The hall became silent as Raven and her friend entered.
Arlem took his seat and leaned back on the chair, ignoring the newcomers.
While Braham turned around, squeezing out a warm smile as Northern had observed him do.
“Braham,” Raven greeted him curtly.
Then she turned to Northern, her eyes betraying no emotion.
“Lael.”
Northern was struck by a turmoil of emotions, a rigid vein visible on his forehead as he smiled with his eyes and replied coolly,
“I’d appreciate it if you do not call me that…”
Having Raven call him a name only his mother was allowed to use for some reason was utterly annoying. His pride wouldn’t allow it.
The young lady’s cold voice rolled out.
“Except you have something better than Northern.”
Northern raised a brow.
‘Should I be angry with her… it looks like she’s insulting me…’
At the same time, it also looked like Raven was being sincere.
Terence watched from the sidelines, biting her nails as her eyes shot between Northern and Raven.
‘What do I do, what do I do, what do I do…’
Master Annette was also not here to save the day.
Northern and Raven were now locked in a battle of stares. The former frowned darkly while the latter stared blankly.
The door creaked open again, and more people began to pour into the hall, carrying themselves with distinct faces, armors, features, and expressions.
All having one thing in common – strength. And Northern could tell that much.
All of them in this hall, he didn’t know what they had been through either. That they weren’t forged in his hell didn’t mean they weren’t forged in hell.
‘From now on, it’d be best to proceed with extreme caution.’
Not that he was being cowardly…
‘I don’t know a lot; it’d be stupid of me to go ahead boasting incredible strength.’
He looked around, seeing people hang out with each other, talking. Some of them settled at the table and silently waited for the arrival of others.
Soon, the door opened again, and the final set of people trudged inward – Gilbert, Annette, and the twins included.
Immediately they saw him, their eyes lit up.
“It really is the anomaly,” one of them said…
As it was, it was still hard to tell the difference between them. Their black hair was both shoulder length, their indigo eyes equally cold and sharp, almost cutting into Northern.
They both neared him inquisitively, leaning their heads forward and causing Northern to pull his head back a little.
“Gilbert tells us that you just came from a tier V rift. How’d you survive?” The second one, wearing red sleek armor, asked.
Northern smiled.
“Isn’t that what we are here to discuss?” he replied calmly.
Even though he looked flustered, his reply didn’t show it. Everyone around was also observing him one way or another with piercing gazes.
“Stop staring, goddammit!” The twins yelled simultaneously, causing them all to shift their gazes away like they’d been caught misbehaving.
“Sit, both of you,” Gilbert commanded as he strode past them. freewebnoveℓ.com
They pouted their mouths and tossed their heads, walking in perfect rhythm to their seats.
Northern watched with amazement as their movements synchronized so perfectly and thought,
‘They’ll make a deadly combo.’
By the time Gilbert settled at the head of the table, all of them were already seated… except Annette, who led Northern to his seat on Gilbert’s left side, next to her and opposite Terence, who was seated next to Raven.
And Raven was seated next to the Headmaster on his right, while Annette was on his left.
Immediately they all settled down, the ladies cleaning the hall were all gone. Right from when Raven entered, they had begun rounding up their tasks.
A grave silence frowned upon the hall for a few seconds before Gilbert’s thick voice rolled through.
“So, as you all may already have known, we have an important guest with us. I apologize for the impromptu meeting, by the way. It is best that we all listen and judge what he will tell us together,” he weighed in.
The others nodded in agreement but all maintained that perfect decorum.
Gilbert continued,
“We all were witnesses to how this man here, called Northern, is the sole survivor of a tier V rift. We saw the amount of monsters that were killed and the kind of disaster that transpired in the rift. Yet he managed to survive… as much as I am, I’m sure you all are curious how?”
Everyone at the table responded with intense focus, even Arlem, who seemed like a troublesome fellow, was focused on Gilbert as he spoke.
“Although he decided that he had no interest in joining our ranks and wants to act alone to find a way home, because of this, he prefers to use this information to do a trade. We’ve given him a part payment and will be giving him the rest today as well.”
Murmurs rolled across the hall but died down as soon as Gilbert’s voice was heard again.
“And he is also here to give us the information about the gate that we need.”
Gilbert spoke, extending his hand to Northern and gesturing for him to speak.
Northern gulped and was about to start, but Gilbert’s voice interrupted him.
“Except you have a vocal strength like mine, you’d have to stand up so everyone can hear your voice.”
Northern frowned slightly for a brief second and stood up.
And as expected, an overwhelming feeling washed over him, staring at these different faces and expressions. His stomach churned, his palms got clammy, and he was scared he was going to stutter should he open his mouth.
He lowered his head. ‘I’m not about to disgrace myself,’ he gritted inwardly and clenched his wet palms.
After that, he raised his head and looked at them intensely, his eyes sparkling with a subtle glow of azure lights.
He could see the majority of them curling the corners of their lips.
Not minding what they currently thought, he started… with a trembling voice.
“After the mysterious glow in the Academy hall where we all assembled, I opened my eyes in a desolate land…” Northern paused and looked down, then he looked up, wafting his eyes along theirs.
Then he corrected, “No, a desolate land is not the word. It was gehenna.”