BXBX NOVEL Chapter 199: Professor and the Musician
Felipe’s pale face suddenly looked more serious. In his mind, Professor was his enemy, and also a genius, who was probably even more promising than Larry.
"He’s in Allyn now?" asked Felipe in low voice.
Rogerio just smiled, but did not say anything. Instead, he changed the topic, "My study investigating electromagnetic interference with soul was supposed to be the leading paper in the next issue of Arcana, but the day before yesterday, the chief editor came all the way to Heidler and apologized to me that my paper would be changed to the second position. Too bad... I’ve been looking forward to the glory all the time."
Staying quite calm, Felipe did not keep asking about Professor, but looked a bit confused and then asked, "A new paper? Where’s the new paper from?"
"Yes, a new paper," Rogerio nodded, feeling a bit sorry for himself, "from Lord of Storm."
Even Felipe was a bit in awe of this name. Fernando Brastar, Lord of Storm, besides his great accomplishment in arcana and magic, was also known for his bad temper. No one dared present arcana theories with any deficiencies in front of him, regardless what level the person was of, since Fernando would directly refute the person’s proposition and ruthlessly jeer at it. Even members from the highest council often wanted to stay away from him.
"What’s the paper about? Do you have any clue?" Felipe was very curious.
Getting a cup of water for himself, Rogerio turned around, "I’m curious, too. So I went to Common Arcana Library and checked this paper which just passed the board’s review. The paper’s about the application of electromagnetic wave. And I have to admit that it’s very insightful and creative. It’ll be available the day after tomorrow."
Felipe did not say anything, but listened to Rogerio carefully.
"Of course, the reason why I asked you to come here today is not to recommend this paper to you, but because of another paper that inspired Mr. Fernando to develop his paper," Rogerio said seriously.
"A paper... inspired Mr. Fernando?" Felipe frowned a bit.
Rogerio nodded, "The paper’s hasn’t been published yet, and it’s about a small experiment investigating high frequency sound wave, conducted by Lucien Evans X, a sorcerer with no arcana level who just arrived in Allyn a week ago."
"Lucien Evans... The musician? It’s a common name though..." Felipe was being very unsure.
Professor and the great musician arrived at the land that originally belonged to Wilfred at the same time, so the Hand of Paleness felt suspicious. Felipe thought that it was Natasha who sent Professor to protect the musician, so he connected the musician and Professor together.
"The broken ring, made of seven-element alloy... Princess Natasha and the famous musician... I wonder if we can say that the ring that Viscount Carendia saw on Professor’s hand was the very ring of Holm Crown prize..." There was a mysterious smile on Rogerio’s face, "From another perspective, when was Professor’s name first heard? It was when some apprentice tried to approach the famous musician, Lucien Evans. Who could benefit from the Hand of Paleness’ plan of kidnapping being interrupted? Lucien Evans, the musician."
Rogerio was a bit in awe when he called Natasha’s name, not because of Natasha’s title, but her ties of blood with an influential person from the congress.
"So..." Felipe touched his chin a bit, "they were even closer than we thought?"
"Why not? A musician has fallen under the lure of an evil sorcerer, and they’ve formed a close bond. Without the support of the Will of Elements, how was it possible that Lucien could become Princess Natasha’s music advisor that fast?" Rogerio’s hands were holding together, "I think by building a closer bond with Princess Natasha, Lucien Evans also got closer to the Will of Elements and Holm Royal Magic Academy. Perhaps this is the very purpose of the Will of Elements, and they took advantage of our plan!"
"This makes sense," Felipe slightly nodded, "but something’s still not right."
It seemed that Felipe and Rogerio knew something secret.
"Princess Natasha is in her three-year penance now, and for the next three years, the famous musician, Lucien Evans, will be studying arcana here in Allyn to improve himself to respond to their future challenges. This is how I view the whole thing," Rogerio continued.
Felipe’s left hand missed a finger, but he still used that hand to rub his chin, "But there’s no solid evidence showing that this Lucien Evans X is the very famous musician, right?"
"There is." Rogerio put on a sophisticated smile, "Remember I encountered the famous musician in Aalto once? To confirm my guesses, I went to Douglas, and I saw him there!"
"For sure?!" Felipe was surprised.
"Completely," said Rogerio. "Lucien Evans X is for sure Professor’s good student. From him, we can lift Professor’s veil!"
"That’s right... That’s why Lucien Evans’s first paper ever could be directly cited by the grand arcanist!" Felipe agreed.
"Good point." Rogerio knocked at the desk confidently, "Mr. Fernando’s paper talks about the application of high frequency sound wave, and do you remember the mechanism of Professor’s symbolic magic?"
"According to the viscount and Amores... low frequency sound wave." Felipe recalled seriously, "Now I see the connection."
"Yesterday, I secretly observed Lucien’s class. It was... pretty interesting and creative." Rogerio quite appreciated Lucien’s teaching style and his talent, "It feels like his music style, creative and always about something new."
In their discussion, Felipe and Rogerio were sure that Lucien was Professor’s outstanding student.
They did not know Lucien as well as Natasha did, besides, since Natasha did not know how powerful Professor was, it was easier for her to directly connect Lucien to Professor. As for Felipe and Rogerio, they would never consider that Professor, the arcanist who sucessfully designed the experiment of synthesizing carbamide, was just a beginner in arcana.
That was the blind spot of their thinking.
"Shall we somehow get Lucien here in Heidler and check his thoughts?" Felipe wanted to know what was the next step.
"No." Rogerio shook his head, "Quite possibly, Professor is working on some important research, and if we touch Lucien right now, it would definitely alarm him. We shall keep an eye on Lucien to see what experiment he’s working on and what people he’s meeting, and this work is on me. Felipe, you focus on your research. If you can publish some great research results before Professor, we won’t have to adopt any violent means then."
Felipe frowned his brows, "What I don’t understand is why Professor hasn’t published the paper on synthesizing carbamide. This is definitely a very debatable topic that could earn him tons of credits."
"Maybe he’s still waiting for the final answer of his research." Rogerio smiled, "Felipe, what about you develop the paper on carbamide synthesizing yourself? Representing the Hand of Paleness, the paper can prove our great inspiration as necromancers."
After some improvement in magic rites, now Rogerio also agreed that synthesizing life ingredients was doable, but he could not find any definitive proof yet.
Felipe shook his head seriously, "My self-esteem won’t allow me to do this, Mr. Rogerio, and I believe that you won’t do this as well. Besides, not all the sorcerers in the Hand of Paleness are as open-minded as you, sir. If I really did this, I would be in big trouble."
Rogerio smiled, "I see. What a coincidence it is which leads us to find Professor..."
...
Douglas, headmaster’s office.
"Mr. Donald, what can I do for you?" asked Lucien.
"Are you getting along well with K?" Donald did not get to the point immediately, "It’s also quite troublesome for me to share the same name with the famous arcanist from the highest council."
There was another Donald, from the highest council, who was a ninth circle elemental sorcerer and the winner of Holm Crown prize for finding a new element by using spectral analysis. He was also one of the two presidents of the Will of Element.
After a bit casual chatting, Donald looked more serious, "Lucien, some teachers jointly complained that you’ve breached the school rules since you’re telling students that it’s okay not to listen to a teacher. After verification, the complaint has been proved, so I need to punish you by suspending your course for a month. I hope you can learn from it."