Races: Online (VR Smartphone App)

It wasn't fair to say that Kraelonia Academy was wholly unified under the Headmaster and former Assassin Nicholas Pierce. There were several individuals who placed their own interests in mind and also formed their own unofficial groups and factions within.

Some of them were just lazy and wanted to go about their semi-retirement from adventuring by teaching, like Professor Uriel, who Owen believed still had bad blood with his team. Others prioritized their own previous affiliations like Cleric Jeanne and the Eemis Temple.

Others wanted to expand the Academy to focus on the lesser-known subjects taught and have an increase in budget like Blacksmith Stefan. Then there were others like the Battle-Mage Carnus who may have been eyeing the Headmaster position and dropping hints about it and only waiting for the old man to retire. 

Owen was the one expected to take over… but he wasn't exactly excited about it.

Wizard Lavelda, surprisingly, was the most-active one amongst the Professors and enjoyed helping others when she wasn't so busy in doing research in the open libraries in the Academy or visiting her friends and sister.

Owen Liddell remembered that she once wanted to explore and excavate the underground portion of the Academy and he wondered if Lavelda was trying to achieve enough favor in order for that to be approved… and in her words "recover lost magic".

Suffice to say, the Wizard Lavelda was incredibly boobish—er, bookish.

That was simply just the tip of the dragon's tail because that also didn't include the graduates of Kraelonia Academy, the current Students and other interested third-parties that all held their own perspective.

… It just so happened that the small rugrat in front of Owen Liddell happened to have similar goals.

However, there were problems when two similar individuals met—both of them being called the prodigy in their generation. 

Owen Liddell didn't need a Bard to sing tunes about his own heroics, but Elliot Primrose, the soon-head of the patriarchal and mercantile Primrose House, was one of the youngest and most talented Mages.

And was also an incredibly possessive little brother.

The reasons as to why Owen Liddell and Elliot Primrose were working together were because of their mutual suspicion for Han. Originally, Elliot's target was Timothy, but now that the boy was whisked off to the Crowel House… Han became the subject of his fervent dislike.

Owen really didn't get it.

But even geniuses had their own strike of madness, so when Elliot came up to him and complained about Han being a definite cheater who may have been using illegal stuff to grow stronger and needed to get expelled—Owen simply stirred the boy into a more productive use.

The Primrose House surprisingly did have good connections to several contacts.

Sir Leon de Harrington's Noble Family may have been known for diplomatic relations—but the Primrose House was the one who sold to the market, and they weren't selling just magically produced items either—they were also in the selling of information.

With Elliot's own mastery of [ Invisibility ], it was easy to sneak out of the Academy to gather and compile them for Owen Liddell to use.

"I checked on any big news about the Goblin Raids and the updated status of the villages you requested. Included are the available death counts. More people seem to have gotten killed by the Goblins than Wyvern Weyr, which isn't much of a surprising detail. The… Crowel House has the upcoming debutant of Timothy Crowel." 

Elliot Primrose scrunched up his nose.

"But there's not much actual news there except for the recovering finances maybe of the Crowel House? Within said household, there's nothing. As for the current status of the Royal Family is a report about a group that gained the honor of an association title with His Majesty Indrus Sargon—"

"What?!" Owen Liddell blinked and stared at the young Mage leafing through the papers.

"Huh? Do you want to read the paper yourself?" Elliot frowned a bit, but simply showed off the document to him. While Professor Owen was indeed Elliot's Professor, the young boy was also incredibly fussy and considered that their arrangement made them equals.

"Give that to me!" The Professor snatched the paper away and started reading. 

Owen Liddell was supposed to be the one drinking with the King and the cool one! It was a childish thing, but not everyone easily got in favor with the King and for it to be publicly announced too. Did they get in the carriage of the King like he did before? Who were these folks—

"Other Races?" 

"Huh?" Elliot Primrose looked up, remembered what he read, and then nodded. "Yes, it seems like there are probably some diplomatic visitors from the Light, Shadow Elves, and even a Tiefling. Perhaps catching wind of the engagement between the Princess has made the other Races seek to form more relations with us."

"That can't be…" Owen Liddell scratched his head and wondered if he was jumping to conclusions far too much.contemporary romance

"What are you saying, Professor? This has been official shared—"

Owen Liddell walked past the young Mage and stared back at the wooden board in front of him. He didn't quite manage to connect it before, but if the news was true, then it meant that—

"They met the Princess and helped bring her to the Castle. Naturally, that was the case. Escort Mission. Gain Favor. Knows Han somehow—and Ellynn too. I almost forgot about her." The Professor rubbed his face and didn't catch how Elliot stared at the wooden board.

"Er… it seems like you've been quite busy, Professor Liddell." That was Elliot Primrose, being nice and polite about it without saying that the man was too much invested in certain events. "Shall I uh… No, is there anything else—wait, I remembered something earlier during lunch."

Owen Liddell glanced over his shoulder. "What did you say? I didn't have lunch yet—yes, you can get me some. Just get me a light meal, maybe a blue fruit shake or salad."

"A Guardsman took Han away."

—-—-

Author's Note: Today is July 21, 2021 and I haven't been able to upload at all. Hardly at all. If I were to make up for all the days missed based on daily publishing, I still need 12 more chapters. If it were for a chapter every two days, then I only need to publish 5 more chapters. I'll do my best to upload at least that much before the month ends. Thank you for the support!

done.co