“How can she be okay?” Monica heard a woman shout. “Why did you take the sword out?! I could have done something!”

“Dude, chill,” she then heard Ted’s voice. “She’s fine. She told me before that if she gets weapons stuck in her, take them out because it will speed up the process.”

“I don’t understand,” a younger girl’s voice joined the two.

“Beats me,” Ted shrugged. “She said she can’t be killed.”

“What nonsense is that?” The older girl said.

“Beats me,” Ted replied again, “but look at that.”

Monica suddenly sat up, spitting a globe of semi-coagulated blood out of her throat and retching several times.

“AHHH!”

Monica twisted her head sideways to see that the Healer they had rescued, Heidi, was screaming out of her mind.

“How is she alive?! She was dead!”

“Dude, she can’t die. Were you even listening?” Ted said matter-of-factly.

Cracking her neck and feeling as if she was still half-dead, Monica slowly rose to her feet. When she wobbled, the young girl that they had rescued stepped in and helped her.

“Thanks,” she said, groaning.

She had underestimated what it meant to fight with negative Vitality, and most importantly, she had underestimated the side effects. But when she had seen the brute about to hit this young girl, something in her head had just snapped.

Yet another mysterious reaction of my body, she thought.

Monica felt like she could barely stand straight at the moment.

The young girl, probably not older than fifteen, stepped away from her and bowed her head.

“Thank you for rescuing us. My name is Dorothy, but everyone calls me Dotty.”

“You’re welcome, Dotty,” Monica grunted and nodded, holding her hurting ribs.

“I can heal you if you still have any damage,” Heidi said, having finally calmed down.

“I’m healed up,” Monica replied. “This is the aftermath of the Skill I used. I’ll be near-useless for the next twenty-four hours.”

Monica looked at the little kid that was hiding behind Dotty, peeking from her back to sneak glances at her.

“Hey there,” she said, deciding that standing was too much for now and resorting to sit on the ground.

The little kid immediately hid behind Dotty.

“That’s Ronnie,” the girl said. “He’s my brother.”

“Nice to meet you, Ronnie,” Monica smiled warmly, feeling very well-disposed toward the two kids for some reason.

Maybe I used to have kids? She wondered.

“Ted,” Monica said, “I can’t fight until tomorrow. Are there any more Cultists around?”

Ted thought about it and shook his head.

“I think there might be a few novices locked in their rooms. You don’t get to move freely around the temple without an Apprentice with you until you’re initiated yourself.”

“We have to kill those disgusting heathens!” Heidi immediately said, her azure eyes turning icy.

Monica frowned.

“Have they killed someone, Ted?” Monica asked.

“I don’t think so, no.”

“Then, I’ll have a chat with them as soon as I can move freely again.”

“What?! You are not going to kill them?!”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Monica turned toward Heidi with a raised eyebrow.

“Could you stop shouting?” The redhead said coldly.

Heidi, who had seen Monica tear through a bunch of higher leveled Cultists like nothing, gritted her teeth and decided to lower her voice.

“Why would you let them live?” The blonde asked angrily at a normal volume.

“If they haven’t killed anyone, they just made a poor choice.”

“What if they decide to join another cult?” Heidi could barely contain herself.

“I’ll kill them then. I don’t operate in hypotheticals. Ted, too, joined the Cultists here. I don’t care about the motive. If he had killed an innocent, I’d have burned him to death. So, would you want me to kill Ted, too?”

Heidi looked at Ted for a moment before steeling herself.

“Yes.”

“Dude,” Ted said, affronted. “I mean, kind of hot, not going to lie, but… dude!”

“I’m sorry,” Heidi said, straightening her spine, “Cultists are a plague for the Gods to eradicate. You had your say in joining these monsters. You should pay for that.”

“He’s going to pay by having to listen to you on our way back to their village,” Monica said, pointing at the kids. “That’s payment enough. Now, Ted, leave the killer-Healer be. I’ve got something to show you.”

“Do not disrespect my faith!” Heidi thundered, actually scaring Ronnie, who let out a whimper.

Monica caught that with the corner of her eye and decided she needed to clarify a few things for the Healer.

By now, she had stopped questioning her instincts, understanding it was her, not another person. This was her—the fighting, the hunches, the way she moved and talked. She had dissasociated from it, initially, because she didn’t have any memories of her past, but she needed to stop acting as if it was another person controlling her actions.

“In my books,” Monica said, getting up and towering over the short Healer, “Ted helped me rescue the children and fought a Cultist while you hid behind the basement’s door. That means you not only owe him your life but that you are a coward.”

“I’m not a fighter!” Heidi protested.

“Neither is Ted. He doesn’t have Class, does he? That’s the first thing you said when he rescued your life, too.”

Heidi seemed about to protest some more, but Monica raised a finger and brought it to the blonde’s plump lips.

“Cowards don’t get a say. You could have come out and helped heal Ted in case he got injured as he fought. You might disagree with me and Ted, and you might even want Ted dead. But hear me, and hear me well. As long as you are with us, I will tolerate no disrespect for that man and myself. Nor I will tolerate you not following my orders when I speak.”

Monica made an emphatic pause and removed her finger from Heidi’s lips to see if the girl had the guts to rebuke. Luckily for the Healer, she didn’t.

“Novice Cultists who killed no one are not a threat. Coward Healers who run their mouth and are not ready to follow orders instead are. So, if you want to go, go now. Grab a weapon and run home. However, if I find that on your way home, you thought of swinging by those novices—if I find one hair out of place, I will personally hunt you down. I slay my enemies without any remorse, to the last of them.

“If you want to stay and come with us for protection,” Monica continued, “take a broom and start sweeping. We’re sleeping here tonight. We’re not moving until I’ve recovered my strength.”

Monica pointed at a broom at the corner of the basement and then at the ground, dirty and bloody.

Heidi was red in her face, but Monica could clearly see she had instilled real fear in the girl, which was good. She wasn’t kidding. If on the way to the children’s village there were any threats, Monica knew she would need full compliance from all the group members in order to ensure their survival. It took one idiot who refused to follow a simple order to take the kids behind a tree for shelter to have them both killed by a few bandits.

“Ted,” Monica said while Heidi started sweeping.

“Milady?” Ted said, standing straighter to attention, clearly even more scared by Monica’s threats than their target.

“Stop it,” Monica sighed. “Come here.”

Ted immediately got close to her, and Monica summoned the Loot Chest she had gotten from killing Sandoval in front of them.

“Oh my!” Ted said, making everyone in the room turn toward them.

“Is that a Loot Chest?” Heidi said, her eyes wide.

“More sweeping, less talking,” Monica said, pointing at the ground.

“How—” Ted stumbled on his words. “How did you get another one?”

“A reward for killing Sandoval. Good deeds pay off, it seems,” Monica laughed, patting Ted on his shoulder. “It was supposed to be a Common one, but the System upgraded it.”

“That’s even rarer than just getting an Uncommon one!” The young man seemed beside himself.

The redhead looked at Ted, observing the chest and almost salivating, and had an idea.

“Ted, how about you open this one?”

“W—what?” Ted frowned. “I can’t. It’s yours. The one who opens the Loot Chest influences its contents.”

“Ted, open the Loot Chest,” Monica ordered.

She could have used another weapon or perhaps a piece of armor, but she had this hunch in the back of her head that told her the young man here wasn’t nearly as useless as he looked. Therefore, she would arm him before they moved out. If not for her sake, for Dotty and Ronnie.

Not that Dotty needs someone to protect her, Monica thought.

She had seen the teenage girl wildly stabbing Amalric, the Novice, without as much as a hint of hesitation.

However, Ted was much bigger than the scrawny girl and could clearly wield a weapon.

“Open the Loot Chest?” Ted repeated, incredulous.

“Did I stutter?” Monica said, summoning a wisp of Obsidian Flame for show, which made her entire arm hurt like a bastard.

Scared straight, Ted finally lifted the top of the chest and reached inside.