Finally Beatrice and Ace returned to the cave with the herb they were looking for, and Lyra was able to relax.
"Now we can go back to school..." She sighed with relief. It was really a huge burden to watch Beatrice and Ace. Even when they went off on their own to find the herb, she secretly used magic to protect them slightly and alert her if they met with any dangers. Fortunately, they did not meet even a single demon.
Which, now that Lyra thought about it, was odd. They should have at least run into one, if not more. The demons were all over the forest for hundreds of years. They would not all suddenly disappear at one time.
Lyra thought that it would be a good idea to investigate this, but first she must get Beatrice, Ace, and now Laura our of the forest.
She did not want them to be in any danger. They walked back out of the cave the way they came, and only now did Beatrice and Ace remember the inscriptions. They looked back at the wall where the inscriptions were, and noticed that they were gone.
"Wh-What happened to the inscriptions?!" Beatrice exclaimed, looking very confused. She looked around hurriedly at all the other walls, as if she suddenly thought that maybe she was just looking at the wrong wall.
"They're really gone! How can this be?!" Ace exclaimed. The two were very noisy, and they were disturbing Laura's peaceful thoughts.
Lyra, however, wanted so badly to laugh at them. They could never find the inscriptions now! Hahahaha! But she refrained from laughing. She could not tell them that she moved the inscriptions to another cave, now could she?
So Lyra refrained from laughing, Laura watched Lyra hold back the laughter, and Beatrice and Ace scrambled about the room and carefully examined each and every wall to see if they could find some semblance of the inscriptions.
Finally, they gave up, and they reluctantly agreed to go back to the school. On the way back, they did not encounter even a single demon.
***
Lyra, Beatrice, Ace, and Laura arrived at the school. It was still during school hours, so few students were outside of class. They decided that the first place they should go is to the headmaster's office.
They needed to inform Leo about why they returned early.
They decided it was best to walk together, so Lyra walked in front, and was holding onto Laura's arm to pull her along gently. Beatrice and Ace were following along.
Before they reached Leo's office, they saw someone walking on that hallway. It was Len.
Len was looking down, and he looked depressed. However, Beatrice and Ace thought that he always looked like that, so it did not bother them. But Lyra and Laura were bothered.
"Lyra, why does that man look so sad?" Laura asked quietly. She did not want to catch the man's attention.
"I don't know." Lyra lied, "I wish I could know to help him feel better."
Laura turned back to look towards him, and Lyra decided to call out to him. "Len!"
Len turned around to see them, and at first when he saw Lyra his eyes seemed to light up. But then he remembered that she was not Selena, so his eyes dimmed down again.
He walked over to them, and he was the one who spoke to them first. "Your back early." He pointed out, as if it was not obvious enough already.
Then he turned to face Laura, who was still being held onto by Lyra. "Who is this?" He asked.
Beatrice smiled nervously and then answered. "This is Laura. We found her passed out and injured in the forest, so we came back early to bring her back to safety."
Len started off into the distance for a moment, his eyes seemed unfocused. Lyra did not know what to make of his expression. "I see..." was all he said on the topic.
Then he looked back at Lyra and nodded. His lips curved up slightly as he saw her, and this did not go unnoticed by Lyra.
"You all should report your early return to Leo." He then looked back towards Beatrice and Ace. "Also, did you manage to get the herb?"
Ace nodded. He was stunned again to see that Len's mood seemed better than usual. Really, Len seemed like an entirely different person when Lyra was around, but he was still scary either way.
"I'm heading to Leo's office myself, so I should walk with you." He added, and his smile did not seem like it would disappear anytime soon.
Finally, they arrived at Leo's office. Len pushed open the door, and said something to Leo. Afterwards, Len opened the door all the way for them to come in. Leo was surprised when he saw that Lyra, Beatrice, and Ace were back early and standing in front of him in his office, but he was even more surprised by the person who came with them, Laura.