"Take… You away? Miss Vale?" Aegis was confused. Why would a noble lady like her choose Aegis to run away with anyway? But Aegis was cunning enough to know that she had meant something else.
"Call me Morgana." The lady made it clear, "And it's not what you are thinking, Mr. Emporio."
"Aegis. Name's Aegis. Emporio is an old man." He shrugged and then skipped all the introductions. "Also, what did you mean?"
The lady lost her composure and hurriedly replied, "Just follow me." And then she grabbed Aegis' hand. But Aegis stood there,
"Not so fast, Legacy. I don't want people to get the wrong ide-"
They fell under the desk. On the cold marble floor, Aegis could feel the warmth that came from Morgana. But before he could even get the wrong idea, his eyes landed on the door of the auditorium. He could see the scene from a gap under his desk.
A figure fully clad in iron armor walked through the open door of the auditorium. Aegis could feel the figure had stolen everyone's gaze for the moment.
The armored figure was approached by a lady holding a stack of files, a classmate of Aegis and Morgana.
"Knight Nico, how nice of you to visit our class! Surely, you must've come for a great reason. No doubt!" The lady chuckled. The knight's face was hidden behind a piece of an iron helmet, and so, Aegis couldn't make out the knight's reaction.
"I am looking for Morgan of Vale." The knight said with a tone of iron command, "She is a student of the Mana and Technological Correlations department, no?" He asked the lady.
"Verily, she studies here. But I must say, she is in the washroom-"
The knight left without even asking for the 2nd time.
"Watch out for the ladies' section!"
Aegis was still peeking through the gap, but Morgana, too, was. She was, in fact, so close that Aegis could feel her breath. Aegis, without glancing back, whispered,
"Hello? Can we talk now?"
Morgana cleared his throat and moved away from Aegis.
They rose up from the desk. Aegis had expected to meet a few glances after the incident. But he realized something… Something that Aegis understood very well. Too well.
"T-The people… Are they gone? Is this-"
Morgana replied with a cold tone, "All the people here. Well, how must I say? Except that they were all illusions. I'll tell you everything as soon as you escort me to the gates."
"O-Okay?" Aegis agreed. But to his surprise, the lady who had talked with the knight just now was still there. Was she a real person?
To satiate his curiosity, the lady turned around to Morgana and said with urgency,
"We don't have time. Go!"
Aegis couldn't remember who the lady was. Had she always been a student of this auditorium?
Nevertheless, they started walking. But instead of walking to the doors, Morgana threw a hand mirror on the glass window beside Aegis. Aegis had braced himself for the shards to come flying around at him. But strangely enough, the hand mirror dissolved into the glass, turned into nothingness.
The next thing Aegis saw was…
Morgana jumped to the glass mirror. She just vanished into thin air.
He met the standing lady's gaze, who was looking at him intently.
"What are you doing? Go, jump!"
Aegis jumped as well.
But he couldn't have made his day worse. His ass crashed and landed on the soft grass while he broke the window. He wasn't necessarily hurt, but it was just too goddamn embarrassing!
But the people around him.
Paid no heed to him.
How could they? They were standing still, frozen in time. Some had their mouths open as if they had been laughing; most just stood.
Aegis got up and paced towards the gate of the university.
'What the hell is happening here?'
He paced with all his might. But wherever he went, he saw the people frozen. As if some powerful spell had been cast on the premises of the university. More interestingly, he looked at the large pillars of the Great Hall.
The runes were still glimmering with faint golden light. And it was brighter than usual that caught his attention.
"Why am I not affected?" Aegis said it aloud, particularly to no one, as he doubted anyone would listen to him anyway.
But he was wrong. A reply came anyway.
"Because you don't have any mana essence, Aegis." A familiar voice came from behind.
Morgana was standing and leaning on the trunk of the ancient tree, her face hidden under the shade of the tree.
"You did this, didn't you?" Aegis asked casually as he walked towards the blind girl,
"Morgana of Vale, what are you plotting exactly? And why have you come to me for help?"
The lady paused for a second before replying with a cold indifference,
"Because I am blind. And you happened to be the only person to dodge this spell. Lead me to the gates before the spell wears off."
Aegis thought for a moment and replied, his tone even,
"Right. I just happened to be the only person in the entire campus to have zero mana essence, how saddening! What could that possibly mean, Morgana of Vale?"
He added,
"And I really doubt you are blind. No offense, Lady Morgana. But the fact that you were standing here, almost as if you had known I'd cross this tree."
And then finally, he asked,
"Are you a seer?"
There was a sombering silence before a laugh broke out. Morgana laughed, looking directly into Aegis's eyes, sending a chill down his spine,
"Gods! No. I travel with echolocation. Now, escort me, please? Or must I say, pretty pleas-"
"Hell nah… Just follow my steps then." Aegis turned on his heel and began walking.
…
Time went smoothly for others. Students crowded around a group of knights as if they were some celebrities.
A handsome man with golden hair and eyes as blue as the sky stood in the middle of the crowd. Dodging a myriad of questions regarding his duties, humanity, and romantic life, he asked the crowd instead,
"What if I tell you guys that there is a spy amongst you who does not belong to this continent?"