Elin wasn't sure what to make of her circumstances when she woke up. Not so much because she felt like things had significantly changed, but more because it felt like some things had been decided before she'd woken up.
Jonas and Kim were ready to go and didn't seem as eager for breakfast as the others while Patricia and Patrick looked like they were wanting some alone time together, regardless of the quarrel they had the night before. Not that Elin was more than vaguely aware of it occurring. Elwin, Owen, Bart, Heather, and Sonya were the ones who seemed to be most interested in having breakfast, while Elmo hadn't woken up yet.
"We can eat on our way," Jonas insisted. Which was the first thing that Elin heard as she woke up. "There isn't anything we could cook anyway that we couldn't just eat as is anyway."
"I still like having something warm to eat for breakfast," Owen replied, as if that decided the matter. "It helps set the tone for the day."
"And the time we spend doing that could mean the less time we have to get to the dungeon before Stanley and his group find out that the book we gave them wasn't the one they wanted," Kim added as she finished packing the little amount of her belongings that she'd taken out since they'd arrived at this campsite.
"You make it sound like they'll be on to us in moments from now," Owen remarked, sounding a little annoyed.
"It's better to enjoy a nice hot meal while you can," Heather added. "Who knows when we'll be able to enjoy this again."
Kim looked more annoyed by that response than Owen had been by hers. Not that Elin could think of why. It seemed like it was merely a different perspective, but Kim seemed to not be very happy about it. Which Elin couldn't help but feel confused about.
Elin was about to open her mouth to ask Kim what the problem was, when the morning announcements interrupted her thoughts.
"Good morning, contestants!" the voice boomed in their minds. "It would seem that we have two groups who think they have the book required to complete the challenge and are close to seeing if they're correct or not. Maybe both are wrong and maybe one of them is right. I'd like to say which is which, but that would ruin the whole fun of letting them figure it out on their own!"
Elin couldn't help but wonder if there was a way that they'd be able to at least give this announcer a piece of her mind, if not strangle him with how callous he seemed to be towards them. Especially with how the announcer seemed to have been doing that since this whole competition started. Which merely added to Elin's overall annoyance about him or her.
"I wish there was more to discuss about what's been going on, but it's not like we have much left for our contestants to do. They've pretty much dealt with everything that we'd set up for this competition and still at least half of them have survived. Even with some things that we hadn't thrown into the mix, they still survived. Which really is the largest number of contestants that we've had still alive at this point. What's left is the same as our previous competitions. Or at least the ones where the contestants lasted this long."
Elin wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Especially with the way that the announcer said it. She wasn't sure if it would be any better if the announcer had even phrased it differently. It just felt like it was made to belittle them and make whoever was viewing this, whatever that meant, and make them more objects that actual people.
Then there was the fact that while the announcer usually said something along the lines of how they were thankful for none of them dying during the night, but hadn't this time, as well as the fact that while Elin waited for more to be said by the announcer, she was only getting silence.
"What a way to wake up," Elmo groaned, as he sat up from where he'd fallen asleep.
Though, Elin suspected that he wasn't completely awake as it was. Not with how he didn't even seem to have his eyes open, even as he started to pack his things up. Which she hadn't found very surprising. Given how he was looking when they'd walked through the night to get to this campsite. Although she'd only been able to get a glimpse of his face when they'd had a little bit of light in the inn before heading outside.
"Careful or we'll have to carry you," Elwin warned, sounding a little annoyed and a little amused. Even as Elin couldn't figure out what was so amusing in the first place.
Elmo, however, merely shrugged. Clearly not in the mood to engage in any conversation or dialogue of any sort. Though, Elin wasn't convinced that he'd even heard what had been said.
"If need be, I can carry him," Jonas commented, looking like it was merely another common occurrence, despite the fact that Elin couldn't remember a time when Elmo was this tired. Even when they'd had to push themselves in the dungeon when they were dealing with the portal or the fight one the first night of this lousy competition.
"I'll be fine," Elmo grumbled, showing signs that he at least heard Jonas' 'offer' if nothing else of the dialogue going on around him.
"Will you, though?" Owen remarked with a smirk, looking like he was enjoying this situation. "I mean, maybe if you dunk your head a few times in some water maybe, but otherwise I think you're probably going to be either lagging behind us as we walk today or you'll merely be getting left behind."
Elmo looked briefly at Sonya, who was already in her wolf form.
"Hey, I'm only giving rides to Heather," she growled. "Unless something happens and others get hurt. Then I'll make an exception, but I won't do that if you're just tired."
Heather merely shrugged as if she wasn't sure what the issue was, not that Elin felt like inquiring about the matter. She hoped that moving around would help Elmo wake up, but it wasn't like there was anything that could be done directly about that. It was just something that would likely either happen or it wouldn't.
"Well, if we wait for you to cook breakfast, how long would it take?" Jonas asked after a minute of quiet. "We don't know how long it'll take Stanley's group to get to the dungeon and the sooner we get going, the better our chances of getting there before his group are."
"Can't they just teleport there with their Blynx?" Owen asked, sounding like he was trying to prove a point.
Jonas, merely shrugged in response. "Who knows if there's something around the dungeon that would prevent them from doing that or if they'd take their time. All we know is that they're not they now. If we move quickly, then there's a chance we'll be able to make it there before they're even aware of the fact that they got the other book that we'd traded at the library for."
Bart sighed, rather dramatically, drawing attention to him, though Elin wasn't sure if that was necessary or if there was something that he wanted to or if there was something that he wanted to say and wanted to ensure that his words didn't get lost in the 'discussion' that Elin could see coming.
"What if they're watching us now?" he asked. "If we push quickly, they might suspect something from us. If we take our time, then they might not pay as close attention to us as they might otherwise."
Elin felt like this point was going over her head. She wasn't sure what it would matter, or if there was just something she wasn't connecting with what was being said.
"That is a possibility," Jonas allowed, appearing to take Bart's statement seriously, though Elin wished that someone could explain it to her before they continued on much farther, even though she doubted that it would happen. Especially since it hadn't happened up to this point since she'd come to this world anyway.
"However, let me ask you this." Jonas paused for a moment, looking around at everyone, looking to Elin like he was making sure that everyone was listening, though she could be mistaken about that, especially with Elmo looking like he was half dead right then. "If we head to the dungeon, without a book that is, what would they make of that? Or at least when they suspect that we'd given them what we thought was the correct book? What would they think of if we started going there anyway?"
Bart didn't look like he had an answer to that question, though Elin felt like she saw what Jonas was getting at. Which surprised her a little.
"Maybe, but we can always come up with something believable that they'll probably eat up," Owen remarked with a little chuckle. "After all, it's not like Stanley's the sharpest tool in the shed."
Jonas sighed. "We can't be sure what they'd make of it," he replied, sounding to Elin like that's what he had planned on saying regardless of what any response had been. Which made her wonder if there was a point to him having said all that in the first place.