Lyren had no goods with him and his greatest companion had come back to his side. Now, all that was remaining was for him to follow this group.
He was ready to leave immediately but the corpse was not shared yet which happened quickly.
The three girls were folding the tent and also, they had made a make-shift stretcher to carry Julia. The two stage six boys were assigned to carry her which they obliged.
They discussed their formation for the return journey and it was almost similar to the one they had before.
There were several who were wounded including the stage six girls and James so there was no way Lyren was going to hold them back from his 'slow speed.'
This was what Kaelen had suggested from his 'insight' but he had not considered all variables and he had ended up making a fool out of himself, again.
They set off immediately and they focused of the safest routes. No battles unless where necessary.
Where there were stubborn beasts, Sera would just release her stage nine aura and many beasts below her level would run away.
This worked but there were obviously troublesome beasts but they were just stubborn and not strong so they were easily gotten rid of.
Lyren observed their battle styles and as they went to the outer regions, the stronger ones stopped acting leaving it for the weaker ones.
When they encountered the stage five and below beast, the three girls were allowed to do the attacking. The journey out took a total of three days because they had to let the injured ones take rest. Also, they could not keep moving Julia.
The spearman had started talking which was a good sign that he was regaining his hearing. All this while, no one talked to Lyren and he did not bother talking to anyone.
He would spend most of his free time studying arrays and during night time, he would attempt drawing them. He had finally felt sleepy but it had happened during the second night which meant that he could stay awake for two nights.
This was a great improvement but it was also a liability because Kaelen who was looking for any chance to get back at him had woken him up by letting the stage six cultivators pour water on him.
He had overslept and when he woke up, everyone was ready. He had had his mind foggy the whole day but he had gotten better.
He had also decided to sleep that night also because his head ached due to the lack of sleep and overworking his mental energy.
By noon the third day, they were at the periphery of the forest and what stood out was the beasts here that did not have any cultivation.
It was these animals that normal people hunted and sold their meat for a living. They had encountered several cultivators and non-cultivators but no one dared to cross one another.
Especially the students of the academy were highly respected such that no one saw them and failed to greet them.
These people carried all sorts of weapons ranging from swords, spears, bows and arrow, axes and some carried whips. They were finally out of the forest and Lyren had marked the way. There was no way he was going to get lost here again.
When they stood at the edge, the first settlement was about two kilometers away and it could be seen from the here because the forest was uphill and the settlement was downhill.
This was where Lyren came from. He was about to go meet his mother after being away for more than a year. She must have searched for him nonstop.
He was going to make sure he let on her his secret that he could now cultivate and he was in the seventh stage.
That would make her even more proud than he was proud. He wondered if he should follow the academy students to the academy first but he was going to discuss with Sera first.
Going directly to the academy might not be a good thing anyway. He followed the group as they walked down the dirt footpath that led towards the village.
It took around thirty minutes before they were finally in the village perimeter. Lyren stopped at the gate as he did not want to keep following the student.
Sera understood his intentions and she stopped the group for a while as she came to address him.
"So, this is it?" She asked as he looked at her. It was impossible to tell whether he was seeing her because his hair fell on his face covering his eyes.
"Yeah, this is my village. I appreciate you all guiding me out of the forest. I won't take it for granted because I have learned so much from my journey with your group.
"You make a good team but only if you could get rid of your differences," Lyren addressed the group and Kaelen and Sera personally.
He might have overstepped but someone ought to tell them or they were going to remain enemies.
"I understand where you are coming from but we also have our reasons but thank you for your observation. Also, don't forget," she said and Lyren just nodded before he spoke.
"It is you who should not forget."
Sera watched as Lyren entered the gates and there was a complicated look in her eyes. She sighed and she was unable to speak her thoughts. It was Kaelen who spoke to her that she was out of her trance-like state.
"Even if you told him, it would only make it worse and awkward. We have our own situation to think and worry about. Especially returning from a failed mission is really going to hit hard."
Sera sighed as she looked at the kid who was disappearing between the houses. He had not even bothered to look back at all. He left expecting her to fulfil her part of her deal.He would be waiting.
"Hmm." She hummed as she resumed the journey. Even she was not going to look back.
***
As Lyren walked between the main road, he could not help but try to find the differences but they were very minimal.
He was reminded when they were children and he led the kids in singing the Array song. He could not help but smile at the memory because it was that day that his mom had told him about how dangerous arrays were.
He had interacted with arrays and he was not sure just what part of arrays was dangerous. For him, they were his tools and he was not afraid of using his tools.
He saw there were very few people around probably because of the sun. This meant that not many saw him and those that did might not have recognized him.
His house was right around the corner and he could not help but feel nervous. Was he ready to see her? Was she ready to see him? Had she been waiting by the doorway like she usually did for him every time he went out to play?
He could already visualize himself running at her and hugging her so tightly like he was never going to let go.
He had missed her and he knew she might have missed him twice as much as he did. He took slow steps because at the next corner was their house.
How was he going to introduce himself?
Was he going to shout that he was home or he was going to appear behind her and scare her like he always did every time she was looking for him?
His heart beat faster and his breathing slowed down. He finally reached their gate where he stood for several minutes. Why was he hesitating? Wasn't this what he had been waiting for?
He took a deep breath and took a step forward as he pushed the gate open. He was finally back home…