How To Survive In A Isekai World [On Break]

Sieg was shocked to hear this. He also had a faint feeling as if something was wrong, but he couldn't really point out the reason why. But now that Gene had told him about it, he realized it as well. As if they were being spied upon. It was an increasingly faint and almost unnoticeable sensation, the other's didn't seem to take note of it as they were to busy with their own stuff. He was scared a little. This whole situation was just too bizzare but they had other things to work on so he put it to the back of his mind for now.

When he thought she was finished, he saw her biting on her lips a little as if there was still more to come:

"Sieg, there is still something else. When we woke up. Me and the others. I noticed some stones lying around on the ground. I-I thought they looked weird so I picked one up. They didn't really care much abut them. Here, do you want to take a look?", she said and held up a fist sized stone.

It was indeed very weird. It looked like glass, translucent. But it weighed more and it wasn't cold enough to be ice as well. Truly strange.

It had some symbols carved into it that he couldn't quite make sense of. It seemed to be a line that moved in circles and formed two horizontal eights standing on top of one another.

But the meaning remained a mystery to him.

"Thank you for sharing this with me. It could be helpful in the future so keep it safe for now.", he said to her with a smile.

She said that she had found it on the ground when they woke up so he also wanted to go back to the place where he and Jafar woke up and look for any clues they might have missed in the beginning but considering the timing and the darkness, he quickly dropped that idea. Their situation didn't allow him to do something so reckless right now.

When he was about to talk with Gorst again, Jean hurriedly stormed up to him and grabbed him by his shoulders and exclaimed quiet frightened:

"Sieg! They are not there! They are not there! They are just gone!"

His grip was tight and his wide opened eyes and dark grimace indicated that he was serious otherwise Sieg would have thought that he wanted to hoax him or something like that.

"Man, calm down! What do you mean they are gone?", he asked worriedly. However, when looking around he still could see the others from his class + Gorst.

"The Stars! The Stars! They are gone, don't you get it!", Jean responded desperately.

Sieg look up and told him:

"Are you kidding me? Is this some joke?", after which he pointed upwards into the sky,

"As far as I see they are still there. And please calm down now, you are making me nervous, jeez."

Jean noticed that his behaviour might have looked a bit crazy and took a heavy breath:

"Sorry man, huh, but I am not kidding, I wish I would but I am not."

He looked up into the wide open sky. They were currently standing on an open field and their view was clear without any obstacles. No clouds or any forms of light pollution, just the beautiful sky ceiling revealing a myriad of stars in a sea of grand blue darkness. Yet contrary to the wonderful serene scenery, a hint of sorrow escaped Jean's eyes when he talked:

"You know, my dad, he is quite the nerd at home haha. He is into astrology and physics like those guys in 'The Big Bang Theory'. He always talks about the newest discoveries concerning stars and constellations and galaxies and whatever, though me and mum don't really care much about that. And he made me go to trips to boring museums or observatories and picnics at midnight.", he gulped down at the end and looked down.

"You miss him a lot, right?", Sieg said sympathetically.

"Yeah ... but that's not the point. He is such a nerd that his knowledge about astronomy rubbed off on me and stuck. I know them all, the 48 old constellations by Ptolemy and the 88 modern international constellations. Ursa Major, Sagittarius, Scorpius, Virgo, Aries, I know them by heart! I can count them while sleeping! But I can't find them, not a single one! That's the weird thing!"

"Ehh, I won't doubt your knowledge but I thought you couldn't see every single one of them at the same time or so.", his knowledge about stars and astronomy was nearly zero so he couldn't quite get why Jean was so upset about it.

"No! Yes! Huh, yeah you can't see them all at the same time, but there are some you should be able to see at all times! Especially when you have such a clear view like right now! Frankfurt is in the northern hemisphere, and if we assume that we are still there somewhere, we should be able to see Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Draco, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor all year long. Let's take a step back and assume that we got stranded/kidnapped in the southern hemisphere somewhere somehow. We should still be able to see Carina, Centaurus or Crux! But I can't find a single one of them! This doesn't make sense, and I know that I got nothing wrong! Believe me!"

Sieg was astonished at this discovery. He couldn't verify Jean's words himself, but judging from his looks Jean seemed to be 100% sure on this. But what did this mean? They had to be somewhere on earth, so why couldn't they locate those constellations. An omnious feeling grew in his head, since the moment they woke up and met with difficulty after difficulty and it didn't go away but kept increasing instead.

....

The closer Vincent and his group got to the camp the warier they had to be against possible exposure and meeting of hostile guards. But their caution seemed to be without reason, when they neared the west entrance and the torches drew the first glimpses of the 'guards' the children had to hold back their laughter. The fear of frightening enemies tensed them up to their extremes but what they were confronted with was the complete opposite of 'scary'. What they saw were a bunch of people either lying on the ground or sleeping on benches at the side. Some snored a little, others didn't make a sound and looked almost dead. The group just moved past them without any problems and heaved sighs of relief. It looked like they had passed the first obstacles yet when they wanted to go on, a guy sitting on the benches lifted his head up and looked confused into their direction. His mouth was a little open and his scrunched forehead and narrowed eyes showed his struggle to recognize the people who woke him up. His sight was a little blurry but he was still able to count three people. He asked fuzzily:

"Who-who are you? Blurp, I don't think, I-I don't think I have seen you-you before ... "

The group flinched upon hearing him talk to them. What should they do?! If they said something wrong he might get more suspicious and take a closer look and expose them. And if they were to flee right now, they would have just wasted this operation without achieving any results! Panda and Claire stood there frozen like blocks of ice not knowing what to do and just when the silence became to weird and doubtful, Vincent took the initiative and greeted him with a coarse rude voice:

"It's me you Sc.u.mhead! Gorst! Can't you recognize manliness when it stands right in front of you?! I guess you must have drunk your mind out of your head, hehehe!"

Panda and Claire were surprised when they heard Vincent talk with his imitated voice, even his back was hunched slightly and his aura changed from a confident and valiant one into a malicious dirty presence! They almost couldn't recognize him anymore even though they were standing so close to him! Panda knew that Vincent was quite a talent when it came to acting but seeing him doing it personally was a completely different experience.

The drunk guy on the bench concentrated on Vincent a little, yet his sight was still blurry and the darkness didn't make it easier, but the clothes reminded him of someone and when he heard him finish talking the guard got mad suddenly and insulted him back:

"Gorst, you little son of a bitch, even when I am drunk I can still smell your garbage like body miles away! Why are you so late, hä?! Some already betted that you got devoured by the beasts outside!"

"Shut up, or the boss will get wind of all the noise you are making! And it's none of your fu§$ing business where I go and what I do!"

The guard cowered slightly and became quite. Anytime the boss was mentioned bad memories resurfaced, something he wanted to avoid at all costs. He frowned and muttered under his breath:

"Son of dog, I will get back at you one day ...", after which he fell back into his drunk slumber.

When they saw him fall asleep again and not move or react, all three breathed sighs of relief. Especially Vincent who's back was drenched in sweat. He hoped that his acting was good enough to fool a drunk person, but you can never be sure. But luckily they succeeded or else all their preperations would have been for naught.

"Man, that was awesome!", Panda told him silently.

"Yes, it felt like you switched with the real Gorst! How did you do that?", Claire whispered.

"It wasn't much, haha.", he said," I had some talk with Gorst before our departure and I tried to memorize his gestures, posture and way of speaking. I tried to imagine myself as him and behave the way he would. However, the real problems are ahead of us. Let's continue!"

A hint of concern betrayed his delighted expression on his face. He didn't mention that the people here seemed to have noticed Gorst's disappearance, this gave them all the more reason to hurry up and complete their mission!