Chapter 283 Honourable
As Basil looked at the heated gaze being traded between Iliana and Diana, he quirked his eyebrow in interest, and decided to intervene.
He needed to hear about some things that he might have missed from the people gathered there, so he didn't want Iliana to waste the time he could use to gather information by having an unnecessary staredown contest with Diana.
"It is fancy meeting you here, Viscountess Diana." Basil smiled politely. "Never have I expected myself to be able to see the Valkyrie of Chilston this soon."
"Oh my, you don't have to be that formal. Just call me by my name." As he had expected, Diana immediately ignored Iliana's gaze. "Also, how do you think I look in my armor? Have I lost my charm because of them?"
"You look just as stunning as you are in your normal outfit, Diana."
"Awh, that is very sweet of you. Thank you."
"That was just me showing some courtesy. There is nothing to be thanked for."
While the other people watching the exchange between the two choked in surprise, Diana merely smiled at Basil's blunt response. She knew that Basil didn't mean it negatively, and he was just expressing his disinterest in what she was wearing.
She liked that part of Basil, which looked at people for what they were, not how they looked. He didn't care about what she was wearing, because he looked at her, not the way she presented herself.
... At least, that was what Diana was thinking.
While she was right that Basil didn't care about what she was wearing, he wasn't really looking at her. He did properly look at her, but it was nowhere near close to the way she thought he was looking at her.
Basil had just politely declared his disinterest in developing a romantic relationship with her. Iliana understood this, and therefore she smiled the moment Basil said what he had said to Diana.
Unfortunately for the two, the moment they looked at Diana's unconcerned reaction, they misunderstood Diana's misunderstanding as Diana just acting shameless.
At that moment, Iliana, like Basil, came to believe that Diana was just messing with them, so none of them considered that Diana was being genuine with her feelings.
"I am very curious about what has actually happened for the past week, so I will be very grateful if you can fill me up on it."
Basil opened his mouth the moment everyone was seated. He looked at them one by one, and noticed how eager they were on recounting about what had happened for the past week.
While he could see that they were actually more eager to hear about his story, he also noticed that they couldn't wait to brag about what they had achieved in the war, which was something that made him nod his head.
The moment the soldiers only know how to be grateful for their survival is the beginning of an unavoidable loss.
Seeing that all of them still had the mind to be proud of something they had achieved in the battlefield, Basil couldn't help smiling softly at that. He had honestly expected most of them to have lost their hope of winning—he was glad he had been wrong.
"Oh, about that... I think it is important for you to hear that some of the Nobles have 'backstabbed' us by running away to Randalvine," Darius said in dissatisfaction. "Some of our students are, unfortunately, also amongst them."
"Well, how unfortunate for them." Basil coldly scoffed. "Going to Randalvine doesn't make them free from the Monsters after all."
"Yes?"
At the people's cluelessness about what he was talking about, Basil quirked his eyebrow then glanced at Iliana. She immediately nodded her head the moment she noticed his gaze, then proceed to explain what he meant.
"Randalvine is currently under the attack of the Monsters. They managed to teleport themselves inside the city while remaining undetected, and now the city is in chaos."
"..."
"In fact, the High Grade Monster that Basil has killed was one of the High Grade Monsters leading the Monster army invading Randalvine ... Why do all of you look surprised?"
Iliana, along with basil, was now frowning in wonder. They wondered whether the people were just shocked by the running away Nobles' crappy fate or the fact that Randalvine was under attack.
They looked like they were surprised by both, and it puzzled them why such a thing could happen. After all, it wasn't the Age of Chaos; information traveled faster than heroes.
They had many means of communication—Transmissiom Talisman, Sound Tablet, Visual Orb, and so on—so it was quite bewildering that such a big event could remain unknown for so long.
"H-How long has it been since Randalvine is attacked?" Diana asked in worry. "M-My daughter—Julia is still there!"
"It has been close to three days, but you don't have to worry about that." Basil looked at Diana reassuringly. "She left with my family when I visited Randalvine to pick them up, so she is safe with my family now."
"Oh, that's a relief." Diana sighed as she patted her chest in relief. Looking at Basil with a sweet, grateful smile, she said, "Thank you for saving our—my daughter."
"... You should thank my sister for loving her dearly. I wouldn't have paid a single mind to her, if my sister didn't insist to bring her with them."
There was a few seconds of pause before Basil responded Diana's gratitude. He started to worry if he had accidentally gotten himself in trouble, but he was glad that Diana had merely said something she shouldn't have due to her worry driven state.
He could also feel the emotion her Mana—her soul was conveying, and it was nothing but a genuine gratitude. Therefore, once again, the notion of Diana bearing some feelings for him was dismissed.
'She really means it. This lady seems dangerous!'
... At least, that was what Iliana and Basil, who relied on their keen sense towards souls, thought.
As for the others, who were not as clueless as the two regarding romance, they thought differently. They had known quite some people, and they found that look on Diana familiar.
"Moving on, how could none of you know about this?" Basil quirked his eyebrow as he gazed at the sky. "I am pretty sure I don't see any Isolation Spell... Oh, so that was the case."
As expected of Basil, just right before he finished his question, he had already figured out the answer for his question. The people honestly didn't know about that either, so they were pretty eager to hear his explanation.
"Selective information spreading. It's a strategy that any Kingdom uses in times of war to prevent the enemy Kingdom to find out about the severity of the situation of the Kingdom, while also keeping the moral of the people high," Basil explained.
"In other words, any news about the Invasion of Randalvine is purposely not broadcasted to prevent the people fighting in Woster from feeling nervous, and also to keep the bordering Kingdom unaware of our situation," Darius added.
Everyone at the gathering, except from Basil and Iliana, hummed to themselves. They found the reason of the Kingdom for doing that reasonable, but they still couldn't help feeling dissatisfied.
They got that hearing such a news while they were still having a hard time against the Demons in Woster County wouldn't be good for their psyche, but thinking that there would be a possibility of suddenly hearing the news of the capital's fall was scarier.
Reality often disappoints. Although it is hard to accept the bitter truth, it is better to be hurt now than suffer from from the lie in the future.
Just like the moment the people heard about the invasion of Randalvine: they had been utterly shocked at first, but now they could heave a sigh of relief since they were already aware about the problem waiting for them ahead.
"I wonder if my brother is fine though..." Clovis chuckled awkwardly as he recalled about Harold, whom they had left in Randalvine.
"Let's hope he is, since father will never let the matter slide if anything were to happen to him," Oswald, Clovis' first younger brother, muttered in dread.
"I really thought we were abandoned because of the lack of attention the Kingdom put on us, but it is just that the capital is under attack." Whitney shook his head faintly. "What a twist."
"The Kingdom doesn't abandon you, the King does," Iliana coldly stated. "That stupid man decided to assign 10 Legions under 5 snotty brats and sent them to BA-32, instead of sending them here to aid you."
Uncaring to the awkward look the people around here were giving, she snorted coldly, and continued, "We also heard that he wasn't there while we were still in Randalvine, since he was apparently busy with something."
"What about now? Where is he currently?" Cray asked carefully.
"I don't know." Iliana shrugged, then condescendingly said, "Probably regretting his decision for sending his five snotty brats to the dangerous playground."
"Iliana, you should be careful of what you say," Darius warned. "Nowadays, wind has ears, and bad-mouthing a royalty, is the least pleasant reason for being executed."
Iliana merely scoffed and everyone could tell that she wasn't having it. Crossing her hands while looking at Darius lowly for his fake respect towards the Royalties, she stopped speaking ever since.
The talk about what they had experienced for the past two weeks was resumed without any of them asking how was Iliana's week, and Basil didn't find anything interesting other than the first two information he had heard about.
Most of the things they recounted were about what he had seen through [Visualization]. The only difference this time was, he was given the context of what he had already seen.
"Congratulations for earning your third Grand Circle, Xiu Li." Basil looked at Xiu Li with a small smile.
"Hehehe. Thank you, brother. I really didn't expect that the method Professor Brayden had taught me would really work." Xiu Li scratched his head in embarrassment. "Who knows that a Magic Circle can be upgraded?"
As Xiu Li laughed cluelessly at what he had managed to achieve, the people who wanted Grand Circles but couldn't get one sighed in envy.
In truth, one's Magic Circle couldn't be upgraded; it could only be completed. For that, one needed a talent, and Xiu Li possessed that necessary talent, which made Basil wonder why he had never heard of Xiu Li in his past life.