Chapter 114
Groggy and Cooked
While Erin and her companions had been able to escape certain death, it didn’t work out as well as they had imagined. Due to the magma burning the entire military base until there was nothing left, it had caused a lot of smoke and heat to rise up. Naturally, it had gone through the emergency escape route the group of assassins had used to save their lives, making their escape rather uncomfortable. The cave had been heated up like a sauna, as smoke blurred your vision and made breathing difficult. Had the tunnel been longer than it was, the whole group would have probably suffocated. Luckily, they were able to make their way outside before their lives were in danger.
Right now, everyone in the group was coughing up the smoke they had breathed in while also trying to catch their breaths. To say the least, their escape had been quite draining.
“God… freaking… DAMMIT!” Ryle cursed as she was breathing heavily. “That was like doing a marathon in a goddamn sauna! Who the hell builds a base in the middle of a lake of lava!? A complete ass!”
“My guess is that Gotzmeyer had made plans for his real identity being discovered,” Erin said, also breathing heavily. “He most likely wanted to make sure that no one who knew his secret would survive.”
“Whatever the freaking case, I hope that bastard burned along with his damn base!” the blonde cursed. “Right now, all I want is to lay down and never move again!”
“I don’t blame you. This was not a pleasant experience,” the redhead said. “Not only did we have to run through smoke and heat, but we also had to drag this big guy along! Hope he appreciates it…”
“Maybe it wasn’t Durge who made it difficult for you?” Lexton said with a snicker. “Perhaps it is you two who are carrying too much weight on yourselves?”
Hearing the kobold’s little joke, Erin and Ryle shared unhappy looks with each other.
“...Think Lex would like to help us out with Durge?” Ryle asked.
“Yes. I actually do,” Erin replied.
Before Lexton could ask what the two women were talking about, they unceremoniously dumped the sleeping orc on him. The kobold let out a scream, as he was buried underneath the massive body.
“...Fair enough. I deserved that,” Lexton managed as he crawled out from underneath the still sleeping Durge.
“Serves you right, you little jerk,” Ryle said as she glared at the kobold, before turning her attention to Erin. “So what do we do next? Should we get back to Grand Mine Central or do we simply go to the next town?”
“I honestly want to get back to Grand Mine,” the redhead answered. “We left a lot of our stuff over there, so I really want to go and get it all back. The problem is that it might be a bit difficult, considering how we are not exactly close to the place anymore.”
“Well, we better get back! All of my alchemy and enchantment equipment is still there!” Lexton said. “Considering all the trouble we had to go through to get it, I am not about to leave it all behind a second time!”
“I know! I’m sure we are all very well aware of how important your equipment is!” Erin quickly said, hoping to calm down the kobold. “It’s just going to be a bit difficult to get back, okay? Not only are we far away from the city, but we’re also back on the surface. You can probably see how that will create issues, right?”
“Not really. As long as we get to one of the towns or other cities that are connected to Grand Mine Central, we can get there easily,” Lexton said. “So as long as we have a map, we can get there easily.”
“Oh really? That’s great!” the redhead said happily as she took out their map. She had taken it with them just in case something like this happened. “Alright, let’s see… Judging by our surroundings, I’m guessing we’re about here, so the closest town is… Oh crap…”
“What’s the matter?” Ryle asked.
“It seems like the closest place is miles away from us,” Erin said with a tired sigh. “We’re going to be walking for hours…”
“Screw that!” the blonde yelled. “After all hell we just went through!? No way I’m going on a freaking death march! Not until I’ve had some time to rest at the very least!”
“I agree. I would like to rest up a bit myself as well,” Zeldana said with a smile. “I could use a little breather after all that running. Not to mention, I’m quite comfortable right now anyways.”
The elf’s comment greatly angered Ryle, but it wasn’t due to the fact that she agreed with the blonde. Instead, Ryle had another reason to get angry. It was that Zeldana was still holding Arkay, which the blonde didn’t like at all.
“Would you let go of him already!? You don’t need to carry him any longer!” Ryle yelled angrily. “At the very least, switch with me!”
“Huh? But I don’t want to switch,” Zeldana said, clearly teasing the blonde. “Besides, I’m sure he doesn’t mind at all…”
“Uhhh… A-Actually, I do,” Arkay said with an embarrassed blush. “Could you let me go already?”
“See!? SEE!? He does mind!” Ryle yelled. “Switch with me already!”
“Umm… No, that’s not what I meant. I want to-” the cat boy tried to say but was ignored by the two arguing women.
“It didn’t sound to me like he wanted to be carried by you,” Zeldana said with a grin, further teasing Ryle. “Perhaps you’re not so good at this? Maybe you should leave it to me, after all?”
“Leave this to you, my ass! I’m way better at this than you!” the blonde said as she snatched Arkay out of the elf’s arms and held him proudly. “See!? Just as good as you, if not way better! Don’t you agree, Arnie!?”
“...Okay, can you seriously let me go already?” Arkay said, no longer feeling embarrassed but slightly annoyed. “I would like to walk on my own two feet now.”
“...Just a little bit more, please?” Ryle pleaded. “Give me just a couple of minutes, okay?”
“Let me down. NOW,” the cat boy said, leaving no room for argument.
Seeing as she had no choice, the blonde reluctantly put Arkay down on the ground and let go of him. Once freed, the cat boy gave a simple thanks before walking away, leaving Ryle to sigh in depressed tone.
“So… Are you okay?” Erin asked a bit awkwardly, knowing just how her blonde friend could get in these matters. “You seem a bit… sad, to say the least.”
“I’m fine… I just wish I could have enjoyed myself at least a few more seconds,” Ryle said in a saddened tone. “But if nothing else, at least I got a feel for one of my fantasies becoming real.”
image [https://i.ibb.co/XkX0Sm2/Ch-114-Pic-3.jpg]
“...Do I even want to know what that is? Actually, don’t tell me any of your fantasies. I don’t need to know,” the redhead said. “Anyways, we’re going to rest for a moment. We are all obviously tired, and I would like it if we didn’t have to drag Durge around anymore. Speaking of which, how long is he going to be out?”
“That’s kind of hard to tell,” Lexton replied. “I designed the potion knowing that his berserker stage would probably burn through a fair amount of it, so I needed to make it extra strong. In all honesty, the length of time he’ll be asleep is quite the wide range.”
“...Just how wide of a range are we talking about here exactly?” Erin asked, already dreading the answer she would get.
“It could take from several hours to a few days. It’s kind of hard to tell,” the kobold answered with a shrug. “The thing is that I made the whole sleeping drug very recently and I didn’t really get a chance to properly test it out, so we’re kind of going on untraveled territory here.”
“...WHAT!?” the redhead screamed angrily. “Are you telling me that the thing you specifically designed to help Durge might actually end up killing him!? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!?”
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“Hey, he isn’t dead, he’s just asleep!” Lexton said in his defense. “Besides, what would you have liked me to do!? Create a poison that would have killed him instead!?”
“Of course not, you alchemist ass! But do you really think a coma is that much of a better fate!?” Erin ranted. “Not only are we now forced to drag him everywhere, but there’s no telling if he might ever even wake up! What if he’s stuck like that forever!?”
“Hang on a second! I think I can help with this!” Zeldana suddenly declared, as she walked up to the still sleeping orc. “I should have just the right trick to waking him up in no time at all!”
“Really!? Thank goodness!” the redhead said, feeling relieved that her friend might be saved. “Is it some sort of a healing spell or-?”
Instead of using magic of any kind, the elf simply turned Durge so that he was laying on his back before proceeding to kick him between the legs. However, while the expression on his face did turn into one of discomfort from the obvious pain, he didn’t wake up at all. The orc simply kept on slumbering.
image [https://i.ibb.co/kS6TDjR/Ch-114-Pic-1.jpg]
“...Well, I’m out of ideas. That usually does the trick when I want to wake up someone, especially id they’re a guy,” Zeldana said with a shrug. “I do have to admit that the stuff that was used to put him under is pretty damn strong. I gotta get me some of that.”
“Are you freaking serious!? THAT was your idea!? To kick him in the nuts!?” Erin asked angrily. “Couldn’t you think of anything better at all!?”
“Hey, that’s a pretty effective technique I just used! Besides, ask anyone who is a male and they’ll tell you that this is easily the most painful thing that can happen to them,” the elf explained before turning to look at Lexton and Arkay. “Isn’t that right, guys?”
“...Please leave us out of this,” Lexton said as he and Arkay simply looked away awkwardly.
“See? That reaction tells me that I’m right!” Zeldana said to Erin. “But if you insist I tryo something different, I guess I could try using a hammer or-”
“No! NO! We don’t need to go that far!” the redhead quickly said as she rubbed her temples from the headache she was getting. “The last thing I want is mutilate Durge beyond repair…”
“Suit yourself,” the elf said with a shrug. She was about to walk away, when she remembered something important. “Oh! I need to have a little talk with you later. So when you feel like you’re ready, I’ll be a bit further away from here. Also, this will be one of those talks that are just between you and me, so don’t bring anybody else along, alright?”
“...I got it. I’ll see you later,” Erin said, knowing just what Zeldana wanted to talk about.
With their talk having been agreed on, the elf walked away from the rest of the group. Not far enough to be completely separated, but far enough to have some privacy.
Ryle, having heard Zeldana’s request, couldn’t help but feel curious about it. After all, Erin was her best friend and she didn’t want her to get into any trouble, which was something that the elf was bound to bring no matter where she was.
“Hey, Erin, what was that about?” the blonde asked. “Do you need me to go and rough her up for you? Because I’ll gladly do it.”
“What-? Oh, there’s nothing wrong! Don’t worry about it!” the redhead quickly explained. “There are just some things that I need to go over with her in regards to our future travels. That’s all.”
“...If you say so,” Ryle said, although she didn’t fully believe her friend’s explanation. She could tell that Erin was making excuses for some reason.
“Anyways, is everyone here alright?” the redhead asked, looking over her friends. “I just want to quickly make sure that no one is hurt or anything like that.”
“Other than being depleted of most of my weaponry, I’m doing okay,” Lexton replied. “I was able to avoid any serious damage through the whole battle, so I’m not in the need of any medical assistance.”
“Arnie and I are fine as well,” Ryle said. “We got a bit roughed up by the two assassins that came after us, but we were able to fix ourselves with Lex’s potions.”
“That’s good to know,” Erin said with a smile, as she began to walk to where Zeldana had gone to. “Anyways, I’m going to see what Zeldana wants to talk about, so can you guys keep an eye on Durge during that? He might be asleep, but we should make sure that whatever that sleeping drug had in it doesn’t cause any other issues.”
“Hey! Since when did I make faulty products!?” Lexton shouted angrily. “Besides, this one was a rush job that I needed to get done before we went after Gotzmeyer, so I’d say I did a pretty good job!”
“Yeah. Yeah. We get it. You’re really skilled and everything. We’ve heard it more than enough times already,” Ryle said dismissively as she rolled her eyes. “Despite that, you don’t need to worry about Durge, Erin. We’ll keep an eye on Durge while you’re away.”
“Thanks!” the redhead said with a smile as she walked away from the rest of the group.
Once the redhead was gone, Ryle turned her attention to Arkay.
“Hey, Arnie. Could you do a little job for me?” the blonde asked.
“Huh? What’s that?” the cat boy asked in return.
“I need you to do a little spying for me.”
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Meanwhile, Erin was looking for Zeldana, who had walked away into an area with numerous large rocks in it. The redhead had expected to find the elf quickly, but this wasn’t the case at all. Instead of waiting for Erin, Zeldana had apparently decided to go into hiding, most likely for the sake of a prank or something.
“Zel, where are you?” Erin asked with a sigh. “I don’t feel like playing these games with you right now, okay?”
The redhead was about to call for Zeldana again, only for the sharp blade of a scalpel suddenly touch her neck. The medical tool was close enough that if the person holding it wanted to, they could easily slash Erin’s neck open in one swift move. However, the blade simply touched the skin of her neck, never drawing even a drop of blood.
“Unlike you, I like playing games. It’s that entertainment reason that I decided to join your little group in the first place,” Zeldana’s voice whispered into Erin’s ear from behind her with not even a hint of her usual playfulness. “The thing is that I really dislike it when someone tries to ruin that entertainment for me, which is something that you seem to be doing.”
After giving out her threat, the elf removed the scalpel from Erin’s neck, allowing her to go free. Despite no longer being in danger, the redhead couldn’t help but tremble and sweat nervously, as she knew that she was dealing with someone who could easily kill her any moment she wanted and seemed to be very upset with her.
“You said you wanted to talk with me, so here I am,” the redhead said. “What is it that you wanted to talk about? I’m guessing it’s about whatever it is that has you upset.”
“What a magnificent guess! You must be psychic or something!” Zeldana said in an overly sarcastic tone. “Well, since you’re already so close to the correct answer, we might as well see if you can tell what is it that has gotten me so pissed off! Care to take a guess and really win the quiz of today?”
“...Is it about how I handled Gotzmeyer?” Erin asked. Despite wanting to talk back to the elf due to her attitude, the redhead feared that it wasn’t a good idea as she had already been threatened with a scalpel just seconds ago.
“Oh! Ladies and gentlemen! Our contestant is on a roll here! She’s making all the correct and obvious guesses one after another!” Zeldana said, keeping up her sarcastic attitude. “Care to make a guess as to why that was such a big screw up on your part? Let’s see just how much of a psychic you truly are…”
“I… I honestly don’t know,” Erin said. “I guess I got fooled into his trap, but-”
The redhead was cut off, as she felt something fly past her face and hit the boulder behind her. She slowly looked behind her and saw a scalpel now sticking out of the stone.
“Okay, you are on the right track, but I am not in the mood for your excuses right now, so shut the hell up for now,” Zeldana said as she gave Erin a cold glare. “You’re going to listen to me and keep your maw closed, unless you want me to put the next one through your skull. Understood?”
The redhead simply nodded nervously in response, afraid of further upsetting the elf.
“You’re quick on the uptake, that’s good. I’d hate having to explain to your buddies as to why you suddenly ended up dead. I don’t see any wild animals nearby and digging a grave for you would just be a pain in the ass,” Zeldana said before taking a deep breath. “Now, as you said, the reason why I’m pissed off with you is related to Gotzmeyer, but it’s not exactly about how you fell for his trap. The reason why I am angry is because of how badly you handled the whole thing. Can you guess what was your big mistake?”
“Was it… Was it not killing him right away?” Erin asked. “That way he wouldn’t have been able to launch the self-destruction of his base.”
“Ughhh… So close, yet so damn far. Do you have literal turds for brains or something?” the elf said with a groan. “While I suppose that would have prevented you from doing the biggest mistake possible, that is NOT what I was referring to. Getting information out of him was a good idea, but what you did afterwards wasn’t. Or rather, what you didn’t do…”
“What I didn’t-?” the redhead began to ask, only for her eye to go wide upon realizing what Zeldana was referring to. “You’re mad at me because I let Gotzmeyer live!?”
“DING DING DING! She finally gets the correct answer, ladies and gentlemen!” Zeldana yelled in a mocking tone. “Good to see that you’re not a complete moron!”
“L-Look, I get that my decision didn’t work out as well as I would have hoped, but was it really that bad!?” Erin asked. “I mean, we had already killed so many people and his reputation was completely ruined! Would it have really been necessary to kill him!?”
“Oh, that’s a completely worthless argument! Let me think about it for a moment!” the elf argued as she took a thinking position. “Hmmm… YES! It would have been necessary to kill him! Did you somehow forget that he was a dangerous warlord, responsible for countless deaths, including SLAUGHTERING HIS OWN SOLDIERS!? I’m more shocked that you wanted to let a guy like him live for some goddamn reason!”
“I-I get that he wasn’t a good person by any means, but he had lost pretty much everything! There was no way he was going to be able to continue as a warlord after what happened!” the redhead tried to defend herself. “He would have been forced to live on the run for the rest of his life and hide in some hole! Wasn’t that more than enough!?”
“So you’re more than willing to slaughter soldiers just following their orders, but the big guys on top are somehow so sacred that they must not be harmed?” Zeldana asked with a raised eyebrow. “What kind of insane logic is that supposed to be? Also, I wonder what the families of Gotzmeyer’s victims would have thought about you letting that murderer live! Did that ever occur to you!?”
Erin wanted to continue defending herself, but realized that the elf was completely correct. How was it okay for her to kill guards and soldiers, yet not do the same to the ones in charge? Not only that, but how was letting Gotzmeyer live an actual punishment for the horrible things he had done? Besides, by just letting him go, she pretty much allowed him to go commit further misdeeds.
In all honesty, the redhead had spat in the faces of Gotzmeyer’s victims.
“Judging by your silence I’m guessing you’re finally getting what I’m saying to you, right?” Zeldana said. “You’re supposed to be an assassin tasked with the duty of slaying the monsters who have turned this world into an oppressive hell. You don’t have the luxury of showing them sympathy, especially those in power.”
“I… I understand. It won’t happen again,” Erin said as she stared down in shame. “But there’s something that I don’t understand. Why are you so upset about this? I thought you only joined us for your own entertainment.”
“That is exactly the reason why I am upset with you. You are ruining my amusement,” the elf answered. “Have you ever followed a story, fully waiting for some big reveal or an epic final confrontation, only to be met with utter disappointment? That’s what you essentially did. Your journey is basically my personal soap opera that I’m following and you just ruined one of the biggest confrontations in the story. Don’t you even dare think about doing it again.”
“Trust me, I won’t-”
The redhead was suddenly cut off, as Zeldana grabbed her by the front of her shirt and pulled her closer to glare at her right into her eyes. The intense stare the elf was giving actually scared Erin.
“Trust you? You’re actually telling me to trust you after how badly you just screwed up? You’ve got some nerve, I’ll give you that,” Zeldana said. “Do you honestly think that I’m going to simply trust you to do what needs to be done in the future, after you couldn’t do it with Gotzmeyer? How can I expect you to not screw things up, when we go against someone else? Especially when some of those people are your former buddies!”
Erin felt a shock run through her body upon being reminded of that one fact. She may have been giving brave talks and promises, but the fact of the matter remained that she was still going to have to face her old friends soon. If she wasn’t able to bring herself to kill a simple warlord, could she really kill one of her five friends? The redhead thought that she had the resolve to do so, yet her recent mistake was making her doubt herself.
Tears ran down her cheek as Zeldana let go of her. Erin fell to her knees, feeling ashamed over her own failures and fear over what might come in the future.
“I see that you finally get it. At least we’re making some progress,” the elf said said. “You better fix your resolve or else this won’t end well for you. Either one of your enemies will see to it or I will, because I don’t like to repeat lessons I’ve given to people. Got it?”
All Erin could do was nod weakly in response. This was still a response that seemed to satisfy Zeldana, as her anger seemed to go down.
However, neither Erin or Zeldana realized that someone else had been listening to their conversation, as Arkay stood behind a nearby boulder with his body cloaked in invisibility and his eyes wide.
image [https://i.ibb.co/tDWHw87/Ch-114-Pic-2.jpg]