Chapter 217 - Creva

Adion pulled away his brush from the canvas and breathed out. The painting depicted the dining table at his Grandpa’s manor in Cyalis, Adion was playing cards with his siblings in it. 

It’s strange, even if this was a new memory, I still felt like I had a little control.

Normally, Adion completely disappeared into his memory, and the painting almost came to life by itself. But this time, Adion remained slightly aware of the present at the same time as he painted. 

Maybe it’s because I’ve regained so much of my memory now.

Either way, it’s a good thing. If it keeps being like this, I can paint while on the road with fewer worries. 

And even if I am painting in my own room, it’s always nice to have some awareness of the surroundings. 

A knock on the door pulled Adion out of his thoughts.

“Come in,” Adion called out.

The door opened, and Marcus stepped inside. He was about to speak when he noticed the painting and stopped himself.

He took a few steps forward to take a closer look, “I never knew you were a painter. This is amazing.”

“Thank you,” Adion said, “Did you hear any news of Soft Soul Creva?”

Adion had stayed at outpost Helsa for three days now. He didn’t plan on staying here at first, but it had pretty much been forced upon him. 

The touban didn’t allow him to speak directly with the Headmaster, but through Adion’s answer of ‘growth,’ the Headmaster seemed convinced enough that he really was in the Outskirts of the Rellen Kingdom.

Unfortunately, using a touban was costly, and there were a lot of people involved who would hear everything being said, so Adion couldn’t share much about how he spent the past few months. 

But that was fine with Adion, he simply wanted to send the message that he was fine and on his way home so that his family wouldn’t worry. With that done, he just wanted to begin his journey back as soon as possible. 

But the Headmaster wouldn’t have him leave on his own. It seemed he had been a little scarred from Adion’s disappearance, and not even White’s presence could calm him down. The Headmaster instructed him to wait for Soul mage Creva, who would protect him for the rest of the journey. 

She was an old student of the Academy and currently resided in Deller, a large city pretty close to the Outskirts. 

Adion couldn’t possibly refuse. He could feel the headmaster’s care even though he never heard his voice. So he decided to wait in outpost Helsa for Soft Soul Creva to arrive so they could travel together. 

“She arrived just now,” Marcus said with a smile, “She’s downstairs, waiting for you.”

“Alright, I’ll pack my things and be right down,” Adion said.

He rolled up his painting and stuffed it into his backpack along with his other painting materials. 

Marcus waited for Adion to finish, and the two headed downstairs together.

Adion noticed Soft Soul Creva right away, sitting on a couch in the reception area where Adion had been sitting when he first arrived. There was no apparent pressure from her aura, but she didn’t hide her strength either, so her identity was unmistakable.

Soft Soul Creva appeared to be in her early thirties, and was quite beautiful. She had gold-brown hair down to her shoulders and was sipping on a cup of tea with elegance. Adion couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated by her presence. She exuded a lot of quiet confidence.

“Adion Remori?” Soft Soul Creva asked, looking up at Adion with a pleasant smile.

“That’s me,” Adion said, clasping his fist in greeting, “Thank you for taking the time to escort me to the Academy, Soft Soul Creva.”

“It’s no trouble,” Creva said, “I’m an old student of the Academy, so it’s the least I could do. Are you ready to set off?”

“I’m ready,” Adion said.

“Then let’s get going,” Creva said, putting down her teacup.

Adion followed Creva outside. There was a luxurious carriage parked right in front of the door. A chubby middle-aged woman was holding the reins to a Silver beast at the front of the carriage.

“Are we going to travel in this all the way?” Adion asked cautiously.

“That’s right,” Creva answered with a smile, “I find it quite comfortable. Do you not find it up to standard?”

“It’s not that,” Adion said, shaking his head, “I just thought it might be a little slow.”

Adion had planned on traveling on White’s back the rest of the way. He thought bringing a Soul mage wouldn’t slow down their speed very much, but if they were to travel in a carriage pulled by a Silver beast, that would make their journey take way longer than him and White going alone.

“Slow?” Creva asked, a little confused. But then she seemed to realize something and said, “Oh, right. You had a beast here, right?”

“Yeah, his name is White. A Diamond beast. Traveling on his back should be a lot faster,” Adion said.

“Well, let’s take the carriage back to Deller first, and then we’ll talk about it,” Creva said.

“Alright,” Adion said. 

I guess I shouldn’t argue too much. She’s doing me a big favor by agreeing to travel with me.

But if it’s really too slow, I’ll go back alone with White.

Adion said goodbye to Marcus, thanking him for looking out for him these past few days, and stepped inside the carriage with Creva.

Outpost Helsa was quite small, so it only took them a few minutes before they were outside the walls. 

Adion spotted White right away, and the big wolf trotted over to the carriage happily. 

“It looks like we’ll have to travel like this for a while,” Adion spoke through his aura to White. Creva looked out of the window and examined White curiously.

“Try not to wander too far away from us, so there won’t be any accidents when we meet humans along the way,” Adion continued.

“Okay,” White replied, unconcerned. 

“I suppose this White is too intelligent to pull the carriage?” Creva asked Adion.

“It would feel a little weird, yeah,” Adion said with a light smile. He knew White probably wouldn’t mind, but it would just feel too strange for Adion to have him pull the carriage. “Besides, I don’t think the carriage could handle White’s speed.”

“That might be true,” Creva nodded thoughtfully, “Anyway. At least it’s easier to talk traveling like this, wouldn’t you say?” 

“Er, I guess that’s true,” Adion nodded. He wasn’t one for talking with strangers usually. But at least Creva seemed pretty casual for a Soul mage. It would have been awkward if he had to put on a respectful demeanor for the entire journey.

“One of the reasons I agreed so readily to escort you was that I’m quite curious about you, Adion,” Creva said, leaning in a little closer, “You wouldn’t mind sharing what you can, would you?”

“Go ahead and ask,” Adion said, “But some things I’ll have to ask the Headmaster about first.”

“Don’t see me as a stranger,” Creva said with a smile, “I’m an old student of the Headmaster, just like you. Of course, I wasn’t his personal disciple or anything. I wasn’t impressive enough for that. But I was the Head of the Scrolls for two years during my time at the Academy.”

“Oh? I didn’t realize you were part of the Scrolls,” Adion said, pleasantly surprised. He couldn’t trust people easily, but the people from the Academy, especially people from his own House, are different.

I guess the Headmaster wouldn’t send someone he didn’t completely trust. It makes sense that he knows Creva well if she was the Head of the Scrolls.

“It makes sense you don’t know. It’s been a century now since I was a student there,” Creva said.

“So long?” Adion asked, shocked.

Creva smiled and explained, “Soul mages have quite a long lifespan.”

Right.

Still, she looks so young. And she seems quite energetic. To think she is more than a hundred years older than me. 

I’m lucky to have met Sell so early in life, or I might have been charmed to bed by an old grandma at some point. 

“But I suppose I can’t truly be seen as part of the Academy any longer,” Creva mused, once again turning to look outside the carriage window, “I stayed there for a few decades after graduation, doing research. But when the only Soul mage of my family clan passed away, I returned to Deller to take over.”

“What did you research?” Adion asked, quite curious.

“I never really settled on anything,” Creva said, looking back to Adion with a wry smile, “You haven’t graduated yet, so you might be unaware, but what you learn in your five years at the Academy is far from enough. Say you want to create a new rune. Even if you spend all five years focused on studying runes, you would still need decades of diliigent studeis before you can even begin to attempt creating a rune of your own. 

“And that’s the case if you have it all figured out, solely focusing on one subject. I was interested in quite a lot of things. So my ‘research’ was like most other scholars at the Academy. I would read books, try to grasp a few ideas that could be improved, and discuss it with the other scholars. Most of the time, it ends up as nothing, and you start over again.

“Only a lucky few manage to actually come up with an idea that is truly new and exciting. Even fewer come up with something that is verifiable. For all my time spent in the Academy, I only have a single theory to my name, without any real substance. The paper I wrote on it is probably buried deep in the archives, never to see the light of day again.”

“Er, I didn’t know it was that rough. I didn’t mean to depress you,” Adion said awkwardly.

“It’s alright,” Creva said with a laugh, “Who knows, someday, my theories might be verified, and I’ll get some credit after all. But even if it all ends up as nothing, I’m not too disappointed. I didn’t waste my time just doing useless research; I also worked hard on improving my strength. And I studied the Soul stage thoroughly, which is why I managed to advance to the Soul stage at such a young age. 

“Now, I can protect my family clan’s interest, and I have an important part to play in these difficult times. I’m grateful to my past self that I didn’t let myself grow complacent.”

“What did you write about?” Adion asked.

“Curious?” Creva asked with a teasing smile.

“Well, yeah,” Adion said with a nod. He always felt he knew too little.

“I’m quite curious about your situation too,” Creva said, “The Headmaster didn’t even seem to understand how you ended up in the Outskirts of the Rellen Kingdom. Do you mind enlightening me?”

“Well,” Adion said, hesitating. 

I suppose it’s no great secret. The Headmaster will surely tell a lot of people about this when he decides to launch an expedition. 

Since he trusts Creva with my safety, it should be fine to tell her.

“I was in the Saba Desert until a little over a month ago, actually,” Adion said, “I had been kept in a base belonging to Heavenly Light for a few months, but something seemed to have happened, I’m not sure what, and I was brought away with only a Gold mage keeping guard over me. I managed to kill him and escape.”

“It must have been tough,” Creva said with a sympathetic look.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Adion said with a reassuring smile. Sure, the Persmytha tea could have had terrible consequences, but luckily, he managed to recover from it in time. “Heavenly Light wanted me to join them for something, so even though they tried to manipulate me using various means, they didn’t torture me or treat me too badly.”

“That’s good,” Creva said, smiling with relief. Seemingly sensing that Adion didn’t carry any trauma from the experience, Creva continued asking about his experiences a little more brashly. But Adion didn’t really want to share too much and reveal his memory loss, so he answered dodgingly.

“Whatever,” Creva said with a sigh, not getting much out of Adion, “But still, how did you end up all the way over here? Why didn’t you contact anyone from the Academy?”

“I didn’t know they were out there looking for me at first,” Adion answered, “And once I knew, I didn’t know how to make myself known. Heavenly light was also out there looking for me after all, so I couldn’t exactly reveal my presence too blatantly.”

“That makes sense,” Creva said, nodding.

“As for how I ended up here…Have you heard anything from the Alago Empire?” Adion asked.

“Nothing comes to mind, why?” Creva asked.

“They have discovered a ruin in the Saba Desert,” Adion answered, “I infiltrated that ruin, and discovered a teleportation formation there. That is how I ended up all the way over here.”

“A teleportation formation?” Creva asked, shocked, “I’ve heard rumours about this. Wasn’t this what Heavenly Light wanted to get their hands on in the Valis Kingdom?”

“That’s right,” Adion said, “And now another one has been found.”

Creva continued questioning Adion with great curiosity. But Adion didn’t want to reveal too much yet, he just vaguely answered that he found himself in a ruin deep within the Endless Forest, and had been making his way back ever since. 

He also asked a lot in return, wondering what had been happening ever since he left. There was a lot of information Marcus didn’t know about, after all.

The two continued their conversation throughout the day, and Adion had to admit that it was nice to converse with humans again.