Cyril stood with conflicting opinions within him.
For one, he felt a bit guilty before his fellow classmates over what happened at the hill.
Emily seemed like an earnest person trying to unearth what happened to her lost brother. A noble goal.
On the other hand, it felt wrong to give away Jack's information like that.
Cyril thought there might be a chance he would use his help in the future. And souring their relationship like that didn't seem good for business.
"Who cares, honestly? Jack is just a single human; there are plenty of others like him. Just do what you feel like doing; the rest is irrelevant."
While it sounded rather mean, Rhamn seemed to be also in favor of helping Emily.
"Is there something bad happening to your brother, Emily?" asked Cedric with a concerned voice.
Emily hesitated to answer this question, twisting the hem of her sleeve with a complicated expression.
"I'm sorry, you don't have to answer." Seeing her like this, Cedric quickly waved his hands to show he didn't mind.
This action somehow brought more confidence to Emily.
She was about to start a story. "No, it's okay. It all began—"
"We are in the middle of a test right now. Can this wait for another day?" Cyril interrupted her while shaking his head.
Emily's words got stuck in her throat, and she stared at him with the corners of her eyes glistening.
"I am not saying I won't help you. Just go find me on Tuesday. We'll talk about this in detail then." Cyril quickly added to avoid seeing any more tears today.
He was also curious about the drama between siblings, but he would rather listen to it later in a suitable atmosphere.
Unsure whether to laugh or cry, Emily nodded with a confused expression.
Cedric scratched his hair while pursing his lips but didn't say anything at the end.
With his curiosity here satisfied, Cyril started moving in no particular direction, trying his chances to meet Myra.
After a slight pause, Cedric and Emily stared at each other and quickly followed after Cyril.
"Cedric is on your team, so that's understandable. But Emily isn't. What about her grade at the end of the test? Will the professors count this as cheating?"
Who knows...
So the three of them moved through the forest with hurried footsteps.
Cyril didn't know when the test would end, but it couldn't be much longer now. A lot of time had passed since it began.
...
On the way, Emily suddenly stopped in front of a random tree, moving her hands in the air with a focused expression.
This made Cyril curious, and he moved closer to see what she was doing. Turns out she was working on a magic circle.
After a few minutes Emily was done and breathed a sigh of relief before turning around.
"Thank you for waiting." She said, apologetically.
She expected Cyril to just continue walking forward without a care.
"What were you doing?" Cyril stood with a hand on his chin.
Emily turned a bit surprised. "I was... just solving a puzzle, doing the test?"
Now it was Cyril's turn to get surprised. He never heard of any puzzles.
"It's another way for students to get grades. There are only three of us, not like that's enough to fairly grade everyone. We are here more so as a special test for more battle-oriented students," quickly added Cedric.
Then his expression turned more mischievous, like he was about to say a joke. "By the way... we also have a similar thing. If you inject mana into your disc, there should be a puzzle there."
These words shocked Cyril, and he blankly stared at the disc that was currently carried by Morpho.
Cyril quickly grabbed the crystal and injected mana into it. Sure enough, soon a half-completed magic circle appeared before his eyes.
I can't believe I never tried it...
"Well, better late than never..." Rhamn was also feeling a bit ashamed.
Both of them were too focused on fighting the students.
Emily involuntarily let out a chuckle at this sight.
Cyril immediately shot her a glance, scaring Emily into freezing, but then he returned to fiddling with the disc.
Thankfully it wasn't anything Rhamn and he couldn't solve together.
While they were walking, they quickly added the missing patterns to the circle, making mana flow in a way that seemed correct.
In just mere moments, Cyril solved the puzzle, and the disc shone brightly, which shocked the other students.
"Already!?" Even Cedric lost his smile.
While Emily's expression became solidified with her jaw open. She almost forgot Cyril was a genius.
If it was her, she would probably have to spend an hour or two to solve such a convoluted circle. The realization saddened her a bit.
Cyril didn't pay attention to the faces of his companions; he was also shocked, but in a good way.
Turns out the crystal had a positive use. Once he activated it, it started attracting more mana from their surroundings.
It effectively increased Cyril's mana regeneration, which was precisely what he needed at the moment.
He still hasn't fully recovered from all the fighting today.
If I had this earlier... Then Cyril thought somewhat bitterly.
Then there would probably be no need to use the tactics they used to win against that crowd.
"At least it was fun."
...
After a bit more walking, there was finally someone ahead.
Cyril signaled with his hand to his companions to keep low.
And together they sneaked up on a group of students taking a rest in the clearing.
Though Emily did get a weird feeling from hiding. She was on the students' team; how come she is now ambushing them?
"Shit... Myra is tough as always. The way she fights is just so brutal..." Whined a student while lying on the ground.
"Don't speak so casually in front of His Highness!" Another student whispered to him in a panic.
Hearing that, the man quickly raised his body and scratched his head. "Uh, sorry, Clayton, I was just too tired," he apologized to another student leaning against a tree.
Clayton Fairfax stood there, surrounded by henchmen as usual. On his face, a subtle, polite smile.
"Why are you apologizing? I'm just a student," he said while shaking his head.
Everyone around immediately began saying every positive thing they could think of.
Cyril, tired of hearing this bootlicking, exited the bush he was hiding in into the open.
The crowd immediately went silent, turning their heads at the intruder in surprise.
"It's Felling! Run!" After a second delay, a student began screaming.
Everyone else began panicking as well, moving as fast as possible away from this place.
Clayton was no exception; he hurriedly ran in a different direction.
However, Cyril needed to ask them something, so Morpho flew straight from his shoulder, effortlessly caught up to the crown prince, and swept at his leg, making him fall on the ground.
Emily's eyes fell when she noticed how Cyril treated royalty.
Her opinion of him jumped all over the place. She really didn't know what to think.
None of Clayton's henchmen remained behind to protect their prince, making Rhamn have a good laugh.
"What 'friends' the prince has! This is even a bit sad!" She said in a jovial fashion.
Clayton slowly flipped over to his back and raised his hands in the air, his polite smile almost cracking. "I lost!"
Even the prince was a bit scared of Cyril right now, it seems.
Cyril slowly walked over to Clayton; with each step the prince's smile became more and more distorted.
Now in front of him, Cyril looked down on him with a calm expression, which further scared the prince.
To be honest, Cyril was doing this on purpose. He found this reaction to be entertaining.
"I get it! I get it!"
Quickly snapping out of it, Cyril stretched his hand, offering to help the prince get up.
Clayton's face froze, eyeing the hand with some suspicion. But soon he grabbed on to it and got up from the ground.
"Don't worry, I have enough points right now. I just want to ask a question," finally said Cyril.
With this, the other two students hiding nearby came out as well.
Emily, keeping her head low, cautiously glanced at the prince, curious about him.
While Cedric went out openly, waving his hand with a smile. "Hey, Clayton! Relax, we are not going to attack."
Seeing this overly optimistic student, Clayton visibly relaxed and took a few deep breaths.
"That's good then," he mumbled while staring at the sky.
"Are we really that scary?"