The tour took roughly two hours before they reached a wide open space where many small houses were aligned together.
"Here you are going to stay," the disciple named John said before glancing over Arthur standing at the end of the group with an arrogant gaze , "if you needed anything, just use these wings to reach me."
He threw a bunch of bird's wings stacked together to Arthur. But Doaf was the one to catch them while Arthur never moved a muscle. "Thanks," he simply said without really meaning it.
"Whatever," John said before moving away in his usual arrogance.
"He is just a prick," Doaf said as he mistook Arthur's silence as being upset about John.
"I know," Arthur shrugged, "let's go inside. Every team will find himself a nice place to rest."
He didn't enter the house as his mind was still busy by these two mountains and the threat in there. He stayed in the garden lined by a simple wall, giving the small plants around and the simple house a very contradictory image of what he enjoyed back at his academy.
"What is bothering you?" Doaf came near him as he whispered, "if there is anything you want from us, just ask."
"These two mountains," Arthur simply said while motioning his head towards the direction of the two distant mountains.
"These…" Doaf realized the issue related to the two mountains weren't that simple as he initially thought. "What about them?"
"I need you to send your best men to scout them," Arthur said before stressing over, "make sure to send only the best, or none will return."
The eyes of Doaf shone brightly as he said, "Do you want me to go in person?"
"No," Arthur shook his head before adding, "I don't want to risk losing you."
The look over Doaf changed as he felt Arthur's sincerity here. "You are speaking like these two mountains have great armies of higher planes," he muttered in a dignified tone.
"That… might be the case here," Arthur said before adding, "just make sure you won't send much and their loss won't affect us."
"Are we fighting the academy here?" The look over Doaf's face changed to seriousness, "if so then I might go and ask for more reinforcements from my grandmaster."
Arthur thought about it for a minute. "Won't do any harm to have more backup," he said before pausing, "also inform him to be close to interfere personally if needed."
"This..." Doaf was surprised to hear Arthur's words. "It won't be easy for any master from up there to come down here y'know," he tried to understand more of the current situation, but Arthur only bitterly smiled.
"Better be prepared than sorry, right?" he simply said before taking a deep breath. "Just go and send your boys out. Let's hope I'm mistaken."
But what happened during the next couple of days proved his wish to be wrong.
First thing that happened was the inability of Doaf to contact George. He tried using many things, but none worked. He even went outside the academy, thinking there might be something wrong due to the protective shield here and restrictive measurements of the academy.
But in the end he failed.
"Sorry young master," the look over Doaf's face was very heavy. He was standing in front of Arthur while eating pieces of Golam's meat, while Arthur was sitting in his private room, tapping on the arm of his chair. "I couldn't even let a single message pass through."
"Can the mirror work?" Arthur simply asked, as he tried to find a solution rather than lamenting his own bad circumstances.
"Well…" Doaf hesitated before saying, "that mirror is something higher than what I have. But the distance from here to your academy is vast. We can't make it in time I suppose."
"Are you afraid of someone hunting down your men?" Arthur read Doaf's mind as he added, "have you gotten any news from the scouts you sent?"
"Not a word," Doaf sighed, "this isn't their nature. I sent a group of five of my most trusted men, and they never failed me even once. They lived with me through many battles, and only death would prevent them from reporting back."
"My condolences to you," Arthur said in a faint tone, "I know this must be a heavy loss."
"The loss is in the way they died," Doaf took a deep breath before adding, "they should have died in an honorable way, not be killed by sneaky bastards lurking in the shadows."
Arthur thought for a moment before asking, "what about the teleportation ring here? Our ring at the academy should be repaired by now."
"I doubt those in charge here would agree on letting us use it," Doaf said the truth, "also asking about this would attract more attention to us."
"We need to do something," Arthur spoke out his angry thoughts.
"There is only one way left for us," Doaf said in obvious hesitation.
"Say it," Arthur sighed, "but don't tell me to go to war here."
The face of Doaf changed to show this was exactly what he was thinking of. "C'mon, we are outnumbered, living in the heart of our enemies' den. We can't overcome them."
"But we can run safely, right?" Doaf tried to persuade him.
"Not a chance," Arthur stood up from his chair and went to the small window in the room. "I didn't come all this way to just try to run away with my life."
He paused while his eyes shone brightly with blue light, "I came here to survive. Tell me, won't many masters be observing our competition in four days?"
He turned to Doaf and asked. The notification about the contest start time was delivered to them this afternoon on the hands of John.
"My master didn't apply for that," Doaf said, "he was never interested in recruiting from this lowly world.. Only you attracted his attention and made him make an exception."
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