Emperor's Reckoning

The headmaster rushed in before the crowd moved away and made a path for him. His white brows rose the moment he caught a glimpse of the basket that Anna held with her hand. He was, after all, expecting the party to have failed early due to their speedy return.

"Are those real?" asked the headmaster as his white brows rose.

"Headmaster, are you underestimating me?" Anna smiled before she furrowed her brows and slap a hand that was trying to pick one. 

"Ouch," Tamuh frowned.

Anna squinted, "No touching, these flowers are mine."

"I just want to check if it's real or not," said Tamuh before he smiled, "Your speedy return birthed some questions."

"Look's like we have invited some unnecessary attention," said Cecile by the side. 

"The trouble of over-achiever," Kesya shrugged before she put her hands behind her head and nonchalantly walked away from the scene.

"Hehe," Tamuh laughed, "It's not that I don't believe you, especially with young master Mavis from the Sky Clan, it's just that it raised some brows, I'm sure the others wanted to know as well."

"Why are you of all people getting so worked up over flowers," Elize added as she shrugged and shook her head with a smirk.

"Hmph! Don't act so haughty just because you have one more residence on your hill," said Tamuh as he spare a glare.

"Now, now, you two," said the headmaster as he smiled. Though his tone was flat, his words carried weights that they couldn't just toss around. 

"I'm sorry," Tamuh's head hung down.

"Me too," said Elize.

"Let bygone, bygone, there is no need to even apologize in the first place, haha," the headmaster laughed before he returned his glance toward Anna and Nit, "The fact that all of you came back alive is already astonishing considering the depth that you entered, the fruit of your exploration, however, is a miracle."

The onlookers nodded in agreement as some of them looked at each other. 

"I never expected that the kunpeng team and young master Mavis would succeed so triumphantly."

"They are really powerful in their own right, right?"

"En! These two are the best adventurers for sure!"

The clamor of praises immediately basked the party that was missing its leader. 

"Eh, where is Lyon?" Renduval asked as he looked around. "Did he leave?"

"Of course he would leave," said Porealus as he sighed. "That guy, I really can't read him at all."

"Hmm, have you seen older sister Ivy?" Zet raised his brows as he pursed his lips to the side.

"What do you mean, she is right there," said Porealus as he pointed with his palm.

"Yeah, doesn't she seem so, different?" Zet tilted his head, "I can't put my finger on it, though."

"Huh?" Porealus looked at Ivy with squinted eyes. (Is she... sleeping with someone during the quest? Oh wait a minute, please don't tell me it's Lyon!). He gulped, he was probably the person in that group that could force her down without any much-needed effort. Mavis might be there, but he knew Lyon was the one with the behavior that could do something like that. 

Porealus shook his head, "It's better to shut my mouth."

"Alright everyone, please disperse, there is nothing to see here," said Elder Malaqa as he shooed the onlookers away with a flick from both of his wrists.

The begrudging ambient noise was heard as they unhurriedly returned to their activity.

"Thank you, Malaqa," said Anna as she nodded.

Malaqa sighed, "Lately Alchemy Union can't seem to take a break."

"Please forgive us," said Cherie as she bowed. "Our presence must have made you all annoyed."

"Oh no, that's not it," Malaqa smiled as she shook her head. "In fact, things are getting more interesting all of the sudden because of you guys."

"Hehe, I know by the way of your wording that you meant, Lyon, correct?" asked Mavis.

Malaqa immediately denied, "Oh no, no, no, you're presenting here is a great delight as well. The Alchemy Union always welcomes you, young master Mavis."

"That is correct," Tamuh nodded with a smile. "Though it does surprise me that young master Mavis would join on this expedition."

"Hahaha," Mavis laughed as he scratched the back of his head. "It was just something that I'm interested in."

"So it was a whim?" Tamuh asked.

"You can say that," Mavis nodded. "Though I expect nothing grand happening, it does indeed happen."

Elize squinted her eyes. Mavis had just said that the expedition ended a little too well, but she didn't get the details as of yet. "What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry but I will excuse myself," said Cecile before she and the others from the party left the scene.

Ivy spared one last glance at Anna before she blinked another way.

"Please excuse me, but I will join the others as well," Cherie bowed before the others joined him, including Mavis.

There were only Nit, the four elders of the Alchemy Union and the headmaster left, of course with the huge griffin nearby.

"You've made a fortune, Anna," said Tamuh as he smiled looking at the flowers inside the basket.

"Oh? Now you believe me?" Anna raised her brows before she rolled her eyes.

"Hahaha," Tamuh brushed it off with a laugh.

"Thank you for keeping you both safe," said the headmaster toward Nit.

"Eh? Oh, it's no problem at all," said Nit as he nervously nodded. "Though, there was a little drama going on."

"Of course," the headmaster nodded and smiled. "however, it didn't bother the fact that you have succeeded in protecting yourself and her, as you very well know, not many survived the path beyond what's written on the map."

"Speaking of which," Elize asked. "How far deep did you guys foray into that Endless Cave?"

"We found a new path," said Nit as he nodded firmly with his arms crossed. 

"A new path? What do you mean?" asked Tamuh.

"Do you remember the first fork that has three passages to choose from?" said Anna. "Well, we found the fourth one."

The headmaster raised his brows.

Tamuh frowned, "The fourth? Is there such a thing?"

"There is," Anna nodded, "We chose the newly undiscovered passage and that's where Nit found this bountiful harvest."

Nit smiled wryly.

"That's pretty brave of you to choose a whole new passage rather than the current known one," commented Elize.

"She is right," Malaqa nodded, "What compelled you to do so? You are the very last person I know that doesn't go with the book."

"She didn't choose it," Nit shook his head, "She was dragged by the kunpeng team alas we have no choice."

"The kunpeng team..." Elize twitched her lips (Since when did we name them that?).

"Not dragged as you imagine," Anna shook her head before she smiled, "I never knew beforehand that the leader of the kunpeng team was such a maestro in magic."

"Maestro in magic?" the four of them raised their brows.

Nit nodded, "He has the arsenal to become the best adventurer that First Heaven has ever seen!"

"You praised him too much, young Mavis was there too with you," said Tamuh as he shook his head.

"It's true, perhaps half of the expedition was all Lyon's doing," said Anna as she appeared adamant in her eyes.

"Well, anyway, I will not bore you with the details," Anna made a fake cough, "But do keep in mind, Lyon is definitely not someone that we could offend or push around that easily."

"You know his background?" Elize frowned with her bunny ears straightened up. Lyon was still a mystery for her, his existence was undeniably a singularity.

Anna shook her head, "No, even young master Mavis was having a hard time blinking his eyes in the time we spent there."

The four of them were surprised by her words. Young master Mavis was from the Sixth Heaven, surely he had seen and experienced something more than the one that had only lived in Mortal World.

The headmaster sighed, "Hah, you know what, let's end it here, you both needed some rest after an unbelievable adventure that you did."

"Thank you, headmaster, " Anna nodded before Tamuh laughed.

"Hahaha! At least now we can have a clearer view of the cave. We absolutely need to update the map as fast as possible!" (Hehehe, with my resources, I can definitely profit this out quite easily).

"Sadly, there won't be any update," said Anna as she smiled with her eyes closed after passing Tamuh.

"What? You can't be greedy here," said Tamuh as his smile twisted into a frown.

"She is not, it's just that, it would be useless now," said Nit as he smiled wryly.

"Why would it?" Tamuh asked. 

Anna answered, "That's because he destroyed the cave, along with the beast that sat on top of the food chain in it."

The four of them gasped before the headmaster stepped forward and asked with his eyes opened wide, "By he, you mean?!"

"Lyon, single-handedly slaughter... a grootslang."

"A-A grootslang you say?!" The headmaster had his jaws trembling.