Cyril saw no reason to ruin his plan, so he simply stood still, continuing to wait for other people.
After what felt like an hour, a noise could be heard approaching. It was the sound of people arguing. This was not a peaceful morning, it seems.
Five people in total were coming over at a slow pace. Leading the way was Richard, their professor of spell making. His usual uncaring expression was tinged with a bit of helplessness.
Right behind him followed Rose with even more helplessness visible; she peeked back from time to time before sighing.
The cause of their shared misery was also the ones making all of the noise.
Edmund and Bonzo 'The Poison Hand' were within striking distance, throwing insults at each other. Cedric tried to get in between them, acting as a mediator of sorts.
They didn't stop even when they arrived at the gates, they disregarded the looks everyone was giving them and only saw each other on their eyes.
Cedric, thinking of some idea, shot Cyril a look filled with hope. What?
At this moment the professor joined in as well; he motioned with his head towards the two, subtly asking him to do something.
"I am losing more and more respect for him as a professor." Cyril held the same opinion.
In the case of Regina and Myra, there was no one else around to make the situation better. Here in the presence of a professor, he saw no reason to act. A part of him also hoped to make the life of this lazybones a little bit harder.
"Yeah!" Perhaps that was Rhamn rubbing off on him.
Getting no response, Richard sighed in despair, then turned to Cedric, who shrugged his shoulders in defeat.
Only then did he start to try and calm down the argument. "Bonzo, Edmund Morley, stop talking. I have the capability to take away your credit, and I'll use it if necessary." He made an attempt to sound angry, but it was still without spirit.
One of the two troublemakers immediately responded, "I, Bonzo, am not scared of your feeble threats. Until this cretin understands that he has no place among the elite of class I, no force can silence me!" He was as grandiose as Cyril remembered him.
At first, Edmund was deterred by the professor's warning, but hearing Bonzo's passionate words, he couldn't help it and opened his mouth in anger.
Unfortunately for him, Richard finally lost his patience. He cast a spell not seen before by the students. After the magic circle disappeared, Cyril heard no more noise from the two.
Edmund and Bonzo were horrified to discover that they were incapable of producing any voice. They opened their mouth in a scream, but only silence came out.
"You should be grateful this is all I am doing." Richard's voice rang out, and he gave a satisfied nod.
Still, they were mages and quickly calmed down, understanding their situation.
In the end, the two went towards different sides of the group and tried to keep each other out of sight.
It was a familiar scene to Cyril. What is wrong with everyone today?"Maybe they are nervous and are more irritable as a result?" Rhamn couldn't understand it either.
Rose, not wanting to walk near strangers, went to join Myra, who still stood a few meters away from Cyril, perhaps out of shame.
This tour group was a bit scattered. Everyone kept their distance, and silence reigned. The atmosphere became even more awkward, but at least their professor liked it.
Such a state persisted even on the manarail, but Cyril slowly got used to it. He only hoped this would not end up influencing their performance during the demon attack.
Outside the windows, a monotonous parade of grey high-rise buildings passed by, seemingly endless. The journey had taken nearly half a day; the city was, after all, monumental in scale.
Finally they reached a different area; the boring constructions around them became more decorated; they had more magic appliances on them, more lights and less gray. They arrived at the heart of the Empire.
Here everyone had to be careful.
There were soldiers patrolling the street at certain intervals, and steel constructions in cylindrical form scanned the streets: creations of magic that threatened to cause any evil-doer a swift end in case of emergency.
And yet a ton of people patrolled the streets without any fear, as if they couldn't see any of the suffocating displays of the Empire's force. This was normal for them.
"Wow... This is more severe than I thought." This was Rhamn's first time seeing a scene like this. While she has access to Cyril's memories of this place, being here in 'person' was different.
"To anyone here for the first time—welcome to the heart of the Empire!" Richard tried his hardest to sound cheerful.
It was not possible to reach the tower using the common manarail, so the group got off at a station closest to their target. They needed to walk on foot for a bit, unless they used a carriage.
The group was still silent, but not for the earlier reason; the spell's effect on Bonzo and Edmund ended long ago.
They were simply admiring the sights. At least Bonzo was; Edmund was a son of a nobleman and had been here before.
"I can't even feel our connection with Morpho over here." The Ailanthus academy was located closer to the edge of the city, far from the bustling center.
They hired a carriage now that they were on the ground. There were ten people here, but there was enough space.
Magically enhanced horses pulled the steel coffin forward with the group inside.
"There are accommodations prepared for you in the Tower. Today you'll mostly rest up; if anyone is willing, they can visit the archives. Be mindful not to enter a forbidden section; that would be pretty bad. Tomorrow there will be a special lecture by the world's leading mages. Hope you are all excited."
Finding this a perfect moment, Richard explained to the students what awaited them once they arrived. While not the most exciting thing to listen to, Cyril found it quite informative.
Eventually the carriage stopped before a giant wall separating the zone around the Tower from the rest of the city. This was the impenetrable border, protecting the Empire's greatest secrets. As one can imagine, there was plenty of security around.
Exiting the carriage, everyone carefully followed behind their professor to the wide gates leading to their goal.
Some guards came over holding weapons. They were wearing plate armor and chain mail underneath. It looked unremarkable, but Cyril could feel there was an enchantment working on them.
They had mean faces on them, but that soon changed once they got a closer look at who was approaching.
"Your Highness! We've been expecting your visit; please allow us to escort you!" This was a rare opportunity for someone in their position to encounter a person of such high stature.
"Thank you for your efforts, but don't treat me with such reverence. I am visiting the tower as a simple student." Clayton plastered a wide smile on his face and asked for something impossible.
At this moment, as if only now realizing there is a crown prince among them, Richard spoke, "Oh Clayton! Your Highness, do you want to show the way for your fellow students?" He probably found the job of leading the way too taxing.
Cyril noticed the corner of Clayton's lips twitch before he motioned with his hand to stop the enraged soldier and said in a mellow voice, "It would be my pleasure."
"Tsk... such disrespect." The poor guard could only whisper in annoyance as he led the group through the checkpoint and past the gate.
On the way, no matter who it was, they all recognized the person in front and showed proper respect.
They were taken in another carriage to ride the rest of the way. The area around the Tower was mostly flat ground, with occasional small stations along the route.
The way forward surprisingly pleasant. They arrived at the foot of the tower without much difficulty.
Raising his head, Cyril couldn't see the end of the tower; it went somewhere past the clouds.
It was also much wider than he thought, now that he was right in front of it.
Before the glass doors of the Tower stood two men in black suits wearing sunglasses. Every piece of their outfit appeared to be enchanted and by a much stronger degree.
They will certainly not spare any expenses in this place.
Even their behavior was of a higher class than the soldiers earlier. Instead of almost falling to the floor out of worship, they only slightly bowed towards Clayton in silence.
Clayton led everyone past them and directly to the doors.
Cyril could feel a wave of magic wash over them when he came close. He felt like countless people just looked at him at the same time.
Soon the feeling disappeared; he could only guess that it was some form of detection spell.
Seeing how he received no warning from anyone, wearing a defensive magic item in here was not forbidden.
Thankfully, no one decided to take a closer look at exactly what magic item that is.
If outside the Tower looked mostly monotone grey, then inside they decided to change things up a bit and made it monotone white instead.
It was so pristine you wouldn't even think of checking the place for any dust missed with your finger.
The first thing that greeted them upon entering was a wide room with a reception desk; to the side of it were pure white doors. The place was spacious enough to easily hold their whole group.
The woman behind the reception desk wore a businesslike smile on her face. "Welcome to the Tower. We were waiting for you."