After staying at West Port, the students were getting their teams ready to return to the academy, fixing their carriages, and re-stocking their food supplies.
I asked lina if she had taken any food out of her void pocket during the test, but she denied it, saying that their chaperone would deduct points for it.
I chuckled, thinking that it was fair she would say that, or her team would have been the only ones feasting while the others ate the awful beef jerky.
Once everyone was ready, they each took their respective paths and began the trail back to the capital.
Yoru and Vespera went with other teams on my command since I wanted to see if it had just been my team and lina’s that got stalked by the strange monster. Still, I told them to stay hidden in the shadows unless it was necessary for them to get out.
On our way back, I stayed more alert than on the first trip, periodically using my "search" spell to see if the presence returned. Nonetheless, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
We stopped a few tis so the students could clear the road from a few low-level monsters until nightti arrived.
When they all went inside their tents, only Keiko stood outside with since it was her turn to keep watch for the night.
"Are you not going to sleep, professor?" she asked.
"Hmm, maybe later..." I replied, focusing on my "search" spell so that I wouldn’t miss a single heartbeat from a creature.
The atmosphere was a little awkward, with the two of us sitting in silence, but noticing that Keiko seed to have sothing on her mind, I inquired what was wrong.
"Umm... A-about the devils... Is our only option to run away from them?" she asked, stamring her words.
It was the second ti that she asked sothing similar, so it was pretty obvious that the girl was hiding sothing.
"Well, no. It’s not the only option. But at the level of this team, then yes..." I replied, and the girl showed her discontent with my answer again.
"Keiko. Have you encountered any devils?" I asked.
The girl hesitated montarily, not knowing how to begin, and as she clenched her shirt with fear and anxiety, I opened my void pocket and brought out a few pieces of chocolate to calm her down.
Technically, I wasn’t allowed to help the students, but this wasn’t the sa as helping them on the test.
I had seen Keiko eating chocolates in lina’s room, so I knew that she liked them, and I gave her a piece in the hope she would calm down a bit and be able to talk freely.
Keiko was the princess of a small nation called Lotus, who used to have a good relationship with the Guanghua Kingdom.
However, she explained that her family had been invited to a banquet there, and when they arrived, they noticed the apparent change in the empress’ deanor.
Keiko told that the empress of the Guanghua Kingdom used to be a kindhearted woman but suddenly changed into a tyrant who ordered their relations with Lotus to be cut off.
At that mont, I rembered what Jackson told after defeating Armaros, where he said that a female devil had taken control of a nation on the eastern continent by sleeping with the emperor.
I had already sent two mbers of the Dawn’s Defenders to check out the country since it was one of the destinations where Zagor was sending the enslaved beastkins, but I still hadn’t received any news from them.
Still, as Keiko kept recounting the story, she said that at so point, she felt an overpowering dark aura coming from the empress that made her recoil in fear.
Later on, Keiko’s family t with the royal family of Kyotora, who were their closest neighbors, and confird that the empress of the Guanghua Kingdom had demanded their trading relations be cut off, too.
None of the royal families had a clue on what made the empress change her attitude so drastically. Keiko was the only one who felt the strange energy, which made her believe that she was going crazy.
"You are not crazy, Keiko..." I said, consoling the girl who seed to have a hard ti talking about the topic.
"It’s not easy to feel the energy of a devil if they are trying to hide it. Much less be able to see it the way you did..." I continued, explaining to her that her magic perception was at a level above ordinary people.
While Keiko felt glad about my complint, she expressed how powerless she felt when she saw the children of the empress looking dejected and depressed at the change in attitude from their mother.
The oldest prince of the Guanghua Kingdom was supposed to be her fiancee and attend the academy with her, but after the empress changed, not only was their engagent dissolved, but the prince wasn’t allowed to leave the palace.
As she kept telling all she knew about the nation, my search spell detected sothing moving fast in our direction.
I abruptly stood up, startling Keiko, who looked at confused as she perked back up, fully alert.
["Ichiro!"] said Vespera loudly in my head, using telepathy.
["I know. I got one coming here too..."] I replied, taking out my bo and waiting expectantly for the monster to show itself.
"Keiko, wake up the others and get inside the cart... Now!" I said to the girl, not moving my glance away from the dark woods where the presence was coming from.
The blue-haired girl ran to the tents, shouting at the group to wake up, making them stand up with both fear and confusion.
As the four students ran out of their tents in their pajamas and boarded the cart, they shut up and peeked outside, where I was standing in the center of the road.
Seconds later, a humanoid monster covered in dark grey fur arrived, walking slowly through the bushes until it was a few feet away from .
Its face was a mix between wolf and human, but not in a cute way like the beastkins. It was more like a creature you would see exclusively in your nightmares.
Its eyes were glowing red as strands of drool ca down the sides of its mouth, portraying it as a deranged wild beast.
Reviews
All reviews (0)