Rebirth of the Phoenix God

Chapter 128: Circling around

"Are you sure? It's quite far away from here."

This question was as far from the crux of the matter as it could be. With only the two of them still standing in the middle of an empty clearing, the atmosphere was still far from relaxed.

"Yes. Ever since that moment in the garden I want to test my limits. Come."

Taxing the nearby line of the forest, Fen reached his right hand towards the girl.

"Well, thanks?"

Accepting his hand, the female arcanist pulled herself on it into Fen's embrace, instantly locking her hands across his chest and shoulder.

"By the way"

Incredibly close to the young man's face, the girl could just whisper, turning her words far more intimate than they would otherwise be. 

"... I'm Orsha."

Pushing her face in the angle between Fen's neck and shoulder, the girl hid her expression from the young man's sight. Freshly after a series of exciting and later shocking events, it was surprisingly no wonder that in spite of everything, the heat of Orsha's body instantly affected Fen's mind. 

"I'm Fen. Make sure to hang tight."

Ditching all the unnecessary moments aside, Fen formally responded before surrounding the girl's waist with his own arms and spreading out his wings all the way up.

"NOW!"

Just like expected, the moment the fire of his wings no longer protected his chest, a sudden scream appeared from the nearby line of the trees. In one instant, a series of bolts lunged forward, all perfectly aimed at the young man's chest.

This single attack proved the skill of the veterans that launched the volley. Yet

"What a bunch of idiots"

Fully prepared for this expected development, Fen simply jerked his wings down, pushing against the huge mass of air enveloped below them. At some point, the rapidness of this move caused something to change in his fire body part. Sadly, as quick as his sudden upward acceleration was, Fen's reaction time remained as it was. Thankfully, by the time the salvo managed to cross half the distance towards the young man, he was already diving through the clouds above their heads!

His muttered words never had any chance to reach Orsha's ears. The roaring of the wind was simply too loud for the girl to hear such a minute voice. But for some reason, as he looked down, Fen got a feeling that the girl understood his words either way.

With their momentum decreasing, Fen modified the angle of his wings a bit, quickly turning their flight to a stall. Scanning both the areas below the two of them and the borderlands of that fake fire flower garden, Fen ended up shaking his head with disappointment.

"Would you be as kind as to point me in the right direction?"

In this single moment of hesitation, Fen could swear that he could feel the auras of the two young men that they left behind in the garden. This young man was sure above any doubts that in this very moment, Orsha's two companions could still be alive. 

But he had absolutely no intention of even attempting to save them. 

Right now, for a probably extended period of time, all his moves would be observed by the mercenaries below. Given how quickly the official deal turned to an assassination attempt, Fen could tell that his landlord couldn't afford to let him get to the academy first. If he were to be stupid enough to risk his life by once again entering that fake garden, then those mercenaries would be sure to help him stay in there forever.

"It should be there."

Wrapping her thighs around Fen's waist, Orsha let go of his chest. Leaning backwards a bit, the girl looked around in an attempt to recognise any waypoints from this elevated point of view. After just a moment of hesitation, her hand pointed out the right direction.

"Great, thanks. Hold on."

Once the girl's chest flattened against Fen's upper body, his wings changed their angle. Suddenly pushing away at the air, the two of them flew exactly in the opposite direction to where Orsha was showing. 

'Let's hope it will work'

Thinking to himself, Fen focused all his attention at gaining more and more speed. Here, in the skies, there were no obstacles that he would have to worry bout. Soon, their speed increased beyond the limit that Fen couldn't even imagine before.

The air itself started restricting his moves!

Even though he could no longer move any faster, Fen was satisfied with the rate at which he was distancing himself from the area. Even despite their elevated position, it took only a few moments before the fire flower garden area disappeared beyond the horizon.

"Now, hold on tight."

Still, at the peak of his speed, Fen turned sideways towards the ground, as if he wanted to spread his hands and high five some giant that could raise as high as a mountain into the skies. Spreading his wings as far as he could, Fen allowed the air to instantly slow him down, turning his rapid flight into a calming glide. 

Increasing the angle of his wings, the sheer air resistance that was slowing him down, now gently pushed the vector of his flight to the side. While this simple move wasted nearly half of Fen's speed, it allowed him to start circling around the area he was worried about, slowly getting closer and closer to the direction Orsha pointed at!

"So that's what you wanted to do"

Even without attempting to reach his top speed, Fen flew at a pace that allowed him to enjoy the talk with the girl in his arms along with quickly conquering vast distances.

"Yeah. Taken his attempts at my life, he is not happy with losing the house. But if I manage to return to the city Given how that garden was actually a fake and a trap to boot, I couldn't help but think about something. This man He was perfectly prepared for this expedition, yet he had to find a newly enrolled student to actually start the adventure? Why didn't he request someone from the academy instead of wasting so much time? That was the first bit that caught my attention."

Ever since the moment that the man gave out his proposition, ever since he gave Fen the choice, the young man knew that something was amiss. Overwhelmed with the social profits he would receive by fulfilling it, Fen managed to ignore his own doubts But seeing his employer's face when he asked him straightforwardly if he knew That single moment gave him all the answers.

"Now that we know he wasn't willing to let me go, he will think that I'm about to reach the academy before him. After all, with those wings of mine, I could cover that distance in a few hours at most, while they would need to travel for over two days. If he has any brains, he won't dare to return to the Gauna anymore. And that means he was never going to fulfil the other part of the bargain."

Even though Fen was slowly losing the touch with how far he should affiliate himself with humanity, that fake garden was way too much, even for him. That's why he requested the mercenaries to spread the news of this place in the nearby areas so that someone capable would come to deal with this place. 

As little as the young man cared for the people who have fallen here, he wasn't willing to just stand by the side while knowing that more would only come to die here. If he would give up on this last bit of decency, then losing the grip with the human part of himself would only become a matter of time.

"We should be back on the right course now."

After calculating the path, the speed and the time he spent flying already, Fen quickly came to this realisation. 

"Say, why did you insist on bringing me back to my academy? Isn't that in the opposite direction of your city?"

Even though Orsha didn't really need to hold herself super-strongly onto the young man, her embrace still tightened as she spoke up.

"Isn't that obvious?"

Tensing all up from the unexpected and surprising question, Fen had to stop himself from looking down to check if the girl was actually speaking seriously.

"If I came alone to a foreign place, with an academy that seems to a rival to the school whose robes I'm wearing claiming that a huge trap for arcanist was at their own doorstep How many people you would think would believe me?"

Even though Fen was still relatively young, he went through more shit in his few years than most of the people would experience in their entire lives. This kind of constant pressure was unforgiving for one's naivety, forcing the young man to become as rational as possible.

Because only in this way could he survive in this irrational world.