Chapter 46: Madmen with an Ancient Heritage
"Good evening, Mr. Hamilton. We can dispense with the black tea. First of all, congratulations on joining the School of History at St. Bydes General College, but tonight's meeting is about two other matters."
Said Professor Garcia, the vice dean of the School of History. After giving a light, congratulatory clap, he held up two fingers, giving no room for Cinder to speak as he acted with utmost efficiency:
"First is the matter concerning you. Please display your core spiritual rune."
With a heavy thud, amidst a haze of scorching steam, a destiny ring materialized. The brass-colored [Space and Time] appeared before the three translucent figures.
Every time Cinder summoned his destiny ring, he felt this power system was exceptionally... stylish.
Professor Garcia nodded in satisfaction, speaking in somewhat unfluent Delarion:
"Very well, Mr. Hamilton. This is indeed [Space and Time]. You have now been placed on the priority training list of the School of History. Aside from the artifact already handed over to you, your Practical Training in Time Travel will be personally supervised by me. According to the college's charter, this course only begins after you carve your first spiritual rune. However, since you are a priority trainee, the timing for your time travel can be brought forward..."
"Brought forward?"
Cinder blinked.
"Yes, tonight. To be precise, after we finish discussing everything else tonight."
Professor Garcia spoke with little emotional coloring, giving Cinder an impression of sternness and rigidity, though Cinder quite appreciated professors with this sort of personality.
"Most correspondence ring-sworn actually know very little about priority trainees. You are different from regular correspondence students. While the rules prevent you from entering the college directly, St. Bydes will provide you with numerous conveniences in your education and offer more developmental resources, but it will also demand more of you. Mr. Hamilton, the School of History looks forward to the day you officially step into the college. I rarely praise students on my own initiative, but please do not waste your talent. Generally speaking, the School of History's Practical Training in Time Travel is handled by ordinary lecturers."
With that, Professor Garcia even managed a somewhat awkward smile at Cinder—this professor probably did not smile often. Cinder kept a straight face and nodded. Naturally, he was pleased with such arrangements, though he felt a brief flutter of anxiety about the impending time travel.
"Before the course begins, there is a second matter. This has nothing to do with our School of History, but rather with the group you belong to."
Professor Garcia pointed toward Professor Sanchez, who was sitting opposite Cinder. Although both were professors at St. Bydes, the latter evidently held a higher standing:
"Mr. Cinder Hamilton, I would ask for your guarantee that the topic we are about to discuss will not be disclosed by you to anyone else."
***
Said Professor Sanchez, who had a pocket-watch chain across his chest.
"In other words, the privileges concerning priority trainees can be talked about?"
Cinder thought to himself. He did not utter any high-minded nonsense about "not violating morality in what follows," but simply nodded directly. His ears seemed to catch the sound of cat paws scratching at a door, and he felt deep anxiety that little Mia might destroy household property:
"I swear to keep it confidential."
"Very well. What we are going to discuss is your five-person group. There are major problems with your group."
Miss Jones lowered her head to take notes, Professor Garcia sat upright listening to the conversation, and Professor Sanchez, who appeared to be over fifty years of age, wore a stern expression in his eyes.
He opened his mouth as if to continue speaking, but suddenly paused. Almost simultaneously with Professor Garcia, he turned his gaze toward the window of the living room.
Cinder had drawn the curtains as requested; the thick fabric completely blocked the warm yellow light of the gas streetlights in Ring Square. Yet now, from beneath the curtain hem, a faint silvery vapor had appeared out of nowhere, slowly spreading across the entire room.
"Mercury fog?"
Even though their physical bodies were not present in this detective agency's living room, the two tenured professors immediately recognized what it was.
"Mr. Hamilton, someone is trying to breach this place."
Professor Sanchez said, remaining seated without moving. He furrowed his brow as he looked at Cinder:
"Have you done something over the past couple of days?"
The detective, covering his nose and mouth out of fear of mercury poisoning, immediately nodded. The moment he heard the word "mercury," he understood. Knowing that this was no time for concealment, he spilled everything about the Old God statue. However, he omitted the time and place of his meeting with "that lady," mentioning only that he had found a reliable buyer.
The professors cared little whether he had sold the Old God statue rather than handing it over to the college. Exchanging glances, Professor Garcia of the School of History spoke in his imperfect Delarion:
"Then the situation is roughly clear. The buyer you found helped you eliminate the tracking that [Blood of Mercury] had placed on the finder of the statue, but faint traces remained nonetheless. Originally, they merely intended to test the waters, not expecting that you would happen to trigger a ritual, thereby confirming to them that you are a ring-sworn."
Cinder had no idea what methods the professors used for deduction, nor how to describe such terrible luck.
***
"But there is no need to worry. I was the one who chose tonight as the meeting time, Mr. Hamilton. I will handle this matter."
Professor Sanchez said, turning to look at his secretary. The latter answered with crisp articulation:
"It complies with college regulations, but I must remind you, Professor, during the period of a ritual projection, even high-ranking ring-sworn will have their native power diminished."
"It doesn't matter. Although the organization [Blood of Mercury] is ancient, their strongest member in the current era is merely a Level 9 ring-sworn, the 'Silver-Eyed Man'."
Professor Sanchez said, taking the opportunity to impart some common knowledge to Cinder:
"Ring-sworn reach up to thirteen levels, but Level 13 ring-sworn in this era are extremely rare, and each holds a distinct moniker. St. Bydes's Level 13 ring-sworn are our college head, Professor Pigman the 'Silver Warden', and Miss Dannist, the 'Red Moon Witch' who serves as the chief librarian of the St. Bydes Grand Library. Below them, ring-sworn of Level 10 and above are qualified to serve as wardens of major dioceses for the Orthodox Churches, or as tenured professors of the college. Outside of the churches and the college, ring-sworn above Level 10 are exceedingly rare.
The [Blood of Mercury] has an ancient heritage, rumored to have originated in the late Fourth Epoch, but it has since declined, its main body currently clinging to the [Blood Spirit School] which is hunted by the Five Gods' Churches. The inheritors of the Blood of Mercury are simply too obsessed with the angelic-level artifact—the Blood of Mercury."
The professor did not stand up. As he spoke, the mercury fog had almost crept from the windowsill to everyone's feet. Cinder wondered if he should remind the professors that while they were mere projections and need not fear the poison, he himself possessed a physical body.
"By the way, what is the [Blood Spirit School]?"
He trusted that professors from St. Bydes would not stand idly by and let him die.
"A bunch of madmen with an even older and more powerful lineage... Will you go, or shall I?"
The vice dean of St. Bydes asked the vice dean of the School of History. The latter thought for a moment, then said in a composed yet unfluent Delarion:
"Let me go first, at least to find out who the opponent is and how much intelligence they have gathered on Mr. Hamilton. Mr. Hamilton, watch closely. This is the power of space."