"Ah, it's Senior Howard...... Hello. ”

Angelo turned his head and nodded to a few students who were walking over, looking a little helpless, and then said to Zhang Yili and the two: "These are my seniors in the Poetry and Literature Research Society. ”

"Rod, I didn't hear that you were coming back, we thought you had an accident like Riley, I heard that you were ransacked by robbers on the West Coast, right...... Hey, who are the two of them? New students?" Several students walked over, led by young people dressed gorgeously, and their eyes lit up immediately when they saw Zhang Jinli.

“.. No, the two of them are guests visiting the academy, this is the ......" Angelo made an introductory pose, but was stunned, the two siblings had already put on makeup, and it was obviously not suitable to use the original Western name.

"Yuri Dortmund. Zhang Yanli opened his mouth and said.

"Weste Dortmund. Zeng Wenyuan said immediately, and Zhang Jinli turned his head and glanced at him.

"Hello beautiful Miss Dortmont, your surname is really rare......" The student named Howard led by the leader took the lead in saluting Zhang Yili.

"The surname on the West Coast, the noble descendants of the Totia Kingdom, should be a family that has declined, even worse than the family of the big-faced Rhodes, don't care. A bespectacled student in the back lifted his glasses to show his erudition, but was immediately hit on the head by a companion next to him.

"Livingx is just reading too much, a little pedantic and stupid, please forgive him for his faux pas. ”

"It doesn't matter. Our family is indeed in decline on the West Coast. Zhang Yili smiled faintly, not caring at all. "This time, we came to the academy at the invitation of Chairman Magnus and the elders of the family. The chairman of the board of directors is in a meeting, the elders have gone to the library, and we are bored to explore the academy. ”

At this time, even the disdain in the eyes of the student with glasses was immediately put away, no matter what kind of surname family it was, it was definitely not an ordinary person to be invited by the chairman, and the student named Howard at the head immediately said: "The nobility of a person does not come from birth and family background, because those are actually nothing to do with him, the essence of nobility is from the brilliance of the soul, from the independent and powerful spirit, from wisdom." ”

"Ah, it's the fourth act of West's "Unfinished Love", the line of the maid Lilith to the Marquis. The spectacle student immediately added the source later. "To correct it, the last phrase should be 'from the spirit of independence, from the wisdom of the heart'. And your pronunciation is really bad, and the lines that originally rhymed didn't sound good at all. ”

"Shut up, stupid. The leader of Howard finally couldn't help but turn his head and glared viciously at the ignorant fellow. Zhang Yili next to him glanced at Zeng Wenyuan, Zeng Wenyuan just smiled faintly and shrugged his shoulders, as if he was used to this situation.

Angelo suddenly remembered and asked, "By the way, Senior Howard, what did you say happened to Riley?

"They're all dead. The glasses in the back snapped to answer. "That's why it's strange that we saw you, we thought you were probably dead. ”

"What? how could it be?" Angelo was stunned. "I saw that they were all fine when they left Osstar City. ”

"Are those two classmates who survived the dwarves with you?" asked Zhang.

"Yes, yes, that's them. We are very good friends. Angelo nodded repeatedly, and his bull's eyes were already full of tears. "How could they die? How could they die? Did they all go back to the academy?"

"They came back more than a month ago. But they're not in great shape. Senior Howard pouted. "I've heard that you were going to do an internship with Mr. Dundell, but you were met with a lot of terrible things. Riley and Bis didn't seem to be in the right state of mind when they came back, but we didn't see them much often, they didn't come to class, and occasionally they appeared in the academy and heard that they were reporting to the professors and the president, and we came down to ask them out to talk, and at first they went to the tavern with us, but then we didn't see them at all. They all seem to be heavily addicted to alcohol, and I heard that Riley also secretly drank psychedelic drugs, only to be found dead in his room early last month because of the inferior psychedelic drugs, and the guy didn't know where to buy the bargains on the black market...... As for Bis, he got drunk in a tavern not long after, and got involved in a group fight, and someone somehow smashed his head with arcane art. Poor fellow, he shouldn't have gone to the tavern on the edge of the city, which happened to be out of the scope of the Academy's arcane detection sequence, and among the brawls were two high-ranking mages who used arcane magic to make a mess in the tavern, and in the end they couldn't even find the murderer......"

“... This... This one...... Indeed, they have been very sluggish and not very good spirits since then, but I really didn't expect them to be like this......" Angelo muttered to himself, these two partners who had lived and died together survived such a difficult encounter, and finally died so quietly, he was really a little difficult to accept.

"Both guys told me what happened to you. We also understand that witnessing the tragic killing of Mr. Dundell in front of them has taken a great emotional impact. In fact, the academy suggested that they use arcane magic to erase that memory, but you also know that mental manipulation is very taboo for the family, and no one is sure that the affairs of their own family will be leaked out, and even the recipient will directly become someone else's shadow. Therefore, their family did not look at their situation too badly, so they did not agree with the Academy's suggestion, and they did not have an archmage in their own family who was good at spiritual arcane, so no one expected that it would end up like this...... But how do you look fine?"

"I... I... I don't know...... Maybe I'm a little better than them. Angelo rubbed her head and could only reply. "Actually, I was very depressed for a long time, but then I heard the admonition of a warrior and understood that mere despondency and grief have no effect, and that appeals and begging for justice are only the groans of the weak, and that true justice must be fulfilled by itself. That's why I put all my emotions into practical actions and didn't indulge in my own emotions. ”

"Well... Anyway, it's good that you're still alive, and your brother should be relieved to hear it. Why don't you go back to the academy and go to your brother first, why did you come here with the guests? ”

"Doom ......" Angelo also hesitated at this time. Zhang Yili next to him said: "Senior Angelo, why don't you go to your brother first, let's just follow these seniors to take a look around." ”

"Okay. Angelo gritted his teeth and swept his gaze over the faces of the others. "Senior Howard, don't be lazy... Miss Dortmund, whose parents are in the academy, may come and invite them at some point. ”

"You can go with confidence. Senior Howard smiled with a bit of mockery and urgency, of course he understood the thoughts of this big-faced guy, and wanted to use these words to warn him. "I assure you that the courtesy of Oroyosta will never neglect the guests of the West Coast. ”

Looking at Angelo's distant back, Zeng Wenyuan, who had been silent, asked, "May I ask you, what happened to Professor Jefferson's laboratory?"

"I don't know. No one knows why her lab was suddenly closed, and she hasn't been seen in a while, is there an independent outing for independent research?" Howard shook his head bluntly. "Do you have anything to do with Professor Jefferson?"

"I used to study with Professor Jefferson...... I had been away for some reason before, and the professor had made an agreement with me that he would not disappear without a word. ”

"Ah, I remember you. Howard suddenly glanced at Zeng Wenyuan and clapped his hands. "I met you in Professor Jefferson's suspended public class, and you answered a question that no one else answered. Did you study with Professor Jefferson later? This is rare, and it shows that Professor Jefferson is very optimistic about you. ”

"Ah, yes, it's me, I remember you too, senior. Zeng Wenyuan also nodded. "So I'm coming to Professor Jefferson now, but ......"

"Maybe you can ask the Registrar's Office. Guarding the golem like this to prevent others from approaching the mage tower has never been seen before, so I guess something happened to me. ”

“...... Then forget it. After thinking silently for a few seconds, Zeng Wenyuan suddenly smiled. "Anyway, it's nothing important, I just brought some small gifts for the professor, since she has something to do, I'll wait until she comes back. ”

"So, you two, where do you want to visit the Academy? Why don't you go to our Poetry Research Society? The laboratories of these professors, although majestic and wonderful, are just dead things, and I think that poetry and drama and other arts are the real symbols of civilization that can touch people's hearts. Howard wiped his hair, and he looked a little haughty as he thought he was suave. "There are many churches and temples on the West Coast, and poetry and opera are mainly about singing the praises of the gods, which is boring and boring, and I think you will love it after you experience the real art. ”

"Oh......" Zhang Yili smiled meaningfully and looked at Zeng Wenyuan. "How's it going? Did you go to see it when you were at the academy?"

"Not really. I'm just learning arcane arts with Professor Jefferson, and I have to hurry back and go around, where do I have time to wander around......" Zeng Wenyuan glanced at Howard, who was quite complacent, and seemed to be waiting for the beauty to fall in love, and smiled unconsciously. “... Since Senior Howard said so, let's go and have a look. ”

For the arcanists, especially the arcane nobles standing in the upper echelons of society, both land and buildings are actually very cheap things, if it were not for the low-level students who did not have flying flying golems and space folding methods, etc., the area of the academy could be expanded to more than ten times and a hundred times, and those ordinary buildings that were not placed in the arcane magic circle or just some basic magic circles were simply similar to toys, as long as the students were willing to invest their energy and resources, the academy did not care what kind of things they wanted to build。

So when Zhang Yili and Zeng Wenyuan followed Howard and walked for dozens of minutes, bypassed a hill, and looked at a magnificent building with a height of forty or fifty meters and a width and depth of nearly 100 meters in front of them, the two of them were really taken aback. Even if the whole of Oroyusta is counted, this is a huge building that can be counted, and even the gold grottoes on Third Avenue that are famous for their luxury are few of them on such a scale in terms of size alone.

"Haha, what's going on, you two, this is the headquarters of our Poetry Research Society at the Arcane Academy. Howard looked at the two of them with great satisfaction, there is no building of this size on the West Coast today, except for the temple.

"In fact, strictly speaking, it is the headquarters of the drama club and our poetry club, and the drama club occupies at least two-thirds of the territory. They have more people and more money than us, and most of this headquarters was built with the money and efforts of the seniors of the previous drama clubs. The glasses student in the back added at the right time, which caused Senior Howard to turn his head and glare angrily.

It's just that what Zhang Jinli and Zeng Wenyuan were really shocked by was not the tall and magnificent building, but the huge stone sculpture in the middle of the building, which was a sign of a pen and a harp crossed.

"It's... This... This is the emblem of Millie, the god of art, right? Is this Millie's temple? How could I not know?" Looking at this huge divine emblem, Zeng Wenyuan was truly shocked, and even his voice seemed to tremble slightly.

“... You're not going to be Millie's devout disciple, are you?" Howard looked at him with surprise. "As a West Coaster, that's pretty rare. ”

“... This one...... Of course not. Zeng Wenyuan shook his head, barely calmed down again, and smiled. "It's just that we have never seen such a grand Millie emblem even on the West Coast, or in other words, there is hardly any large-scale temple of the gods of opera and art. I've always been interested in the art of poetry, so I'm really excited to see that there is such a huge temple of Millie in the Arcane Academy. ”

Howard shook his head and said, "It's a pity, this isn't the Millie Temple. This is just an ornament made up by a few seniors who built the headquarters of this research society, maybe they really want to build a temple to the god of art, but since you are interested in the art of poetry, you should know that Millie, the god of opera and art, is really ...... She is too weak and difficult to communicate, and her position is very awkward, there are many pan-believers who like poetry and opera, and there are too few people who can really feel her clergy religiously...... I don't even know if there's any. So this Millie's emblem only pinned some expectations on a few seniors, and had no practical effect. ”

The glasses student in the back stepped forward and added, "Yes, Millie, the god of poetry and music, the first minor god of the Empire to be shaped by arcane. It seems that because of the first experiment, the presence and power of this god seem to be unstable, and there are not many people who can sense her, and the temple at that time was very resistant to the creation of the god by arcane, and until now, many temples still do not recognize the existence of this god. ”

"Yes, it's an embarrassing deity. But a closer look is not surprising. This time, instead of striking at the glasses' men, Howard nodded. "From the perspective of the secondary gods, people's 'needs' are actually the foundation of the existence of the secondary gods. The two primordial secondary gods, the god of artisan forging and the mother of abundance, are excellent proof that since the primitive period was separated from the era of ignorance, human production activities have been inseparable from agriculture and industry, and the history of worshipping them is much older than that of arcane civilizations. Although the Empire's act of shaping the sub-gods is directly from the perspective of 'utility', the foundation is still the needs of the people, and the development of the Guardian Hand to its current scale after the war is also due to the harsh environment after the war, and the flood of demonic beasts and natural disasters. ”

"As for Millie, the god of art, in the imperial era, there was indeed quite a 'demand'. After all, in the case of worry-free food and clothing, entertainment has become the direction pursued by everyone, but it is a pity that summoning succubi to have fun, drinking illusion alchemy potions or something is incomparable in terms of stimulation and fun, but it is not a good thing in essence, and the social problems caused by this are very serious. In particular, enslaving demons is an extremely dangerous activity, and several demon disasters have caused extremely serious damage to the empire, and the main ways to draw power from the monsters in the lower realms after the investigation are the succubus's amusement rituals, as well as illusion potions that quietly tamper with the formula, so at least the empire strictly prohibits these activities by law, and at this time a more positive entertainment activity is needed, so it is necessary for them to choose the god of art as the first artificial secondary god. In fact, while Millie is difficult to sense and clergy are scarce, it is true that various plays and poetry have developed tremendously during the Imperial Age. ”

"But after the war, under the constant natural disasters and turmoil, people were under great pressure to survive, and the need for entertainment was greatly reduced, and other temples were more exclusive to this man-made sub-god, so this belief declined. It is only in the last decade or so, with the slow recovery of the economy and people's livelihood, the resurgence of Oroyosta, the re-prosperity of Oroyosta, and the resurgence of entertainment such as drama and poetry, but it is impossible to return to the imperial era, and Millie's faith is likely to disappear completely. ”

"Brilliant analysis and discourse. Senior Howard. "Bang bang. Zeng Wenyuan was applauding and smiling, as if he was applauding Howard's opinion, but there was a mockery in his eyes that could not be concealed. "It's just the same thing that Professor Jefferson said about you before, it's a very pragmatic and brilliant statesman's perspective. Maybe you joined this poetry research club just to practice your reading and writing skills?"

"No, he was there to get close to Sophia Felton. It's a pity that the drama club didn't want him to join, so he could only come to join the poetry research club. The glasses student immediately explained later.

Turning around and glaring at this subordinate again, Howard looked at Zeng Wenyuan again, and smiled a little provocatively: "Then Mr. Tmund, you might as well tell me your opinion." As a friend from the West Coast, I remember that your answer to the will of the gods was eye-catching, and now please tell me what other will this god has, and where is it manifested? Or if you admire Millie so much, why don't you show us her power?"

"Hehe... Heheha......" Zeng Wenyuan smiled. This smile is very strange, both full of self-satisfaction and wanting to forcibly restrain it, and there is a bit of sharpness between the delicate eyebrows, just like a prince who goes out on patrol in a small suit can't help but show disdain to the squire after all, which not only makes Howard and several students look at him quite strangely, but even Zhang Yili next to him frowned, looking a little puzzled. But in the end, he shook his head, put away this strange expression, and said lightly: "No, this is nothing to debate, and I myself have nothing to show." Senior Howard, I just think it's a bit too simplistic and taken for granted that you always see people as animals driven by profit and desire. It's just because you're full and there's nothing to do that you pursue entertainment and excitement, and in your eyes, human beings are such a low-level life? Aren't we pursuing some beautiful things from the bottom of our hearts, such as art, love, and beauty. ”

"Poof. Howard laughed. "Naive Mr. Dortmund, these things do exist, but for humanity as a whole, they are like wildflowers on the side of the road, they can only be decorations, human society does not rely on them to promote, never has been, and never will be. ”

At this time, the group walked out of the magnificent opera and poetry research club in front of them, all of them were young people in gorgeous clothes, obviously all students of the Arcane Academy. They obviously knew Howard and the others as well, and two of them nodded to them, but most of them didn't care. And Howard's eyes lit up immediately when he saw one of the girls, he left Zeng Wenyuan and turned to greet him, and greeted the girl: "Hey, Sophia, are you done with today's opera drill?"

"Yes. Is there a new person in your research club?" the girl nodded, glancing at the others behind Howard, but paused as she swept past Zhang.

"Yes, I took two friends from the West Coast to the academy for the first time, so I took them on a tour..."Howard was still replying, but he saw the girl bypass him and walk straight in front of Zhang Yili.

"Miss Baliya Ulysses, is that you?" the girl named Sophia looked at Zhang Jinli with twinkling stars in her eyes.