As she started to speak, with others around taking scrolls out and handing them over to William's friends to examine and read their content, everyone realised lots of things.
This wind… It wasn't normal at all! It wasn't just something naturally happening here, or something limited to this place.
According to what they read, the wind carried a smell, a substance that released foul odour. Yet at first, any one newly arriving to the capital area wouldn't smell anything at all.
By the passage of time, and with the longer exposure to this substance, anyone would start to smell the bad odour. And that means bad, terribly bad!
Smelling that odour was the first sign of a progressive disease that would take the lives of anyone in years. The source of this plaque stemmed from here, and all the efforts of the kingdom to seal it failed.
No one knew why it happened, but they knew everything started just five years ago. For no reason, trenches and holes appeared here, with wind coming out from many tunnels and rooms like the ones the team passed through.
In addition to that, the scrolls spoke about lots of data about the space beyond the walls. It wasn't like how William's friends imagined, the kingdom did indeed exert their utmost efforts to solve this, even sending their pinnacle masters to check the areas beyond the walls.
Yet none managed to survive, and only the ones who were at the high stage or at the pinnacle managed to return with half a leg away from the grave. And from them, they got valuable intel about the world that laid beyond the walls.
It was indeed a world, a pocket world if the guesses of the kingdom masters were true. That world looked gloomy and deadly, filled with tons of the same substance that was poisoning the capital's residence for years.
The world wasn't empty though, and it was filled with tons of monsters and even weird creatures.
"Here, this is the product we made out of our studies and research over this substance," Anjie said, and yet she didn't take anything out. She simply motioned with her head, and someone on her side took ten rings out, "we only prepared enough for ten of you to go into this mission. So…"
Her words were clear, and now they realised why the guard asked them to bring only ten members to meet up with her. It seemed like the leader learnt about this plan from the start, and that was quite expected.
"We'll manage," the attitude of everyone slightly changed after hearing Anjie's out and checking the content of the scrolls. It felt indeed much better to realise they were pushed to their demise out of the simple connection between the drawing at the ceiling and William.
The kingdom did indeed try endless times to solve this crisis, even sending their top masters and failed. And for a reason, everyone thought about someone in their minds at the same time, the great monarch of the kingdom, the king.
For all of these masters to act this way, for even the crown princess to step up and lead such force, it meant that someone she held dear was going to die.
This was the conclusion they all jumped to after learning about everything related to this place. And they were right, the king was indeed dangerously ill, so close to dying if no solution was found to stop this toxic wind.
And when Anjie's men delivered the ten rings filled with detoxifying elixirs, specified for that toxin, William's friends knew Anjie didn't want to see them dead.
But that didn't mean they were going to survive any of this. And from the look of things, it seemed the king was about to die soon enough. So, waiting for William to return, which was something that wasn't known when would happen yet, wasn't going to work.
"We'll try our best," Lara sighed, looking at others before adding, "if we… If we didn't come back, please tell William to not avenge us."
"..."
The words she said touched the spirit and heart of Anjie and all the masters of the academy present here. They thought they'd leave farewell messages for William, but the thing Lara said gained nodding from everyone on the latter's side.
"I truly admire William for having such awesome friends by his side, he is truly blessed," these words didn't come from Anjie, but from her mentor, the one who kept acting cold and harsh from the start.
And before Anjie or any of William's friends would say anything, that formidable master, one at the pinnacle stage, turned towards Anjie and looked at her in a warm way.
"I know this request won't be accepted by you, but I hope you can grant me this wish…" he didn't just cup his hands, but also knelt on one knee, "please let me accompany them."
"No!" Anjie's tone wasn't firm or decisive, in fact it was filled with emotions and endless sadness. If not for being with masters of her kingdom, being with William's friends, strangers, she'd have spilled out tears.
She knew her mentor very well, knew once he spoke, he truly meant what he said. If he expressed his willingness to go, that meant he already decided to leave. And no matter what, he'd see what he intended through.
"You do know they got no chance without anyone experienced and strong enough to lead them," the mentor paused, "I'll try to buy us enough time, enough for him to come back here."
"But…"
"I know he went missing, but let's hope and pray for the best," the mentor even placed his hand over her head, looked at her like a father looking at his beloved daughter, "I want you to know that you made this old man proud, and please keep me feeling this way even if I didn't come back."
"..."
Her eyes failed at this moment and couldn't hold back her tears anymore. The wind already blew several times while they were speaking with William's friends.
New novel chapters are published on fr(e)ewebnov(e)l.com