Chapter 235 - Earlier (2)

liana hugged Basil as if she was trying to crush him with her hug. Although she had a considerably sturdy physique compared to the other Battle Mages of her age, her strength was still not enough to give Basil a hug that could crush him.

Of course, she also didn't have any intention to hurt Basil since the very beginning. She was mad and disappointed at him, but she couldn't bring herself to hurt him—she hugged him strongly to show her care while making it clear that she was mad.

Basil merely patted her back as if he didn't understand that she was mad, then looked at the cave in front of him silently. Moving his left hand to the hilt of the Sealing Sword that was stabbed into the ground, he activated the Runes Carved on it.

Rumble.

The ground faintly shook, surprising everyone on the spot. Their gaze was immediately planted on the cave the moment they saw it was slowly submerging to the ground.

While Whitney, Cray, Thompson, and Steven immediately turned their head towards Basil upon seeing the scene, the others didn't have a single suspicion that Basil was the one who caused it.

Uncaring to the people's eyes, Basil kept gently rubbing Iliana's back, while keeping his Mana flowing into the Sealing Sword. The cave fully submerged to the ground roughly half a minute later, signifying the closing of Death Howl's secret entrance in Raneil Barony.

Basil initially didn't have any thought to conceal the secret entrance as he deemed he would probably need it some time in the future. However, he couldn't risk spoiling his own plan by letting the Demons inhabiting the Dungeon out.

Although they normally didn't have the courage to get out of there, given the chaotic situation outside, they probably wouldn't think much to get out. Basil didn't want to take a risk, and decided to close the entrance for the time being.

"Kuhum! I think it is time for us to plan our next course of action."

Since the spot had been engulfed in silence prior to Robert's comment, everyone was surprised when they heard him speak. They immediately turned their head to him, including Iliana, who was peeking from Basil's embrace.

Robert was slightly embarrassed because of their gaze, and he coughed once again to get rid of the awkwardness. Bowing politely at Iliana, who was gazing at him in mild curiosity, he pointed his finger towards the civilians before speaking.

"I am sorry to ruin your moment, Miss. Iliana, however I think we don't have time to dilly-dally anymore, considering the fact that we haven't finished our task yet. Also, it is time to take responsibility of them to."

The Mages and Knights immediately hummed to themselves the moment they heard Robert's last sentence. They had been so focused on the thought of regrouping with their friends, they had momentarily forgotten that they had to take responsibility of the civilians.

Although the Knights' main job as Mercenaries was to subjugate the Demons, not saving the civilians, they still had to take responsibility the moment they decided to save the civilians.

On the Mages' side, they even had no obligation to save the civilians since their sole task was to investigate. Unfortunately however, the moment they involved themselves in the fight to save the civilians, they had the moral obligation to finish their task.

Taking responsibility of the civilians was not that hard of the task normally; they merely had to guide them to a place where their safety was ensured. Given the situation however, this task became very troublesome.

"There is no need to think about it too hard," Iliana spoke while still hugging Basil. "It is not as if we don't have any place to bring them to."

"Do you have any idea where we can bring them to?" Whitney asked in surprise.

Iliana sighed lightly before letting go of Basil. She stared at him sharply for a couple of seconds, then turned him to face the others.

Basil didn't retaliate even slightly as he merely played along with her. He even let Iliana hug his arm, putting it between her bountiful mounds, which he had always avoided all the time.

'As I expected, they are smaller than the ones I know.' Basil was reminiscing about his past life—when he had first made contact with Iliana's mounds. 'She blackmailed me because of that, but now that I think about it, it was a fairly amusing experience.'

Iliana in the past had made him "accidentally" touch her mounds, before acting like she had just been violated. She asked Basil to take responsibility for taking away her innocence, and being a naive young man he was, he immediately agreed to her.

He became her lapdog for more than a month, before he eventually figured out that Iliana had merely been joking.

Though he called it becoming her lapdog, Iliana had actually just made him act like an overly loving boyfriend towards her. Therefore, when Basil found the truth, he didn't get mad at her ... He ignored her for an entire month just to get back at her though.

"Here... My boyfriend is rich." Iliana pointed her finger at Basil. "He has the place that is safe enough to contain these people."

Basil stopped reminiscing about the past and nodded his head lightly the moment he received everyone's gaze. The civilians heaved a sigh of relief after seeing Basil's confirmation, but tensed once again when they saw the Mages were still frowning.

"Miss. Iliana, may I assume you are aware of our task?"

"You are assuming the opposite right now, Robert."

Robert was about to deny Iliana's claim, but Whitney beat him to it. "It is actually not because of our task, Iliana ... We are already spent from the fight." Whitney looked at the people around him one by one.

"We may have Thompson and the others to help us, but I believe they are just as tired," Cray added. "I don't think we can really guide these people to safety, considering what is currently happening."

The Knights didn't say anything as the discussion was between the Mages. Whether the Mages decided to take the civilians along with them or not, the Knights still intended to take the civilians with them—they didn't have the heart to leave the frail people behind.

"Tsk. Why are you making this as if it is a hard task to do?" Iliana frowned in distaste. "Have you forgotten how good of a guide Basil is? We didn't encounter that dangerous of a Monster prior to saving the civilians."

"I don't doubt Mr. Pacifer's ability on looking for the safe path, however we can't just return to the hotel before—"

"If you are talking about the task, we have finished it. No," Iliana shook her head, "Basil has finished it. He has every information about the Monsters infesting the southern part of Raneil Barony."

Iliana turned to Basil, then quirked her eyebrow. She had honestly just blabbered a nonsense as her way to get back at Basil, and she didn't expect Basil to really have what she said.

Of course, she tried her best to conceal her surprise, the moment Basil nodded his head casually.

"I have one of my servants done it for me." He took out a piece of paper with the map of Raneil Barony's southern part drawn on it. "I've got this in my hand since the moment we took off, but decided to keep it, so everyone could have some fun."

Whitney and Cray immediately hummed uncomfortably to themselves upon hearing Basil's explanation, while the others merely gaped their mouth in astonishment. Robert, especially, didn't really know what to feel about the revelation.

"We could have stayed in the hotel, and avoided all of these hurdles," Alexandra muttered emptily.

Even the seemingly eternally bubbly Jocelyn wasn't really amused at the fact. "The experience was fun, but I prefer not having it if I could..."

Basil shrugged nonchalantly at the people's reaction, before turning to Iliana who had recovered from her dumbfounded state and gave her a faint smirk.

He didn't have any plan to further piss her off, but he couldn't prevent her from doing what she wanted—asking him for what he actually had.

He also had actually gotten the information about all of the Monsters occupying the entire Raneil Barony from the Shadows he had spread all over the Barony, but he didn't need to say it.

The Shadows were all the Assassins he had enslaved, and they were originally stationed there to look for his family—Danzel and Clarissa.

He didn't actually need them to provide any information regarding the Barony; he just needed them to protect his family. However, he didn't want to stop the enthusiasm the Shadows showed after being his slaves.

Even the death of Kreiss Raneil was something the Shadows had orchestrated ... Under Basil's permission, of course. He was still amused whenever he thought about the righteous reason on why Kreiss should be killed that the Shadows provided him.

"If that is the case then, we shall—"

Buzz.

Thompson, who was about to suggest that they should leave together, was interrupted by the sudden activation of the Mages' Transmission Talisman. The Mages themselves were also surprised by that, and, shockingly, Basil wasn't very different.

Upon taking out the Transmission Talisman out from their pocket, they immediately infused Mana inside it to listen to the message.

[To all of the students, this is Darius, your Student Council's President. I command all of you to abort your mission, and return to Familia Hotel as soon as possible ... Ruttenhale Barony has fallen, and the army of Monsters are now marching towards Woster County.]

Due to the security of Transmission Talisman, the Knights couldn't hear a single thing the Talisman conveyed. However, they could immediately conclude it wasn't something good the moment they saw the Mages' complexion.

'Something is not right....' Even Basil couldn't help frowning at the information.