Such a familiar voice and remark. Even as the person had yet to show herself hidden amongst the shadow of the trees, he knew exactly who she was.
"S-Silva…? How? Why are you here?"
The figure of the beautiful female acolyte from the Ouroboros Clan stepped out from the shadows. With a deep frown evident on her forehead, she said in a grumpy tone, "Why? Am I not welcome here?!"
Looking at her familiar face and attitude, Emery couldn't help but recall a series of memories from within the depths of his mind. They had been separated in quite a dramatic situation last time.
Suppressing the mixed feelings in his heart, Emery took a deep breath before smiling faintly as he said, "It's good to see you here, Silva."
The girl casually stepped forward, not towards him but towards the statue. Stopping right in front of it, "I heard about what happened to your senior. I'm sorry for your loss."
She then turned toward Emery, "I'm sorry about your friends too."
Before Emery could muster a response, the girl decided to sit on the grass. She then threw her gaze beyond the hill, gazing at the sunset beyond the Terra Kingdom.
"I was so surprised when I got the same recall. Fortunately being so far on the other side of the galaxy made me the last batch to get sent, it only lasted a minute before it was stopped."
She glanced at Emery's surprise reaction, before continuing, "I heard it was mostly thanks to your efforts. So thank you."
The words only reminded him how he was not fast enough to stop the recall spell sooner. Not knowing what to say Emery decided to sit down on the grass next to her.
Seeing his gloomy face Silva said, "Well, at least it's not all bad news. I saw your tournament fights and I heard that you just got bumped into second place. Congratulations!"
She then turned a little annoyed as she said, "Such a shame, if only they allowed you to fight that arrogant Zach in the final, you would be able to keep your promise and become the champion."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Well I guess being runner-up will do… I forgive you." She said with a cheeky smile.
This time, her words successfully made him cheer up for a second and after sharing a little smile with each other, Emery calmly asked the question he had.
"Now, can you please tell me why you are here, Silva?"
The girl finally turned serious, "I'm here to convince you not to return to your home planet."
It was a surprising answer that made the memory of her family offering him to stay and join the Ouroboros faction flooding back to him. Emery was silent for a few seconds before calmly saying.
"I am sorry Silva, I have things to do back home. I can't stay here."
As usual the white-haired girl would not take a no so easily and quickly replied, "You stand here so pathetically because you are still not sure, right? That's why I'm here." With confidence she added, "Come with me for a few hours and I'm sure you will be convinced."
Emery stared at the white-haired girl and could see the confidence in her eyes.
Standing up from the grass, she turned to Emery and said, "It has to be a secret though. Stand up and follow me now!"
With his current situation, It wasn't too hard for Emery to decide to follow the girl. Under her lead, the two of them discreetly made their way to a teleportation gate. As he stepped out onto the other side, Emery discovered he had arrived at an unfamiliar planet.
Casting his gaze over the horizon, Emery saw an empty wasteland with a few rocky yellow hills.
"Where is this? Where are we going, Silva?"
Unfortunately for Emery, the white-haired girl refused to elaborate.
"Just follow me, our destination is not that far from here."
A few minutes later, Emery saw that Silva had taken him to one of the rocky mountains. The moment he set foot at their destination, he immediately felt something unusual about it. His question was fortunately answered as they got closer, because he could feel some sort of formation barrier erected in the area in front of them.
The two of them stopped in front of a rock with a mark on it. When she pressed it, there was a tear on the barrier and the huge rock was split in two opening a path for them two.
The white-haired girl took the first step, beckoning for Emery to follow. As soon as he entered, he saw that the surroundings changed and the rocky hill gradually disappeared, revealing something else.
It was a small base, a secret outpost of some sort filled with the presence of a few dozen magus. Proving what he felt, several figures came out and stopped them as they approached. However, these people seemed to recognize them both as they quickly stepped aside and let them pass.
It wasn't long before the two of them reached the inner parts of the base, where Emery recognized a few familiar faces. Magus Darius of the Earth Institute, Magus Erika of the water institute and even Magus Minerva, who was his last classroom's instructor, were present.
The sight quickly convinced him that the group was part of the Magus Academy.
They all stared at him with strange expressions and only the female magus approached him, albeit reluctantly.
"You took him here Silva?" The female magus said.
"Yes Senior, I had to."
The female magus answered, "Hope you won't get in any trouble then."
Silva once again pulled Emery's arms and headed deeper into the post. Seeing such a situation, Emery couldn't help but ask once again.
"Why are they all here? What is going on here?"
Silva didn't answer and just took him to enter one of the stone buildings. Inside, Emery was surprised to find another familiar face he didn't expect to see in a place like this.
Standing at the far end of the room was the figure of the Headmaster Delbrand of the Magus Academy.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThe man looked at him and then turned to Silva saying, "I had specifically told you not to bring him here."
The words of the headmaster left Emery confused. Coupled with the peculiar reaction he had received earlier, Emery couldn't help but feel that something was wrong.
"Headmaster, what is going on?"
Unfortunately for him, neither Silva nor Headmaster Delbrand answered his question. They didn't seem to be paying attention to him as they were locked in a staring contest with each other. Moments later, the white-haired girl eventually broke the atmosphere.
"With all due respect, Headmaster, we absolutely need him if we want to have this mission succeed."
Emery watched in bewilderment as Headmaster Delbrand heaved a sigh after hearing Silva's words. Unable to contain himself, Emery once again interrupted the two and spoke his question out loud.
"What mission? Actually, what is all this about?
The headmaster turned towards Emery and said, "Don't take my words the wrong way, Emery. I was planning to tell you about this, but only after you had made the decision of not returning to your home planet. But evidently…"
The man glanced at Silva before continuing, "Your friend here has decided to go ahead against my wishes."
Hearing those words, Emery turned to look at his fierce friend, who dared to speak impolitely to the headmaster. Seeing his gaze towards her, Silva showed a wide smile without the slightest hint of remorse whatsoever.
Meanwhile, Headmaster Delbrand could only heave another sigh when he saw Silva's attitude. Shaking his head, he turned to Emery, "Nevermind that, now that you're here follow me. "
The headmaster walked out of the room and led them in front of a closed metal door. After confirming his identity, the door was swiftly opened and Emery could see that there were at least a dozen people inside the huge room.
They were all busy, some could be seen operating the many information cubes in the room, while others were running around. However, what caught Emery's attention the most were not these people or the information cubes. Instead, it was a wall full of pictures and writing located at the far end of the room.
He could see images of a red planet, unfamiliar structures and the figures of the dark elves. He could even see the images of Zenonia, who he was familiar with, along with some unknown individuals of the Bat bloodline.
Headmaster Delbrand stood in front of the wall of pictures and words. As his gaze swept over it, he said something that greatly shocked Emery.
"The truth is, we have already found out where they took the acolytes and we are currently preparing a plan to rescue them."
The words were such great news for him and Emery can't help wishing to hear more detail about it.