Chapter 155: Prolog

Inside the palace of Lightburgh

POV Cornelius

“Dear heroes, please follow me. The chancellor is expecting you.” <Servant>

We looked at each other. A week had already passed since our graduation, but we hadn't been given any assignments since then. We were supposed to wait until we got one. Hopefully, the time had finally come.

We arrived at the chancellor's office. A guard announced us and we entered the room. In addition to the chancellor, there were two other people in the room. One of them was clearly identifiable as a church servant by his clothing. The third person appeared to be a simple townsperson who was visibly nervous, wringing his hands. The door was closed behind us and the chancellor spoke.

“Thank you for responding to my request, noble heroes.” <Chancellor>

“Sure, we were on call anyway. What is it about?” <Cornelius>

"I'll explain. You remember the runaway slaves you were supposed to capture in the west last year? You traveled through a town on your way there. The man here lives there and has told us that the residents have been having problems with undead creatures since last year." <Church servant>

“Since last year? Why are we only hearing about this now?” <Cornelius>

“Apparently, the undead only became a major problem two months ago. The beginnings and first sightings were already last year. Report, citizen.” <Church servant>

“As you wish. Since the beginning of the year, individual undead have been coming into the city, but the guards were able to defeat them all. It was only when their numbers began to increase that investigations began. It turned out that the first undead were seen last year. But that was always outside the city and always late at night. We didn't realize they were undead.” <Townspeople>

"I'll continue. The local guards discovered that the sightings were initially animals, which later turned out to be undead ghouls. Specifically, rodents such as rats and the like. Later, the animals grew larger and approached the city. There, they bit people and spread a terrible disease. Only then were they noticed, and the local leader asked us for help." <Church servant>

“And now we're supposed to investigate the matter? All right, let's do it. Right?” <Cornelius>

I looked at my companions, who all nodded.

“When should we start?” <Cornelius>

“We'll have everything ready in two days. Then you can set off. The citizen will accompany you and answer any further questions you may have along the way.” <Church servant>

“We'll be ready.” <Cornelius>

On the way back to our chambers:

“Hmm, this is our chance to gain our freedom. We could leave after the mission.” <Javier>

“I'm in, but you already know that. I don't care where we go. The main thing is to get away from here. I've gotten too bored here.” <Ansgar>

“I don't like it there, but if we stay, I'll like it even less.” <Eleonore>

“Then it's settled. We'll investigate the incident with the undead and then travel south. There are two more dungeons we can visit there. Besides, the allied city-states sound interesting. Take everything you don't want to leave behind. Who knows when we'll return here.” <Cornelius>

Somewhere in the allied city-states

“How is she?” <Duke>

“Much better. She's eating and has already gained weight. Fortunately, she trusts me.” <Betty>

“Is she talking again?” <Duke>

“No, unfortunately not. She hasn't spoken a word since we found her on the prairie.” <Betty>

“Did you find an organic cause?” <Duke>

“No, I haven't. I didn't find any injuries on her neck. It must be a mental problem.” <Bishop>

“So your healing magic isn't helping?” <Duke>

“No, unfortunately not. If I can't find any injuries, I can't heal anything. I still cast magic on her, but she still didn't speak. Light magic doesn't help with mental problems.” <Bishop>

“That's a shame. I'd love to hear her story. Poor thing.” <Betty>

“...” ??

“What will we do with her when she's back on her feet?” <Duke>

“I've already talked to her about it. Well, I told her about it and asked her a few questions. She nodded or shook her head.” <Betty>

“What did you find out?” <Duke>

“She seems to have lost her memory. That could also be the reason for her speechlessness. That's why I couldn't find out about her past, unfortunately.” <Betty>

“So we still don't know anything.” <Duke>

“I wouldn't say that. Although I couldn't find out anything about her past, I was able to learn about her wishes for the future.” <Betty>

“Oho. That sounds interesting.” <Duke>

“Yes, it is. She wants to accompany us and help us, and thus thank us for saving her. She doesn't know anything about her skills, but she must have some experience in combat.” <Betty>

“How do you know that? I thought she couldn't remember anything.” <Bishop>

"Her muscles suggest it. Although she was emaciated, she still has an amazing amount of muscle. Her six-pack is particularly appealing and well-defined." <Betty>

“Her muscles and her six-pack? Did you touch her?” <Duke>

“What am I supposed to do? I had to wash her, after all, and I may have accidentally touched her in the process.” <Betty>

“Are you blushing now? Oho. Do you like her?” <Duke>

"Maybe. You probably don't understand, but she's quite pretty. Others would say beautiful, and now that she's back to a near-normal weight, you can see her extremely attractive figure. Now don't look at me so doubtfully! You know my story. I definitely never want to be intimate with a man again and now I just like women instead. And this woman is very attractive to me. What can I do about it?" <Betty>

"Don't get so upset, I was just teasing you. So you want to let her join our group? I don't mind, and if she's actually able to defend herself, so much the better. Maybe she'll be willing to go back to the arena and the labyrinth with us. We don't have much money left and need the fights to earn money. There are only three of us, since Silent can't fight due to circumstances. We need all the help we can get." <Duke>

“Are you sure? We have a terrible reputation in the arena, and we can't get past floor 15 in the maze. I don't want to put her in unnecessary danger after we rescued her.” <Bishop>

“...” ??

“What is it? Hmm, really? Are you sure? That changes everything.” <Betty>

“What's going on? Did Silent discover something with its skills?” <Duke>

“We should investigate this further. It's best to register her with the guild and use the Appraisal Stone. It costs a fee, but then we'll know what she's capable of. And she'll surely want to know what her abilities are too.” <Duke>

“Then we'll finally find out her name. I don't want to just refer to her only as ‘you’ or ‘woman’ or ‘elf’.” <Betty>

“You're absolutely right. How long do you think it will take her to get up?” <Duke>

“Give her some rest today, then she should be fine. We should also start training her. Her muscles were probably more developed before and need to get moving again. We can go to the guild tomorrow if she agrees.” <Betty>

“Sounds good. Bishop, do you have any objections?” <Duke>

“No. The plan sounds good, especially the training. We should take it seriously, even more seriously than before. I don't want to lose another companion because we were too bad and our coordination as a group wasn't good.” <Bishop>

“I couldn't agree more.” <Betty>

“...” ??

“Then let's do it. Betty, go and get our patient some new clothes. She can't go outside in those old rags. We still have enough money for that.” <Duke>

“Thanks, Duke. I appreciate that. It's obvious that you care about your companions. I'm glad you're our leader.” <Betty>

“You shouldn't praise me so shamelessly!” <Duke>

“Just accept the praise and don't complain. Even though I like it when you blush. It's cute.” <Bishop>

“Bishop! Don't always embarrass me like that!” <Duke>

“Grin.” <Bishop>

“Grin.” <Betty>

“...” ??