Supreme Magus novel Chapter 120

"Thanks, it’s nice to see you too." Phloria sarcastically replied

"What happened?" Lith asked.

"It’s terrible!" Yurial groaned. "After all these hours, zero progress. We have barely eaten to have more time, but it was all for nothing. I’m going to fail dimensional magic so bad it’s going to destroy my grades.

How can we focus on a subject so hard with all that’s happening? Every time I am alone, I have to watch my back from Lyam and his goons. The rest of the time I am either studying or worrying about what could happen if a civil war really breaks out.

I could lose everything and everyone I love. The work of generations destroyed in a few days, simply because people like the Lukart think that might makes right. I can barely sleep at night anymore."

He held his head between the hands, his eyes watery due to stress and exhaustion. Phloria just nodded, sharing his worries. She had almost developed the compulsion to call in once an hour, to check the wellbeing of her brothers.

"So basically, you are saying that living like a commoner is driving you crazy?" Lith replied furrowing his eyebrows.

"Your first worry is the same one every Ballot less student has to live with. As for the second, well, back in my village, wandering nobles were treated like natural disasters, since they could pillage, kill and r*pe at will.

And we were the lucky ones, since the presence of my mentor kept most of them at bay. Sorry, but I’m not sorry to break your self-pity bubble. Not to mention that basically you two are the living proof their strategy is working.

If everyone were to freak out like you do, very few would graduate this year. That would be considered as the Headmaster’s fault, with the only result to push the Kingdom one step closer to the civil war."

Phloria and Yurial only got gloomier after his speech.

- "Way to go, you idiot." Lith scolded himself. "Why don’t you beat them down while you are at it? We need their help, so try to be a decent person for a change." –

"Sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to be a jerk." And for once he was sincere.

"But something absurd happened to me while I was in the forest, and I’m still messed up."

Before any of them could ask a single question, Lith told his story once again, but unlike the Marchioness, they didn’t allow him to continue after the part about defeating the plant Abomination and rescuing the dryad.

"Are you telling us you defeated a monster alone?" From her voice and expression, Phloria didn’t believe a word he said.

"Was the dryad hot?" A tinge of colour returned on Yurial’s face, even with Lith avoiding to mention the nudity part.

"Are you all right? I can’t believe you are so calm after that thing almost managed to eat you alive." Quylla had turned ashen, with Friya preferring to calm her rather than express her surprise.

"Yes, yes and yes." He replied.

"Thanks for being the only one that not only believes me, but also sincerely worries about me, Quylla."

At those words the others acutely perceived Lith’s poke, realizing their rudeness, rushing into expressing overdue concerns about his wellbeing.

"If you find this part incredible, wait for the rest." He resumed the narration, taking out the natural treasures, the letter and the box at the right time to prove them he wasn’t making any of that up.

When Lith finished, it was hard to understand if they were more incredulous or scared. Incredulous because both the ideas of the monster and a prophecy for a soul, seemed too much something out of a fairy tale to be real.

Scared because the content of the prophecy wasn’t about endless riches, a future harem of world class beauties or Lith becoming King, like in the legends. It was the stuff their nightmares were made of.

Without the academy, Quylla would be back to be a homeless orphan. And if the war really ensued, there was no telling how it could end. The only certainty was that both sides would spill a lot of blood, maybe enough for the bordering countries to invade, erasing the Griffon Kingdom from history.

"Why are you telling us all this? You do know how crazy all this sound, and if your patron, of which we never heard about before, has already took matters in her hands, what do you need us for?"

As usual, Phloria was the first one to speak. She had taken her leadership quite seriously. Despite their bond, she always felt he was keeping many secrets from them. More than not believing him, she wanted Lith to crack his impenetrable armour and show her some real trust.

"First off, because you are my friends, and you have the right to now the truth." Every fiber of his being was cringing at those words, yet he pushed forward. Like Solus had reminded him earlier, progress, not perfection.