A Quest Or A Rescue

Upon returning, the camp was quiet, but who knew how long that would last. So Kanae and company sought out Dahlia, While I got a hold of Lt Ó Grady.

“Lt. Ó Grady, We have a matter that requires your urgent attention,” I said, as I walked into his tent.

“You're back! Were you successful?” Lt. Ó Grady said.

“There is no time for that now, come with me. Just yourself, we are meeting with your Lady Dahlia as we speak,” I said.

“Of course, Princess,” Lt. Ó Grady said.

Our carriage was near our tent, and Dahlia and my companions were inside the carriage.

“Princess! I'm so excited! Your companions have told me of your ...” Dahlia began.

“Yes, success, but there is no time to celebrate. We have had a shadow following, The trap may be in the process of being sprung. Lt., there may be some people coming out of the caverns any moment chasing us. We are taking Dahlia in our carriage and leaving. Assemble a portion of your most trustworthy to follow us, and then be prepared to capture, or kill, whoever comes out. But, be warned we think you have an infiltrator as well,” I said.

“This is highly irregular! I fully trust everyone in my platoon,” Lt. Ó Grady said.

“That is just warning, so you are prepared. Obviously, you know your outfit better than us. I'll be extremely happy to be wrong here. We truly hope so. Now hurry, we are off,” I said as I jumped in the carriage, and the carriage blinked away, having been set by Kanae to activate once the carriage was full. We didn't blink very far, the mana expenditure was huge.

“You are all on your own for a while, I'm out of mana,” I said, and passed out.

I didn't trust Lt. Ó Grady, or anyone in his platoon. I caught a glimpse of the Lt.'s face before we blinked out, and it was full of anger. Whether that was anger for not having a chance to spring the trap, or anger because Dahlia was his charge to protect, I couldn't say. I woke up an hour later.

“Welcome back to the land of the conscious. You pushed yourself too hard!” Kanae scolded me.

“I did only as much as was necessary,” I said.

“You could have shared your plans with us, and depended on us a little more. You can't do it all on your own. You take on too much,” Kiera said.

“Alright, I'll work harder at handing off some of the burden on the rest of you. I've spent my whole life practically on my own. It takes time to learn new habits,” I said.

“So how far are we going? When will the platoon catch up to us?” Dahlia asked.

“We're not stopping. The carriage is in camouflage mode. There is no reason to stop, or hunt monsters or beasts. They won't catch up. Have you not noticed how fast we are moving? Notice how smooth the ride is? We're flying back. We should return in about four, nor three, hours, I said. Your guards should be back in three or four days. Guys, we'll probably get scolded by Dahlia's father, so prepare yourselves,” I said.

“Flying? We're flying? We're flying! Why are we flying!? How are we flying!?” Dahlia said.

“Wind and gravity spells and some very charged mana stones. This is not cheap, but even after deducting the cost of the stones to make this happen we're still going to rake in a ton of profit on this quest. Maybe seven or eight thousand gold,” I said.

“How much is this ride costing us?” Aoi asked.

“Under a hundred gold,” I said.

“You spent a hundred gold so we could fly back from the quest? We could have taken the road and a normal clip for a few dozen silver!” Aoi said.

“Sure, but I don't trust those people. You know the whole quest was a trap. Someone in that platoon is in on the trap. But they're back there and we're here. No trap to spring. Sure it would be nice to know who we could trust, but this has way less risk. We have a twin sister to save. What's a few spent gold to save a live?” I said.

“Well, sure Dahlia's sister is the important thing. But we don't need to fly all the way back. There were other options,” Kanae said.

“Too late the gold is already spent, We'll be halfway back soon, no sense in a change now. Sit back and relax for a bit,” I said.

“Unh!” Kanae said.

“Ow!” Aoi said.

“Oof!” Dahlia said.

“WTF!” Darby said.

“What was that!?” Kiera said as she picked herself up from the jolt of the carriage lurching from an impact.

“A flock of Rainbow Roc! We're under attack,” I said looking out the window.

“Carriage down! Slow to road speed,” I said.

“Ice blades! Ice blades! Ice blades! Stupid chickens!” I said, shooting at the incoming Rocs.

“Bow! Steel arrow! Steel arrow! Steel Arrow!” Kanae cast.

“Fire Spear! Fire Spear! Fire Spear! Yes!” Darby said.

“Seven Rainbow Rocs to add to our collection,” Aoi said.

“I thought we were in camouflage mode?” Kanae said.

“Rocs can see through illusions. I didn't count on running into any Rocs in this area,” I said.

“Damn look what they did to our carriage! Reparus!” I said.

After we collected the Roc materials we re-boarded the carriage.

“Fly Home,” I said.

“We could have continued on the ground,” Aoi said.

“I'm tired, and want to get back as soon as possible and sleep for a week. No more camping this quest. Besides, I'm more worried about Dahlia's twin. The faster we can heal her the better. We still don't know if that diagnosis is correct,” I said.

“Right, that makes a lot of sense,” Darby said.

A few hours later, back at Marquise Gráinne's estate.

“Go ahead Kanae, try the spell,” I said.

Kanae concentrated and read the spell silently keeping it in her head. The book in her lap, and her hands on Daphne's leg. Kanae's hands became enveloped in dark flames and Daphne's leg and hip flashed darkly. The Darkness starting getting drawn out and up Kanae's hands and the flames over her hands grew higher. After about five minutes Daphne's body looked normal, and the spell cut off!

“It worked!” Dahlia jumped up and dived into her sister pulling her into a hug.

“Your tits are suffocating me sis,” Daphne said as best she could, crushed in her sister's chest.

“You're healed! How do you feel Daph?” Dahlia said.

“Like I've been reborn. I haven't felt this good in forever. Thank you, Princess and Miss Kanae, and everyone, and especially you Sis, for not giving up,” Daphne said.

“You're very welcome. It was an honor to help you. Now, I know a certain pillowy bed with my name on it,” I said.

“Miss Deirdre, Thank you so much for saving my daughters' lives. Both of them. I know what Dahlia was planning. I'm sorry, but in all the excitement, I forgot to tell you the Queen has summoned you, and your companions, and Dahlia as soon as you have returned from your mission,” Marquise Gráinne said.

“Ugh, I was hoping for at least a day to relax before the news got out,” I said.

“Oh it did take a day or two before the Queen found out, But you've been gone now for over a week,” Marquise Gráinne said.

“Right, I didn't factor that in. Should have expected that,” I said.

Everyone laughed.

“You really can be so oblivious, Dee,” Kanae said.

When we got to the palace the guards led us to the Queen's study, where we waited. Then we waited some more. Then apparently because we picked a bad time we waited even longer. Then someone jabbed me in the ribs.

“What!?” I yelped.

“So glad you could join us, Princess. Sorry to have to disturb your nap,” the Queen said.

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“Sorry, your majesty,” I said.

“Well, let's get to it then. We were troubled when we heard you had taken on a quest last week. We are certain we instructed you not to take on any quests while at the Academy. Although, we are quite pleased that you succeeded in your quest and saved the life of Marquise Gráinne's daughter. That does not however negate the fact you disobeyed our Royal order,” Queen Matilde said.

“Well, your majesty you had instructed us not to take Guild Quests while at the Academy. You never said we couldn't take private quests. Also, we are on break from the Academy and were on break when we took the quest. So we didn't take on a quest while at the Academy, and technically you had also told us we could not take quests from the Adventurers Guild, but not individual quests,” I said.

“Do you think it's wise to seek out loopholes in our orders, knowing we will be displeased? We are very displeased, but also very curious. You have achieved something that no one else has been able to do within the memory of this Realm,” Queen Matilde said.

“I felt this was an important task to undertake, and knowing how much you care for your subjects, we felt it was a necessary quest. Also, we felt this was a quest that we were uniquely qualified for,” I said.

“Let me be explicit this time. You are not to take on any quests at all, without first obtaining our permission, or at our request. Do we make ourselves very clear on this?” Queen Matilde said.

“Yes, your majesty,” I said.

“Very well. Now give us a report of everything that happened on this quest. Leave nothing out,” Queen Matilde said.

“Well, we took the Marquise's daughter Dahlia to the Darkling Chrystalline Caverns with a platoon of the Marquise's elite guard. We killed a number of beasts and monsters on the way. We suspected the entire quest was a trap for us, and the Marquise's children. Then just our party entered the cavern. Someone either from the Marquise's guard, or whoever the culprit in the attempted assassination of the Marquise's children followed us in. We lost that person at the edge of the ruins of Chrysallia, which is surrounded by a very deadly dark mana barrier. We managed to gain access into the ruined city. We searched many locations within the city and salvaged a few insignificant historical items.

We located several libraries with protected spaces. Within these spaces books and scrolls and other literature have survived as if time had stood still for them. But our goal was not to ransack the ruin, but to retrieve the Dreadnought Grimoire, so we left all those protected items rather than try to secure them. There are several rings of protection within the archives. The Nobles Quarter and the Royal quarter were heavily secured, but we found a way in. In the Royal Library we came upon a very protected space. This space was a very strong candidate for the location of the sought grimoire.

We found no way in, so I crafted a special purpose spell and broke in. This activated a security protocol, and we were attacked by a couple of squads of Winged Behemoth Constructs. We managed to defeat them, and found the section did indeed contain the Dreadnought Grimoire. Only one member of our team was qualified to retrieve it. It was also protected and required a sacrifice to secure it. It was not the sacrifice that the Marquise's daughter had been told. That had been one of the reasons we suspected a trap.

We had done our own research on the issue and found what the true sacrifice would be, three drops of blood from a specific wyrm, not a family member's life. We then took the grimoire and fled the ruins and teleported past the followers. We grabbed Dahlia and returned here, leaving the guard behind after telling the platoon's leader sort of what we were doing. So we didn't learn if, or who, set up this trap and attempted to murder the Marquise's daughters. I would suggest investigating the Lt. in charge of that platoon, and the members of said platoon. I have no real reasons to suspect the Lt., so don't give my recommendation more weight than it should. That brings us to another subject. Kanae, if you would?” I said.

“Your majesty, we have the Dreadnought grimoire. I am the current owner of the tome, due to having performed the sacrifice. It's an extremely dangerous tome according to the last Darkling, who lives within the ruins. He allowed us to take it with us. But no one else can touch the grimoire than me, or him. We need a place both hidden and secure to store this grimoire, which has a curse upon it. Any who own it may succumb to the curse. The ancient Darkling didn't say what would activate the curse, so we have no knowledge of what it is. Obviously, any place it can be stored, I will have to personally place it there, as no one else can touch it. It is encased in some protective spell. Even my holding bag doesn't contain it,” Kanae said.

“Would you show us the grimoire?” Queen Matilde said.

“Very well, but you mustn't try to touch it, your majesty,” Kanae said. Kanae pulled it out of her storage and laid it on the table.

“The Dreadnought Grimoire. Worth a queendom's ransom. You know that right? Magnificent. I wonder what forgotten spells it might contain. You said a Darkling lives? Only one?” Matilde said.

“Within the ruins, I am quite certain he is the last. I suspect he is the former Grand Mage of the Darklings. He was able to handle the tome, even after Kanae took possession of it. We are very aware of its worth,” I said.

“Yet, you are trying to give it to us to protect? Why?”

“Several reasons. First we suspect you'd had ordered us to anyway. Second we believe the Darkling that it is dangerous and cursed. Third, it is not something we would have sought. Fourth, eventually our possession of it would become known, and then many would seek to take it from us by any means possible, and we don't want or desire that either,” I said.

“If what you say is true, and that quest was a trap, then whoever laid that trap will know you have retrieved the tome, and it will soon be widely known you have retrieved it. Padraig, would you be a dear and examine the grimoire,” Matilde said looking at the man who entered the chambers with her.

“I would strongly suggest against getting close to that tome, it is surrounded by a very nasty protective barrier. I would actually suggest destroying the cursed thing, except for all the knowledge that would be lost,” Padraig said.

“I see. Well how do we proceed. We can't very well put it in the hidden royal archives, because only Miss Kanae can handle the cursed thing,” Matilde said.

“I would suggest we make a new special hidden archive, specifically for miss Kanae,” Padraig said.

“Marvelous! Miss Kanae, would you please follow Padraig, and deposit this tome where he directs,” Matilde said.

“Yes, your majesty,” Kanae said, and left the room with Padraig.

“Now then, how shall we handle this. We certainly can't admit that you have found this legendary artifact, but we must dispel the rumor that will result from this whole fiasco. You have really put us all in quite a dilemma,” Matilde said.

“Well, there is one possibility. I'm not sure how convincing it will be. We do have this,” I said pulling out the copy of one of the Darkling healing grimoires we copied.

“And what is this?” Queen Matilde said.

“Well, while we didn't take any of the other protected grimoires, we did copy a few. We also copied the healing spell from the Dreadnought grimoire, and added it to this copy of another Darkling grimoire. I've also copied the style of the book cover of the Dreadnought grimoire. So we can donate this one to your majesty, and add it to your royal library under whatever restrictions you deem it requires. It truly only contains spells dealing with healing, although some of them could be possibly twisted into attack spells. I wouldn't say this grimoire is safe for the public to have access to,” I said.

“Well, this should work. I assume you have kept your own copy?” Matilde said.

“Not necessary, I've already remembered the entire grimoire,” I said.

“Oh, indeed? You can remember such a tome after seeing it once?” Matilde said.

“I have the gift of total recall, you majesty,” I said.

“Oh, my, and you've never told us before. What a very dangerous person you are, and such a rare gift,” Matilde said.

“Yes, it's a gift I generally keep to myself. As you said, it's a dangerous thing. I wouldn't want to paint any larger a target on myself than necessary,” I said.

“I do want to thank you for saving little Miss Daphne and Dahlia. We were aware of the issues with them both. So, you've salvaged some things from Chrysallia? Show us what you've recovered. There is still more to recover?” Matilde said.

“There is enough left there to buy several kingdoms. I would not recommend attempting it. It was quite difficult getting in, and once in you can't teleport out. It is still likely defended by the last Darkling, and he has great power. We took only things that weren't protected, except for the one. There is no telling what the last Darkling will protect. There are many protected spaces which probably house unimaginable fortunes. A person with even a minor amount of greed might meet their end there. There are traps everywhere. It's easily an S level quest or higher. I believe the Adventurers Guild suggests an SSS Rank, and I wouldn't argue that assignment,”

“Then are you suggesting that your guild party is an SSS Rank party?”

“I am,” I said.

“Noted. Very well, you can take quests over the summer break, but we want a briefing and notice before you leave on any quest. Also, you seem to believe you are being targeted, and yet take quests you suspect are traps. That's fairly reckless. Let us know about any quests you suspect are malicious in nature,” Matilde said.

“Yes your Majesty. Thank you, your Majesty,” I said.

We laid out all the stuff we had brought back.

“Well, this is an interesting collection. This is truly all you took? You plan to sell all this?” Matilde said.

“We are going to keep some of the weapons, but we plan to sell the rest eventually. Some we will sell to the Adventurers Guild,” I said.

“Very well, I will allow it. I see nothing that is a major threat except for that one sword,” the Queen said.

We continued to chat for another half hour, until Kanae came back. Then we left, and I finally had a chance to get some much-needed sleep. Two days later we reported to the guild what we had done, and sold the stuff we wanted to sell. They raised our party rank to B due to what we'd accomplished. There was a posted quest to investigate reports of some A Ranked monsters. So we took that, and headed out.

We were getting ready to stop for the coming night when our extended sense picked up the scent of blood, and noticed a number of life signs about a mile ahead of us. So we sped to the location only to find a battle scene of a merchant wagon, and a group of bandits. It looked as if only one person was still standing, and fighting a losing battle. The wolfkin was fairly cut up but still barely holding on against five bandits, and two more were closing on her. We all flew at the bandits, and catching them off guard easily took them all down.

“You're very wounded, would you let me heal you?” Kanae asked.

“Yes, thank you! I thought I was done for,” the wolfkin said.

“What happened here?” I asked.

“Oh, the same old story, we were headed for Lillifal to sell our season's products and crops, when the bandits got the drop on us. I'm Selina Nightclaw of Moonval. It's really very strange. It's been a long time since there have been bandits in these woods,” Selina said.

“Yes, how strange,” I said.

“I can't offer you much, but would be willing to escort me and my cargo to Lillifal?” Selina asked.

“Well we are out on our own quest, but seeing as how your entire party has been wiped out. What do you all think,” I asked.

“It only a little side trip. I don't see any reason not to,” Kiera said.

“Sure, why not?” Kanae said

“Sure,” Aoi and Darby said.

“Alright, you've got yourself an escort,” I said.

So off we went after burying the victims and throwing the bandits on a trailer, and followed Selina's wagon to Lillifal. When we arrived in Lillifal the next day near the dinner hour we turned the bandit bodies over to the Adventurers Guild and collected fifty silvers as a reward and Selina paid us thirteen silver. We checked in to the village inn.

“Well this set us back three days. Hope the monsters are still there when we arrive. However, this honey beer is amazing! These sleepy towns sure can be a surprise!” Darby said.

“Yes, a lovely village,” Kanae said.

“Strange, when we took on this quest, there was nothing about any bandits in this area. This must be very recent. Not that it makes any sense. What's out here to attract bandits?” I said.

“I don't get it either. The guild representative said it was all quiet from the capital to the Murkwood Forest, where the monsters were reported. Selina didn't even mention the story of the monsters, but she'd have gone past that area. I am beginning to have a bad feeling about this quest,” Kiera said.

“Me too,” Kanae said.

“Just be cautious tomorrow as we travel,” I said.

We settled in for the night, and headed out in the morning to resume our quest. A day later we were back to the place where we rescued Selina.

“Awfully quiet here. Don't hear any animals,” Kiera said.

“Looks like we're about to have our own ambush,” I said drawing my sword as arrows came flying out of the woods. I slapped one away as it came at me.

“I'm beginning to think someone doesn't like us,” Kanae said.

“Me too! And I'm starting to get a little angry,” Kiera said.