"Don't you think it's strange that the expedition to Corcean was moved to today? It's supposed to be months away," said a student at the academy.
"It is strange. I heard that it was requested by Infermel though," another student whispered, glancing at me.
"He even took Eason's spot in the recommended students. He must be demanding the new crown prince for a lot of rewards ever since he brought him back."
"Even if the crown prince hasn't been crowned king yet, he should still respect his highness with the same respect you should treat a king instead of demanding things like this."
"Infermel isn't better than the fake king and his son at all!"
I hate their gossip. This was how fake rumours about me started spreading before time was reversed. It was so dumb how a few words could overwhelm your true self and make people think of you as someone you're not. I did get use to all this shit talk over the years so; I didn't show any reaction. Besides, it's not my goal to pick a fight with them.
It's been exactly two days after Alberu was kidnapped. Alaric Kassiel who was the first barer of the curse had a stronger sense of if his soul than the third family head so he could tell if Alberu was alive or not, and was able to confirm that the fake king and Owen had not killed Alberu yet. Although this was and is an urgent matter, the earliest time Theodore could let me go to Corcean was today because he couldn't allow me to go on my own since it would be unfair to the ones that are going to go at the academy so without a choice, he had to move the academy expedition to as early as possible (which is today).
"Quiet down," I heard someone familiar say. Everyone instantly shut their mouths and turned to look at the one who told them to quiet down. It was none other than Wren.
Seeing Wren made me have a complicated feeling. I don't know if I hate her, or accept her. I don't want her to die and see her as a mother figure who I'd like to come back to, but at the same time my mind still told me that she couldn't be trusted because of our argument. The argument took place days ago, but so many things happened in that couple of days that it gave me nearly no time to think or reflect on it. Now that Wren's right in front of me even though there are also others here, I felt nervous to even be near her again. It was like our relationship had reset and the two of us are nothing but strangers.
"I will be in charge of the expedition to Corcean this year, so I have permission to: have my own set of rules, send anyone home any time I want and punish any student that I think is misbehaving," Wren held out three fingers for the three things she listed. "You," Wren pointed to a male in the front with their hand up, "what do you want to ask?"
"Does the rules also apply to the students who were recommended? For example can they also be sent home by you?" he asked. Yes, it could've been a genuine question however, from his smirking face and snobby expression, I'm pretty sure that he was trying to show off, thinking that Wren would say 'no recommended students will not be sent home'. As someone who has known Wren for a few years now, I know that Wren would never be that unfair. She doesn't care about 'cheats' or status and only cares about how valuable you are in her eyes.
"No one is excused from the rules and of course that means that I can also send anyone who was recommended for the expedition home. The recommendation is only for you to be picked to go out of the hundreds of students that wants to see Corcean with their own eyes," answered Wren. "If you look around you will notice that there are students from different years. Most of the older ones have signed up to go for multiple years and have only been picked to go to Corcean this year. Don't you think being a recommended is already a good enough privilege? Why would you be excused from the rules as well?" The male's face turned red and some students started snickering.
"Lady Arla, one of the horses isn't cooperating," a knight approached Wren. "We don't know what happened to it because it was behaving well days before." Hearing the knight's words, the students started to whisper to each other. Many of them were worried that a group of students has to stay behind because there would be one carriage short if the horse doesn't cooperate, while others who are most likely recommended were calmly chatting to their friends.
I started to internally panic. Every minute that has passed is another chance that Alberu might've been killed. Every second that is wasted Alberu could be suffering from torture. That is when it hit me. Even if I were able to get tear glass in Corcean and return here, it would take a total of five days. Not only that but there are also some arrogant 'young master' or 'young miss' nobles that could delay the trip. How could I save Alberu like this?!
"Use my flames to get there with everyone faster," a voice in my head said... where the fuck has he been every other time I was in trouble?
"Where were you?!" I mentally asked.
"Are you an idiot? I was in your head of course. Where else could I be?!" he replied.
"Just tell me how to get to Corcean with everyone quickly," I said. There was no time to waste. After I get the tear glass, I will immediately head back to Theodore's underground workshop and give it to him even if I get expelled from the academy for not following the rules- even if Wren starts to hate me for not listening to her not once, not twice but also many times before.
"Create fire behind the carriage wheels that fires backwards to create a boost that will push the carriage forward," I could already imagine Cyrus creating a carriage made of fire with boosts behind it in my head like what he did when he was telling the story about the war of God candidates.
"I don't have enough mana for that many carriages. Plus, giving people boosts like that will burn out my mana faster," I pointed out.
"Use my mana storage," said Cyrus. "I've been sleeping for a long time now so my mana has piled up quite a bit. Use it as a mana bank if you want."
"Don't people have limits for how much mana they can store?" I questioned.
"I'm a God. Do you really think I gave a fuck about restrictions?" came Cyrus's reply. I deadpanned, visualising him throwing the 'restriction bar' into the sky and giving it the middle finger with a shitty grin.
"Thanks for the mana then," I said, approaching the closest carriage and creating two flames on the back of the wheels.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Emilia who also so happened to be picked to go on the expedition grabbed my shoulder.
I moved her hand off my shoulder and looked at her, "just get on."
"Felix?" questioned Wren.
"I have something urgent to do in Corcean. Forget the horses. Get rid of them or they might end up dead with my boosts. I'll take everyone to Corcean in less than one day," I said in a neutral tone.
I could see the pain in Wren's eyes as I looked at her as if I was looking at a stranger. That doesn't matter right now though. I have something more important to do right now. I've decided to be ignorant to everything that Wren did even if she only helped me because she saw hero Felix in me. She's too important to me and I can't get over all the times that she had treated me like her son. After this, I'll apologise to her until she forgives me, but saving Alberu comes first.
"You're just a student at the academy. Get rid of the fire and-" the knight was interrupted by Wren.
"Stop, we'll do what he says. We won't have to worry about the horses not cooperating on the road and if he isn't lying, we'll be at Corcean in less than a day which gives the students more time to explore Corcean. Remove the horses from the carriages immediately," ordered Wren. The knights had no choice but to obey Wren's order.
Even if she hasn't participated in the war against Floran and hasn't lost an eye yet, she's still widely respected from the results of her spars as well as her service to the nation; defeating us from intruders, murderers and etc. The war against Floran... will it still happen after my visit there?
Everyone then got on the carriage they were assigned to then we all took off. With the help of my flames, our long journey was shortened by days. No one complained after they saw how helpful the boost was and just enjoyed the ride.
On top of a cliff going downwards, I saw the ocean in the distance that was shinning under sun. It was a sight that mesmerised me. I've never seen such a beautiful sea before. In fact, I've never even seen the sea in this body. The sight of the ocean meant one thing, Corcean is close.