Chapter 122: First Quest Completed

Lich.

They were beings, particularly those who pursue the path of mana, who had given their soul to a demon in exchange for a large mana capacity and long lifespan.

’So he’s a lich, huh?’ Regis thought silently as he saw the cracked marble-like thing embedded in the middle of Harold’s heart.

’The logs that I found in that cave must’ve belonged to him- on second thought, I think that even that skeleton belongs to him too.’

’Still, a lich capable of casting master rank magic spells... if we met him when he still had his old body...’

Regis couldn’t help but shiver at the mere thought of facing a Four Star Realm Master Magician at full power.

’Fortunately, he still hasn’t fully assimilated with Harold’s body. Coupled with the fact that his bond with his father seemed to be very strong too...’

At the thought of this, he glanced at the two corpses near him and sighed.

The corpse of Old Warod who had a subtle smile on his face, together with the corpse of his son who seemed to be reaching to him.

’It’s truly a pity... wait!’

Remembering his companions, Regis hurriedly looked at Killian.

He hurriedly ran towards him and checked his vitals, as well as his body in order to check for any injuries.

Seeing that he was fine and was only unconscious, Regis heaved a sigh of relief before going towards a certain direction.

’Besides the severe injury he has on his shoulder, he seems fine...’ Thinking this, he immediately ran in a certain direction.

He navigated his way through the rubbles and found an unconscious Pandora.

She was currently bleeding in all of her orifices, making him extremely worried.

Regis hurriedly rummaged through their bag nearby and found some healing potions which he hurriedly made her drink.

Although the effect wasn’t instant, the bleeding considerably lessened.

He then carefully laid her back on the ground, bending her legs and crossing her arms on her chest.

Then, he slowly slipped her arm on her shoulder and under her knees before carrying her up.

’Mhm...?’

Feeling the movement in her surroundings, Pandora’s eyes fluttered slightly.

Her nose also twitched, smelling a familiar scent that somehow made her heart beat a little louder.

As her eyes gently opened, she saw Regis’s face from below.

"Hmm?"

Feeling Pandora’s body, who he was carrying, flinch, Regis looked and smiled.

With a relaxed tone of voice, Regis whispered softly, "The battle is over, we defeated the demon that possessed Harold. Even though it was not without consequence, we were all still able to survive."

"I’m sure that it took you everything you had in order to cast a high rank magic spell despite being at One Star Realm."

"So don’t worry about anything, okay? Go back to sleep first and let me deal with the bothersome things."

"Okay..." Pandora replied groggily as she soon went back to sleep.

Seeing her instantly sleep, Regis let out a soft chuckle.

Then, with Pandora in his arms, he looked at the surroundings with sorrowful eyes as he muttered under his breath, "It’s finally over."

Crackle— Crackle— Crackle—

Even though the demon had perished, the damages the village had sustained could never be taken back.

It was some of the things that had been left out in the fairy tales.

’Even if we won, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, huh?’ Upon realizing this, Regis couldn’t help but feel bitter.

That was right.

In the fairy tales, the heroes must have won and that was the end of the story.

However, this was the real world.

Even if the demon had perished, the lives that were gone wouldn’t come back.

Time wouldn’t turn back to the moments where the laughter of each villager echoed as they went on with their daily lives.

The village that was once full of life, was now in ruins along with its inhabitants.

***

Two days later...

"Guys! Our rewards are finally here!" Killian excitedly shouted as he brought a pouch along with him.

Sitting at the soft sofa, Regis and Pandora had surprised faces as they waited for him.

"Really!?"

Regis exclaimed as he saw Killian’s figure running towards them.

TUNK—

The sound of something filled with coins echoed as Killian put down the pouch on the table in front of the sofa.

"Let’s start with this first! My Rebecca said that the Adventurer Guild decided to give us some bonuses!!"

Killian then glanced at the two as he slowly opened the pouch.

"Now... are you two ready!?"

"Yes!"

Regis replied excitedly while Pandora’s eyes sparkled beside him.

"This is quite heavy, so the number of gold coins inside must be immense..!!" Killian said as he looked at the two of them again.

"Are you ready!?"

"Yes!!"

"Are you really, really ready!?!?"

"Yes!!!"

"Are yo–"

"Shut the fuck up and just open the pouch for god’s sake before I throw a fireball at you."

Before Killian could ask again, Pandora interjected from the side with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Alright, alright..." Killian could only smile awkwardly as he opened the pouch.

Wooooong—!!!!

A soft hum could be heard as golden light seemed to fill the room for an instant.

Regis and Pandora had their eyes widened in shock as they saw the sea of gold coins inside the pouch.

The two of them couldn’t believe what they were seeing as they rubbed their eyes.

"So much gold...!"

Regis gasped audibly as he placed his hand over his mouth.

’I wonder how much jewelry I can buy using this...’

Pandora was also shocked as she couldn’t tear her sight away from the gold as if her eyes were glued towards it.

Deep inside her mind, she was already imagining herself adorned with jewelries that caused her to rival the sun’s light.

In fact, even Killian had wide eyes as he saw the amount of gold coins, "To think that they would give this to us for clearing a Novice Level Quest..."

"This is a huge number of gold coins even for me... I believe that there might be about a thousand gold coins in there."

Hearing him, Regis nodded in agreement as he said, "Well, I think they also rewarded us for giving them valuable research materials."

Although they were shocked, they all knew that this must have been because they surrendered the corpse of the chimera monster and the soul core of the lich that they had defeated.

"Oh right!"

Killian looked as if he just remembered something and rummaged through his pockets.

"My Rebecc– Ehem, I mean the receptionist at the Adventurer Guild also told me that besides the Guild, the Alchemy Hall and the Temple of Light were pleased with what we brought back."

"Well long story short, they are willing to give us even more rewards– Aha!"

As he finished speaking, Killian placed three envelopes on the table that each had a different emblem on them.

He then looked at Regis and said, "Boss, would you like me to read it?"

As a noble, Killian was aware that only a few commoners were able to read and write.

However, Regis only shook his head, "It’s fine, I can do it. Give me the one from the Temple of Light first."

’As expected...’

Killian smiled, feeling how special Regis really was.

He carefully picked the one with the Temple of Light’s emblem first before giving it to him.

"Let’s see..."

Regis squinted his eyes as he carefully read the letter, skipping the pleasantries and the parts that he deemed useless.

Greetings, Esteemed Adventurers...

...blah... ...blah... ...blah

The research materials that you have provided were of the highest quality.

We believe that this would help us find out more about what the demons are planning.

...blah... ...blah... ...blah...

We are truly grateful and therefore, would like to invite you over in order to reward you for your bravery... blah... ...blah...

...blah... ...blah... ...blah...

Best Regards,

Chaplain Alexis...

"Hmmm, it’s from the chaplain..."

Regis put down the letter as a pondering expression appeared on his face.

"Let’s think about it further after we read all the letters."

Following this, the three of them each passed the letters around so they could all read their contents.

To summarize, the two other letters were from the Alchemy Hall and the Constable of the Corelli Fortress respectively.

As he finished reading the last letter, Regis frowned, "I can understand the Alchemy Hall, but why would the constable want to meet us?"

"Well, it really isn’t strange. After all, our contribution of killing a lich will surely be noticed by the upper echelons of the fortress."

Killian replied after pondering for a while. He then continued, "Anyways, it’s not like it will harm us if we go, right?"

"Yes..."

Regis responded, the numerous swirling thoughts in his mind evident on his face.

"Well, since they didn’t include any date in the letter, then it must mean that we can just go there anytime we’d like to."

Hearing him, Killian commented, "It might be because they know that we’re still recovering..."

"You’re right..."

Glancing at the letters, Regis then asked Pandora and Killian, "Where do the both of you want to go first?"

"I’m fine with anything you want, Brother."

Pandora said with her eyes still glued towards the shiny gold coins.

On the other hand, Killian lightly scratched his cheek, "Since we’re already familiar with Sir Alexis, why not go there first?"

"Hmmm..." Regis thought that it made sense and nodded, "Sure."

"Then it’s settled. For now, let’s recover so we can be in top shape tomorrow."

Regis said as he sunk into deep thought.