Camilla sat down across from Emma and Lilian with her tray in hand.
This window-side spot was filled with sunlight; outside was the academy’s meticulously tended central garden, where all sorts of magical flowers swayed gently in the breeze, releasing a faint, pleasant fragrance.
The cafeteria was bustling, the sounds of clinking cutlery, conversations, and the occasional laughter blending into the atmosphere of daily life. Camilla set her shoulder bag on the empty chair next to her, and from its opening, Limlu poked out half of its blue body, curiously surveying the surroundings.
“The stew in the cafeteria is really good today.”
Emma spoke as she forked up a piece of stewed, tender beast meat from her own bowl and, as if it were the most natural thing, placed it on Camilla’s tray.
Camilla glanced at the meat and, without fuss, picked it up and popped it in her mouth. The meat was soft and falling apart—indeed, it was delicious.
“Thanks.”
Limlu squirmed in the bag, stretching out two tiny blue “tentacles,” clutching at the edge of the bag, its gaze fixed longingly on the food on the table.
Lilian chuckled, picked out a small piece of cooked carrot from her vegetable salad, and held it out in front of Limlu.
“Would you like this?”
“Puchi!”
Limlu cried out happily, using its “tentacle” to take the carrot slice and nibbling at it in small bites, its blue body quivering slightly with each chew.
The three chatted as they ate.
Emma started talking about the alchemy experiment from that morning, her voice brimming with barely concealed excitement. She had finally managed to replicate Camilla’s improved mana recovery potion, though the effect was a little weaker than the batch Camilla had supervised in person. Still, its stability fully met the standards.
“Professor Bernard was so excited he almost set his beard on fire! He wrote a letter of recommendation on the spot, said he wanted to submit it for registration with the Alchemy Association, and that I could even apply for a patent and have my name on it… but I still feel it’s not enough… After all, the crucial part was solved by you, Camilla, I only contributed a tiny idea…”
“No, no, no, without your idea, I’d never have thought of that improvement, Big Emma, this honor is rightfully yours!”
Camilla gripped Emma’s shoulders and spoke earnestly; after all, she had no desire for fame and certainly didn’t want to take credit that rightfully belonged to Big Emma.
“You… you’re calling me that embarrassing nickname again…”
Emma turned her face away, her voice as soft as a mosquito, but the light shining in her eyes made it clear she was genuinely happy.
“All right, all right, Camilla, stop flattering little Emma. You’re going to spoil her like a child.”
Lilian smiled, gracefully redirecting the conversation from alchemy experiments to various academy matters—like which professor’s class was the hardest, which part of the library was quietest, or what new equipment had recently been added to the training ground.
As they talked, their conversation naturally drifted to the events of the previous night.
“By the way.”
Lilian set down her spoon, leaned forward slightly, and lowered her voice.
“Did you guys hear? There was more than just movement behind the academy last night—something happened in Magic City too.”
Emma was cutting a piece of toast; at this, she looked up and blinked.
“What happened?”
Lilian glanced around, making sure no one was paying attention to them, then continued, her voice even softer.
“This morning, I heard from a guard. Last night, in the dead of night, the Magic City Council received an anonymous letter, sent via the urgent channel of the Cain Merchant Guild.”
Camilla’s hand paused as she picked up her food; she put a chunk of stewed radish in her mouth, chewed a few times, and asked, mouth half-full,
“What did the letter say?”
“The letter… listed in detail more than a dozen bases belonging to various evil organizations hidden all across Magic City, as well as their personnel, activity patterns, even some of their members’ aliases and usual disguises… I heard the intel was disturbingly precise.”
“Evil organizations? Like the Dark Beast Legion?”
Emma covered her mouth, eyes wide at Lilian’s words.
“Not just them.”
Lilian shook her head, her pale golden hair swaying with the motion.
“The letter mentioned five different organizations—the Dark Beast Legion, Eye of Truth, Cult of the Black Sun, Order of the Myriad Laws, and… Eclipse Brotherhood.”
With each name Lilian mentioned, Emma’s face grew a shade paler; these were all notorious illegal groups discussed in textbooks.
“And then?”
Camilla asked calmly as she forked up another piece of meat, this time a bit with cartilage, crunching as she chewed.
“Then the Council took action overnight—sent out half the Council Guard Corps and three Grand Mages. Before dawn, they raided eight of those bases, arrested over a hundred people, and the remaining bases are under surveillance. Supposedly, the rest will be cleaned up by the end of today.”
“How could this be… So many evil organizations showing up all at once… What do they want? Are they planning some kind of terror attack in Magic City?”
Emma’s voice trembled a little as she set down her fork.
“Who knows.”
Lilian sighed, unconsciously running her fingers along the rim of her cup.
“Maybe they’re planning something big during the academy’s exam period. After all, most of the academy’s attention will be on the back mountain then, and the city’s defenses will be weaker.”
She turned to Camilla, as if asking offhandedly.
“What do you think, Camilla? Who do you think sent that letter?”
“Maybe some righteous soul who couldn’t stand the evil organizations anymore.”
Camilla finished chewing before she replied.
“Would a righteous soul have such detailed intel?”
Lilian raised an eyebrow.
“To know even aliases and activity patterns, that’s not something a normal informant could provide.”
“Maybe… it was an insider who turned traitor? Or one group trying to use the Council to wipe out their rivals. Evil organizations have conflicts of interest too, after all.”
Emma offered a reasonable guess.
“Maybe so.”
Lilian spread her hands and shook her head, indicating she didn’t know either.
“Do you think there are members of these organizations in the academy? Could they have infiltrated the students or even professors…”
Emma was still worried, both hands gripping her cup, knuckles turning white.
“The academy has already increased its security.”
Camilla patted her hand in reassurance.
“And the way the academy handled what happened behind the mountain last night, wasn’t it very fast? That means the professors were prepared.”
That much was true. Last night, after she’d activated the altar, the academy’s response was indeed alarmingly fast—from the burst of energy to the arrival of the first group of professors, it took less than five minutes. With that level of efficiency, it was hard to believe they hadn’t planned ahead.
“Yeah…”
Emma relaxed a little, but still spoke in a small voice.
“Hope the exam goes smoothly… I heard it’ll last three days this time, and we have to camp in the wild overnight…”
Lilian smiled.
“Don’t worry, the Headmaster will be there. Headmaster Krolova is a legendary summoner. With her watching over things, everyone can rest easy.”
Camilla kept eating, but her mind flashed through those organizations’ details—not the superficial stuff Professor Victoria talked about in class, but the deeper settings from the game.
Eye of Truth—a lunatic society in pursuit of the “ultimate truth of alchemy,” mostly made up of alchemists. They believed traditional alchemy was too gentle, and advocated “more efficient” ways of creating Sage’s Stone—like using living humans as materials.
Cult of the Black Sun—a cult worshipping the evil god Black Sun. Most members were Blood Mages and Curse Masters, believing that blood and suffering could please their god and grant power. The main enemy of the Sorcerer Path.
Order of the Myriad Laws—a group of fanatics devoted to some ancient entity, longing to push magic to its limits and reproduce mythical eleventh-tier spells. They were skilled at using ritual magic to steal people’s minds, absorbing their knowledge and wisdom—enemies for those on the Mage Path.
Eclipse Brotherhood—an organization composed of Fallen Elves, Dark Elves, and assassins cast out by society, specializing in assassination, sabotage, and intelligence theft. Trouble for those on the Magic Swordsman route, often tripping up players in the Main Quest… Their leader was killed by unknown hands a few years ago, and they’re no longer a major threat.
As for the Dark Beast Legion, they were, of course, the Summoner Path’s exclusive “experience pack.”
In the game, depending on the player’s chosen class, only the corresponding organization would appear. The antagonists for each class route wouldn’t show up at the same time—after all, the game needed to control the complexity of the plot.
But in the real world… all these groups coexisted.
When Camilla had first learned this, she’d been shocked too. If they all decided to hold some kind of “evil organization team-building” during the academy exams, making trouble all at once, what a disaster that would be.
So, she had done a little something—using the Cain Merchant Guild, she sent a letter and gave those evil organizations a big surprise.
Of course, she didn’t expect to wipe them all out.
The higher-ups in these organizations were strong, and all had escape plans and early-warning systems. Still, at least the bulk of their lower-level forces could be swept away, making sure they couldn’t cause much trouble for a while.
“By the way.”
Just then, Lilian seemed to remember something and looked at Camilla.
“Camilla, are you free this afternoon?”