Enigma of Sin

Kayn woke early in the morning as usual, letting Kinzie continue to sleep while he did his usual morning routine before heading to make breakfast for everyone before he left.

The night before, he stashed everything he needed into the Wanderer's Villa, including the Void Loop. The only things he kept out were the sash and boots from the Garments of the Shadow Phoenix set.

Inside the sash he placed a few things like food, money, and some spare clothing, but the majority of it was all kept inside the Villa. He only started wearing the boots as well as the sash day to day because of the bonus to his movement that they gave him passively since it was very useful.

Kinzie woke up shortly after the smell of food began wafting through the house, and Rowen was already awake in the living room reading a book with Lara sleeping on his lap.

It wasn't long before Kayn was saying his goodbyes. "Thank you both for taking care of Lara for me here while I'm away, I feel much more at ease this way."

"Of course kid, I'll take care of her like she is my own. Don't worry about us and focus on your trip! Also, be safe alright?" Rowen spoke first, quickly followed by Kinzie.

"Have fun! I'll miss you!" Kinzie said as she wrapped her arms tight around Kayn in a hug.

"I'll miss you as well. I'll see you guys in a couple of weeks. Until then!" Kayn replied as he turned around and left his home.

Director Vix was waiting for him not too far away, and surprisingly there was another person with her as well. Charlotte smiled as she waved at Kayn, clearly intending to travel with them to the meeting point.

As Kayn approached the two women, Director Vix was the first to speak, "Good morning, Professor Ashan. Leader Erving expressed her desire to have you travel to the convention with her and as you are part of both organizations, I don't have a problem with it, but it's up to you."

Kayn nodded, but replied shortly after, "I'll take her up on her offer with your approval."

Director Vix merely waved it off while walking away and saying that she will see him at the convention area shortly.

Kayn then faced Charlotte and raised his eyebrow in a questioning manner. "So, why are you having me travel with you instead?"

"Haha thanks for not hesitating and quickly agreeing. The reason you will travel there with me is that the teleportation formation they use simply cannot handle beasts like us. The formation is created with weight calculations taken into account, and as you can guess it doesn't account for those like us. Not that I'm calling you fat." Charlotte spoke with a wink.

"So, while it can work with plus or minus a few peoples' weight, if you and I joined, things would definitely go wrong. By go wrong I mean that only the maximum weight would be transferred, so you can imagine what would happen." Charlotte explained. She and Kayn then entered into a carriage that would take them back to the White Hand Society.

Kayn's eyes opened wide in realization of what could have happened. If he had the weight of tens of regular people, Charlotte surely probably weigh thousands more. He could only imagine the scene where after teleportation there were several bodies missing pieces lying around, including his own possibly.

"Now you understand," Charlotte chuckled. "I have a private deal with the convention that allows me to have a private teleportation formation with a more…flexible limit. So, with that knowledge, you and I will take the one set up for me."

Just as they arrived at the White Hand Society's building, Charlotte pulled a scroll out of thin air and handed it over to Kayn.

"Before I forget, Director Vix wanted me to give this to you. It's from the convention organizers technically. They give out scrolls to all of the attendees which act as an emergency escape. In the case the convention is attacked by a large force, everyone can escape back to their home with that.

"They spend astronomical amounts of money on getting people to and from the convention every time it's held, but the profit they make from people buying and selling things there is worth it to them I guess."

Charlotte just shrugged her shoulders before remembering something else, "Oh, that's also how you get back, so don't lose it."

Kayn nodded his head in affirmation before placing the scroll into the spatial sash. Kayn then followed Charlotte out of the carriage and into a secluded back room inside of the building. On the floor of the room was a large circle which was carefully drawn out in something purple.

"That's the teleport formation. We stand anywhere inside of the circle, then I'll activate it with my mana. Similar to how you teleport around the academy, we will arrive at the connecting formation at our location. The rest of the White Hand Society is going through the normal formation that your academy houses, so we best be on our way."

Charlotte said as she gestured for Kayn to stand inside the circle near her. Once he was inside, Kayn felt her release a massive amount of mana that was greedily absorbed by the intricate patterns underneath his feet.

A soft purple light then engulfed both of their figures, and the next thing Kayn knew, he was standing in the middle of a grass field near a bustling village that had tents and other buildings set up in and around it.

Others were already walking towards the area and some were even appearing as Kayn stood there marveling at his surroundings. Charlotte found his amazement and curiosity with everything quite amusing as sometimes she forgot that he was just a mere infant.

"Come, let's get out of the way and get you back with your fellow professors. Also Kayn, try to take advantage of this opportunity. There are countless healers here from all across the continent with some specializing in very niche areas. You don't need to stay with your academy or director, engage yourself with other healers you are interested in learning from."

With that last tidbit of advice, the two arrived at a large area set up for the various academies and healing societies that called Palatine their home. In total there was one other healing society and four academies inside the walls of Palatine that earned invitations for their professors and directors.

There was one academy set up for each cardinal direction inside of the city as it was massive and had millions of residents. Not to mention that the surrounding towns and villages would send their children to the schools as well.

None of them boasted the prestige or talented professors that the Astaro Academy did, but they were still academies with experienced healers, so they were invited to the convention.

Kayn found it funny that Charlotte said nothing about him changing his hair and eye color, but a few of his fellow professors gave him funny looks when he approached the group that had arrived over an hour ago.

The first to approach Kayn from the group that was hanging around the Palatine area was not someone he was expecting to greet him before any of the others.

"Hello Professor Ashan, it's been a while." Clara Whiteclaw said as she extended her hand out for a handshake while giving Kayn a polite smile.

"It has been a while, Royal Healer Whiteclaw, you look well." Kayn responded as he wasn't exactly sure where he stood with her.

"Haha no need to be so stiff Professor Ashan. And please, call me Clara. You are my daughter's personal teacher, she even calls you her master at home. Plus, thanks to you I was able to discover my former husband's misdeeds and also his affairs." Clara spoke with a lightness to her voice that made Kayn think years of burden had been taken from her shoulders.

"Former husband huh? If you don't mind me asking, whatever happened to him? Maria doesn't speak about her personal life and in fact keeps everything quite professional, which I don't mind. Also, please call me Kayn then." Kayn answered back to Clara.

"Ah, she's always been quite reserved. The fact that she shows more emotion than she ever did before is a miracle in itself in my eyes, which is also thanks to you. As for that scumbag, he's currently rotting in chains in the palace dungeon. I lost all desire to help him after I discovered the multiple mistresses and bastard children that he has had.

"Whiteclaw is my family name and he took it after our marriage, I removed him from the family. All of his mistresses were given payments to take care of their children and make a life outside of Palatine. 

"As for my own children, you obviously know Maria's situation. My two oldest are already living their own lives and found their father's actions detestable. Maria has always hated her father due to how he treated her. 

"Marvelo is the one taking it the hardest. My ex-husband doted on him the most, so he is struggling a bit mentally. He has put all of his focus into his combat training recently. He probably holds a grudge against you as well, but I wouldn't worry about it as this is just the tantrum of a child. He'll grow out of it and realize the truth of the situation one day."

Clara stopped speaking at that point, giving Kayn a second to digest everything that he had heard.

"While I find it baffling that my first day as a professor managed to shake up your family so much, just know it was never my intention. However, I am glad that you've found some peace and answers to questions you didn't know to ask before.

"As for Maria, she's brilliant. She's even helped me to think of things that I hadn't considered before. It's my honor to have her as a student and assistant."

"Well, it was nice seeing and talking to you Kayn. Don't forget to experience the whole convention, there is a lot to learn here. Also, the new look is interesting, but I prefer your old hair color, it matches my own after all." Clara winked at Kayn before walking away to peruse the convention area and greet those she was acquainted with.

Kayn stood alone for a few moments before he decided to venture around the area himself. He wanted to see if there was any kind of timetable for different lectures and just wanted to know the layout of the area in general.