[Vol. 7] Chapter 198: One Trouble Follows Another
After using the teleportation crystal to leave the [Morst Underground Labyrinth], Violet returned to the [Academy City Sainz], and of course, the first round of the tournament had already ended by then.
Whether it was about Xiao Guang or the team from Frederic Royal Academy she had been assigned to supervise, the priestess had made arrangements in advance, so she wasn’t too worried. Since that vampire girl had volunteered for extra work, this kind of minor disruption didn’t really make much of a difference with or without Violet.
However, Violet had only just stepped out of the teleportation array beneath the [Tower of Space] and arrived at the surface when she immediately saw someone waiting anxiously nearby, the secretary of the Academy Headmaster.
“Yo~ Long time no see, Yulia. You must be super busy right now, huh? How do you have time to be wandering around?”
“Oh my, Miss Violet, you’re finally back! Where did you run off to all alone?!”
Seeing the priestess appear so casually, the girl, who was actually the personal maid of Lucine, immediately lit up with relief and hurried over.
“There’s no time to explain! Come with me first!”
“Huh?”
After being pulled along in a half-run, Violet finally managed to shake free of the secretary’s grip, but she didn’t put up a fight. She just kept walking quickly beside her, tilting her head a bit with a puzzled look.
She knew Yulia’s personality well. This maid, who was said to have served Lucine for over a thousand years, was always calm and composed, no matter the situation. Everything she did was neat and orderly. After knowing her for over a month, this was the first time Violet had seen her this flustered.
“What’s going on? Don’t tell me something happened to Light and the others?”
They got into a carriage that was clearly reserved for high-ranking personnel. Without needing Yulia to give any orders, the vampire maid acting as the coachwoman immediately drove off at high speed along the main road of the Third Academic District.
Only then did the secretary finally have time to answer Violet’s question.
“Don’t worry, Miss Light and the others are safe. Some of the kids in the [Experimental Class] did get injured during the monster riot at the end, but none of the wounds were too serious. They’re currently resting and being treated under the care of Lord Ismael and Instructor Priscilla. The problem is with another group of people...”
Already aware of her master's partnership with the person in front of her, Yulia didn’t try too hard to hide anything. She simply lowered her voice a little and quietly spoke in the private, enclosed carriage that only the two of them shared.
“You’ve probably heard about this from Lord Ismael already, during the week-long expedition in the Labyrinth, many teams were attacked by strange mutated monsters from unknown origins. These creatures somehow broke through the Labyrinth’s rules, allowing high-level monsters to appear on the upper floors. They also used special methods to disable emergency systems and teleportation crystals. Nearly ten teams were completely wiped out. The scenes were horrible.”
“When the academy’s support team arrived, everyone was already badly wounded and unconscious, but strangely, they were all still alive. We had no choice but to rush them to the Fifth Academic District for treatment.”
“But now, several days have passed, and even the earliest group of injured still show no signs of recovery. Normal healing methods aren’t working. Because these participants have special backgrounds, the academy can’t use more extreme technologies either, so we’re really at a loss here.”
“Now that the first round of the event has ended, the news couldn’t be kept quiet anymore. This kind of negative information quickly spread and is now at the center of attention. The academy is under a lot of pressure from all sides. It was Her Highness Lucine who said that you, Lady Violet, might have a way to solve this. That’s why I came to find you as soon as I could.”
“Oh... so that’s what this is about.”
So serious, she thought it was something way worse…
Realizing it wasn’t as bad as she feared, the priestess let out a small breath of relief and gave a light nod.
“I did hear Ismael mention something like that. If I remember right, all the people who are still unconscious were from the teams that got completely wiped out, including their examiners, so nobody knows exactly what kind of enemy they ran into... is that correct?”
“Yes. Even though the attackers clearly had the chance, they didn’t kill a single person. They just left them badly injured and let the academy recover them. It’s obvious they have some bigger plan in mind. The academy knows this... but since it’s an open trap, all we can do is walk right into it.”
Outside the carriage, the wheels kept turning quickly, clearly they were heading toward where the injured were being treated. Yulia explained with a serious look on her face.
“Holding this [World Academy Joint Exchange Conference] was already a risky move for Sainz. Her Highness Lucine took a huge responsibility in the council just to make it happen.”
“To be honest, I don’t really understand why she wanted to do something so difficult and thankless. But since she made the decision, as her maid, all I can do is give everything I’ve got to support her.”
“For example, right now over a hundred contestants are seriously injured and unconscious. That already counts as a major negative incident. When that important person starts looking for someone to blame, Her Highness will be the first target. The enemy probably knew this and caused the situation on purpose to make trouble for the academy. These injured contestants are from many different countries and regions. If the situation gets worse, it could even force the tournament to pause for a full investigation.”
“That... does sound kind of interesting… ahem, I mean… kind of troublesome.”
Seeing the strange look on the secretary’s face, someone quickly changed their wording and put on a serious expression.
This exchange tournament was, at least on the surface, held so that all countries could improve communication and cooperation. Its theme is [Peace]. That’s also why it was hosted in Sainz, a completely neutral place.
But Violet understood the international situation well. She knew that the true purpose of this event was not as pure as it looked. If the wrong step was taken at the wrong time, this “peaceful” exchange event could turn into the spark that collapses the whole system and starts a war. And that might even be the real goal of certain people behind the scenes.
To be honest, Violet didn’t care too much about war. Absolute and everlasting peace doesn’t exist in any world. Even if full-scale war broke out in the Origin Realm, for her it would just mean travel becomes a little harder. It might even be more fun in some ways.
Still, she would help with this issue.
Not just because she had recently formed an official partnership with Lucine, but also because, if Violet guessed correctly, the real cause behind this incident probably wasn’t as simple as Yulia said. It was highly likely that the enemy was actually targeting her and Xiao Guang.
She didn’t like trouble, but that didn’t mean she feared it. Since she was already involved, she might as well deal with it head-on, and see what kind of tricks the other side was trying to pull.
Soon, the carriage brought the two women to a large facility built mostly in white, which looked a lot like a hospital. After passing through several guarded checkpoints without any trouble, the secretary led Violet to a heavily guarded room on an upper floor of one of the buildings.
“This is it, Lady Violet. All 107 people who are still unconscious after the incident are being kept here. Their physical injuries have mostly healed, but none of them have woken up.”
“According to scans from the academy’s most advanced magical instruments, their minds seem to have sunk deep into a dream-like state, trapped by some strange force. Her Highness believes this might be connected to…”
“Some kind of law?”
“…At the very least, something similar to it. Right now, that’s the only explanation we have.”