020 Abyssal Blood Moth

After a brief conversation with Catherine, Leonard approached the two freshmen to give them some instructions.

"The Lady has been recruiting apprentices for the past two years," Leonard said with great solemnity. "As long as you perform well, you will have a chance."

The two freshmen were overcome with ecstasy. If they could perform well enough in this trial and be accepted as her apprentices, wouldn't that mean they could become vassal retainers to the Alexandra family?

This was the prospect of serving a noble wizarding house! Their entire families would ascend to new heights because of them. A burning fighting spirit ignited in the eyes of both freshmen.

Roland stood to the side, watching his teammates’ performance without a word, observing them with a cold gaze.

Soon, the group was fully prepared to set off. The knights led the way at the front, while Instructor Leonard and Baron Hall flanked Catherine on either side in the center of the formation. At the rear were Wallace, Roland, and the two freshmen, with the tall Silver Knight, Narl, bringing up the very back.

On the road, the two freshmen began to whisper to each other.

"It’s a coincidence, really," the blond freshman whispered. "A few days ago, when I was flipping through the history of the Black Abyss Academy, I saw a portrait of the first founder's mentor—the 'Witch of the Black Abyss' from hundreds of years ago. She looks somewhat like Lady Catherine..."

"Don't talk nonsense," Wallace interrupted. "Instructor Catherine is a member of the Alexandra family. It is perfectly normal for her to resemble her ancestors."

With that, he looked over at Roland, who had been following the three of them in silence with an expressionless face. "This must be the freshman Instructor Catherine recruited this year, right? What should I call you?"

Roland glanced at the trio before returning his gaze to the shadows of the surrounding woods.

The other apprentices were quite annoyed; even Wallace, an old hand who was usually slick and tactful, found his eyelid twitching violently. The three ignored Roland and went back to their own chatter.

The blond freshman remarked, "I didn't expect such a deep forest to be here."

"Indeed," Wallace said, stroking his beard as he nodded. "The magical aura is quite rich; there should be many strange creatures and magical herbs here. It’s no less impressive than the dense forests the academy uses for student trials."

"Does the academy's forest have trees like these? Truly remarkable." The red-haired freshman patted a large tree they passed by. He looked on with anticipation and added, "These trees grow very peculiarly. I was going to collect some specimens to study, but it seems there's no need."

Listening to their discussion, Roland's expression became very strange. He looked at the tree the apprentice had just patted, thinking to himself, 'There is clearly something weird wriggling in the shadows of that tree... there are unknown things everywhere in the shadows around us, yet everyone is so calm and composed?'

Roland couldn't help but look up at the sky once more. 'That god in the sky... is there really nothing wrong with it? Its blood is constantly dripping from the sky into the fern forest... could it be that the pollution caused by its blood is actually no big deal?'

'So, in the Black Abyss Academy, a place like this is just a mundane trial ground?'

Roland knew he could not escape, so he desperately searched for reasons to justify his teammates' behavior in his mind: 'There is only one possibility. The Evil God must have been dead for a very, very long time. That is why the academy treats the Tawny Fern Forest as a trial ground.'

At this moment, the Baron’s voice came from the front. He seemed to be talking to one of the knights.

"Charlie, you don't need to stay by my side the whole time," the Baron said with a smile. "With all these esteemed masters protecting me, this trip will certainly go smoothly."

The captain of the knights was highly skeptical of the strength of these so-called "wizards," but he still led his men away to stand with Narl.

After the knights left, Baron Hall said humbly to Leonard and the others, "I fear I shall be a burden to you all this time."

Many of the wizard apprentices regarded the Baron as a Muggle and were somewhat dismissive of him, offering only superficial politeness. But Catherine smiled and said to the Baron, "You are too modest, Baron Hall. We shall look out for one another moving forward."

Hearing this, Roland’s eyes flickered slightly.

Catherine never spoke empty pleasantries, nor did she ever socialize with others in a hypocritical manner. Her arrogance was always consistent; it was as if everyone in the world were mere ants unworthy of her smile. Yet, when she was with Baron Hall, she was very respectful.

'I almost forgot,' Roland thought to himself. 'There is a hidden monster in our team... Baron Hall is definitely not simple!'

He stared deeply at the Baron in front of him, thinking, 'He has come to the Fern Forest so many times and always come out alive; his strength must be truly terrifying.'

'Besides the Baron, there is Narl, Anna... and as for Catherine, although she only has the mana of a high-level apprentice, she is laden with treasures and her methods are extremely bizarre. Her strength won't be any less than Narl's.'

'If we aren't here to deal with some Evil God, then this team structure is perfectly fine,' he reasoned. 'Even if there is a problem, as long as I follow Baron Hall, I can walk out alive.'

Roland had originally resigned himself to death, which was why he had been calling Catherine "Senior" and ignoring Wallace. But now that he saw a hope of survival, his instinct to live had returned.

After a moment's thought, Roland turned to address Wallace.

"Master Wallace, I am very sorry for just now. On the way here, I suffered some mental trauma from practicing magic and was unable to disengage from my inner world for a moment. That is why I couldn't respond when you asked me earlier."

Wallace was suddenly enlightened, and he felt much more comfortable. He thought to himself, 'So that’s it... truly a student of the Lady. He has the capital to be arrogant, yet he is so diligent and humble.'

Wallace did not want to expose his relationship with Catherine in front of the freshmen, nor did he want to flatter her student in her presence. Thus, he praised Roland as a mentor would.

After exchanging a few words with Wallace, Roland bowed slightly to the two freshmen and introduced himself: "Seniors, my name is Roland. I am a local from Valeria..."

Roland’s attitude was very humble, and he specifically addressed them as "seniors" to flatter them. To his surprise, the two freshmen’s attitudes were very cold.

The blond freshman muttered under his breath, "Hmph, a half-breed from the Muggles... and he thinks he's worthy of being a vassal to the Alexandra family?"

To a normal person, this remark from the blond freshman would sound completely unreasonable, as Roland was Catherine’s student regardless of his background. Moreover, although Catherine had the intention of taking them as apprentices, nothing was set in stone yet. It was unclear why they felt such superiority.

But such was the reality; there was a vast chasm between pure-blood wizards and non-pure-bloods. In their eyes, someone like Roland was of a lower class. Even if he entered the Alexandra family, they felt they were more noble than him, even if they were beggars themselves.

Roland did not know about these nuances of the wizarding world. Upon realizing that communication with these two was difficult, he frowned and stopped speaking.

When the group had marched through the Tawny Fern Forest for half an hour, they suddenly stopped. The Instructor gave some orders to Leonard, who then left the team. Then, the Instructor called Wallace over and gave him some instructions as well.

After listening, Wallace called Roland and the two freshmen together and said, "There are some Abyss Blood Moths nearby. Lady Catherine wants us to catch a few specimens."

Roland frowned, thinking, 'Abyss Blood Moths? So, the dead Evil God in the sky is an Evil God of the Abyss?'

He looked at the strange shadows deep in the woods, thinking, 'So, this place has been polluted by the Abyss? Are the things wriggling in those shadows all Abyss monsters about to crawl out?'

At this, the blond freshman asked Wallace curiously, "Do Abyss Blood Moths really exist in such an ordinary woodland?"

Wallace stroked his beard, seemingly feeling a bit of doubt himself. He said, "The Tawny Fern Forest can indeed be considered a magic forest; it is normal for Abyssal species to enter it... Let's go. The Lady has only given us half an hour."

With that, Wallace and the two freshmen entered the woods, paying no heed to the shadows within.

Roland hesitated for a moment, thinking, 'I always feel like something is wrong.'

He glanced at his senior, only to see her nod slightly, signaling him to go ahead without worry.

Roland felt a sense of strangeness, but he braced himself and followed Wallace into the forest.