Stranded
Stranded
When we reached the clearing, we sat down to rest.
The professors and knights were resting, too. It seemed there was some device in the clearing—or in that wooden box—that kept monsters away.
Behind us, students gathered in the clearing one after another, accompanied by their professors or knights.
Although there had been a somewhat dangerous incident, it looked as though the field trip would end just like this.
As time passed, the sun dipped toward the treetops, and darkness began to settle all around us.
When are we leaving?
Having rested longer than expected, I looked around.
As I scanned my surroundings, I noticed that the teachers' and knights' expressions had turned grave.
I pricked up my ears.
"What happened?"
"One group hasn't arrived yet."
"Aren't they taking too long?"
Who hadn't made it?
I checked to see who was missing.
A few students were nowhere to be seen, and one of the professors was missing, too.
Katrin. Professor Katrin was nowhere in sight.
Only then did my team members realize something was amiss.
"It looks like something happened."
At Balea's words, everyone looked around.
"It seems there's a group that hasn't arrived yet."
I told them why.
"What?"
Everyone scanned the people around them in alarm.
"Bria is missing."
As Balea looked through the crowd, she noticed one of her friends was missing, and...
"Oh goodness, Mirisa!"
Piar realized his cousin wasn't there.
"Uh, Katrin isn't here."
The Princess also spoke to me in a startled voice.
Just as the Princess said, Professor Katrin's group was missing.
"Wait a moment. I'll go find out what happened."
Professor Niel, who had been resting with us, walked over to where the Headmaster was standing.
Knights and professors were gathered around the Headmaster.
I tried to listen in by channeling mana into my ears, but I couldn't hear well. They seemed to have cast a mana barrier.
My team members were restless. In particular, the Princess's face had turned pale.
It seemed the Princess knew something.
What happens if Professor Katrin's group takes even longer? Do we just wait like this? Night will fall soon.
As I wondered about that, the professors and knights gathered around the Headmaster returned to their respective groups.
Professor Niel returned to our group, too.
Everyone watched Professor Niel's lips, but she deferred to the Headmaster.
"The Headmaster will make an announcement."
No sooner had she finished speaking than the Headmaster spoke up in a loud voice.
"One group has been stranded and has not yet arrived. We continued to wait, but as night falls, we can no longer wait."
Just as the Headmaster said, the sun was already sinking beyond the trees.
Since this was a deep forest, it was bound to get dark quickly.
"For safety reasons, we will leave behind a search party composed of knights, while the rest of us return to the Academy."
It was as expected. We couldn't all stay here through the night just because one group hadn't arrived.
The sensible thing to do was for everyone else to return first, while the search party found the missing team, brought them back here, and then returned to the Academy.
Still, what on earth had happened? For Katrin's group not to arrive... No matter how unskilled her team members were, Katrin alone would have been more than capable of handling things.
The students grew agitated at the sudden turn of events.
"Can't we wait a little longer?"
A student asked, but the Headmaster shook his head.
"The duration of the artifact deterring monsters is almost up. In a short while, monsters will swarm this place."
The Headmaster immediately urged the students to move.
"The Seal Grounds at night are far more dangerous than during the day. Everyone, prepare to move."
Everyone looked worried, but they had no choice but to obey the Headmaster's orders.
The Princess, though, was different from them.
"I will stay, too."
"You cannot."
Professor Niel immediately rejected the Princess's request.
"It will do no good to speak to the Headmaster. We cannot leave a young student who has only recently awakened in the Seal Grounds. Besides, Your Highness is royalty. No one will grant permission."
Professor Niel spoke firmly, unlike before.
In essence, she was saying she wouldn't allow the Princess to stay because she was royalty, not merely because she was a young student.
More importantly, I didn't know why the Princess was being so stubborn.
I understood that she was worried about her aunt, Katrin, but she ought to know full well that joining the search party wouldn't help at all.
"But even if the search party finds them, they won't be able to return right away, will they?"
At the Princess's words, Professor Niel's expression hardened.
What does that mean? Once they find them, all they have to do is return with the Headmaster.
No, wait.
"Don't tell me there's a cooldown—I mean, a waiting period—for teleporting?"
At my question, the Princess nodded, her face pale.
Everyone was shocked by the Princess's answer.
"When will it be possible again?"
"We came in the morning and are returning now, so shouldn't we be able to come back tomorrow morning?"
Balea and Piar, who each had a friend or cousin among the missing, asked hurriedly.
"Since we're returning the mana that brought us here to its original place, there is no problem with the return,"
Professor Niel explained kindly to the other students, unlike her usual self.
"But once we go back, all the mana gathered in the magic array will dissipate, so they said it will take about a week."
Counting on her fingers, she put on a piteous expression.
"It won't be easy for the knights remaining behind to spend a week here, either."
At Professor Niel's words, Piar made an urgent request, too.
"I will stay, too."
"No. You will be of no help whatsoever, so I cannot permit it."
She addressed all the team members with a stern expression.
"I shouldn't say this, but make sure you all remember it well. The Royal Academy is not an educational institution like an academy of arts and sciences. This is a place where you learn the duties of nobility and where you will witness death. You must get used to the death of your comrades as well."
The professor was telling them to prepare themselves for the deaths of the students and professor who hadn't arrived.
The students were shocked by her words, and I was no different.
I already knew that the academies in this world were completely different from the schools in my past life.
I knew they were closer to military academies than ordinary schools, and far more dangerous than I had expected.
But this was the first time I had truly felt it.
From the Headmaster down to the professors, none of them took the deaths of students and staff during training seriously.
Though they were all awakeners and nobles meant to lead the country, they were ultimately people who could die during training.
'Still, the Princess must be an exception.'
Knowing she could never stay, the Princess looked at me earnestly.
I could immediately tell what she meant.
She couldn't ask aloud, but with an expression like that, I couldn't possibly fail to understand.
I let out a sigh.
It wasn't because of the Princess's request.
Even if it were anyone else, I couldn't just let Katrin die.
If I had only one life, I would have refused, but doing this once seemed fine.
Besides, I was curious about what had happened.
I turned and walked toward the Headmaster.
"You too?! I said no!"
Professor Niel shouted from behind. It seemed her true personality had slipped out.
People were preparing to relocate.
Under the professors' guidance, they formed up according to their positions, just as they had when they arrived.
A few knights stood some distance away. All of them had grim expressions. They appeared to be the ones selected for the search party.
I stood before the Headmaster, who was sitting on a closed box and regulating his mana.
He opened his eyes and looked up at me.
"What is it?"
"I intend to join the search party."
He knitted his brows at my words.
"What is your name?"
"Alex De Gracia."
Hearing my name, he let out a sigh.
"So it was you who was bothering me."
He glanced behind me and shook his head.
"Since the Princess desires it so earnestly, I have no choice. You may join."
The reason the Princess, who hadn't even awakened, had been evacuated to the Academy was that the Headmaster sitting before me was on the side of the Princess and the Queen.
He was the one who had accepted Katrin as a professor, accepted me into the Academy under the Queen's sponsorship, and covered up the incident involving the instructor who committed suicide at the matriculation ceremony.
And among the faculty, Katrin and the Headmaster were the only ones who knew I acted as a sort of hidden bodyguard for the Princess.
That was why he could permit me to join the search party.
"Hey, where are you going?!"
"I'm joining the search party."
"What?"
As I walked away after finishing my conversation with the Headmaster, Manuel bellowed at me.
I merely waved my hand dismissively.
The Princess couldn't bring herself to meet my eyes.
She was just biting her lower lip tightly, clutching her pants with both hands.
I wasn't doing it for the Princess, but she seemed to feel quite guilty about it.
I decided to leave her be. If she felt that way, it would be all the better to wring a lavish reward out of her later.
Balea was looking at me enviously.
What on earth was there to envy?
Piar looked at me and the search party knights with an earnest expression.
He seemed deeply worried about his cousin.
The other students also looked at me in astonishment.
It was blatantly clear that I was heading toward the search party.
Ignoring everyone's gazes, I walked over to the knights standing some distance away.
"I've joined the search party. I'm Alex."
At my greeting, the knights wore bewildered expressions.
A student joining a search party—even I knew it must be incomprehensible to them.
"The Headmaster permitted it. The Princess requested it as well."
I spoke first, before the knights could say anything.
Though they were all dumbfounded, none of them could object.
The Headmaster and the Princess. As expected, I had powerful backing.
A moment later.
Whoosh.
Along with a bright light, the people vanished.
I hadn't noticed when I relocated directly, but watching from the outside, I found the method of transport quite fascinating.
'It didn't look like teleportation, but rather as if they were being carried along by mana.'
They moved so quickly that it looked as though they had vanished, but examining the residual mana, it seemed they were speeding along a path connected by mana.
'Is that why I felt motion sick?'
Although I hadn't fully grasped it yet, it seemed an investigation would yield interesting results.
After everyone disappeared, the knights rose to their feet.
They set off toward the forest and began speaking.
"I hope we can make it back alive."
"It won't be easy, will it?"
"Honestly, if we can't return together with them, we should consider ourselves as good as dead."
Their conversation was steeped in gloom.
"Do we have rations?"
"We have a week's worth. No, since one more person has joined us, it's only six days' worth."
A middle-aged knight glanced at the backpack his comrade was carrying, then turned to look at me as I followed behind.
"Why did you come to a place where you'll die?"
At his words, I smirked.
"It's much the same for me as it is for you, Sir Knights. I, too, am bound."
It was a vague excuse, but the knights let out bitter smiles at my words.
It reminded them of their own plight.
"What's your skill level? Surely you won't drag us down?"
Another knight asked.
I answered his question.
"I've been certified by a knight from my domain—as an intermediate knight or higher."
When I said that, all the knights turned to look at me.
I shrugged.