Cloud Thinking

Al and his team did not find more bodies in the other two basements. The basements were all empty, but there were obvious signs that someone had lived there.

Someone must have hid here before, and crawled out after the beast tide passed. After all, this basement is cold and stuffy, and there is not much food. In order to survive, the survivors have to crawl out to find food.

After Helia and her group confirmed that the entire village had been searched, they quickly walked along the dirt road to find the next village. Everyone knew that the faster they walked, the more chances the survivors trapped in the basement would have.

Fortunately, Beavis informed the other teams in the group, and then the news was passed to Mobicius and relayed to other teachers. However, within one morning, a team found the surviving children hiding in the basement. There were quite a few of them, more than a dozen in total.

After walking for about an hour, they finally arrived at the second village. Compared with the previous one, this village was obviously much larger, with many more households, and even a trade market, which showed that this village was also considered lively in the vicinity.

Helia found the temple first, but it was built at the main entrance of the village and was trampled by the bloody hooves of monsters, leaving only ruins.

Even though it has become a scorched earth ruin, one can still see its former glory. The temple is very large, and she also saw many fragments of glazed windows and exquisite porcelain pieces on the ground, which shows that the former layout must have been quite luxurious.

She searched in the ruins for a while, but didn't find any fragments of the statue at all. She guessed that it was just like the one she had seen before, turned to ashes.

"There's a child found here!"

Gena's voice sounded not far away. It could be heard that he was very nervous and excited. At the moment, he was holding the skinny child carefully and didn't know what to do.

Beavis arrived first and checked the child's condition. He found the child very hungry and cold, so he quickly opened a searched house nearby, lit a fire, and asked Gena to take the others to keep warm.

After Karzer came, he used a healing magic on the child, made him some hot milk and gave him some bread to eat. After the little boy had eaten and drunk his fill, he finally felt better and lay drowsy in Gena's arms.

"I've told the teacher that we'll stay here tonight and wait for the soldiers to come and pick us up." Beavis ended the call and walked into the house to tell the others about the general situation.

"Gerna and Kalzer stay here with the children. The others continue to search the village. If you find any survivors, bring them to this house."

His arrangement was very reasonable. Although Gena was not good at taking care of children and had some things to say, he swallowed his words back when he saw the child in his arms sleeping nervously and holding his sleeves tightly.

Helia released her perception, but it could only cover half of the village at most. She and Lydia were responsible for half, and Beavis and Al were responsible for the other half. The two sides worked together and were more efficient.

This village has a large population and is relatively wealthy. Almost every household has a basement dug in their house. Even if they don't sense anyone there, they have to go down and search every household one by one.

They worked until dark, and she and Lydia had only roughly searched three-quarters of the house. She didn't find any survivors. Some basements showed signs of habitation, but as long as the entrances and exits were not trapped by the collapsed buildings, most survivors would leave the basements after confirming that there was no danger outside.

After all, it was too cold that day and it was unbearable to stay in the basement.

As for the bodies that were found, Helia and the others did not have enough time to dig pits to bury them, so they simply dug the bodies out of the ruins hastily, lined them up neatly, and covered them with sheets or curtains.

Al did bring back two children, a boy and a girl. They must have been very hungry, so they sat by the fireplace and started to eat without paying attention to anything. Only the child that Gunnar found first was well fed and well slept. He sat obediently by the side, looking at Helia and her group.

Of course, his eyes stayed on Helia's face most of the time. He was not blind, and everyone loves beauty. Helia was so beautiful and had a gentle smile, so he liked her no matter how he looked at her.

Soon, he abandoned his savior, Gunnar, and moved to sit next to Helia.

"Princess sister." The young boy called out timidly, looking at Helia with his big watery eyes and rubbing his fingers nervously.

Helia's fame and reputation had spread throughout the continent. Even villagers like them who lived in the "no man's land" had heard a lot about Helia's deeds. So the little boy recognized her as the princess at first sight.

"What's wrong?" Helia thought he was a little nervous, so she raised her hand and patted his head comfortingly.

"My father and mother, are they okay... Have you seen them..." The child was extremely nervous. Although he had a high probability of guessing his parents' current situation, he still held on to some unrealistic hopes.

Helia pursed her lips into a tight line. Faced with such a question, she didn't know whether it would be better to tell a white lie to comfort the child, or to tell the other party the truth.

The others also didn't know how to answer this question, so they had to leave it to Helia to solve alone. They either turned their heads away in a daze or fiddled with other things.

After thinking for a moment, Helia slowly said, "If I'm not mistaken, when the monsters invaded, your parents only had time to send you to the basement in order to protect you, and then..."

"Whether it's to protect you, fight back, or escape, I'm afraid I'll become meat in the mouths of monsters and souls under their claws."

"At least in the past two days we have been searching, we have not found any living adults, only children trapped in the basement."

Helia calmly told the young boy the facts and the truth, without hiding anything. No matter how young he was at the moment, the fact that he had lost his parents was a fact, and in order for him to survive better in the future, it would be good for him to learn to accept this tragic fact as soon as possible.

As expected, the little boy's eyes suddenly turned red, but he sniffed hard, raised his head to prevent the tears from falling, grabbed the hem of Helia's clothes with one hand, and choked up, "I know... I will, I will, live well..."

Seeing how strong he was, refusing to cry, Helia felt somewhat guilty for being a bad person. She put her arm around the boy's shoulders and comforted him softly, "Well, you are a good boy. Your parents in heaven will be happy to see you being so strong."

After coaxing the three children to sleep, the group decided to have a good chat. They had been traveling, searching houses, and feeding children during the day, so everyone couldn't get together. Now the soldiers who were coming to pick them up hadn't arrived yet, so they sat around the fireplace and chatted casually.

"Helia, did you hide in the Sad Forest during the year you were missing?" Al asked.

Helia was holding a child in her arms. She found that she seemed to have a good relationship with children. She seemed to find children wherever she pointed, such as Jepas and Kaka. She weighed the child in her arms, so that he could sleep more peacefully on her shoulder.

She lowered her voice and replied, "Well, I've been staying in the forest for the whole year."

"Is it in that tower?" Beavis asked. He had asked about it out of curiosity when he came to Mado.

Helia nodded and didn't continue talking. She only answered questions when asked, and didn't say anything when asked. After all, she didn't have such a strong desire to share, and her experience in the tower was not pleasant.

"Are you alone?" Karzer asked, but he denied it after asking, "I don't think so. You live in the tower, and someone should bring you food and drink."

"Well, I'm not alone. I have company," Helia replied. Adalaise and Wattsice were with her, and Avril was also with her in a special way.

Seeing that Helia had no intention of continuing the conversation, everyone decided not to continue asking questions. After all, their relationship with Helia was not too close. They could only be described as friends. They had no right to question Helia.

In the middle of the night, Helia woke up to take over the shift and sat by the window near the door, staring blankly at the heavy snow outside. It didn't take long before she saw several figures approaching in the heavy snow. She vigilantly summoned her wand, stood up, picked up the chair and pressed it against the door, and hooked her finger at Lydia behind her, signaling her to come over.

Helia stood on the left side of the door holding a magic wand, and Lydia stood on the right side of the door holding a sword. The door opened inwards, so as soon as the other party opened the door, the first thing they saw was the sturdy magic swordsman.

There was a knock on the door, and then a familiar voice came from outside the house: "Aya, we are here to pick someone up."

It's brother.

Helia breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door a crack. After confirming that the person standing outside was indeed her real brother, she moved the chair behind the door and opened the door to let them in.

Eric brought three people with him, two of whom looked very familiar to her, a magic swordsman and a magician. They had been with Eric in the Sad Forest before, so they must be his confidants.

"Your Highness Helia." The three of them greeted Helia politely. They were all covered with a layer of snow, and their exposed hands and faces were all red. It was estimated that they had walked all the way in the heavy snow.

"The children are asleep. Go and get some warm water first. Don't catch a cold." Helia whispered. She closed the door behind her, propped it against the chair again, and then took two relatively clean blankets from the next room and handed them to them.

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Helia came close to Eric, took his untied cloak and held it in her arm, then smiled and took his hand and led them to sit aside. Seeing that the brother and sister wanted to talk in private, the others tacitly did not disturb them.

"Why are you here, brother?" Helia took off her warm scarf and stuffed it into Eric's hands to warm his hands.

"I was worried about you, so I came to see you." Eric did not refuse. Although he didn't know what the little guy was thinking, it was rare for Helia to care about him so much, and he was really happy.

"Did the teachers send back any news?" Helia had always been thinking about the secrets hidden in the forest. Since she couldn't go, she could only sit there and wait for news.

Eric shook his head. "Not yet. The Sad Forest is so big. It's not easy to find a guy who is so intent on hiding."

He raised his hand and ruffled Helia's hair out of habit, "Don't worry, I believe this matter will be over soon. After we witness Admiral Hilda taking over on behalf of our father, we will go back to the imperial capital together."

"Just be your little princess peacefully."

Helia didn't want to go back so soon. She raised her hand and grabbed Eric's hand, pulled it off her head, and held it in her hand.

"Carter's College has a three-year curriculum. I have to finish my studies anyway."

Eric disagreed, "No need. If you want, we can go back and ask the teachers from Abraham College to give you lessons."

"Even if the war is over, the border will probably remain in chaos for a long time. It's not safe for you to stay here."

"But my teacher is Mobicius, the most powerful fire magician in the entire continent. Is there any teacher in Abraham College who can compare to him?" Helia said.

After all, the reason she insisted on coming to Carter's College in the first place was Mobichues, so it was understandable that she didn't want to go back now.