CHAPTER 44: THE CLOSE COMPANIONS

Eric walked out of the Archon’s office with his head down, dejected. Phil and Dan were ahead, and as soon as they were clear of the office, Phil turned to him.

"I know the beast wore that ribbon to make you the prime suspect, but who would believe you when I tell everyone about it?" Phil grinned, his excitement too loud for someone who was whimpering a few moments ago.

"The Archon warned you not to tell anyone. Do you want to get expelled?" Eric snapped, his voice straining through frustration.

Phil laughed. "With such a beast roaming around the academy? I prefer to be expelled."

Dan hadn’t said anything since the interrogation, but he managed to whisper a "bye" before running after Phil.

Eric decided to head over to newfound favorite spot. On the way, he thought about how his plans to stay totally unnoticeable had taken a wild turn. He could even hear a few second-year students whisper about him while he passed. He was now being called "the Cursed." He didn’t know how worse it would get should Phil spill that story about the beast. Maybe they’d just gang up and stone him to death or something.

From a distance, from reaching the oak tree, he could see his three roommates sitting under the tree. Opal was standing with Gray, while Silver lounged in the hammocks tied to the tree.

"Ugh, those leeches. Bad timing," Eric muttered.

He was about to turn around and leave when he saw Gray waving his hands at him while jumping to make himself more noticeable.

"It’s always that demon. His senses are damn too sharp."

He decided to walk over. There was no point running away now since they’d be meeting in the room later after all. Opal almost leaped forward to meet him but stopped herself. Gray continued jumping till he got to the tree, while Silver rolled himself away from the hammock, landing with style and motioning for Eric to sit.

Eric felt more comfortable with the prior cold treatment he received from them. Were they acting this way because he was in obvious trouble now?

"So, how did it go?" Opal sounded like she didn’t care how the investigation went. The three of them gazed at him, blinking and waiting with baited breaths. Eric mysteriously felt compelled to tell the truth about it all. But they’d been warned against passing any information around the beast or about how Stanley died, and he wasn’t ready to be expelled yet. So he lied.

"The panel decided I’m not guilty, and neither was Phil and Dan, so they dismissed us. But I am going to be under strict monitoring from the guards from now on."

The three of them suddenly let out a very deep sigh of relief while they clutched their bellies and fell back onto the grass, wobbling their bodies with a smile plastered on their faces. Eric guessed it must be a common gesture in the kingdom, because there was no way they planned to do that.

Seeing Opal lying on the grass like that, acting childish almost changed the skepticism he had about her. It was cute. The other two boys only looked like lazy goofballs to him, Silver the most. But he was slightly happy that at least he got people who believed he was not guilty of the unjust accusation.

The memory of the three of them forming a circle around him against the other students popped up, and he almost thawed his frozen heart.

Eric sensed a slight movement behind the shrubs to his right, and when he looked there, he could see, on the bark line, scurrying feet of someone silently gliding away.

"Bastion! Bastion, come!" Gray jumped up and ran to the shrubs, hoping to catch Bastion, but of course he failed.

’Even Bastion cam.’

Eric was again convinced Gray had really keen senses, as he was the only one to detect Bastion’s movement besides him.

Eric was happy the group wanted to ask further questions about the hearing, because there was nothing else he could divulge without telling about the beast.

All they talked about on the way back to the dorm was the beast-hunting adventure they were going to have the next day. Opal and Silver scorned Gray because his beast cores were not enough to upgrade his old sword, despite how many they were. Gray succumbed to the jests until Silver cheered him up again by telling him about how nice his father’s sword is and how he wished he had forged his sword for him.

"You know he’s lying, right, Gary?" Opal sneered.

"No. I trust Sil."

"Bleh, Opal. He trusts me more than he trusts his father’s swords."

Gray giggled and replied, "Know your limits."

The three kept on laughing, not caring about the hate stares they received from almost all students they came across. Eric realized that the hate they all had for him had smeared on the three of them too. Although they didn’t care about it, Eric felt really bad.

As soon as the door to their room was opened by Gray, a black figure scurried away from the middle of the room, and then they saw Bastion’s wardrobe door close silently. Gray slowly tilted his head and chuckled. Silver turned to Gray and asked, "Can your father carve the spirit out of introverts?"

"My father can carve anything," Gray replied.

"Good. We need to meet him soon. Bastion needs help." They all laughed, even Eric.

Eric climbed his bunk and immediately saw a really fine sword lying on his bed beside an armor. Beside it was an armor which had interlocking scales, both in the front and the back. Eric was stunned for a moment but finally raised the sword up. He saw a note beside it that wrote:

"Return it to the academy’s armory after every hunting trip."

Eric held the note and unsheathed the sword. Eric had never seen anything like it. This must be a beast sword or something, but he had no idea what tier it is.

Silver sprang up and snatched the weapon away from him, "Have you always had this? This must be an Intermediate tier beast weapon. Oh, she’s a beauty. Well, I guess we’re going to be ready for the hunting trip then."

Eric still dumbfounded, glanced over at Opal, but for some reason, Opal was refusing to meet his eyes for the first time.