Capítulo 85: End of Excursion
Watching the scene from above, sitting on a tree branch, I felt happy that my backup plan had worked out well.
Before I had left the cave this morning, I had instructed the angry girl to call for help if I didn't return within two hours, something I had a good feeling that she would do even though she screamed, 'You are just a commoner! Don't tell me what to do!'.
Right now, Bellatrix had succeeded in bringing our teachers to the scene, where they were now opening some sort of portal device where several medics walked out and started emergency care on my friends.
From my perspective, it seemed like Sarah was the least injured, with Anna following closely. Then we had the monster Sophie who snored happily even though her body was in tatters after tormenting herself with her new Skill.
However, the condition of Arthur was... not so good...
With pieces of bones sticking out of his skin, and blood escaping from his every orifice, it seemed like if the medics had just been a bit late to arrive, his life might not have been guaranteed. In my heart, I hoped that he would learn a valuable lesson from this. In what kind of world would losing your cool suddenly make you stronger? It was just stupid, with Sophie being a very big exception...
And when it came to me? I was exhausted, having poured out a lot of energy to [Materialize] both Matt and transform my body, as to then pour out a lot of my mist onto my scythe and detonated it. Thankfully, I didn't receive a single injury, making it very likely that no one would suspect that I had just taken the life of a demon. That would be impossible for just a freshman, right?
Even though the demons hadn't been more than [D+]-rank, they had been strong, much stronger than the average [D+] hunter, or at least that's what I assumed from the research using the godly internet.
Demons were a lot like dungeon bosses in that they were often stronger than humans, elves, or dwarves. However the mana they used corrupted their minds and automatically made them bow down to the demon lord, who supplied them with maryoku, a demonic kind of mana.
Just as I was about to take flight, and quickly kill some goblins to buy me an alibi, Ms. Turner's eyes suddenly locked on to me. Not wanting to look suspicious, I did my best to act like a raven would act, namely just sitting there in silence.
Luckily, Mr. Brown quickly brought her out of her suspicions, "Ms. Turner! Please don't just stand there, go find the other students so we can return to the academy! I'll go with these guys through the portal!"
"Oh, yes! I'm on it!"
When she turned around, I allowed myself to finally take a breath and spread my wings. Taking flight, it was hard to control my rapid heartbeats, feeling as if I had been a fly caught in her web. 'I have to be careful around her...'
==========
"James! We are ending this excursion early! Please follow me!"
Ms. Turner had found me right in the middle of ending the lives of a couple of goblins, looking a bit surprised at how good my condition was. Having already planted a story in Bellatrix's head, that the reason she might have to call for help was that I had found a mutant and I wasn't sure if I was going to be alright, I had to act as if I had no idea what had happened.
Narrowing my eyes, I tried my best to look confused, "Why? Don't we have a lot of hours left? Did something happen?"
Ms. Turner's eyes turned sad as she remembered the state of my friends, "I'll tell you when we get back to the academy. Now, hurry up and go to the outpost. I'll have to get the others."
Just before she was about to run ahead, she quickly turned around, "Oh, Adriana is already at the outpost, so you don't have to worry." Then, she made her way through the trees, hurrying to quickly find the rest of the students.
'Guess she didn't notice...'
A part of me was still nervous that she had somehow figured out that I was the bird she had locked her eyes on, but that did not seem to be the case.
"Hoh... So everything worked out in the end. All in all, it went pretty well!"
Thinking back at what had happened, I could still feel the great sensation when my body was squished onto Sarah's, my small body enveloped in her softness for a second.
Of course, what followed was painful as hell, getting smashed to pieces by a huge, wooly hand, but a part of me almost wanted to do it again.
=======
Back at the academy, it felt as if the air itself had been strung up, filled with tension as everyone quickly heard the rumors of the demons' ambush. It was truly remarkable just how fast the word had spread, with not even more than a couple of hours passing since the incident.
For us, our teachers had gathered us in our homerooms to talk about what had gone down.
"You have all done well to survive the wilderness for these past three days. I apologize for having to cut your excursion a bit short, but as you may or may not know, your fellow freshmen got ambushed by two demons."
Not a single one of us had anything to say, even though he had made a conscious pause if someone had a question.
Noticing that, he continued, "The students that go caught up in this incident are all still alive. Fortunately, it seems that the demons weren't all too strong, as they somehow managed to fend them off and defeat them. However, because of this incident, you will have tomorrow off, as the academy has to quickly make preparations."
Letting his eyes wander the room, to make sure everyone was listening intently, he concluded our session with some words of caution, "Although this doesn't mean that we are suddenly at risk for a full-out invasion, I want to encourage you all to act with caution. I do not want to see any of my students dying in the hands of a demon."
When everyone got up to leave the room, Mr. Brown suddenly made his way to me, stopping me from exiting the room.
"Mr. Brown, do you need anything?"
Having a complicated expression, he put up his hand to signal to wait until the other students had left the room.
When the last student had left, which happened to be Adriana who looked at me with a frown, he finally explained.
"You have been summoned by the king. He wants you to head to the castle as soon as possible. That's all I know."
With a confused mind, I had no choice but to do as asked. There was no way I could refuse the orders of the king, after all.
=======
"Welcome, Mr. Jackson. It's a pleasure to meet you again."
Standing in front of the king in his throne room, I felt so incredibly small. Being surrounded by numerous guards, all with [B]-rank or higher was suffocating.
The throne room was also incredibly huge, probably big enough to fit at least a couple of hundred people if they squeezed together.
'Things are happening too fast...'
So many things had happened in so little time. Just earlier this day, I was still out in the Goblin Lands, killing a female Squidward to save my friends.
Now, I was suddenly standing in front of Sarah's father, who was probably sick with worry but unable to see her because of his position. Still, that did make me think about what could possibly be so important to prioritize meeting me, rather than seeing his injured daughter.
"Thanks for welcoming me, my king."
Taking a knee, I followed the routine when meeting royalty, not wanting to risk getting on his bad side.
However, the king just shook his head, "There's no need for that. Please stand up. Oh, and guards, please leave us alone for a bit. I want to speak with the young man in private."
Reacting to his absurd words, one of the younger guards couldn't stop himself from speaking up.
"My king! We can't just leave you with an unknown commoner! Please, reconsider!"
"Silence! What kind of time are we living in when you can question the words of a king?! Leave! That's an order!"
Not answering, as they were afraid to make him even angrier by wasting time, all the guards quickly left the room and closed the giant doors.
As soon as they left, I could visibly see the body of King George relax, as he sank down a bit on his throne.
"Sorry for that. They are just a bit tense right now, with everything that's happening in the world."
Unable to understand his words, as I didn't think he was just referring to what happened to his daughter, I had to inquire, "What do you mean? Is there something going on?"
Standing up, he quickly dismissed my question, "Forget about that. Now, please follow me so we can sit down. I have a lot to ask you, after all."
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
Antenz
Antenz I have made the decision to sign a contract with webnovel for this novel. Hopefully, I won't be forced to lock chapters, and can keep it to having a privilege system, but time will tell.
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