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Chapter 177 Volume IV - Chapter 22: Taking a Leave of Absence

One by one, the lights of the academy came on. The darkness of the night was quickly illuminated by the moon, stars, and artificial lights. Then... a voice filled my ears.

"So, you are asking the academy for permission to go on a \'trip\', perhaps for a few months?"

Melany\'s voice echoed across the room and I nodded, even though she couldn\'t see me.

"Exactly."

Melany took a tired, deep breath.

"Haaa... Even I can\'t really do that, you know? A week or so could be somewhat okay... but a couple of months off probably? It\'s one thing if you\'re in your second year or something, but you\'re only in your first year, Aiden."

"I\'m sorry, but I \'have\' to do this. And while I\'m on this \'trip\', I\'m going to find a solution to Lucia\'s problem."

Melany paused as if she had heard something wrong.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean Lucia, your daughter. I\'m also going to solve her problem."

Melany was silent for a while. Then she spoke in a low voice.

"Where are you going?"

"To the North Holar."

A shattering sound came from the other side of the call as if something made of glass had fallen.

"Wh- what? Not only are you going out of the kingdom, you\'re going to a place where there\'s a bloodbath?!"

"I need to go to the dwarves\' continent for what I want, Melany. You must have also understood when I told you where I was going, the solution I had in mind for Lucia."

Melany was silent for a while. Yes, I maybe couldn\'t see her... yet I could imagine her standing in front of me now, even her eyes widening.

"An artifact..."

A smile appeared on my face.

"Exactly. We have no way to suppress Lucia\'s statistic directly, but we can reduce or even nullify it by using an artifact. If we set it in a non-intrusive way, like a ring, necklace, or bracelet, it won\'t interfere with her daily life. Of course, if we want a solution beyond that, we\'d better give it up in the first place."

Melany remained silent. She had thought about it before. But she hadn\'t put it into practice, nor could she.

"Will the dwarves agree to make such an artifact for you? How are you going to convince them to make it for you in the first place, especially when they think of nothing else but this war, a war of extreme importance to them...? We\'re talking about an artifact that will constantly lower a statistic, especially one of the innate ones, by a few grades, not something Lucia can only use for two hours a day."

"I know, and the answer, at least for me, is simple. I will help them and they will help me in return. Think of it like the contract between you and me."

Melany took a deep breath. She sounded as if she was tired of listening to me and had let herself go.

"It makes so much sense and so much sense at the same time... It seems impossible. How can you go to a continent at war? The dwarves of the North Holar don\'t take mercenaries... They only take reinforcements from some kingdoms or let people they trust a lot fight alongside them. Other than that, it is quite difficult to get anyone into the country at the moment... Only business negotiations are allowed."

"You are the lady of one of the top three families in the Cevilian Kingdom, Melany. What I\'m asking is not impossible for you. And don\'t forget that we can solve Lucia\'s problem with this. Besides, there is still an active airport in the North Holar and the upper part of the kingdom is still accessible, albeit only to a few cities. Of course, I need a separate authorization for that, but as I said, it\'s nothing you can\'t handle if you really want to. Especially now that your husband is back. On top of that, Ronald Potenbea can support you."

She suddenly interrupted me and asked, surprised.

"Ronald Potenbea? I knew you knew each other because you were close to his daughter, but can he really help you with this?"

Of course, he can. He told me after my first meeting with Celine that if I ever needed help with anything, not to hesitate to tell him. And this is a very appropriate thing to ask her to help me with.

Quie and the Potenbea family, working together, could not only get me a flight to the North Holar, they could even get me into a city near the war. Even one of them could do it, although the two of them together would be much more effective.

"You don\'t have to worry about that, and as I said, we have to do this regardless of whether he helps or not. For Lucia\'s sake and for my plans."

There was a sound as if Melany was leaning against something on the other end of the call. Then she took a deep breath and finally opened her mouth in an exhausted voice once again.

"You\'re exhausting... Even with Potenbea\'s help, I can only get you in as a short-term passenger, I\'m talking about a maximum of a week\'s leave, let alone a few months. Once you go beyond that, if your departure from the country is not confirmed, they\'ll come after you."

"That\'s not important, what\'s important is that you send me there. And I still haven\'t gotten my answer."

"You won\'t listen, will you?"

I simply smiled without answering and Melany sighed slightly.

"Fine, I\'ll try to adjust it. But don\'t forget that there will still be cons, I can\'t just let you off for a few months."

"I am well aware. These are not important things as I said."

With that, the smile on my face widened even more.

"If that\'s sorted... I\'ll see you then, Melany."

The call ended abruptly. Melany seemed a little annoyed with me, but I didn\'t care. Closing my eyes, I leaned back and started to think.

I need a passport to leave the kingdom, but Melany will take care of that. The problem is that I\'m going to North Holar, where a different race lives.

Dwarves and humans don\'t get on so badly... not outright, but it\'s still hard to gain their trust. They have a lot of prejudice because they are always looked down upon, and rightly so.

And as Melany mentioned, there is a big war going on there right now. That\'s why entry and exit into the country is under strict control.

I continued to think for a while and then paused.

Anyway... This is all taken care of. Since I\'m leaving in a week, I\'d better inform my friends. If I tell them at the last minute... It might not be nice.

First of all...

Uh, sure. The hospital is not far away.

*******

I crossed the dimly lit corridor. I was going to open the door without knocking, but I hesitated. With my hand on the door handle, I just waited. I had a strange feeling inside me, a feeling I couldn\'t describe.

I pulled my hand back, then looked at my palms. They were normal, only that they were slowly getting hard from spending so much time with my sword lately, but that was it. They were the hands of a normal person.

I lowered my hands and took a deep breath.

Why did I hesitate in the first place? What was that strange feeling I had inside me? I should be used to visiting Celine... No, I am used to it. I always enter without knocking, like I\'m about to do.

One more thing to think about...

I sighed lightly and walked through the door.

"Celi-"

I was interrupted, my pupils shrunk.

A shiver ran through my body as if to tell me that if I moved a muscle, terrible things might happen. And then... I saw it. I saw a pair of shimmering violet eyes looking at me, and a smile accompanying them.

He was there, in front of Celine\'s bed. Celine was sleeping, while the wiera was smiling. He had a sword in her hand, the sword I use when I train, and on this sword... there was blood.

The same blood was on Celine\'s bed. It had stained the duvet red, right over Celine\'s body.