Chapter 203 - After the Trials

"Boring..."

A boy said while relaxing atop the leaning trunk of a coconut palm tree by the seashore. The seagulls in the air were squawking and the sky was a clear blue.

The long pinnate leaves of the tree was blocking out the sun's rays. The temperature was a high 35 degrees centigrade.

"Ugh...hot AND boring..."

The young boy, who looked to be about 9 years old flipped up and crouched down atop the tree trunk. He had dark brown eyes, a youthfully plump face with wavy black hair. He looked a little unkempt with small twigs and leaves stuck in his hair and small patches of dirt on his face. The boy's stomach began to growl in the next moment and it caused him to snicker at himself.

"Let's go a hunting~," the boy hummed. He jumped off the tree and when he landed, he quickly grabbed the small wooden spear leaning close to the base of the tree trunk.

"Ugh...I should also take a bath!"

The young boy quickly rushed into the large forest ahead and disappeared in between the foliage.

********

"..." Cecil woke up inside the room of his private residence in Arks Magic Academy. He woke up from his dream of when he was younger and training on his family's private island.

"...those were my most miserable days," he grumbled, but then began smiling.

Cecil got up from his bed and took a look around. He was alone. That's right, alone. Cecil released a relieved sigh and began preparing for his morning routine.

It had been about 10 days since the Urrugdrasil Trials had ended. The academy immediately departed right after the students came out of the trials.

Zephyr straightaway informed the Headmaster of roughly what went on inside of the trials, and they swiftly left the Elfenheim Kingdom soon after.

Headmaster Elufied knew of the complications that would happen if they decided to stay another day inside of the Elfenheim Kingdom. It was a good thing that Elufied had Lucia and Yuna to help, so they were able to beat a speedy retreat.

The other kingdoms hadn't even been able to respond when they finally noticed that the Beastkin were no longer there.

It was a good thing too since not long after, the Beastman Empire had publicly announced that they wanted an explanation from the Arks Royal Family regarding the death of one of their Empire's Princes. The Arks Royal Family countered with a similar demand for an explanation since the cause of death for 2nd Prince Lance was also because of the deceased empire prince.

Until today, nothing had been resolved and the Empire had been putting more and more pressure onto the Anglaria Kingdom. Of course, it was all within tolerable range for the Kingdom because the Empire still had to deal with the invading humans.

Although the larger force from the Tempest Kingdom had made a hasty retreat after launching their initial blitzkrieg, the border kingdoms were still present and invading the Orca Empire's lands.

Another dastardly thing was that the Empire had released news that a certain individual from the Anglaria Kingdom had reaped the most rewards and had taken the lost knowledge found inside of the trial grounds. They demanded to be handed a portion of the rewards in the name of aiding in the continent's efforts to repel the human invaders, but of course, the Anglaria Kingdom played dumb and denied the claims.

When Cecil first heard of the news, Anna had already quickly rushed to his aid. With her acting as the intermediary, Cecil and the Royal Family had come to a secret agreement that he would translate the ancient language and share the knowledge that he had copied from the trials, in exchange that the Kingdom would protect him and deny the Empire's claims.

With the humans still invading their lands, the Empire wouldn't dare launch an assault on the Kingdom. Not to mention that the Anglaria Kingdom's military force wasn't anything to scoff at. The Empire did decide to try and pressure or goad the other Kingdoms into helping them out, but it was somewhat of a bust.

The Elfenheim Kingdom and the Neftersea Empire remained neutral in the conflicts, no one was sure why though. Only the Gigantes' Titanic Kingdom wanted to put a step in to the muddy waters.

The fight was now on the political front and it had nothing to do with Cecil and the rest. They continued on with their normal lives, but they felt a little detached because of the events that had taken place inside of the trials.

The 100 students that went had dwindled down to roughly 50-60 when they came back. As for the others...it was obvious what happened to them.

The Kingdom had arranged a ceremony to honor those fallen students, and the families of said students were not compensated, but instead rewarded for their children's honorable and meritorious sacrifices for the Kingdom.

******

Cecil had finished his morning routine and was heading back into his mansion. He couldn't help, but notice the activity happening in the kitchen.

"Lulu?"

"Oh! Good morning Cel~"

"Yeah, G'morning," Cecil replied to the girl currently making breakfast.

"...did you hear anything from Mother?"

"She said that you don't have to worry. 'Just focus on the academy and let Mother take care of things~' those were her exact words," Lucia said while roughly imitating Anna's tone of voice.

Cecil smirked. He went up to the 2nd floor and quickly took a shower. He didn't scrub or do anything, he was only waiting under the water and magically, the dirt, sweat, and everything were washed off of his body!

Cecil looked up at the shower head and chuckled stupidly. "Hehehe...I was actually able to make it with the substitute materials that Radon recommended."

That's right, the magic water fountain that was found inside of the trial grounds that Cecil perused, had been successfully replicated by him soon after he arrived back at the Anglaria Kingdom.

It didn't take him long since the runic circuits were much easier than compared to the MIDs that he had created. The tools to engrave runic circuits in this era were also much easier to use and were more efficient than the ancient ones that he used back inside of the trials' magi-tech building's workshop.

Radon had also introduced him to a skillful magi-tech craftsman. In the current era, magi-tech craftsman were also called Magi-tech Artificers or simply Artificers.

The artificer Radon introduced was getting old on his years, and at first the old artificer didn't take so kindly to Cecil, but after the boy shared the blueprints of the water fountain that he had wanted to replicate using this era's materials, the artificer was immediately hooked.

With the artificer's help and experience, Cecil was able to make the prototype water fountain in only 2 days. Cecil then modified it a bit and created one that was in the shape of a shower head. The replacement for the magicium that acted as the magi-tech's energy core was replaced with a monster's magic core.

They also tuned down and readjusted the runic circuits so that it wouldn't extract too much energy from the monster core with every use. Of course, the mana water that came out of the 'magic shower' wasn't as great as the magic water fountain, but it was still enough to invoke the cleanse function of the water.

The Magic Water Fountain's original purpose wasn't for showering, drinking, or for ordinary daily use, but instead for crafting and refining purposes, such as curing leather and other high-grade leatherwork or clothing materials, the quenching of magic metal used during forging and other similar uses. This was so that it'd upgrade the materials' quality and mana conductivity.

Once Cecil and the old artificer made the shower, they also made a sink. The drainage wasn't a problem since the Magic Water Fountain already had a runic circuit specifically for the drainage. The runic circuit for the water fountain was divided in two, one for creating water from the energy core when it was activated, and the other circuit was for turning that water back into mana which could somewhat resupply the energy core.

It was very convenient and the new Magi-tech tools that he had crafted with the artificer, Cecil brought back home for immediate use. He gave the original blueprints for the magic-tech shower and sink to the artificer since he had already copied them down into his Magic Tome.

Today he would be heading back to the Magi-tech Artificer's workshop once again to try and develop more magi-tech tools alongside him. As for classes...Cecil no longer required them so he just didn't attend anymore.

The rest of Little Kings still went about their days normally, only Cecil was the exception.

After having eaten breakfast with Lucia, he immediately rushed over to the Artificer's workshop, today the kingdom's artificers would also gather there. The royal family had received news of Cecil's activities so they immediately made preparations for their artificers.

Cecil quickly arrived at the Kingdom's Middle District while riding on Silver. He arrived at a large 5 story building. The building's front had a golden crest in the shape of a wheel with a rectangular box and pen crossed together in the middle that symbolized the Kingdom's No. 1 Artificer Workshop. Under the crest and crafted from silver hung the words 'Magnum Artifex'.

Cecil immediately pushed open the door, inside were merchants and nobles currently shopping or looking at the wares. They didn't pay any heed to the young boy who had just walked in. Some were attracted to him only because he was wearing the Arks Academy's uniform.

Cecil hurried up to the stairs on the left. He quickly showed a metal plate to the guard and he was quickly allowed entry into the upper floors. Cecil continued to walk up until he reached the 4th floor.

The 4th floor of the Magnum Artifex was the place where the artificers of the workshop would craft or develop the Magi-tech. Cecil quickly showed the badge again to the two guards that were guarding the double doors which led to the crafting area.

When he stepped inside, what greeted him were numerous men and women of all ages. There were only a couple that he still remembered since he was acquainted with them through the 2 days he stayed at the workshop to finish his 2 magi-tech tools.

As for the others, he could only assume that they were the artificers that the royal family had sent over.

"Oh! It's the boy! Hahaha, come on over!" An old ape-kin man said. He was wearing thick-rimmed glasses and had a wizened face. His hair and fur was all grey with some streaks of black in it.

"Hey, Old Man Tars!" Cecil said with a polite bow. Tars Magnum, he was the owner of the Magnum Artifex as well as the head Artificer. This was the man that had helped Cecil craft and developed the Magic Sink and Magic Shower.

The old man walked over to Cecil and pulled him over to one of the work benches situated at the front of the large room.

The artificers that Cecil was familiar with greeted him to which he responded politely. They all loved how polite he was. The artificers from the kingdom were puzzled to see the top workshop's artificers treat the young boy so amicably.

Some of them however realized who this kid was and nodded their heads in understanding. He was their 'library'.

Old Man Tars walked up to the front of the room and addressed everyone inside.

"This young boy at the front is Cecil Silvaria. You all know as well as I, that he's the courageous young man who has brought us the lost knowledge of the Ancients' Magi-tech! The kingdom has specified that everything here is strictly classified and kept secret!"

Tars said authoritatively. Despite being an old guy, he was kicking around as if he was still in his mid-30s.

"The Kingdom has requested that everyone here be required to put on these tracking and observations devices." Tars passed around a tray of small marbles. Cecil was intrigued when he saw this.

When one of the artificers picked it up, they placed the marble on top of the chest and the thing melted into their clothes.

'AH! So that's how the headmaster has gotten the footage of everyone!'

This marble had the function to track the whereabouts of the thing it had adhered to and also record the situation around it. This marble thing was probably also adhered to his academy uniform.

Once everyone had taken their own marble, Tars invited Cecil to step forward into the front of the room.