Aravel

Chapter 16

Three days had passed since the end of the individual examination incident.

While not much information was revealed to the public other than the unexpected encounter of a monster that was not supposed to show up, the incident certainly caused a huge commotion within the city of Tristania. Not only were the school grounds shut down for investigation, there was also a wide sweep of the forest area all around issued by the guild to ensure that something like this wouldn't happen again. Worse case, a nest of the same centipede monsters would be found below ground.

Nothing was found, of course, but everyone was still on high alert. The city had yet to issue a statement, but the school authorities was willing to take responsibility for the lack of proper safety and security reasons. A lot of students were heavily injured, including a few higher-ranking nobles and even royalty so it was expected that there would be a certain level of backlash from the public. Thankfully, because this was the first time something of this calibre had happened, it was understood ultimately that there was a perpetrator behind this and the blame shouldn't fall solely on the school.

With the incident now being handed off to the government for closed investigation, students were given an emergency two-weeks leave as a result of so many students being injured. Until there was a simple majority of students who had recovered enough to move around would they be allowed to return to school. All medical efforts were focused on the students who were heavily injured, regardless of their class.

Despite all the efforts, the lack of an answer left an ominous cloud hanging over the city of Tristania.

- - - - -

Lunaria was currently being admitted in one of the private hospitals that was normally closed off to public visitors unless they had a permit. The reason she ended up here was due to the speedy request from her parents after they were informed of what had happened to her. While she was blacked out for quite some time, it seemed that Lunatea and Laevia had come over in a hurry to make sure she was fine before departing yet again. Being dragonkins was convenient for fast travel, especially during situations like this.

While Lunatea wanted to stay longer, they were busy with internal affairs back in Aravel and had to leave. With Sera, Rena and Shoko's persuasion, Laevia managed to bring Lunatea back eventually a day after Lunaria had woken up. Shoko was one of the lucky few who suffered only minor injuries after the whole incident, making her the errand girl for Lunaria for the next few days until Lunaria was capable of applying healing magic on herself again.

"Man~ dragonkin healing magic sure is amazing," Shoko grinned, watching as Lunaria's injuries quickly got better. "Thanks to Laevia-sama, she helped to heal the entire hospital before she left and many people were already healed."

"Mother is very kind. She lives up to her name as a saint," Lunaria muttered, looking at Shoko with a small smile. "I'm sorry that you have to keep caring for me for the past few days."

"It's alright. I feel guilty that I didn't manage to do much during the fight either, so this is compensation for watching so many people get injured," Shoko looked a little upset at herself. "Like with Kaze..."

"...." Lunaria didn't add anything to it and turned her head to the side.

In the same room with her, Kaze was lying down in a separate bed. He still hadn't woken up since his collapse after the fight.

Since the exam had been cancelled, there was no way to determine how their points would be accumulated now. Based on witnesses, many people agreed that it was Lunaria who dealt the final blow to the centipede monster since they couldn't see anything from the mist. As a result, despite Lunaria's multiple protests against the people who came to her for her testimony that it was Kaze who defeated it, there was no reason for them to believe her. They rather choose someone who was a dragonkin with naturally strong power instead of a nobody whom no one even saw him participate in the first place. Only Lunaria and Shoko saw Kaze block the attack from the mist obstructing everyone's sight, making this all the more frustrating for Lunaria.