Rebirth of the Phoenix God

"We will send someone to investigate this problem."

Once inside the town and the academy itself, the speed at which everything was happening finally took a turn. Instead of wasting hours upon hours in waiting in queues just to pass the inner gate of the town, Orsha lead the two of them through some routes known only for her and maybe a group of the most important thieves of the city. 

Thanks to this specific approach, rather than being picked up with honours and fanfares by the servants of the person that could afford to so blatantly break the rules of the city inside its premises, Fen managed to make his way through both the outer and inner sets of the city walls.

And from that point, reaching someone responsible within the area of Orsha's academy influence was already a simple task even an idiot would be able to fulfil. Yet, Orsha once again proved that keeping her as a guide was the right choice, instantly dealing with some small fries and guiding the young man right to the heart of the academy grounds.

"I don't think I made myself clear enough."

Instead of taking the positive answer fo a good thing, Fen almost exploded when hearing it. Leaning over the office's counter and staring daggers down at the poor receptionist, the young man even started considering going on a rampage just to make sure those people would take the threat of that fake fire-flower garden seriously.

"That place is perfectly fitted as a trap against the arcanist. In fact, I couldn't even fathom how many people died there over the last few years!"

The young man behind the counter was clearly bored. Only once the young arcanist furiously attempted to bring up the numbers, the face of this fellow student of Orsha's academy changed.

"Sir, I think you are the one that needs to calm down. It's not like this kind of places are rare or uncommon in the first place. If we were to dispatch people to get rid of all of those that we know, for the next ten years one wouldn't be able to see a single arcanist alive!"

Slamming his hand against the counter, the young man only now seemed to realise that he actually stood up from his chair. On the other side of the wooden desk, now making quite a lot of noises indicating that slamming against it like that was a clear violation of the list of the ways in which it was supposed to be used, Fen stood frozen, as if unable to believe in what he just heard.

"What do you mean by that?"

After taking a moment to calm himself down, instead of allowing his pride and anger to take over, Fen simply stared at the young man on the opposite side of the desk.

"Like, seriously? I can tell from your outfit that you are from the Gauna academy. Life is pretty easy in the capital, isn't it? But is it really so easy that you failed to make the most basic observations?"

Muttering the name of the rivalling academy with a clear irritation in his voice, the young man plummeted back to his chair before looking at Fen with a certain sense of superiority clarifying in his mind.

"Out of five arcanists that are allowed into academies, only three survives the first phase of their quests, while only one survives the second phase of their quests out of the two that survived the first one. Obviously, those statistics are way different for a place like Gauna academy, where each and every single one of the students are of a precious breed, but don't you dare to think that most of the normal arcanists have it as easy in their life as you and your friends from the class!"

This topic really had to strike deep into the fears of the young man. Staring down at the now depressed face of the fellow young arcanist, Fen could feel a distant echo of the emotions that had to rage in his soul right now.

"Okay then, do your best. I did my part by reporting it, it will be your responsibility if more people were to die to that place. After all, just like you said, I don't think anyone from Gauna academy should ever worry about encountering that place."

While it would be a huge stretch to claim that Fen believed in every single word about the reality of both of the academies, there was no point in arguing over those points now. Without the necessary knowledge and information about how the reality actually looked like, Fen could only put his beliefs against the facts that the other party was apparently bringing up, unable to confront him with the facts of his own. 

That's why, rather than trying to operate on the truth, Fen decided to work around the emotions and what his younger colleague from the other academy said himself.

"With that said, I don't think there is anything else I'm required to do in this place. Orsha… Would you be as kind as to guide me back to the town's gates?"

Rather than staying in this place and arguing with the man for no reason, Fen was far more interested in actually going back to the Gauna. Even though the chances that his former landlord would dare to return to the capital as well were dim as they required him to either be brazen or simply naive, the young man couldn't ignore the possibility that this burly mercenary would decide to rely on his connections to brew the trouble in that city for Fen.

The difference in the speed that Fen and his former landlord could achieve would make it nearly impossible for the older man to reach the gates of the capital first… if not for the fact that the younger of the men already wasted quite a lot of time in his attempts to confuse his enemy before allowing Orsha's to pull him into the discussion about the past that resulted in an even greater delay of Fen's return!

"Sure… but don't you want to stay in here for the night? As insane as those wings of yours are, I don't think it might be safe to travel through the night."

Grabbing my arm and leaning all over it, the girl quickly pulled me away from the small building where the clerk-in-training of the administrative division of the academy was. Just a single look at her face was enough to tell the young man that rather than being worried about his wellbeing, this girl was simply interested in what would transpire during his stay, in the deepest part of the night.

And while Fen couldn't argue with how pleasant his experiences with Orsha were, this kind of pleasure wasn't something that he would put his entire life and safety of Arla at the stake! After all, if his former landlord were to for some reason dare to return and attempt to claim his house back, this weak girl, partner of the young man would be in a dire situation where she would obtain the mark of someone precious to Fen, turning her into a valuable hostage!

Fen didn't feel any remorse about sleeping with other women even though Arla was waiting for him back home. With every day that she grew form just a scared girl afraid of everything and unable to do anything herself, to a proper young woman that was perfectly aware in this arcanist-oriented society. 

With that said, Fen believed it was only a matter before she would decide to go on her own route with her life instead of relying on his constant help, marking the end of their relationship. And even if that moment was still quite far away, the young man was already sure it would happen, hence his attempts to get used to the life of someone free from the bounds!

"I don't really have a choice. If those mercenaries from back then will sniff out that I didn't get back to the capital immediately… I don't want to even think about what they would do to the stuff and people I left there."

Clearly denying Orhsa's offer, Fen followed in her steps as the silence took over the atmosphere between the two of them. Just like they both knew ever since their first meeting, as soon as they would part their ways for once, the chances that they would ever see each other again were rather dim. Although, with the discovery of how insane his wings were, Fen couldn't help but think that in the future, the world would turn into a far smaller place for him, forcing the young man to reevaluate all the distances that remained as impassable barriers in his mind.

"Okay, okay. Then I don't think there is any point in pretending anymore."

Suddenly standing on the spot, Orsha turned around and looked at the young man with an apologetic look on her face.

"I actually hoped that you would change your mind about that during our little stroll… but seeing your face right now, I know that I was doomed to fail. In this situation, there is no reason for me to keep you here any longer."

Lowering her head as she shook it, Orsha was clearly uncomfortable with what she attempted to say.

What I mean… Is that you don't really need to get past the gates to fly away. As long as you do it from the academy district, where we are right now, no one should ever bother to stop you."