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Chapter 37: Back in the Village

When I woke up, we were back in the village. I was on my bed. The familiar scratchy covers up to my neck were itchy and I pushed them off on instinct.

I looked up to see Matilda get off the chair she’d pulled up next to me and slide a gentle hand over my forehead. She was in her maid outfit with her usual calm demeanor as if nothing had happened.

“You’re only a tad warm. Thank goodness. Are you feeling okay, Master Alster?”

I ignored her.

Was this a dream? I thought I’d died back there. I closed my fists and reopened them. I stretched my skin.

Wait, where are my cards?

I didn’t feel them in my pants.

I got up really fast, making Matilda get up in worry. “You have to rest. Please—”

“Where’s Trent?” I interrupted her.

“Your father had to take care of something. He will be back.”

“What about the chief? Is he back?”

“I do not know. I have stayed at your bedside waiting for you to get better. Master Trent had told me you survived an encounter with a Holy Knight, so—”

“Oh,” I said. My breathing returned to normal. I took a moment to settle down before answering her. “I must’ve worried you. Thanks, Matilda.”

She reached in for a hug. “I should be thanking you. I was told it was your idea to rescue us. Rescue me.”

“Oh, yeah. What about the other women?”

“They were escorted back to their villages.”

Tsk. They went behind my back. I was supposed to have some fun with them.

“Good for them,” I lied.

She smiled. “By the way, he left a note on the table and something inside a basket. He forbid me from taking a peek.”

I went to the living room table and found a sheet of parchment folded inside a small basket, with something underneath. I ruffled through a bunch of dirt and found my cards. There was also a new card I hadn’t seen before.

I opened the note and read it.

“Son, I’ve left to get some milk. I’ll be back this evening.”

He owes me an explanation.

Matilda curiously looked over my shoulder to see what was inside the basket. I opened my dashboard and looked at my cards.

Deck Dashboard (Normal)

Spellcards

Utility: 0

Normal: 2 [Select] _ Passive: 1 General: 1

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Great: 0 [Select] _ Passive: 0 General: 0 Dark: 0 Holy: 0

Epic: 0 _ Passive: 0 General: 0 Dark: 0 Holy: 0 Summon: 0

Ultimate: 0 _ Passive: 0 General: 0 Dark: 0 Holy: 0 Summon: 0 Creation: 0

God: 0 _ World: 0

Attributes

Strength: 10 (+25%) Mind: 13 (+25%) Spirit: 20 (+25%) Agility: 10 (+25%)

Skills

Shearing, Physical Training, Running

Status

None

My invisibility card isn’t registered anymore. What happened?

I held up the card for invisibility and rotated it back and forth a little.

Card of Invisibility (Great) (Dark)

(Trees and man pictured)

I tried registering the card again.

[Registration Failure. Try again in 3 days, 3 hours, 29 seconds.]

Huh?

“Are those the spell cards you’ve been using, Master Alster?” Matilda broke through my thoughts.

“Yeah. Sorry I didn’t say anything.”

Her face curled into a gentle grin. “Are you hungry? We don’t have meat, but I can make you scrambled eggs.”

“Sounds good.”

* * *

Matilda made us egg and potato salad. Granny Eleonore was still sleeping. We’d left her alone the entire time since we’d left without an explanation, but she wasn’t just dozing off the whole time. Probably. The whole time she had a curious look on her face like she wanted to ask me a lot of questions. I was sure she wanted to know all about how we were able to pull off the impossible, but she held her tongue.

The eggs she used tasted a little sour, but I put up with it. The village was still in recovery mode.

As I ate, I asked Matilda if she knew how Trent had managed to take us home.

“He was in a sour mood, so I didn’t ask questions. I’m sorry.”

He was snappy with Matilda? Totally unexpected. I guess I would have to wait until he got back. I told her I’d be in my room.

My bedroom was crappy. Just a bed wide enough for me. A small desk and chair and a few drawings hung up on the walls that Alster made when he was a kid.

I had some thinking to do so I paced back and forth across the floor.

Trent must have registered my invisibility card. When I first did, the timer reset back to full. So that means he also had a full twelve hours to get us there. And all he had to do was stay out of Alderman’s range.

But now, I won’t be able to use it. I guess I’ll give it to Elfindor for now.

What about this new card?

I shuffled through the cards for the new one and held it up to view the image embedded in the glass.

Card of Divine Restraint (Great) (Holy)

(Man bowing on the floor in chains pictured)

I registered it and opened the dashboard to see the description.

[The wielder of this card calls forth divine light of the Goddess to bind living target in place. Wielder’s spirit is drained to maintain effect. The effect will fail on targets with Spirit surpassing the wielder’s. Effective radius is 10 feet. Beyond this range, wielder’s Spirit is drained exponentially. No cooldown. Stack with other Holy cards for increased range, additional target slots and reduced Spirit consumption by 50% per Holy card. If stacked with Dark cards, Spirit consumption will increase by 50%.]

What the hell is Spirit?

Another Trent question. Still, I was now in possession of the power that had brought me to my knees on two occasions. Did this mean I wouldn’t have to fear Holy Knights anymore?

Well, there is this Spirit component thing. It says I can’t use it on anything with more Spirit than me. It might fail on Holy Knights. Maybe there’s a way to train my Spirit.

Speaking of Holy Knights… are they going to figure out we’re from this village?

Elfindor had said the last time a villager was found with cards, they brought the full power of the margrave on the village. I’d now seen firsthand how powerful the margrave’s fighting force was. They had cards that could fully negate Dark cards, cards with a perfect shield for allies, and cards that could hold anyone in place. Cards that could detect lies. There were probably more, too.

But how did so many of them have cards? And why only Holy types? More Trent questions.

As curious as I was, I also felt fear. This incident was far from over. I needed Elfindor to get his ass back here so I could plan our next move.

I decided I’d do some chief’s assistant duties and see how things were going.