"There's almost enough for all of us to go back to school," Yulee studied the teleportation gate.
"High schoolers should escape last since middle schoolers are younger," I immediately blurted.
Where else would I be able to use my age as an excuse? There was no way I was going to be left behind. Who knew how close the humanoids were to breaking the barrier?
"But who will charge the teleportation gate? The hosts should make sure to send all their guests back first," Yulee pointed out none of them had enough mana left.
She was indirectly telling me that I would be the last to escape due to the hospitality customs of being the host. There had to be something the guests would have to gain from donating a huge sum of money for our mission. This mission was getting more annoying by the minute.
But maybe it was better to send Lucius, Yulee and Alice back since they were harder to deal with. At least I wouldn't have to always be on the edge with their indirect wordings full of criticism. I already had enough from hearing it from one person, but others adding to it made it worse.
"Please get inside older sisters and take older brother Lucius with you," I gestured to them get inside while scorning them for letting younger children stay in a dangerous situation.
When none of them moved, I pushed them inside and immediately pressed the button to wave them farewell before they could react. Normally, I wouldn't be able to do this, but their bodies were overworked to the point they had to put some of their defenses down. No one anticipated I would break etiquette to the extent to physically push them inside.
"Now who's next?" I turned to Ben and Jules.
"Who wants to go to safety while I miserably deal with those monsters who say that the barrier has weakened?" I started to go crazy from the thought I would be one of the last people to leave.
My eyes glowed with anger as my mana swirled around my body. Part of what made controlling mana difficult was keeping your emotions in check. A smile popped onto my face as I decided to fulfill Yulee's wish. I teleported beside Ben and Jules to then teleport them inside the gate with me before stepping out alone. With one push to the button, they disappeared with them surprised from my sudden actions.
"I'm going to go sleep," I tried to open the door to walk back to my room.
"You know Yulee didn't mean what she said," Shelly tugged my arm to stop me.
"In fact, she was the one who volunteered to be the last one to escape with Jules while you were sleeping," Shelly revealed.
Well, it was too late now. In the end, they were all safe at school while we were stuck inside this mansion. Maybe it was really time to let go of this life.
"We have enough mana inside the gate to teleport close to the school," Luke studied to maximize its usage.
"How close?" I was close to breaking down.
"Around a five-minute walk," Alex analyzed the screen with Luke.
"Let's go to school," Shelly pulled me inside the teleportation gate.
In less than a second, Luke pressed the teleportation button with the setting it would self-destruct after we teleported to our location. The snow covered the ground for miles as we stood near the school grounds. There were nicely paved roads decorated with flowers that bloomed in the winter to accentuate the grand demeanor of the school.
I slightly shivered as my skin touched the snow that went up to my knees. It really wasn't the day to wear a light dress without a warm hover car. But it was better than not knowing when the monsters would break into the mansion. Luke handed me a long coat from his marble with him prepared for almost all situations.
I didn't refuse as I stopped shivering, easing inside the warm goodness where the coat was spelled to keep the rest of the body warm even without the coat covering it. How bad could the five-minute walk be now? I held hands with Shelly while lightly stepping on top of the snow to prevent myself from sinking.
I smiled when we were in front of the school gates. The walk was relatively peaceful compared to everything we had been through so far. We didn't run into any monsters while we got the chance to admire the scenic view. When I finally gained the luxury to look behind me, my eyes widened as I could spot the orphan, we saved with a few of his peers running towards us from quite a distance away.
I sadly guessed he was sent back to the orphanage as soon as he recovered. Maybe this was the orphan's second attempt in escaping. I admired his actions as he wasn't alone this time. If he could do what I couldn't, at least one of us would become happy. I waved to greet him as I wished him luck.
"Run! Get inside!" he strangely yelled like something was chasing them.
I tugged Luke's sleeve to ask him if he saw the same thing I did. How was a sinister-looking monster chasing them from behind? It was the mutated bird and that furry creature with those awful high jumps combined together to create a horrible larger version of the ones we escaped from.