Chapter 158
Call to Work
Erin stared at the shadow man with a surprised look. The thought of other people from her world coming here had been a thought in her mind ever since she had seen Stacey, but considering how her former friend had been imprisoned as soon as she had arrived, there was no chance that she ever saw anybody else arrive here. However, it seemed like her questions on that regard would be answered soon.
“...By my other friends, I’m guessing you’re referring to the group that Stacey and I were a part of?” Erin asked, receiving a nod in response. “If that’s the case, what do you know about them? Where are they and what are they doing?”
“One thing at a time. It’s no good to be impatient,” the shadowy figure said. “First, I’d like you to think back on some of your recent actions. I’m sure you’re already guessing what or who I’m referring to.”
“Yeah, it’s obviously Stacey that you’re talking about,” the redhead said with a frown. “I get that I made a mistake. A really big one. I shouldn’t have kept her around and it caused not only friction within my team, but the deaths of innocent people. What more do you need me to say about it?”
“Oh, you’re not getting away from such a screw up that easily! Did you really think you could just brush away the deaths of two innocent people like that? Think again!” the shadowy figure said. “I warned you about having Stacey around. I told you that you can’t help everybody and should have just abandoned her. Hell, even your own companions wanted her gone! Yet despite all the obvious warning signs, you decided to keep her around! And what did that get you? Nothing good from the way I see it.”
“Goddammit, I know! But what am I supposed to do about it now!?” Erin said angrily. “I get that I shouldn’t have just hoped for Stacey to become a better person and that just because we used to be friends is not an excuse for what happened! The fact is that I was scared of what might happen if I did leave her on her own and that fear caused this! I don’t see what I can do anymore!”
“What I want you to do is learn,” the shadowy figure answered. “I want you to understand that no matter what happens, some people are beyond your reach. You either don’t have the resources necessary to help them or they are just such crap people that helping them is just a waste of your time. Either they are beyond help or just refuse it altogether. You should have realized that Stacey was not going to change no matter what you did and was only going to be a problem for you and your group. You will come across similar people in the future, so you need to be ready to abandon such people, no matter how much you might hate the idea. Got it?”
“...Alright, I get it. I won’t try to save everyone like some sort of a superhero,” the redhead said with a sigh. “Now can we get to the things that I really need to know?”
“You know, you’re not really convincing me that you’ve learned you lesson, okay? At least try to show some level of humility. It will go a long way,” the shadowy figure said. “Anyways, I’m guessing that you wish to know about your old group, right? Well, much like Stacey and you, they were also brought here.”
“I feared as much… If one of them was brought here, then I knew that the chances of the others being here was pretty high,” Erin said. “Speaking of which, how were they brought here in the first place? And where are they?”
“The answer to your first question should be obvious. I mean, you were brought here in a similar manner, weren’t you?” the shadowy figure said. “Or have you forgotten about the spell that transported you here?”
“I know that, but it came through my computer when I tried to access the game that this world is based on… Or the game is based on this world. Whatever it is,” the redhead explained. “The point is that knowing my old friend group, they would never even consider touching such things, so I doubt that they got here the same way I did.”
“While I’m unsure about the details, the Overlords must have found a way to get to them. After all, if they got to you, they could find a way to get to them,” the shadowy figure explained. “As for where they all are, while I don’t know the details, each of the Overlords is holding one of them as a captive, just like Stacey was with Golorath. The only one who isn’t is Devinolux. I’m sure you can guess why.”
“...I was supposed to go to him,” Erin said after thinking about it. “My old group was made up of five people, so each one would get one of us. But ever since I got sent here instead of wherever I was supposed to go to, one of them was left empty handed.”
“Exactly. Good to see you can at least make the most obvious of correct judgments from time to time,” the shadowy figure said in a slightly sarcastic tone. “What I want you to do with this information is to simply be prepared for the time when you meet them. There’s no telling what might have been done to them, after all. They could be even worse than Stacey, even if that is hard to believe. Just don’t make any promises in regards to saving them, helping them or anything of the sort. Just know who you are going to face.”
“I’ll make those choices when I see them,” the redhead said with a determined look on her face. “You also said that there was something you needed to tell me about Golorath. What exactly is that?”
“That’s something I’m not going to be as straightforward about. I’m afraid that you’re going to have to figure things out for yourself later,” the shadowy figure said. “I’m just going to tell you this much. In order for you to beat him, you need to find his weakness. That lies in his character.”
“His character?” Erin asked, completely confused. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“That is for you to find out. If I keep helping you out all the time, you’ll never be able to become strong enough to actually beat the Five Overlords,” the shadowy figure said as he was starting to disappear. “See you next time. Hopefully, it won’t be too soon.”
With the mysterious figure gone, Erin was left standing in the alley on her own. The question of what he had meant by Golorath’s character was still lingering in her mind. Was it a reference to the personality of Gabe? Or was there some other meaning to it?
Seeing as how she wasn’t going to find the answer by simply pondering on it like this, the redhead walked out of the alley. She soon found her two companions at the last place she had been at, waiting for her.
“Hey, where the hell have you been?” Zeldana asked in an upset voice. “We’ve been waiting for you for some time now! I thought you were going to be waiting for us!”
“Sorry,” Erin apologized. “Something came up that I needed to take care of.”
The redhead felt guilty about lying to her friends again, especially since she just told them the biggest secret she had been holding in. It felt wrong to her to not be honest with them, seeing as how her dishonesty had almost broken up their group not too long ago. However, she just didn’t know how she was going to even attempt to explain what she had just dealt with. A mysterious man that seemed to be made from shadows that was secretly helping her and seemed to know a lot about her? Not exactly something that sounded all that believable.
For now, Erin decided to keep this to herself, but she was going to tell the others about him, as soon as she learned enough. Right now, he was still a complete mystery to her.
“It wasn’t anything bad, was it?” Arkay asked in a worried tone. “You can tell us, no matter what it is, you know?”
“Thanks, but there’s no need to worry. It’s nothing bad,” the redhead said with a smile. “Anyways, were you guys able to find what you were looking for?”
“Yeah! We got a spiritual protector for both graves!” the cat boy said happily as he showed two clay dolls. “I actually sense real magical energy coming from these, so they should be legitimate. With these on the graves, there shouldn’t be any worries about anything bad happening to them due to some strange fluctuations of the magical energies.”
“The bastard at the shop was trying to screw over Arnie. He was asking far too big of a price for these and was trying to guilt trip him into buying them, talking about his deceased loved ones not being able to rest in peace, if he didn’t buy them,” Zeldana said, joining the conversation. “Once I heard him try to do that, I stepped in and told him that he would need a spiritual protector soon, if he didn’t give us a fair price. We suddenly got a major discount.”
“Zeldana was really cool back there, when she helped me out!” Arkay said happily. “I was honestly struggling, as I didn’t know what to do! Thanks to her help, I was able to get what we needed without having to pay too much!”
“Glad to be of help!” the elf said with a proud look on her face. “Guess I’m not such a bad influence on kids after all?”
“That’s… a bit concerning, but I guess it’s fine for now,” Erin said awkwardly, fearing what kind of an influence Zeldana could be. “Anyways, is there anything else you guys need to do? If not, then I suggest that we start-”
The redhead cut herself off, as she saw something further down the street they were at. It was a statue depicting the Five Overlords, similar to the one she had seen in Rockmoore Town when she had first arrived in this world.
Upon seeing the statue, Erin walked up to it, followed by her two confused companions. For some reason, she felt like the statue before her held the answer to a question that was on her mind, but she couldn’t tell what it was.
“Is something wrong, Erin?” Arkay asked, breaking the redhead out of her thoughts. “You went silent all of a sudden when you saw the statue.”
“Well… It’s just something that I was thinking about. I feel like the answer to that is right here before my eyes, but I can’t place my finger on what it is,” the redhead said, still trying to figure the answer she was looking for. “Just out of curiosity, were these statues made to look just like… You know?”
“Your old buddies? Yeah,” Zeldana replied. “I mean, what’s the point of having a statue made of you, if it’s not going to look like you.”
“I’ve only seen the Five Overlords on TV and artistic depictions, so I can’t really tell how closely these resemble the people themselves,” Arkay said. “Don’t they look like the people you used to know or something?”
“No, that’s not it,” Erin replied. “I mean, they are not like the old friends I used to have, but rather the characters they used to play in the game, but I can still recognize each one of them. The thing that I’m trying to figure out here is-”
The redhead’s eye went wide as she came to a realization and figured out what the shadowy figure had tried to tell her. When he told her that Golorath’s weakness lied in his character, she had thought that there was some sort of a personal issue with the person behind the character, Gabe. Now she understood that the hint had been about the character he played in the game.
The characters on the statues were based on characters they made when they did an evil playthrough of the game, as this was allowed in it. A lot of the characters they made back then reflected this choice, too, as many of them were demonic or generally seen as evil.
In the case of Gabe, he had made his character a demon of gluttony. As the name suggested, it was a race based on the seven deadly sins from the Bible. The way these characters worked was that they could obtain all sorts of buffs and advantages through the act of eating large amounts of food. Much like every other race in the game, demons had their own weaknesses, which in this case were powers that had holy or light element imbued in them.
This was the weakness that the shadowy figure had hinted at.
“I think I got it!” Erin said in a slightly excited voice. “I know how we can beat Golorath!”
“You do?” Zeldana asked with disbelief clear in her voice. “I mean… Don’t get me wrong, that sounds great and all, but you do realize that these guys have been undefeated for quite some time now? It’s a bit hard to believe that you could figure out how to beat any of them just like that.”
“I’m at least curious to hear what it is,” Arkay said with a smile. “What is this plan of yours?”
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“Well, it’s not exactly a plan, but a weakness that will help us defeat him,” Erin said with a proud smile. “I just realized that he’s a demon, so all we need is some sort of a weapon that’s imbued with the holy or light element. We can then use that to defeat him.”
The redhead waited to hear words of praise come from her two companions, but they had suddenly fallen silent. She looked at them to see a blank look on the face of Zeldana and an awkward look on Arkay.
“...I knew it was too freaking good to be true,” Zeldana said as she rolled her eyes. “Erin, do you really think that you’re the first one to ever think of that?”
“I… What?” the redhead said, baffled over the response she got.
“I think what she’s saying, Erin, is that it’s obvious to everyone that Golorath is a demon and therefore has a natural weakness to holy and light elements,” Arkay said somewhat awkwardly. “Things like that are practically common knowledge, so the resistance would have tried to utilize it in order to defeat him. And I’m sure many others have tried it as well.”
“Well, it’s still something that we can work with, isn’t it!?” the redhead asked. “Why else would he give me such a clue, unless-!?”
Upon realizing that she had accidentally revealed the existence of the shadowy figure, Erin quickly closed her mouth, but it was too late. Both Zeldana and Arkay had caught her slip up and were now staring at her with questioning looks.
“Excuse me, but who gave you a clue?” Zeldana asked. “I’ve been traveling with you for quite some time now and I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that could be trying to advice you on how to beat the Five Overlords. Just who the hell are you talking about?”
“Uhh… N-No one!” Erin tried to lie, but it was obvious. “I just misspoke! That’s all!”
“Erin, can’t you still trust us?” Arkay asked in a hurt tone that broke the redhead’s heart. “Is this similar to how you kept hiding your true identity from us? Can’t you just tell us what this is all about?”
Erin still wanted to resist and try to lie her way out of the predicament she had gotten herself into, but the hurt look on the cat boy’s face caused her will to keep resisting to fade completely. There was no way she could keep lying, so she would just have to come clean.
image [https://i.ibb.co/cNwCvmL/Ch-158-Pic-1.jpg]
“...Okay, I’ll tell you guys what this is about,” the redhead said with a sigh of defeat. “But can we do that with the others around? I think that would work out for the best.”
Arkay nodded with a smile on his face, while Zeldana did so much more reluctantly.
“Fine… But you better not try to slide out of this!” the elf said in a commanding tone. “I’ll make sure that you keep your promise and tell us everything! Got it!?”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Erin said.
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With their business at the town done, the trio walked back to the house they were staying at and their friends were waiting for them. Once there, Arkay went on to place the spiritual protectors he had bought on the graves. As he did this, the group gathered at the graves for a moment of silence and to pray for their lost friends.
“...It’s not right that they had to die like this,” Erin said with a sad look on her face, finally breaking the silence. “I shouldn’t have allowed Stacey to come with us. I should have known better than to-!”
“Blaming yourself is not going to make anything better, Erin,” Durge said, as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You had your reasons for keeping her around and tried to do your best in a bad situation. That obviously didn’t go the way you wanted, but you can’t hold yourself accountable for the actions of someone else. Stacey was the one to make the choice she did. You didn’t do that for her.”
“Yeah, and at least you gave the bitch what she deserved afterwards,” Ryle said with a slight frown, thinking back on what happened. “Even if I do think you went too easy on her in the end.”
“Thanks… I guess,” Erin said with a small smile, happy that her friends were there to support her. “I just hope things go better, when we run into somebody else from my old friend group, like Stacey.”
The way the redhead had worded her statement went unnoticed by most of the group, except for Lexton and Zeldana. The choice of words she had used stuck to them and they turned to look at her with questioning gazes.
“When we run into them? Is that what you just said?” Lexton asked. “It’s sounds like you’re certain that we will face them in the future. Why is that?”
Once the kobold pointed this out, the rest of the group had now caught on to what Erin had said. Instead of panicking or trying to explain herself, the redhead remained calm. She had, after all, resolved herself to tell the truth to the others.
“That’s indeed what I said,” Erin said, confirming Lexton’s suspicions. “I do think we will run into them in the near future, as I just recently learned that Stacey wasn’t the only one brought here from that group. Apparently, the rest of them are here, too.”
“But how do you know this?” Durge asked. “I do get that it’s very likely, seeing as the Overlords brought you and Stacey here due to old grudges towards you two. It wouldn’t be a surprise at all if the others were targeted in a similar manner, as well. But we don’t know if that has happened yet at all. Don’t you think you should confirm this before jumping to conclusions?”
“It has pretty much been confirmed,” the redhead replied. “I learned this from a reliable source.”
“Is this the thing you mentioned back at the town?” Arkay asked. “The one you were planning to tell about to everyone here?”
Now everyone had their full attention on Erin, wondering what she was going to tell them. The redhead took a deep breath, before sitting on the ground and looking over the others.
“Before I tell you about this… person that I’ve been meeting, I want you all to understand that I didn’t really try to hide him from you,” Erin explained. “I mostly just assumed that he didn’t want to known about by anybody else other than me, because he seemed to only appear before me. Not only that, but I don’t really know how to explain him either. He seems to be on our side, but is also very… unfriendly towards me. Despite this, he has been helping us in the background for quite some time now.”
“Alright, enough of your explaining and dodging the question at hand already!” Zeldana said in a frustrated tone. “Tell us about this mysterious person already!”
“...I was getting to that,” the redhead said. “Anyways, I think he has helped me ever since I was brought to this world. When the… things that pulled me in here were holding onto me, he intervened and saved me from their clutches. That’s probably why I ended up at Rockmoore, instead of one of the strongholds of the Overlords.”
“And he has been showing up ever since then?” Durge asked.
“Occasionally, yes. He mostly appears when I either need guidance of some kind,” Erin replied. “The first time he appeared before me was when I tried to use magic for the first time and kept failing at it. He came to me and granted me the ability to use it.”
“So that explains how you were suddenly able to use magic. I simply thought that you had never received any proper guidance, so it was more difficult,” Lexton said thoughtfully. “Whoever this person is, he must have not only a great understanding of our world, but also some very incredible skills, as well. Does he have a name?”
“He has never told me his name. I personally just think of him as “shadow man” and have left it at that. After all, it’s not like I can just force him to tell me his identity,” the redhead explained. “Even if I haven’t seen him actually fight, I can tell that he is strong from the times I’ve met him.”
“Have you seen his face?” Ryle asked. “If we knew what he looks like, we might be able to recognize him during our travels.”
“That is even weirder, as he seems to conceal himself in what I can only describe as darkness. And I don’t mean that he stays in dark areas when he meets me, rather it’s almost like his whole body is made out of shadows and darkness itself,” Erin explained. “Whenever I see him, all I see is a male human body that is covered in shadows. I have never seen anything about him that would pinpoint to any sort of features that could help me recognize him.”
While most of the others were surprised by the information in regards to the shadowy figure that kept meeting Erin, one of them was deep in thought. That was none other than Arkay, as he had some sort of an idea about the person they were talking about.
“Arnie, what’s wrong?” Erin called out to the cat boy. “You look like something’s on your mind.”
“...I might have figured something out about this person,” Arkay replied. “The way you describe him makes it seem like he is what is known as a “shadow puppet.” They’re something magic users skilled in either necromancy or dark magic can create. And since it’s one that can act on its own, the person who created it must be a very skilled one.”
The redhead obviously knew about both methods of using magic. In the case of dark magic, the user would manipulate darkness and shadows in a way to combat their enemies. At start, all you could do was use magic to hide yourself or blind enemies, but later on you could form weapons and monsters out of shadows to aid you. This is where shadow puppets would come from.
However, necromancy was a far more disturbing way of using magic, as it required the use of actual corpses to be animated and used in battle. Things like zombies, skeletons and other such horrifying creatures were in the usual arsenal of a necromancer. As your necromancy powers became better, you could create undead monstrosities out of anything, including dragons and giants.
Despite her knowledge of these powers, Erin didn’t know that necromancy could allow one to create shadow puppets. Judging by the name, it sounded like something made out of dark magic, instead of necromancy.
“I understand dark magic playing a part in something like this, but how could necromancy create something like that?” the redhead asked. “Isn’t necromancy just about making corpses move and serve you?”
“For the most part that is true, but the truly skilled necromancers can actually use their skills to summon the very souls of people and place them within bodies created out of the elements,” Arkay explained. “When my father taught me magic, he told me that one of the schools of magic that you should do your best to avoid is necromancy. Not only do people not like the idea of seeing their lost loved ones walking about again, but some necromancers have even manipulated the very souls of people to their advantage. Even if you used your abilities for good, you would still be looked at with distrust and hate. Such skills are thus best left alone.”
“I see… So what you’re saying is that this shadow puppet could have somebody’s soul in it through the power of necromancy?” Erin asked. “Wouldn’t that mean that the shadowy person is actually just something that’s being controlled by someone else in the background?”
“That is highly possible,” the cat boy replied. “Although, I have heard that some necromancers have used their own abilities in order to give themselves new bodies. Maybe whoever this person is actually did something similar?”
“Whatever the case is and whoever he is, it seems that at least for now he is on our side,” Durge said. “The question is, how long will that last? And does he have any other goals in mind?”
“From what he has told me, all he wants is for us to beat the Five Overlords,” Erin said. “He just recently told me about Golorath’s weakness.”
“You mean the information that everybody else in the world already knew? What great help,” Zeldana said sarcastically. “Honestly, if that’s the best he can give us, I doubt he’ll be of any actual help in the long run.”
“Hey, he has helped us plenty of times! Not only did he prevent me from getting captured by the Overlords when I was brought here, but he also provided me with the ability to use magic and even kept our identities secret, when we defeated General Lune!” the redhead argued. “Besides, you shouldn’t be so judgmental towards him! After all, he seems to be your old friend!”
Now all the attention was on the elf, who looked completely baffled. She had not expected things to get turned on her like that at all.
“What the-!? He is… But that doesn’t-!” Zeldana said, struggling to find a way to respond. “Where the hell did you get that kind of an idea!?”
“Not too long ago, I actually met up with him. He happened to mention that you were the only member of our group that he approved of, which tells me that he knew about you even before we met you,” Erin explained. “Although, I personally disagree with his assessment of the rest of you guys. In fact, I’d say that you’re all the best companions I could ever get!”
“Aww… Thanks, Erin!” Ryle said with a grin, as the others also smiled.
“How sweet… You’re going to make me puke,” Zeldana muttered unhappily. “Anyways, you’re blaming the wrong person here! I have no idea who the hell this guy that you’re talking about is!”
“Say what you will, but he sure knew you!” Erin said. “He honestly seemed to know you on a personal level, as he even mentioned your psychopathic tendencies. Whatever those are…”
“Hey, I don’t have anything psychotic in me!” the elf argued.
“Are you trying to convince us or yourself?” Lexton asked bluntly. “I can promise you that one of those two will be impossible!”
“Screw you!”
Deciding to stop the argument right away, Erin cleared her throat loudly. This put the attention back on her.
“Anyways, as you can see, the shadow man that has been appearing before me is a complete mystery. I don’t know if he is ever going to reveal his identity to me, but I’d say we can trust him for now,” the redhead said. “So far, he just wants to defeat the Five Overlords. Whatever might come after that is something we will have to figure out for ourselves.”
“Agreed. Although, I’m still confused as to why he gave you such obvious advice in regards to Golorath,” Lexton said. “Since you already know so much about this world, it seems pointless.”
“It could be that I’m missing something important,” Erin suggested. “He does seem the type who wants you to figure things out on your own, instead of giving you the answers. The hint regarding Golorath’s character could be referring to something else entirely.”
“And what might that be?” Durge asked.
“I don’t know. The best I can hope for is that the answer becomes clearer when we actually go after him,” the redhead replied.
“Well, whatever that might be, I sure hope it’s something better than what you came up with!” Zeldana said in a snarky tone. “If it was, good luck getting anything with holy or light attribute anywhere near Golorath! Such things are completely banned in every area close to him. If you’re so much as caught mentioning them, you will end up serving a lengthy prison sentence.”
“So he’s not taking any chances then,” Erin said. “Figures. Those guys might not have been popular back in my world, but they were all incredibly smart. I guess it was stupid of me to think that they would give their enemies a chance to fight back.”
“Well, whatever the case is, we’ll figure things out better, once we start to move again,” Lexton said. “Right now, we’re stuck hiding, remember? Not much we can do, until Rayleen contacts us once again.”
“What a coincidence! That’s about to happen right now!” a familiar voice called out.
Everybody turned towards where the voice came from and saw Ao standing there with a wide smile on his face. The dark-haired man simply waved his hand as a greeting to them. Everyone in the group let out screams of surprise and jumped back a bit.
“SINCE WHEN THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN THERE!?” Erin shouted out of shock. “At least announce your arrival, you bastard!”
“Now, where is the fun in that? I gotta have some excitement in my life!” Ao said playfully. “It honestly does good for you to have fun once in a while.”
“Why does your idea of fun have to include giving heart attacks to others!?” Ryle asked angrily. “You’re almost as twisted as Zeldana!”
“Hey!” the elf yelled, offended by the remark.
“Anyways, all jokes and funny business aside, I did come here as part of my job,” Ao said, as he took out a piece of paper from his pocket. “Here’s the directions to the meeting place. Once you get there, you’ll receive instructions for your next assignment.”
Erin took the piece of paper from the dark-haired man and nodded. With their instructions received, the group packed up their things and drove away in their car.
As they were driving away, Erin looked over to the house that they had used as their hiding place and thought about the sisters that used to live there. While she knew that there was nothing any of them could do about it, she still hated that the house would most likely get vandalized now that they were gone. All she could hope for was that at least the graves would be left alone.
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Sometime after Erin and her group had left, the group of vandals that were stopped by Ryle, Durge and Lexton returned. One of them had noticed the van parked outside was gone, which meant that the people they encountered had most likely left. Emboldened by this, the group decided to go back to the house in order to finish what they had started.
“Alright, here’s the plan,” the leader of the group said. “First we go inside and take anything that’s valuable. After that, we set the whole damn thing on fire and then mess up the graves. Got it?”
“Why don’t we just go to the graves first, though?” one of the others asked.
“That’s simple. You gotta leave the best for last,” the leader answered with a grin. “Now let’s get to work.”
One of the people in the group had a crowbar, which he was going to use to open the door. However, before he could do that, the door opened to reveal Ao, who had a smile on his face.
“I must say, manners are truly becoming a rare thing these days. Don’t any of you know that you’re supposed to knock on the door?” the dark-haired man asked. “Better yet, it would be most convenient, if you gave a call about coming over in advance.”
“Who the hell are you!? A friend of those people that were staying here!?” the leader asked angrily. “Get out of the way, unless you’re looking to get messed up!”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. You see, I feel like I owe the original residents of this fine house a favor for the help they provided for my associates,” Ao said, as blue flames gathered around his hand. “The least I can do is put maggots like you in their place.”
Before any of the vandals could do anything, blue flames surrounded their bodies, burning them all painfully but not fatally. They were all left with their clothes in tatters, hairs on their bodies burnt and light burn marks covering their whole bodies.
image [https://i.ibb.co/L5hYTGQ/Ch-158-Pic-2.jpg]
“That took me a considerable amount of restraint and control. Next time you might not be so lucky as to get the same result,” Ao explained. “Do try out your luck, if you feel like it. I wouldn’t recommend it, though.”
The vandals decided to never come anywhere close the house of the two elf sisters from that point on.