Chapter 207 Detour?

"Well, let's meet again when you are not busy?" Clair spoke with a bright smile as she looked at me and I nodded at her,"sure," before leaving from there.

"Don't mean to interrupt but, what was that all about?" Gloria asked and I simply smiled at her before moving towards the dorm.

"I will be going to my dorm from here. Where will you guys be going?" I inquired and Gloria answered first,"I will visit the Skill Domain to take my skills. Variel?"

"I will be going there as well," Variel answered, and I turned to them for a moment before speaking,"Sure. See you tomorrow in class then."

From that point onwards, we went our separate ways, they went to get their skills each and I to my dorm. Since I had some time, I decided to take a walk to my dorm rather than booking a cab or something.

Walking down the road, despite this being only student and staff restrictive, the amount of cars and bikes here was quite high. I guess, everyone preferred to take their own respective vehicles rather than depending upon others.

My eyes observed the few little things like butterflies and squirrels, with small parks at a distance in between the houses and the buildings. It was a nice change of scenery.

"Hey! Want a ride?" a boy at a distance stopped his car beside me and I turned at him with an analysing gaze. Observing the number dress he had… he was a 4th year here.

"Where are you going?" I asked to confirm if my dorm was in his direction or not and he spoke,"the Stairs of Knowledge."

'Hmmm.. I guess, it won't be a problem to take a ride with him,' I thought as I moved towards the backdoor of the car and entered it only to find another guy sitting and reading a book. He didn't seem very interested in me so I left it at that.

"Thank you. I was going to my dorm, so you can leave me at the intersection just before it," I spoke and he nodded before starting the car.

"So where are you from?" he asked directly as he looked at me through the rear-view mirror. I kind of smiled at him before speaking,"shouldn't you first introduce yourself before asking about someone else's identity?"

I saw him turning silent for a few moments before sighing and speaking,"sure… the name is Ethan; I am from the Lewander Country. What about you?"

"Aidan Williamson. As for my location, I am from Arcadia City itself," I lied through my teeth as I turned to look out the window. He kept asking me a couple of questions and I answered some of it, while the others I dodged.

After a few more minutes, I saw him turning the wrong way and rather than correcting him I waited for a while to see if he really missed it or he took that turn on purpose. He kept going on and on, while taking more and more strange turns and it made me realise that he wasn't taking me to my dorm but somewhere else totally.

Though after another 5 minutes or so, we still hadn't reached the location where he was taking me and I kind of got bored and said,"will you just reach there already?"

I was annoyed, and it was clear from my speech that I was, which kind of irked him a little before he stopped the car and smiled with a really wide grin and spoke,"we are here."

Observing him and the man next to me, I spoke out with slight 'hesitation' "it doesn't seem like we are at the dorm."

"Because we aren't, now get out or do I need to use force here?" The man beside me who was silent all this time spoke with a really irritated voice before he turned towards me. He then opened the door and signalled me to move towards him, which I did with a 'horror' stricken face.

Perhaps my acting was good, but they were satisfied with how I was behaving. They took me through a dark alley and then another and then another, before we came inside a large open factory, where you won't find even dead people forget about the living.

Still, there were a couple of idiots sitting on a chair waiting for me in this rundown place. I saw them and they saw me, a smile bloomed on their faces and a grin formed on mine.

I moved closer and one of the men who seemed like the leader spoke,"you are probably wondering why you have been brought here but don't you worry. We are not here to harm you, we just want you to do a small task for us. Listen Aidan, I am a very direct person and I won't beat around the bush. I want you to use your ability and help our team in hunting monsters and collecting their resources in the best way possible. Is that clear?"

I looked at him for a brief moment before I asked,"and what do I get in return?"

Though as I asked, everyone started laughing all of a sudden before the leader guy ordered them to be quiet. Then he spoke with a slight chuckle,"Mister Aiden… you probably are finding difficulty in understanding the situation right now. We aren't requesting you to make a deal with you here; we are ordering you and forcing you to do what we want you to do. If you are wondering what you get in return, then let me tell you Mister Aidan… it's your life. You get to keep your life in return. Isn't that a beautiful thing to have?" I looked at those people around for a brief moment and sighed as I wondered if Amelia knew about them or not… most probably she does but she finds it too bothersome to look into. Not that I blame her…

"I guess… if you are talking about taking life… you must have come prepared to give yours as well," I muttered as my eyes turned red and I looked at them.