Waking up by a person walking by as he felt their mana close by, he slowly opened his eyes; it was still dark out there, and the barrier in his room also didn’t have activated yet, so Irose was safe.
In the corner of his eyes, he could watch Merency approaching quietly. Closing his eyes again as if he were sleeping, he could feel her stopping in front of him and then lying down next to him on the couch, just slightly out of the range of his barrier.
Everyone seemed to be worried about each other even if they didn’t show it yet.
He also knew the guards around them had increased dramatically; right now he was probably the safest person in the country, but he felt like this protection was wasted on him.
Slowly drifting back to sleep, he had noticed Merency staying awake watching him the entire time.
As a ray of light woke him much later, opening his eyes, it was already late morning. Merency seemed to have fallen asleep watching him.
As he rose quietly, not trying to wake her up. And made his way back to his room to get fresh. As he walked up the stairs, not a single maid or guard was in sight except for groups of two patroling.
Everyone else was probably staying close to each other; walking through his door, he felt his alarm barrier was still active and working perfectly as he finally arrived at his room.
Only to find Irose already awake, waiting in a chair. "Sir, you have returned. Where have you been?"
’’I was downstairs, where I met Miss Moonstone.’’ He answered, already expecting a smug answer from the old man, but he only seemed relieved.
’’You should be more careful, sir; even if you can protect yourself, being alone is never the right way.’’ His old voice echoed through his chamber, but Steven couldn’t understand him.
’’I need to get changed...’’ Before he could finish, did Irose already move, leaving his room. ’’I will be outside if you need anything.’’ He could hear his voice through the door.
While getting changed in a new pair of his clothes, he picked up a few stones from a nightstand. As he carved some words into them with his bare fingers. Now go! HE whispers to them as they seem to have turned alive.
Setting them on the ground, he could watch them position themselves around him while some others climbed out the window, getting to different rooms.
They were small summons, mostly only able to alert him, except for a single one he placed in his room to protect Irose while he was gone.
As he opened his room door, signaling Irose to enter. ’’I will be out shopping for a bit; you can stay here.’’ Watching the old man’s agreeing nod, Steven made his way outside, still finding Merency asleep on the couch.
Meeting Lumiel at the door, who seemed just as depressed as everyone else next to him, were two young guards not wearing their masks.
’’Out for some training?’’ Steven asked the young man, trying to sound motivating but couldn’t.
’’Yes, sir, I won’t let anything like that happen again.’’ His tone was flat, but there was an undertone in it as if he were trying to convince himself.
’’And what with the maskless guards?’’ Steven continued asking while staring at the two of them who tried to avoid his gaze.
’’New rule from Lucy, so an intruder might be able to be identified earlier.’’ The answer surprised him; just yesterday it didn’t seem like most of them would be willing to listen to her, but today it was completely different, sadly not because they trusted her.
Waving them goodbye, Steven made his way to the place he had seen the shop last at.
Stepping through the still lively main street, which probably didn’t yet know what happened this morning, or else it would look much different.
A diamond student dying was already a rare event, but before the school even started, it made it look like a protection error for everyone.
Even then, everyone made space for him as usual; no, even a lot more. Something too was wrong here; everyone looked worried at something, just acting different. Had it already been new down here?
Steven didn’t know but believed he would find out soon enough. As he finally arrived at the stand selling those cards, it barely existed anymore, as the shop owner was packing up everything into boxes.
’’What happened?" Steven asked, stepping closer towards the man, who seemed to be paranoid.
As he whispered to Steven. ’’Have you not heard it? Multiple students were murdered yesterday, even in two sapphire classes. And all that with my cards.’’ The voice came only out like a cry.
Multiple people died? Steven hadn’t heard anything about that. ’’Is that why everyone is so nervous?’’ He asked the man, who only answered after inspecting everyone around him.
Yes. The man answered, picking up another box and moving it away.
’’It’s a wonder they haven’t entered a mass panic yet.’’ Steven asked himself a bit too loudly.
’’I think so because they were only able to get sapphire classes, so there is still hope the teacher can solve it quickly.’’Moving the last box away, the man gave him an apologetic look and then disappeared into a house.
This was bad; if they were only holding together because they thought it wasn’t that dangerous, they were all wrong.
And not too far away from finding out.
As suddenly, somebody started yelling behind him.
Everyone, come here; we have important news for anyone.
Gathering a large crowd.
Steven tried to walk through the masses to stop the man.
But the crowd was just too dense, and he didn’t want to hurt anyone.
"This morning, not only were two Sapphire students murdered, but also..."
His voice trembled.
"Preckex, Number Nine, is dead."
Everything froze as the world seemed to hold its breath.