In reality, during the time when Aoko and her companions ran off to find Thops, Messmer's army had already cleared the area around the Church of Irith, including the undead wandering the graveyard.
Rellana even found a magic scroll near a grave, which had been brought out from the academy by students. However, since the recorded magic was too basic, she didn't pay much attention to it and simply gave it to Aoko as a well-crafted collectible.
Due to their massive size, the Furnace Golems were never meant to enter the Liurnia region through the secret tunnels of Stormveil Castle. Instead, under Messmer's careful control, they crossed over from the nearby cliffs. In a way, this reflected the ancient giants' ability to move mountains and reshape the land in the Lands Between.
Now, the golems had once again moved ahead of them, effortlessly leaping off the cliff beside the Church of Irith as if they were merely stepping down a single stair. Meanwhile, the main force of the expeditionary army had no choice but to take the long way around, traveling through a narrow valley path, passing through a checkpoint camp set up by the Cuckoo Knights, and finally reaching what was once the Lake of Liurnia.
Speaking of the Cuckoo Knights, they were originally a part of the Carian royal armed forces. However, after Queen Rennala suffered a mental breakdown and was placed under house arrest, and the other sorcerers of the Royal Academy of Raya Lucaria rebelled, this group immediately sided with the academy's mages, raising the banner of rebellion against the Carian royal family.
The entanglement between the Carian royal family and the academy was quite complex. But to put it simply, there was originally no real difference between them—the Carian royal family was merely a lineage of Glintstone sorcerers.
What made the Carian royal family special was the emergence of Queen Rennala, the Full Moon Queen. With her Full Moon sorcery and unparalleled mastery of Glintstone magic, she led a mere 20 Carian knights and forcibly subdued all the other sorcerer factions, ultimately establishing the Carian dynasty.
When Rennala was still mentally sound, she was confident in her immense power and granted these sorcerers considerable autonomy—allowing them to establish magic classrooms, found towns (such as the Academy Town), and even train private forces, such as the Cuckoo Knights.
The reason Rennala dared to do this was simple: the Carian royal family was truly powerful at the time. No matter how rebellious these mages became, a few Carian knights were enough to suppress them with ease.
However, after Rennala fell into depression following Radagon's departure, the once-subjugated sorcerer factions immediately rebelled. Why should she alone be queen and rule over all of them? After all, they were all descendants of the Eternal City of Nokstella—wasn't it only fair to return to a state of self-governance?
Despite their rebellion, they did not dare to lay hands on the despondent Full Moon Queen. Instead, they merely confined her within the Grand Library, not even daring to provoke Carian knight Morgott. After all, aside from Rennala and Morgott, the only other entity beyond their control at the academy was Radagon's Red Wolf, and they could still manage with that.
However, the rebellious sorcerers grew increasingly closed-off and conservative. Even the ambitious Primeval Sorcerers were driven out of the academy, let alone prodigies like the witch Sellen and the eccentric Thops.
Moreover, these anarchist sorcerers' private forces followed suit. After betraying the Carian royal family, the Cuckoo Knights also betrayed the mage factions of the Royal Academy. This was one of the significant reasons why the academy sorcerers, besides avoiding the Shattering War, ultimately chose to seal the academy's doors.
Traitors will always be traitors. No matter the shifting allegiances, any rational person would despise betrayal.
Fueled by anger, Rellana led the Carian royal sorcerers within the expeditionary army, along with Miquella, and wiped out every Cuckoo Knight force they encountered along the way—leaving no survivors.
What was once the beautiful Lake of Liurnia had now become a ghastly, monster-infested swamp. However, these creatures stood no chance against the army of the holy war expedition. Wherever the Furnace Golems passed, they left behind nothing but ashes and charred corpses.
After several hours of forced march, Aoko and her group advanced into what was now a ruined Academy Town, a place where strange-looking Albinaurics had turned into their refuge.
Although the Albinaurics typically attacked lone travelers, they were not fools. Upon seeing the overwhelming might of the expeditionary force from a distance, they fled long before the army officially arrived at the Academy Town.
Rellana felt a wave of sorrow as she looked upon the ruined town, half-sunken into mud and water. However, she quickly composed herself—after all, this place was merely an autonomous town for those traitorous sorcerers. Its current state was nothing more than their just deserts.
Due to their massive size, the Furnace Golems couldn't enter the academy without damaging its structures. Thus, Messmer stationed them around the academy to purge the chaotic swamp creatures.
The Aozaki sisters, along with Rellana and Miquella, proceeded to the academy's entrance to investigate its seal, while the Tarnished took the opportunity to explore the region of Liurnia while the expeditionary army set up camp.
When Aoko and her team returned to the Academy Town encampment, they were surprised to find that the Tarnished had brought back a young blonde girl who looked slightly hunched and shy.
"Um... Hello," the girl spoke timidly to Aoko and the others. "My name is... Rya. I am a traveler, sent by my mother on a journey..."
Aoko first glanced at the girl with a strange expression, then looked toward the Tarnished, as if silently asking, "Why did you bring her back?"
"Hey, don't get the wrong idea!" the Tarnished quickly explained. "It's just that I thought it was too dangerous for a young girl like her to be wandering around here. Rya had just been robbed by a thug who stole the necklace her mother left her. I promised to retrieve it for her, so I figured it'd be safer to keep her at our camp until I find it."
"We didn't say anything," Aoko smirked as she glanced at the Tarnished. "Anyway, as long as Melina has no objections, we don't mind at all~"
Melina, of course, had no objections—or rather, she couldn't be bothered to materialize in the first place. Ever since they entered Liurnia, she had remained in her spirit form, following the group from the shadows. Aoko suspected it was because her prior conversation with Messmer, hadn't gone well.
However, Aoko wasn't particularly concerned about the Tarnished bringing a stranger back to camp, nor was she interested in the family drama.
What truly piqued her interest was how Messmer would react upon seeing Rya, given the peculiar nature of her serpentine existence.