The Overseer & The Class S "Hero"

Chapter 19

Our last day at Ceyern dawned bright and clear. We would not be in class the whole day, so we stuffed ourselves leisurely in the dining hall, wrapping butter rolls and pastries in napkins to send into our storage pouches. We had packed everything in them, leaving our Ceyern passes in our rooms but the rewritten pass, obviously Aurelius still carried it on him. Currently, we wore our normal clothes, with my new illusions showing the image of the three Noumin students we had replaced, uniform and all.

"We will be taking one of the more concealed routes," Aurelius gave a perfunctory explanation as we set off for real, the school corridors we traversed relatively free of students.

I had asked Aurelius beforehand if I should craft an illusion of us being Ceyern students, but he had said there was no need. In fact, it would be better if we were seen as the Noumin exchange students. I didn't bother to ask, this had to be part of his plan.

Heading deeper into the bowels of the academy, I realised we were going to the basement as Aurelius trod on the familiar route I had taken with Soren. Through the smaller door we went, Axtca gawking at our new surroundings while Aurelius looked slightly rattled despite both of them having heard my briefing. Nothing beats the real thing, I suppose.

The spiraling pathway had no guardrails, but was wide enough to eliminate vertigo, and Aurelius now stood at the edge of it, pointing to a cell one floor below.

"That's our target," he said, eyes roaming over the chasm below.

Without a word he turned to walk down the sloping path, mentally giving up on asking me to transport us over there. O ye of little faith.

In the cell, Aurelius summoned a small cascade of water, washing a patch of wall clean and putting his hand on the stone, murmuring a few words. Originally seamless, it now had a distinct doorway outline which moved inwards and slid aside, grating in place as dust rained down from long disuse.

With a thought, I created a few fireballs, having them float ahead and around us, the wall sealing itself with Aurelius's command. The air was remarkably stale but the secret passage was clean, slanting upwards and bearing archaic magic lanterns which had exhausted themselves decades ago.

Our monotonous trip ended a short while later, the exit door almost invisible behind the mass of ropes hanging from the ceiling, some with metal weights attached. Aurelius halted, the Ceyern-issued notebook materialising in his hand. Running his fingers across a page, he occasionally looked up, pulling a rope or two each time.

Taking a step back, there was the sound of gears rubbing and the ropes rose into the ceiling, the door opening at the same time.

"Axtca, prepare the potions," he said, stepping out first into the brightly lit hallway.

"Halt! Who's there?!"

Two guards in full armour sprang into attention, their burning gazes fixed on us. I looked at them, and then behind us, seeing the door situated in the middle of nowhere, closing and disappearing altogether. The two guards were guarding an important-looking heavy wooden door, locked with us in a stalemate with neither party saying anything.

"Hello, we're the transfer students from Noumin. Good sirs, would you mind letting us pass?"

I was sure the guards' eyebrows were rising beneath their headgear.

"You three came out of nowhere, and want to access a forbidden area? Come with us quietly, and your sentence might be lighter."

"Then, forgive me for being rude!"

Aurelius drew his sword, rushing up to the one on the left, chopping him to the floor in a single blow, grabbing his lance from him and hurling it away. Axtca was at his side in a moment, parrying the blow from the second guard and kicking him as hard as she could, pushing him away with her weapon. The man howled as flames rose up his legs, cooking the flesh within, the horrid burning smell leaking from the gaps in the armour.