Chapter 139
Lamberton Student Dormitory, Cornell Academy, City: Three Pronged Fork, Republic of Shantu, Continent: Barat, the Year 2038, Planet: Grimoire
After that exhausting adventure drew to an even more rattling conclusion, Grifton had Firenze stay in his room. He saw no point in sending him back to his rooms. They'd spent time in the reception room to the wee hours. It was now almost dawn.
Thus, they were excused from classes for the entire day. They took full advantage of that to sleep in and catch up on their sleep. Once awakened, they bathed and got dressed. Afterward, they broke their fast in the cafeteria and hurried to the warehouse. After all, they had much to clean up after their abrupt exit.
Once they arrived, they were peppered with questions, not the least of which was one that bothered everyone. "Are you okay?" Orian studied them with sharp eyes. "We heard about the incendiaries that went off like crazy at those ruins.
It hadn't taken much to determine the connection between their sudden disappearance and the explosions.
Grifton sighed. "You could say that we were gifted with some unexpected inheritances, but none of which we can use until much later."
Orian nodded. "Well, I'm glad you all are all right."
Diego glanced at them. "We set aside your items so you can distribute the profits to the artisans who chose you as their proxy." He reminded them of what else they had to do.
"Thanks," Grifton smiled with appreciation. "Not even we knew what was going to happen yesterday."
When Firenze nodded with a shrug of exasperation, they all laughed. "Well, it must be bad if he doesn't want to go into details."
Firenze thought of what to say and shook his head with a grimace. "Complicated enough to make your heads spin and eyes pop with disbelief." He told them at last.
Diego was startled. "That bad, huh?"
Grifton nodded. "It is something that only legends would be able to explain."
"Uh, okay, so that is why the sky darkened with dragons yesterday?" One of the guards overheard them talking and walked over to ask. He showed them the footage he had taken.
A few dragons chased a few of the authorities a few miles, a sight to behold.
"Well, at least they managed to avoid roasting them," Grifton recalled.
Orian's eyes widened in surprise and then amusement. "wow, the dragons were that pissed off by their behavior?"
Firenze nodded. "They had done something so despicable that we had a heck of a time persuading the dragons not to do it."
Diego grunted. "Well, there is suspicion that had they been roasted," Grifton frowned at his words. We'd all have to live with poisoned air." He made a sour face. That is something that they threatened to do if they were murdered by fire."
Yeesh, they'd dodged a nasty situation with that prevention after all. Grifton and Firenze exchanged glances. "I don't think Lamberton or Darmono knew that information."
Diego shrugged. "It was only revealed in interviews after the officials collapsed in exhaustion. They'd been run off their feet literally by those dragons chasing them."
Orian shook his head with appreciation. "They gauged just how far those officials could get on their feet after having scared off the coachmen and carriages."
So that's what happened. "We heard about none of this," Grifton admitted.
"We were still making reports into the wee hours of the night," Firenze confirmed with a sigh. "No doubt we'll have to do the same for instructors tomorrow."
Orian and Diego exchanged glances. "Yeah, I suppose you did miss out on classes that restarted about a week ago." They looked surprised. "We'd forgotten you were students exempted from the sparring combat competition."
Of course, that usually signals the beginning of summer break. However, Firenze and Grifton had entered the advanced courses that would allow them to go through early graduation. However, thanks to the war that broke out, they were almost back to square one. A fact that pleased neither of them.
"Yes, well, we need to get back to sorting items and distributing profits," Firenze said, recalling why they'd headed to the warehouse rather than idling about in the Dormitory or wandering freely around the marketplace streets.
Grifton was just as reluctant to do that work. However, he did want to get the job done smoothly. "Do you think anyone will even be hanging around here?" It was unlikely that everyone was on break now that he thought about it.
Diego laughed. "Sadly, they'll gather in about an hour to hear the gossip about what happened on your trip." He shrugged. "No one thought anything about the fact that you two disappeared early."
Orian snorted. "They were too distracted when hearing about the appearance of supposedly legendary creatures in the distance."
They were surprised when Grifton and Firenze exchanged alarmed glances. "Does that mean other creatures besides the dragons appeared yesterday to scare everyone in sight?" Eh, had they seen Arista and the others in their natural forms? Some of those could cause nightmares because of their wickedly-seeming figures.
Diego and Orian shook their heads. "Not that we can remember." They frowned in confusion. "Should there have been?"
Grifton and Firenze sighed.
"No, not that I can think of." Grifton shook his head. "Just a lot of weird things happened, that's all."
"Well, there has been an influx of strange beings," Orian admitted. "However, they're just beast kin being chased out of various kingdoms and empires."
Grifton couldn't believe what he was hearing now. Huh? How horrible was that? "So, they're looking to find work or refuge here?" He hoped they weren't being viewed with discrimination here as well.
Diego smiled. "No, they're just watching the competition while looking into the trade possibilities." He shrugged. "If anything, they plan to keep going into the wild lands. For some reason, they believe they have a better chance at surviving monster attacks."
Grifton nodded. "Well, they do have better natural defenses than most humans and even dragons, for that matter." He wouldn't deny the obvious when it came to beast kin. "I just hope they don't encounter that nasty thing from our last trip."
Diego winced. "Uh, yeah, once they heard about that thing rampaging around, they had a few second thoughts."
Orian nodded. "They did ask about alternate routes to avoid it."
Good, they had some common sense. Grifton was glad to hear about that. "Well, I suppose I should join Firenze in getting to the stuff so we can enjoy some free time while it is still available." Grifton realized that time was fleeting.
Diego and Orian waved him off. Grifton joined Firenze, who had taken off when they began chatting about different topics.
"What makes you so nervous?" Grifton asked Firenze bluntly.
"Hmm?" Firenze glanced at him. "Oh, well, when you brought up the freakish creature that was once a turtle," he shivered uneasily. "I decided it was time to think about other stuff."
Grifton couldn't blame him for that. "No worries, I was just startled that you decided to take off without me." He shrugged with a sigh. "I wanted to end that conversation as well."
Firenze nodded. "Yeah, better to not think of that creature." He was unnerved. "I noticed that it tends to lock onto a target if word is spoken about it too often."
If that was so, Grifton didn't want to think about what would happen if it attacked the outer parts of Shantu. "Thanks for reminding us of what our priorities should be." He smiled at Firenze. "So, what do you want to do after we're done with distribution?" He frowned slightly when Firenze stiffened. "Firenze, what is happening?"
Firenze sighed. "I had forgotten we still had to do that." He shook his head. "I'm just worried they won't like what we can hand over to them."
Oh, that's right. Grifton scratched his head over the dilemma they faced and sighed. "Huh, do you have any suggestions for this?"
Firenze shook his head. "I didn't really have time to even consider what else to do with the downright rejected stock." He studied the boxes with some acrimony. "Half of this stuff isn't usable even now." Firenze showed him how worn some of the shoes had become. "I don't know if I want to show it to our usual customers."
This was worse than he thought it would be. "That is a problem." Grifton agreed. Some items had yet to sell as well as expected in the locations that they'd traveled through. "Hmm, should we put them into the boxes to sell in the local market that hawks used goods?" It was better than not selling them and returning them to the artisans.
Firenze shook his head. "No, I'm not willing to have these shoddy items sold under our name." He frowned. "Now that I think about it. These goods belonged to those jerks that tried luring that thing into our campsite."
Grifton sighed. "So, what you're telling me is that some of the warriors were also artisans trying to sell this extremely badly made stuff under our name?" What a mess if that was the case. He shook his head with frustration.
No wonder Firenze was so resistant to handling this, even in that situation. Grifton shrugged. "All right, we'll return these goods to those who wanted us to sell them for indecently high prices."
Firenze relaxed. "Good. Once we're done, shall we meet up with Troy and the others? They're bugging me to meet up again." He grinned. "They want to see your face too."
Hmm, Grifton eyed him warily. "Does this mean they've already been introduced to the newest wave of new students?"
Firenze shrugged. "Dunno? It is possible since they didn't come with us." He smiled. "they want to haunt the Jade Palace and Orient Palazzo since neither of us went their last time."
Grifton was okay with doing that this time. "Sure, why not?" It was time to kick back and enjoy hanging out with their acquaintances. He was willing to shake off the tension that gathered after all the craziness that happened to the both of them.