Cornflower Witch

Chapter 390 Origins of the Hourglass School
A new day begins. There are no classes today. Hiltiya and her two roommates go out to buy some things.

"First, there's the small alchemical equipment and the basic ingredients. Then there's the oven that Lovell wants to buy, cake ingredients, and some fruit." Aurora held up a list of the items the three planned to purchase.

"First go to Wasp Street to buy alchemy tools and raw materials, then go to Spider Street, where there are many restaurants and taverns, and also a wide variety of baking ingredients."

After making the decision, the three of them set off together. After buying alchemy tools in the morning, they ate something outside at noon and then went down to Spider Street.

Just as they had chosen an oven in the shop and loaded it onto the carriage, the three of them saw a large crowd gathered on the street not far away and curiously looked inside.

"What happened there?" The group couldn't help but walk over out of curiosity.

Before they could get too close, several roaring steam police cars drove up from the side of the street and stopped next to the three of them. The officers who got out were people that Hilti was familiar with.

"It's Hedra." Seeing what the three were carrying, they quickly realized they were just passing by.

"You're out shopping on the weekend? What a coincidence."

"What's going on here?" Hiltia asked, her keen hearing having already overheard some of the discussion.

"Someone has died, and apparently, they were a student at your school." A police officer flipped through a rough note in his hand.

"Let's stop talking now, we need to go inside to investigate and seal off the scene." After saying that, the group pushed through the crowd and squeezed into the place where the incident had occurred.

Seeing that more and more people were gathering around, Luo Weier gently covered her nose, then slowly took Xilutiya's hand and retreated. This young lady did not like crowded and noisy environments.

"Let's go back, Hedra, okay?" She leaned close to Siltia's shoulder, gently touching the girl's earlobe with her cheek, and suggested in a soft voice.

"Understood." Although they were a little curious about who had gotten into trouble, this was definitely not the time to get involved recklessly. Sylvia and Aurora followed Lovell out, then boarded the carriage and returned to their residence.

On Monday, the three returned to school and heard a general account of what had happened.

"It turns out that two third-graders died in the alley after drinking at a bar that night." Aurora whispered to Sylvia, while Lovell focused on her homework.

"Is death common in the Asura region?" Hilti suddenly had this strange feeling.

“No, that’s not it. The Mage Alliance, especially in areas where new students gather, has always had excellent public security, so they take such cases very seriously.” Aurora shook her head.

“The last incident you got involved in at least involved lowly orcs who died, so it didn’t cause a major news event. But this time, the victims are students, and outstanding apprentices recruited by the Mage Alliance from all over the country. They may become formal mages in the future. Such accidental murders are not allowed by the higher-ups, so they will pay extra attention to it,” she explained.

“This time it’s probably not just the police investigating and solving the case; the Alliance Council will send personnel from a dedicated department to assist,” Aurora guessed.

As Aurora predicted, two days later, School No. 89, where Hiltiya was located, temporarily suspended classes for half a day. All the students gathered in the school square, where two special personnel dressed in dark trench coats and wearing masks stood next to the principal, their eyes sweeping across the entire area.

"Because of the previous incident, we need to conduct a simple check on all students. Please don't panic," the principal explained, then had everyone line up according to their classes. Afterwards, the two men in dark trench coats, each carrying a strange device, walked into the student ranks.

Its shape resembles a hollowed-out hourglass, but inside is a complex mechanical structure that seems to be constantly turning, emitting a slight gear sound. When it passes by students, it occasionally emits faint ripples, and then the two people make the students who are detected as abnormal step out of line.

A total of 165 students were found to have abnormalities. Most of them were classmates or acquaintances of the deceased in the third grade, while others were people who had spoken to or had close contact with the deceased within the past week.

"Has Camilla also been found to be abnormal?" The students in the class were quite surprised to see the frail Camilla being asked to come out.

"They were probably approached by the deceased. After all, Camilla just arrived, so it's unlikely she would have a conflict with them. It's more likely that the two of them were very lecherous and wanted to go on a date with Camilla."

At the request of the two staff members, these students and teachers who had acted strangely were required to write down on the spot the scenes of their contact with the deceased within a week, what they said, what they were doing that night, and any witnesses, etc.

During the writing process, another 32 people were found to have inaccurate content and were subsequently taken away for further investigation. However, what happened afterward was beyond the understanding of ordinary students.

"How did they know that what they wrote was untrue?" Lover asked Aurora curiously, as Hilti and the others were having lunch in the school cafeteria.

“That’s a spell that can detect lies. Although it’s not 100% accurate, it can still help accomplish many things,” Aurora explained.

"The two people who came today are members of the 'Hourglass of Origin' school. They can rely on subtle clues to trace back to the source, or investigate connections and traces, etc."

“But these are just sideline operations for their school of thought.” Aurora picked up a small piece of pineapple with her fork and put it in her mouth.

"Its real primary use is for archaeological research and historical verification."

"Most of the history books you see in the Mage Alliance have been compiled, proofread, and verified by their school of thought. Their school is also the best at analysis, able to deduce the weapon that caused the wound, the identity of the user, and so on, from a single wound."

"Under the leadership of their school, the Mage Alliance obtained a great deal of valuable knowledge and secret techniques from the previous era and even earlier eras from the ruins they excavated in various places in the early days. They also sorted out the development process of various schools, the causes of local cultural customs, and the origins of the bloodlines of various races, etc."

"They're more like scholars than mages. But as they discovered more secret arts and knowledge, they inevitably started researching them, which allowed the faction to master many rare ancient secret arts. They then began to integrate and improve them using the mindset of mages," Aurora remarked.

“In the past, they were very powerful, almost the founders of the Mage Alliance.”

"Within the Mage Alliance, there are several schools of thought that actually split off from them, as their research areas gradually expanded and they became independent schools of thought."

“By the way, the ‘bionics’ school that Hedra studied is a branch that spun out from it.” Aurora held up a finger.

Huh? Hilti looked up belatedly, not expecting that this could be connected to her.

It seems there are some. According to Professor Knox, the earliest school of bionics was those wizards who studied the lineages and runes of powerful ancient creatures. However, this group perished in the great war of the last era. The current school of bionics is a new faction that inherited their ideas and knowledge. In this light, it may have split off from the group of people who studied this kind of knowledge in the 'Hourglass of Origins' school.

(End of this chapter)