353 Remi's Expressions
For a moment, there was chaos as everyone worried that one of the students had been attacked by the Spirit Snake, but those who were close enough had seen Remi carefully boop him on the nose and knew that he wasn't actually injured, just panicked and hyperventilating.
"False alarm, everyone, the snake just headbutted him and made him panic." One of the students called out as the Elites began to run over to see what the danger was.
One of the other teachers stared at Remi for a moment, as the snake stared back at her.
"Is that Remi? I recall that she was much smaller than that. Or is she under the effects of a skill?" The mage finally asked.
"She advanced to Commander Rank, and wanted me to show her around for the afternoon, apparently. At least, that's the impression that I got when she appeared on my shoulders." Morgana explained.
"I know that you're Karl's advisor, but you don't have to carry his pets around for him." One of the teachers joked.
Remi circled Morgana so she could see who was talking more clearly, and the teacher laughed. "It's like she's judging me for questioning her choices. I can see why she doesn't want to travel in the dirt, but still, isn't she getting a bit large to be carried around on your shoulders?" He asked.
The student beside him laughed. "That look is definitely offended. I think she took that as you calling her fat."
The students laughed as they realized that was really what Remi was going for, and that the snake had no idea how much more she weighed now than she did when she was a third that length.
"Well, we should thank her for the rain, at the very least. It's been so hot here that I'm beginning to wonder what's wrong with the weather." One of the students added.
That was a good point, Remi thought. She knew that it was supposed to be close to winter now, or perhaps in the middle of the winter. She didn't actually know how long seasons lasted.
Plus, they were in the hills, and the weather should be cooler here than it was in most places. It was much better than the Frost Giant nation, but they weren't that far from their borders, so it shouldn't be this warm, she thought.
The problem was that she had no way to express that without going through Karl. She was beginning to enjoy learning new spells, but learning to communicate with random humans still seemed like a lot of work for very little result.
It didn't take long before the other students remembered that Karl had a scout in the sky, who should be watching the action while dodging artillery shells.
"How long until they arrive?" One of the warriors asked.
"That's a fine question, they passed across the line, as if they were coming for an attack, then they doubled back, looking for something. I have no idea what they're up to now." Karl explained.
"Do you think that they can sense something that we can't?" The warrior on Karl's left asked.
"Most likely. But normally, my beasts would sense it as well, and they haven't noticed anything out of the usual in the area. If there was some hidden treasure, we should have picked up some trace of it by now."
[Treasure?] Hawk asked as he soared above the Giants.
He didn't sense any treasure, though. He was pretty good at it, but there wasn't anything to find. The Hill Giants didn't even leave their dead behind, so there were no loot filled corpses either.
The Hill Giants appeared to making a crude grid pattern as they moved back and forth across the territory at the edge of the artillery bombardment. They were definitely searching, but neither Karl nor Hawk could determine for what, and nobody else had any clue, even after he tried to explain.
Then, the guns fell silent as the Hill Giants retreated out of range.
[Hawk, scout a little longer and see if there was anything hiding underground while they were here. Maybe it's a hidden ruin, like the Dwarven Village.]
[If it's like that, there won't be any mice.] Hawk reminded him.
Karl's smile let everyone know he was talking to Hawk as he replied.
[Not everyone is as good at pest control as the Dwarves. There might be mice.]