"Lotus..." Riddle growled angrily as he struggled from the bindings against the tree he was tied to.
In fact, everyone that went missing were all tied up around the trees in the vicinity with them
"If you're calling them tigers, then they should be all right, right?" Jamil huffed in disgust.
"Mmmph! Mph!" Grim cried out angrily against his gag.
"Um... Isn't this going too far?" Yuu looked to her with a sigh before glaring at her, "Also, remember to meet with me after this is over..."
"Eh?!" Lotus cried out in horror, "B-But, Professor Vargas was the one who instructed me to do this..."
"There are other ways to execute this task, but you just had to go missing without telling anyone." Yuu scolded her from his tree, "But, you just had to make us worried. Are you happy now?!"
"Ugh..." Lotus grumbled in disappointment when she heard this, "I-I understand... I'll see you after all of this is over..."
"Great, now get us out of these binds!" Epel responded hurriedly.
"I'm afraid I can't, even if Brother Yuu asked for it. Professor Vargas ordered it, after all." Lotus responded, "Let's see... Catch anyone who tries to leave the group and stir up anxiety and chaos amongst the group, then strike the others when we achieved the timing. The moment that would create the most perfect reaction. As for everyone, tie them up against the tree within the barrier that cuts out sounds."
"What?!"
"By the way, where's Leona, Ace, and Deuce?" Yuu questioned in confusion.
Lotus shrugged, "I guess they all slacked off and got punished by Professor Vargas? I mean, if Professor Vargas never left us, then why would Leona and the others just vanished? Although, I don't know about that for Deuce. He doesn't seem to be the type to slack off."
"He isn't." Riddle nodded in agreement, "He's certainly someone who doesn't slack off. So, why would he suddenly get caught?"
Lotus thought for a bit before she spoke up, "When was it that you realized Deuce was not following everyone?"
Someone from the Track and Field club spoke up, "After we returned from the mines."
"From the mines?"
Wasn't there that phantom back in the mines? What about this time?
Lotus frowned. Didn't they destroy that monster? Unless...
As she thought more carefully to herself, the worse her complexion became.
"Is something wrong, Lotus?" Riddle looked to her curiously.
Lotus quickly whisked away that expression from her face and smiled, "Not really! I'm just worried since that would mean that he hadn't had anything to eat then. From what I remember a human can survive without food for three days and a week without water. I guess Deuce only has two days left before then so maybe we ought to look for him by morning."
"What?!" Yuu looked to her in horror before coming to a thought , "Then we should find him as soon as this is over."
"But how long would it take before Jack and the others complete the task?" Epel reminded them with a heavy sigh.
As the others began to whisper amongst themselves, Lotus nodded with a sigh as she mumbled to herself, "Guess I'll have to convince the headmaster Crowley somehow."
Hearing this from nearby, Riddle turned to her and questioned curiously, "What do you mean?"
Lotus whispered softly, "Did you forget about what Deuce and Ace said about the mines during the first month of school? I thought about it a little more now, but it's appearance resembles very akin to that of an overblot phantom with lantern and pickaxe. My best guess is that one of the miners overblotted on his own in the mines and no one ever found him or he was found having passed away. After all, deaths aren't uncommon in the mines from the past. Which begs the question… That miner. Were they the only one who overblotted?"
"You mean if there's more?! If that's true, then we have a grave danger on our hands." Riddle frowned.
"Like you, I've also known Deuce for a while now and, like you said, he's not one to slack off or shirk away from his responsibilities the way Ace does sometimes. He can definitely mess up for sure, but he'd never run away from his responsibilities."
"Then you think he came across another phantom like the other day?"
Lotus nodded, "She told me that she has found suspicious people going back and forth through the mines recently. The fairies in the area are doing their best to stay calm and act normal, but all are worried of the fairies in the mines. Human, beastmen and mermen are all curious by nature as long as they have self awareness. It's not any different for cultivators. I'm afraid that they will find a fairy and try to figure out what makes them tick and torture them. If the overblot phantom that lives for this long had actually came in contact with those people, I worry what they will do once they find Deuce and Deuce is the one to act on impulse in a fight or flight situation. He does not think things through before acting and, when he does, it can take too long to come up with a solution. Those people won't just stand there and wait for him to act anyway. I'll have to go and check the situation out, however without magic and my current state, I'm no different than an ordinary human, anyway."
Hearing this, the panic that Riddle had earlier quickly diminished as he recalled Peony's weakened state. What a great time for them to have lost Deuce back in the mines!
As a dorm leader, he cannot leave his students back in the mines in the face of danger, but reckless action would make his position no different from Deuce then. Moreover, he barely recovered his magic and life span. He definitely can't throw Peony's efforts down the drain by risking his life in that manner again, however, he also doesn't want to leave his student in danger either.
Having thought this, an idea came to mind. Although he did not like to owe favors, the only option was to ask for help.
It didn't take long before they suddenly heard the surviving" group sound rather enthusiastic.
Lotus turned her head and raised a brow. Did those guys finally come up with an idea now?
She pondered on what they might be trying to do now when Yuu called over to her.
"What do you think they are going to do now?" He questioned her curiously.
"Who knows." Lotus chuckled, "I'm just wondering what they would do to bring down the Professor."
"Can they even bring him down?" Someone from the basketball club questioned hesitantly.
"You wanna stay and see?" She turned to him.
"Well, we're out now, right? Let's go!" Someone from the group responded eagerly.
"Aren't our clubs' survival also riding on them?"
Lotus sighed, "You'll need to get the professor's permission before I can let you go. After all, the whole point of tying you up was so you don't go back aiding the survivors from the sidelines. So, it's easy. Convince the professor you won't cheat and I let you go."
There was a slight hesitation as Lotus raised a brow and hide a smirk, "What? You can't convince the professor? I mean, if you do cheat, he can dismiss all the clubs on the spot too. After all, you'd all be convincing him as an entire group. Your words says for everyone here too."
"Shut up! Why are you not tied up?!" Someone in the magift group shouted at her.
Lotus sighed, "What do you mean why I'm not tied up? I thought you question why Leona and Ace weren't tied up? As far as I know, the professor opened these ropes from the packaging just recently when he called me over. I wonder why he didn't decided to tie me up along with Ace and the others. But they're not here and he made it clear that they're elsewhere. So…"
Finally, with a little more struggle, Grim managed to spat out the cloth gag and grumbled, "Quit joking already! Besides, if you can be tied down, why in the world would you be helping the professor? Even we can't tie you down."
"That does sound about right…" Yuu sighed as he shook his head in disappointment.
"Geez…" Lotus pouted, "Must you spoil the fun? Well, it's not like it's enough to make me blush that much."
Hearing this, the others were stunned speechless! Had she no shame for saying this and accepting their words as fun or compliment?!
Shameless!
Despite thinking this, the smile on her face sent a chill down their spine as they looked to the equestrian club in bewilderment. How in the world are you all able to get on the better side of such a monster?! To think their clubs were also still trading with her just now was nearly as unbelievable as her willing to give away their catfishes and fishes for their own resources! And the Heartslabyul dorm leader and Scarabia vice dorm leader! Why are they the only ones looking so calm?!