With This Treasure, I Summon Primordial Weapons
Chapter 11: Red Alert

Chapter 11: Red Alert

When Godric entered the car, he saw Raven sitting inside.

"Good morning," she said.

The moment he sat down, the door closed softly behind him, and a few seconds later the car took off.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Godric asked, though his tone indicated that there wasn’t really much pleasure in this unexpected encounter.

"I told you already, didn’t I?" She leaned forward slightly, her legs crossing as she shifted a little closer. "You’re my mentee. It’s only right I come pick you up. Besides... I really think we’d work well together."

"I can find my own way to the academy. And as for the whole mentee-mentor stuff, I will have to politely decline."

"A girl comes all the way to the city outskirts to pick you up, and you won’t even consider my proposal?"

For a moment, Godric remained completely silent.

At first, he thought the girl’s proposal came from a simple intrigue, seeing how different his summon was from everything in the recorded history, he believed her attention toward him came from simple interest, but now, seeing how persistent she really was, it felt as though something else was at play, something he didn’t quite recognise.

"Why me?" he suddenly asked. "I’m sure there are hundreds, if not thousands, of first-year students who would be willing to die to become a mentee of someone belonging to one of the Great Houses."

Raven was silent for a second, studying his face before replying. "I don’t want anyone else. I want you."

Godric frowned. "What?"

At that moment, the three-car convoy came to a stop.

"Lady Stormbourne, we’re here," the driver said, cutting through the moment of silence that filled the back of the car.

Raven turned her gaze toward the window, taking a quick glance at the academy standing outside.

Students walking through the courtyard slowed down, while others stopped completely.

A black convoy was not an unusual sight in the academy. The children of the Great Houses arrived with guards, servants, and luxury vehicles every day, but this particular convoy came to most with recognition of House Stormbourne.

A small crowd gathered around the cars, close enough to watch but not close enough to raise concern for the bodyguards who were first to exit the vehicles.

Godric realised they arrived a second later, his gaze locked onto Raven, who just said blatantly she wanted him, his thoughts rumbling at whatever that meant.

Suddenly, the doors on both sides of the car opened up, prompting both Raven and Godric to step out.

Raven was first to leave, the crowd watching the familiar sight of the academy’s most popular girl in astonishment. But before they could bask in the presence of the heir of House Stormbourne, a second figure stepped out of the car.

His uniform, though clean, was not ironed. His hair was a little messy, and his gaze as cold as one might’ve expected from his icy blue eyes.

"Huh? Why is there..."

"Did he just arrive with Lady Stormbourne?"

"..."

The crowd gaped in disbelief as Godric stepped out of the car alongside Raven.

He took one sweeping look across the crowd, then frowned slightly.

’Great...’

The last thing he needed was a crowd of people around him.

Without even turning toward Raven, who waited for him to step out of the car to continue their conversation, Godric turned and moved toward the academy’s main building.

He took three steps away from the car before Raven called after him. "Wait!"

With a quick run, the girl who was never seen to show interest in anyone throughout her whole life arrived at Godric’s side a second later, her arm wrapping around his as she matched his pace.

Godric stopped walking, looked down at her arm, then at her. "Let go."

"You should smile," she said, not looking at him.

Instead, her gaze shifted across the crowd, wearing the serene expression of someone greeting their subjects rather than peers.

"They’re all watching, and right now they are probably deciding what we are to each other."

"We’re strangers," Godric replied flatly.

"Mmm. Except I picked you up in my convoy, chased you across a courtyard and locked arms with you." Her voice stayed soft, almost sounding bored from how methodical it was. "By lunch, rumours will begin to spread... Either Raven Stormbourne has taken a mentee, or she has taken a lover. I’m comfortable with both. What about you?"

Godric’s jaw tightened for a moment. He finally understood that he had taken the girl’s interest in him a bit too lightly. Whatever her reasoning was, she was willing to risk her reputation to get him.

...Or was she?

"There is a third option."

Raven tilted her head. "Oh? And what’s—"

He turned to face her fully, and before she could react, his hand settled on her waist and drew her in, close enough that the whole courtyard could see and close enough that only she could hear him.

"I call your bluff," he said.

The crowd gasped at the sudden move.

Raven blinked as if she wasn’t seeing correctly, and when she finally realised what just happened, her face grew red before she stumbled backwards.

"What—" she began, but before she could finish her sentence, a loud sound cut through the entire academy.

RED ALERT!

ALL STUDENTS PLEASE REPORT TO THE UNDERGROUND SHELTERS.

Godric raised a brow, then turned toward Raven, whose previous moment of fluster was quickly replaced by a swift realisation of what the announcement meant.

"Let’s go," she said, ready to turn and hurry to the shelter.

Around them, the crowd already began to disperse, each student rushing to safety as the alarm continued ringing through the entire academy.

"Don’t worry about me, I can handle myself."

While red alerts were truly dangerous, people living in the city’s outskirts had long forgotten to fear them. Mostly because there was really nothing they could do about them. While the series of dungeon gates opened during red alerts, the government focused all its resources on the inner city, leaving those in the outskirts basically for death.

Raven frowned, walked three steps toward him and grabbed the collar of his shirt. "Are you crazy? If we don’t get underground now, then—"

Suddenly, the air around them shifted.

The loud ringing of the alarm grew muffled, then slowly faded into nothingness as the world around them turned dark for a moment.

It took their eyes a couple of fast blinks before the colours before them finally made sense, and they realised that the familiar surroundings of the academy’s courtyard were gone, replaced by a vast emptiness of a red desert.

The two of them looked around, finding each other almost at the same time as a slow realisation washed over both of their faces.

A dungeon gate opened right on top of them, pulling them in the second it appeared.