Alarm Bells

Lotus came into a clearing and notice Professor Crewel from a distance talking with Coach Vargas. With the strange outfit that seemed to have a large iron fan in the back spread out like a peacock. She sighed before approaching them and responded, "Professor Vargas. If you wanted to hold a private conversation, why not somewhere in the forest near the mines? The students take this road back to the camp site from the mines."

"Ah, Lotus!" Vargas looked to her in surprise as she stood there before him in confusion.

"I told you that this is not a good idea." Professor Crewel sighed in exasperation.

"No worries!" Vargas laughed, "This is all part of the plan!"

"Um, except those who say it is part of the plan in this scenario usually isn't." Lotus responded bluntly, "Anyway, I've finished supplying the students with the flowers and assisted those with fishing and mining. There is one problem with the terrain. The last camping trip caused the swamps nearby to become quicksand. Not even merpeople, such as Jade, can bypass it safely. The students who got caught up in the mess was already dragged to safety. That being said, it was only Kalim Al Asim who was trapped. After we got him out with the aid of the fairies in the vicinity, I found that he got infected by a parasitic plant and needed a small surgery on the wound to fully remove it. That being said, I recommend the nurse to check on him before finding more professional help to be certain that he is in the clear. Although I'm confident, he should be all right after sleeping the rest of the day."

"Where is he now?" Professor Crewel questioned curiously.

"He's fast asleep in my tent with Ren on watch." Peony responded, "Despite getting half of his magic absorbed, he wouldn't sleep so Ren and I got him to sleep when he suddenly reappeared in my tent."

"And the plant?"

"Here it is." She responded and pull out a plastic bag from her waist bag she borrowed from Trey.

Looking closely, Professor Crewel frowned, "This plant... I believe it should be rare to this region. I can't believe that it was here."

"This species should be found in the wetlands, correct?" Peony responded with a frown, "I've seen it a couple of times before during my travels. I found it odd that it would be somewhere on the hills. Aren't these usually in places such as open fields?"

Professor Crewel thought for a bit before nodding his head and patted her head, "That's right. I'll look into this matter. Good boy."

Peony huffed in disdain and slapped the hand away. Professor Crewel frowned, "You-..."

Despite his reaction, Peony was not intimidated as she opened her mouth, "Anyway, What should I do now? Keep an eye on Kalim, stand by, or assist with the next challenge?"

"You did a good work!" Vargas laughed as if all she said went in one ear and out the other before taking the circumstances into consideration, "Hm... Since Asim's health is not good, we shall take him with us while we do the challenge. You will take him with Draconia and Vanrouge while we conduct the challenge."

"Understood." Peony responded firmly before returning to the forest.

"It's unbelievable how hardheaded he is." Divus sighed in dismay, "You'd think he is the more clear-headed of the students."

Vargas laughed, "Isn't that a good thing? In the end, he still has a good head on his shoulder. For now, I'll send a message to the headmaster and have him prepare a nurse tomorrow morning."

"Then, I'll go catch a few more slackers while you're doing this." Crewel shook his head in disappointment, "Honestly, I don't think I even saw a hint of surprise when he saw me earlier. I knew the spot we picked was a bad idea..."

"Oh, right. Let's get going." Vargas smiled excitedly as he tried to get his colleague to do his part of the plan.

.....

After the conversation, Peony returned to the campsite and checked on Kalim who was still asleep. She excused Ren back to the group before carefully rearranging the tent to look like an actual creature had came in and wrecked the place. She thought for a bit and decided to add some feathers here and there from her ring. All of which were feathers from her largest quails which lay her eggs. After much preparations, the tent was prepped and the sun was setting. She noticed that Kalim was up now, but still a little drowsy as she, then, struggled to carry Kalim to the forest.

However, no matter how well she disguised herself, it was still a lot of effort to carry a sixteen year old growing boy. She could not carry him on her back or in her arms as she struggled to drag him back. After a good five minutes, she decided to try and throw him on her back one more try. Yet, she slipped on the sand and fell forward in the darkness! She flinched as she could feel her feet give way. It was then that she felt an arm wrapped around her shoulders and the heavy burden on her back was gone!

She looked up in bewilderment and saw that it was Professor Crewel in his Dalmatian dog masquerade mask.

"I'll carry him away. You just follow me." Crewel instructed as he took her hand as if she was just a toddler much to her surprise.

She tried to leave but, his grip was tight and she could not leave. In the end, she obediently followed after him.

Having taken her hand instinctively, Crewel noticed how cold they were as he frowned. Although the nights were cold, her hands were much colder as though it was ice. Could she have fallen ill? Not just that, but it felt as though her hands were smaller than he had thought they were. The child was as small as their smallest Pomefiore student, Epel Felmier. However, this is much smaller and possibly smoother than that child's when he last touched it in an alchemy experiment. For unknown reasons, he could feel that things weren't quite right. There were alarm bells ringing in his mind, but, when he checked on her again, it was still the same child. Yet, something did not seem quite right. Thinking this, he pondered how to reaffirm his mind that everything was all right. However, with the plan to make this camping trip a success on their part, he decided to push it aside and brought the two to the nearby forest where he quietly tied Kalim to a tree whilst the kid was asleep.

"There." Crewel heaved a sigh before getting up.

"Thank you, Professor Crewel." Peony responded gratefully.

Crewel smiled, "You're welcome. Now stay next to Asim and hold onto this for me."

Saying that, he swiftly wrapped her in his black and white scarf before he instructed her, "Stay here and keep my scarf free of dirt and debris. I'll be back for it."

"Um, yes sir..." Lotus responded with a look of deep confusion.

She then sat down with her scarf around her as she waited in the darkness next to Kalim with their backs against the truck of the tree. It was possibly three hours as she fiddled with the metal and remanents of magic stone when she noticed Kalim stir.

"Huh... What's going on?" He grumbled as he struggled to rub his eyes only to find his arms tied up and him against a tree, "Wha-?!"

Lotus slapped a hand over his mouth before she explained quietly, "This is part of the challenge. The professors are busy pretending as monsters and catching the students unaware. The goal is to make them fight to protect themselves from the staff's advance and to catch the monsters by tomorrow morning. If you shout right now, it will ruin the element of surprise."

"S-Seriously?" Kalim stammered nervously as she released her hand.

Lotus nodded, "That's why you need to stay quiet. If they see that you're tied up, they will naturally think that this is all a set up. When that happens, they wouldn't have to worry about the monster challenge. If that happens... Everyone will fail."

"Really? That's a bummer." Kalim sighed in dismay before perking right up, "Then, I'll be very quiet!"

"That sounds as believable as you saying you would score a hundred in the alchemy quiz." She shook her head in disbelief.

"Aw come on! It can't be that hard." Kalim smiled confidently.

"Ah, right. How are you feeling right now besides being tied up? Does your arm feel numb or do you feel lightheaded? Maybe weak?" She questioned as she diverted the topic.

"Hm, not really." Kalim responded with a bright smile, "In fact, I'm feeling a lot better!"

"That's good to hear. However, you will need to have a professional check on you after we go back. The parasitic plant is rare in these parts of the mines. The fact that you got it is very shocking. That's why the adults said they'll take you to the hospital tomorrow after the nurse checks on you."

"Oh..." Kalim paused as the silence slipped in. After a while, he finally opened his mouth again, "Hey, Lotus. Do you know any other stories?"

"Seriously?" Lotus sighed in dismay.

"Please?" Kalim pleaded nervously, "It's too dark and quiet."

Hearing this, Lotus hesitated before she reluctantly nodded and opened her mouth tiredly, "Fine..."

"Alright!" Kalim smiled upon hearing this.