Iana grinned like a jester at Amelia’s expression of discomfort. “Yes you,” she chortled, masking her mouth with a gloved hand. “It’s only natural that I’d take interest in any girl that Jerr brings home. He’s like a grandson to many of us, myself included. Let’s just start with your name, shall we?”

Allen rolled his eyes and flinched away from the woman as she tried to ruffle his hair. “Ugh, shut up Iana.”

“Uh, o-okay,” Amelia started. She fumbled with her words a little and glanced over at Allen. The two of them watched each other as a moment of awkward silence stretched along. Then Amelia cleared her throat after a few seconds and fixed Iana with a fearless stare. “…But only if you tell me who you are first, old lady.”

Meredith sucked in her lip and looked away.

“She’s playing a dangerous game,” Allen thought with a faint smirk. “Or maybe she’s already figured her out…”

Iana laughed cheerfully. “Fine fine, that’s fair I suppose.” Then she leaned in and placed a had on Amelia’s shoulder. The Healer shuddered at her touch as the confidence ran from her face.

The temperature suddenly plummeted, causing everyone’s breath to fog. Allen’s joints started to creak as the cold seeped in. The sweat forming on his forehead froze, along with the moisture in his eyes.

“…but I will make you into a living icicle at the next reference you make to my age.”

“Iana,” Meredith’s voice cut in just as Allen was forced to shut his eyes.

The witch’s expression flashed to concern as she pulled her hand away. The temperature instantly returned to normal, though Allen was still chilled to the bone along with Amelia. Nobody else seemed to have noticed a thing.

“Oh my,” Iana started, looking over at the unenthused and shivering Amelia. “That was a bit overzealous of me, how embarrassing.” She put a hand to her mouth again to cover another smile. “My apologies dear, I am Iana White, though that name is merely a moniker, however, my full title is lost to time, as it should be. I was once known as the Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Anillis. Now I am the Blizzard Witch.”

Amelia had stopped shivering faster than Allen. She evidently had some healer Skills to combat cold damage. She looked thoughtful for a moment before opening her mouth to speak. “The princess who buried her own country in a cursed snowstorm that still hasn’t stopped after more than four-hundred years?”

“Yeah, that’s the one,” Allen said, laughing a little.

Amelia sighed in resignation. “I see, well then I’m Amelia Campbell,” she said, drawing smiles from Meredith and Iana as she curtsied sarcastically. “Archpriestess and Healer from the Oder of Pain. Eleanora was my teacher.” Amelia finished her introduction with a smug face.

Iana seemed surprised, as anyone would suspect. How could anyone guess that such a sweet looking girl could be part of a cult of masochists. Allen laughed at their reactions; he himself had seen enough to know that Amelia wasn’t lying.

“You’re part of that woman’s band of… deviants!?” Iana started, a look of gleeful mocking horror on her face.

Allen laughed harder at the sight of Amelia scowling at the ground.

“Now now,” Meredith began, “I believe that’s quite enough. Maybe you should rest for a while, Iana.”

The ice witch harumphed to herself and turned around to leave. Amelia gave Meredith a look of confusion and irritation. The robed Healer shook her head and waved a hand dismissively.

“As ancient fossils themselves, Iana and Eleanora both have an ongoing feud surrounding some man, I’m afraid. It’s nothing you should trouble yourself with, Amelia,” Meredith said in a hushed, conspiratorial voice. “Though I am surprised to hear that you learned from the grandmaster of your order. I suppose you and Jerr have that in common. Now, we should probably check up on the villagers,” she finished with a smile and motioned for the two to follow.

Meredith waved a hand to get the attention of the children who had wandered off before making her way over to where Christopher, Ty, Camila, and the others were gathered. The professor was the first to notice their return as he turned to offer an exhausted but friendly smile.

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“Are you done with your… reunion?” Christopher asked, setting his eyes on Allen.

“Yeah.”

At the sound of Allen’s voice, the man standing next to Christopher turned from his conversation with Lucas. He was the older of the two men they had rescued. His face immediately softened when he found Amelia and Meredith standing next to him.

“Oh, young man,” he began, “your fellows have told me about how you found and transported us to… here. I can’t thank you enough for what you did to save us from those slavers.”

Allen hummed, “Sure, that’s what I do.”

Meredith stifled a lighthearted chuckle. “He’s right, there’s no need to thank us. We’ll gladly provide a place for you to recover, you especially Mr. Wrens.” The Healer placed a hand on the older man’s forehead for a moment before she stepped away and clapped her hands twice. “You all should rest for at least a week. You may feel fine right now, but the thorns have sapped away at your souls.”

Mr. Wren and Lucas both nodded before their attention was taken by the doors to the training hall flying open. A line of masked women in maid uniforms streamed in swiftly and mechanically. The paleness of their skin and the fact that they were all identical was enough for anybody to recognize the Temple Servants.

“These lovely maids will show you to where you’ll be staying for a while. They can’t speak, but they can understand your orders, so ask them for anything you need.” Meredith held her smile as each homunculus took one of the freed slaves either by the hand or in their arms. The children followed without complaint, though many of them still had that look in their eyes like lost puppies.

Mr. Wren turned to spare one last melancholic smile for Allen before he too was led back through the door. Allen waved back as the doors glided shut again. He turned back to meet Christopher’s content expression.

“What now?” Camila asked, scratching her head as she walked up with Ty.

Through some unspoken agreement, the other four turned to Allen. Rather than flattering, the attention and sense of reliance made him uncomfortable. He was about to open his mouth to tell them about his deal to level up with Shoam, but Meredith cleared her throat and interrupted his thoughts.

“Any information that could help those people or help us find the ones responsible for trafficking them would be greatly appreciated,” Meredith said with a slight chill to her voice.

Ty groaned. “They’re from the Nash Republic,” he said, “That’s all we know.”

“Indeed, you’re best off asking them directly. We don’t know anything about the Lanthinus company either,” Christopher began, wincing. “If only we had enough time to gather more evidence.”

Meredith hummed in disappointment.

Allen, on the other hand, started laughing blithely.

“…What’s so funny?” Camila asked, starting to chuckle herself.

Allen suddenly summoned an envelope, a badge, a wallet, and folder filled with papers from his inventory. “Did you think I would just leave the scene without looting everybody dry? Who do you take me for?” He handed Meredith the items with a smug look.

“Hah!” Camila snorted. “That’s what’s up!”

Meredith graciously accepted the intel while Amelia rolled her eyes. “Well then, I’ll leave you five to it then. I suggest you go see Chthollus about your weapons and armor.” Meredith said.

“Thanks,” Christopher offered.

With a satisfied smile, the Healer turned and walked back to the group of Spades standing near the middle of the room.

Allen pulled the ring that Jack had given him out from his inventory, aware of the others’ gazes focused on him. The ring allowed him to control the Temple Servants along with the doors, lights, and other such things. He slipped it onto his right middle finger and turned to Christopher. “My friend Shoam is going to help us power level to three hundred. I’m guessing we’re going to use one of the stranger nodes Wan has to offer…” he paused noticing the confusion on everyone’s faces. “…Wan is short for Wandering Gate. He’s like a less annoying, smarter version of Andy, if I’m being honest.”

“Motherfucker,” muttered Camila.

“Who’s Shoam?” Ty asked.

“Some creepy elf,” Amelia said, much to Allen’s amusement.

“I don’t feel like doing any of anything right now though, I feel like shit,” Allen said with a sigh. Simply recovering his SP was not enough to keep him awake. He needed actual sleep.

“Agreed,” Christopher added, “We haven’t slept since the Well of Gloom. My mana hasn’t even recovered yet.”

“Yeah, don’t remind me,” Allen thought. “We can sleep in the barracks,” he said.

“’Aight, I’m fucking done with today,” Ty said, groaning as he followed after the others.

Allen guided the group to the training hall door and knocked on it with his ring. The door opened on its own, leading directly into a hallway that looked a lot like a hotel. It was decorated in the same gothic style as the entrance to the temple, with rows of doors on either side.

Then Allen opened the closest door to reveal a typical hotel room with a single bed. “Pick a room,” he said, “and goodnight.” Then he closed the door on four blank faces, walked over to the bed, and flopped onto his stomach.

The pent up exhaustion hit him like a truck. He realized that moment was the first he had spent alone since he had made the deal with Andy. That had also been only four days ago. Allen groaned into the pillow.

The last thing he did before falling asleep was slap his skill point into Damage Control.

Skill: Damage Control

Control the focus and spread of the damage dealt by your attacks to a certain area.

Category: Martial Arts – Type: Meta – Tier 3

Effects: Focus the damage from your attacks onto a smaller point or cause it to diffuse onto a larger area. Extent of the control is proportional to focus.

Cost: None