Chapter 21 : Chapter 21
Chapter 21 : Mysterious Elf
Iruya—or rather, at this moment, the girl who should be called Ilis—felt her heart pounding wildly.
In order to search for clues that might help revive her people, she had poured in a tremendous amount of effort. Only a few days ago had she vaguely sensed, within a cleverly disguised white crystal buried among the rubbish in that cluttered secondhand shop on Craftsman’s Lane, a trace of Elven aura that faintly resonated with her bloodline.
It was very likely a long-lost Elven relic.
For the now-faded Elven race, any legacy left behind by their ancestors might contain knowledge, power, or guidance.
But she was desperately short on money. Elves from the secluded forest had never been good at saving, and after paying the academy’s expensive tuition, she had already been reduced to scraping by.
To save up the single silver coin needed to buy that “piece of junk,” she had been forced to take on several odd jobs around the academy, living frugally and cutting every possible expense.
Today, she had finally saved enough money and rushed there full of hope, only to be struck by devastating news—the item had been bought by a brown-haired young noble accompanied by a little maid.
What frightened her even more was that the natural beacon she had left behind to sense fluctuations from specific Elven objects had actually been triggered just now.
And the source of that fluctuation was still within the academy.
It seemed that the shop owner had been telling the truth. The person who bought that white crystal was indeed inside the academy.
“I have to get it back!” A trace of resolve flashed through Iruya’s violet eyes.
She quickly pulled her hood back up, hiding her conspicuous pointed ears and hair color, then sped toward the library known as the Dome of Wisdom like a gust of wind melting into the night.
As an Elf, she moved lightly and swiftly. Her sensitivity to natural mana also allowed her to avoid the crowds and choose the most concealed routes.
When she arrived near the library, she happened to catch sight of Ryan and Cosette walking out through the main entrance. Though it was only a distant glance, the brown hair and the petite maid beside him matched the secondhand shop owner’s description exactly.
“It is them…”
Iruya’s heart tightened. She immediately lowered her profile and followed after them like a ghost.
She did not dare get too close, afraid of being discovered. The other party was a student of the Magic Academy. His strength was unknown, and anyone who could discover and trigger that object was probably no simple person.
Ryan knew nothing about the stalker behind him.
He brought Cosette back to Room 207 of Silver Fir House.
After closing the door and shutting out the chilly air brought back from the library, the warm light of the magic lamp inside the room settled the mind somewhat.
“Go rest, or keep practicing your reading,” Ryan told Cosette, then eagerly sat down at the desk and carefully took out the 《Unnamed Elven Relic Notes》 along with the emerald gemstone, the “Emerald Wind Oath,” which he had locked inside the drawer.
He placed the gemstone at his side, opened the booklet, and began reading those obscure records word by word under the lamplight, carefully comparing them to the real object before him.
Cosette sensibly did not disturb him. She quietly returned to her little room and closed the door. But she did not rest. Instead, by the light of the small bedside lamp, she spread open the literacy textbook that gave her such a headache once again, her little face filled with seriousness.
Her master had found something important, so she had to work hard too.
She could not always remain a useless little illiterate.
As the night deepened, outside Silver Fir House, in a concealed corner, Iruya stood motionless like a stone statue.
Through the gap in her gray cloak, her pale violet eyes remained fixed on the lit window on the second floor, while her fingertips unconsciously rubbed the slightly warm wooden talisman.
She could feel it.
The relic’s aura was right behind that window.
What should she do?
Should she go directly to the door and ask for it back?
Would the other party admit it?
Would he be willing to part with it?
And what price could she possibly offer?
Late at night, Room 207 of Silver Fir House was still lit by the magic lamp.
Ryan had already finished a general reading of the 《Unnamed Elven Relic Notes》 and had gained a preliminary understanding of the “Emerald Wind Oath.” He was just locking both it and the booklet back into the drawer.
At the very moment before he was about to extinguish the light and go to bed, his gaze happened to sweep over the locked drawer. New pale golden text suddenly appeared in his vision, causing his movements to freeze instantly.
【Action: Maintain the current state of the Emerald Wind Oath gemstone tonight and simply lock it away】
【Probability of Direct Outcome: Probability that the gemstone will be successfully stolen between midnight and dawn ≈ 85%】
Huh?
Someone had already set their sights on it so quickly?
Had the mark triggered in the library that afternoon drawn them here? Or had he been noticed from the very moment he bought it?
He calmed down at once.
What the Eye of Probability had shown was the probability under the condition of “maintaining the current state.” That meant if he took action, the probability could change.
The gemstone absolutely could not be lost.
It was not merely an unexpected fortune, but very likely tied to an important clue as well.
‘Looks like I will not be getting a peaceful night’s sleep.’
Ryan’s eyes sharpened.
He quietly walked to the door of Cosette’s little room and confirmed that steady, even breathing was coming from inside. The little maid had worn herself out studying letters today and was already fast asleep.
That was good too.
At least she would not be dragged into danger.
Returning to the master bedroom, he did not extinguish the light. Instead, he made rapid preparations. He did not set up any elaborate traps with great fanfare. He merely stacked several heavy books in seemingly casual positions on the windowsill and behind the door where an intruder might enter, scattered a thin layer of fine plant fibers stripped from an old broom across the floor, and placed his old dagger as well as several small alarm rune stones—temporary devices made from scrap materials that would emit a shrill cry when infused with even a trace of mana—within easy reach beneath the pillow and beside the desk drawer.
Once he finished, he blew out the magic lamp in the master bedroom, leaving only a faint sliver of light leaking through the crack of Cosette’s door.
Then, still dressed, he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes in feigned sleep, but his hearing and every other sense were sharpened to the limit. His spiritual power also spread out silently, capturing the slightest fluctuations of mana and sound within the room.
Time flowed through the stillness.
From far away came the deep tolling of the academy clocktower announcing the hour—midnight.
Just as the lingering echoes of the bell were about to fade, Ryan’s senses caught an extremely faint rustling outside the window, distinct from the brushing of the night wind, along with a very subtle mana fluctuation approaching the window.
‘Here they come.’
Ryan sneered inwardly, yet did not move at all.
He heard that mana fluctuation pause outside the window, as though listening.
After a brief silence, a clearer power carrying the vitality of plant life gently touched the window, seemingly trying to lift the latch without making a sound.
At that exact moment, Ryan sprang up from the bed like a leopard. Moving with startling speed, he yanked open the door, stepped into the corridor in a single stride, and shot a sharp gaze toward the shadow beside the outside of the window.
“My friend, coming to my window to enjoy the night breeze this late at night—do you have some advice to offer?”
His voice rang clearly through the silent corridor.
The shadow outside instantly stiffened.
The rustling and the mana fluctuation both stopped at once, as though someone had pressed pause.
Ryan could feel a shocked gaze shoot toward him from within the darkness. He stepped forward, his gray-blue eyes looking especially deep in the dim corridor light.
“Although I do not know who you are, or who sent you, sneaking into another person’s room at night without permission in the academy dormitory area and trying to tamper with the magic lock on the doors and windows… that charge is enough to keep you in confinement until the end of the term. Would you like to try it?”
His words were half a threat, half a test.
The other party’s goal was obviously the gemstone, but their manner of acting seemed somewhat hesitant. They did not feel like a professional thief.
The person in the shadows seemed affected by those words.
Ryan saw only the slightest tremor ripple through that gray silhouette. Then, like a startled night bird, the figure abruptly shrank back and leaped straight down from the side of the second-floor windowsill, landing without a sound before dashing toward the secluded path behind the dormitory building.
‘Trying to run?’
Ryan’s gaze sharpened.
He had to find out who was after the gemstone. Otherwise, he would never know a moment’s peace.
Almost without hesitation, his body flashed forward. With his solid physical condition and a slight enhancement from wind magic, he deftly vaulted over the corridor railing, landed steadily, and pursued the gray figure disappearing into the night.
One after the other, the two began a silent chase through the quiet academy night.
Panic welled up in Iruya’s heart. She had never expected to be discovered, nor had she expected the other side to pursue her so decisively. She could only rely on an Elf’s lightness and her familiarity with the terrain, weaving through the shadows of buildings and the landscaped greenery in an attempt to shake off her pursuer.
Ryan, however, stayed close behind. Relying on his vague judgment of her route and his keen perception of mana, he never lost her trail.
His confusion only deepened.
The other party’s movements and mana aura were peculiar. They did not seem like an ordinary human thief, nor like the sinister style cultivated by some noble faction.
At last, after several minutes of pursuit, a relatively open area appeared ahead—a small training ground used by lower-year students for morning practice, with only sparse magic streetlamps around it.
Realizing that even the complicated terrain would not be enough to completely shake him off, Iruya abruptly stopped and turned around, her cloak billowing slightly in the night wind.
Ryan also stopped about a dozen paces away, breathing a little harder as his sharp gaze locked onto her.
Here, the suppressive influence of the dormitory area’s warding magic was weaker. If they truly had to fight, there was at least a little room to do so.
“I will ask you one last time.” Ryan’s voice sounded especially clear in the empty field. “Who are you? Who sent you? What is your purpose?”
Beneath the gray cloak, Iruya bit her lip tightly, her pale violet eyes filled with struggle and resolve.
She could not reveal her identity.
Nor could she speak of what the gemstone meant to the Elven race.
Negotiation had seemingly failed already. The other side’s attitude was firm and vigilant.
Seeing that his opponent still answered with silence, Ryan finally lost patience altogether.
Whoever this was, they had attempted to infiltrate his room late at night, and their target had clearly been the “Emerald Wind Oath.” That alone made them an enemy.
“It seems I will have to make you speak another way.”
Before the last word had even fallen, Ryan was already moving.
He did not use a powerful spell that required chanting. With a sweep of his right hand through empty air, a pale green wind blade half a meter long instantly formed, tearing through the air with a sharp whistling cry as it shot toward Iruya. At the same time, his left hand slapped toward the ground, and a small patch of earth instantly softened and writhed, attempting to entangle her feet—a simple earth spell, “Mire.”
Iruya was startled.
His casting speed was so fast.
She did not dare take it head-on. Her body drifted sideways and backward like willow fluff in the wind, narrowly avoiding the main edge of the wind blade, though the edge of her cloak was still torn open by the fierce current.
At the same time, a pale blue sheen flashed beneath her feet, and a thin layer of ice instantly formed. Not only did it neutralize the mire’s binding force, but it also gave her a slick point of leverage, allowing her to slide backward with even greater agility.
‘Wind and water? Nature magic?’
Ryan’s eyes shifted slightly, but his movements did not stop.
Both hands swept out in quick succession, different-colored glimmers dancing at his fingertips. A blazing fireball the size of a fist roared forward, forcing her to reposition. Immediately afterward, several sharp rock fragments shot upward from the ground, sealing off her space to evade. Ryan himself then accelerated with the help of a sudden gale, closing the distance, and drove a straight punch wrapped in faint lightning directly toward her chest.
This was a technique in which he simply attached thunder-element mana to the force of his fist. It was crude, but at close range its power was not to be underestimated.
The more Iruya fought, the more alarmed she became.
This human boy’s mastery over basic magic was terrifyingly skillful.
Wind, earth, fire, thunder…
He wielded multiple attributes with ease, switching between them fluidly, almost without any chanting interval at all. He was fighting entirely through powerful mana affinity and instinctive control. His style was also sharp and direct, pressing forward step by step without the slightest hesitation.
Her own talent gave her greater advantages in wind and water magic, and her movements were lighter as well. But beneath his swift and ever-changing combination attacks, she was actually being driven steadily backward, forced to do little more than evade and block, with almost no chance to retaliate.
Bang!
A wind blade she failed to fully dodge grazed her left arm, sending a trail of blood droplets into the air. The pain made her let out a muffled groan.
Sizzle!
The fist wind laced with lightning brushed past her cloak, leaving behind a scorched mark. The numbness of the electric shock made her movements falter for an instant.
This could not go on.
She would lose.
And she might even be seriously injured—or captured.
A huge surge of unwillingness and fear rose in Iruya’s heart. The risk of exposing her identity and the consequences of failure left her with no room for hesitation.
At the exact moment Ryan’s next wave of attacks was about to arrive, Iruya suddenly poured most of the natural mana within her body into the ancient-wood talisman in her hand, while quickly chanting a brief syllable in the Elven tongue.
In an instant, a violent burst of emerald light erupted from her center.
It was not an attack, but an extreme disorder and repulsion of wind and nature elements. Violent currents mixed with phantom leaves swept outward in all directions. The light twisted, and even space itself seemed to ripple.
Ryan was forced back several steps by that sudden eruption of mana. Narrowing his eyes, he instantly condensed a wind shield before himself.
The radiance lasted for only a moment before abruptly collapsing inward.
When Ryan quickly looked again, all that remained on the spot were the traces left on the grass by the ravaging magic and… several strands of long hair drifting slowly to the ground, faintly gleaming with silver light.
The figure in the gray cloak had already vanished without a trace.
“Spatial transfer? Or high-level concealment?”
Ryan walked over to the disturbed patch of ground, crouched down, and picked up those strands of silver hair.
The hair was extraordinarily resilient and cool to the touch, carrying a non-human luster beneath the moonlight.
“An Elf…?”
Looking at the silver hair in his hand, and combining it with the opponent’s wind-and-water nature magic and that unique mana aura, the name of a race long regarded as little more than legend surfaced in his mind.
He raised his head and looked toward the direction in which Iruya had vanished, his gaze deep and unreadable.
Carefully storing away the silver hair, Ryan turned and silently made his way back along the same path to Silver Fir House.