438 Fall and Rise - IX
"There will be a group of 50 Students, but you can create smaller groups and venture around the limited area on your own," Elsa said.
With other Professors counting the attendance of the students present, Professor Elsa gave everyone their instructions.
"But you will be notified to gather at the common spot from your ID Bracelet," she said.
Each of the groups was given different famous spots around the Royal Capital, and they were allowed to have fun for the entire day.
It was 8 AM, but every single student was excited to make the most of their time today.
Although they were going to get a few more days to explore after a joint practice session with the World Academy according to their schedule, it was still the first day of the trip they could truly have fun.
The security in the Royal Capital was at an all-time high if something happened to the students, it would make the World Association, and the Royal Family of Halcyon look bad.
However, a few Professors were told to accompany the students while hiding and respond to any threat if they came across one.
"That's all, enjoy your day," Elsa said.
She wasn't worried much about the students, as not only the security measures were put in place weeks ago, but all the World Academy students were trained carefully.
All of these students were among the best of their generation, even the last-ranking student was way better than most of the students his age at other academies.
"Let's go," Kevin said as he looked behind him.
Amelia, Elena, and Eva were wearing casual outfits and their whole group was attracting a lot of gazes from other students.
With them were Ria Adler, Gavin Neville, and Alan Astaria.
Damian was supposed to be part of their group, but he was late to the meeting for some reason.
Amelia looked around searching for Damian, but she couldn't find him at all.
'Should I message him?' Amelia thought.
Things were rough since Amelia argued with Damian, but she didn't want to keep things as they were.
Kevin noticed Amelia who was looking around.
"We should enter the buses let's reach there as early as possible," Elena suggested.
All the students were given the choice to freely commute between the Hotel and the spot where they would be dropped.
So, even if some students wanted to return early, or go later they had that choice.
Amelia looked at Elena, she wanted to wait around for Damian and try inviting him but knowing that she might be their plans, she decided to go with them.
With the other students in their group, they entered the bus that was waiting for them.
After a few minutes, the bus left the Hotel Area, meanwhile inside the Hotel.
A loud sound of an alarm could be heard in the hallway, coming from a certain room.
"Ugh," Damian turned and touched his ID Bracelet and stopped the alarm.
He opened his eyes slightly as he glanced at the time, and it made him squint his eyes.
"What?" Damian muttered as he rubbed his eyes.
Due to the Dungeon Exploration where Damian had to do a lot of tanking due to lack of coordination between his team.
He didn't notice but last night he made a mistake while setting his alarm, and he was late.
"Shit, I am late," Damian lifted himself from the bed.
For the past few days, Damian had been thinking a lot about what he should do and he was going to act today, but he had already made a mistake.
"Argh, I can't believe it," Damian muttered as he rushed to the bathroom.
Splashing his face with water, he got his eyes wide open. He had been thinking about this day and the trip for a long time, and the day he wanted to make his first move, he already got late.
"Why do things always go wrong with me," Damian muttered as he rubbed his face with a towel.
The students were already informed about the bus system so Damian was aware of the fact that he could only get onboard that bus after an hour.
There was a one-hour delay boarding the bus, and now all he could do was wait.
While Damian was rushing to the shower cursing his luck, Professor Elsa was looking at the sheet of the students that were at the Hotel.
On that list, one name was Alyssa Astaria, and the reason written was her health condition.
"I guess it's better for her to not go out," She muttered.
Knowing what kind of gazes and reactions she would get from the people who might recognize her would only create trouble for her.
So, Elsa was glad that she was staying behind in the Hotel, but she was completely wrong.
None of the staff or Professors present here knew that Alyssa Astaria wasn't at the Hotel at all.
She was present inside a dark place using her magic to kill small monsters as she made her way towards the center of the dungeon.
Wearing a long coat and mask that covered most of her face, Alyssa was making her way to the Altar of the Dungeon.
Her eyes were cold as she kept using her ice magic to kill the monsters that would sometimes appear in front of her.
Her body was showing the effects of using mana constantly, but she kept moving forward.
"Get your revenge!"
"Isn't this what you wanted? A chance!"
"Let them feel what you felt for all these years!!"
The voices grew stronger, and louder as Alyssa couldn't suppress them anymore, the more her hatred grew, the more she suffered.
All she could think about was her purpose for coming here.
Far from the Royal Capital,
A particular aircraft was flying with a full team of S Rank Hunters that were guarding it.
"Two hours," Asher looked at the time.
His flight was delayed a lot, but they finally got permission from the Royal Guild to fly toward the Royal Capital.
Asher was sitting alone while flipping through the pages of the book he was reading.
Rankers were allowed to borrow the books they wanted and take them outside the World Academy if they had permission.
Fernando allowed Asher to take a few books as they weren't too important. As the book was related to alchemy and potion brewing, it wasn't a risk for its content to get leaked so Asher could take it outside.
All the rankers were allowed to take the books with them if they stayed inside the World Academy, but the contents couldn't be shared with others.
There was a runic spell placed on all such books to make sure only the person who had borrowed them could read them.
After flipping through multiple pages, Asher still couldn't fully concentrate on the content of the book as he glanced outside.
"Maybe it's better if stepped down?" Asher muttered.
After thinking a lot, he knew that if he remained the Heir of the Greville Family, he would always attract the attention of others.
There were a few times when Sylvie and Arthur indirectly hinted to remember his duties as the Heir, which he knew what they meant by it.
Although they never forced him or outright told him what to do Asher could see that they would do it in the future.
Asher gathered all the information about the Garcia Family with the help of Eric Herod, the son of the Head Butler of the Greville Family.
A massive culling of the Garcia Family members, after their forbidden research on humans, and the crime of taking the lives of a city full of people for their own selfish ideas.
The crime, the people involved, and the information of what had transpired more than a decade ago, wasn't available fully.
Still, Asher knew that the sole survivor of that incident was a 5-year-old girl, Alyssa Astaria.
Thinking about all of it, Asher knew that his own status would always get in the way of what he wanted.
"It would be better to give this status to Amelia," he muttered.
The status that most people would have given up everything for was something that he didn't want at all.
Even though Sylvie and Arthur thought otherwise, until a few years ago many people didn't think that Asher Greville was a suitable heir candidate.
"Maybe then, they will leave me alone," Asher said as he closed his eyes.
Thump! Thump!
Isn't that good?
My enemy is the madness inside me.
If I can cure it, I don't need anything else.
I...I only need her.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
With her, I can find that peace...
