Life must still continue and that what Baston was focusing right now. After getting far from the town, he felt better since he couldn't see those crying eyes. At the funeral, every people who lost their precious person wailed like the end of the world. In their minds, they perhaps thought they could live forever, cherishing each other together even though it was wrong from the beginning. Once the authorities heard about it, everyone would
be purged from the town and that was a living nightmare.
Baston also didn't forget to release that one man held in the underground jail. Using his puppet, he gave the man some money and told him not to go back to his old job. It was better to start new and fresh, staying away from the trouble. To make sure he didn't make a wrong decision, he stalked the man for a long time until he felt the connection between him and the puppet got the problem. He knew it had reached the limit of boundary, so he then summoned it back. Judging from the man's behavior, the said person didn't have a problematic attitude so it was alright to let him go. Once he found there was something wrong with the man, the fat boy was forced to end his life.
It was cold, but he didn't have much guilty since he already killed many people in the town. The first one left great hesitation, but the rest after that, it didn't leave flustered heart. It was strange, but at present, he was calm enough to assess his circumstance. He just looked empty without any direction, making him uninterested even to accept the reward from the old book. As soon as he got back to the academy, he went to his usual room without elaborating much. On the other hand, Panto thought Baston wondered the
best thing to prevent the same thing to happen again. Since the cult was getting out of hand, something must be done.
Baston must be busy, so Panto sent a message to Alicia. He could go directly to the noble's area, but he believed he couldn't enter easily although he had money to bribe one or two people if he wanted to. Fortunately, the noble girl didn't have any business outside and just taking her time in the room. Once she got the message, she frowned and made her guards to take Panto to the noble's area. Accompanied by these knights, the merchant boy successfully
entered the room even though his appearance was shielded by the guards so no one could look at him clearly.
He was led by the guards into her personal room where the luxury furniture welcomed him greatly. As the merchant, he was fascinated by the style of Alicia's room, but he didn't have time to admire it unfortunately.
The girl let him sat before she asked the question about the message.
"Is what you saying is true?"
"Of course! Even though I'm not involved directly, Baston told me the case about the town. Once he was done with his job, many people died mysteriously at tomorrow. Even though the town spread a nonsense cause, I
believed it was just a lie to cover what happened inside."
"Pretty sure it was like that…" Alicia agreed with Panto, "It seems the cult is getting dare to do some unscrupulous act. If we let just them be, I'm pretty sure the worst will happen sooner or later. By the way, did Baston report it to the authorities?"
"No, he didn't. I think he wants to let the town be like that. From my point of view, I think everyone at there is just a victim to the cult. Something might happen before and that led them to walk into dark path. Right now, Baston has already thwarted their plans but since he let them be, I'm very sure he wants to lure them."
"Really?"
"Yes. The reason why I dare to conclude it because I always stay with him from the moment that he went to Farbarus City to that peaceful town. Every action of him must be calculated carefully. If not, he can't deal with his enemies perfectly."
Unbeknownst to Baston, both of Panto and Alicia had their own thinking regarding the incident at the small town. Panto only told the outline so when he explained more about what the fat boy had done nowadays, it left
Alicia flabbergasted. She didn't know in the absent for a few days, he already did much to affect the surrounding. Moreover, when she heard about the event at the auction venue, she felt terrified once someone died over the curse.
If even 2 great wizards could do nothing, it would be wise not to provoke Joker for the time being. At least, they would keep the distance until they found a clue about him. Even though so, Alicia was getting more
interested with Baston. He could take the gift to become a bait for the clown. The plan was good, but however, it was very risky because he could die terribly at there. She wondered why he insisted to face Joker alone. Anyway, she needed a time to ponder about it.
In the meantime, something must be investigated for the town. The people were guilty because they were in cahoots with dark wizards, but from what Panto explained, it seemed the people there most likely became a victim. They didn't seek money and power, but only more time with their beloved person. Considering this intuition, she then gave the order for her people to
check first. If there was hard evidence, then she must let the kingdom knew about it. In the end, this thing could also be considered as her merits.
Of course, Alicia wouldn't blindly seek for her own benefits. Baston didn't pursue the problem with the town people, so he had to
know that the case didn't fall heavily on them. The perpetrator must be on loose, so she thought the fat boy were concocting his own plan then. At this thinking, both of Panto and Alicia dismissed this secret meeting by the end of time.
"If there's something later, you can call my guard then. They will deliver your message. If it's very important, then we can meet like
this secretly," Alicia concluded.
Panto nodded, still felt uncomfortable because he wasn't used to greet her casually, "Alright. I'm going first. By the way, do you want to convey a message to Baston?"
"Well, there is a thing, but I don't know if he wants to or not. One month later, I will go back to my family for vacation. If he wants to
come with me, he can join."
Panto didn't know why Alicia took a liberty to invite Baston back to her house. His first thought was there was a romance grew within them, but he shook his head because judging Baston's attitude, the fat boy wasn't
interested at all. The same also applied to Alicia so there wasn't any possibility that it could happen. Perhaps, it was related to the cult. He believed so, then he excused himself and got back to his dormitory. Before
that, he left the message for Baston because the fat boy seemed having many thoughts
after coming back from the town.
On the other hand, Baston was listless on his own room. Even though his personal space had been enlarged many times since he showed such a talent, he didn't feel any happiness at present. The matter about killing some people indirectly bothered him that he hardly could sleep at night. Because of this, a few days passed when he himself didn't attend the class. He needed a quiet time for now, so he couldn't focus in lesson and that made him got absent for many days.
Other students didn't remember Baston much but it was different for Panto and Alicia. Both of them thought the fat boy was struggling against his own trouble since he might realize something when getting back to the academy. Because they fully believed him, they never disturbed Baston again. Of course, it was quite different about who was the one who would treat him for the meal everyday. Panto was the winner at the last time, so Alicia took a liberty to compete with the merchant boy. Both of them had money and after discussing for a day, both of them agreed to take a turn over providing Baston
with breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The business over the meal was done, but the matter of the class was getting out of hand. There was an exam in this week but only Baston who never came up to the class. Ms. Pashan as the invigilator frowned after
seeing this talented fat boy got lazy day after day. Even though he was already a little wizard, she wouldn't let him became big-headed. For every exam she held, the woman gave zero score to Baston. Panto and Alicia couldn't explain to her since the matter about Baston was supposed to be a secret. In the end, they could only watch the fat boy became the first of failed ones in the exam.
After the class was over, Panto rushed ahead to Baston's dormitory. He thought if the fat boy focused too much on the cult, his
privilege in this academy would be threatened. At least, he had to show enough
interest of present lessons here to make him graduated in passing score. He knocked the door first and asked whether he could come in or not. It was such a big difference when Baston came to this world first time. At that time, the boy was haughty and arrogant, yet it changed completely since the matter of the
cult was brought upon.
"Baston, why you stay in your room for a whole week? There was an exam before but since you never attended the class, Ms. Pashan already crossed you to be the failed one."
"Exam? There's an exam this week?" Baston was shocked in his mind before he calmed down and answered slowly, "An exam, huh? Is there any punishment or do I need to attend to compulsory class for a while?"
"Well, I don't know yet, but I can help you asking for it. By the way, you never come out from your room. Is the matter about the cult is very serious?"
"The cult?" Baston was puzzled, but he played along, "Don't worry about it. You should just focus on your lesson. I will take care of everything."
"This… Then, I'm very thankful of you, Baston. If there's something I can help, just ask me anything. Although I can't fight directly, but I don't have a trouble if it involves the money."
Baston nodded, but he was dumbfounded inside. This merchant boy still thought about the cult. The reason why he stayed for a whole week was because of tremendous guilt he felt before. This time because of the matter about the exam, his mind jolted and woke him up from always being listless. He
knew he couldn't always grieve because his life still needed to continue.
Panto was glad after he saw Baston was fine. Inside his mind, Baston must be thinking hard how to keep him safe which made him very thankful about what the fat boy had been doing for these times. Unfortunately, Baston didn't mean about it. If he knew the truth, he might be wondering why Panto became a delusional person, just like Alicia in the first time they met.
After sending the merchant boy back, Baston started to arrange himself. He was getting drowned into sorrow for a full week before he woke up. Because of this, he had to face the consequence at later time. His
failed exam would become a stain in his good days if he didn't fix it. He already asked Panto to find out what kind of punishment he got or if there was a way to fix his score. In the meantime, he grabbed the old book. He sighed, lamenting the time before that he almost forgot to accept the reward from the
previous quest. When he opened and looked further, he cursed inwardly.
"Damn it…"