Chapter 61: Let's Move Out
Chapter 61: Let's Move Out
"That's not your problem," Pamil answered with a serious question. "Instead, tell me. Did anyone follow you?"
Linfel answered that. "Not really. If anyone with Magic Energy in their bodies had got close to us, I would have known. You guys know about my Magic Energy Sensitivity, after all."
Pamil sighed in relief. "That's good, that's good. Go back to your room and pretend you didn't see us, okay? I'm sure to compensate you later."
"Wait!" Milia quickly intervened. "How did they find us here?"
Alvin and Felia pointed at Linfel. "Linfel told us to follow him."
Linfel shrugged. "I just said, didn't I? Magic Energy Sensitivity."
"Oh!" Milia quickly understood. "So he noticed our Magic Energy Energies. That makes sense since our Faction is pretty much empty with or without war."
Natalie hurried them. "Alright, we don't have much time. Send them away, and let's go."
"Yes," Pamil agreed with her. "Go back, Alvin, Linfel, Felia. We will talk another day."
Alvin smiled and nodded. "Don't worry, Senior Pamil. We won't tell anyone. Oh, by the way, I left you a letter in your office room earlier. Take a look when you find the time."
"A letter?" Pamil got puzzled. "About what?"
"You will see," Alvin didn't elaborate, though. "Now then, I'm going back. I hope we can see each other later."
Pamil narrowed his eyes but didn't insist. His group didn't have much time left. "Alright, I will take a look later. Let's hope everything ends well."
Alvin turned around to leave. Yet, as soon as he opened the door, he bumped into Droval. "D-Droval..."
"Alvin? What are you doing here?" Droval asked, seeming a little nervous.
"Droval, come in," Pamil quickly pulled Droval as well before speaking to Alvin. "Don't worry. Droval also knows about our presence. Droval, what do you want?"
Droval sighed in relief and passed a letter to Pamil. "Well... Alvin left it for you."
"My letter!" Alvin was taken aback and tried to take it from Droval's hand.
*Zush!*
However, Pamil was even faster and took the letter instead. "What is this?" Since the letter was there, he decided to take a look straight away.
Droval scratched the back of his head, feeling apologetic. "Sorry, Alvin. Pamil asked me to report everything strange to him, and your letter definitely didn't seem normal..."
Pamil ignored that and read the letter. "You..."
Alvin didn't know how to explain. "Please, keep quiet about it, okay? I'm going to the west border. My brother, Connor, was drafted there. And yet, I was told to stay in the academy until the war was over. I just can't stay here and pretend nothing is happening, so I'm going as well."
Linfel quickly helped. "Pamil, you want us to keep silent about your presence here, so keep silent about our departure, will you?"
Pamil and the others didn't look shocked. Instead, they all held weird expressions. "Well, at least he is truly worth being a member of our Floating Blades Faction..."
"Could it be..." Linfel noticed something.
Pamil's group nodded. "We are also making our way to the war frontlines."
"Why?" Felia found it strange. "You all have strong backgrounds, and your elders are all high-level Maguses and Familiars. They will be fighting or contributing with lots of resources in exchange for keeping you guys out of danger. Isn't that right? We saw pretty much everyone similar to you being taken back to their homes."
Milia closed her eyes for a moment. "The same reason as you all. We are all Rank A Students in this academy, and yet we are being sent home. How ridiculous is that? The Academy was forced to send all the lower ranked Students and Familiars. Now, they are there risking their lives while we are back home drinking tea?
I absolutely can't accept that, so I hid out before anyone could come to fetch me."
Pamil and Natalie nodded. "The same goes for the two of us. Still, it took us a while before we secured a route where we could leave the academy without being noticed to make our way to the frontlines."
Linfel looked at William, the dwarf. "You too?"
William shook his head, though. "No. My family couldn't care less whether I go and die in the war or not. I'm like this, I have dwarfism. So they can't wait just to get rid of me. Still, I want to help Pamil and the others since they don't mind my problem, so I decided to go with them."
Linfel narrowed his eyes. He could see such great potential in William with his different Magic Energy Channels; how could his family not see this? "Hmph! It's their loss."
The others smiled. They didn't care about William's situation. Otherwise, why would they let him join the Floating Blades Faction?
"Still," Natalie found it strange. "Why would you be forced to stay in the academy. You don't have a background like us, so you should have been drafted like everyone else, no?"
Other than Linfel's group, only Milia and Nori, her Familiar, knew about Alvin's double MFC. "A few things happened in the last Field Exam that Alvin and I participated in together. Don't try to pry too much into it, will you?"
Pamil didn't expect that answer, especially seeing Milia, the ice queen, covering for someone. "Did he steal your virginity?"
*Pah!*
*Ouch!*
"What the hell are you talking about?" Natalie spoke after slapping Pamil's back head. She then quickly turned to Milia, expecting her to explode in anger at any moment. Milia always had a short temper, after all. However... she just looked away as a tinge of red appeared on her face. "You can't be serious..."
"OF COURSE NOT!" Alvin quickly intervened, not noticing Milia's reaction at all. "She knows a little secret between me and my Familiars, that's all."
Milia nodded slightly, still finding it hard to look at Alvin. "That's basically it..."
Nori looked at his Master. It took time before he was fixed, so he missed most of Milia's interactions with Alvin after the events in the Field Exam. Nonetheless, Nori knew her master better than anyone else. 'Milia, what happened?' he whispered in her ears, seeing that she was acting in a way he had never seen before.
'Nothing...' Milia didn't elaborate, though.
Pamil and Natalie looked at Alvin and Milia several times. Alvin seemed to be acting normal as if he didn't see anything wrong. However, they also have known Milia for a while, so they definitely noticed that weird reaction.
Pamil quickly approached Natalie and used his Magic Energy to whisper in her ears. 'I only said that as a joke. Do you think I was right?'
Natalie wanted to deny it, but she found it hard to do so. 'I wouldn't go as far as losing her virginity... but something must have happened. It's just that Alvin himself seems to be oblivious to it all.'
Felia smiled. Her master was indeed oblivious, but it was becoming more and more obvious to her. 'Could there truly be something there?' She wondered in her mind.
Linfel was as clueless as ever, though. "What is the problem? Why the silence?"
"Ahem!" Natalie stopped there. "Alvin has a secret, and Milia knows it, that's all. Now then, can we talk about the war?"
Pamil followed suit. "Yes. Alvin, normally, I wouldn't allow you to go against the orders you received. Too bad, though. Except for William, we are all going against our orders. I simply don't have the right to condemn you since I'm doing the same thing."
Natalie turned her attention to Droval. "Droval, go back to your work and keep an eye open. If anything happens, let us know."
"Alright," Droval accepted the task and left.
"How do you intend to leave the Academy without anyone knowing?" William asked Linfel's group.
"This..." Alvin was taken aback for a moment.
Linfel came up with a plan to use someone else's Magic Energy signature to pass through the checkpoints on the way out. Everyone believed Magic Energy Signatures couldn't be copied, but Linfel obviously could do so. However, they couldn't possibly tell Pamil and the others about this ability Linfel has, right?
"Seems like it is hard to speak," Pamil noticed the conflict on Alvin's face. "Forget it. Why don't you come with us, then? We also have a way out and already prepared transportation to the frontlines."
Alvin pondered a bit and asked. "But I'm going to the west border. Were you planning to go there as well?"
"Yes," Pamil nodded. "Pretty much all the Maguses and Familiars of our Academy were sent to the West Border, so we obviously are going there too. It is the closest front line, so it makes sense that our Academy was being used there."
Linfel and Alvin looked at each other and nodded. They must have their own way of leaving, and it wouldn't require Linfel to use his ability to copy Magic Energy Signatures. That would reduce the risks of his secrets being found. "Please, bring us with you."
*Beep...*
Suddenly, a beep went off in the room, and everyone looked at William.
"It is here. We need to go now," William spoke. "We are truly bringing Alvin, Linfel, and Felia with us, right?"
"If we don't, they will move on their own," Pamil shrugged. "I would rather have our members close by than somewhere else."
"Very well," William spoke and went to the back of the room. There, a secret passage opened, revealing a tunnel. "Let's move out."