Descending Into A Novel

Chapter 194: 194:Temporary Freedom

Raymond was the last to arrive as usual, following behind Ellen as the two of them entered. A clear distance between them. Something that nearly all of them noticed immediately.

Sitting down, Ellen patiently waited a few seconds. Only to frown internally when she realized Raymond had chosen to not sit next to her. Sitting at the furthest possible seat away from her. Occasionally sneaking a glance in order to see her reaction.

It seemed he still harbored fears about what Ellen might be planning. Unaware of course that he had already fallen into the rabbit hole. A self fullfilling prophecy created by himself.

Well that was fine. Ellen was patient.

"Since everyone’s finally here. We can start the mission briefing."

Raymond raised his hand, "Excuse me sir, is it possible for me to skip this mission?"

Rudeus didn’t even blink at the question, each of the special class instructors were actually quite close with each other as semi retired S-ranks. So he had a pretty good grasp on what the other special class students were like even when he mainly taught Noelle. Knowing Raymond, it was only a matter of time before he eventually got bored and didn’t want to go on a mission anymore.

"No problem, but some points will be deducted."

Ellen’s head whipped around to stare at him. Something Raymond desperately ignored.

Glare.

"That’s all?"

"Yes."

"Alright you can go now."

Raymond didn’t need to be told twice, the moment he heard that. He got up and practically sprinted out the door.

The reason behind why Raymond didn’t want to go on this mission was actually very simple.

He just wanted a break from Ellen.

With all the recent events that had been occurring. Raymond really wasn’t sure whether he could endure another mission with her ever again. The week long travel especially was the worst part. Forget enduring, Raymond wasn’t even sure he would survive. Something always seemed to happen on every mission that would mysteriously force the two of them into strange circumstances.

Even outside of missions however, Raymond still feared her. Sometimes, he could feel her gaze still lingering creepily at him. Her sinister plans brewing deep within the depths of her soul.

Ellen:Hmm...doesn’t his long hair bother him?

He truly had no peace of mind left. His only safety come from when he was with Erin, since Ellen wouldn’t do anything atrocious in front of her.

Ellen:Hehe, the two of them look so cute when they’re together.

Since these missions weren’t exactly important, and Raymond was confident enough in the strength of the others. He made th decision to just pay up the penalty and skip the mission. Outside of just needing a small break from Ellen, missions were boring anyways.

The best part about the missions was that you got to travel to different places. But any businessman that traveled for work would tell you it quickly got old fast. For Raymond especially, going to Mirovia City was nice. But not every mission was to such a nice place. So he had no qualms skipping this current mission.

Ellen quietly opened the door to their apartment, spotting Raymond and Erin on the floor as they filled in a coloring book together.

"..."

While she had plenty she wanted to say, she merely shook her head. Before entering her room to pack some of her belongings.

Turning his head over his shoulder, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks Erin."

"Dad. You’re colouring out of the lines!"

He paused, staring at his own neat and tidy section. Without a single hint of the white paper beneath it. Before staring at Erin’s haphazardly strewn about rainbow.

"...you’re the one colouring out of the lines."

Raymond stopped her tail before it could poke him.

"If you do that one more time. I’m not giving you any more ice cream for a week."

"!!!"

***

"How long do you think the missions gonna last this time?"

Ellen held out her fingers, counting down. "Lets see. Three days of travel so that’s six in total. It’s a small mission as well so maybe around two days is enough for us to finish it?"

In total nine days then, plus an extra day since the academy always gave them an extra day after completing the mission in order to relax and sightsee.

"So I get nine days."

"Yes. Don’t give Erin too much ice cream."

"I know."

"And it’s not good to always eat out."

"I know."

"Make sure you sleep early."

"I know."

To any bystander listening in on their conversation. It would have seemed more like a mother instructing their child.

Meanwhile the actual child, Erin. Couldn’t be in the open to say goodbye to her, for fear of retaliation from the Mercia Family. According to what they knew, their red dragon had escaped during the laboratory raid and was nowhere to be seen. Since the government, and by extension the academy was a neutral force. It could easily cause the already fragile tension to sour even more between the government and the Families.

Ellen could only sigh, watching in real time as each of her words entered in through one ear before immediately leaving through the other ear.

"Just don’t do anything dumb."

"I won’t. "

Even if she knew Raymond could be frighteningly competent when he wanted to. Knowing how often he liked to laze around, it made her worry for him. Because she could count on one hand the number of times when he suddenly decided to be serious. Despite the fact that she really shouldn’t have been worried at all.

"I’ll buy you two souvenirs."

"Thanks."

Raymond waved her off, watching up until the very last moment when the doors closed and the train sped off into the distance past his sight.

Immediately he let out a big sigh of relief. Turning around, his mind was instantly filled with thoughts of what to do with his newfound freedom. Even if temporary, freedom was still freedom after all.

Whether it was finally being able to sleep in again, not being forced to attended classes or just free from the fear of whatever random idea she randomly came up with in order to get a reaction out of him. Raymond felt an almost invisible pair of chains finally snap in half.

"Dude thinks he’s free."

Seeing Raymond hold his hands up in the air, Arthur couldn’t help but mutter under his breath.

Thankfully, Raymond was still immersed in his own joy to even hear it. Otherwise, Arthur would definitely receive another hounding about the points he still owed Raymond from previous bets. This was despite the fact that Raymond earned dozens of times more points then him.

Raymond could be a pain in the neck if he wanted to. After all, he had been bothered similarly for years.

But while Raymond celebrated his temporary freedom. A certain someone else was in a less then happy mood.

"..."

"..."

Ellen always had a pretty cold expression on her face, an exception being when she was with Raymond. Then her emotionless expression would turn into...something, it was hard to describe that particular emotion. Something in between warmth and playfulness.

The problem was that the others only ever saw her with Raymond, now that she had reverted more into how she used to act. It was downright frightening.

Imagine living in a world of only blue, then one day. The blue was suddenly replaced with red. That was how it felt for everyone else, with the exception of Noelle. Since she had already seen this before. But this was the first time experiencing it for such a long period of time for everyone else.

"I hope it doesn’t rain there, I didn’t pack a lot of waterproof clothing."

Even when Zachary tried to break some of the silence with small talk. She barely responded, not even turning to look at him as she continued staring out the window at the passing scenery.

All he got in return was a small hum that acknowledged his existence.

For a moment, Zachary felt like he had finally understood Thomas. Staring at him and Audrina in turn, he received another two blank stares of confusion in return.

It was now that he realized, their group felt surprisingly dull and boring without Raymond.

Without him, Ellen would become quiet and reserved. Lin Qingyi would struggle to communicate with them, and most importantly. Zachary lost perhaps the only voice of reason within their class.

As nice as Thomas was, that naivety wasn’t exactly the best thing to have. While Audrina and Cador remained practically indistinguishable from statues. Lin Qingyi bareng spoke due to the language barrier. While Ellen became an enterily different person. Just the absence of one person made it unbelievably quieter.

Ellen continued staring out the window, her body itching to do something.

She had managed months without him already, with his time spent in a coma. But this absence felt different for some reason. It felt like she was missing a limb, some important part of her. His warm quiet presence, to the constant chattering and complaining. His funny little reactions to everything she did to him. It was just odd.

She sighed internally, ignoring the others as she made her way to the training carriage.

It was just a short while. She could handle this much.

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