Chapter 245 Arthan Library (4)
Although Basil had found the location of the two Goap's Generals along with their 100 legions, Iliana and him weren't actually near the Demons. They were 70 kilometers apart from the Demons.
The reason why Basil could see clearly that far was [Visualization]—he still didn't have a high enough Magic Mastery level to allow him to see that far.
One might wonder why Basil didn't ask the Guide where the Demons were since the beginning, but Basil had actually done that. Since he didn't want to bother himself with manually looking for them, he had asked where they were to the Guide in advance.
He had been provided with an answer, but the answer had not been direct enough to give him the exact position of where the Demons were.
He had immediately activated [Visualization] afterwards, but unfortunately he still couldn't see the Demons he wanted to see with it. He figured out not long after that he could only target someone he had met.
Since, in this life, he still had only met one Goap's General, he couldn't target the any other Generals other than Lucilla. In other words, he wouldn't be able to watch over them whenever he wanted to.
This is the reason why he had been looking for the Demons with the clue the Guide had given him: he wanted to "directly" see the two Goap's Generals, so he could target them with [Visualization].
Now that he had seen them, he could finally watch over them everytime he wanted. Since that goal of him was achieved, he eventually instructed Deacon to take the shortest route possible to Randalvine.
The way Basil suddenly changed their course was so smooth, Iliana didn't even notice it. She still had a suspicion that Basil was up to something again, but she could never guess what Basil was actually up to.
20 minutes passed in silence, and they eventually arrived in front of the Gate of Randalvine. The guards didn't stop them even though they were riding a Magic Beast, as the guards recognized what their uniform meant.
All of Randalvine Magic Institute's students were given an instant access to enter Randalvine. Despite so however, Basil and Iliana still chose to get down from Deacon to avoid unwanted attentions.
Deacon also immediately assumed his Chibi form, then hopped onto Basil's shoulder. Like nothing happened, the two people and the Beast moved towards their destination afterwards.
"What is the name of the hotel you let my family stay at?"
"Grassjumper. It's a 5 stars hotel, so don't worry—your family is treated well."
"No, that's not why I am asking—I believe my family could survive even if they stayed at a nameless inn. I am asking you because I don't know where they are."
"They are away from the Church, so it's fine."
Basil slightly blinked his eyes at Iliana's meticulousness, which he didn't expect from the current her, before nodding his head in appreciation. Iliana merely smirked in satisfaction, as if she had beaten him on something.
As they walked towards the hotel where Basil's family was staying at, they attracted many civilians' eyes. A lot of them wondered how they, Randalvine Magic Institute's students, could be there at the moment.
They had heard the news about the deployment of three thousands of Randalvine Magic Institute's students to the battlefield. The civilians couldn't even see any Academy student roaming around Randalvine, so seeing the two of them really puzzled the civilians.
Basil and Iliana stopped receiving the people's gaze once they entered Grassjumper Hotel, but they still received a look of bewilderment from the receptionist on the table.
"Good day, sir." The receptionist immediately bowed at Basil. "I will notify our manager first, so I will have to make you—"
"We are not going to stay here," Basil cut the receptionist. "I am here to pick my family up, so don't waste my time."
Basil lightly clicked his tongue in distaste, and the receptionist slightly shivered in fright. Basil didn't have any intention to scare her however; he was just irked at how much of a bootlicker the people in the business were.
He knew the receptionist had thought he and Iliana had fled the battlefield, and now they were looking for a place to hide. This is the reason why she deemed Basil should meet her manager.
"I—I am sorry for assuming things, sir." The receptionist bowed respectfully. "M-May I know who the family member you want to—"
"Brother?"
At the interruption, Basil, Iliana, and the receptionist turned their head to the person the voice belonged to. The person was none other than Shirley, Basil's stepsister, who was currently looking at him hesitantly.
"A-Are you really my brother?"
"You have forgotten your own brother?"
"Brother!"
Shirley's eyes immediately widened at the familiar voice. She couldn't help herself from running towards Basil and jump at him.
Although he looked different and his voice was heavier, she was sure it was him. He was the only person she knew, who could be condescending, charismatic, cocky, and respectable at the same time.
Basil smiled softly at Shirley, who had grown so much in the past two months or so he hadn't met her, as he opened his hands. He caught her in his arms, then hugged her lithe body warmly.
While he mused about how small Shirley's body felt in his arms, Shirley mused about how big her brother had become. She had only not seen him for two months, but it felt like she hadn't met him in five years.
"My goodness, just how tall you have grown in the past months I haven't met you?"
"Much taller than you could ever be."
"I have grown too, you know. Look how tall I have become!"
Shirley puffed her chest up, and raised her chin highly in a bragging manner. Basil merely put his hand on top of Shirley's head, then made an imaginary mark on his chest to show how tall she was.
"168 centimeters?"
"Why do you sound so condescending?"
"That is just how I speak."
Basil smirked at Shirley's sour look, and they both laughed softly afterwards. The two became silent once again as Shirley gave him another hug, before taking him to Daniel and Clarissa, who were chilling in the lounge room.
As Basil didn't make a sound when he entered the room, he could observe the look of worry Danzel and Clarissa had on their face. He knew they must be worrying about his safety, and he couldn't help but smile at that.
"It has been some time."
"... Basil?!"
"Basil!"
Unlike Danzel who needed a few seconds to accept what he saw was indeed real, Clarissa immediately jumped at Basil the moment she turned her head at him. Basil, like before, caught her in his arms, then hugged her warmly.
'Have I grown too much or my sisters are already this small since the very beginning?'
Basil couldn't help but muse over the fact. In his past life, after hitting a growth spurt due to his Knight Training, he had never hugged someone that was significantly smaller than him—he didn't have that much people around him.
His relationship with Shirley at that time had been strained so much, he had even been closer to the baker near the inn he had stayed at. Hugging her, who had also been smaller than him at that time, was close to impossible.
The only person he had hugged closely in his past life like how he had hugged the two girls had been Iliana. Even so, at that time, Iliana hadn't been that small compared to him.
With that being said, he still couldn't get used to the sensation of hugging someone who was significantly smaller than him ... He just still couldn't get used to the sensation of hugging someone other than Iliana warmly.
"Kuhum! I don't mean to ruin your family's reunion, but Basil doesn't have much time to spend here."
Basil immediately let go of Clarissa the moment he heard Iliana's reminder. Shirley immediately stood beside Clarissa as Basil gazed at the three people he deemed his family and explained his purpose of meeting them.
"I want all of you to stay at Raneil Barony for the moment. Many unexpected things have occured in this Outbreak—no one can predict the outcome of this event anymore, so we need to take a precaution"
"Why do we have to stay there?"
"I have cleaned the site off any Monster, so you can stay there until the Outbreak is concluded." Sensing a question coming, Basil immediately explained. "No, you can't stay here—the King is currently not in his throne."
Silence descended upon the room as the people looked at Basil in bewilderment—even Iliana was no exception. They understood what Basil meant by his word—Randalvine had lost its greatest protector—but they couldn't figure out how Basil knew of it.
"I don't think we have been informed about that," Iliana said with a frown.
"I have a reliable source," Basil immediately replied.
Basil was, of course, referring to the Guide—he had seen where Anthony was at the moment through [Visualization]—but Iliana would never know that. Despite so, Iliana still believed him.
Basil had figured out so many things he shouldn't know about, so she had no other option than believe him. Whether he was lying or not didn't really matter; the goal was convincing his family to go to Raneil Barony.
"If that is the case, then... We have no choice, don't we?"
"Yes. I don't want to see any of you get hurt, so you have no option."
Danzel sighed at Basil's answer, but nodded his head nonetheless. He knew the boy must be hiding something from them, but he didn't want to pry about it upon looking at the genuine care the boy showed.
"Take this with you." Basil handed Danzel a Sound Tablet. "I believe you already know how to use it, so I want you to notify my friend when you are already close to Raneil Barony."
Danzel nodded his head silently, then kept the Sound Tablet in his Spatial Ring much to Clarissa's bewilderment. She didn't know Danzel had created a new Synthetic Core under Basil's guidance.
Clarissa's questioning look was directed at Basil and Danzel, but they wisely ignored her. Just as Basil was about to lead his family outside, someone suddenly came inside the room.
"What is happening—oh, Senior Basil!"
"..."
"What are you—I am in! Let me join you guys, please!"
Nothing had been explained to her yet, but Julia seemed to have already grasped the situation, so Basil didn't have any other choice than allowing her to join his family to Raneil Barony.