"What news have you got?"
Reilo stood alone at the edge of the High Tower's open-air balcony, overlooking the city that would soon be abandoned by the Academy and left brilliantly lit. He looked like someone taking a brief break in the middle of a ball, and asked nonchalantly.
A canary perched beside him.
"I think I've been discovered."
The canary's words made Reilo pause for a moment. Then he resumed gazing into the distance as if nothing had happened.
"Tell me what happened."
Reilo took a sip of apple juice.
But the chemical analysis performed by his tongue told him that it was an industrial blend. Drinking it regularly would place some strain on his kidneys and liver, and aside from pleasing his palate and providing his body with sugar and calories, it was utterly useless.
"One day, I had a very long dream. It went on and on, and everything felt so natural. But when I woke up, I realized I'd left my target and sleepwalked an incredibly long way away."
The canary spoke gravely. "Sleepwalking! Would you believe me if I said I was sleepwalking?"
Reilo fell silent.
Suddenly, he poured the apple juice in his glass over the marble railing.
With drink dripping from his fingers, he seemed to casually draw on the balcony's marble railing. In just a moment, hundreds of strange runes had taken shape. Yet these runes, simply etched into the marble without using any magical materials, glimmered with alternating dark-red and deep-blue light beneath the ominous crimson moon, causing the natural energy to shift.
Gulp.
As the canary watched in amazement, the two-dimensional runes floated into the air in the form of watery traces.
Reilo then raised his index finger and gravely pointed at the two-dimensional watermarks hovering in midair.
Under the