Chapter 236 - Earlier (End)

The silence overwhelming the place was deafening. Coupled with the solemn look on the Mages and the scared civilians in the background, the atmosphere was anything but comfortable.

The Knights were curious, but none of them immediately asked the Mages what they had received. They gave the Mages some time before eventually asking them when the look on the expression on the Mages' face eased slightly.

Thompson acted as the representative. "Do you mind if I ask what made you guys so tense?"

"Ruttenhale has fallen."

Gasp!

The Knights and the civilians reacted the same way. All of them were shocked by Iliana's quick and direct answer—they immediately looked at her as if she was lying.

"It is to be expected." Iliana lightly shrugged. "That stupid King decided to send the Royal Army's Legions to BA-32 instead of sending them there—what do you expect to happen? 30,000 or so people winning against more than 60,000 Monsters?"

Iliana sounded apathetic to the whole situation, but she was actually raging inside. How could she not? The rest of Rehearsal Class, her family, were deployed there—she was worried about their safety.

On the other side, the people who had heard Iliana's aggressive comment regarding the King's decision were either shaking their head or clicking their tongue bitterly. They couldn't—they didn't want to argue with Iliana as they, too, were dissatisfied with the decision.

It would have been no problem if the King hadn't broadcasted his decision through the whole Kingdom, leaving the others unaware of it, but he unfortunately had a different thought.

He had thought that broadcasting the Five Princes' departure was a good idea, uncaring to the chaos he provoked.

They hadn't heard any news regarding the Five Princes' yet—whether they had arrived at BA-32 or died in their way there—however, it was clear the Princes and the legions that went with them hadn't contributed anything to the war.

"We shall move. Thinking about it won't give us anything other than distress." Iliana turned to the civilians. "We will escort you to safety, and I hope you can keep up with our pace."

The civilians were rather uncomfortable with Iliana's word, but none of them protested her as they knew they should be grateful of her benevolence to escort them.

Mages were generally morally twisted; they couldn't just meet benevolent Mages everyday. Therefore, they had to be grateful for the fact that they met a Mage like Iliana, who was not very benevolent but kind enough to save them.

"Do you know the shortest way possible to go back to the hotel?" Iliana turned to Basil.

"You know my answer." Basil smirked, before instructing Deacon to return to his original size through their [Link].

Boom!

Mana overwhelmed the surrounding area the moment Deacon returned to his original size, turning the civilians aghast. Basil ignored the civilians' look of admiration that was mixed with fear, and immediately mounted Deacon afterwards.

Iliana followed suit just a second after Basil, then pointed her finger to her petite fellow Mage before calling said Mage's name.

"Jocelyn, come with me. I know you won't be able to travel on your own."

"Huh? Me?" Jocelyn tilted her head in puzzlement. "I can travel by myself—I have my Transportation Artefact!"

"You are tired, aren't you? Just get on."

Jocelyn wanted to refuse again, but the moment she saw the look of dissatisfaction on Iliana's face, she immediately propelled herself upwards to get on Deacon's back. She was afraid Iliana would do something she didn't want to experience to her.

Iliana caught Jocelyn even before she landed on Deacon's back, then positioned Jocelyn right between Basil and her. She then put her hand on Jocelyn's waist to ensure that she wouldn't fall off when Deacon moved.

"Am I... Being treated like a child?"

"It is just your imagination, Jocelyn."

"Is that so? Hmm..."

Jocelyn was musing to herself in genuine curiosity, and Iliana didn't have the heart to tell her that she was indeed treating Jocelyn like a child. She couldn't help doing so—Jocelyn's demeanor and physique made her look like one.

"Basil, would you mind allowing Sylvia and Effie ride with you too? Tney are still spent from their fight."

"W-What? Thompson, we don't need that—we are fine!"

"I agree with Sylvia, Thompson. As a Knight, our physical ability is superior than any Mage."

Iliana looked at the scene below with a quirked eyebrow; she was equally amused at Thompson's care towards his party members and the two girls' hypocrisy. She could see that they secretly wanted to ride Deacon.

"Hmph! Let them be, if they don't—"

"They can ride with me."

Iliana immediately looked at Basil in bewilderment the moment he agreed to take Sylvia and Effie with them. She understood that Basil merely didn't want to prolong the matter, but she couldn't help feeling something unpleasant in her chest.

'Why do they have to bother me now?' Of course, Iliana was professional enough to keep everything to herself. She remained unperturbed on the outside.

"O-Oh, really? We may ride with you?" Sylvia was trying her best to suppress her excitement on the fact that she would be on the same mount with Basil. "Won't you feel bothered by our—"

"No," Basil answered curtly.

"O-Okay, then... Can I sit in front of you?"

"No."

"T-Then, can I sit behind—"

"Just quit yapping and get on. There is still some space behind Iliana."

While Sylvia sighed in disappointment, Effie merely shook her head bitterly. Sylvia still couldn't let go of her "first love"—it was apparent—and she didn't know how to tell Sylvia to stop chasing him; he had a girlfriend already!

Both of them immediately hopped on Deacon's back, then sat closely behind Iliana. Sylvia, who was just a few centimeters away from Iliana, didn't dare to hug Iliana but she had Effie hug her waist to ensure that she wouldn't fall when Deacon moved.

Seeing that everyone was ready, Basil instructed Deacon to move through their [Link]. Before Deacon could take off however, someone suddenly opened her mouth.

"Am I not considered a woman here?" Alexandra looked like she was about to cry. "Why am I the only woman who don't get to ride Deacon?"

Basil lightly sighed in exasperation, then quirked his eyebrow as he looked at Alexandra. "Are you tired?" Alexandra was about to answer him, but he immediately cut her. "Then, get on. Don't waste my time."

Alexandra's eyes lit up, and she immediately propelled herself upwards with a Fire Element Spell—a rather flashy and annoying way—to get on Deacon's back. The moment she sat herself right behind Effie, Deacon immediately dashed forward.

Everyone was surprised, but luckily none of them fell off Deacon's back. What Basil conveyed was clear, "Don't mess around," so all of them stayed quiet the entire way ... At least, that is what they thought Basil wanted to convey.

'Has humanity turned so weak, even eight Legions of Royal Army can't handle 11 Legions of Goap's army? There is only one of the Goap's Six Generals there, but all of them have already been defeated? Ludicrous!'

Basil was, in truth, thinking about the peculiarity of the development of the situation that had deviated from the way it should've developed in his past life.

He was aware he had changed many future events by killing Eugene, but he didn't expect something like the early fall of Ruttenhale Barony would happen. Unless Goap had decided to go all out since the very beginning, something like this shouldn't have happened.

'If that is the case... What is his intention of rushing things up?'

As he thought about what could possibly be Goap's aim, Basil activated [Visualization]. His target was Ruttenhale Barony.

The moment he saw what was happening there, he couldn't help humming to himself. Another one of Goap's Six Generals had arrived there, along with the 11 Legions he led.

...

On the other side of Raneil Barony, Darius, along with his team, was already close to reaching Familia Hotel. All of them were riding their Transportation Artefact at an extremely high speed with an urgent look on their face.

Many things had happened in the few hours they did their investigation, and none of them was a good thing to hear.

The official news about the fall of Ruttenhale Barony hadn't been broadcasted yet, but they luckily had their friends to inform them about it.

Unlike Darius and the group of students he brought, Annabeth and the rest of the students had only arrived at their destination, Ruttenhale Barony, a few minutes ago.

They had been shocked to find out that Ruttenhale Barony had fallen the moment they reached there, and Annabeth immediately informed Darius about the event, so he wouldn't worry about them when the news came out.

Of course, it didn't ease him in the least bit as he knew what Annabeth and the others would be forced to do soon—fight the Demons. He was well aware of the urgency of the situation, so he made a quick decision.

Leave behind Raneil Barony that was already pretty much a lost cause, and go to fight the Demons in Woster County to prevent its fall.

An orange haired student with a lost expression on his face matched the speed Darius is traveling at, then spoke urgently. "President! I have just received another bad news! Team 3 is completely annihilated!"

"What?! How is that even possible?!" Darius was equally shocked and scared. "What about the Paladins? Aren't they supposed to escort Eugene and the others?"

"They were caught up in a clash between Magic Beasts and the Monsters."

As they were just a few meters away from the hotel, Darius immediately stopped, prompting the others to do the same. He was frowning heavily the moment he turned to the orange haired student.

"Rupert, who found their bodies?"

"Team 1 ... They encountered Rose Summer, who was in her last breath. Rose said that the others were eaten by the Monsters, and she was the only person who had managed to escape the Monsters intactly..."

"Don't hide anything, please."

"Marcus Shelby from Team 1 said Rose Summer died while holding someone's hand that is believed to belong to Elaine Spring." Rupert took a deep breath. "The entire time, she—Rose Summer didn't realize that she had lost her lower body."

"None of them died an easy death, is what you want to say, huh?"

Darius chuckled softly in disbelief as he didn't know what to make of the situation. Although none of the things had happened because of him, he couldn't help feeling responsible for what had happened to his fellow students.

"We shall think about it later ... The dead don't matter as much as the living."

In the end however, he decided to act like a Mage—focusing on what was in front of him.