Chapter 41 | The Unaccounted 1
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Jeromy was currently resting in a special room in the hospital for patients of nobility. Alisha sent one of her slime spies to check on him before she formally meets him. She wanted to see what kind of man the Phoenix had in its leadership. He was muscular and good looking. His eyes conveyed experience and a sense of purpose that was rare to encounter in a stranger.
He was currently being treated by Tasha who was using her healing spells on the wound in his chest. Tasha was using a slime-like substance dubbed ‘nutrition paste’ and spread it into the wound. She used a spell to stitch Jeromy’s flesh back together the best she could. This was similar to what Alisha has been doing with her slime. Jeromy was shot but she couldn’t determine what kind of weapon he was shot with. It was strange.
“I was told by Yuli that you saved her on her way back to Riverside. Thank you,” Jeromy said. His dialect was sophisticated, befitting of a noble but not to the point of arrogance.
“Oh, I didn’t do much. It was Elliot, Sam, and Alisha who did all the hard work,” Tasha spoke with sadness as if belittling herself. Her glance moved to the slime peeking in the corner of the bed as it quickly retreated.
“Don’t undervalue yourself,” he said as if he already knew what her capabilities were. “Who’s Alisha?”
Tasha smiled, “I’m sure you’ll meet each other in the coming days. We’re done with your treatment. Now, you can’t make sudden moves with your arm, lest you want your stitches to tear.”
“Alright, doc,” he smiled back. And did Alisha see him wink at her? You flirt!
As Tasha left the room, Jeromy and Alisha sensed another presence. It was familiar and it jumped through the window, flying over the bed and landing perfectly. It was Jack and he only appeared on their radar mid-flip. Alisha wanted to know how he could keep doing that but she doubted he would give her a straight answer.
“Hi Jack,” Jeromy said indifferently.
“What? Not happy to see me?” Jack was full of playfulness compared to Jeromy’s serious tone.
“You could say that.”
“Oh, woe is me~! Do you hate now?” Jack said while holding a handkerchief near his eyes.
“Almost. I went through hell for you and Nolan and I’m not even sure if it was worth it in the end. Many of my men died.”
Jack got serious, “Then we mustn’t allow their sacrifice me in vain. Do you have it?”
“I got it.”
“Okay, where is it?”
“It’s with Selina but I don’t suppose you have a way to sneak it out of Riverside now? The town is in lockdown.”
Jeromy told Jack everything that happened with Prince Shol and Hamei.
“I have my ways to sneak out the motherboard but I’m not sure of an elven child. Keep the prince with you until I can be sure.” Jeromy nodded. “I heard you met with Ventra.”
“Yes. And he had a lot of things to say, especially about the Phoenix.”
“Did he now?” Jack was skeptical but receptive to the news that Ventra was sentient.
“He said that the name ‘Phoenix’ had some kind of other meaning only the reapers of Earth would know. What did he mean by that?”
Jack paused before crouching and reaching for Alisha’s slime between the bed frame and the wall. Alisha was stunned by his sudden motions and her confusion allowed the slime to get caught easily. “I need you to wait outside.”
“Wait~! I want to listen too!” Alisha ran with it and acted like a spoiled child. It was fair game, if Jack was going to treat her like a child, she was going to act like one. When Jack literally threw her out of the room, he immediately closed the door and placed the Zero Sensory spell in the room to make peeping impossible, even with her senses. “HEY!”
“Was that Alisha?” Jeromy made an educated guess. He saw how Tasha and Jack reacted and looked at the slime before the door closed. He didn’t expect to meet another sentient monster in the span of a week but Ventra did imply that they were more common then he thought.
Jack nodded, “Why do you want to know about the Phoenix as a name?”
“I want to know what message Nolan sent to the Guardians by choosing Phoenix as a name.”
He sighed and begun, “Back on Earth, casters were always in small numbers. They were all included in a secret society of mages. We called ourselves The Dominion of Earth. We were sent from Heaven to maintain the balance on Earth between spirits and mortals, thus we were also called the Reapers. We worked in secret while keeping the rest of humanity unaware of our existence and the existence of magic.”
“But that wasn’t always the case.”
“Yes. In the early 22nd century, there was a movement within the Dominion to make casters and magic known to the general public. Eventually, the two sides reconsolidated after magic became known to the populace but there was a fringe group within the rebels who wanted to destroy the entire system of the Old Gods. They were called the Phoenix. They thought humanity should all be casters and wanted to flood the Earth with mana.”
“Isn’t that similar to how things are here on Theia?”
“Yes, but having mortals being casters would usurp the power of the Dominion. The Old Gods couldn’t allow that sort of thing on Earth as is on Theia.”
“Did they succeed?”
“No. They were all caught and executed. The war ended about four-hundred years from my time and nothing had changed.”
“So, Nolan named us the Phoenix to what? To provoke them?”
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“…It sends a message.”
“THAT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!” Jeromy yelled in rage.
Jack stood silently. He never saw Jeromy like this before.
“Do you think our lives are dispensable?! I am not your lackey for you to do anything you want!”
Jack fired back while attempting to calm his emotions, “I understand you’ve lost people. But you need to have more faith in Nolan. Without him and his concern for you, you wouldn’t have made it back. I know you’re hurting now but you did a good job. Their sacrifice will not be in vain.”
Jeromy had nothing else to say and sank into his bed as Jack left, leaping from the same window he entered.
***
Alisha didn’t know what to think of the Phoenix but they were resourceful and a thorn to Zephon’s side. That was all the encouragement she needed to join them. An entire organization dedicated to helping the reincarnated sounded great on paper but something inside herself told her that this was too good to be true. Perhaps it was the cynical side of her talking. Were there really people in this world willing to help others as Jack described?
Fighting to survive together.
She wanted to believe in this but how could they defeat Zephon and his Guardians? There were several branches of the Phoenix operating within the northern territories of the Empire but none were in Riverside. She would have to travel to Viennera, the nearest city with a Phoenix branch. But she wanted to speak with Jeromy, being a leader within the Phoenix.
However, that conversation would have to wait because of Jack evicting her slime from the hospital room.
She sent a slime to check up on the refugees. They were in a make-shift triage near the fort with many beds laid out for them. Alisha counted forty-three people in total with the majority being human. There were also many children.
From the conversation she could understand from the humans speaking in the common tongue, the orbital strike—or meteor as they called it—destroyed many elven estates and plantations. Those lucky enough to survive were burned severely. If not for a caster’s mana sense, they might’ve been mistaken for undead even without their disguises.
Many were scarred for life, losing flesh to the point when even magic couldn’t help them. Regenerative spells weren’t good enough to regrow limbs or large chunks of flesh. Such a feat would put too much strain on the body. However, there was something Alisha could do.
Her slime was the base for all life on this planet, a moving soup of nutrients and stem cells. Her internal magic could manipulate her cells and help heal them completely by donating her cells, turning them into the cells of the new host. This was a more powerful version of the magical slime gel in the Schefter’s apothecary used for open wounds.
But she couldn’t. Their recovery would immediately be questioned. It wasn’t something she should meddle with. She made too much trouble for Benas as is.
Alisha spotted Yuli and Elise walk pass the Imperial guards. A call was put out by Commander Dustin for the elves of Riverside to help converse with the refugees. Only a few of the human slaves could speak common, apparently. Yuli ran in and sat next to the first person laid down in the row of injured.
“Are you hurting anywhere?” Yuli asked with sadness.
“My back…” The man struggled to speak. Alisha couldn’t understand a word. Elise helped the man to turn to his side and his back was burned severely. His muscles looked as if the tissue was eaten away. Alisha could also see that the large burnt patches depleted the elastin of the tissue and caused more injuries to open up, infecting them.
Yuli did what she could with her healing spell and it helped. She reduced some of the swellings and closed the open wounds but the human was suffering from a fever and pain from the injuries.
The majority of the refugees were injured in some way and nearly half were in this type of state. It was a miracle they made it at all. Yuli was about to cry at this feeling of helplessness when Alisha appeared in her wolf form,
“Are you okay?”
“Alisha!” Yuli took her into her arms and did her healing.
“I’m glad you’re safe,” Alisha spoke in telepathy only Elise and Yuli could hear. “Do you want me to help them?”
“You can?! Please…”
Yuli was interrupted by Elise, “We cannot risk that.”
She realized what her aunt was suggested and silently agreed with her head down. Alisha saw how they were protecting her but this time, she wanted to do something selfless. However, this wouldn’t be her choice. “I can risk it.”
“Huh?”
“No matter what, I’m hunted and an enemy to the people. I don’t care what people think about me as long as you and your family aren’t connected. I can help these people if you want to me to, Yuli.”
“Yes, Alisha! Please help these people!” Yuli exclaimed.
Alisha chuckled while wagging her tail, “I expected nothing less from you, Yuli. Helping these people won’t be easy so I also want to rely on Aunt Elise when the time comes. Can I rely on you for that assistance, Aunt Elise?”
“…” She saw no uncertainty in her niece’s eyes and so nodded with determination. “Yes, of course.”
Alisha was bound to receive some sort of consequence for doing this, especially from Benas. But as long as Elise and Yuli were involved, she could move more confidently to aiding the afflicted.
***
Commander Dustin went to see Jeromy immediately after the situation at the wall was dealt with. He found his way to the civilian hospital with many of Jeromy’s wounded on the foyer floor being treated. Dustin went straight to Jeromy’s room and slammed open the door. “What were you thinking?!”
“Hello to you too, Dustin,” Jeromy said while reading documents, playing no attention to his irate behavior. “What are you doing here in this fabulous afternoon?”
“I’m here to get answers to your egregious behavior! Your actions have put Riverside and the people in great danger! The horde nearly broke through the gates because of you!”
“Do you really believe we were responsible for that act of god? You saw how the forest was destroyed and you blame me?”
“Your group led them to us!”
“You cannot be sure of that and even if I did, is this the time to place blame on others? If you were to tell the king or the public about this, do you think it’ll go your way? Don’t you have trafficking victims to take care of?”
Dustin knew what Jeromy was implying. If he made of fuss about this incident, Jeromy would blame him and his men for their perceived incompetence for either not redirecting the horde or realize that there were trafficking victims amongst the horde. As the commander of the garrison, it was Dustin’s responsibility. Even if he believed he was right and Jeromy was wrong, this wasn’t the time to have a public debacle.
“Fine. However, you must understand that I’m the commander of Riverside, not you.”
“Of course, I understand,” Jeromy spoke calmly but firm.
“As such, I want you and your unit out of Riverside as soon as possible.” Dustin was about to leave when Jeromy spoke out.
“You’ve been imposing checkpoints and search and seizer orders. Why?”
“They’re precautionary measures I’ve decided to be in Riverside’s best interests based on the information presented to me.”
“Do you think you can catch the Devil Slime by seizing pots of honey?”
“Imports from the elves without the merchant paying due taxes are illegal. It seems Lord Alton and you disagree. If we were to find some illicit commerce or activity during our searches, do you believe we should just turn a blind eye to lawbreakers? Or are you concerned for you and your own men?”
“Of course, I am concerned. As a lord myself, I am concerned about your possible abuse of power. You know that the search for the Devil Slime doesn’t justify harassing our merchants especially with a thinly veiled excuse as that.”
“Fine,” Dustin spat out his obvious disgust. “The real reason is that five people have gone missing while they were en route to Talleum and Ilyne. I believe they were targeted by traffickers and they may be operating in Riverside. I don’t want to cause undue stress on the populace so keep this to yourself.”
Jeromy knew there was only one reason why Commander Dustin was checking all cargo for trafficking. They were probably trafficking them to Rodani, dead or alive. “I understand. I won’t say anything but in the same respect, I expect you to stop the checkpoints once they’re apprehended. Invading the wagons of everyone who passes through Riverside is not the job of the military. Do you understand?”
Dustin gave some pause but relented and left the room without another word.
This was good, Jeromy thought. As long as they tracked down the traffickers, Dustin would have no choice but to lift the checkpoints. He was using the checkpoints as another way to exert control over the people he couldn’t otherwise. Besides being unjust, Jeromy needed to transport the motherboard and Prince Lue to Seutaria without being noticed. The trains were being inspected too.
They had no choice but to stay in Riverside for the time being. It was unlikely Dustin would be able to kick him out of town but he could try.