The library was silent; the quietness almost felt oppressive in a way as Avalon watched the four of them with crossed arms. Sitting on the same long table as the day before, yet the expression the man showed was much more thoughtful than before, his eyes closed in thought.
"You could've told me that a general is involved in this…"
Avalon's dim words made Midas sink his head in frustration; their plan had failed completely with his unplanned presence. On further thought, it only made sense for him to eventually show up, bringing his own son to a much better university while being able to transport someone he already had claimed to his name.
Midas's face was still chipped, riddled with bruises and wounds on his cheeks from the ambush. Jakal's expression mirrored his, fiddling with his hands under the table as the pressure in the room grew stronger with Avalon sitting in front of them.
"The fact Skye most likely was dragged from this university with force creates a problem not only for Ivyda but for me as well. Skye was also a member of the literature club… which makes me responsible for making sure she attends my club as well."
The youth turned to face Avalon, seeing his downward glance directed to a blank sheet of paper laid out in front of him. Ivyda's expression was bleak, her eyes somewhat tired—a look she had on her face since the moment they ran into the commander. The three of them, including Patriq, who only caught up to them later, had been transported back by Avalon mere minutes ago. Forced to climb the many stairs with already aching legs and joints, Midas and Jakal did their best to endure the pain in silence.
"That's just unfair... How can someone just get away with dragging a helpless person with them? Why can they just claim people's lives for themselves...?"
Jakal eventually voiced, glancing forward to Midas and Patriq as they sat in front of him on the other side of the table. Midas blankly stared at the distant shelves that were riddled with books, dimly surprised at Jakal as he took the initiative to speak up on something like this.
"The water kingdom unfortunately allows for selling humans—some more privileged people even call it a tradition. Skye might be so sought after because her kind are a rare sight in the northern continents—traditionally, her kind often tend to themselves far to the southeast."
"So she crossed all of that distance... just to end up in an orphanage?"
"Well, think about it... If I were to make my money by selling children—then luring such a rare child by offering them a home while slowly making them build up their debt towards me by feeding, clothing, and housing them only sounds right—since that would allow me to decide what would happen with them afterwards, and luring a general is even better since they have an unimaginable amount of money!"
Ivyda eventually blurted out at Midas' question, making Avalon sigh to himself in a hopeless tone—all of them able to hear her clear frustration from her voice. The young club leader crossed her arms as she flashed her teeth dimly, eventually calming as she felt the man's glance on her.
"Whatever... if we want to find her, then we need to find out where this general is bringing her..."
Midas remarked with a dim tone as he placed his arms to rest on the table, his brows stern as he tried to remember a detail he had heard about other universities—the one they currently found themselves in only serving as a stepping stone to learn a specific profession.
"The capital city. You mentioned that the universities there are sought after by not only elites but graduates from our university as well, since they have many more resources..."
Jakal and Ivyda glanced at Midas shortly as he fully turned to muster Avalon sternly; a commander like him clearly has the resources to be able to finance a seat in an elite university—for a family of knights like them, it would only make sense to live close to their leader, their headquarters most likely built in the same city.
"That would be plausible. Say, Ivyda, what kind of accent did he have...? Was ist eastern, perhaps?"
"The general most definitely doesn't originate from around here. But the way he spoke did seem much more silky in some way... I never heard anyone speak like this in the West."
"That confirms it then."
Ivyda eventually got up from her seat, sighing in a tired manner as she looked through the group of people in front of her, her eyes dimly set on Midas as he watched her with somewhat stern brows. Patriq leaned back in his own stool, unbothered by the energy, while Midas turned to Avalon again.
"Who is going to take care of this then...? My language skills aren't that refined yet; I'm not sure if I could handle their accent as well. Plus, there's still some business I have back in the desert."
"I won't send out any students. This is a much higher playing field; sending you or Ivyda there wouldn't change an elite's mind. Plus, the journey there would force you to cross the entire continent... I fear you lack the money and the time for that, so I will contact a friend of mine that works with these kinds of people in that city."
Not trying to risk losing any more students, Avalon grasped his feather once he stopped talking. His somewhat stern gaze set down on the paper as he moved the tip of the quill across the paper—being watched by the others in silence—before Ivyda eventually left their group.
"Ah, Ivyda. Could you bring the three of them to the nursing room?"
Avalon eventually halted his writing, looking up at Ivyda without raising his head from his paper, making her stop in her tracks to step towards them with a flat sigh. Not standing up, Midas eventually turned to Avalon, able to relax in the wooden stool despite his many aching bruises on his back and limbs.
"I planned on working on my reading skills, if it might be alright with you—I'd honestly want to stay here instead of heading downwards."
"Suit yourself."
Ivyda replied shortly, her brows raised slightly as she lent Jakal her arm to rest himself on. Patriq quickly glanced at Midas before eventually seating himself to join the two of them as they were already on the way to heading down the stairs.
Avalon didn't say much at Midas's request, letting him roam freely, continuing to write as Midas lumped through the many bookshelves that were neatly lined up on the lower floor of the library. Returning with a paper and a dictionary, the youth eventually seated himself down onto his stool slowly—his lips curling at the stinging pain while sitting down.
The quiet atmosphere continued to remain; only a dim amount of students wandered through the floors of the library—getting hooked on teaching himself the writing and reading of words he found in the dictionary in front of him became easy, making the day feel much more ordinary—allowing him to take a breather from what just happened. Having written multiple words onto his paper, relapsing their pronunciation as he dimly voiced them out, forming sentences in his head while using them—Midas eventually zoned out, staring at the circular window that gave away the setting sun.
Avalon dipped his feather into the metallic ink flask one last time, finishing off a letter that was eventually rolled up and bound together by light blue silk, tied neatly with a knot. The man eventually stood up, pausing in his step to turn to the youth as he watched him continue his work, nodding slightly at the words he wrote onto the paper.
"Avalon...! My old friend..."
Shouting his greeting as he waved his hand at him, the familiar voice made Midas and Avalon's heads turn—both of their eyes widening at the guest who appeared in front of them. Having shaved his head and jaw, a much cleaner-looking Graf showed up—behind him, Haya and Inaya, both of their heads glancing up to the extent of the library above them.
Seeing Inaya's mask brought old memories back, turning to Haya as he sped up his pace to greet Midas in his seat—meeting his widened eyes with an excited grin on his lips before turning to his paper to take a look. Watching the two of them being joined by Inaya, reluctantly standing next to Midas as she watched Haya take a glimpse at the spread-out book, Avalon turned to Graf with a sigh, hiding his letter inside his jacket.
"Old friend, hm...? I see you brought company."
"I originally planned on bringing them all at once, but that failed."
"Hold on, were you separated near Puertagua...?"
Seeing Inaya glance down onto his roughed-up face, Midas kept his eyes on his paper as he listened to Haya's excited squabble—the large university building had garnered his attention for a while now—completely changed from his state inside the ruin, finally being able to look inside due to Graf connections. The bald driver lit up at Avalon's words, his hand grasping his shoulder as he formed a knowing expression—unable to express his thankfulness.
"Don't worry about Midas; he's doing great—only concerned with practicing his skills every time I see him. He improved drastically in his mana abilities too—able to keep up with some of my older students..."
"I hope Haya and Inaya here will show the same progress. They originated from the southern parts of the northern desert—the region is a total disaster at the moment; that's why I even showed up here in the first place."
"Well, I had some business there as well. Nothing has changed here since you headed off."