Chapter 473: The Sacrifice of the Academy of Silence
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Quick... go, the teacher can’t withstand it much longer!"
When the element enchantment collapsed and the huge group of patrol guards rushed into the valley, in a dark tunnel beneath the valley, three mages were hurrying along.
When they felt the tremors from above, the short mage nudged the taller mage’s back, and said in an anxious tone.
"What are you flustered about? Don’t forget that we are now protectors, carrying a heavy responsibility." The tall mage pushed his friend’s hand away, he turned and said, "the teacher said, no matter what happens, we cannot panic!"
The short mage was shocked, and with a victimized look on his face he said, "but...but...what if the teacher is killed by them?"
"How can that be? What are you thinking about? Even a bullet could not kill the teacher, how can the people of the church kill him? The people of the church are a waste of space, everyone knows it."
"Yup... that is true, then we should get a move on." The shorted mage nodded as he said this, but suddenly panic appeared on his face, "wait a minute, what about Elizabeth? The teacher told us to protect her, why is she missing?"
The taller mage stopped for a while and then looked around them hurriedly.
At that moment, a voice travelled down from before them.
"Stop looking, you guys walked too slow, I have already reached the front." The golden haired woman peeked her head around the corner and shook her head impatiently.
"Elizabeth, you almost scared us to death!" the two of them ran towards her with smiles on their faces, "don’t run off on your own, who is going to protect you if we are not around?"
"Alright alright..."
Elizabeth turned and walked ahead, every fiber of her body exuded that she had no choice.
Very quickly, it was replaced with a solemn expression.
As she walked along the tunnel, she couldn’t help looking up, seeing the tremors that came at intervals.
The battle... has it already gotten this far?
Elizabeth felt a little regret, she should have stayed behind, no matter what happened, she should have died with the Academy of Silence. But, when she thought about what the others told her a few hours ago, she lowered her head and quickened her pace.
She... had to live.
It didn’t matter if the was for the hope of her peers, or her identity as a noble, she could not be caught by the church, even her parents who were working hard in the capital. Elizabeth’s gaze fell onto the dark corner in front of them, she felt as though waves were in her chest. It was the same feeling as the day she left Havenwright in the horse carriage.
Even though she did not understand why everyone was calling her the "chosen one", but at that moment, she truly felt the hand of fate.
Her fate, and the fate of the mages sent to their deaths above her.
She carried the fate of the people in her hands.
And so, after walking in the dark for God knows how long, the short mage suddenly broke the suffocating silence and said with a voice of anxiousness.
"Elizabeth...... do you think that the Teacher will survive?"
Elizabeth processed the words and took a deep breath then she nodded her head.
"That’s good, even you have said it, we will definitely be able to meet with Teacher again!" the short mage said with emphasis, but it was not as high-spirited as he thought it was.
They quickly fell into silence again.
They did not know the length of the tunnel. When the old mage opened the entrance and sent them into it, he did not say anything to them. All Elizabeth knew was that this was an old tunnel and was built as the same time as the Academy of Silence. The tunnel had not been used before this.
What direction was it leading us?
She hoped that it would be a better future.
An hour passed, then two... the darkness numbed their sensitivity to the passing of time. The tall and short mages were afraid of the silence so they would fill it in with conversation once in a while. But most of the time they walked in silence, as though they were in another world.
As they walked forward, the tremors from above ceased.
They did not want to guess if the tremors stopped because they have gone out of the vicinity or was it because of any other reason. They just gritted their teeth and went forward.
After walking for a long time, Elizabeth walked forward but touched a rock wall.
"... We’re here," she said after her heart gave a thump and she came back to her senses.
The two mages behind her stopped in their tracks as well.
Elizabeth took in a deep breath and thought back of the technique that the old mage taught her. She touched the rock wall and finally found the lever to open the secret way through. She prepared herself, touched the lever and pressed it down gently.
The rock wall suddenly opened with a soft noise, revealing a small entrance. There was a huge bush that blocked the entrance.
Elizabeth forced her head through the bush.
Only to see that the sky had gone dark, but it still looked like they were in the mountains. Luckily, everything was quiet, there was no sign of the paladins or the priests.
Sigh...
She breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let’s go, there is no one outside."
She spoke to the two people behind her and forced her way through the small opening. The entrance was very narrow. The other two followed suit and laid on the ground, working hard to force their way through the space.
"It was so difficult to be in there." The tall mage said with a sour face as he cracked his joints.
"Was it?" the short mage said, confusion all over his face.
Elizabeth ignored them and turned around to close the entrance and hid it with some dirt and the bush. Then, she stood up and brushed her hands off and said, "alright, let’s go."
They crawled out from the bushes and onto a mountain pass.
It was at that moment that shadows appeared around the corner of the mountain pass.
Elizabeth’s heart dropped.
"Why could we not join the ambush of the Academy of Silence, instead we are here guarding this god-forsaken place? We have no contribution whatsoever; I think our future with the church may be jeopardized..."
There was two young-looking priest talking to each other as they walked around the corner.
In that moment, it was so unexpected that Elizabeth and the two other mages were stunned.
They were done for...
The two priests walked over and quickly noticed the three of them. Immediately they looked more alert and looked at the ash-covered Elizabeth, and asked coldly, "Who are you?"
The tall and short mages looked at each other and just as they were about to say something, Elizabeth rushed forward towards the priests.
"You... are you priests? That’s great... we are finally saved... how wonderful..."
The moment she scrunched her face, the tears fell like waterworks. It went well with her ragged and dirty clothes, though she looked like a crazy person.
"You... What happened to you guys? Don’t come any closer..."
The priest looked disgusted and took a few steps back, wanting to push Elizabeth away. She cried and howled as she practically threw herself at the priests. The priest was caught off guard and was caught by her.
"Master priest... you have to save us..."
The priests had no choice but to put on a more professional demeanor as they pulled Elizabeth to stand and said, "What happened? Why are you here? Don’t worry, God will save his most loyal believers."
Then, Elizabeth cried and turned, pulling out two daggers, one for each and plunged them into the priests’ stomachs.
"You... You..."
They were too close and could not defend themselves. They fell immediately.
Elizabeth stopped crying and took a few steps back. She took a deep breath and looked at her blood-stained hands with an odd look on her face. She looked as though she had just woken up from a dream and could not even believe what she just did.
The tall and short mages were stunned.
"Elizabeth... you... you killed them?"
Elizabeth was silent for a while before turning, her pale face was a little repulsed.
"If I did not kill them, they would have killed us." She licked her dry lips and said with a hoarse voice that she herself had not heard before, "quickly, this place is not safe."
The short mage was shocked.
After zoning out for a while, he came back to his senses and with a stunned and dazed look on his face he said, "but... where can we run to?"
Elizabeth lowered her head and thought a while before saying, "we should go out of the country."