The group waited for the Principal in the woods for about thirty minutes or so before he returned.
"They passed through not too long ago," The Principal said with a resigned look.
If it was possible, he wanted to avoid a confrontation with any of the Sage Plane Elementalists, nor did he want to endanger Grey or Void since sneaking into where Blake and Delia were kept would be a little dangerous.
"They must've already gotten to the Capital by now," Alice said.
"Most likely," The Principal said before turning to Grey, "Is there a way we can track the movements of those old bones coming from the empire?"
"I'm not too sure, I'll ask old man Gerald," Grey brought out the communication device old man Gerald gave him and sent a message to him.
He waited for almost fifteen minutes before he got a reply, and even though they didn't get the accurate location, they knew the Sage Plane experts were already close to the Blue Wind Empire, and from what they heard, the Qilin Empire seems to be launching an all-out attack on the Blue Wind Empire.
From what old man Gerald said, not just the Qilin Empire, but all four empires were preparing for a major battle, and it seems like the capture of Instructor Blake and Delia was the catalyst.
The war has been going on for months now, and the empires are looking to resolve it once and for all. One of the factors pushing this battle was the acquisition of Blake and Delia, whoever has them has a high chance of capturing Klaus or any of the other trio.
"What now?" Reynolds asked.
"Since they're preparing for a battle, it means we can't act rashly. The Azure Empire will most likely be with the Blue Wind Empire on this,"?? The Principal said.
"Who do you think will take us if captured, the Blue Wind Empire, or the Azure Empire?" Klaus asked.
"What are you saying?" Alice questioned, not happy with Klaus' question.
His question drew the attention of everyone.
"I mean, think about it, the Blue Wind Empire is currently allied with the Azure Empire, but we all know there's a catch to it. If there's truly a way for them to extract our elemental cores, that means they will want to use it for themselves," Klaus went on to explain.
"Given the ambition of the Azure Empire, if they obtain them, then they would also wipe out the Blue Wind Empire as well," Grey completed Klaus' analysis.
"Correct, and the Blue Wind Empire is also aware of this," Klaus said.
After hearing Klaus and Grey's words, the others nodded in agreement. Things will get even more chaotic since the Blue Wind Empire already has the advantage thanks to the capture of Blake and Delia.
"We should head to the Capital for now, if there's an opportunity for us to take back the duo, we will," The Principal said.
Just as they were about to leave, Grey's communication amulet given to him by old man Gerald vibrated. He brought it out of his spatial ring and sent his spiritual senses inside.
When he heard the content of the message, he stared at the people in front of him wide-eyed.
Seeing his reaction, the others couldn't help but feel a sense of worry.
"What's wrong?" Alice asked.
"The Instructors," Grey said slowly.
The hearts of everyone sank when they realized what he wanted to say had to do with the Instructors.
"Yes, what happened to Blake and Delia?" The Principal asked anxiously.
"They… escaped," Grey said, still unsure of what to feel.
"Haha, that's good news. Why are you acting if that's the news?" Reynolds laughed before lightly hitting Grey on his shoulder for scaring them.
"You don't get it, if the Instructors were captured, it meant people stronger than they were present there. These people will naturally be the ones to take them back to the Capital, so escaping is not going to be easy, especially when they were already within a few hundred meters of the Capital," Grey explained his worries.
"Do you think it's false information?" The Principal asked.
"Old man Gerald would not tell me about this if the source isn't at least seventy percent accurate. Of course I don't fully trust him, it's best we head to the Capital to find out for ourselves. According to what he said, a battle broke out just before the Capital and the Instructors used the chance to escape," Grey replied.
"Alright, it's not like we have any other choices anyway," The Principal and the others nodded.
Grey found the escape of the Instructors somewhat suspicious. If these people were as valuable as they make them be, there's no way the people taking them back to the Capital will get careless.
'There's something fishy about their escape,' Grey said to Void telepathically.
'What do you plan to do?' Void asked.
'If possible, we'll question the Instructors when we find them,' Grey answered.
'Okay,' Void replied, 'Oh Grey,'
'Hmm?' Grey looked at Void.
'Did you know that I love fish?' Void asked.
'Uhmmm… no,' Grey thought for a while before responding.
'Okay, now you do. Once we're done with this, it'll be nice if we had fish,' Void licked his lips as he said.
Grey shook his head, at a time , Void was still thinking about food.
The group soon started their journey to the Capital. That's the only place they could get confirmation of the Instructors' escape. The risk has gone up a notch since people would be searching all over for the Instructors.
This meant that the chances of them being found were also high. Their only chance of escaping is that the person who finds them is not in the Sage Plane, so the Principal could take care of them.
Presently, all four empires were preparing for war, and there was unrest in the cities of all empires, especially the Blue Wind Empire. The main battle would be taking place around the Blue Wind Empire due to them having Instructor Blake and Delia.
According to reports, the warriors of the Qilin Empire would get to the borders of the Blue Wind Empire in a few hours.