Advent of the Three Calamities -
Chapter 692: Goodbye [2]
“…I can’t wait to get out of this place.”
“Same. The heat. It’s really starting to get to me.”
“Well, it’s not much different in the Empire. As far as I’m concerned, summer is just about starting. If you think this heat is bad, wait until we get back. It may be hot here, but at least it’s dry. Over there…? It’s as humid as it can get.”
Groans rippled through the crowd as several cadets visibly winced, their expressions twisting in discomfort. Some even looked around with a change in expression, as if thinking this place wasn’t that bad after all.
“Thinking about it, ’he’ isn’t here, so it might not be too bad if we stay here any longer.”
“Oh, you’re right.”
By ’he’, they were referring to Julien. Not everyone was aware of his ’death’, and as such, they still took their time to mention his ’jinx’ like abilities, and how whenever he was present, they all ended up suffering.
“Thinking about it, our trip was actually quite bad. We encountered quite a few things. Maybe he’s not as much of a jinx as we previously made him out to be.”
“You have a point.”
The cadets nodded in silence, feeling that the trip had indeed been quite bad, even without him being present. In that sense, perhaps they were being overly critical of him.
Listening in on their conversation, Leon tried his best to hide his smile.
If only they knew…
“Why are you smiling?”
Perhaps not doing a very good job at hiding his smile, or because she was rather observant, Evelyn was quick to point out his actions, prompting several people to turn in Leon’s direction.
“Hm?”
Looking at Evelyn, he feigned ignorance while raising his brow.
“…I was just happy that we were about to go back. I’m also getting tired of this place.”
“Is that so?”
Evelyn’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t look convinced at all. In fact, the others were also not convinced. This was because he was usually the guy who would stop the conversations regarding Julien.
Last they recalled, he was the one who had thrown most of the cadets out of the window during ’that’ incident.
Something felt a little off, but they couldn’t quite explain it.
Watching them behave like that, Leon was left speechless. He opened his mouth slightly, searching for something to say, but in the end, he stayed quiet and simply glanced around instead.
They were standing in a quieter, more remote part of the city. The area was nearly empty, the usual crowd nowhere in sight. Buildings rose on either side, enclosing what looked like a small plaza. A few benches lined the edges, and at the center stood a solitary sculpture, its obsidian finish gleaming under the scorching white sun.
Currently, they were waiting for the Chancellor to arrive.
She had told them in advance to wait for her here. Knowing that she was the only person who could bring them away, they could only comply.
“Oh, by the way, did any of you get any souvenirs or bones? I’ve managed to buy myself quite a few. I think if we end up selling them in the Empire, I’ll make a good amount of money.”
It was surprisingly Kiera who talked as she raised her hand to show a small bag that seemed to be filled to the brim with items.
Aoife raised her brow.
“Since when did you have so much money? Wait, don’t tell me…”
A look of shock crossed Aoife’s features.
“What?”
“You… Don’t tell me that you sold your body? Oh, no…”
Kiera’s lips twitched, her entire expression twitching alongside her lips. With one glance, one could see that she was really struggling to remain composed. And that was the truth.
Be it Aoife or Evelyn… The two of them had spent a major part of the trip trying to get her to break her ’character’. At first, they did it because they missed the old Kiera, but then it just became their source of entertainment.
Even the way they addressed her changed to ’boring Kiera’.
The fact that Kiera had yet to break showed just how committed she was.
“Tsk? Still no reaction?”
…And Kiera also liked the expressions that Aoife and Evelyn made whenever they failed to make her break character.
It was just as she was about to open her mouth to reply that a figure materialized in front of them, her long, lustrous black hair swaying faintly as her obsidian eyes locked onto them. Immediately, all noise ceased as all eyes fell on the Chancellor who quietly looked at them before settling her gaze towards Aoife.
“Everyone is present, Chancellor. There is not a single person missing.”
As the one responsible for the third years, it was only natural that she handled the roll call. Because of that, she knew with certainty that everyone was present.
Delilah nodded quietly, her thoughts unknown as she turned her head towards the distance, her brows lightly furrowed.
The surroundings turned quiet once more as all the cadets looked at her, waiting for her to do something. However, even as the minutes passed, Delilah remained standing still, not moving a single muscle as the cadets started to grow more and more confused.
’What’s going on?’
’Is something happening? Why are we not leaving yet?’
’….Are we waiting for someone?’
’Are we about to get ambushed?’
All sorts of whispers and murmurs filled the small plaza as the cadets looked at each other in confusion.
Even Aoife and the others were left confused by the sudden delay.
’What the hell is happening?’
’How should I know?’
The only one that had an inkling of the situation was Leon, who couldn’t help but raise his brow in surprise. Could it be…?
Sure enough, not long after the thoughts entered his mind, a certain figure appeared in the distance. Leon was the first one to notice as he turned in the direction of the figure, his lips slowly pulling into a smile as Delilah’s gaze also fell on him.
The frown that had been marring her features slowly settled, and her usually stoic expression returned.
However, if one looked closely, they’d notice a faint curling of her lips as she turned her head to look away.
“Hey, Leon…” Evelyn called out suddenly, brushing a strand of her purple hair behind her ear as she turned toward him. “Do you have any idea what’s going on? Because Aoife is being pretty useless right now.”
“Hey…”
“It’s true, though.”
Evelyn shrugged, giving Aoife a look that seemed to say, ’No lies were told here.’
Aoife was just about to snap back with a retort when her eyes suddenly followed Leon’s gaze, and then she saw it. In an instant, her expression shifted. No… it didn’t just shift. Her face drained of all color, going pale as chalk. It was the kind of look someone had when they saw something they were never meant to. Like she had just seen a ghost.
This sudden change confused Evelyn.
“What’s up with you? Why—”
However, she was quick to realize the reason for the change, as her face also showed similar changes.
“That… That…”
Evelyn started to stutter, the words seemingly not getting out.
“You two can stop. I’m not falling for it.”
Looking at them, Kiera rolled her eyes. She could see what they were trying to do from miles away. This was probably going to be another annoying trick to piss her off.
However, her thoughts changed rather quickly as she noticed that Aoife and Evelyn weren’t the only ones who were showing similar looks. Kaelion, Amell, and even the usually cold Caius started showing similar expressions of shock as they stared in the same direction as everyone.
’Is everyone in it together? What’s going on…?’
Unable to hold her curiosity any longer, Kiera finally turned her head, and it was in the exact moment that she turned her head that her eyes locked onto a figure she was all too familiar with.
With a face that was evenly proportioned on all sides, and skin that was devoid of any blemishes, he looked no inferior to Leon. His eyes were sharp, and his dark hair swayed gently with each step that he took.
However, the most striking feature of his was his deep hazel eyes that seemed to arrogantly look down on anything they set their eyes on.
It was as if all noise had been stripped away from the surroundings as all eyes fell on the figure that they hadn’t seen in so long.
And then… Just as the silence seemed to stretch for an eternity, Julien raised his hand, greeting everyone as though he had just come back from a small trip.
“How have you all been?”
Silence.
Julien’s words were met with silence as all eyes remained trained on him. Some were more shocked than others, while others were at a complete loss.
But in the end…
Swooosh!
A shadow blurred, and a figure appeared before Julien, her hands outstretched before latching onto him.
Thud!
The two of them fell onto the ground as Julien looked at Kiera in surprise. She actually cared this much about him? He was at a loss.
“I’ll kill you!”
“….?”
But it soon became clear to him that he was overthinking, as he felt a pair of hands latched onto his throat.
“….Fucker, you’re supposed to be dead! I’ll kill you!”
Kiera didn’t bother lowering her voice; she spoke clearly, loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. The force behind her words cut through the silence, and several people snapped out of their stupor all at once, blinking as if suddenly yanked back to reality.
Flustered, Julien tried to speak.
“Wait, hold on. I’m—”
He didn’t even get a few more words out until another figure appeared, dashing in his direction before jumping next to Kiera and latching onto his throat as well.
“Let me help!”
“Aoife!?”
“Me too!”
“Evelyn!”
“Same.”
“Caius!?”
Before Julien knew it, a crowd had formed around him, all of whom looked incredibly angry at him as they grabbed onto his throat and tried to strangle him. Not expecting such a reaction, Julien desperately looked around before settling his gaze onto Leon, who stared at him in silence.
’Help me!’
Leon eventually smiled, taking a step forward as he moved towards Julien.
Julien’s eyes lit up as soon as he saw Leon move.
’As expected of my knight! He wasn’t useless after al—’
“If you want to strangle him, at least put some effort into it. How about we have the body users do the strangling while the mages keep him sealed?”
Julien’s eyes widened upon hearing his words.
However, Leon didn’t care at all as he continued to give out orders.
“Make sure when you strangle him, you block his airways. It’s important that he can’t breathe.”
“….!!!”
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