6~ Preparations Before Departure
“Indeed, Professor, we have our reasons for going, and we hope you’ll approve our project proposal.” Dillin added his voice to the appeal.
“Yeah… Anyway, we’ve got our reasons!” Wenfu stepped forward, arms crossed, as she earnestly pleaded.
Princess Filisia watched her teammates striving on her behalf, staying silent.
“You youngsters these days, truly fearless like calves not knowing the dangers of the world…” The bald professor furrowed his brow, ready to lecture these upstarts in a paternal tone, only to be interrupted.
“Professor Jedo, don’t be so harsh. I think these kids show plenty of spirit.”
“Ah?…” Upon seeing the tall, white-haired figure cloaked in black, the bald professor’s demeanor turned more respectful.
This black-cloaked white-haired young man had a handsome face and pointed ears that symbolized his identity—obviously, he was an elf.
Dillin looked at Aistride, somewhat surprised.
Did she persuade Didelai to give them the green light?
But considering Aistride’s safety, would Didelai so easily agree? Dillin was curious.
“Leader Chris, what’s your opinion?”
“This isn’t my opinion; it’s the Headmaster’s.” Chris looked at the eager group.
“The Headmaster??” Jedo’s eyes flicked to Aistride among them, and he immediately understood what was going on. “But they’re only first-year students. There is no record of a first-year team from Lanin Academy returning unscathed from Ruglien.”
“Perhaps this shows they surpass the previous generations. Indeed, for these outstanding young talents, any other project aside from Ruglien would lack challenge.”
Chris’s gaze swept over the “Brilliant Sun and Moon” team. “It seems not all of your team is here.”
Actually, they were all present.
“Tillysha’s been delayed by some matters,” Dillin explained.
“I see.” Chris nodded, seemingly wanting to have a word with Tillysha personally, but since she wasn’t present, he let it go.
“Professor Jedo, what do you think?”
“Since both the Headmaster and Leader Chris have spoken, I have no grounds to oppose.” Jedo shook his head. “I’ll file the report on the ‘Brilliant Sun and Moon’ team.”
“Thank you for your understanding.”
Dillin handed Jedo a stack of papers with the pre-prepared project proposal.
The contents of the project report are quite straightforward—why they chose this project, its deeper meanings, a detailed description of the project itself, and what insights the team would gain from completing it, all divided into several sections.
Dillin was especially good at writing this kind of formal documentation, weaving the language with grand and dignified terms, filling each section with hundreds of words easily.
After submitting the forms, the group left the hall.
The deadline for the term project is the end of this term. Barely halfway through, they still have much learning to do on the books. Even with everyone’s learning ability at a top-tier level—except for a certain cat—they’d still need some time to fully digest this semester’s curriculum before starting on the project.
That was Dillin’s plan, and the other team members had no objections.
Two-thirds of the semester would be for book learning, and the remaining time for the project.
As for the actual textbook knowledge, Aistride and Princess Filisia had already completed them, actually advancing far beyond, to a standard suitable for third-year. However, out of concern that a certain deadweight couldn’t keep up with the pace of the team, they decided to hold off on tackling this project for now.
The main reason for this semester’s project was to help Filisia break through her bloodline limitations. There was also a minor part of Dillin’s curiosity about demons and Ruglien.
Since they’d decided to delve deep into demon territory, they needed to make ample preparations. Dillin buried himself entirely in the library studying books about the Old Continent and demons.
Ruglien was a foreign and dangerous place for all of them. Many truths are not recorded in history books, and these truths buried by time only left faint traces on the Old Continent, occupied by the Light Race, Ruglien.
Five hundred years had passed, and no one knows what Ruglien looks like now.
Scholars speculated endlessly. Some scholars believed that demons took over those magnificent halls and cities for themselves, like cuckoos claiming the nest of others, squatting on the ruins of the empire like a group of parasites feeding on bl**d and marrow.
Other scholars suggested that, due to demons’ intense hatred for surface civilization, they leveled all surface civilization structures and established a new nation, a monster’s country.
The latter theory was more mainstream, and that’s why various invaders are now collectively called the Demon Race. Most top scholars of the Light Race deliberately refer to the Demon Race as a united nation to maintain internal unity among the Light Race. In all propaganda, the Demon Race is portrayed as utterly evil.
Currently, indeed, Dillin had yet to encounter any friendly demons, whether Goblins or Orcs. Their malice toward humans and even themselves was evident.
Dillin tapped on a Goblin’s depiction in the Demon Compendium. The orange-yellow eyes gleaming with cunning, pig-like pointed ears, a short stature, thin limbs, barely covered by filthy tattered rags, a stolen dagger in hand, and a toothy grin perfectly captured the habits of this creature.
Goblins and Orcs were the most commonly seen demons, Goblins even more so. According to the book, this creature, also known as a Gremlin, had the strength equivalent to a five-year-old child, no divine authority, and no knowledge of magic or alchemy. However, for those without experience facing them, they could be incredibly difficult.
Though individually weak, they bred rapidly. They excelled in group combat tactics, often setting traps for hunting, and were both cruel and merciless, even capable of defeating even a knight god.
This Demon Compendium gathered content from all demon type books, compiling every demon species humans had encountered throughout history.
Flip forward, werewolves, skeletons, cyclopes, and many subspecies inside each class, like green and red Orcs, gray and white-haired werewolves, and so on.
At the end, there was a race Dillin had never seen before.
“High Demon Race?” Dillin hesitated for a moment, reading the name of the demon depicted in the picture.
The painting showed a humanoid figure with purplish skin, tall and slender, white hair, bl**d-red eyes, and claws extending from five fingers. He wore cold armor and carried a fang-like curved sword.
Compared to other demons, the High Demon Race clearly looked the most human, except for their purple skin, pointed ears, and the goat-like horns on their heads.
Even though it was just an illustration, the cold gaze revealed a profound disdain for the world and a hatred for life.
Were they the ones who led the demons to occupy Ruglien five hundred years ago?
Dillin examined other demon books, but even the Book of Demon Revelation, which recorded the demon’s rise and eventual victory, didn’t describe in detail how demons came into this world.
It was as if they were born out of thin air on this continent.
Back in his room, throwing the doll on the bed, Dillin left his room while taking advantage of no one being on the third floor, sneaking into Tillysha’s room. Soon, an elegant golden-haired girl gracefully stepped out.
Just as she reached the first floor, she encountered Aistride and Princess Filisia returning from the backyard, their bodies drenched in dew and sweat streaming down their brows.
Filisia was wearing sportswear, a pair of shorts with a short-sleeved shirt. Even Aistride was rarely seen in such a revealing outfit, her moon-silver hair done up in a high ponytail.
At that moment, they both looked like they’d given it their all. Aistride still exuded poise, her breathing slightly labored from her nostrils, sweat considerably less than Filisia, but enough to dampen her short skirt and backless top, revealing a luminous layer of sweat on her delicate white skin.
Filisia was thoroughly satisfied with her workout, yet seemed still not quite done. Her sweat-drenched shorts clung tightly to her skin, showing a figure far superior to her age.
When Wenfu came over to give them towels, upon seeing their nearly-exposed figures, she slightly pursed her lips and then glanced down to where she could see her own toes, feeling more uncomfortable inside.
She couldn’t match them academically, nor in combat, and not even in physique…
In some ways, Wenfu felt immense pressure being in this team, often feeling out of place among her teammates.
“Are we done with our intense battle?” Tillysha approached, casually greeting them.
Filisia merely hummed and glanced at Tillysha before looking away.
Aistride was about to reply when something in the sentence caused her cheeks to lightly flush with a soft blush.
“Intense battle…”
Looking at herself, then Filisia, covered in sweat and dressed so…
The more she thought about it, the more certain images came to her mind, and the deeper her blush grew as no one else noticed.
Looking back, Tillysha’s face remained calm and carried its elegant smile, while Wenfu and Filisia both reacted normally, as if Aistride was the only one who found anything amiss.
No matter what, Aistride wanted to crawl into a hole from embarrassment.
Filisia now felt somewhat uneasy meeting Tillysha’s gaze because every time she saw Tillysha, she remembered how the golden-haired girl had carried her to safety from the Orc cluster under the moonlight in Ruglien, just like a hero saving a princess from the Demon King in a fairy tale.
Even a girl of stone heart has her own girlhood dreams. Each time Filisia thought of that day’s events, she couldn’t help but project the classic hero-saves-the-princess story onto herself, a feeling that left her unable to shake off the strange state she’d gotten into.
Was it the result of the court people never treating her as a girl since she was young, leading to this long-suppressed emotion finally erupting?
Filisia wasn’t sure, but there was no denying her interactions with Tillysha had become subtle.
“Student Tillysha, I’ll count on you again tonight.”
“Absolutely, it’s my turn!” Tillysha smiled and nodded gently.
Regarding Filisia’s bloodline issues, everyone in the Brilliant Sun and Moon team was tacitly in agreement, so Dillin developed a plan to vent Filisia’s excess fighting spirit and power—her teammates would take turns engaging in combat with her.
This method greatly alleviated Filisia’s situation, although it only treated the symptoms, not the root cause. Over time, Filisia’s bl**d had increasingly become inflamed.
Initially, just one session per day was enough, but now two became necessary—one in the morning, just for practice, and another in the afternoon, to go all-out.
Tonight it was Tillysha’s turn for the latter half, responsible for an all-out simulated battle with Filisia.
This method trained the team’s main combatants, but there were downsides.
Filisia’s energy reserves were too robust, and following this routine daily proved a strain on Aistride and Tillysha.
“Don’t worry.” Tillysha, in her schoolgirl uniform, walked over to Filisia, leaned close to her ear, and whispered with a mischievous smile. “Tonight, I’ll make sure to squeeze every last ounce of Filisia’s energy away~”
Long after Tillysha had moved on, Filisia still felt a faint ticklish sensation and warmth in her left ear, an inexplicable excitement.
It wasn’t irritation, but something inexplicable.
She was becoming stranger every day. Maybe a bath would help.
“Eh? Sister Aistride, is your face…?”
“Hmm, what is it…?”
“Your face, why is it so red?” Wenfu leaned closer, tilted her head, her tail swishing behind her, ears twitching in confusion.
“Is my face red…?”
“Yeah, it’s so red it’s indistinguishable.” Wenfu stood on her tiptoes and placed an unusually red apple next to Aistride’s cheek.
“Is it a fever, or are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
“No… no… I’m just a bit tired, I’ll be going.” Aistride turned and left.
Elves have extraordinarily keen senses, especially hearing. The conversation Tillysha whispered near Filisia’s ear was fully audible to her.
‘Squeeze dry… oh, how suggestive…’
No no, only she would think that, normal people wouldn’t take it that way at all!…
No, she had fallen too far down the wrong path, she couldn’t keep thinking these thoughts anymore!…
With these thoughts, Aistride’s pace quickened. Once she reached the third floor, she locked herself in her room.
