Rudy nodded seriously, that was what he was worried about. “What do we do? Are we supposed to just keep on waiting here? I don’t want to stay here for a moment longer, I just want to go back to Golden Pills.”
Rudy was incredibly afraid. Back when Elder Simon did not allow them to head back, he felt troubled but was helpless about it. At that moment, Rudy did not think Phoenix Valley was such a good place, but it was not incredibly dangerous either.
Yet, Phoenix Valley had turned into a place filled with uncertainty in Rudy’s mind. He did not know when he would get sucked into a whirlpool of danger and never be able to leave.
He was afraid that he would die without even knowing what happened to him. Rudy really wanted to leave that place. Even if he
would never get resources as good as he would there for the rest of his life, that was fine as well. He just wanted to stay alive instead of feeling terrified and worrisome every day.
“I’m so lucky. If I had been the one sent to the courtyard alone that day, I’d be the one who’s missing!”
Saying that made Rudy’s tears threaten to fall. The fear in his heart had already completely consumed him. He felt absolutely miserable.
If Jackie was not next to him, Rudy would already be sobbing uncontrollably. Jackie frowned as he looked at Rudy meaningfully.
He said, “Our living arrangements were not a matter of luck. It was already arranged to be so.
“Grayson was arranged to stay alone in the other courtyard because he would disappear. He did not disappear because he was arranged to stay in the other courtyard.”
Jackie’s words were like a splash of water on Rudy’s face. Jackie was right, their living arrangements had been dealt with by Mr. Zayne.
The three of them did not pay much attention to it back then, but thinking back, Rudy understood that Mr. Zayne had specifically arranged for it to be so because Grayson would disappear.
For all they knew, Grayson might have gone missing right after bidding them farewell. Rudy shuddered upon that thought as if he had just been blown by a gust of cold wind.
“Jackie! What do we do? Will we…”
Jackie reached out and stopped Rudy’s words
as he interjected, “There shouldn’t be anything happening for the moment. Since he arranged for Grayson to stay alone, it means that he did not want anyone to notice. Other than the two of us, no one else has ever seen Grayson.”
This means that Phoenix Valley intends to completely conceal this incident. We’ve already shown ourselves to everyone. If we suddenly disappeared, it might attract attention, so we should still be safe.”
Rudy nodded, but he was still fearful as he said, “But… I think this won’t be settled so easily. It’s not like we’re safe just because he said we’re safe. It’s just like you’ve said, we’re only safe for the time being. We have to find a way to leave this place!”
Jackie glanced at Rudy and realized how desperate Rudy was. He was nowhere near as brave and secure as Jackie was.
After what had happened earlier, Rudy knew that he could not stand out in the midst of so many masters. The place was dangerous to boot, so how could he be willing to stay on?
Jackie nodded, “The safest option may be to
leave this place, but we saw it for ourselves. Phoenix Valley is far away from other territories, and it’s surrounded by many mountains.
“There are guards everywhere. Even if we want to escape, we wouldn’t be able to. You are so weak as well. If you see a beast outside, wouldn’t you just die?”