Finding Stardust

At first, they thought the girls would only be in the cabin for a short while because they remembered Marlowe's cabin was so small. They imagined their female classmates wouldn't stay long inside because it was so cramped.

However, it turned out that they waited up to nearly an hour outside without anything to do. They started wondering what the girls were doing inside.

Akane shook her head when she reached them and said, "You guys should have come with us. We were given cold drinks inside. It was so fresh!"

The male students could only gulp at that.

"Now I'm feeling so thirsty," said Arlan. "Let's go back to the dorms."

He then signaled to the first-year students and Akane to go back immediately. The group left Marlowe's hut and walked back toward the dormitory.

***

When Emma arrived in her room, she immediately sent a message to Therius. She wanted to tell her husband about the events that had happened at the Academy since yesterday.

[Are you busy?]

She would only call Therius when her husband was not busy because she didn't want to disturb Therius from his busy schedule. Even though she was his wife, and she could contact the king at any time, Emma didn't want to act casually.

Before long, a call from Therius entered Emma's tablet. Her face glowed when she saw his call. Emma accepted the communication request from Therius, her husband's three-dimensional hologram immediately appeared in front of her.

Emma could see Therius standing in front of her, looking at her with a pair of beaming eyes.

The man smiled at Ema and asked, "Have you had lunch?"

Emma shook her head. "In a minute. How about you?"

Therius replied, "Just now."

"Ahh .. great. Hmm .. by the way, I have something to tell you," said Emma, straight to the point.

"What is wrong?" asked Therius. He looked at Emma intently, as if every word that escaped her lips was precious.

"Mmm ... do you still remember your old school mate, Marlowe? He's now a Beast Teacher at the Academy..."

Therius nodded. "Of course. What's wrong with him? Is he making a fuss?"

Emma shook her head, waving her hand. "Not at all. He's a teacher. So there's no way he could make a fuss. However, last night, one of his pets, a big macata, was attacked by a mysterious person. Strangely, there is absolutely no clue who did it."

Emma continued. "He's already investigating, and I think the Academy is investigating too. That's why now the forest area is closed to first-year students. I just want you to know what's going on, so you don't worry about me,"

"Oh, really?" Emma wondered if anything could escape her husband's knowledge. Therius even knew what was going on at the Academy so far away from the capital before Emma told him.

"I placed some of my men in the Academy. Apart from Attila, there are other people stationed there to keep you safe. This morning they gave me a report. Looks like an electromancer attacked Marlowe's pet last night. That's why there were no cameras that worked when it happened. "

"Oh ..." Emma sighed in surprise.

No wonder. 

She did think about it. Why there was no footage from the surveillance camera of the incident. As far as she knew, the area around the Academy should have adequate security and, of course, be monitored with lots of cameras.

However, in reality, there is no record of that event. Now it makes sense that the culprit was an electromancer. That person could easily turn off electronic devices controlling surveillance cameras.

"Then, do you already know who did it?" asked Emma.

"We are still investigating," said Therius. "We don't know if this act was intended to hurt Marlowe or to hurt the school. You may not know this, but Marlowe doesn't have many friends. He tends to piss off people a lot."

Emma understood what Therius meant. Marlowe had many enemies. 

Hmm ... Marlowe's exterior did look rough, and his words were harsh. So, there may be people who didn't get along with him and wanted to hurt him by targeting his animals.

Emma felt sorry for Marlowe. She did think the man was actually kind. Animals wouldn't like him if he had a bad character. However, humans may not understand him.

"Hopefully, you can find the culprit soon, so the students can study in peace," muttered Emma. She did not want her experience studying at the Academy to be disturbed.

"We will try our best," said Therius. "You don't need to worry."

Emma and Therius then chatted for a while about the situation in the capital and at the Academy. They had agreed to take the time and try to communicate as much as possible when they were living apart.

After half an hour, Emma wanted to end the communication. Before she could disconnect, she could see her husband was looking at her longingly. 

Ah ... why did Therius' gaze made the girl's heart tremble? Could it be that she also missed her husband?

It seemed that Therius wasn't the only one who needed to adjust to them living apart like this. Slowly Emma began to feel a sense of longing creeping up her heart.

"I'll have lunch now. We'll talk again tonight," Emma finally said. She felt very reluctant to end their conversation. However, she steeled her heart and said goodbye to Therius.

"Hmm ... eat well. We'll talk again later. I love you," Therius said, blowing a kiss at Emma.

He smiled and disconnected the call. Therius no longer waited for Emma to return his words of love because he didn't want to be disappointed.

"I love you too—" Emma's words stopped mid-sentence because Therius had disappeared.

The girl took a deep breath.