Chapter 123: The Embrace
The day of departure arrived on a morning when the mist had not yet fully dispersed.
The small square before the main gates of Saint Roland Magic Academy had been swept spotless. A deep red carpet, symbolizing honor, had even been laid out across it.
Quite a few students with no morning classes had gathered nearby, speaking in hushed voices as their eyes turned toward the five figures standing at the center of the square, as well as the row of particularly eye-catching carriages behind them.
This was the academy’s modest send-off ceremony for the Starfall Ruins exploration team.
It was hardly grand, but it was enough to show both importance and blessing. Several senior instructors stood to one side, and Minister Morris was among them, wearing an encouraging smile.
Ryan stood in his assigned place. On his back was a large canvas backpack that looked stuffed full, though in truth it contained only ordinary spare clothes and a few basic supplies.
The truly important things—including a number of ergency Magic Tools, so targeted supplies provided by the Princess, sufficient dry rations and fresh water, various Magic Tools, and assorted potions—had all been properly stored inside a small Storage Magic Tool Cecilia had given him a few days earlier.
It was a palm-sized flat tal box, its surface engraved with an extrely intricate Spatial Expansion Array. Its interior capacity far exceeded what its exterior suggested, making it a rather precious high-grade item.
Beside him stood his four teammates.
Lillian Rosedale had clearly put effort into her appearance today. Her ice-blue hair had been arranged into an elegant braid that was neat without losing its practical edge. She wore a fitted hunting outfit that allowed ease of movent while still preserving noble taste, and at her waist hung her slender Light Sword. She held her chin slightly high, doing her best to maintain composure, but the tightly pressed line of her lips and the quick glances she occasionally cast through the crowd still betrayed a trace of nervousness.
Rex Holden, on the other hand, was much simpler. He still wore that sa old training outfit, washed until the color had faded, with a sturdy leather cuirass over it. His broad-bladed greatsword was carefully wrapped in cloth and carried across his back. He stood ramrod straight, his gray eyes flashing with excitent and eagerness, occasionally rotating his wrists or rolling his ankles like a young lion about to be released from its cage.
The blond noble boy, Randall Freese, wore a light travel outfit of excellent tailoring and obvious quality. Besides the sword at his waist, a professional-looking tool pouch also hung from his belt.
The last was the fifth mber added after Wilson withdrew.
He was a boy who looked even more taciturn than Ryan, with rare light green hair cut short, pale skin, and delicate features that nevertheless carried little expression. He wore a plain dark-gray robe and held in his hand a short staff made of so kind of pale wood.
He stood alone a little farther away, his eyelids lowered, as though everything around him were beneath his notice. A gloomy aura of keep your distance seed to cling to him. Ryan rembered that the na on the list had been Evans, though beyond that he knew almost nothing about him.
Five carriages stood parked at the end of the carpet, each one different in style, obviously prepared according to the identity of its passenger or after special evaluation by the academy.
Randall’s carriage bore his family crest and was elegant and luxurious. Lillian’s had flowing lines and carried a kind of delicate refinent, almost Elven in feeling. Rex’s was simple and solid, built with practicality in mind. Evans’s was the most ordinary academy-issued carriage, but the horses pulling it were exceptionally fine.
And the one that belonged to Ryan…
It was a deep, quiet ink-blue from top to bottom. The carriage body had smooth, restrained lines, with no unnecessary ornantation, save for a small silver emblem at one corner of the door, like vines winding around a star.
The two horses drawing it were sleek-coated and well-muscled, their limbs long and powerful. They snorted quietly as they stood there. The middle-aged man seated at the coachman’s bench had an ordinary face, but his eyes were unusually steady.
Low sighs of amazent and murmured discussion rose from the surrounding students.
This display, these custom-prepared carriages, were without question both recognition of the strength of the academy’s five representatives and a crowning mark of honor.
After a brief address from the instructors, several words of encouragent, and a few reminders of what to keep in mind, the mont of departure finally arrived.
Ryan secured his backpack and walked toward his carriage.
He could feel a gaze sticking tightly to his back.
Cosette stood at the front edge of the crowd, closest to the carpet, her hands clenched tightly around the apron before her. Her chestnut hair stirred slightly in the morning wind. She had risen early today as well, checking and rechecking everything Ryan needed to bring. Now her little face was sowhat pale, her light brown eyes brimming with moisture, the rims of them red, like a small animal about to be abandoned in the rain by its owner.
Ryan stopped beside the carriage and turned to look at her.
Of course he understood what was in the little maid’s heart. She was only a girl in her teens, with no family to rely on and no support in the world beyond him, the sole light and pillar in her life.
For her, this sudden separation was no different from the heavens cracking apart.
Before leaving, he had already asked Cecilia to keep an eye on Cosette’s safety in secret, and he had also spoken with Lano, who occasionally ca to chat with her, asking her to spend more ti with the lonely little thing.
It seed those were the only arrangents he could make.
Looking at Cosette’s pitiful face as she tried desperately to hold back tears, Ryan’s usually unreadable expression softened a little. He lifted a hand and naturally rested it on top of her head, rubbing it gently.
“All right, don’t be like this.” His voice was lower and more even than usual. “I’ll co back as quickly as I can. Stay in the dormitory and behave yourself. Eat on ti. Rember to practice what I taught you. You have the library card. If you get bored, go read.”
Cosette bit down hard on her lip and nodded, but she still failed to stop the tears. They rolled from the corners of her eyes and slipped down her pale cheeks. She hurriedly wiped at them with the back of her hand, only to make them co faster.
Ryan sighed lightly in his heart, withdrew his hand, and turned to step into the carriage.
But just as his fingers were about to touch the door handle, a small force suddenly tugged at his sleeve.
Ryan paused and turned back.
Cosette had her head lowered, so her expression could not be seen. The hand clutching his sleeve, however, had gone so tight that the knuckles had turned white, trembling faintly.
She seed to struggle for a very long ti.
Then, as though she had finally made so desperate decision, she suddenly lifted her head.
There were still tears in her light brown eyes, but they were astonishingly bright, surging with reluctance, dependence, and a courage born of staking everything.
She released his sleeve.
Then, under the astonished eyes of many of the people around them, she stepped forward all at once, opened her arms, and threw herself into Ryan’s chest, wrapping them tightly around his waist.
Ryan’s body stiffened for an instant.
The girl’s slender but soft body pressed against him without the slightest gap. Even through their clothes, he could feel the racing beat of her heart and the tremor in her breathing.
The top of her chestnut head brushed against his chin, carrying a faint clean scent of sunlight and soapberry.
She held him very tightly, as though using every ounce of strength in her body, trying to press herself into his embrace, or as though the mont she let go, the person before her would vanish forever.
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