Aftermath

After observing them for a few seconds, the man cast another spell—a disc of light appeared under his legs, which steadily lifted him into the air.

In this way the middle-aged man flew all the way to their place in a few moments, his face still expressionless.

Something about the way he carried himself unsettled the students, in a different way compared to when they faced the demon, but similar in some places.

Richard, with a tense face, greeted the mage, "Hello, we are the group from the Ailanthus academy; we got caught up in the attack."

At this moment the man showed his palm, signaling him to stop talking. "I know." His voice was cold and lifeless.

Having interrupted Richard, the mage slowly turned his eyes towards Cyril. "Come home in three days."

His business here finished, he swiftly flew away somewhere else.

All of the eyes now gathered on Cyril, curious about who that man just now was.

Cyril breathed in and said in a calm voice, "That was my father... He works at the tower."

Seeing how the other two students were still curious and Cyril was refusing to say more, Richard decided to chime in, "Arthur Felling, a retired knight. He looked quite different from how I imagined him."

With the conflict behind them, their professor returned to his usual relaxed state. There was even a slight smile on his face now.

"Your father is a knight!?" Myra was greatly surprised by this revelation. "You've never told me..." She was now confused for some reason as well.

"He 'was' a knight." Cyril corrected her " And why should I tell you this? There is nothing important about this information."

Rose had a much tamer reaction, but she was still curious. "Your dad is pretty strong; those demons immediately fled when he came."

Cyril only gave a nod and didn't reply in any way. It was obvious he didn't want to talk about it.

"Alright, you can catch up with him after we leave; let's go." Richard only wanted to go back by now, and Cyril supported his decision.

The fires in the city itself were slowly getting extinguished, and soldiers soon flooded the streets.

An army also came to visit the area around the Tower, meeting the group in the process. They were already aware of their identity and led them back inside the Tower to a certain room. Richard was separated from them at this stage.

First, they went through an interrogation. People in black clothes asked about every action the group had taken within the Tower.

The group barely altered their story; after all, it wasn't as if they had done anything wrong.

Myra somehow was able to keep her stash of stolen documents hidden.

During this time they've also relayed what Cosmas told them, but there was no reaction.

After a lengthy process, they were finally free. They were led to a different place, where the healer checked them and instructed them to remain there for the time being.

Cyril was slightly apprehensive about going through this, but the healer didn't discover anything wrong with him. "He simply cannot".

There they've met the rest of their student group, minus Clayton, who was taken somewhere else.

The injured were treated by the Tower's healer; now they looked none the worse.

When Cedric saw Cyril come in, he quickly got up from the couch and approached.

"There you are! How have you been?" His voice was slightly worried but mostly curious.

"We heard there was quite a commotion outside; can you tell us what happened?" Most of the people in the room raised their ears.

Cyril wasn't one for long talks, however. "We've met an archdemon." He came over to a free spot and sat down, wanting to relax.

"Uh…" Cedric wanted to know more, but Cyril didn't continue.

So he turned towards Myra in hopes of getting an answer. But she was not in the mood as well.

Her face was still gloomy and contemplative. She found a seat further away from everyone and sat there hunched over.

Cedric didn't even try asking her and finally awkwardly turned towards Rose.

Rose was in the best state out of everyone, it seemed. She only sighed, sat down as well, and started explaining what had happened.

She relayed how they've passed through the labyrinth of laboratories, their fight with the cyclops, and their meeting with the archdemon.

Everyone in the room listened with interest to her story. Even if a bit lacking in excitement, her rendition of what happened was concise and detailed enough to imagine it.

During this time, Cyril noticed that Edmund was behaving weirdly as well.

It seems he decided to copy Myra for now; he wasn't smiling like usual and sat there in gloomy silence, not listening too much.

What is up with him? "Maybe he got scared by the demons? Or is he regretting not going with you?" Rhamn sat by Cyril's side and offered her guess.

He is supposed to be tougher than this. Something's not right. Cyril still had some trust in Edmund; there was a reason the two became friends.

At this moment Regina sat a bit closer to him and whispered in his ear, "I suggest you have a good talk with your friend, Cyril Felling. If not for my presence, he might have done something to His Highness."

She quickly said her bit and sat further away to continue listening to the story, pretending nothing had happened.

What? Her words were out of nowhere, but he didn't have any reasons to doubt them.

His friend was acting weirdly lately, and it would explain why he stayed behind.

"Does Edmund have some sort of grudge with the royal family?" Rhamn squinted her eyes, looking at Edmund.

None that I would know of... He decided to think about this later; right now he wanted to rest.

Soon Rose was finished with her story, leaving everyone with starry eyes.

"You got to witness the knights fighting!? That's incredible!" One of the unremarkable students had his mouth wide open, looking like a child.

"Who was the mage that saved you by the end?" To his excited question, Rose only shook her head, saying she doesn't know.

Since Cyril was not comfortable with discussing his father, she would not bring this up in here.

Bonzo was a lot quieter now that he had his near-death experience. At least in front of this group he lost some of his arrogance.

Cyril felt this was somehow unnatural, but he welcomed the silence.

The students sat in this room discussing the attack with each other until the doors were opened, and Clayton came in, followed by two men in black robes.

With all eyes on him, the prince opened his mouth. "We are terribly sorry you had to experience this." He bowed a little.

"For a short amount of time, the Tower will be closed to all visitors while we investigate how this breach happened. Don't worry, you'll get proper compensation for being put through this." He sounded quite polite.

Judging by the pale face of a mage by his side, Clayton insisted on offering these apologies by himself.

Cyril wasn't sure what he was trying to achieve by doing that. "He is just trying to appear noble; nothing new." Rhamn looked with disdain at him.

The prince called everyone to follow him and started leading the way out of the Tower.

On the way, he explained that in due time the Empire will definitely approach everyone present to offer their compensation and mentioned how the promised tutoring will have to be postponed for a time.

He personally led the group all the way out of the Tower, towards two waiting carriages.

The manarail wasn't working for now so they had to travel all the way on this.

Here he turned towards the two mages in black robes and said with a smile, "No need to follow me further. I will be safe with the guards inside, and I am also a student of Ailanthus. I need to return."

The two men bowed down with respect. "As you wish, your highness." They were left behind as the group boarded the carriages.

As the carriage started moving Clayton decided to explain the current situation

In total two archdemons have attacked the city today, wreaking havoc in the Tower.

He apologised again for the knight's late response.

Coincidentally most of them were busy with something important and couldn't appear at the scene in time.

Like this, surrounded by tough looking soldiers in a tight space, they've traveled all the way back to the academy, while listening to Clayton talk.