Being “escorted” so forcefully, I can’t help but imagine the worse. They’ll throw me into some saints forsaken cell, dark and dank and smelling of death or rat feces, while I await my judgement. Hopefully, not at the hands of Aurelius. If so, I’m sure I’ll be found guilty no matter what.

Kierra’s grip on my arm tightens as we move toward the ground. Huh, we’re headed for the Center Hall, where all the learning and a good deal of the private research is done. Jeez, it’s still enormous with an aerial view. The building is more suited to be a castle, a monument of gleaming white stone with several smaller buildings surrounding it. From what I’ve gleamed during conversations with Mano, those satellite buildings host the laboratories of sanctioned researchers and obtaining the use of one is the height of status at the Hall.

At least this means no cell. Or maybe? As an initiate, I’ve only been on the bottom floor of the main building. Who knows what they’re hiding?

Aurelius lowers us to the ground before canceling his spell. The showy landing draws quite a few stares and eyes linger with curiosity seeing four teachers escorting a single student. We’re silent as we enter the building, my usual problem avoiding the sea of bodies avoided as they part before us. Aurelius is in the lead as we walk down the long hallway dotted with classrooms to a staircase at the end. On to the second floor.

It’s disappointingly similar to the first but I don’t get a chance to look closely. We keep ascending. Past the third and the fourth floor. At the fifth floor is a door. Dark wood with an inlay of the symbol for magic; the circle of the four main elements with the star of the five greater elements on top. Including the affinity stones that represents each one. Small ones but still, that is an insane amount of wealth on a single door.

Aurelius presses his palm in the center of the symbol. I gasp as what must be thousands of runes light up as he pours mana into them, concentric circles that spread out toward the very edges of the door. Kierra leans forward with interest.

“One of the highest-grade verification enchantments in the Hall,” Aurelius brags when he sees her attention. “It is quite a masterful work. The first layer of the spell records a visitor’s unique mana signature. The second layer sends this signature to the third layer which is a record of the mana signatures for every current instructor of the Hall.

“What’s truly interesting is that the third layer is double reactive. Should the signature submitted match one encoded, it opens the door but if it doesn’t, it activates the fourth layer.”

“And what does the fourth layer do?”

He looks at me with a smug satisfaction. Huh? Why? This isn’t your accomplishment, you flighty bastard. Stupid baldie.

“Let’s just say it would be unpleasant for any intruder.”

“Coo!” [It is quite embarrassing he is so proud of, as he called it, a double reactive enchantment. Your people have no idea of the true versatility of static spells.]

Static spells? Is that what you call them?

[Spells that happen independent of a caster. There is a theory that says that the flow of mana in a world is one enormous static spell which governs the laws of that world. I have seen true masters able to manipulate ambient mana. It would explain why places made of the same basic components can be so different. As such, the realm of enchantments as termed by you humans, is seen as the ‘discipline of the gods’.]

Wow. That is an outrageous but incredible theory. What insane mind came up with that?

[It was a collaborative project between five of the more intellectual dons. Mistress Geneva was one.]

Ah.

“Are you not going?”

I snap out of my mental conversation to see Kierra staring at me curiously. The door has opened, revealing a short hall with three doors, two on either side and one at the end. Compared to the opulence of the door, the thick gray carpet and bare walls seems out of place but there is a tension in the air.

The three teachers are watching me with reserved expressions. “Ah, sorry. Daydreaming,” I say a little sheepishly as I step into the hallway, Kierra right behind me.

Aurelius scoffs softly before leading us to the door at the end. He raises his hand and knocks sharply. “Your Eminence, I have returned with Lourianne Tome and Kierra D’Atainna.”

“Enter.”

Aurelius opens the door and we all troop inside. The surroundings are again rather unremarkable, a simple study complete with a large desk, several bookcases, and an impressive map of the continent dominating one wall.

The person behind the desk, however, astounds me. More than that. I stop breathing and squeeze Bell tightly enough that a less sturdy creature might burst from the pressure.

Sitting there is an elderly man. His white hair shows his age but is both full and neatly groomed, matching a cleanly trimmed mustache. Heavily wrinkled tanned skin is a testament to someone who’s lived an active life, reflected by a body that remains in shape. Around his neck hangs an amulet with a wind affinity stone the size of an apple, glowing with power.

That ridiculous trinket. The highest floor of the Casting Hall. His age. Aurelius’ deference to him.

This can only be one person, right? The Grandmaster of the Hall, the strongest master caster in the Harvest Kingdom, the praised explorer himself who was said to fight off a dragon, Dunwayne!

I may not know every member of the royal family but everyone knows the strongest man in the Harvest Kingdom. I grew up on stories about him.

A young boy named Dunn grew up in the slums of the capital, fighting for survival amongst thieves and murderers. It would have been easy to fall in with their lot and use his talents for evil but he had the soul of a knight, they say. Dirty and half-starved, does he steal from those just as unfortunate to get ahead? No! He becomes a small-time hero.

He fought off the would-be thieves from harassing innocent people and slew monsters too weak for the capital’s guards to bother with but dangerous to the weakest members of society. Often times, not successfully, as he had no casting knowledge besides what someone can pick up from tavern conversation.

But his heart caught the attention of a retired knight. He took the young Dunn from the slums and became his mentor. Once his incredible talent was revealed, he sent the boy on to the Grand Hall, where he made a name for himself amongst the hunters of Quest.

That kind-hearted knight’s charity saved the kingdom as years later, an evil dragon arrived to subjugate the Harvest family. An evil dragon Dunn slew when the Royal Harvest Knights failed, saving thousands of lives.

The king of the time gave him the name Dunwayne kor Rexslaw, the slayer of the evil dragon Tivorex. The only commoner in history to receive the name “kor”, a distinction given to those who’ve completed the highest service to the kingdom and is non-hereditary. Anyone who has it has earned it.

They threw land and gold at him but does he join the fetid ranks of nobility? No! He donates the lot of it to the Dunn Society, a group that shelters and raises young orphans like he once was. Then he goes on a journey to get stronger.

No one knows the details about that part of his life as he traveled alone. Some say he went to the Dragon Isles to fight more draconids, incensed by his near loss to Tivorex. Some say he became an explorer, reaching new lands too dangerous to put on any map lest some fool get themselves killed trying to imitate him. What is undisputed is that he came back stronger, an unstoppable force of spellcasting might. Not even the king would dare to speak a word to him lightly.

I am standing in front of a living legend. Suspected of treason.

If I didn’t hate Samuel before, I surely hate him now.