Chapter 23: What Now?

“Another party got attacked, huh?”

“That’s like the third time now.”

“Anyone know what’s going on?”

Tobias hurried past these adventurers who discussed about what happened. It seemed like news spread fast around these parts, but he didn’t quite care right now. He followed the blonde-haired adventurer who told him the news, as she proceeded to walk towards the stairs.

The stairs were made of polished wood, and weren’t all that used, really. He was aware that there was a second floor, but he never bothered to check around, or stipulate what could have been in the second floor. Now, he was about to know.

And on top of the second floor, he could see a small hallway-like structure, with two doors lining each side, and lanterns in between those doors. She slipped towards a door, opening it, and checking behind her to see if Tobias was still following her. Then she gestured by tilting her head to tell him to come inside the room.

“Well, my objective here is done.” His blonde-haired guide said, as she moved to excuse herself.

“Thank you.” Tobias replied, as he gave her a small bow. In turn, she gave him a friendly wave, and walked away.

The room was full of beds, along with white curtains surrounding the beds. Most of them were drawn close, so he couldn’t see the people resting in them.

He instinctively knew that this had to be some sort of recovering room, and in the corner, he could see two curtains drawn, right next to an open bed. There was a middle-aged woman wearing gold-rimmed spectacles and a white cap, looking down at the person confined to the bed who was no other than Bastille.

“Is he alright?” Tobias asked, having swiftly, but silently sprinted towards the corner of the room hosting his friend. Bastille’s head was covered in bandages, and he could see that none of his limbs were missing. He let out a relieved sigh.

“Well, he is as fine as can be.” The woman replied, her white cap indicating that she was some sort of Cleric. “He seems exhausted, and just needs to rest now.”

“What about my other party members?” Looking around him – those drawn white curtains... they contained his allies, didn’t they? Were the curtains drawn because their injuries were too severe? Or was it because they were... dead...?

“Oh, you’re Marcus, then.” The Cleric said. “Unfortunately... your other party members aren’t as lucky as this person. They’re... well, their injuries aren’t lethal and aren’t crippled, but I suspect that they won’t be in commission any time soon.”

Tobias let out a sigh of relief. They were still alive, and their careers weren’t compromised from what the Cleric said.

He wasn’t in a party with them for very long (only a month or so), but he knew that they all had ambitions and reasons as to why they became adventurers. To become crippled now, right when they were all recently promoted – he understood that it would just be too depressing for everyone to handle.

“Blunt trauma, and blood loss, is it?” He asked, turning towards the drawn curtains next to the Sorcerer’s bed. The curtains were a sterile, pure white. Something about the concept of the purity of white being stained by imaginary red just – made him speculate that it might have been the case.

Non-lethal, non-crippling injuries, and yet they wouldn’t wake up anytime soon, much less be ready for combat anytime soon was only very, very familiar to him.

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“How did you know?” The Cleric asked, although her voice had a dangerous edge laced to it. It was somewhat accusatory; a warning that if he had anything to do with their states right now, there would be hell to pay.

“Just a thought.” He replied. He would normally give a shrug right now, but he only felt a shudder instead. Symptoms of blood loss were told to him by Magnus in their full, gory details.

“M-Marcus...” A faint voice rasped, and both Adventurer and Cleric turned around. Bastille was awake, lying down, and moved to sit up but the Cleric swiftly moved to prevent him from moving about too much. “W-we... got attacked...”

“I know.” Tobias replied, moving towards the Sorcerer’s side so that he didn’t have to push himself to speak too loudly. Bastille’s face was pale, and his eyes were dilated and unfocused. “What happened?”

“We... were walking around the forest... We got ambushed by a group of hooded rogues... too well equipped to be bandits... too skilled to be bandits...” Bastille coughed, and the Cleric carefully propped him up to rub his back gently. “We managed to drive them off... but Jacques... Clara... they bled too much and passed out... I carried ourselves here as best as I can... but they came back again... They told me a message... ‘Don’t be too ambitious...’.”

“What – does that mean?” Tobias asked, while his hands were clenched. His gloves were doing a great job at preventing his fingernails from cutting into his palms.

“I don’t know...” Bastille admitted, and his face was too pale to be fine. The Cleric’s mouth moved to speak, but he continued. “Marcus... they might be going for you... be careful...” And just like that, his final words were spoken. His consciousness faded away, and his eyes closed.

“Bastille?” Tobias asked, and he moved closer to grab him in the shoulders. But the Cleric only swatted his hands away. “Is he dead...?”

“Don’t be silly.” The Cleric replied, shaking her head. “I already told you that he’s exhausted, and he needs rest. Him waking up right now was a miracle in itself.” She shook her head.

“I see... please take care of them, then.” He said, bowing down.

“That’s my job, and I intend to.” She only gave a small nod. “Now go on, listen to this young man and be careful. They need not be disturbed.”

Wordlessly, Tobias nodded, then left the room.

...

The hallways with lanterns came to greet him by, and he stared at the stairs – no, at the crowds of adventurers below the stairs. There were more of them now – and they were gathered for a reason which might have been related for what his party experienced.

“Attention, Adventurers of Ordbridge.” And at the foot of the stairs, there was a man standing. He was facing towards the crowd – so Tobias couldn’t make out his facial features, as he had been standing on top of the stairs and directly behind the man.

“You have heard the cases of our fellow adventurers... they have been attacked outside of the city by something – no, someone out there. I don’t know what agenda they have, but I have something to advise everyone in here... What if everyone stops accepting quests to protect themselves?”

There was silence. Then there was a surge of angry replies.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?!”

“Don’t be stupid, who’s gonna feed our families?!”

“Yeah, yeah!”

And just like that, they have all decided to band together, ignoring the man who proposed such an inane idea. Whenever the man tried to speak up, they would only yell back at him to get out of there, and while no one openly attacked the man, the air was tense. Eventually, the man relented, and with a small huff to himself, walked out.

But not without seeing him get shoved around, and maybe given a kick to the shin here and there. Tobias let out a wince of some little sympathy, but didn’t quite do anything. The man was just asking to get treated like that. Adventuring was, after all, still a (dangerous) profession at the end of the day.

To tell people to willing quit just because a few parties (including his own) got attacked was almost insulting to them. Tobias didn’t know what the man was after, but he knew that it was simply disrespect to tell that to people who willingly risked their lives everyday to make money.

Eventually, he let out a small sigh to himself, as he began to descend the stairs. The Adventurers were still chatting among themselves, sharing stories and experiences, and he expertly slipped through the crowds to sit on one of the cushioned seats in the sides and corners of the guild main room... hall?

Comfortably seating himself, he began to think. His party was still alive thankfully, and recovering. They would be out of commission and action for a long while, but then; now what?

They would probably be taken care of by the Guild at the expense of some of their earnings, and then what would Tobias do in the meantime?

As he sat in one of the chairs and pondered about his situation (while admittedly worrying about his party; would they be alright after this?) a person walked to him. His thoughts disappeared almost instantly, as he turned to look at the person standing in front of him.

The person was a woman – seemingly a few years older than Tobias. She had a wide-brimmed hat with flowing black hair, and wore a dark-robe which offered little protection, and seemed to be too tight around her body, which showed off her slender, yet matured physique if nothing else. And her gaze fell to scan him – more accurately, the metal tag hanging by his neck, then gave a subtle nod.

“You’re – from the recent party who got attacked, weren’t you?”

But Tobias didn’t let his gaze wander downwards too long – he only let it last for the brief scan he gave her. And in the next moment, his eyes focused into her red, almost blood-like eyes. “What do you need from me?”

And in turn, her red eyes gazed back at his. “I would like to ask you to join our party.”