Magic Life in the Empire

"You friend is in danger and you worry about the kidnapper?" Cyril tried to convince Cedric to move.

After a short deliberation, Cedric answered, "Please, I still believe in Leo, he won't harm her"

He crouched down in front of Leo, carefully immobilized his arm, and then cast a simple healing spell, administering whatever first aid he could.

Using this window of free time, Rhamn began reprimanding Morpho on her carelessness in the background.

When he was finished, Cedric even looked like he wanted to carry the unconscious body somewhere. So Cyril had to interfere again.

"Leave him here; this area is not dangerous; at most, someone will just rob him. Let's go already." He really didn't want to waste any more time.

"Alright, alright. I am going." At last relenting, Cedric jumped to his feet and moved towards Morpho, who had just finished hearing a lecture from Rhamn.

They walked after the red butterfly; she was flying back in the direction they came from.

Their pace was fast, and they moved in silence—aside from Rhamn.

Eventually they reached the shopping district again, where Morpho stopped in front of a small store in the corner.

It was one of the numerous cafes around; on the signboard, its name was 'Pure Bliss."

The doors of the building were locked and all of the windows shut; nothing inside could be seen.

Morpho flapped her wings frantically in front of the wooden door.

It seems they've arrived at their destination.

"Your friend is inside." Cerdic didn't doubt these words and got excited.

"Thankfully, she wasn't far. This must be one of the businesses belonging to the Arken family, right? There should be someone guarding the place." He tensed up. "We should prepare for a fight."

"If Leo had strong warriors at his disposal, he would've sent them straight after you; no need to go through such a process." Remembering that coward's character, Cyril didn't think he would be against ganging up on someone.

"Probably some thugs inside." With these words, he came close towards the door.

After seeing Myra open the warehouse doors with magic, Cyril thought it would be a neat trick to have, so he asked her to teach him.

The spell wasn't difficult to learn, and now he had the opportunity to use it.

Seeing the lock being open like this, Cedric was surprised again. "I didn't know such magic existed." Neither did Cyril before that day.

They opened the door and entered the cafe.

Inside the cafe was clean without any dust; the shelves were mostly full; it looked like the place was actually operational.

The only inhabitants right now were two thugs, who, upon noticing the intrusion, got up and pulled out knives.

Cyril felt like there was something familiar about these bandits. "These two were in that warehouse. What a small world."

The Arken family still made a deal with them?

He wasn't the only one to recognize the other party.

Both of the bandits soon replaced their threatening expressions with fear.

"We—We surrender, please. The Arken family forced us to work for them." The thugs already knew how this fight would end up

They dropped the knives and moved back towards the wall with their hands raised in the air.

The scene caused some confusion for Cedric, but he didn't ask what this was about.

"Where is Anna?" Instead he placed his attention on finding his friend.

"The girls in the back! We didn't do anything, that kid said not to touch her!" He was immediately given the answer, and Cedric went to check up on the place.

Cyril stayed behind to talk things over with the bandits.

"Are you two working for Leo Arken himself?" He was curious about that.

"No—I mean yes, sir! We wanted to quit the criminal life after our last meeting, honest! But the man giving us work became really mad when he found out our boss was gone and that we lost the box with jewelry." The two didn't plan on hiding anything.

"He told us we are all in his debt now and forced us to work; we are basically slaves! Others were taken somewhere else, but I and my friend signed a contract to work for some brat." They earnestly tried to make themselves victims.

Having satisfied his sudden curiosity, Cyril now had to decide what to do with them. "They are nobodies; who cares about them? Do whatever you want."

"I see." He came closer towards them, making the two flinch. "Go somewhere far away from here and don't return." Cyril saw no need to have these thugs here any longer.

With regained enthusiasm, the thugs hurried away from the cafe.

At this moment Cedric and his friend were coming over form the room in the back

Earlier Cyril could hear exclamations of joy and the sound of ropes loosening, so everything must be alright.

Cedric walked in with a young woman with chestnut hair, she was wearing a sweater with a torn sleeve. There were no signs of harm visible on her body anywhere.

"Thank you again for rescuing me, Cedric. I almost thought I had to fight my way out myself!" This incident didn't scar her in any way, seeing how she was already making jokes in a relaxed manner.

"It was my fault you got kidnapped in the first place... And don't thank me; I've done nothing useful today. It was Cyril here who managed to rescue you." Cedric's voice carried with it a mix of relief and self-blame.

Only at this moment did Anna notice another person standing here.

Seeing this student with sharp features and a cold look, a slight blush appeared on her face as she half hid behind Cedric.

With a much quieter voice now, she said nervously, "Thank you," to which Cyril gave a nod.

"What a change! She wasn't like this just now." Rhamn, sitting by one of the tables and playing with Morpho, couldn't understand this shift in personality from outgoing to shy.

With a look of realization, Cedric opened his mouth. "Right, Cyril, let me properly introduce you. This is Anna Welley from class IV. Don't let that placement fool you; I think she is quite talented in theory; she just didn't have much opportunity to study before. Oh, and she is not good around strangers, so don't be too harsh."

In the middle of his sentence, Anna subtly nudged him with an elbow but gave up after a while.

He then turned towards her. "Cyril is famous in our academy, so you probably know him already." Cedric gave a big smile. "He is not a bad guy, right? I knew it from the start." A look of 'I told you so' appeared on his face.

Anna's brow twitched, and she avoided Cyril's sight.

"Since we now know each other, let's go grab something to eat and celebrate a good outcome." A proposition was thrown in all of a sudden.

"It's already getting late. We still need to install the terrarium in a suitable place and maybe buy something else for Morpho. Anyways, we don't have time for them." For one, Rhamn was against an idea of this genre.

Cyril also wasn't interested in spending time with them right now, so he politely declined, "I still have something to do; I'll be going first."

Cedric wasn't too disappointed hearing that, like he already expected a similar answer.

It was a mystery what was in Anna's mind; she simply continued to avoid Cyril in silence.

They said their goodbyes in front of the cafe and separated. Cedric and Anna went to the nearest food stall.

A distance away, Cyril decided to buy some more things for Morpho.

By the time he reached the academy, the sun was already down.

In each dorm, there was a special area dedicated to receiving packages, where Cyril found the terrarium already waiting for him. "Same-day delivery is nice."

Carrying multiple bags and a big box with ease, he finally reached home.

Installing the terrarium proved to be really simple; it was already ready inside the box.

After much deliberation from all sides, they placed the terrarium on the sturdy table by the bed.

Morpho excitedly flew around inside of it for some time before tiring herself out and landing on a plant to rest.

Next, Cyril sorted out everything he bought today and sat on the bed.

"It was a long day. I've had fun." Rhamn sat by his side as usual.

All things considered, it wasn't bad, yeah. In the past, Cyril would've panicked a lot over something like a butterfly tearing itself out of his body, but now he viewed it in a calm and positive way.

"We've met Morpho, seen a good play, and done a good deed, all in the span of a single day. It's not 'not bad,' it's great!"

Morpho, relaxed in her new accommodations, flapped her wings in agreement.

Cyril couldn't completely believe at this point that he was having fun with Rhamn around.

His life since entering Ailanthus was getting better than ever.

Finished with all the tasks of the day, Cyril lay on the bed, ready to say goodbye to today.

"Goodnight, Morpho." Goodnight, Rhamn. He started drifting into slumber.

"Goodnight, Cyril."