Chapter 52: THE PRICE OF ADMISSION
The low hum of conversation in the Scholar’s Rest pub was a fragile peace against the memory of the rift’s oppressive silence. Yomi sat with his companions at a sturdy oak table, the air thick with the scent of stew and stale ale. Kira, a small shadow nestled at his side, ate with a quiet desperation, her instincts still coiled tight. Across from him, Aeloria and Lirien moved their food around their plates, the tension of their ordeal a palpable presence between them.
Yomi set down his spoon. "Lirien," he began, his voice cutting through the tavern’s noise with practiced authority. "You mentioned the tuition for Astralux Academy was expensive. How expensive?"
Lirien started, pulled from her thoughts. "More than most adventurers see in a lifetime," she admitted, her gaze wary. "Why?"
Without a word, Yomi slid the small, crystalline card from the guild across the worn wood. "See if this is sufficient."
Lirien picked it up, her brow furrowed as she exchanged a glance with Aeloria. "I know the materials were valuable, but..." she trailed off. Her fingertips glowed with a faint pink aura as she channeled a minuscule amount of energy into the card.
Her breath caught. The numbers that shimmered to life on its surface were an impossibility. Her eyes widened, scanning the figures again. Ten million gold. A hundred thousand silver.
"What is it?" Aeloria leaned forward, her voice a tense whisper.
Lirien’s own voice was barely audible, trembling with the weight of the revelation. "It’s enough to buy a noble title." She looked up, her gaze locking with Yomi’s, trying to reconcile the broken slave from the dungeon with the man who commanded such impossible wealth.
Before the shock could fully settle, a high-pitched hum sliced through the air. A small creature, a hummingbird forged from pure, golden light, zipped through the pub’s open door. It darted between patrons with impossible speed before hovering directly before Yomi. A single, sealed scroll was clutched in its ethereal beak. The creature dropped the parchment into Yomi’s waiting hand, pulsed with a final, silent burst of light, and dissolved.
Yomi broke the seal. The parchment was heavy, the script elegant and authoritative. It was a formal letter of recommendation, signed with the unmistakable seal of Helena Voss, Assistant Head of the Adventurers Guild.