小嫂子的味道

I was standing at the main entrance gate of the Silver Garden Academy while I glanced up at the sky. A gentle gust of wind passed by making the scarf I wore dance in the air and make my hair flutter. 

It was the mid of February and the winter season was nearing its end, but the winds still carried a chill in them. 

I let out a breath as I looked at the path in front of me. The lights of Havenreach had lit up the whole city in dazzling brightness, however, there was still an emptiness in it. 

As if something was missing, something important. If I were to make a guess I\'d say that it was something that made a functioning human society into a "human" society. 

From what I could see, there were not many people on the streets. Which wasn\'t unexpected since it was nearing dark and given the circumstances no one wanted to stay out at night. 

Nonetheless, the people who were out carried a sadness on their faces. They were most likely the people who were given important jobs and posts, leading them to work hard even in these conditions. 

The effect of that looked clear on their faces. As I stepped out of the campus and began walking down the road, I started to see it more clearly. 

The people here were depressed. They had lost family members and friends right in front of their eyes, their houses had been destroyed, their money had been taken, and everything went downhill in an instant. 

Putting it in simpler terms, they had been robbed of their existing life. It was not all that unnatural for them to act this way. 

When looking at it this way it seemed like the dazzling bright lights of Havenreach were there to outshine the darkness and sadness that the people were harboring in their hearts. 

\'I wonder if this can somehow be useful to me,\' I thought to myself as I continued to walk down the road. 

Unlike Zaforths Academy, this academy allowed the students to venture outside the campus whenever they wanted. Hence right now I was able to go somewhere I really wanted to, ever since I came back. 

It was to meet my parents. After my meeting with Ryfin, I\'d asked Anya the location of the refugee camp and right now I was on my way there. 

\'What do you think about it, Req? Isn\'t this city growing too much in color?\' 

I asked the question in my mind, normally it would have gotten to Req and she would have replied instantly. However, this time no answer came. 

There was complete silence. I waited and waited and waited, and waited a bit more. But there was no answer. Everything had gone quiet. 

"As I thought…" I mumbled. 

Req had run out of mana after using the full power of the Requiem sword for a second time, that\'s why she wasn\'t able to materialize herself in human form till she recovered her mana. 

All this time we were only talking through our mental connection. I had been wondering about this for a while but now it was confirmed. 

Communicating with telepathy also used up her mana, even though she did not mention it at all. We were talking for quite a long time after that, it was only natural that she would run out of her remaining mana as well. 

I had no idea how long would it take for her to completely recover her mana but one thing I did know was that I was going to be by myself for a while now. 

***

Going through various roads, twists, and turns I finally arrived at the refugee area. 

It was a little different than what I\'d expected. The building in front of me was a big—and by big I mean really big—rectangle-shaped building. It had little resemblance to a warehouse albeit that it didn\'t have a curved roof. 

There were some people outside who were probably the people living there, perhaps wanted some alone time and came out. The gate was open so I went inside and soon was stopped at what looked like the reception area—the type of place where you\'d check in if this were a hotel. 

"What you might be here for?" the woman behind the counter asked. 

"Here to see my parents," I replied. Along with that I pulled out my student ID card and showed it to her. 

"Ah, you\'re a student at Silver Garden," she mumbled to herself. 

Apparently, the students of Silver Garden had gained quite a reputation. The reason for it—aside from the fact that it was something loli_pop added in the novel—was that word had gotten out about the Hero program. 

Or should it say it was deliberately spread to give people a little peace of mind? The Hero program in a nutshell was what Ryfin had told me. 

The Silver Garden Academy was training strong students and making them even more strong so that they could fight against the demons and save humanity. 

Due to this, the students gained various perks both inside and outside of the academy campus. 

"Please follow me," she said and came out from behind the counter as another woman took her place. 

From then she led the way and I walked behind her. Since she had not asked me about the names of my parents, I was guessing that all of the people staying here were kept in one place rather than being assigned different rooms. 

And that guess was proved right when I did reach the location. Opening the door I entered an enormous hall with a high ceiling. 

Inside, there were many beds lined up side by side at a bit of a distance from each other. Each bed had a stool, chair, and a cupboard with it.