Chapter 140: Bringing Warmth to the Gravekeeper Clan

"Rowan, that other thing you mentioned earlier, what was that about...?"

Once Bastion, Chazz, and the others had all left, and Rowan was getting ready to head back to his room for the night, Alexis couldn't help asking, a bit of curiosity in her voice.

"It's about Professor Banner. He mentioned there's some mysterious set of ruins on the far side of the island the academy's on, and he's planning to take a group out to explore it. Might be some decent finds in there."

Rowan answered without holding anything back.

"Huh? There's a place like that on this island?" Alexis blinked, genuinely surprised.

She'd been here for over a year now and had never once heard about any mysterious ruins existing anywhere on the island.

That sparked a bit of curiosity in her too.

She smiled and suggested to Rowan, "In that case, would you let me come along too?"

Before Rowan could even respond, Alexis quickly added, a little flustered, "It's not because I'm worried about you or anything, I'm just curious about the ruins themselves, that's all!"

"I see... well, since you've already put it that way, Alexis, I can hardly say no."

Rowan said, spreading his hands helplessly.

He hadn't even said anything yet, so why the rush to explain herself?

Ever since he'd found out about the little report the Ojama brothers had given him, the more he watched Alexis, the more obvious the cracks in her act seemed to get.

Still, that thought secretly delighted him a little. He made a mental note to find the right moment soon to just get things out in the open between them.

Dragging this back and forth wasn't really sustainable forever, after all.

"Alright then, good night."

Rowan gave Alexis a small wave and headed straight back to his bedroom.

As for Camula, he'd already used the sealed dark card to turn her back into her spirit form, leaving her behind to rest in the living room.

Two days later, in the morning.

Rowan, squinty-eyed Professor Banner, and the others gathered on the grass near the Slifer Red dorm.

Besides Rowan and Alexis, Jaden, that hotblooded idiot, who'd finally recovered well enough from the infirmary, along with Atticus and Chumley, were also standing there with expedition backpacks slung over their shoulders.

"Can't believe I just got back on my feet and there's already an exploration trip waiting for me! I was starting to rust from lying around the infirmary so long!"

Jaden said excitedly, backpack in tow, positively giddy about it.

He looked exactly like a kid about to head off on a school field trip.

"Ugh... but is it really okay to bring Camula along on this too, Rowan?"

Atticus and Chumley, both still visibly traumatized, huddled behind Jaden, eyeing Camula warily, who was serving as the group's designated pack mule, carrying a sizable backpack of her own beside Rowan.

They still remembered vividly the sheer terror of getting bitten on the neck by that vampire bat Camula had sent out with her dark power, and then being dragged off half-conscious to serve as hostages.

Even after hearing the full explanation from Bastion and Chazz over the past couple of days, the psychological scar clearly hadn't faded.

"You two really are way too jumpy about this, huh..." Rowan couldn't help but comment, watching the pair cower behind Jaden.

"If you're that worried, you don't have to come along. Though Jaden's only just recovered, so going alone might not be the best idea for him either."

Squinty-eyed Professor Banner said with a smile, raising a hand.

"W-we're coming!"

Atticus and Chumley exchanged a glance and immediately nodded through gritted teeth.

"Figures the squinty-eyed ones are always sly like that..." Rowan's eye twitched slightly, grumbling to himself internally.

Professor Banner's little comment there had been a pretty blatant attempt to goad them into it.

Even Alexis's expression turned faintly amused at the tactic.

"Alright then, let's head out."

Banner said, backpack slung over his shoulder as well, smiling at the group before leading the way forward.

It had to be said, the island housing the Duel Academy was quite a bit larger than one might expect.

After what felt like an unknown stretch of time trekking through rocky terrain and dense forest, Rowan and the others finally arrived at a stop in front of an open, brownish, ancient valley.

"Finally made it!" Professor Banner said, wiping sweat from his brow with a relieved sigh, turning back with a smile toward the group.

"This is the entrance to the ruins."

At his words, Rowan looked up and quickly spotted a partially broken, arched stone gate standing not far ahead.

Thick moss had already grown along both sides of the gap where it had broken apart, giving it a distinctly ancient look.

Sure enough, this was the place... Rowan thought to himself the moment he saw the oddly "familiar" entrance to the ruins.

If he remembered correctly, this had to be the entrance to the world of the Duel Spirits belonging to the Gravekeeper clan.

Whatever "benefit" Professor Banner was after clearly lay somewhere beyond that gate.

Alexis and the others were also studying the broken archway, but none of them seemed to notice anything unusual about it.

Only Camula frowned slightly, sensing something faintly off.

"Professor Banner, we've walked quite a ways already. How about we grab a bite to eat and rest up a bit before continuing the exploration?"

Jaden suggested at that point, sounding worn out. He'd only just recovered, and now on top of that long trek, even someone with his hotblooded constitution couldn't quite hold back the growl of his own stomach any longer.

"What do you think, Rowan?" Squinty-eyed Professor Banner asked, turning to Rowan for his opinion.

The main reason he'd brought this particular group out here in the first place was Rowan, along with Jaden, whom he'd taken a liking to.

Naturally, he wanted to check in with Rowan on it, and it would also give him a convenient chance to quietly set up a few things, discreetly triggering whatever mechanism he had hidden somewhere unknown.

"Doesn't matter to me either way, but since Jaden's body clearly can't handle much more right now, let's take a short break and grab something to eat first."

Rowan said with a nod.

Conveniently, they'd be heading into the Gravekeeper clan's Duel Spirit world shortly anyway.

And today also happened to be the day the System's exchange options refreshed again.

He could take the opportunity to check things out and pick up a brand new hellish deck while he was at it.

Something to bring a little real world "warmth" and "hospitality" to the Gravekeeper clan waiting on the other side.