Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Bella looked at Evin, no doubt wondering if he was serious or not. 

"If you really want to kill him, gather evidences of him slighting you. That time he challenged you to a battle on your first day, those times you found yourself having to fight him in combat classes, that time he gathered the students of the Academy to hunt you, and of course, the time he trapped you inside the Temple. Witnesses will also do but gather at least ten different people of varying backgrounds."

"And then?"

"And when your case is complete, marry me," Bella said. "You'll be a noble then and you can challenge Decatur to a duel of honor. Make your case public, so he won't be able to refuse you, and kill him during the duel."

Evin's face flushed at the idea, and he couldn't find a response immediately.

"What?" Bella asked, sounding oddly annoyed.

"I mean… you just mentioned something very serious very casually."

"You wanted to kill a Count, I told you how," Bella hmphed. "And don't think I'll allow you to marry me just so you get to kill boy. I may love you, but I at least have some pride left in me."

"I… Of course."

Bella smiled and kissed Evin's lips. 

"Well, tell your grandfather you'll try to get proper permission, and that if that doesn't work, you're going to buy mercenaries for them," she said. "We'll worry about Decatur later."

…

Two hours later, Evin and Bella were standing outside a classroom, working on the things he needed to say. A quick visit to Leanne taught him he needed to bring the Academy's permission to the Bureau if he were to leave the country, meaning he needed to talk to the Chairman. 

Hearing it, Evin almost wanted to stop, since the Chairman was one of the people he suspected previously. But under Bella's insistence, he had to come talk to him. Well, Evin was sure he was going to be refused, considering the Chairman's intentions, so he was just going to ask if he could leave without providing the reasoning. 

"He's coming out," Bella said from his side.

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The classroom door opened and Kent walked out of the room followed by a few 4th year students. 

"Sir," Evin greeted, urgency filling his voice.

"Oh, Evin and Bella," the man replied. "What brings you here?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something, in private."

"Bella too?"

"She'll wait outside."

"Sure, let's go to my office then."

The Chairman was slow to make their way to his room. He wore a gleefully anticipative expression, as if he couldn't wait to hear what Evin was about ask him, but for some reason, he delayed the visit as long as he possibly could. He stopped thrice to speak with teachers and students about something completely inconsequential; and even when they made it to his office, he insisted on brewing some kind of special tea for himself before sitting down.

"Well, then, you seem to be in quite a rush?" Kent asked. 

Evin had to push down a curse at the comment. "Yes, but of course, please don't let my problems hurry you." Though, he couldn't quite keep the sarcasm away.

"Sorry, sorry. I just noticed you were busy now," Kent smiled. "Well, what did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to go to the North for a few weeks and wanted to get permission from you."

"Hmm? Why?"

"Personal reasons, sir. Sorry."

"Mmm… You know I can't just let you leave without a proper explanation, you know?" Kent asked. 

"I know," Evin grunted. "But I… I really can't talk about the reasonings. It's a desperate need, sir."

The Chairman hummed and took a sip from his tea. Evin was sure the Chairman knew why Evin needed to go. Even if he didn't know the exact reasons, he definitely had guesses. Or, he could've been the one behind the attack on his family. In that case, he'd immediately deduct why Evin suddenly wanted to go.

Evin felt like a fool, sitting here talking about his escape to his potential enemy, but he felt like his enemies would learn about his escape regardless. If they had a High-mage specializing in illusions, it wouldn't be weird if that person was sitting in the room next to them. It was a worrying thought. 

Evin had to make a habit of using magic to sweep a room to see if there was someone invisible standing somewhere in a room, but even then, he couldn't be completely sure. 

'This whole fucking mess is really tiring me…'

"A desperate need, but you can't tell me what exactly…" the Chairman spoke, frowning. 

"Yes," Evin said, cursing inside for not being able to tell if the Chairman was acting oblivious or not.

"Sure, why not," the Chairman smiled, and started writing on some paper. 

Evin looked at the Chairman's smiling face, trying to detect a joke.

"Don't make that face. It's a desperate need, right? I trust you enough, so I'm not worried about you becoming the North's mage. I'm more worried about you leaving without permission, becoming a fugitive."

The logic added up, but Evin still couldn't make himself trust the man. 

"Ah, but of course, I have some conditions."

'There it is…'

"I'm sure you'll be fine, but you'll need to take the next month's materials from your teachers and privately study them," the Chairman added. "I can allow you to leave, but I cannot allow you to neglect your studies. And don't try to cheat me out of this one, I'll ask every teacher if you've met them or not."

"I… of course…?" Evin replied. "I'll visit them after this."

"Well then. Good luck on your travels," the Chairman said and gave Evin a permit. "Show this at the Bureau and you'll be good to go. Oh, do you need anything for the trip? No? If you do, don't hesitate to ask. Well, off you go."

Dazedly, Evin picked up the permit and walked out of the room. 

"How did it go?" Bella asked. "Is that the permit?"

"Yeah?"

"Holy shit, they actually let you leave like that?" she also seemed to think it impossible.

"Yeah, but I'll need to take care of my studies while I'm away," Evin replied. "He was rather particular about that, so I'll have to visit my teachers. I really don't wanna lose the permit because I didn't do that."

"But are you… still going to leave? You can still hire those mercs, you know?" 

"I will," Evin replied. "I don't want to trust anyone, and honestly, I didn't wanna ask the Chairman too. But I'll be back in a few weeks at most so don't be sad… Wait, actually, I can be gone for only a day if Rith agrees to portal me there. I remember her talking about how it costs only a few hundred gold so I should be able to afford that!" 

"Sure. Yes, of course, you're right. I'll go talk to your grandfather to hear if they're ready to go yet. You can come after you're done talking to Rith," Bella said. 

Evin nodded and started visiting his teachers one by one. The first two asked him to get some book from the library to read upon, so Evin decided to just visit them all and then get the books later. But just as he was about to leave the library with a stack of books in his hand, he was met with the Chairman.

"Oh, Evin. I'm so glad I managed to catch you before you left. I have some more news about your leave."

"You can't not allow me to go!" Evin immediately panicked, thinking of the worst.

"No-no-no. You're still allowed to go," the Chairman shook his head. "I've got different news. Actually, I reported about your situation to the higher-ups. They almost immediately replied and told me that you can't go alone and told me to keep you here till they send someone to accompany you."

"Oh," Evin breathed out a sigh of relief. "Wait, but who are they sending?"

"Don't know," the Chairman shrugged. "But they should arrive here in the Academy by today evening, so you can get to know them then."

"Alright… I'll be back to meet them then…"

"Don't worry about them sharing with others whatever you're trying to hide. They'll accompany you, make sure you're fine, and come back with you. They won't even speak of their experiences to the kingdom, so you can make them your confidants if you want to."

Evin's moment of relieve didn't last. 

'Of course, that mage's just there to observe me for the kingdom… I guess it's fine if it's just that, but I can't be sure they're not someone the Chairman himself is hiring to check up on me…' 

Countless questions popped up in his head one by one, each more worrying that the previous. 

<It's best if you stop thinking about that,> Endra said. <We can learn the mage's intentions when we meet them. For now, go talk to Rith.>

<Sure, but… can we trust her?> Evin asked. 

<Rith? Probably. She's hired by the country itself, so there shouldn't be any problems. And you know the integrity of the Cosmics. There's no way for her to betray you.>

The credibility of the Cosmics were known to all. They prided themselves in never cheating or betraying their customers after a deal was made, no matter the amount of gold offered to them. From the moment they appeared on Alvox out of nowhere, they've become the ideal merchants to work with.

<But weren't you the one who taught me that nothing was concrete?>

<Yeah, but you can't live doubting everything around you, you know?> Endra said. <There are real risks of getting murdered in your sleep, but you don't stay awake all the time because of that, right?>

Evin nodded and made his way to the Cosmic's den. He explained his situation and asked her how much would it cost to create a portal to Ssatsko's Tendu Tribe. Rith explained that she could get them to the Third Cataract, which acted as the border between the North and the West, but not beyond that. 

International teleportation was a complicated privilege that was only available to a select few people that Evin wasn't part of. Evin needed to complete the rest of the journey on foot, or he had to find a Cosmic in the North and hire them to do the job. The best place to find one was in Khuutam city of the North, more famously known as the Prison of the Eight-limbed Godling. 

The name piqued Evin's curiosity, so he asked Rith about it. Teasingly, the Cosmic told him to see it for himself. This was the moment when Evin realized that he was technically going traveling.

He thanked Rith, and made his way to Jiha Town to find Ssatsko. He learned that they'd went to their old house to pack up. But arriving in Theor's house, Evin found a rather ugly scene. 

"I will not leave my damn house," Theor shouted at Lora.