The Third Crossing

16. No Harm Done

Opening a portal could be exhausting for the uninitiated. How about opening thirty on a single day?

I could be doing it all wrong. There must be an easier way to teleport all those Skandivians than escorting them one by one through the void, Akira thought, barely standing at the portal site, where he was about to start one last passage through the void to go back to Sun Castle. Was there a possibility that nobody there had noticed his absence for an entire day?

Missing sessions, be they studying or sparring, never went without consequences. And in the case of someone like Akira—someone who was a suspect in the chemistry study incident—the sanction could be exaggerated.

But right now, that sanction was the least of Akira's concerns. It shouldn't be a concern in the first place. With the information he had gathered from the Hokydoan smuggler, he should think of his reward.

What reward, you petty fool? If all that Natsu said was true, then the Third Crossing, and consequently, our entire holy cause, would be in grave danger.

Akira would kill to get some sleep, but first, he had to get out of the island of Hokydo. After draining the red balya decoction he carried with him, he became able to muster his focus and bind what remained of his anerjy with Earth's pulling force. The shimmering portal opened with its usual cracking noise, and hurriedly, Akira stepped into it. Just a few days ago, he would have never believed what he was capable of now. What could be a better exercise than teleporting thirty people in a couple of hours? I still have a lot to learn, though, he reflected, gazing at the dozen portals on the other end of the void. Perhaps he should find a veteran Red Cloak to teach him how to avoid opening irrelevant portals.

When all this mess was over.

Akira crossed the luminous oval that took him back to the Portal Yard at Sun Castle. Quiet and abandoned, just like he had left it yesterday.

Or that was what he thought until he heard a firm voice from behind him commanding, "Don't move."

Akira froze in his place, and cautiously, he glanced over his shoulder. He couldn't recognize that mustached Red Cloak, but he was sure he hadn't seen him before. And since it was unlikely for Akira to come across a new mentor after spending four years here, he could safely presume that the thirtyish mage behind him was a battlemage.

"I'm Kungwan Sen's nephew, and I must see him now," said Akira, doing his best to sound confident.

"It's your lucky day, then," the battlemage coldly said. "He demands to see you too."

Akira wasn't exactly expecting a warm reception upon his return. But to be taken straightforwardly to the Archmage himself? "May I ask why he does?"

"You may ask him yourself," the battlemage curtly replied. "Now move."

* * *

The fact that his uncle, the Archmage, had been waiting for him was a little bit unsettling, although the old man was surely the right person to inform of the suspicious news from Hokydo. Jihoon was a logical option too; he was the most tutor Akira would trust. The only doubt Akira had was how Jihoon would react, though. Either he would do nothing, or worse, he would divulge the secret to the wrong people. I didn't shake hands with a smuggler from Hokydo to end up expelled from Sun Castle.

The battlemage escorted Akira to Kungwan's office. Without saying a word, the Red Cloak knocked on the door, opened it, then motioned for Akira to enter. "Shouldn't we get his permission first?" Akira asked hesitantly, the battlemage casting him a hard look. "Fine. But I will tell him it was you who made me barge into his office." When the battlemage puffed impatiently, Akira felt that his caution could be exaggerated a little bit.