Cyril had the impression the crown prince would not be the one to believe in rumors so much.
Shaking off any distracting thoughts, Cyril coughed and began asking the question he was curious about.
"You've fought with Myra just now; where is she?"
Clayton stopped looking at the sky, meeting his gaze without any fear this time.
"She is just over there." He pointed to the trees behind them. "Go a bit further, and you'll see a shack. She is inside."
"Thanks," simply replied Cyril and moved without wasting any time.
Behind him, Clayton breathed another sigh of relief, now completely convinced of his safety.
Even though everyone was covered with a barrier, pain could still be felt. He heard that Cyril's attacks stung particularly bad.
"See you later, Clayton." Cedric waved goodbye and followed Cyril.
"Your Highness." Emily solemnly nodded and quickly left as well.
Clayton stood with a blank expression on his face, then he looked around, and finally hesitantly followed after the trio.
The test was soon going to be over anyways. He might as well see what's going on there.
Clayton quickly caught up with Cedric, who enthusiastically welcomed him, and together they all walked a certain distance away from Cyril.
...
Before long, Cyril finally saw his target.
In the middle of a clearing stood a cabin, cozy lights peeking out of its windows.
Somehow the weather around them became colder, and clouds were slowly covering the sky.
The outside became darker, but it only made the cabin seem more inviting. How warm must it be inside.
"Was it like this as well when you were here?" asked Cedric while looking at the prince.
"Yes. It's just the setting of this place, I guess." Clayton nodded with a heavy face.
After briefly stopping to observe the cabin from the outside, Cyril walked up to the front door and opened it.
Inside, the shack was slightly reminiscent of the house he stayed in in Shamrock Village, but at the same time, it was different.
It felt like a combination of many different places all mashed into a single cabin in the woods.
Despite this, the place possessed a certain lived-in quality. Staying here was heartwarming.
Close to the middle there was a lit-up fireplace with a rocking chair in front of it.
Relaxed, swaying back and forth, was Myra, who stared into the flames with a blank expression.
Cyril nonchalantly walked up right beside her and sat on another wooden chair nearby.
"How are you doing?" He asked with intrigue.
"Not bad..." Myra immediately replied, trailing off.
Then she suddenly started saying something unrelated.
"We've caught that criminal, and I've become stronger already. But..." Myra hesitated for a brief moment. "...Feels a bit sad that this will be over soon."
Cyril stared at her in confusion, not really following her trail of thought.
"She finally went insane..."
Just then, Myra's eyes refocused on Cyril nearby, and her face was colored with shock.
"Eh!?" She looked around, noticing the presence of other people as well.
Cedric stood, awkwardly pretending to not be here, when his eyes met hers. He waved with a friendly smile.
Clayton almost hid behind Cedric, very reluctant to meet her head-on again, but still curious enough to come in and see what was happening.
While Emily simply nodded her head with a cautious expression.
"Sorry, I blacked out for a second." Myra shook her head and turned to Cyril again. "Good to see you, Cyril."
"That didn't seem like a normal thing people just experience sometimes," Rhamn said with skepticism.
Cyril thought the same, but he wasn't going to investigate it now. Maybe later when in private.
"What is the object you are supposed to protect?" He asked.
Myra pointed her finger at a wall above the fireplace. Hanging there was a small painting with nothing but smudged colors on it.
"Too bad I can't get it off the wall. I had to stay here and guard it myself. Even solving the puzzle didn't help." Myra sighed and looked at the others here.
Particularly at Clayton and Emily "And why are they here? Shouldn't we be fighting them?" She got up from her rocking chair.
"No, no. The test is about to end at any second! No need to work so hard for only a single point," Clayton hurriedly replied.
Emily, at his side, nodded with great enthusiasm.
Taking a better look at Jack's sister, Myra narrowed her eyes. "What's your name?" She calmly asked.
"It's Emily!" she replied, taking a few steps back.
The similarity between Myra and Cyril lingered in her mind—especially in how they demanded an introduction. It was just as frightening.
"Emily... Emily." Myra quietly mumbled this name a few times.
"All right. Nice to meet you." She then raised her face and said with a smile, offering a handshake.
Emily cautiously shook her hand and stepped back, still a bit afraid.
"This cabin sure looks weird," Cedric said, switching the topic.
"My place was a miniature castle, but it didn't look quite as special as this." He looked around the room they were in.
True, the sight of mismatching floorboards and walls was jarring, but it wasn't that noticeable if you didn't pay attention.
"There might be a reason behind it." Vaguely, said Myra.
Just then, something began changing in their surroundings.
The walls of the cabin went away, then the woods outside dissipated into nothingness, and the skies turned pitch black. It felt like the world was ending.
Soon only dark soil remained under their feet, barely illuminated by the magic lamps placed high on the ceiling that now hung over their heads.
"We are back in the real world?" said Cyril while looking around.
Myra nodded to his question with a tired face. "The test is over."
In front of all of them, an arrow of light appeared, pointing a direction.
"Let's go then," Myra quickly said and started walking.
The rest followed after her.
Without all the vegetation around, the place seemed smaller.
Though it was still a big empty area lying just beneath their academy.
"I wonder why Ailanthus has such a place," said Cedric, while admiring the vast emptiness around them.
"Didn't we just use this area for its intended purpose?" Replied Clayton.
"Hmm, I guess that's true," agreed Cedric with an uncertain voice.
Then he snapped his fingers and made a smile. "That's pretty cool, actually. While the other academies have to travel somewhere for their field training, we only need to go to the basement."
This actually was an impressive thing. Cyril thought so as well.
"There is a lot of potential here... no, in the principal's illusion magic!" voiced Rhamn her impressions.
"I really get more and more interested in learning it..."
All in due time.
...
Emily's arrow pointed her in a different direction, so she said her goodbyes and left, but not before shooting one last hopeful look at Cyril.
Before long the rest of them finally arrived at their destination.
This was the same entrance Cyril entered from originally. What was a gate into the hill now stuck out from a wall.
There were surprisingly few people here. More than three hundred people participated in the test, but only around 40 were here.
"This is class I. The rest of the students are probably going towards different exits," guessed Rhamn.
There was no way a facility of such size only had a single entrance.
I see.
Cyril didn't recognize it at first. He really needed to learn more about his classmates.
Standing in front of the small crowd was Richard, saying something to everyone and motioning with his hands.
When Cyril and the others came over, people immediately noticed and created some distance.
Seeing this, their professor's eyes became a bit more tired than they already were.
With a cough, he got everyone's attention. "Now that we're all here, the test is over. I want to congratulate you on completing it. Don't worry if you're disappointed with the results—this is far from the last exam this year."
"Next, I would like to talk about something that happened during the test. Earlier, some of you might've encountered Cyril, which led to a heated situation." Richard scanned the students.
A few whispers started going around the students of class I.
They shot glances at Cyril.
Some gloating, thinking that the professor was going to punish Cyril for his words.
Some were only curious about what had happened.
Richard continued, "That altercation happened because a spell was cast on all of you."
This immediately silenced all the talk among the students. They all stared at Richard with questioning eyes.
"All your actions had increased hostility to them. No party truly wished the other evil. I apologize for this happening." He bowed to the students.
"This was done to prepare you for similar situations in the future. Whenever emotions threaten to cloud your judgment, think back to today and remember how detrimental that can be," Richard continued with a speech.
A spell, huh?
"And here I thought I was just that good at provocation..." Rhamn was somewhat saddened by this reveal.