most responsive man, and he already wasn't on friendly grounds with the Order of Light. Seeing that, Leo, couldn't get any information out of him by pressuring him with his group, he looked for support.

Only now had Leo realized someone else had entered the room and was talking to Micheal. Micheal could talk with pretty much anyone, so he couldn't tell if they knew each other or not.

"Brother Micheal, who is that?", he asked in an authoritative voice. He was still in his 'interrogation' mode.

"Brother Leo, let me introduce you to...now that I think about it, you never told me your name when you visited."

"My name is Conrad, I'm a student of Gilbert's.", Lucas said. He felt inclined to make a small bow, but once he looked at Leo, he regretted it. He didn't mind bowing to someone he didn't like, but it did leave a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Ah, well, there you go, this son's name is Conrad. He once visited me and had quite a strange request.", he couldn't help but chuckle a bit remembering what happened.

"Micheal! You do know that he killed someone to enter this class right? The only way to have this man as your teacher was to bring in a body. Don't trust that man!", while Leo was an impulsive man and liked to be the leader. He never slacked on his investigations, he knew how to gather intelligence, and the only reason he was talking to Gilbert was that he had done some research beforehand.

Micheal was shocked, he never saw Lucas as a killer or someone who could do any harm. "Is that true Conrad? Did you kill someone to enter this class?", his face was on the edge of disappointment.

"I simply followed your teachings, Micheal.", to which Leo looked taken aback. Micheal held his expression, he had an idea of what Lucas was talking about, but needed to be sure.

"I visited your church in order to figure out what I should do. I didn't have the necessary money to enter another teacher's class. This was the only one available for me, but I didn't have a reason to kill someone."

"Hence you visited me and asked for guidance, oh, what have I done? Can you at least tell me who you have killed?", Micheal was empathetic, he could understand Lucas' dilemma but was still a bit disappointed.

"The noble of the Blue family or something, I can't remember clearly.", Lucas replied.

"You mean, the noble of the Blucher family, correct? The one who suddenly disappeared and left a mansion filled with bodies?"

"What? I don't know what you're talking about. I met a noble who was hurting another person who was financially in debt and I tried to mediate. After he threatened to kill me and send his guards after me I simply acted in self-defense."

Leo was about to retort, but Micheal was ahead of him. "I see, so you truly followed my teachings, I can sense that you haven't told the whole truth, but the core was faithful. Thank you for sharing this story, but I would like to ask you not to take another person's life. The Order of Light is meant to be the mediator to not put the mental burden of killing someone on other people, even if they are in the right. Please understand this."

"Of course, I understand and will follow your teachings more closely."

"But Micheal, this is..."

"It's fine, Brother Leo, Conrad has seen through his mistakes and promises to do better in the future. Is that not all we can ask of someone?"

"Y-You're right, brother Micheal."

Lucas looked calm on the outside but was sweating bullets on the inside. If the Order of Light ever saw him as a threat and needed to be eliminated, he wouldn't stand a chance. He could sense that everyone except Leo was Rank 1, only Micheal was a strange case. He couldn't tell if he was stronger or weaker than himself. But just the fact that he could manipulate magic to such a degree, could only mean that all priests of the Order of Light had such powers under full control.

Fighting them was a lost cause, so he was terrified to learn that Micheal could sense lies in his statements, even if they were perfectly acted out. The only reason he said he would follow his teachings was that at first, he would say to never kill someone again, but that would be seen through immediately. That would put him in a terrible situation.