Chapter 158: Stay Clear of the Epigones
"Have you all seen this group of people before? Or have you all at least heard of them?"
There was a small silence shared by everyone in the room before Gabriel decided to speak for them.
"Yeah, we know those masked freaks. Those assholes were the ones who captured us and tried to kill us."
Jenna’s composure broke slightly. Her face stayed the same, but Jacob could see that she was shivering slightly.
"You were captured by the Epigones? How are you here? How are you still... okay?"
Gabriel pointed a finger at Jacob and Maria.
"Those two saved us. We were all taken to a prison camp where they tried to have us join their stupid cult, but they broke us out."
Jenna stared at Maria and Jacob incredulously.
"You two were able to free all these people from a prison camp? All by yourselves? How did the warden not see you?"
Jacob scratched his head.
"Well, we were not alone. In fact, we had someone else helping us who was the main reason we were able to escape. As for the other part, Maria completely destroyed the prison while everyone else finished off the warden."
Jenna fell to her knees and panted heavily. Jacob could faintly hear her heartbeat pounding in her chest.
"This doesn’t make sense. How are you still alive? You should all be dead. There’s no way you were able to handle a prison camp with such a small amount of people, let alone a warden. Who was helping you out?"
"Our guardian. His name is Slimo. He was the only one who wasn’t teleported behind the bars of the cage, so he helped us all escape and fight."
Jenna seemed even more scared hearing Slimo’s name.
"Slimo? You surely don’t mean Slimo Kin, do you?"
Jacob rubbed his chin.
"I’m not really sure. He never told us his last name."
Maria shoved a hand over his mouth in panic. She stared into his pupils with a disappointed look. Suddenly, Jacob remembered that Slimo is supposed the be a wanted man in Paria. He felt like slapping himself in the face.
’How could I be so stupid? But all he did was punch a cultist! How the hell is his name known empire-wide?!’
Jenna seemed to ease up slightly.
"That’s a relief. I thought you were talking about the rouge prince who killed the heir to the throne."
Jacob’s heart dropped slightly.
"There’s a rogue prince running around? Did you just say the heir to the throne was murdered? And what do you mean prince?"
Jenna slowly stood up and rubbed her forehead.
"Sorry. I keep forgetting you all are new to Paria. Years ago, one of the sons of Pelo murdered the eldest son of their family before he could take the throne. To be honest, it is only speculation as to why he did it. However, he’s been a wanted man ever since. No one has been able to find him. People have started making folktales about him because out of all the men sent to kill him, not a single one has returned alive. I wonder what kind of Zalo he must possess."
Maria slowly lifted her hand from Jacob’s mouth and stared at Jenna in awe. She looked at Jacob as if to say, ’is this our Slimo?’.
Jacob cleared his throat.
"What does he look like?"
"He is tall, very strong build, blue eyes, and short white hair."
Upon hearing the last part of the description, everyone in the room seemed to ease up. Jacob smiled and looked up at Jenna.
"Thankfully, our Slimo we know isn’t anything like that."
Jenna seemed to be relieved and walked back up to the board to continue teaching.
"Now where were we... Ah, that’s right. These people are direct followers of the Profane Trio. They may try to offer you something in return for joining them. It is extremely important you never join. It is rumored that they use the lives of newcomers to fuel charms. There is also no telling what sort of tasks you may be doing."
Bang!
A loud sound rang from outside the classroom. Jenna stopped teaching and looked at the door suspiciously. She looked over everyone to confirm that she wasn’t the only one who heard it.
"Gimme one moment. Sorry class."
Jenna walked towards the door and peered through it. The hallway was completely empty excpet for a small pair of clothes that laid in the hallway. It looked as if someone has stripped themselves and left their clothes before running off. Other teachers from different classrooms filled the halls to see what the sound was. Jenna called over to a professor down the hall.
"Hey, Mr. Jeer. Did you hear that too?"
The middle-aged man leaned against his door frame while he rubbed his chin.
"How many times have we heard this sound by now? And the same exact thing happened like last time. Some random clothes were left here after the sound..."
"This is the first time it has been so close to the classrooms. Should we officially bring this issue to the King?"
The man hesitated.
"I’ll send him a note tomorrow. Is it just me or do those clothes look familiar? I feel like I may have known who they belonged to but it’s all fuzzy."
"If they were a student of mine, I don’t remember them. However, that also means they are running around naked somewhere. Hopefully the guards can catch them before they cause a scene in town."
Jacob felt a strange feeling stir in his stomach. Something about the situation was not sitting right with him. He wasn’t a stranger to weird occurrences, but this one was particularly odd. He peeked around Jenna to get a better look at the hallway. The hallway seemed to be the same as it always was. There were no signs of anything that could have made such a loud sound. He looked back at Maria to see what her thoughts were.
Maria’s guard was up extremely high. She looked like a cat arching its back, preparing for any danger to come her way. If there was any reason for them to leave, her behavior was plenty enough to do so. Jenna looked back at the class and bowed.
"I will let you all go early. Please be safe on your travels back. The academy apologizes for any inconvenience."
The moment she finished speaking, Zoey zipped past her insanely fast.
"WOOOO SCHOOL IS OUT EARLY!!"
Slowly, everyone else followed her out of the academy and walked back towards the house. As they left, a low rumble sounded underneath the palace, just quiet enough so no one could hear.
