Glan Natural Science Academy

Chapter 58

Without Ryger noticing, it was already deep in the night.

Shaking his drowsy head, he muttered, “I should think of getting some stimulant food in the future to help with staying up late.”

With that in mind, Ryger sat back down on a bench and began his daily energy field practice. Now that he had obtained the corresponding knowledge about Forced Compression and Spiritualism, and had realised how weak and insufficient he was in self-defence, the most important thing for him to do now was naturally to exert all efforts to train his energy field and learn more elementary skills as soon as possible.

Many senior scholars no longer trained their energy field. But that was because once they got their medium partner, their energy field’s nature changed, and the ways of growing their energy field were then dependent on their medium partner’s talents and characteristics.

Regardless, in the period before that – during their initiate scholar stage – a person’s basic energy field still needed their perseverance and hard work to grow stronger bit by bit.

Second day, morning.

The first thing Ryger did after waking up was to move towards his lab bench. After a whole night of simmering from the alcohol lamp, the absorption fluid was now completely evaporated. At the base of the container was a layer of fine, black powder. Holding his breath, Ryger carefully collected the powder and placed them on a weighing scale. No more, no less, the powder altogether weighed a precise 73 grammes.

“Yes!”

Having gotten 73 grammes of umbral iron, Ryger was in a splendid mood.

After tidying up his experimental apparatuses, Ryger walked out of his room to wash up only to get stunned when he realised Kubo, Enid and Adva had already left – this had never happened before and usually, it was Ryger who was the first to wake up – and even left some breakfasts on the table.

Instantly, Ryger thought of Kubo’s words yesterday.

“What in the world is going on?”

Frowning, Ryger sat at the dining table and ate his breakfast.

……

The moment he walked out of the door, he could clearly sense the changes in the Academy. Compared to usual, there were more knights of the Church and these knights were patrolling about the Academy with a solemn look. Their armour appeared to have been polished and was shining.

Other than that, countless civilians in neat attire from the St Glans Castle’s main city thronged the Glan Natural Sciences Academy early in the morning – evidently, they had begun moving before daybreak. The civilians had an expression of desire for the divine and were praying while walking, as though even just breathing another mouthful of the Academy’s air made them feel incomparably pure and holy!

“What’s going on?”

Ryger had a shocked expression – he had never seen such a scene before.

Civilians aside, even gorgeous carriages – who else but the nobles living near St Glans Castle – were also arriving at the Academy. These people who only cared about their peerage and gold coins – with some occasional yappings about emulating the Sealand Principality’s droit du seigneur in Glan, of course – were now engaging in chitchat quietly while walking towards the Academy’s square in pairs with their head held high and under the accompaniment of their servants and guards.

Realising that in the few days he wasn’t in the Academy, something big seemed to have happened, Ryger hurriedly followed his mentor’s request and ran in the direction of the Academy’s square.

At the square.

‘A sea of people’ was a particularly apt description!

If the thousand or so first-year and senior students that gathered at the square when school reopened was overcrowded in Ryger’s eyes, what he saw now could truly be considered to be ‘a sea of people’.

The crowd was surging and there were ten thousands of people. And even being crowded so, there was still a constant flow of people from outside the Academy thronging into the square, desperate to cram themselves into the crowd and get into a position closer to the platform there.

From time to time, some well-built knights of the Church would move into the crowd and maintain order.

In the crowd, Ryger was like a little boat in a raging torrent. He tried to see what was happening in the front but was utterly unable to squeeze through. Like an insignificant ant, he could only go with the crowd’s flow and even breathing became difficult.

“I hear that Cardinal Klein from the Holy City’s Grand Cathedral of Light1 will display a miracle of Light at the Glan Natural Sciences Academy at 9 morning. What a grand age. What a grand occasion.”

“To see a miracle of light with my own eyes while I’m alive, my life has been well spent!”

“O’ merciful Lord, please forgive my sins. Only by bathing in your glorious light can my sinful soul get a chance at salvation and get a moment of peace…”

Hearing the prayers of those around him from time to time, Ryger, drenched in sweat because of the crowd, was stunned to find Sokal – similarly drenched in sweat because of the crowd – not far away!

This fatso with a natural perm was currently at a loss and was also moving with the crowd with a helpless look. He was as insignificant and helpless as Ryger was.

“Sokal!” screamed Ryger.

After hearing somebody call him, Sokal was first stunned for a moment then jumped excitedly when he noticed Ryger. The two tried their best to get closer to each other.

“Huff, huff. What the hell is going on here?” asked Ryger while panting and looking at the crowd around.

Sokal was stunned. “Don’t you know? Seven days ago, a cardinal came to the Academy, went to the Royal Research Institute and checked all books that had blasphemy against the Light God. Today, he’s going to burn them all openly here at the Academy.”

Seven days ago?

" "

By then, Ryger was still at the Furnace Mountains. Naturally, he wouldn’t know of this.

Hearing that they wanted to openly burn the books that involved blasphemy at the Academy, Ryger was in disbelief. “The Academy is established by the Glan royalty. How could there be books that blasphemes the Light God? Did the Royal Committee not argue with reason? Did the Church even get the royalty’s permission to do this!?!”

Seeing Ryger was shouting and getting all worked up, Sokal hurriedly covered Ryger’s mouth and looked around nervously.

Fortunately, there were truly too many people around and the situation was too rowdy. Nobody even noticed Ryger.

“Are you crazy? They’re the Church!” Sokal mumbled, speaking as though it was only natural. “If they really wanted to, which book in the Academy could they not burn? All starting points of the Academy’s research were established on atheism, established on the ground that the Light Creator Deity is not almighty. That itself is the largest blasphemy against the Light Creator Deity…”

Ryger was flabbergasted. He didn’t really think that he would face such a bad situation once he got back from his excursion.

After approximately four hours!

Under the blazing noon sun, many people fainted in the process of scrambling into the Academy’s square, and were then treated and carried away by the radiant knights in charge of maintaining order. Yet, even more people were scrambling to get into the square.

The number of people was several times that during morning. Dense, crowded, packed like sardines. Even space for breathing became a luxury and it was a wonder that was able Sokal to even stand properly with the jostling.

Being in the crowd.

In this moment, Ryger sufficiently felt how puny he was, how insignificant he was. His shirt had long been wetted by sweat.

“It’s the cardinal!”

“My Lord!”

“Ohhhh…”

Outside the crowd, somebody made a loud, joyful cheer which spread like a wave. Since the two of Ryger and Sokal inside the crowd were utterly unable to see what was going on outside, those around them were surely as confused and bewildered as the two were. But impassioned prayers and fevered tears spread over to them, as though contagious, and even further beyond.

The sound of praying, the sound of excitement, the sound of crying.

Immediately, the countless followers in the square were ignited.

Amid the overflowing tears of excitement, Ryger as though saw the emotion of faith of those gathered at the square converging into a torrent which pierced through the sky.

And even Sokal and Ryger – two children who were confused and at a loss, two scholars who were staunch atheists – were as though infected by the crowd’s raging emotions. Unconsciously, they became excited and sorrowful.

It was as though they were a sinner since they existed and the only reason they were still alive was so that they could complete their self-salvation.

“What’s wrong with me?”

Ryger rubbed the tears in his eyes and looked at Sokal who was similarly weeping, at the thousands of followers around him who were shedding tears feverishly.

“I, I’m a sinner,” Sokal confessed, eyes overflowing with tears. “In the future, I’ll donate one third, no, half of all of my money to support the Church and save myself!”

Ryger looked at Sokal, mouth agape, eyes wide open.

" "

Though, apparently because Sokal said something related to money, he seemed to awaken a little. He twisted his hand and – Crack! – slapped himself right in the face fiercely as though he had no regard for his own safety.

He wept and said, “What kind of nonsense did I just say? O’ Lord Beyond and Above, forgive your poor, faithful follower. What I just said doesn’t count. Let me punish myself severely for going back on my own words… Please do not pity me, I deserve it all…”

In the fevered crowd, waves after waves of sounds of chanting and praying spread in all directions and never ended.