The Old Scholar

The entire Jade Empire was in a sense of upheaval due to the failed coup against the Emperor. Leilani and her group had to cut short their field trip to the nation, much to the regret of Crown Princess Takana who really could not assure her former professor that they would not get caught up in all of this political mess they had no part in after only 3 days of staying, with the last 2 days being spent touring the Golden Fire Sect. 

"I truly am sorry Professor, I really wished for you all to tour my beloved nation. But with the death of that bastard Third Prince and the exposing of his coup attempt, the rest of the vile rats have banded together and civil war is on the horizon. I cannot in full consciousness allow you to stay here as I fear for your safety" Takana said as she bowed before her Professor before the teleportation pad 

"You needn't worry young Takana. I understand, really I do. I have pulled some strings from some friends of mine across Quelecta to keep an eye on these rebels and to not intervene. They have all agreed to my requests so expect to see envoys from the Kingdoms of Ruthia, Valkania, and Brish, they will be speaking to you directly" Leilani replied with a small heartfelt smile 

"I am forever grateful Professor. I will be in your debt forever for this" The Crown Princess added 

"Oh no worries, just make sure you are able to survive and bring about the change you want in this nation alright? Once the mess is all settled, then we can have another class come here and tour the place" The Dean of Imperia added as she patted her former student on the head 

"I will repay this debt one day Professor, truly. Thank you" The Crown Princess finished with a smile as she gave a deep bow 

"I will hold you to that Takana, till next time then" Leilani finished as she turned to the teleportation pad and she and her students disappeared through a pillar of blue light, leaving behind the Jade Empire

Arriving back on home soil, Leilani made sure everyone was present before she took her students aside and inspected them just to make sure they did not take or steal anything from where they once were. Imperia rules against stealing were strict and the students knew that but she always made sure to check in case there was one audacious student who would dare break that rule especially when she was around. 

"Right, now that all of you are clean. I must admit that it is a bit regretful that we were not able to explore the vast contents of the Jade Library, it would have been a wonderful place for you to all sink your teeth in to learn, especially you Miss Sonata, and your group's paper regarding ancient agricultural practices" The Dean said as she glanced over at a pink aranchia and her group who nodded in disappointment 

"Well, your all still in luck as we will still have a field trip. I was able to secure lodgings at the last minute and if you all still wish to go, then prepare yourselves we will be heading back out and this time to the Mage Kingdom of Gharintia on the continent of Dravitarius" She told them

The students erupted into a chorus of excited murmurs. They were all looking excited to visit the legendary Mage Kingdom where it was home to the supposed 'best of the best' when it comes to things such as the study of Magical Technology or MagTech for short. While it was true that Gharintia was highly developed magic-wise as there were a lot of astounding inventions coming from that place and while true in comparison to its neighbors, the Kingdom of Partoba was also just as advanced and even more so in several areas but had been less vocal about their achievements as Leilani wished for the world to be varied and having Partoba be the end-all-be-all would make it a prime target of suspicion and even hostility and jealousy. 

"I know, I know. It will be fun but in terms of actual learning, the nation is known for the high amounts of secrecy and borderline paranoia that I have decided to just ignore going to the most populated cities. Instead, we will be going to the town of Malcolmsville which is home to the largest library of the kingdom" Leilani told them, with a good amount of them disappointed from going to the larger cities but still excited to know they were still heading there to begin with 

After a day of rest, the group regrouped back in Teleportation Town once more around lunchtime, this time however, they were accompanied by another class, a third-year class, with a certain Crown Princess Victoria Von Eliess in the class of third years. 

"Right! Off we go!" Leilani said as they hopped on the teleportation pad one more time and disappeared in a pillar of light 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

The group then appeared in the middle of a massive field that was filled with roses of white and red, the teleportation pad also had several bodegas surrounding it scattered across the massive field of roses. Once they stepped off the platform, they were greeted by the sight of a sharply dressed and distinguished older orc gentleman as he stepped forward. His green skin and slicked-back black hair were slightly greying and there were wrinkles visible on his face as he closed in. 

"Good to see you Professor, it has been quite a while" The orc said, his voice was strained due to his age 

"Likewise Oren, likewise. I believe life has been treating you well no?" Leilani asked with a small smile as she stepped forward to greet her former student 

"Hahaha, indeed it has been Professor. Come, I shall take you to the town at once" Oren said as he grunted and conjured up a portal that led straight to Malcolmsville 

Stepping through the portal, the group arrived in the center of a quiet little town with many residential buildings around the area. They arrived in the town center which was surrounded by several small shop buildings along the left side, a small governmental building behind them, and then a large inn to their front. To their right, they saw a large library that towered over the other buildings in the area. It had large columns in the front of the building that were atop a large set of stairs which then led into the massive library through several sets of doors. In the center of the square however, was a marble statue which was white and depicted a handsome young elf holding a book in one hand and a torch in the other. This was the statue of the First Scholar of Dravitarius, the Scholar called Malcolm The Wise.

The sun was beaming down on them as the noon sun wheeled by overhead and while it was not as intense, the heat was still a thing to the students and professors, except for Leilani thanks to her clothing keeping her cool and refreshed. 

"Right, so. The lodgings are in the inn directly in front of us, so let's get you all settled in and then we can tour the library" Oren said as he directed them towards the inn across from the square. 

But as they were making their way across the square, the students were drawn to the statue in the center as they passed it by. Prompting Oren to turn and smile as he saw their interested faces. 

"Ah yes. This is the statue of the greatest mind to have graced the continent of Dravitarius. The First Scholar of Dravitarius, Malcolm The Wise" He began as he looked up at the statue

"Oh! My group and I are making a paper regarding the Scholars of the world!" Victoria remarked, catching the attention of everyone gathered, especially Oren, while Leilani hid a smile under her expression 

"That's good to hear. Especially since there has been a sort of decline in the appreciation of the original builder of the Kingdom, but don't quote me on saying that" The old orc said, prompting everyone to look at him with confusion, and Leilani with slight frustration 

"What do you mean by that Oren?" Leilani asked, hiding a hint of rage in her tone 

"Ah, well Professor, it seems that the current Royal Family, the House of Merbert, have currently been trying a sort of historical rewriting campaign, to try and portray their family as more involved in the kingdom than they originally were. While it is still heavily opposed, no one has really taken any sort of proper physical action, just petitions and demonstrations that are barely supported are what we have been able to muster so far" The old orc answered with a wry smile

'I see. Well, we can discuss that later, for now, let's get you kids inside the inn" Leilani replied 

"Oh right! Of course, of course" Oren added 

Inside the inn called the "Loving Lavender" the students were placed inside their rooms in pairs and filled out the entire inn due to how many there were. Much to the happiness of the inn owners who were a couple of lovely elderly people who were happy to just have business in their part of the town. After everyone was settled in, Leilani, Oren, and the students and chaperons moved from the inn and into the library waiting for them. 

Once inside the massive library, the students were greeted by the sight of long and organized shelves of books that spanned as far as the eye could see. Expressions of awe were etched onto their faces as they looked upon the massive library. 

"Righto, everyone listen up! You all have about let's see...3 hours before I call you all for dinner back in the inn. No one is to leave the library unless granted permission by me or the chaperons" Leilani stated as she looked at her students 

"There are bathrooms in every floor and there is a cafeteria where you can bring books and relax in on the 6th floor, make good use of it" Oren stated with a smile 

"Alright, that's it. Everyone go and do your thing" Leilani added as she watched the students move past her 

"You three, I want Martha patrolling the interior, Sobard patrol outside, Nalia stay on the 6th floor and use your magic to track the kids"  The Dean ordered the chaperons who nodded to her orders and went about to fulfill them. 

Once the students and chaperons moved out, Leilani was left with Oren who knew why he was sticking behind and not just moving out with the rest of the students. 

"Walk with me" Leilani said as she led him back outside and before the statue of her son 

"Tell me everything they have done so far" Leilani said as they stood before the statue of Malcolm, her voice barely containing the anger building up inside her 

"Well, they started a few months ago with a new declaration to republish old books with newer and up-to-date volumes. We initially thought that was alright until we compared the new volumes to the old ones and saw that the names of Merbert ancestors instead of Malcolm's and that was when we realized that something was up" Oren answered her, looking down and seeing Leilani's fists slightly shaking 

"Was Sir Malcolm someone you knew Professor? I know you have lived long but was it that long?" He added 

"You could say it was something like that Oren" Leilani answered him 

"I admit, I am quite curious, this type of rage I can see befits that of someone who was considered family....were you?" The old orc asked 

"You are a smart man Oren, but sometimes. There are questions that don't need to be asked nor answered" Leilani coldly replied

"Apologies Professor, I did not mean to offend" 

"Mmm" 

"Right, anyways. We held a rally against the book changes and in return, we were chased out of Cobalt City for our troubles, the gates of Cobalt Castle were shut the moment we tried to tell them the changes about the books" The old orc added, seeing Leilani's gaze from the side turn into an ice cold glare 

"I see, thank you Oren for the information" Leilani said as she turned to him, the intense gaze lost as she looked down at her former student 

"Anytime Professor" Oren replied as he and his former professor walked back into the library, Oren felt a bit scared as he saw Leilani's large overcoat cling to her shoulders as the wind began to pick up behind her 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

On the 6th floor, Victoria was sitting in the corner of the cafeteria with her group, overlooking some material they had found on the 9th floor regarding Malcolm The Wise and what she was reading excited her and her groupmates. 

"It says here, Malcolm was the 8th Scholar to have appeared on a continent that had none. This lines up directly with what we gave Ma'am Leilani before, the Scholars knew one another, they were being taught by someone before they came to their respective continents" Victoria stated as she looked over some old papers in a folder 

"His age also seems to check out as Malcolm is about 28 when he makes himself known, while Scholars Bas and Joaqim are 38 and 34 respectively" Oliver added with a small grin 

"I think we hit the jackpot here guys!" Amber added with excitement in her tone 

"If we keep digging, I think we can find even more data on the 9th floor by the end of the trip!" Kresh chimed in as he looked over his own pile of papers 

The group chatted amongst one another excitedly while the rest of the students in the cafeteria were doing the same, some of them had found magic reports on certain species of monsters in dungeons for dungeon study papers, and others found agricultural reports dating back to a thousand years ago for a comparative study on the effect of magi-agricultural advancement in their practices. All around, the Malcolmsville Library was doing its job to feed the minds of the Imperia students who had come thirsting for knowledge. 

But while everyone was enjoying themselves, outside the town, there was a certain column of soldiers and mages, backed up by a column of intimidating mechanical golems that were orange in color and sporting the crossed swords and staff insignia of the Gharintian Royal Army and they looked not as friendly or as welcoming, as along their path, soldiers and mages loyal to the crown marched with the intent of burning the largest monument and library that still had all of the works of the man whom across the continent was revered except in his own homeland. Unfortunately for them however, there was someone in their path to stop them.

A/N: New Chapter. Enjoy! Hehehehe.