After everything that happened back in the forest, Lucille didn't expect that the first thing that she would feel when she saw the rulers of Vulnaza would be confusion of all things- Zyra, at the moment, was doing her best to decipher everything that everyone around them was saying in panic while Yhaine just looked on with a frown.

“So… let me get this straight,” Zyra paused and sighed not for dramatic effect, Lucille knew that their tactician was being genuine with her sigh of exhaustion, “you're telling me- sorry-” Zyra gestured to the rest of her team, “- us that the map prince Zachrid gave us was the wrong one?!”

The Florist had screeched out that last part in anger, if before she was seething from the fact that she was barely keeping her anger in check, now she looked outright furious, “we almost died back there!”

“We know,” Calcite bowed in apology, “it's just-” the princess cut herself off “and we already reprimanded the person responsible for it and…” she sighed, “... sorry, it's the reason why only I could come here-” the princess put on a strained smile, “back there… things became complicated and right now the castle is under lockdown and all the staff and even the rest of the royal children are being checked for…” princess Calcite shook her head dismissively, “that isn't important, sorry,”

Lucille and her friends looked at each other, understanding passed between their silent gazes but Zyra and Yhaine still looked mad so it was the heroine that turned to Calcite to nod and show they understood.

“We get it,” and they really did, Prescine has been talking about the Envy Demon infestation in Kingdoms across the world and it seems that even Vulnaza isn't safe from it, “and we completely understand,”

So they were sabotaged- that… is weird, but also expected?

But still…

How many students from Pledge Academy have been killed this way? Lucille pondered that silently while waiting for princess Calcite to tell them what to do next. Chances are though, they'll be asked to go back to Pledge Academy to keep them safe.

“Thank you,” Calcite's strained smile turned small but happy, “and, please forgive us for turning something as simple as a hunt so complicated,” the princess sighed and turned away from them, Calcite gestured at Karsten, who stood directly behind her, “your support came here with me you could freely leave the Kingdom now if you wish,”

“Uhm, yeah, we'll do that,” Zyra replied as Karsten made her way to the back of their group, she looked calm enough. Lucille smiled at her and she nodded in response.

“When are we leaving?” Zyra asked for them.

“Right now,” Calcite nodded towards the large man standing by her left and he stepped forward, Calcite introduced him then, “this is Captain Dammos, the leader of the Royal Guard as well as our escort, rest assured, he's a capable Pledge Bearer who has graduated from your school, he'll protect you,”

“Uh, nice to meet you?” Lucille waved slowly and only got a nod in response. She grinned, “not much of a talker huh?” Making small talk now made a whole lot of sense in her mind so that's what she would do, “I get it, focusing on uh, being vigilant is probably more effective so I'll… shut up now,” Lucille finished weakly.

“He's mute,” Karsten told her as they filed into a carriage alongside princess Calcite. Outside, Dammos could be seen mounting a Griffon, “I think it was because a Eukafume managed to spray an entire cloud of spore directly in his mouth,”

“It was a Jungle Warrior actually,” Calcite corrected, she pulled on the edge of her dress as she made herself comfortable in her seat. She hummed, “you know how some of them have marks?”

Lucille nodded, “yes,”

“Well he somehow found a Jungle Warrior who marked both his arms with scum snail patterns,” Calcite said with a grin, “they fought, and he barely got out with his life,”

“Scum snail?” Zyra tilted her head, “how… I didn't know Jungle Warriors marked themselves using that kind of animal,”

“They don't… not normally at least,” Calcite shook her head, “usually they tattoo parts of their bodies with their greatest kill during their trial for their mark but that one apparently somehow survived- not just survive, but took down a Great Rotter infested with mind controlled scum snails,”

“Oh,” Zyra murmured, “that's… pretty impressive,”

“It is,” Calcite nodded, “there's only one Jungle Warrior in this entire forest with that kind of mark, and I've heard it's been alive for what? 200 years now?” The princess giggled, “that story of it taking down a Great Rotter isn't well known and as rare as itself and has only ever been passed down to the Vulnaza lineage,”

“I guess we're lucky we didn't find that guy huh?” Yhaine said with a dismissive- but worried, - shake of her head, “imagine if we saw him, we probably wouldn't have been able to fight his totem,”

“Mhmm.” Lucille nodded, “we should count ourselves lucky,”

“Not just that,” Calcite raised a finger, “a Vigolith had somehow saved you all from a King Fungi,”

“Yeah, we got that the first time- especially since it was the first thing you said to us after we almost got killed,” Zyra suddenly snapped- then she calmed down once she realized just who she was talking to, “uh, sorry-” Calcite nodded slowly, “can you tell us more about what happened?”

To their side, Lucille noticed that Karsten was unusually tense and a split second later, the pious girl looked away from the book she was reading to meet Lucille's eyes- Karsten quickly averted her gaze and refocused on her book like it was the most interesting thing in this carriage.

“Okay, so, a Cliff decided that it was time for it to wake up- it usually does, according to Hoccid, so it's not that strange,” Calcite calmly explained, “anyways, it usually takes centuries before it wakes up though and when it does, it wipes out all the King Fungi within the forest, which it is doing right now,”

“You're saying that we got lucky that that Cliff woke up at the same time as our hunt?” Zyra guessed.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Yeah,” Calcite nodded grimly, “if it didn't… King Fungi aren't kind you know?”

“We know,” Zyra looked away to hide her angry expression.

Lucille didn't have to be observant to know that their tactician was clearly furious at what happened during their hunt- they were sabotaged after all, and at the thought of that Lucille even daydreamed of stabbing the Envy Demon pretending to be Zachrid when they first met him, - and well, Lucille could sympathize but at the same time…

Fighting that Great Rotter had been a thrill- she didn't even know that they were capable of taking down something like that!

“You know,” Lucille started, “we fought a Great Rotter and took it down,”

“So I've heard,” Calcite said, “Karsten told me all about it,”

“Mhmm.” Lucille turned to the church servant, wondering where was she during most of the fight, “speaking of her, that beam of Light had been useful, so thank you,”

Karsten nodded, “I'm sorry I couldn't help you any more than that,” she said, “I was charging something up with my Pledge and I needed to focus on it instead of helping you three out,”

“What were you charging up?” Zyra snapped, “we almost died-”

We almost died- Lucille had heard that argument come out of Zyra's mouth several times now, which means that Zyra is very stressed about it. She made a mental note to talk about it with their team's tactician once they got back.

“- back there!” The Florist growled, “if you were just slightly more helpful we could have run away instead of fighting it!”

Lucille made sure not to mention it was Zyra who had suggested they would fight the Great Rotter after Karsten healed them.

“I was charging up an attack to hit the King Fungi fighting the Vigolith,” Karsten admitted, “which is why I couldn't help out during your own fight,”

“You… attacked a King Fungi?” Yhaine stopped listening to ask the church servant in shock.

“Yes,” Karsten confirmed, “I didn't think he needed it but It was worth a shot to assist him nevertheless,”

“Well, her majesty did say that the Vigolith fights King Fungi every time it wakes up,” At Zyra's words, princess Calcite's smile went tight, “so maybe it didn't?”

“Maybe,” Karsten said, “and I'm sorry,”

“Yeah, sure,” Zyra said with narrowed eyes, “next time, just go with Laceresta and Zathania, we don't need you-”

“That's a bit mean,” Lucille butted in, cutting her friend off.

The Florist shifted her gaze towards Lucille, she took a deep breath, then heaved, “alright, fine,” Zyra raised her hands, “I'm sorry for lashing out like that Karsten,” Zyra apologized, though she didn't look the part, “we just- we almost died so…”

Lucille nodded, “yeah, we did,”

The heroine promised herself that she'd talk to Zyra about her problems once they got back.

The journey back to the portal had been short, but to Lucille, it felt oddly long but eventually, the box-shaped building infested with vines came into view and no sooner after that, they landed.

None of Lucille's friends wasted a second and instantly headed straight for the open entrance of the portal.

“Hey, uhm…” Calcite called out to them just as they were about to enter, they all turned back as one, “uh, don't tell Neophyte about this? She already has problems with killing a Hero so I don't think she'll take the close death of a fellow Prophecy well…”

Zyra nodded but it was Karsten who replied, “I'll make sure that they don't,”

Calcite smiled, “thank you,”

When they entered, Zyra turned to Karsten with a scowl, “you'll make sure that we don't?” The Florist angrily said, “what does that fucking mean?”

“I want you to understand-” Karsten started but was quickly cut off by a shout.

“Understand?!” Zyra snapped and was about to strangle Karsten before Yhaine stopped her, she flailed under Yhaine's hold but couldn't escape, when she was calm enough, she sighed, “we already know about her problems,”

“Good,” Karsten said, “because I think they're about to increase in severity,”

“Why?” Yhaine asked while keeping her eye on Zyra, Lucille did the same, their friend wasn't… really stable at the moment- or at least was teetering on the edge of breaking down.

Karsten's eyes turned to Lucille, and then she looked at the now activated portal, “it's nothing,” she gestured towards the cascade of swirling blue light, “shall we?”

“... yeah,” Zyra was the first one to go forward and Lucille shortly followed.

When they got back, the Port wasn't as lively as it was back when they first went into it, and save for a few students, it was mostly devoid of people. The receptionist's desk also had different people manning it.

Their group neared it and the person to greet them this time around was a lively middle-aged woman with a head of green hair, “did you four come back from a mission?”

“We did,” Zyra nodded, she handed the woman the scroll princess Calcite had given them, “here's our results, they were written by her majesty Calcite,”

The woman's eyes lit up in recognition, “I… see,” she unfurled it and started reading and halfway through, her eyes widened. The receptionist turned away from the scroll and back to Lucille and her team, “did you four really kill a Great Rotter?”

“Yes,” Zyra nodded, “we… sort of forgot to grab a piece of the Great Spreader but we swear that we successfully killed one,”

“And…” the woman shook her head, “right, you don't have proof,” she hummed, “well without solid evidence, your place in the rankings won't go up but I suppose since princess Calcite stated that the claim is valid, then it is still possible to give you compensation for hunting a monster of that caliber,”

“What kind of…” Lucille paused when she saw the woman take out a white credit card from underneath her desk, “huh, money?”

“Yes,” the receptionist answered, “around 2000 or so,”

“That's great-” Lucille quenched her excitement, “that's great, I think we'd like to accept it,”

She took the credit card from the receptionist and then they were on their way out.

Once they stepped foot onto the grassy fields of their school, Lucille waved the credit card towards her friends, “so what do you guys think? Should we split it up?”

“You can keep it,” Zyra shook her head, “or at least you can keep my part,”

“Same here,” Yhaine chorused, “I don't… really need it at the moment,”

“Why?” Lucille tried not to let the hurt in her voice be heard.

“Well- you know-” Yhaine chuckled weakly, “I feel like if I take that then it's like I accept that… my life has a price, especially after what happened?..” She explained while rubbing her arms in discomfort, “it just… doesn't- feel right, you know what I mean?..”

“But it's our reward-”

“We don't see it that way Lucille, so stop it,” Zyra's voice raised for a split second before she sighed, “sorry,” she shook her head, “but I'm serious about what I said just now, you should stop it,”

Lucille zipped her mouth and turned her gaze forward.

They walked with nothing but the sound of their footsteps against the stony path as their companion. It was still early so the Infantry students were still exercising out in the fields and looking at them made Lucille feel… guilty?

She couldn't really describe the feeling but it made her heart feel tight and she wanted to puke-

They were going to die- was the essence of her emotions, she knew that for a fact. That… most of the men and women- guys and girls- running on the field in front of her wouldn't survive when they get deployed against hordes upon hordes of Demons or worse- monsters like the Great Rotter.

“I feel bad for them,” Lucille said suddenly- even she was surprised by the words that suddenly came out of her mouth. “Sorry that was-”

“Then work hard so that you can protect them,” Karsten's voice was filled with clarity and purpose, she turned to Lucille, her gaze was like steel as she stared the heroine down, “make sure that as- one of Neophyte's advisers, it's your job to lead them into a battle that has little to no casualties,”

That pause didn't go unnoticed by Lucille but she understood what Karsten was trying to say, she wasn't just Neophyte's adviser, but also a Prophecy so it was her job to keep people like the Infantry students safe- to ensure that they didn't come to harm.

One day, she would stand by Neophyte's side and Lucille wondered if she was powerful enough to even do something so… ideal- the thought itself had a pedestal in Lucille's mind so she couldn't imagine what the actual position would mean to her- she was a Prophecy, apparently, and it was her job to what?

Protect everyone?

Lucille smiled brightly and confidently nodded, “don't worry, I was already going to do that,”