The man from the Hewit family sighed heavily and it was what the family frowned upon the most. He just couldn't help it as he was the leader of this foolish endeavour and he might just give everything up. A tiny part of him wanted to just pack up and cross the Great Ravine. He would get used to living as a nobody among the beast-kin eventually.
All of this happened because his younger self foolishly thought he couldn’t be wrong and made a very costly mistake. It turned out he was no different than the people in the room even though he should have known better.
Everyone in the room had similar disappointed looks on their faces.
The whole search had finally met its long-due end but there was nothing to celebrate.
“I feel bad for the boy, Anthon,” said a lanky grey-haired man. “And to think he’s the only one who came out mostly whole.”
The [Stone] master was the oldest among them. The man might not seem the most impressive but he was the key to this whole mission.
The Guildmaster wondered what changed the ancient man to once again raise a child in such a place. Perhaps the mother was too irresistible to his taste in women? Or did the scar of his past finally disappear?
“Shall we just end his misery?” A tall red-haired woman with fierce eyes suggested.
The noble lady was adorned in full metal armor with every piece of it shone with top quality enchantment. If the Kingdom had a price, she could have already bought it, but it didn’t and that was why she was here with them. A stranger looking at her would have mistaken her as the front liner but she was very far from it.
“No, that is out of the question, you brutes!” A gorgeous brunette said as she shielded the total stranger on the bed with her decades-perfected body from her family's centuries of study.
The [Healer] had always been soft-hearted. Someone like her had no place here by the border and she wouldn’t be anywhere close if she hadn’t broken the biggest taboo in all humanity. It was ironic how the kindest among them couldn’t do what was needed for the sake of the humans she cared so much about.
“But what lies before him is only terrible hardship, Rinia, and you know that,” the man with the bow said in a much softer tone than usual. “Unlike others like him, no Clan or family will ever take him in, perhaps not even the commoners will feel pity for him. It would be impossible for a soul from another world to live here without anything to offer.”
Anthon couldn’t have said any better.
“He’ll probably die miserably and alone,” said another woman in her business suite. “If only he hadn’t absorbed the shards, he would still have a place in this world.”
“As what? A breeder?” The grey-haired man scoffed.
“It is better than being stepped on and dying like an ant,” the redhead argued.
“Or he could be a [Watcher] with his white soul,” the archer said with a shrug.
“Only the Elves know how to unlock that [Class],” the armored lady said. “They didn’t even answer to Queens or Kings, let alone a commoner.”
“That is right, it will take a miracle but I know the old girl will take good care of the poor lad,” the Guildmaster finally said and sighed. “But honestly, to what end? Will any of you bring him with you if the time comes?” He looked around and everyone stared at the floor.
“I guess not,” he chuckled darkly.
Even the ever-kind Rinia hesitated to say anything in the matter. Not even she would do something that wouldn’t benefit her in some way.
“Then shall we just let him be?” the redhead said mockingly. “Let him kill a few rabbits and goblins until he foolishly thought he was invisible? Like those before him?”
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“Not without an eye on him, of course,” the half-elf rebel said. “If he is to die by his own hands, I’ll be the one who’ll burn the corpse.”
"It's a pity, but being turned into the undead by the [Nether] is the last thing we needed for such a soul," the businesswoman agreed.
“I don’t want to say this,” the old man said. “But who knows what the man inside would do if he learned that he is a useless white?”
“I won’t let another Bloody Rain happen under my watch.”
“We all have the same opinion on that matter, Sera,” Anthon said and everyone nodded.
“If it comes to that, I’ll put him down myself,” said the [Healer] to everyone’s surprise. “I’ll make sure his last moments will be painless and in bliss.”
“Are you sure about this, Rinia?”
“Yes, and you know that I can. All I ask is to give the soul a chance, and if he does seek me out, the healers can always use another pair of hands, colorless or not. The Elements are the weapons of war, it has little use to us.”
“Then it is settled,” said the grey-haired man. “But what about the little pickle we had in hand, no one will accept it if we just turn it off.”
“He is still a man and a prince, Mack, not a thing.”
“I doubt that Miss Acilla,” the man returned. “You’ve seen it, can you call that a man?”
Acilla bit her lip. She had no answer for that.
“His royal shit shouldn’t have been a point to compare to how many lives the thing could cost us,” the man with the slightly longer ear crossed his arms. “But that’s not how the world works, ain’t I’m right, Mr Guildmaster?”
“I don’t want to hear that from you, half-blood, and this place shouldn’t have been as bustling as it is in the first place.”
Drake clicked his tongue and said nothing in return. Anthon hated to pull the race card but the man knew why he deserved it. People like him were exactly why all half-bloods had such a terrible reputation.
“And who’s fault is that?”
“Don’t you dare blame me, old man, it is those ants who are attracted to the sweets, no matter how insignificant it is,” the businesswoman said and the Guildmaster glared at her.
Acilla had always been the sweetest rose with the sharpest thorns. It was already known that you’d bleed dry just to try to get a hold of her. The problem was the cold-hearted woman was here ultimately because of him and it made all her fault was a part of his.
“Just let a monster break down the walls,” the half-blood archer carelessly said. “The cowards will scamper off before you even know it.”
“And who’s going to grow your food, and who will warm your bed?” the redhead scoffed.
“Unlike you, some of us have families, Drake,” said Mack.
“Lucky for you all,” Rinia scoffed. “I for one, don’t get to revel in even a hint of such simplest luxury.”
“That should be enough,” the Guildmaster stated.
It pained him to hear anything discussing the only joy left the deeply sharded could afford being taken away. No one here could deny that she suffered the most amongst them. Any other [Healer] than Rinia, the hospital probably would’ve already been thrown into chaos.
He could only imagine how torturous it was but the [Oath] barred him from helping the woman if he was capable or wanted to.
In the end, she still had herself to blame and no one else. Everyone was a tool for someone. She should figure this out already.
“We all don’t want to be here or pleased with what has happened as it is,” Anthon reminded the people around him. “Things just got out of hand. We just have to deal with it the best way we can, and we shall see what lady fate has in store for us. My advice is just to get ready to save your own skin if things don’t end well.”
“I’m in,” said Drake the archer. “I’ll even have it ready to save your sorry asses.”
“By the Gods, we're really going to let it happen, don’t we?”
“This is life, Mack, you should know this all too well already.”
“My heart is not made of stone, Sera.”
“Mine neither,” the armored woman spat. “I also have a loved one to return to. Trying to save everyone had its own cost, old man.”
“No one here had asked for this,” Acilla said to lessen the tension. “And you all know I did what I’ve done so we can fathom to finish the damned mission, that’s it. It would be near to impossible if the town was a ghost town, and every one of us knew this.”
“For the good of the Kingdom, aye?” Drake chuckled.
“No, so we all can finally go home, idiot,” the woman retaliated.
“Let’s just hope the royal ass didn’t blow in our faces,” the Guildmaster finally said.
“So much for a simple rescue mission,” Sera added.
Anthon couldn’t agree more.
All of this was a farce, to begin with.