Ch. 128
Volume 2
Chapter 52 : The Past
“Hmm? Are you… inviting me?”
Faced with the girl’s question, Muen’s eyes immediately sharpened.
That shy expression.
That hesitant way of speaking.
Could it be…
But that was not right. Had he not only met Student Sherry twice?
“S-Student Muen, please do not get the wrong idea. A-actually, it was just my father… yes, my father asked me to invite you to our home as a guest.”
Muen’s look made Sherry’s face turn even redder, as if it were about to catch fire. She hurriedly explained:
“I wrote to my father before and told him everything that happened. But when he wrote back recently, he gave me a terrible scolding. He said, how could I possibly brush off someone like Student Muen with just a few cakes? So he asked me to invite Student Muen to our home. He is a well-known chef in the area, and he wants to prepare a grand meal for you as an apology.”
“I see…”
Muen understood now.
So it was not Student Sherry, but Student Sherry’s father.
That made sense.
The more life experience people had, the more they tended to care about things like status and social etiquette.
He was probably worried that his daughter might have slighted him, the Duke’s son.
“I truly appreciate both your and your father’s kindness, but I am sorry, I already have plans for Open Day,” Muen said apologetically.
“But Open Day lasts for three days.”
“I cannot be sure whether I will be able to make time. If I accidentally stood you and your father up when the time came, would that not be even worse?”
“I… I suppose so?”
Sherry’s disappointment was visible to the naked eye.
“Well, I guess it cannot be helped. After all, someone like Student Muen must be very busy during Open Day.”
Why did that make it sound as though I were some scumbag about to juggle several dates at once?
Muen’s lips twitched as he continued to comfort her.
“I am sorry, Student Sherry, for disappointing you both, but there is really no need for this. Have I not said it already? I never took that little misunderstanding to heart in the first place. You can go back and pass my words on to your father and tell him not to worry.”
“That is not the reason at all…” Sherry muttered softly.
“Hmm? What was that?”
“N-nothing.”
Sherry shook her head in a panic, then suddenly stuffed a slip of paper into Muen’s hand.
It seemed she had already written it in advance.
“In that case, if Student Muen ever has time, then please come visit us.”
“Eh? Wait.”
“I will be waiting all three days!”
And with that, before Muen could react any further, Sherry fled as though escaping.
…
“15 Durank Street, Lower City.”
Standing there, Muen looked at the note in his hand, which seemed to contain an address, and gave a bitter smile.
“This really… has become a little troublesome.”
“How youthful of you, Muen Campbell.”
A stern, old-fashioned voice suddenly rang out.
An old man stood not far away, dressed in formalwear and holding a silver cane, silently watching Muen like an ancient pine rooted in place.
“Professor Prang? Why are you here?”
Muen jumped in fright and hastily stuffed the note into his pocket before asking in confusion.
You came to the hospital too, just by coincidence?
Professor Prang did not answer. He merely turned around and said:
“Come with me.”
“Eh? Do you need something from me?”
Muen looked utterly baffled and tried to ask more.
But Professor Prang had already walked off into the distance, so Muen had no choice but to stop worrying about it and hurry after him at a run.
…
The great clock tower.
Underground.
The Silver Well.
With a soft beep, the mana-powered lift doors opened, and an unfamiliar underground world appeared before Muen’s eyes.
Beneath his feet, a metallic floor cast like a mirror reflected clear images all the way to the end of his sight.
Pipes that glimmered with faint blue and red light twisted together like giant pythons in the corners before disappearing into the darkness ahead.
In the shadows on either side stood enormous, precise mechanical constructs like giants lining the road.
The instant Muen stepped onto the floor, he felt two terrifying gazes sweep across his body.
Under that overwhelming pressure, Muen’s breathing faltered, as though he were standing at the bottom of a dark and boundless sea.
“Do not be afraid.”
Professor Prang reached out and patted him on the shoulder.
“They are the gatekeepers of the Mercury Well. As long as you have clearance, there is no danger.”
The pressure on his body vanished at once.
As Muen took a deep breath, he could not help asking mischievously:
“Then what if someone does not have clearance?”
“No clearance?”
Professor Prang’s tone rose slightly, almost mocking.
“The first thing any enemy who wishes to invade the Mercury Well must do is deceive the eyes of the gatekeepers.
If they cannot…”
His gaze slid toward the floor near the lift.
There was a large dark-red stain there, like dried blood.
“It has been decades, and that patch of ground where countless powerful people were crushed into pulp still cannot be scrubbed clean.”
Professor Prang’s words sent a chill down Muen’s spine.
He shrank his neck and glanced nervously at the steel giants before hastily quickening his pace to follow Professor Prang.
Their footsteps rang crisply through the vast and silent corridor, echoing layer after layer, like countless unseen people clapping out a rhythm in the dark.
It was deeply unsettling.
Muen rubbed his arms and wanted to start some sort of conversation to dispel the chill in his heart, but because the person in front of him was the rigid and severe Professor Prang, he did not know what to say.
“Your father was also my student,” Professor Prang suddenly said first.
“Eh?”
Muen froze for a moment, then quickly came back to himself.
“Father studied at Saint Maria Academy too?”
“Ever since the academy was founded, every generation of heirs of your Campbell family has studied here.”
Professor Prang paused, then said:
“After all, the Campbell family was one of the academy’s founders, and to this day it remains one of the academy’s major shareholders, holding the authority to decide certain important matters concerning the academy.”
“I had no idea the Campbell family was actually one of the academy’s shareholders.”
Muen sounded genuinely astonished.
“Do not overthink it.”
Professor Prang said coldly:
“According to the agreement made back then, the only one who may interfere in certain academy affairs is the Duke of Campbell himself. So whether it was your father in the past or you now, once inside the academy, you are nothing more than a student, with no right to meddle in its affairs.”
“I never had that kind of idea.”
Muen scratched his head with an innocent look.
Trying to throw his weight around at the academy seemed to offer no benefit at all, other than getting slapped into a wall so hard by Professor Prang that he would have to be pried off.
He was not that kind of unruly young noble who would use his privilege to fill an entire swimming pool with champagne and use the excuse of a ball to peek at the smooth thighs beneath young ladies’ white dresses.
He preferred black stockings.
“Then what was my father like when he studied at the academy?” Muen asked.
“Your father…”
Professor Prang paused, seeming to sink into distant memories.
Then his tone turned faintly nostalgic.
“Even back then, Lorne Campbell was exactly like the title he bears now.”
“Title?”
Muen thought for a moment.
“Lion King?”
“That is right. The Lion King, the leader of the pride.”
A sharp glint flashed through Professor Prang’s aged eyes as he said:
“From the moment he entered the academy, he was like a lion king standing above all beasts—radiant, dazzling beyond compare. Humility, courage, diligence, devotion—those excellent qualities that a noble ought to possess all shone upon his chest like badges. Many students were won over by his character and followed him with sincere hearts, and he himself always advanced onward surrounded by others and the things he accumulated during his student years became an important cornerstone that allowed him to swiftly shoulder the Campbell banner during that upheaval—the incident in which your grandfather tragically passed away. He was the kind of man who, at first sight, made everyone praise him as one truly worthy of the Campbell name.
So…”
Professor Prang turned to look at Muen, his expression complicated.
“When I first saw you at the academy a year ago, that is why I was so disappointed.”