To cut the long story short, the four adventurers were busy to recover their stregnth, assisted by Declan’s healing spell and the magical potions they brought along. Only after they had recovered enough, they departed. Declan and Reyl didn’t forget to behead The Fat Lady’s human head to present as a proof that they had slain the monster to Hunters’ Guild.

With sufficient stamina, the four of them successfully jumped across the pit inside the cave. Thanks to Reyl’s map, they could get out of Mordsgard without much resistance. Their journey home to Lu Vazr thus proceeded in awkwardness, without any meaningful conversation.

As the group arrived in the city, they immediately stopped by at the Amagmar Hunters’ Guild, then got out of the building with brighter faces.

“One thousand crowns, divided by four,” Declan explained while patting upon the swelling pouches that were fitting the pockets of his robe. “Let’s stop by the Melchior Bank to save some of this money, then get to the nearest tavern to celebrate our victory against the Fat Lady.”

Maven disagreed. “This is not the time for celebration, Dec. We must immediately solve the mystery behind Crylionel, besides…” She hit his elbow with her own then pointed her thumb towards their other two partners. “You can see the situation, can’t you?”

“Ah, right.” Declan scratched his head. “It turned out being quiet through our way home has made me forgot what is up.”

Meanwhile Reyl and Sophia remained silent even now. Sophia glanced at Reyl, but he immediately looked another way. She could only bit her nail.

A while later, after securing their money in the bank, the four youngsters returned downtown. Maven began to cook up a conversation. “Now, about Reyl’s pendant, I think we must go to meet Nepathya Lei and ask her directly about the necklace. I have a feeling that she’s hiding something from us.”

Hearing her suggestion, Reyl sped up his pace. “Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go see her now.”

“Hey, wait! We still haven't taken any rest from a long journey, can we just do it later?" Declan protested. But since the other three were already walking far away from him, he could only tail them behind.

==oOo==

The sun was about to set over a hill on the outskirts of Lu Vazr. A shabby shack stood on top of that hill. Four people arrived in front of that shack after a long walk.

“Whew, is this your teacher’s home, Sophia?” Declan asked, frowning. “Are you sure she can sleep inside this collapsing shack?”

Sophia didn’t answer. She was still too tense thinking what will transpire later. Her face looked restless, filled with guilt. And Reyl still refused to talk to her. Being ignored, the cleric could only lift his shoulders.

Reyl knocked the door as he called, “Madame Lei!” Again he knocked, and since he got no answer, Reyl turned around towards his friends. “Madame Lei isn’t home.”

“Well, we have to wait then.” Maven suggested, before sitting legs-crossed in front of the hut. Declan followed suit beside her. Reyl just walked back and forth impatiently and Sophia sat on a place a bit far from the rest of the party, bowing down sluggishly. None of them spoke a word.

About half an hour later, when the day began to turn dark, Maven saw Nepathya Lei walking home, shouldering a cloth bundle and wielding a sheathed sickle. Her one eye glared upon her guests.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Arriving at the entrance, Lei greeted, "Why, have you returned from Mordsgard? Have you killed the Fat Lady?"

"We have successfully slain Udmelekh, Madame Lei, and the people from Amagmar Hunters' Guild praised us to no end for it," Reyl answered.

"But this is such a surprise. What brought you four to my decrepit shack? Wouldn't you be more comfortable in Sophia's house?"

"I must admit, I can't stand to be inside this suffocating shack," said Reyl nonchalantly. Before Lei could complain, he added, "But for now I have a more pressing matter. It's about this necklace." Reyl pointed at Crylionel which was digging into his chest.

"Goodness me!" Lei gasped. "Come inside, let's talk."

The five immediately went inside and crowded the already suffocating room filled with chests, shelves and jars containing magical ingredients and alchemy tools.

The stench stung strongly, driving Declan to whisper to Maven, "Wow, now I agree with Reyl's frankness back then..."

"I can hear you, young man," Lei informed. "I can understand that as a cleric, you used to be in clean and orderly places. So pardon me, if you don't like it here, you may leave."

"Eh... sorry, Madame Lei, I didn't mean to offend you, it's just a slip of..."

Maven interrupted, "Let's get to the point. Madame Lei, you gave that necklace to Sophia, right? For Reyl's birthday?"

"Oh, did Sophia tell you?" The corner of Lei's eye contracted a bit. She then put her hand on the bandage that always covered her face and answered, "Indeed, I gave it to Sophia. And I think I can guess your next question, about whether this necklace has a side effect."

The other four simply stared at her without blinking.

"I take that as a 'yes'," she continued.

"And my answer is no, I don't know anything about that side effect."

Finally Sophia spoke out, "If you didn't know much about that necklace, why did you give it to me? Don't you care about my feelings? What if Reyl gets hurt? Won't that mean I will get hurt as well?" She could no longer hold her tears down.

Seeing that, the sorceress approached Sophia. She hugged and patted her favourite disciple's back, explaining slowly, "Forgive me, Sophia. The travelling merchant who sold that to me didn't tell me all the details. He only told me that it warms the wearer's body during cold weathers, cools when it's hot, and protects against fire magic, that's all. I was so bewitched by its beauty that I forgot to as about its side effect. If my mistake has brought you harm, I beg from the bottom of my heart, please forgive this careless woman." She bowed her head down.

Maven witnessed Lei's tears falling down from her face to the floor. Silence dawned at the moment. "Enough," said the soft-hearted girl. "Rather than looking for someone to blame, we should look for a way to cure Reyl from the influence of the Ice Spirit Crystal. As you've seen, the crystal pendant is already digging into his chest. Every attempt to take it off has failed, and now we have ran out of ideas. Can you help us to find a solution?"

Declan added, "Well, surely you have more knowledge and experience than me, for example." He clenched his palm which was still numb from failing to pull out that relic before.

"Give me time to think." Lei rose and walked slowly towards the corner of the room, which was crammed with piles of spell books. The four could do little but wait quietly.

A moment later, they heard a weird noise resembling that of a collapsing ground.

"What's that noise?" Maven shouted.

A moment later, Declan raised a hand. "Err... sorry guys, that was my stomach."

"What?" Sophia gasped.

"Holy cow!" Reyl facepalmed.

"Dec, I know your stomach is like a bottomless well. But can you be more polite, perhaps? Like saying, 'I'm hungry', maybe?" said Maven with her hands on her hips.

"All right, all right, sorry." Declan did his favourite move, Head Scratching. "I have an idea. I'll just go to town to buy food for us, then return here. I'll use my own money as a token of my apology. Sounds good?"

"Sure, why not, Dec. If possible, come back as soon as possible so that Madame Lei won't get to hear our choir of rumbling stomachs," said Maven slyly.

"Can I join?" said Declan playfully. "My stomach makes the loudest rumble..."

Reyl immediately knocked Declan's head. "Stop joking and just get our food! Shoo, shoo!"

"You're annoying, man!" Declan then slowly walked out from the hut.

After Declan left, Sophia who was calmed down a bit began to comment, "Umm, shouldn't you be the one going, Maven? I have a feeling that Declan has run out with the easiest job, but he'll return very late."

Maven answered, "Will it make any difference? Is there any task harder than... oh."

She just realized something when Lei called, "Hey, youngsters, don't muse around! Help me here, we still have a lot of work to do!"

Maven shrugged and walked towards the call, followed by her two friends. She murmured, "I just got it now, Sophia."