In a luxurious office, August sat across the table from a middle-aged man dressed in elegant divination attire.
Cold sweat lightly beaded on August's forehead, while the middle-aged man remained perfectly composed, looking entirely at ease.
“Cassian, don't you think you've gone a bit too far?”
Cassian held his teacup, his gaze falling on his reflection in the tea. He raised a hand, his fingertips gently brushing against the dark black scar on his face, and murmured softly.
“Right from the start of Erylin's enrollment, wasn't this exactly what we planned to do?”
August sneered. “We? The only ones who want to destroy that child are you people, aren't they?”
“At the previous Council meeting, we explicitly forbade anyone from bringing this up.”
Cassian took a sip of tea and interrupted, “Erylin is worth it.”
“As for Loretta? Heh, does she really think she is the master of this academy?”
“Right now, every Diviner in the empire is waiting for her to patch up that rift.”
“She has no time to worry about this operation...”
Cassian set down his teacup, his expression turning cold and grim. “Do you know what that old woman has been doing behind our backs?”
August sneered back. “What does that have to do with me? All I need to know is that the only ones trying to destroy this academy right now are you.”
With a flick of his right wrist, Cassian conjured three Cards of Canal and tossed them in front of August.
“Do you think the God of Light was the only deity that appeared during the recent witch incident?”
At the thought of this, Cassian instantly flared up in anger. “The miracles left behind that night belonged to three different deities.”
The three cards lay quietly on the table.
One depicted a faceless woman holding a blazing sun.
Another was shrouded in mysterious dark shadows, looking down with indifference at lovers embracing in the mortal realm.
And the last one was hidden in deep, heavy night, silently guiding the way forward in the dark.
Staring at the three cards, August was instantly startled.
“Light, Eternal Night, and... The Lovers?”
The three cards represented the God of Light, the God of the Eternal Night, and The Lovers.
August murmured, “Deities cannot interfere with the world...”
“Besides that Blessed of the God of Light, two other God-Favored Ones appeared that night?”
Gently tracing the scar on his face once more, Cassian said coldly, “This is an answer I obtained at no small cost...”
“If Erylin were just an ordinary child, I wouldn't even spare her a glance.”
August's pupils dilated in shock, and he said in utter disbelief, “Are you saying that child is also a God-Favored One...”
Cassian wore a mysterious smile as he replied, “Not quite.”
“This was our original purpose, August.”
“To unlock Erylin's potential, to build a stage of despair for that child.”
“The one who bestowed the Ice of Aret upon Erylin was The Lovers.”
“That is a creation of a god.”
“This is the information that woman hid.”
Cassian sneered. “Are you wondering who represented the God of the Eternal Night that night?”
“That is the only deity in the world destined to bestow their blessing upon a single individual. Who could possibly be favored by His gaze and receive His grace?”
Cassian's gaze turned ice-cold as he scoffed, “It was Loretta.”
“It truly is hilarious. Light and Eternal Night are two deities with a blood feud, yet Loretta, who represents Eternal Night, was actually willing to lower herself to personally protect that Blessed of Light.”
August let out a breath and said in a heavy voice, “That is indeed somewhat beyond my expectations.”
“But what does any of this have to do with me?”
August glared at him, a trace of anger leaking into his tone.
“Anyone who wants to destroy this academy has no right to negotiate terms with me.”
Cassian wasn't surprised by this. Instead, he leaned completely back into the sofa and said casually, “Isn't the difficulty of this dispatch mission a bit too much for the students?”
“Can our students really handle it?”
“If the chamber of commerce's mercenaries suddenly turn on them... tsk, tsk, if a few more die... ah, that would be troublesome.”
Cassian said dismissively, “Our dear Erylin will be heartbroken.”
August kept a cold face as he slipped a letter clenched in his hand into his sleeve.
It was a letter sent by Ain.
It turned out to be exactly as that kid had said.
This mission was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
Although that kid had guessed in his letter that there would be enemies, and had even listed the likelihood of each faction harming the academy...
...he probably never could have imagined that the one trying to destroy the academy this time was actually the academy itself, right?
Damn it, I need to tell...
As if reading August's concerns, Cassian chuckled. “Are you worried about that Blessed of the God of Light?”
“With Loretta using divination to hide him, I indeed cannot figure out who he is.”
“But then again, who could ever guess that the one trying to destroy the academy is actually the academy itself?”
Cassian sneered. “To ensure that everyone successfully achieves their goals, we went to great lengths to specially add some highly valuable extra supplies into those crates filled with potions...”
“If Erylin sees her dear friends' limbs torn apart and their eyeballs rolling to her feet, how will the creation of a god inside her react?”
Hearing this, August bolted to his feet, his eyes filled with shock.
“You actually put that kind of thing in—!”
Cassian waved his hand, cutting him off. “Indeed. If even you couldn't guess it, how could they?”
“The one who wants them dead is their very own dear instructor!”
Cassian laughed maniacally. “So what if you, Loretta, are Tier 6? So what if only you know Divination Magic?”
“That woman really looks down on me...”
“Concealing tracks with divination—does she really think she's the only one who can do it?”
“Do you want to see your students disemboweled?”
“Once our dear students get their hands on those potions...”
Suddenly, a Magic Letter flew out from Cassian's waist, shimmering with a faint blue starlight.
“It seems the potions have already been distributed.”
August's anger did not subside, and cold sweat dripped down his forehead.
He never expected that the other party would actually manage to bypass Loretta in divination!
Cassian slowly unsealed the letter and murmured, “Let us see...”
August's brow furrowed deeply, his heart filled with dread.
Damn it, if I had known, I would have gone on this operation myself. Now who else can...
“Lord Cassian! All of those potions are gone!”
“...”
“...”
The air instantly froze. Both August and Cassian stopped what they were doing.
The text of the Magic Letter floated into midair, and a clear, frantic voice echoed repeatedly in the room.
“Not just that batch of potions! Even the hallucinogenic potions that can trigger a mixed reaction and cause mental breakdown are all gone!”
“It seems... it seems they were stolen!”
Cassian's arrogant demeanor vanished instantly, his face a mask of utter bewilderment.
“Stolen?”
“Those potions combined are worth hundreds of Corona Gold! And they were stolen?!”
“Are these our academy's security measures? In the grandest magic academy of the empire, someone actually dared to steal from us?! And they just happened to steal that exact batch of potions?!”
Cassian spoke with immense heartache.
He had expended countless mana and financial resources just to barely sneak that batch of potions into the academy's supplies, only for them to be stolen by some thief out of nowhere?
Which bastard was it?!
Cassian laughed out of sheer anger, shaking his head helplessly.
But when he looked up and his gaze met August's on the opposite sofa, the expression on his face instantly froze.
August's previous panic had completely vanished. He sat upright on the sofa like a detached scholar, leisurely sipping his hot tea with an expression of utter serenity and ease.
“Ah, Cassian...”
“I already figured out you would do this.”
Cassian asked in shock, “You actually discovered that batch of potions?”
August took another sip of tea, his lips curving into a smirk as if everything was within his calculations.
In reality, however, August was panicking like crazy.
Even he hadn't expected such a mishap to occur at this moment.
Though he had no idea where this petty thief had come from, they had truly done him a massive favor.
August took another sip of tea, and Ain's figure couldn't help but flash across his mind.
Hiss...
The kind of guy who could pull off something like this...
In the academy's team, the only one who was familiar with potionology seemed to be him, right?
Could it really be that kid?
Rate on N.U.
