The day off ended far too quickly.Argenthold’s sky wasn’t even fully bright when someone arrived to pick Ryan up.It wasn’t Edmund.Over the past few days, Edmund had started handing transportation duty to his assistant because the Inter-Academy Affairs Office had plenty of other work.His name was Miles Corwin.He was in his late twenties and a senior at Argent Academy nearing graduation.Miles wasn’t a particularly talented combat student.According to him, his combat abilities were too ordinary for the military path or an expedition unit, so he had chosen Inter-Academy Affairs as his career goal.“Competition after graduation is worse than I expected,” Miles said as they walked toward the Government District.Ryan moved slightly stiffly because his muscles still ached.“Aren’t Pioneers always short on manpower in Asterra?”“People? Yes.”<

“Say the name.”Professor Tobias Whitmore stared at the tall, thin man without blinking.The man looked down at the string of Ancient Asteric characters again. His pronunciation sounded awkward because the Stormveil writing was only attempting to imitate the sounds of the Varyan language.“Mi... kail... Ar... se... nov...”He paused, then repeated it with more confidence.“Mikhail Arsenov.”The room instantly fell silent.Ryan, standing closest to Tobias, immediately saw the change in the old professor’s face.Tobias’s eyes widened.