270 Chapter 270: End of the Road (2/2)
They still had no idea what I was talking about, so I gave up and wandered back into the party, with Theodore tagging along. As I did so, Charles approached.
”Thanks for your hard work.” He nodded in the direction of Harrison. ”You guys don't really have to stand watch, you know. You should just relax…all of us have earned it.”
”Nah. I didn't survive this long just to let my guard down and get killed by monsters right after the final boss battle.”
Charles chuckled at that, then he shook his head and gestured to a makeshift table. We ended up using one of the trees we had chopped down for firewood to serve as a table, placing its trunk across the clearing and placing the bottles there.
”Go get some drinks. I recommend the honey tea. Somehow Claudia succeeded in brewing some tea with the leaves we found.”
Claudia was one of the students at Charles's Pendragon Academy. Just like Charles, she was also dressed in gleaming silver armor, but with red and white hints. Instead of the White Tiger crest that Charles sported, the white heraldry on her gleaming armor was resplendent with crimson crosses. Harrison had called her a Paladin, as if that meant anything.
She was also a great tea brewer, and had somehow succeeded in concocting red tea with the leaves she found in the forest. I swear, she practically cooked up her own homebrewed Earl Grey tea in the Spiritual Road with nothing more than a bottle and a mess tin.
I took Charles's advice and went off to get some tea, remembering to get a cup for Harrison, who was on sentry duty. Charles went off to speak to Cecilia and the rest. I wasn't interested in eavesdropping and honestly, who the girls socialized with was none of my business. So I wandered to a quiet spot and practically dozed off.
Before I knew it, dawn was breaking over the horizon, with the forest bathed in gentle sunlight. Harrison was also asleep, having long since rotated out of his shift and handed it over to Theodore.
However, even Theodore had completed his shift and went to rest, and Charles's classmate was keeping watch now, sipping from his bottle some tea as he stared into the forest blankly. Fortunately, unlike that time with the campfire incident, there was no monster that crashed our party and massacred the survivors.
”Gawain…right?”
Gawain looked up as I approached. I waved and plastered on a smile.
”You can go rest now. I'll take over.”
”No need for that. Everyone's going to wake up soon anyway.” He raised his bottle in salute. ”I wonder what's going to happen next.”
”That's a good question.” the both of us jolted, startled, at Charles's voice. We didn't realize he was awake and nearby. He didn't seem to notice our astonishment, and continued calmly. ”I believe most of us think we'll just go back to competing against each other and collecting blood tokens. After all, the reason for our alliance is gone. There really isn't anything tying our coalition together anymore.”
”So…we're going to start fighting again?” I asked dryly. Charles shrugged.
”Honestly, I would prefer to avoid that if I could help it. I'm sick of fighting in the Spiritual Road, of all the cutthroat competition. It's precisely because of such nonsense that people like Ji Xuan resorted to such lengths to dominate over the others.” He glanced up at the brightening sky. ”Furthermore, it was so difficult to convince everyone to establish this alliance. I would hate for it to be dissolved so easily. It felt like we were…comrades, you know?”
”I know how you feel, but that's not for me or you to decide.” Gawain sighed as he continued crouching down on the dirt, his blue and silver armor unmarred by the soil somehow. I bet it was magic. ”It's probably not even up to anyone here, but to the teachers and higher-ups who organized the Spiritual Road.”
”…yeah. I know.” Charles took a deep breath. ”But if there was another way, I would…”
He never got to finish his sentence. The heavens split open and a golden pillar of light shone down on the campfire site. The three of us stared up in awe, our jaws dropping.
”What the hell?!” Theodore mumbled as he jumped up, fumbling around. Harrison, in contrast, was already prepared for combat, beginning to cast his spells as if he had never been asleep. Similarly, Claudia was already up and armed, her armor looking as resplendent as ever. Cecilia, Kureha, Lilith, Chang Cheng and Doug were also braced for battle, despite having woken up only seconds ago. There was no sign of them being bleary-eyed.
I was kind of jealous. I didn't possess such battle sense or instincts. Normally, when I was rudely roused to wakefulness, I would be half-confused and partially in a foul mood at having my sleep disturbed.
”Relax,” a voice boomed from above. ”I'm Ling Dao.”
”The director in charge of the Spiritual Road and the ultimate authority,” Charles whispered in a reverential tone.
As if he hadn't heard him, or he couldn't care less, Ling Dao continued, his disembodied voice continuing to resonate across the entire forest.
”Today, I declare the Spiritual Road over. All of you have braved the ordeal with admirable resolve and tremendous tenacity. Well done. You have survived until the end of the Spiritual Road, and for that, you shall be rewarded handsomely for your efforts. You will be granted your spot of choice among any one of the Five Great Academies.”