'I must answer to her quickly.'
Kiernan quickly cooked up an excuse and then typed it down.
[Revanant: Well, I am new here, so I didn't want to bother them. It's easier to talk to fellow disciples, I guess]
[Gentle Rose: Mm, that's understandable. Can I add my master, Cold Shade, to this conversation? I am sure that she will know. She is very knowledgeable]
Kiernan thought to himself and then looked at the Sword of Maraketh. He was kind of wishing that he could sell it for 50,000 gold coins to have one turn at the lottery wheel, but he doubted that it was five times more valuable than in the shop.
[Cold Shade was added to the private chat room!]
[Cold Shade: Can you send the picture of the sword again, please? I cannot see the previous conversation you two had]
Kiernan posted the picture again. It was a pretty poorly taken picture, but he made sure that there wasn't any reflection that could show him or windows that could give away his location.
The picture only had the sword lying on the brown-covered couch.
[Cold Shade: 'Maraketh'? I know only that the swords of the forgotten legends have their names etched on the blade. I don't know whether this sword is one of those or not]
[Revenant: How come? Can it be faked?]
[Cold Shade: Yes. It's hard to tell through a picture. I can only tell if it's authentic by holding it in my hands and feeling its energy.
[Revenant: You want me to send it to you?]
[Cold Shade: Yes. If you're afraid of me just stealing it, don't be. The membership of Martial Order means more to me than just a mere sword]
Kiernan nodded to himself. He doubted that Cold Shade would take the sword for herself.
'However, if I send it to her through mail, I'll be able to find her location unless she wants me to send it to a random location. Either way, it'll probably take weeks for her to get her hands on this sword.'
[Cold Shade: We, members of the Martial Order, usually keep trading items such as this sword of yours. To keep our identities an absolute secret, Old King showed us a way to do it more efficiently]
[Revenant: I thought the mail system felt incredibly inefficient. Do you have a way to trade faster?]
[Cold Shade: Way faster. I can get my hands on that sword of yours in seconds]
'What the hell? In seconds?'
Kiernan was greatly intrigued.
Cold Shade, the master of Gentle Rose, began giving him strange instructions. However, he listened and did as instructed.
First of all, he grabbed a red marker pen, went to his desk, and drew a large circle. Then, he made it a six-pointed star, and in each point, he wrote a different word.
Virtus! Sapientia! Honor! Fortitudo! Unitas! Spes!
After writing those six words, he placed the Sword of Maraketh in the center of the star. He then went to pick up some candles. Luckily, he found some in the kitchen drawers.
Those candles were on standby in case the electricity went out during the storm. It stormed quite often in the Gaul region.
He then placed the six candles at the end of those six points. On top of the words, and then lit them up with a matchstick.
The candles flickered with small flames.
He then went to shut down the lights and went back to sit down on his chair, looking straight at the candles and at the star.
'This is stupid. I feel like I am being tricked by her. Maybe this is a hazing ritual for newcomers.'
The flickering flames cast a long shadow across the walls, making the room feel even darker than before.
[Cold Shade: I finished the ceremony on my side. Are you done?]
[Cold Shade: Good. We must say 'Commercium' at the same time. I'll count down from three, and when I type one, we'll say it at the same time]
The candles were suddenly extinguished, and it became pitch black.
Kiernan stumbled out of his chair and tried to search for the light switch in the darkness. It felt like he was blind, but he then calmed himself down and soon found the switch and flicked it on, flooding the room with light.
He quickly returned back to his desk, and to his surprise, Sword of Maraketh was gone!
'Did it really work?'
He took out his phone to check the chat app.
[Cold Shade: The trade was successful. Give me a moment. I will check whether it is authentic or not]
'It really worked? What kind of magic shit was this?'
Kiernan looked at the mess on the desk. It wasn't going to be easy to clean up the mess caused by the red marker pen.
'Well, I suppose I will wait for now.'
While waiting, he went to retrieve his phone charger from his backpack and put his phone charging. The phone was on the desk, still showing the private chat room.
At that moment, someone suddenly knocked on his door.
Kiernan asked and awkwardly looked at the six-pointed star and the candles. He didn't want to let anyone see this symbol of witchcraft.
It would make him look silly.
"It's Julian! We're about to hang out and play a game. Want to come?"
Kiernan looked at the phone. It would probably take a moment for Cold Shade to respond. Thus, he agreed and left his room.
Most of the male students were standing in the hallway. The girls were hanging out among themselves in Julia's room. They were giggling, talking about some things.
"What're you playing?"
Julian brought out a gun. He thought that Kiernan would look shocked, but his expression didn't change.
Kiernan said casually.
"Oh, you noticed it was a toy gun? None of us did. It looks so real. The hell. Well, yes, and we found some rubber bullets with this. It looks like some former student of this facility left this behind in my room!"
"So, what're you going to do with this?"
Julian just smirked at Kiernan's question and tossed it over to one of the male students. The student walked to the end of the hallway with a smile on his face.
"The goal of the game is simple!"
Julian walked to the other end of the hallway and faced the gun-holding student.
"You must reach him without getting shot. You can dodge or parry the bullets, but if you get hit in the body, you lose!"
There was about thirty meters between Julian, and the gun-holding student. It wasn't easy to reach him without getting shot.