Thankfully, Edmund recently moved to a different dormitory; it didn't take long to arrive at his place.
He familiarly went after someone to enter.
The staff at the entrance eyed the butterfly on his shoulder but didn't say anything in the end. Pets were allowed after all.
He quickly found the correct door and knocked on it.
After a few seconds it was opened, and a tired-looking Edmund appeared before his eyes.
Looks like he was sleeping not that long ago.
"What?" Said Edmund with a voice lacking any energy.
"Let's talk about something," Cyril said with a calm demeanor and went inside without an invitation.
"Alright then..." Edmund said slightly annoyed. He was powerless to stop his friend.
He walked to his disheveled bed and sat on it hunched over. "I am a bit tired; let's get this over with soon."
Cyril sat on a chair nearby. "Do you have something against the prince?" He didn't beat around the bush.
"No, why the hell would you think that?" Edmund furrowed his brows in confusion.
"Regina told me. She said there was something wrong with the way you looked at him," Cyril calmly clarified.
Edmund covered his face with a palm, flabbergasted. "Just based on that? I can't even look at him? That's why she was so confrontational back then..."
He sighed and continued "I suppose I wasn't respectful enough toward his royal highness. Some of my feelings about the Empire must have leaked through. You know he is the heir to this tyrannical empire!" Edmund assumed an innocent expression and spread his hands in helplessness.
Cyril frowned and warned, "Don't say things like that out loud."
"There is no one else around; it's fine! It's not like you actually respect the Empire; you are smarter than that." Edmund waved his hand in dismissal.
I expected as much... "I didn't expect this rich kid to be so rebellious" Rhamn said in surprise.
Not everyone in the upper echelons of the Empire is loyal to the end... Actually most aren't; the only thing they trust is money and power—and the Emperor has plenty of both Cyril quickly explained.
Whenever they gather together, my father and his are always going on about how this country is getting worse with each year; he must've taken after.
"At least it's more interesting this way." Rhamn nodded with a convinced expression.
"Well? Why are you staying so quiet?" Edmund asked in confusion.
It seems like Cyril got too distracted talking with Rhamn.
"And why were you acting weirdly back then?" Cyril asked another question.
Edmund made a confused expression. "Back then? You mean in the tower?"
He continued with a ridicule in his voice, "Cyril, demons were attacking the place! Sorry, I wasn't willing to confront humanity's greatest enemy right now!"
He then lowered his voice and added, "I guessed there would be something wrong in there, but I wasn't ready for that; it's different from fighting some bandits. Cyril, I am not like you; I am not even in class I yet."
"Fine, just don't do anything stupid in the future," Cyril said, finally letting go of this.
He would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit disappointed in his friend right now. He remembered him to be stronger than this. He tried to not let it show in his eyes.
"Don't worry about me. Speaking of this, why would Regina care so much about the prince? And the way she moves and fights... She must be some kind of bodyguard of the royal family." Edmund switched the topic with a curious expression.
"Maybe, I don't really care," said Cyril, uninterested in talking about this further. He only cared that she was a good fighter.
"I thought that was an interesting topic." Her complaint was ignored.
After this, Cyril spent some time catching up with his friend and learned what had happened while they were exploring the labyrinth beneath the Tower.
Turns out their situation that day was rather smooth. Elvira led them out of there quickly and with no issue.
Cedric tried talking to her in the beginning but gave up after he was ignored for the third time.
Other than him, Elvira showed tolerance when talking to the rest of the students, even answering some of their questions on the way.
In the end Cyril said goodbye and left. He still needed to prepare for the trip with Myra.
"Cedric must have felt quite bad that day, huh? He finally reunited with his mother, but she refused to even look at him... How tragic!" Rhamn wiped away her nonexistent tears and said with amusement.
I do think that's sad
Cyril didn't find it as amusing. The thought of Cedric still trying to approach his mother, even after getting rejected, was frustrating to him.
"That's his choice." Rhamn said in defense. "You need to take things less seriously."
...
After the time has come, Cyril met Myra back at the park.
She was still wearing the same clothes, only now there was an additional bag behind her back. It wasn't big; she took only the essentials.
The same could be said about Cyril as well. The way they prepared for this was quite similar.
Seeing him Myra smiled with something resembling nostalgia in her eyes.
"Shall we head out?" She said with an optimistic voice.
Cyril nodded, and together they went towards the already operational manarail.
This time as well, they couldn't rely completely on this invention to reach their destination.
They paid the conductor to reach the far east side of the city. From there, they would need to use a different form of transport.
They needed to go outside of the city.
The manarail was a bit emptier than usual, perhaps because of the attack just yesterday.
An event of this magnitude hasn't happened in a long time. A lot of people are panicked right now.
Cyril, however, decided not to think about it for now, at least not until they've arrived at the ruins.
Both of them occupied a seat and started waiting.
"Have you ever been outside the city?" Myra asked with curiosity.
A natural question: most citizens of the Empire never stood outside its reach.
"...When I was a small child. But I don't remember anything from that time," Cyril said after slight hesitation.
"Oh wow, really?" Myra was quite surprised to hear that.
"Let's talk about that ruin. How do we reach it?" Cyril said, changing the topic.
"First, once we get to the edge, we take a special manarail. It's a bit different from the normal one; it's not as 'clean.' " She said cautiously, apprehensive of Cyril's noble upbringing.
Seeing no reaction from him, she continued.
"Then we ride it until the last stop; from there we go on foot or on a carriage to reach the Shamrock village." She paused and added with a smile, "It's a fishing village."
"We'll rest there and go for the ruins the next day. They are not far," Myra said at last.
After talking a bit more, the two relaxed in their seats and started waiting until the end of the ride.
The few other passengers around them all talked about the attack. It seems the Empire only said this was a premeditated attack by the archdemons and nothing else.
Thankfully their academy was already quite close to the edge of the city, so the road didn't take as long as it could have.
In the past, Cyril heard that the general rule of the city was that the further you live from the Tower, the worse area you are in.
He has already been close to the northeastern edge of the city. That was the place where he met the Red Snakes.
The eastern edge was in a similar state of disrepair. Outside of the main street, the chances of you being robbed were sky-high.
There was also a rumor going around that the number of people living on the edge far surpasses the ones living closer to the center.
Seeing crowds of people going around in a hurry almost made him believe that statement. He put the bag closer to him just in case.
Myra looked used to the bustle of this place. She led Cyril effectively through the crowds.
Their destination was the towering wall separating the Empire from the rest of the world.
Thankfully not many people had business there; the moment they got close to the wall, the number of people around them lowered significantly.
Cyril finally breathed a sigh of relief. "It felt like we were in an anthill." Rhamn also didn't like the experience.
"Not often you get to see this, right?" Myra voiced it with some mischief.
"Magical talent is rare among the common people. And without it, you will not go far in the Empire. The end result is them staying here; I kind of think outside would've been better for them," she said with a wry expression.
They walked toward a particular office within the wall. It was a checkpoint with a bored soldier sitting behind a desk.
Seeing two people approach, he raised his head with some difficulty and mumbled a single word, "Purpose?"
"We are taking the train until the last stop, with a full meal, please." Myra said with confidence and put a silver coin on the table in front of him.
The soldier took the coin, looked at it under the magic lamp for a few seconds, before taking two tickets from under his desk and giving them to Myra. "There is one now, you are in luck"
"Thank you," Myra quickly said and moved away.
The soldier only mumbled something unintelligible and stopped paying attention to them.
"Usually we are supposed to buy the tickets beforehand. The train has a set schedule" Myra explained on the way.
Myra proceeded to lead the way until they reached a platform and a metal machine that reminded Cyril of the manarail.
Only this one was much bulkier. It looked industrial, unrefined.
Most of the wagons were taken up by huge containers; only a couple were made with the passengers in mind.
Other than a few workers, there was no one else anywhere near the train with them.
"It's rare that there will be passengers here. Mostly it's just people from the villages taking it, like me." Myra said upon seeing his wandering eyes.
She came closer towards the cabin, put the ticket close to a panel by the doors and they were opened, letting her pass.
Cyril repeated this process and they soon occupied the closest seats they could find.
"How exciting! We'll soon see the world outside!" Rhamn materialized nearby and looked at everything around them in wonder.
"Only this place requires a bit more cleaning, I would say," she said while looking at the old and crumbling seats.
While he didn't show it, Cyril was also very curious about the world.
He meant it when he said he didn't remember anything from his childhood. One could say this was the first time he left the city's territory.