Chapter 124: Rock Bay City
There seed to be a few muffled gasps and whispers from the people around them, but Ryan paid them no mind.
The warmth and dependence coming from the girl in his arms were so real that they washed away the chill of the morning and smoothed, just a little, so tiny crease in his heart that even he himself had never carefully noticed.
He was silent for a mont.
Then he raised an arm and gently hugged her back, patting her lightly on her thin back.
“All right,” he said softly. “Don’t worry.”
The little maid in his arms trembled faintly. She held him for one second longer, then, as though she had exhausted all her courage, slowly let go.
She stepped back half a pace, lifted her tear-blurred face, and nodded hard. Her lips moved, but no sound ca out.
Ryan gave her one last look, said nothing more, turned, and climbed neatly into the carriage.
The middle-aged coachman flicked the reins without a word. The two fine horses stepped forward, and the ink-blue carriage rolled smoothly away from the square, joining the main road that led from the academy toward the gathering point.
The curtain over the carriage window had not been drawn.
Leaning back against the comfortable cushions within, Ryan looked out through the window and cast one last glance behind him.
The crowd in the square was beginning to disperse, making the red carpet look strangely empty.
Only that small figure in the black-and-white maid dress remained motionless where she stood, still gazing in the direction the carriage had gone.
The morning mist had not yet fully lifted, making her outline sowhat blurred, like a small, stubborn statue.
Only when the carriage turned a corner and the academy gates could no longer be seen did Ryan withdraw his gaze, lean back, and close his eyes.
The carriage rocked faintly as it bore him toward the depths of that mist called the Starfall Ruins, full of the unknown and danger.
And before the gates of Saint Roland Magic Academy, Cosette remained standing there in a daze for a long while.
Only when Lano ca to her side at so unknown mont, gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and softly said sothing to her did she seem to co back to herself. She cast one final look toward the street corner that had long since emptied, lowered her head, and allowed herself to be led away by Lano, walking back step by step, lost and dispirited, toward the dormitory building that had suddenly beco unbearably vast and quiet.
The ink-blue carriage traveled steadily along the official road leading toward the Empire’s southwestern region.
Ryan leaned back inside the carriage. Beneath him was a thick, soft velvet seat cushion in a deep shade, and behind him was a carefully placed backrest shaped to fit the curve of the body.
On a fixed little table sat several delicate plates of pastries and a pot of herbal tea that remained warm and gave off a refreshing fruit-like fragrance.
The inner walls of the carriage were lined with matte leather. In the corners were lighting Magic Crystals that emitted a steady, gentle glow. The air was filled with the scent of wood and spice, sothing that naturally put the mind at ease.
Compared to the creaking carriage he had ridden when he first ca to Saint Roland Magic Academy, with seats as hard as stone, this one was simply heaven and mud by comparison.
This carriage prepared by the Princess was flawless in comfort, even luxurious to a degree. It had clearly been arranged with the fatigue of long-distance travel in mind. The coachman was highly skilled, and the two fine horses kept an even pace, making this journey, which was expected to take several days, at least physically bearable.
Ryan did not touch the pastries. He rely lifted the teacup and took a sip.
The warm liquid slid down his throat, carrying a faint calming effect.
He looked out at the scenery sweeping past the window. The flat plains gradually gave way to rolling hills, and the outlines of distant mountains showed a deep blue-gray beneath the afternoon sun.
His body was relaxed, but his thoughts were moving at high speed.
First, naturally, there were the Starfall Ruins he would soon face.
In the original ga’s plot, that na seed to have been nothing more than a brief ntion in the background.
The main story of the ga had focused on Saintess Alicia and the epic tale of saving the seven Witches. Although Elven history had so connection to that story, it had mostly been revealed indirectly through character side routes.
He rembered that in the later stages of the ga, the truth of the Elves’ decline and the ancient Catastrophe would be ntioned. But the Starfall Ruins, as a concrete hidden realm that required exploration, had never once appeared in the player-controlled storyline.
That ant that from the mont he stepped into the ruins, he would be completely outside the protection of known plot.
What lay ahead was one hundred percent unknown.
Those scattered fragnts of Elven knowledge from the ga—their brilliant magical civilization, their reverence for nature, and the tragic calamity they ultimately suffered—would beco precious background information, but they could not provide him with any ready-made strategy guide.
The exploration itself would beco a true adventure, testing strength, intelligence, adaptability, and luck.
Second, there was the matter of cooperation and competition.
Princess Cecilia’s side would certainly have its own arrangents. Ilis would undoubtedly be in the team; that was already on the table. The Princess had said she could send two people. Who would the other be?
Would it be soone like Lano, who seed unremarkable on the surface but was in truth a key figure?
At the thought of Lano, Ryan’s gaze shifted slightly.
That chance encounter during the Frost Crystal Explosion Incident, along with the clue she had provided at precisely the right ti, now felt suspiciously too convenient in hindsight.
Lano was most likely one of the Princess’s people, sent to give him a push at a crucial mont. Her later closeness with Cosette probably was not rely because they got along well, but also because she had been given the task of looking after an important asset on his side for the Princess.
By entrusting Cosette to Lano, he was not only tacitly accepting that protection, but also applying a kind of counterbalance in return—making it clear to the Princess that Cosette was a weakness he valued, and also a touchstone for the sincerity of their cooperation.
Beyond the Princess’s line, there was the academy team itself.
Lillian and Rex could barely be said to have had so interaction with him, but trust was still far from the picture. Randall looked like the typical noble elite—soone one could cooperate with, but never truly open up to. And that green-haired Evans was even more of a mystery.
How much surface-level cooperation this temporarily assembled team could maintain beneath the pressure and temptations within the ruins was already uncertain enough, let alone the outside competitors.
According to Cecilia, every noble house of Marquis rank and above in the Empire was entitled to send up to two participants, and mbers of the Imperial family had slots as well.
By rough estimate, the total number of people entering the ruins this ti could easily exceed a hundred.
Those people would co from different houses and carry different purposes. So might simply hope to find opportunities and strengthen themselves. So would bear the heavy expectations of their families and be required to bring back sothing of value. And so… might be going in for the sole purpose of eliminating rivals and reducing the number of competitors.
The rules inside the ruins were unknown, and the laws of the outside world would be difficult to enforce there. It would be a jungle of the strong devouring the weak, full of hidden danger.
Ryan slowly turned the teacup in his hand.
Once inside the ruins… he had no idea what that survival rate would beco.
He had to prepare for the worst.
Outside the carriage, the sky gradually darkened toward evening.
When the last streak of sunset sank behind the distant mountains, the outline of a city appeared ahead.
Its walls were not especially grand or towering, and its lights were scattered in small clusters. Compared to the majesty and brilliance of the Imperial Capital, it looked plain, even sowhat drab.
This was a dium-sized city in one of the Empire’s southwestern provinces, called Rock Bay City.
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