NOVGO.NET Chapter 44: Familiar
Chapter 44: Familiar
Atlas sprinted toward the central cafeteria, pushing his way through the bustling crowds of evening students without a second thought.
He didn’t care about the annoyed glares or muffled complaints left in his wake — his focus was entirely set on reaching the dining hall before Emma left.
The distance between the residential wing and the main cafeteria hub was considerable, stretching across paved stone walkways, garden plazas, and long flights of stairs.
It wasn’t an easy run, especially for someone who had just spent a week recovering in the medical ward, followed by three straight hours of manual labor.
By the time the massive dome of the cafeteria complex came into view, Atlas’s chest was heaving, his boots slapping heavily against the cobblestones as his lungs burned for air.
When he finally arrived at the wide entrance archway, he was met with a wall of people. The central plaza in front of the cafeteria was utterly packed, far worse than Claus had even described.
A dense, roaring crowd of students flooded the courtyard, shouting, cheering, and craning their necks to catch a glimpse of whatever was happening near the main dining hall doors.
Moving through the space was like wading through thick mud.
"What the hell is going on here?" Atlas grumbled in sheer annoyance, trying to force his shoulder through a narrow gap between two senior students.
The clamor was deafening. Calls of excitement echoed off the stone pillars, and as more students pressed inward to see the commotion, the available space shrank rapidly.
Atlas had never been fond of tight, chaotic crowds.
The heat of dozens of bodies pressed together, combined with his own physical exhaustion, made him feel irritated, suffocated, and thoroughly out of breath.
He fought his way forward for another ten minutes, straining his eyes to look over heads and shoulders in search of familiar blue hair.
But the sea of people was too dense, and the noise made it impossible to call out.
Realizing the futility of pushing deeper into the cluster, Atlas finally gave up and squeezed his way back out toward the open perimeter of the courtyard.
Standing near the marble balustrade outside the cafeteria, Atlas wiped a trail of sweat from his forehead.
He rested his chin on his knuckles, his dark emerald eyes watching rows of oblivious students continue to pour into the building.
’What should I do now?’ he thought, his mind racing through options.
’I don’t know where her assigned dorm room is located, or this would be a lot simpler. I need her to use her elemental perception to track the lingering essence on that bangle. As a high-tier Elementalist Mage, her spiritual senses are my absolute best bet.’
He raised his head to scan the moving crowd outside the main doors one last time, and suddenly, a familiar shade of hair caught his eye amidst the sea of dark uniforms.
’Emma!’
Atlas sprinted over as fast as his legs would carry him, cutting across the stone path and reaching out to grab the girl’s shoulder. "Emma, wait—!"
He spun her around urgently, but as soon as she turned to face him, the words froze in his throat.
"Excuse me?" the girl asked, blinking in confusion as she looked at him with a startled expression.
"Oh... I am so sorry. My mistake," Atlas stammered immediately, taking a quick step backward and raising his hands in apology.
The girl had the exact same hair color and hair length as Emma, but her facial features were completely different.
She was undeniably beautiful, but her striking emerald green eyes offered a sharp contrast to Emma’s distinct blue ones.
"It’s fine..." the girl murmured, shooting him a strange look before turning around and walking away with her friends.
Atlas stood frozen on the walkway, watching her leave. ’Not her. Is my head playing tricks on me now?’
He glanced around the courtyard one final time, but nothing else caught his attention. Resigned to his luck, he turned on his heel and began the long walk back toward the dormitory building.
"Eyyy, it was my fault anyway," he muttered to himself, letting out a heavy breath. "I promised to meet her by three on the dot, but I got here way too late. I wouldn’t have waited an hour for someone either..."
He strolled back to the dorms at a much slower pace than when he had arrived. The sudden adrenaline rush that had propelled him out of the room — the excitement of realizing Emma could help solve the mystery — had completely receded.
Now, he was back to his baseline state: thoroughly exhausted, sore, and running on empty.
By the time he reached the main entrance of the residential block, the sun had begun its descent.
The sky was painted in vibrant shades of crimson and deep orange, casting a warm, mystical glow over the white stone walls like a painting from another world. It was a stunning sight, but Atlas barely had the mental energy to appreciate it.
He moved past the front reception, walking by the two junior maids who were still chatting over the counter, and navigated through the hallways where small groups of students were returning from their evening meals.
’What now? All my plans are paused until tomorrow. I’m completely blocked from every angle until the Head Maid gets back or I run into Emma.’
Arriving at Room 150, Atlas lifted the handle and swung the door open gently — only to be greeted by a scene of absolute chaos.
Inside, his roommates were locked in a strange confrontation. Eric had Claus gripped tightly by the collar of his uniform, shaking him back and forth while spewing a torrent of quiet, furious reprimands.
Nearby, Derrick was slouched in a desk chair, clutching his stomach as he giggled uncontrollably at the spectacle.
Claus, meanwhile, hung limply in Eric’s grasp like a wet rag, looking entirely lifeless and completely unbothered by the fact that he was being violently interrogated.
Atlas stood in the open doorway, completely lost for words. He didn’t even know where to begin asking what had transpired in the few minutes he had been gone.
"Uhm... am I in the wrong room?" Atlas asked tentatively, raising an eyebrow.
Hearing his voice, Eric immediately unhanded Claus. "Come on in, Atlas. You’re just the person I wanted to see, because absolutely nothing Claus is saying right now makes a shred of sense!"
Claus collapsed onto the floor with a soft, dull thud, remaining sprawled across the clean rug without moving a single muscle, perfectly content to lie there like a corpse.
"Okay... I can explain," Atlas said, taking a slow breath as he closed the door behind him and took a seat at the central wooden table.
Over the next few minutes, Atlas gave them a thorough, detailed breakdown of everything that had happened.
He explained returning from the infirmary to find the room wrecked, going to the reception desk to file an official complaint, persuading the junior maid to act as a staff witness, scrubbing the space top to bottom with Skull’s help, discovering the hidden clue, and finally his failed attempt to track down Emma at the overcrowded cafeteria.
When he finished speaking, a heavy silence fell over the room. Derrick had stopped laughing, his grin fading into a look of serious intrigue, while Eric stood with his arms crossed, processing the information.
"So... that’s what happened," Atlas chuckled dryly, a single drop of sweat cascading down his temple as he gestured around the space. "I tried my best to fix it up so we had a place to walk. The room isn’t a mess anymore, though our beds are still damp from whatever leaked out of that trash...and also the socks..."
"My socks?!" Eric suddenly yelled, his face going pale with horror as he looked toward his wardrobe. "What am I supposed to wear tomorrow? I can’t wear the same pair of socks twice in one week!"
Atlas, Derrick, and Claus all stared at Eric as he threw a minor clean-freak tantrum, though none of them were surprised given his personality.
"Look, as of right now, I’m at a dead end," Atlas continued, easing the conversation back to the topic. "I filed the report, but the Head Maid isn’t back yet. And the one person who could have helped me track the owner of the clue isn’t around."
Eric let out a long sigh, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as the tension left his shoulders. "Let me see this clue. Maybe I can identify something about it."
"Yeah, pass it over here too," Derrick added, leaning forward on his chair with genuine curiosity. "I’m surprisingly good at recognizing stuff like that."
"I’ll just stay right here on the floor..." Claus muffled into the rug. "Please don’t need my help..."
Atlas smiled faintly at Claus’s usual antics. Focusing his mind, he reached his hand toward the shadow cast beneath the wooden table.
A small, dark vortex opened on the surface of his shadow, linking directly to his Soul Forge. Atlas reached into the void and pulled out the dark purple butterfly bangle, placing the shimmering metallic piece squarely on the center of the desk.
Eric leaned over the table, picking up the bangle delicately by its edges. He rotated it under the lamplights, examining the intricate metallic wings and fine engravings with a sharp, analytical eye.
"This design is quite popular in high-end fashion circles, but the actual craftwork is extremely rare," Eric noted, his voice dropping into a serious tone as he examined the metal.
"The material is refined violet steel. Whoever owns this isn’t an ordinary student — they must be someone noteworthy or wealthy to get their hands on custom jewelry like this."
"Why would someone like that trash our dorm room?" Atlas complained, leaning back in his chair as he tried to make sense of the situation.
"We don’t even interact with the upper-class nobility. It doesn’t make any sense."
"Beats me," Eric said dryly, adjusting his glasses again. "Anyone can act stupid, Atlas, whether rich or poor. Emotions can cloud someone’s judgment and cause them to act completely beneath their station. Nothing is impossible when people lose their tempers."
Eric handed the bracelet over to Derrick.
Derrick took his time, holding the bangle up to the light and inspecting the delicate filigree from multiple angles.
He flipped it over, checked the inner rim, and traced the shape of the butterfly wings with his thumb. For nearly a minute, the room was silent as Derrick stared at the piece with a furrowed brow.
Suddenly, Derrick’s eyes went wide. He gasped, dropping his hands onto the table and looking directly up at Atlas.
"Wait a minute..." Derrick said, his voice laced with shock. "I’ve seen this exact bracelet on someone before!"