"INTRUDER!"
"EVERYONE GET TO YOUR STATIONS!"
"PROTECT THE PRINCESS!!!"
Suddenly, a series of shouts began resounding through the castle, followed by another series of explosions.
Intruder? Had he been caught?
But how? He had been so careful.
Vael's mind spun before he forced it to calm down.
No. That wasn't right. If it was him they were talking about... then what about those explosions?
Thinking about it, a sudden chill ran down his spine, forcing him to momentarily wish they were looking for him.
This... this hadn't happened the last time he was here. Had the future changed? But how? Was it something he had done before coming to Taureth?
Whatever it was, Vael had a bad feeling about it.
Azora, too, seemed a little taken aback as she looked at him with suspicion.
"Whoever that is, he's not with me," Vael said, trying his best not to muddy the justifiable I am doing this for the people, heart-of-gold image he had just been working on.
Argh, now wasn't the time for that.
Whatever was happening upstairs was completely out of his expectations, meaning he needed to get out of this situation as soon as he possibly could.
Not wasting another second, he activated one of his few remaining charms and rushed toward the stairs while also swallowing his storage ring in his mouth just in case things went wrong.
Making sure to follow his previous steps to avoid any traps, he rushed up the stairs, running out of the stairwell into the office just as another explosion rocked his surroundings.
The explosions were becoming closer and closer, and Vael was pretty sure they were reaching his position. Behind him, he could see the princess also rushing up the stairs to escape from the hidden room.
To stop her from escaping and potentially informing others about the invisible him, he rushed toward the painting and closed the entrance beside him.
Once that was done, he rushed out of the room, walking over the unconscious bodies of the two soldiers, just as the wall to his side burst open and the body of a boy came crashing down inside.
Vael paused, trying his best not to make any noise as he heard the sounds of footsteps coming close behind.
From behind the debris walked the figure of a man in his early thirties with long blonde hair, dressed in long mage robes.
Rykiel.
Vael swallowed as the only person he was supposed to avoid walked in a couple of feet away from him.
"Tier 3 at such a young age," Rykiel spoke as he grabbed the struggling boy by his head and lifted him up in the air. "Not to mention this heavenly ice physique. The way your techniques work… you, son, you aren't mage, are you?"
Wait a second. Vael inwardly frowned as he took a careful look at the boy's face. About eighteen years of age, with black hair and wearing loose cultivator clothes.
Vael knew this boy. He wasn't from the same class as him, but he was one of the first years who had arrived in Taurenth alongside him.
What was he doing here? And what was this talk about some heavenly ice physique?
One by one, several questions began rushing through his mind. Rykiel had said the guy was a Tier 3 here in Taurenth, meaning he was at least a Tier 2 back in Vornak. Coupled with that heavenly ice physique, how in the world had Vael not heard about this guy? With his credentials, he should already be making waves in the first year.
The entire thing was enough to make Vael curious. Why in the world had such a guy walked into the castle, blowing things up, when he originally hadn't been supposed to?
"Not willing to talk, are you?" Rykiel snorted, casting a binding chain spell on the boy and throwing his immobilized body to the now-shattered floor.
Making sure that he had been thoroughly incapacitated, Rykiel turned towards the shattered floor, staring as the rows of soldiers rushing towards their position.
Guess this was it.
Seeing that the guy had been thoroughly incapacitated, Vael was too prepared to make his exit. Last time, after being caught, Vael had been sent to the capital after they had sensed his mana core was inherently different from those of the natives of Taurenth.
Right now, he could only hope the same fate befell the new guy, so that he could be teleported back to the academy in seven days, giving Vael enough chance to investigate him.
Just when Vael was preparing to leave, he noticed the boy struggling to gaze down at his hands, specifically at his wristwatch, as if confirming something.
Wait a second.
Vael's eyes narrowed as a sense of impending crisis suddenly spread through his body. He hadn't noticed it before, but was his wristwatch working?
One had to know that the will of the worlds and minor changes in world laws didn't allow normal mana devices from Vornak to work when used in other worlds. Those that did work like charms that were one-time-use products, or storage rings that were themselves designed and imbued with spatial magic, could function even in the void. However, even those things could only be used for a limited amount of time before needing to be charged again in Vornak.
However, that didn't mean there were no devices that could be used in these worlds. They just needed to be tailor-made so that they didn't clash with the new world's will, which in itself was an extremely complex process and could only be done by specific professionals.
How did this guy manage to get his hands on a working clock? Did he steal it from someone here? No, the overall build and design of the wristwatch looked native to Vornak.
But why?
What kind of idiot would spend so much money on a watch calibrated with a different world's time when he could easily buy one here?
Unless...
What he did next made Vael's blood run cold.
The guy flicked his wrist, pulling out a charm from his storage ring.
Just one look at the charm and Vael knew what it did. No, every single mage with a few years of experience knew what that charm was supposed to do.
Anti-mana charm. Every single one of them costs an arm and a leg. Vael's eyes widened as he hurriedly looked at his own invisibility.