Reporters and Photos

The dimly lit room was filled with the smell of old parchment and developing solution. Photos covered the surrounding walls and the strings stretched across them, marked with scrawled notes and symbols only the writer could understand.

Every photo was connected to the Alchemy Competition that had just concluded:

The moment the Werewolf Golem appeared, terrified screams erupted from the audience seats. People fled their seats in all directions, and one terrified face was frozen in the photo;

At the center of the next photo, Wade Grey and Modihis Graves faced each other, both their gazes carrying a force impossible to ignore. Several judges at the edge of the image wore expressions that invited speculation;

Corbett and Graves shook hands. The businessmen surrounding them, chasing fame and profit, looked greedy, envious, eager, and jealous. The two men shaking hands wore strikingly similar half-smiles;

In a corner of the wall, Karl Claister was desperately trying to haul his Golem upright. Even as a still image, the photo had the power to make people burst out laughing.

But clearly, its photographer had already excluded it from the selection—compared to major news that could stir people's hearts, a funny story was naturally far less important.

A hand bearing fresh wounds removed another photo from the wall. The silver-haired girl, Dalia, was intently waving her Wand. Her features were so exquisite they seemed to glow; even a Veela might not have surpassed the charm she possessed at that moment.

"What a pity..."

The man muttered, "Under normal circumstances, this one photo alone could have made me quite a bit of money."

Though he said that, he still placed the photo on the table and tossed it into a box along with Karl Claister's.

The man at the center of the whirlwind of photos—Tom Haik,