I had half expected to run into Alysia again, but she was nowhere in sight. Perhaps she had taken her loss and did as Octius wanted. As for Octius and Otto, they were returning to the border today to meet their father. As for Eliana and the Prince, they returned to the castle. Eliana looked like she wanted to talk to me in private, but between getting tied to a bed by a Dark Fairy and fighting to the death with Alysia, along with the time demand the girls all placed on me, that ended up not happening.
“Make sure to bring father back, dead or alive.”
“Eh? Don’t you want him alive?”
“Even if he dies, we can resurrect him. In many ways, killing him would be faster.” Eliana’s expression darkened when her father was brought up.
“Still, isn’t this your father?”
“I trust in Deek’s judgement.” The Prince smiled before signaling the Blue Mage to send him on his way back to the Capital.
“…”
“Deek, are we returning back to Chalm?” Shao asked, breaking me from my current thoughts.
I shook my head. “No, we’re going to Alerith.”
“Eh? Lord Reign’s city? Aren’t you technically wanted there?”
“He tried to kill me, but I don’t think there is an official warrant for my arrest.”
They don’t know I’m the one who got rid of those knights and soldiers, and they weren’t really officially Lord Reign’s soldiers in the first place. If he got a hold of me, he’d probably try to deliver a lot of awkward questions and maybe even try to arrest me on trumped-up charges, but he wouldn’t make them until he already had me in custody for fear of retribution. Once you killed someone, it was easy enough to fake an excuse, but before that happened, I had the power to run to the princess or cause other troubles. So, while Alerith wasn’t safe for me, it wasn’t like my face was on every corner.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Besides, I didn’t really need to worry since I could change my face. I had gotten an artifact that allowed me to hide in such a manner, as well as using Shao’s special skill. Either would be enough that I could move around Alerith easily. Furthermore, it wasn’t a problem, since I had things set up there already.
I was currently using Miki to cast portals. She was the highest mana user beside Celeste, and I had already decided the layout of Celeste’s five dungeon points. I didn’t feel like twisting them around, so I used Miki since she was available.
For Celeste, I had given her Reset, Adaptive Outfit, Feature Masking, Mana Regen Plus, and Cast Speed Plus. Adaptive Outfit allowed Celeste to independently change the size of her clothing. Since magically enhanced clothing that changed sizes was expensive and difficult to obtain, this was a decent alternative. It would also make holes in clothing for tails, wings, and anything else someone would need on the fly. Feature Masking allowed her to hide her features, that being her wings.
I had noticed this ability after seeing Shao on the beach with a hood on. I realized she could hide her horns so that she could show her pretty face more. I realized for Celeste. It would also be useful so she could move around easier. Her sparkly wings did bring a lot of notice to our group wherever we went. As for the abilities of the other two, they naturally amplified her spell-casting, and thus seemed suited for her. Since these were only tier 1 abilities, they weren’t the best out there, but they definitely gave her an edge over those that didn’t have them. Of course, she might gain those abilities from her jobs eventually when they reached a higher level, so they may not be useful forever.
After gathering everyone up, I created two Portals, some were sent back to Chalm, while the rest of us headed to Alerith. I just had to check on a few things in Alerith, and then it was back to the Widow’s Dungeon with us. After nearly a week of performing various chores, I could finally get back to the job at hand. It felt somewhat refreshing.