Chapter 360: Back to the Academy (2)

By the time the carriage finally passed through the academy gates, Ruvian had long since lost track of how many times he had nearly dozed off along the way.

The journey had felt considerably longer than two hours.

Perhaps it was simply because of the exhaustion from the past several days that he hadn’t fully recovered yet.

Outside the carriage window, the academy grounds were almost entirely swallowed by darkness, illuminated only by the pallid glow of mana lamps lining the roads and the entrances of the surrounding halls.

The night air was bitterly cold as well.

The moment Ruvian stepped down from the carriage, a thin chill immediately scraped across his face before seeping beneath his clothes.

Yet more than the cold itself, what bothered him most was the oppressive drowsiness steadily dragging down his eyelids.

Wearily, he yawned.

’Damn... I’m so tired...’

At this point, he wanted nothing more than to return to his room, collapse onto a comfortable bed, and sleep.

Considering the hour, there was little else awaiting them that night.

Most scholars simply gathered their belongings and began trudging their way back toward their respective dormitories, too exhausted to linger any longer than necessary.

’Ah... it’s really, really good to be back.’

Not long afterward, his own squad eventually reached the point where their paths had to diverge.

Since their rooms were located in different sections of the residential halls, the five of them exchanged brief farewells before gradually parting ways.

Ruvian watched their figures disappear into the dimly illuminated pathways for a moment before finally turning toward his own residential hall.

And just like that, Squad 69 went their separate ways.

Whether the five of them would ever end up fighting side by side as a squad again was something none of them could really know.

But even if they did not, the days they had spent together throughout the Island Test had already forged something that would not simply disappear with the end of the exam.

They were still friends, after all.

For now, however, Ruvian had only one destination in mind.

His room.

More specifically, his bed.

*****

Sluggishly pushing the door shut behind him, Ruvian barely even bothered looking around his room before dragging himself toward the bed.

The moment he reached it, he simply allowed his entire body to collapse forward.

Thud.

His face sank straight into the pillow; he remained completely motionless for several seconds.

Then, slowly, both of his arms wrapped around the pillow as though he had finally reunited with something precious after an unbearably long separation.

"...My beautiful bed. I missed you so much."

For a moment, his words were met with momentary silence.

Then, from somewhere deep within his soul, Morvayne’s exasperated voice immediately surfaced.

[Child, at least change your clothes before you sleep. And take off your shoes. You have been wearing those clothes since leaving the Leviathan. At the very least, wash yourself first.]

"...Mhm."

[Do not ’mhm’ me.]

Ruvian sluggishly turned his head to the side, revealing one half-lidded eye.

"I’m not sleeping yet..."

[Hmm... I can quite literally feel you’re falling asleep.]

"No, I’m just lying down..."

His eyelids slowly sank again.

"...for five minutes only."

[It will not be five minutes, Child.]

"Says who?"

[Me.]

Ruvian buried his face deeper into the pillow.

"Don’t worry, Morvayne... I’ll get up, I always do."

Contrary to his assurance, those five minutes came and went without Ruvian so much as stirring.

By then, it was clear Ruvian was not getting back up. Instead, he remained peacefully asleep across the bed in possibly the least graceful position imaginable.

Only the upper half of his body had actually made it onto the mattress, while both legs still dangled awkwardly over the edge, with the boots still on.

Deep within his soul, Morvayne remained silent for several seconds before eventually letting out a weary sigh.

[Haa... this Child, I told you.]

Morvayne watched him in silence from within his soul for a few moments before finally manifesting beside the bed.

Black wisps of mana seeped outward before gathering into the shape of a woman, gradually solidifying until Morvayne stood there in her physical form.

Her long dark hair spilled over her shoulders as she looked down at Ruvian.

Then, she reached down and carefully lifted his legs onto the mattress before shifting the rest of his body farther up the bed. Ruvian barely reacted, only letting out a faint murmur.

Morvayne stared at him for a moment before turning toward the wardrobe.

She opened it and briefly looked through the clothes inside before pulling out a loose shirt and a pair of comfortable trousers.

Returning to the bedside, she held them in one hand. Then, with a casual flick of her finger — a spell was cast.

In the next instant, the clothes he had been wearing were neatly replaced by the ones Morvayne had chosen.

Morvayne merely shook her head.

Afterward, she pulled the blanket over him, adjusting it until it covered him properly from the shoulders down.

"Sleep well, Child."

*****

Fortunately, Ruvian didn’t oversleep.

Despite how exhausted he had been the previous night, he still managed to wake up early in the morning.

After all, there were still several matters he needed to settle before he could finally leave the academy and return home.

The first thing he did was head over to meet Ophelia, just as they had agreed beforehand.

Their discussion mainly concerned the academy’s plan to quietly filter out any demons still hiding among the scholars or staff.

For that, Ruvian suggested that Ophelia make use of Vanessa’s blessing.

Furthermore, he briefly explained that Vanessa didn’t exactly have anywhere in particular to return to during the break, nor did she have much of a reason to spend the entire two weeks away from the academy.

However, that was not the only reason he brought her up. Ruvian also made another request — he wanted Ophelia to personally guide Vanessa in magic.

After all, the two of them shared the same Psionic Affinity, and there were likely very few people within the academy more qualified than Ophelia to teach her how to properly develop it.

Naturally, Ophelia rejected the idea at first.

Regardless of Vanessa’s circumstances, she believed the girl deserved some proper rest after everything that had happened during the Island Test.

At the very least, she wanted Vanessa to enjoy part of the extended recess without being immediately dragged into more academy matters.

Unfortunately for her, Ruvian had already discussed the possibility with Vanessa beforehand.

In the end, there were still several arrangements that needed to be made.

Ruvian would first have to inform Vanessa that some of their previous plans had changed and ask her to head toward Silvena’s guild before anything else.

That worked well enough for him anyway, since he had already been considering bringing Vanessa into the guild as one of its members.

After that, Ruvian still had another matter to take care of.

He needed to send a letter to Silvena, Calyra, Julian and Rosalin.

Contained within that letter would be everything regarding their next course of action, particularly the next phase of the guild’s development and the dungeon expedition they were preparing to undertake during the two-week recess.

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[Chapter 360: Back to the Academy (2)]