My Joker System: From Low Mana Trash to the Mightiest Wizard!-Chapter 104: Angry Old Man

Nothing eventful happened over the next dozen days.

Hal and the others made it out of the Runeforest and the Ancient Great Forest of Eordyrr quite easily, with Lucien leading the cohort and annihilating most of the beasts and monsters that dared attack them.

Luckily, nothing like the Stormshade ambushed them, as things might have gotten a bit tricky.

The entire squad would have had to work together to bring down something of that caliber.

Soon, Hal and Liora found themselves lighthearted, the latter on the verge of crying in utter joy and relief at making it out, gazing at the familiar city walls of Aeloria that somehow felt like home to her now.

She couldn’t help but look back on her pitiful attempt a few months prior.

Had it not been for Hal and the others, she would’ve undoubtedly perished within the first week.

At this venture, one of Liora’s realizations was that her sudden status as a five-star student of the Grand Magic Academy had slightly clouded her rationality, making her place blind faith in herself, believing there was always a small chance she would succeed, no matter the odds and that she would somehow pull it off.

No.

Things didn’t work that way, as it turned out.

She had lucked out this time, but she wouldn’t be so fortunate every time.

She had to work even harder and not just mindlessly rush into things.

She had to always think rationally, like Hal.

After a few more minutes, the Imperial Wizard Guild squadron’s Manatech Jeepney was granted entry into the city, rolling on toward the Grand Magic Academy, where Korvus lay slumped in his office chair, weakened by the relief of seeing two of the problems that had plagued his mind for the past few months resolved in the same day.

Who would’ve expected that the two were out together?

Lucien’s jeep was soon parked in the space near the Deputy Headmaster’s office, an earthen coffin tied to the back.

Korvus spotted it from the vision shared by Omar, and the old man’s heart sank.

There were only four of the original squad of five now...

Lucien also wore a slight scowl as he headed toward his office, causing the Deputy Headmaster’s head to start throbbing in anticipation of trouble.

A few minutes later, the cohort arrived, standing face-to-face with the old academy leader.

Korvus scanned everyone’s faces and sighed.

"Fennec, Liora, go out first and wait for me to call you in. I shall speak with Lucien and his squad."

The two youngsters nodded and complied.

From the looks of things, there would be a rather heavy discussion.

Both of them were certainly glad to be left out of it.

Minutes passed, and Liora grew increasingly uneasy, finally realizing that they hadn’t simply stumbled upon the Ice Magna Prospect and his squad.

They had been sent to rescue her, and they had lost a comrade in the process.

About fifteen minutes later, the door opened, and Lucien and his squad exited the office.

All of them were in an extremely sour mood as they passed, not even sparing a glance at the duo.

Hal didn’t care much, but Liora felt extremely guilty.

She wanted to say sorry but found no words coming out of her mouth.

In the end, she couldn’t say anything, and Lucien and the others left just like that.

"Fennec, Liora, you two may enter." Korvus’ voice suddenly sounded with an icy yet commanding undertone.

It seemed they were in for quite the interrogation.

Of course, both quickly complied and entered, standing in front of the old man with differing expressions.

Hal and Loki were mostly chill, acting as though none of it was their problem, which, in truth, it wasn’t.

Hal had simply gone in with Liora to help her with her problem.

In fact, had he chosen not to get involved, he wouldn’t have been connected to the incident at all.

There was no guilt in his heart over what had happened, unlike Liora, as he was merely there to help.

Unfortunately, Korvus found Hal’s nonchalance irritating, as he had just been talked down to by someone younger and couldn’t defend himself at all.

The old man’s heart and mind were far from being in prime condition after that.

"So, can you two explain what you were doing inside that runeforest?" the deputy headmaster asked sternly, all too ready to reprimand the youngsters and vent his frustrations.

Korvus then turned to Liora, singling her out first.

"Don’t you know you’re one of the future pillars of the empire? How can you be so reckless with your life? I understand you have a personal reason for this outrageous and illogical venture into the Ancient Great Forest of Eordyrr’s Luminous Runeforest Zone, but are you really naive enough to think you’d succeed after just a few months of training?" the old man questioned, his tone loud and angry.

Naturally, the already guilty maiden couldn’t answer and simply took everything in silence.

"I hope you learn from this experience. You’re not just living for yourself anymore.

The empire and humanity are counting on you, so you can’t afford to throw your life away again.

I was forced to send out a rescue squad to look for you. I hope you understand how important you are now. Focus on growing stronger, and you have a high chance of becoming one of the Magna Novem."

Hal had long been displeased with this unreasonable old man, whose logic was sometimes twisted by patriotism, and he couldn’t help but speak up for Liora this time:

"With all due respect, Deputy Headmaster, would you simply do nothing if a family member were on the verge of dying? I believe the chances of success are irrelevant in a situation like that, especially when someone truly loves their family.

Also, I hope I’m just imagining things, but it sounds like you’re implying that Monk’s death was somehow Liora’s fault, just because you were forced to send out a rescue squad.

She never asked for anything and had already prepared to perish the moment she entered the great forest. Please respect her resolve and her love for her family.

And lastly, just because she’s extremely talented and a five-star student doesn’t mean she isn’t allowed to live for herself and her loved ones. Please don’t impose such heavy responsibilities on someone without consulting them first."

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