Aethernea Episode 61 – Murder in the White Quarters

(Several minutes earlier)

In front of the room 211, a crowd of people was impatiently waiting for their turn to take the Multicasting exam. Some of them were fidgeting on their feet, some of them were looking around, and some were chattering among themselves.

Regardless of what they were doing, their actions were interrupted by several loud crashes and sounds of gla.s.s breaking. Before their brains could even process what was happening, a miserable high pitched scream pierced through the corridor. The mournful emotions it carried caused s.h.i.+vers in all who heard it.

The most peculiar thing was that the source of the bellow seemed to be the room in front of them. Every person in the corridor near the room, without exception, looked towards the door with the number 211.

People p.r.i.c.ked up their ears, but for several seconds nothing else could be heard from the inside. They exchanged glances and shrugs, still unable to settle the chill racking their bodies.

Just as they finally managed to relax their tense nerves a bit, the door to the now silent room opened, attracting the gazes of everyone present.

A person slowly walked out of the room.

She was a stunningly beautiful female, but at that moment, no one paid attention to her beauty.

For the girl looked like she had just walked out of a blood-filled battlefield.

Her white s.h.i.+rt and puffy sleeves had several large crimson red stains. The red viscous liquid dripped down the slim fingers of her right hand.

Between the graceful fingers of her left hand, she held a blood-soaked dagger.

Gracefully she brought the dagger close to her lush red lips.

Her plump lips parted, and a soft pink tongue came out, licking the red liquid from the tip of the knife. Her enchanting eyes glittered with amus.e.m.e.nt, and her mouth formed a sinister grin.

After the disturbing yet brilliant smile followed a soft chuckle which caused everyone’s breath to catch in their throat.

A dark red drop slid down from the corner of her mouth, down her chin, and finally dripped down to the floor.

The drop caught the light and glittered magically, attracting the bloodshot eyes of everyone present.

When the drop hit the floor, the soft dripping sound sounded like thousand hammers in the ears of people present.

For when their eyes fell to the floor alongside the drop, they noticed that the ground was already soaked with blood.

Each one of the girl’s steps left a b.l.o.o.d.y footprint.

The small portion of the cla.s.sroom that could be seen from the opened door was filled with craters that were quickly filling up with the same disturbingly red liquid, creating pools of blood.

The eyes of the people present bulged out, wide in horror as they stared at the female in front of them that seemed unperturbed. Cold sweat had already drenched everyone’s back and the giant drops were flowing down their foreheads like a waterfall.

The female paused briefly, her eyes pa.s.sing over the horrified faces of people present. She didn’t seem to care about their fear at all. In fact, she grinned even more widely, a grin befitting of a demon, so incredibly beautiful yet so incomparably deadly. She flicked her hand, pointing her thumb over her shoulder towards the room.

“Who’s next?” Her beautiful, melodic voice breaking the dead silence sounded like a call of death.

As soon as that sweet voice echoed in their ears, the silence was destroyed by another shrill scream.

This time, the scream didn’t come from the room, but from the people gathered in front of it.

After the scream, more screams followed, along with a stampede of people scampering about, running away in panic. Without any thought about grace or manners, the gathered people pulled one another, tripped over one another, clawed, Accelerated, and did everything they possibly could to escape from the scene of the crime as fast as they possibly could.

“Murder!” “Help!!!” “Someone please help!” “Call the peacekeepers!!” “Run!!” “Out of the way!!”

All kinds of panicked, almost incomprehensible yells could be heard shaking the entire building.

The girl whose beauty could rival the G.o.ds themselves, watched the sweat-drenched backs of the escapees. Her eyebrow slightly furrowed, unsure what course of action she should take in such a situation. Should she stop them? Give chase? Or just let them be?

* * *

(10 minutes later)

When princ.i.p.al Eruan Arite got word that a squadron of peacekeepers was requesting entrance to Muni, he felt puzzled.

What could have possibly happened to warrant the deployment of peacekeepers? Did someone get their things stolen while they were within Muni? Was a fugitive among the examinees trying to enroll in Muni?

But if that was the case, they could have waited for them to come out. Unless the fugitive was extremely dangerous and they were worried that he or she would pose a threat to the people within Muni?

The peacekeepers insisted on going towards White Quarters immediately, but Eruan Arite refused to let them reign free in his university and invited them to his office first.

Muni was his domain. Peacekeepers held no power or authority here. They couldn’t even enter and exit without his permission.

Peacekeepers rarely meddled in Muni business, for it was the responsibility of headmaster Eruan Arite to uphold justice and order inside Muni. It was entirely up to him whether he wished to involve them or not.

And most times he had no desire nor need to involve peacekeepers. Muni was one of the safest places in Halnea. Not even the peacekeeper headquarters were safer than Muni. Muni was filled with genius mages more than capable in providing a.s.sistance and resolving any kind of immediate crisis.

Even if he ignored the eternal guardian watching over Muni, what about all of the enchantments and protective measures they had invested into Muni over the last millennia?

Even if the current chief of peacekeepers herself told Eruan Arite that a malicious person was causing trouble within Muni, Eruan Arite wouldn’t easily believe it. So how could he believe a claim as preposterous as the one he was currently hearing.

Both of Eruan’s white eyebrows rose, and his long white eyelashes that looked like fans blinked repeatedly. His face still remained the definition of calm as he asked softly:

“A murder? In my university?”

The leader among the peacekeepers, dressed in a valiant golden armor, slightly bowed and explained. “We have received a report with many witnesses claiming an elibu female examinee to be the perpetrator.”

The man paused slightly, unsure whether he should refer to the white-haired man in front of him as princ.i.p.al or headmaster. Both terms basically meant the same thing and were used interchangeably, but they weren’t sure which term the man preferred. Since they currently needed to watch their words as to not give him any reason to kick them out, the leader of the peacekeepers felt conflicted.

In the end, he chose not to use either of the t.i.tles and instead just avoid referring to the white-haired beauty. “Please allow us to enter and investigate the report.”

Eruan Arite stared at the peacekeeper calmly. “Who is the victim of the so-called murder?”

The peacekeeper squadron leader frowned and looked uncomfortable. He opened his mouth a few times before he finally managed to squeeze out a response. “Two Muni examiners.”

Judging by his awkward expression, he seemed to be purposefully avoiding speaking of their names for even he, himself, found it hard to believe that those two would be the victims of murder.

He would be more inclined to believe if someone told him that the two were the perpetrators.

The strange behavior of the peacekeepers didn’t escape Eruan’s notice. It only reinforced his own conviction that there was some kind of a misunderstanding.

“Your activities would disturb the written exams, and I cannot allow that. We are investigating this incident ourselves as we speak. Please wait for the results of our investigation.”

Before the peacekeepers could protest, Eruan added: “Don’t bother trying to convince me otherwise. If I let you do as you please, who would answer to complaints from the examinees claiming that their performance was lowered because of your thoughtless actions?

What if the person you arrest ends up being a victim of someone else’s malicious slander and ends up unable to enroll into Muni because you made her miss the exams?

How would you make it up to that innocent child who due to your mistake had lost their greatest life opportunity?”

The peacekeepers looked at the unperturbed man speechlessly with wide eyes. The headmaster did not say anything that was unreasonable but…but…

What kind of logic was this??

The leader of the peacekeepers finally found his voice and exclaimed: “Will you be able to shoulder the responsibility of more deaths if the perpetrator is indeed guilty and ends up endangering more lives while you are obstructing our duty?!”

Eruan Arite smiled softly. “What responsibility? Every examinee has signed a statement absolving Muni of any responsibility in case of damage or death. Inside Muni, their lives are their own responsibility.”

The jaws of the peacekeepers couldn’t help but drop down in shock.

What the…??? What kind of logic is this?!? Where is your conscience? Don’t you care at all about their lives?? Don’t you care at all what the public would say about this scandal??

The faces of peacekeepers were turning from black to white to red and then back to black.

Just as they were about to protest and try to make this unreasonable man see some sense, a knock was heard.

“Come in.” Headmaster Eruan Arite didn’t hesitate at all and immediately voiced his melodic permission.

When the peacekeepers saw the argel who came in, their faces lit up. “Vice-princ.i.p.al Icya! Please help us!”

The middle-aged lady wore her hair up in a tidy bun. She was dressed in elegant, skin tight purple uniform with golden, white and black details, quite similar to the uniform worn by the headmaster. The difference being that her uniform looked less majestic and consisted of a tight skirt, while the headmaster, of course, wore pants.

While the purple uniforms of the headmaster and vice-princ.i.p.al were colored in the same royal purple that was closer to blue than red, the color looked totally different on each of the two.

The color of Eruan Arite’s eyes was the same shade as the uniform which created a flawless harmony between him and the uniform. As if the uniform was made to be worn by him alone. It made him look magnanimous, holy and divine even when the words coming out of his mouth were anything but magnanimous and holy.

However, the vice-princ.i.p.al Icya, besides the several black strands, had a head full of dark magenta colored hair that was closer to pink which clashed with the royal purple color of the uniform, making her strict and cold features even more p.r.o.nounced.

Her cold teal eyes completely ignored the hopeful expressions of the peacekeepers and walked up briskly towards Eruan Arite. She bowed her head slightly in recognition and exclaimed. “Reporting to the headmaster. I have investigated the claims of the murder as per your command.”

Eruan Arite nodded his incomparably graceful head, the movement causing his snow-white silk like hair to tickle his shoulder. “Report.”

“Yes, headmaster.”