The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　"So, what exactly is the situation now?" Professor Jones asked. Professor Sylph took a deep breath and said, "Just as Kazel said, I also believe that what returned with the group was an illusion created by one of the elves. Cynthia may never have come down from Mount God."

Chapter 887 [10,000] The walls have ears (10k votes requested)

　Chapter 887 "Ten Thousand" - Walls Have Ears (1ook Requesting Votes)

　Among everyone present, even Diana had become wise enough thanks to the blessing of the "goddess of wisdom".

　Given enough intelligence, they will surely be able to deduce the truth of the matter.

　However, the information they currently possess is far too little. Under such circumstances, even if the "God of Wisdom" were to descend upon them, it would be impossible for him to conjure up the truth out of thin air.

　"Erganie, what do you think?" Professor Kazel turned and asked. Erganie shook her head indifferently.

　Dark sighed and said, "Professor, Ergane has never even seen the headmaster in person."

　Professor Cazell said, "That's true, I'm getting a little anxious." In fact, everyone was getting a little anxious.

　Professor Jones then asked, "Sarah, you said Artemis has never come down from Mount Olympus, so all the messages she sent before were delivered by her avatars."

　Professor Sylph slowly shook her head and said, "I don't know." Professor Sylph was the first to know about Principal Arte's accident. But the Sorting Ceremony was imminent, and she had to prioritize the ceremony; she absolutely could not allow Archbishop Caleb Norris to discover that Principal Arte had been harmed!

　Everything had to be done in a way that made it seem like Principal Art was alright.

　Moreover, the problem here is that the Holy Army stationed on the outskirts of Mount Gods probably already knows that Principal Arte has returned with the team.

　They probably didn't see Principal Art disappear into thin air, nor would they consider that Principal Art, who returned with the group, might be an illusion created by a sprite.

　That would imply that Principal Arte has returned to the academy. And during this special period of exchange and learning between the two academies, Principal Arte's return would inevitably lead to a meeting with Archbishop Caleb Norris.

　In other words, if the professors wanted to pretend that Principal Arte was alright, they would have to have someone impersonate Principal Arte and meet with Archbishop Caleb Norris.

　This task was extremely difficult, even for the professors present.

　Moreover, as time goes on, there will definitely be more and more similar incidents.

　The news of Principal Arte's accident cannot be hidden forever!

　"Everything is still just speculation. We know nothing about the Mountain of the Gods, and our knowledge of what has happened during this period is also limited. Don't let unfounded speculation throw you off balance."

　Dark rested his hands on the table, interlaced his fingers, and propped his chin up as he said, “Since Chris is here, why don’t we let her tell us what happened? And I remember Professor Sylph said that Principal Arte gave Chris’s exploration team a gift as a token of their appreciation.”

　"A greeting gift? What greeting gift? Could it be key information?" Professor Jones asked, frowning.

　Professor Sylph said expressionlessly, "Cynthia did leave something behind, and Chris has already brought it back; it's right there."

　She raised her hand and pointed to the corner of the wall.

　Almost simultaneously, everyone turned to look, and saw that there were indeed several inconspicuous things piled up in the corner.

　Simply put, it's a box with a stone on top and a sword without a hilt standing next to it—oh, it's a scabbard!

　“I took a quick look and there’s no magical fluctuation. There might be a seal. I suggest checking again later,” Professor Sylph said.

　"Take a look first." Professor Jones reached out and beckoned, and the three "gifts" flew to the center of the table.

　The box lid was thus removed, revealing a folded garment.

　She put the lid off the box, picked up the stone that had slipped onto the table, and examined it closely: "It's a fairly pretty pebble, like a gift that Artemis would give."

　—Dark frowned as he listened.

　Why does this sentence sound like it's saying that the noblest and most beautiful moon of St. Marian Academy is someone who would give stones as gifts?

　Could there be a hidden secret within that stone?

　While Professor Jones was examining the stone, Professor Lily snatched the sword sheath from him. Professor Cazell, on the other hand, pulled over the box containing the clothes.

　o

　The scabbard was old, and it seemed that no one had cleaned or treated it in order to maintain its original appearance.

　Its body has openwork patterns, but there is a lot of soil embedded in the patterns, and the soil has a dark red tinge.

　Although Professor Lily took the scabbard, she didn't act recklessly as usual. Ergane, Eve, and the others gathered around her to observe her closely.

　On the other side, Professor Kazel activated his "Eye of Truth," took out the garment from the box, unfolded it, and examined it bit by bit.

　It was a long-sleeved shirt that wasn't particularly large.

　Unlike the sword sheath, the clothes themselves were very new, but they were covered in dirt, and there was a tear on the shoulder that looked like it had been cut by something.

　What is most eye-catching is probably the emblem on the left breast of the garment—it should be the emblem of a certain deity, and most likely one of the twelve gods of the Mountain of Gods.

　The Mountain of the Gods, Porobos, does not contain only the twelve gods. However, based on surviving records, the other gods must have been subordinate to the twelve gods, and they did not have their own independent divine emblems.

　"Kazel, did you see anything?" Professor Sylph asked with concern. But Professor Kazel closed his "Eye of Truth" and said with a regretful expression, "An extremely ordinary piece of clothing."

　Seeing Professor Sylph's obvious disappointment, he added, "I've only glanced at it briefly; a closer look later might reveal something else."

　He then turned to Professor Lily, his gaze falling on the scabbard. Professor Lily released her grip, slumped into her chair, and said, "There's nothing there."

　Unfortunately, the professors did not glean anything from the three items during their initial encounter.

　Dark didn't think his judgment was any better than Professor Cazell's, so he said directly, "In that case, let's hear what Chris knows first."

　“Yes, young master,” Chris, who had been listening quietly, replied immediately.

　Dark nodded to her, and Chris began to explain in detail from beginning to end. Everyone quieted down, and Professor Mitia took out a crystal ball, flicked it casually, and sent it flying to the center of the table.

　Chris's projection appeared inside the crystal ball.

　This is clearly a magical artifact capable of recording images and sounds.

　Chris's narrative is primarily told from her own perspective.

　Her exploration team, shortly after arriving at the Mountain of the Gods, reunited with the team that was supposed to be led by Principal Arte and was stranded there.

　The two teams then merged and set up camp at the foot of Mount Gods.

　"The Mountain of the Gods is majestic and precipitous, with its main peak, leading to the 'Heavenly Court,' soaring straight into the clouds."

　"When we arrived at the Mountain of the Gods, the mountain had actually changed. The sky above the summit was covered with dark clouds, with thunder and lightning, and the occasional leaks of energy were extremely terrifying."

　“We were just stationed at the foot of the mountain, and some people couldn’t bear the aura and went insane, having nightmares every night.”

　"During our time stationed at the foot of the mountain, we tried to explore it. However, the mountain was full of mysteries, and once we went a little deeper, it became shrouded in mist, and... there were also extremely ferocious monsters hiding there. For the safety of the team, we ultimately chose to give up."

　"However, after that, I ventured out alone to explore, but unfortunately, everything that could be explored on the outskirts of the Mountain of Gods had already been exhausted by other forces, and I gained very little."

　At this point, Chris paused for a moment, waiting for everyone to process the information before continuing to talk about the other forces that were also eyeing the Mountain of the Gods.

　As Dark already knew, besides the Holy Church, other forces eyeing the Mountain of the Gods included the royal family's nobles, the northern dukes, and the elves.

　Among them, the noble forces belonging to the king were the most secretive, always hiding in the shadows and never contacting others.

　The Holy Church's forces and the Northern Duke's forces, however, were openly displayed.

　During that period, Chris also had separate contact with their leaders.

　This exchange and learning activity was initiated from this very point. The Northern Duke's forces were permanently stationed here, and after learning that Chris was from a Valkyrie family, they showed a very friendly attitude.

　The two sides also exchanged intelligence several times.

　In addition, there is the Elf race.

　The Elves are the only non-human faction to appear near the Mountain of the Gods.

　Moreover, that branch of elves was not the snowfield elves living in the north, but the moon elves from the land of the elves!

　Those elves who are qualified to live in the elven lands all possess high-ranking bloodlines.

　The Moon Elves are the pinnacle of this bloodline.

　The elves place great importance on the purity of their bloodlines, rejecting mixed-race individuals and humans alike.

　Moon Elves are born elven priests.

　The high priests of the elven lands are mostly from the moon elf race.

　"Why would the Moon Elves go to the Mountain of the Gods?" Professor Medea asked with considerable interest.

　Chris shook her head and said, "I'd like to know the answer to that too. But when we tried to make contact, we were warned with arrows. They weren't friendly."

　Professor Mitia frowned and said, "The high priests of the moon elves can gain revelation from the silver moon. There must be a reason why they are appearing outside the Mountain of the Gods at this time."

　Chris said, "We have left some people on Mount Gods to keep an eye on the Elven movement."

　Professor Mitia asked instinctively, "What about their safety?" Chris replied, "We've established a partnership with the Holy Church." Of course, this is also a benefit of the exchange and learning activities.

　In the current climate, internal strife among humans will only lead to meaningless waste.

　Both St. Mary's College and the Holy Church are well aware of this.

　o

　Therefore, this exchange and learning activity, excluding all the overt and covert schemes, does indeed have epoch-making significance.

　Of course, this is all predicated on the premise that the relationship between St. Mary's College and the Holy Church will indeed improve after this exchange and learning activity.

　In fact, this is not easy.

　After briefly introducing the various factions, Chris continued to recount the many events that had occurred at the foot of the mountain.

　As Dark listened, he couldn't help but glance in Aurora's direction a few times.

　He had a relatively detailed understanding of Aurora's family history.

　Aurora's father, Alex Valentine, is a half-elf with one-half moon elf blood.

　Alex Valentine's mother was the Earl of Valentine's second wife, a moon elf who had been stranded in Valentine's lands during the war.

　That moon elf was Aurora's grandmother.

　It is said that after giving birth to Alex Valentine, the moon elf was taken back to the elven lands by the searching elves, and then there was no further news of her.

　The Elven Land is the "homeland" of the Elven race, and is considered a sacred place.

　Throughout its centuries of warfare, it has not been subjected to large-scale ravages of war.

　If that moon elf had lived in elven territory all along, she might still be alive today.

　Given the relatively long lifespan of elves compared to humans, she should still be quite young.

　These topics would occasionally come up when Dak and Aurora chatted.

　Aurora harbored a faint fantasy about her grandmother whom she had never met, and she would occasionally want to visit the elven lands.

　But after calming down, she would often directly reject this idea.

　After all, the Elven territory has never been open to the public; only humans with special invitations can enter.

　Moreover, she didn't even know her grandmother's name, so she wouldn't be able to find her even if she went inside.

　But actually, there is one person who might know the Moon Elf's name. That is Diana's mother, Alex's older sister—"Silver Wolf Knight" Camilla!

　Therefore, Aurora is prepared to visit Camilla during this holiday.

　The news of the moon elves' appearance did indeed stir something in Aurora. But she quickly regained her composure and continued to listen attentively to Chris's story. Soon, Chris finally got to the most crucial point.

　“During our stay at the foot of the Mountain of the Gods, Principal Arte came out three times.”

　"The first time, she came to confirm the identity of the supporter and learned some information about the academy from me."

　Professor Cazell interjected, "Did she leave anything behind that time? Like information about the Mountain of the Gods, perhaps some inside story about the 'Heavenly Court,' or... some hints that might be useful?"

　Chris shook her head and said, "Unfortunately, she didn't leave any information about it. And she left our camp very soon after. The Holy Church leader rushed over immediately after receiving the news, but couldn't find her. Frankly, I don't understand. Why didn't she leave some intelligence?"

　Professor Cazell asked, "Is there some taboo surrounding this?"

　Chris shook her head again and said, "I don't know. But she did leave a message when she appeared a second time."

　Professor Cazell immediately pressed, "What did you say?"

　Chris raised her eyelids slightly and whispered, "The walls have ears!"

　This was the second time Dak had heard this story, but when Chris whispered "the walls have ears," he still felt a chill run down his spine.

　The walls have ears, but which wall was it, and whose ears were being listened to? At that time, among the various forces at the foot of the Mountain of Gods, no one was qualified to make Principal Arte utter that word.

　If we follow normal logic, then what she wanted to block could only be the ears of certain beings on the Mountain of Gods, or even in the "Heavenly Court"!

　The people in the conference room exchanged glances and instantly understood the hidden danger.

　Chris continued, "During the second meeting, Headmistress Art brought those three gifts. And this time, she met with the leader of the Holy Church and reached some verbal agreements. The exchange program between the two academies was actually agreed upon at that time. She spent the entire day at the camp that time. But she still didn't leave any information related to the Mountain of the Gods or the 'Heavenly Court.'"

　"Then, for the third time, she appeared again, stayed in the camp for a while, and then returned to the academy with us."