Chapter 191: Ah, The Rot Is In The Air! Wait, Wh-?

We spent the night in a graveyard. The stench of death, the rotting soil, and gravestones weren't new. But it didn't bother me as much as I thought. It was a weird feeling, to sleep in a forest full of undead and dead bodies. At first, I thought Lianne had been just joking around when she'd said it but she hadn't. It was even weirder that undead actually avoided this place. 

There were places to hold pyres around the cemetery. When we lighted them up the undead avoided us altogether. Those things feared fire like my cat feared baths. I wondered how my cat was, after all this time. It was a nice cat but I never really liked felines all that much: I did like lions though for some reason at least until that liongator-thingy incident happened that is. I'd probably never get to see my fat cat again though.

I didn't have a speck of sleep in my eyes. The lingering thoughts of a long-dead mage kept me awake. The thoughts of my cat played a little role in that too. I couldn't help but think about Boriosa and what he said. To distract myself I tried the so-called spirit magic and failed miserably. To summon spirits one had to first make contracts with them but there weren't any around. So it was kind of hopeless. 

"I'll keep the first watch so you guys can just go to sleep," I said. I wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway.

I didn't check on the corpses as I didn't really know what to do. 

"It'll be dawn soon. You should get rest instead. After all, I don't need it," Lianne insisted. "So I'll keep watch."

Her eyes glimmered. She didn't cry but the tears in her eyes only intensified the feeling. Just how strong was this girl? 

Dick and Jori were fast asleep. So was Biteria- lately, it had gotten twice as big: a bit bigger than a typical cat. But the problem was the teeth. And not to mention it spent almost the whole night hunting even in this place full of undead. We might have gotten our hands on some really weird rabbit. I guess realizing it this late, was my stupidity. 

However, something about Jori worried me. He didn't seem to freak out when I talked with Boriosa and he didn't even ask me why. I didn't understand his game.

"You should get some sleep. We'll need your strength tomorrow," Servesta said, opening one eye. 

You weren't asleep?

I wasn't expecting him to say anything. I wasn't even expecting him to be awake let alone worry for my sake. 

I was tired but my heart didn't calm down. I had things in my possession and that made me restless. 

Is saving that girl even possible?                                                   

Boriosa's friend was still frozen and she was probably dead. But I already gave my word, so the least I could do was to see it through. 

When I pierced Boriosa with my sword, his body started to disintegrate. His cane, robe, and pants were left behind. I didn't know if he had a grave or not but I wanted to bury him. But there were no traces left of him. He'd gifted me his robe so I couldn't bury it but I could bury his cane and pants. I just had to. I wanted to.

"Daarc!" Lianne pulled on my clothes. "You were spacing out again."

"Sorry about that. Suppose I need to rest a little."

It was way past midnight and I hadn't had even a speck of sleep. I closed my eyes but dreamland didn't want me.  Thoughts of the mage filled my mind. He lived for all this time with nothing but revenge to cling to. But in the end, he let it go. 

Can I do that?

***

The next morning we got up all groggy, at least I did. The others didn't show any signs of tiredness. What kind of materials were they made of? 

Lianne had a hand on her waist and looked in the distance. "Alright, we're going to walk straight till noon. I'll have no complaints. We won't stop. If we do stop, we'll miss our cue and we'll have to spend another night in this forest." 

Dick sighed. "Fine. At least we won't have to stay here."

The rest of us didn't have any complaints.

We couldn't even think of eating in this place. The stench would have rendered all nutrition intake invalid and everything would have just come right back up. So we didn't bother trying.

We packed up our things and moved on. I didn't have to carry things anymore as I had Boriosa's ring. Finally, after all these months, I didn't have to carry anything.

But then again, Servesta was doing all the carrying from the beginning anyway. So I never had to bother. He was still carrying Dick's stuff. According to him, he felt more useful carrying things. 

Since morning Jori was on my tail. "Would you mind selling me that cane? I'll be sure to pay-"

He was odd. He didn't question me about how I could speak with the dead but instead, he was more focused on the cane.

"Unfortunately, like I already told you, this isn't for sale."

"But why!? You don't use canes! I have enough money! Do you want ten gold pieces!?"

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"Even if you offered me a thousand, I wouldn't budge." I glared at him to imply the gravity of my answer. I'd already decided on what I was going to do. I had no reason to sell someone's last memento.

"Give it up, geezer. He means it," Dick said.

Jori sighed and we kept walking. But I had the feeling he'd spring back right up a minute later. 

I matched my pace with Dick's. "Aren't you having too much faith in me?"

"Let's just say I don't have a reason to doubt you: yet." Dick's eyes glinted confidence. But if he kept it up one day he'll regret it. I had the exact same look in my eyes before I got betrayed myself and the whole world came crashing down.

I didn't respond and walked on. 

Dick is different from me, so maybe he'd go down a different path when the time comes.

By noon the forest thinned out and we were almost out. The stench was still there but it wasn't as bad as the deepest parts of the forest. We saw many animals in this place though. As expected they were not among the living. 

I never did get to see the angel though. Was there one here? 

I thought there might be one but since I didn't feel anything, I didn't really search all that hard. And I wasn't in the mood to either.

We were beneath a large dark tree. The ground was slithered with rot but we had to rest here. We were out of breath and out of energy. The least we could do was rest for a few minutes. But when I rested my head against the tree bark my eyes closed and I almost nodded off. 

Maybe staying up so long yesterday was a bad idea. 

"Daarc I-"Lianne came over and paused. "I'm sorry."

I looked up, barely conscious. I was seated and she stood there her head hanging close to mine. "For what I wonder?"

"For everything. And for lying to you. Sorry."

"Don't tell me you expect me to say something like 'it's okay?'" I barely woke up. 

"I don't. I don't expect you to understand either. But I'm really sorry. It wasn't my intention to not tell you. But I really hoped I could figure this out if I came with you. I trust you. But you don't have to." She smiled. 

I sighed. "Now look-"

I couldn't finish. She tugged my clothes and sat down right next to me. "I'm not Jowy's sister. I'm more like his cousin." 

"Excuse me?" I didn't know why but her words kind of sobered me up faster than I could have imagined. 

"My father was the king of Alfeim when our lineage was cursed. I wasn't born at the time. But everyone from the royal family was bound to the curse along with my father. I didn't know how it happened but my father's curse was the worst. And every one of my siblings have already met that fate. I'm the last one." she didn't look at me. I couldn't understand her pain. "And that's why I was desperate. I'm really sorry." And yet, she was smiling. 

Had she given up?

"Wait, how old are you?" But I had something else on my mind. Just how frigging old was she!?

She gave me a smile and was about to open her mouth, when-

Something was here.

I kept my eyes around for signs of movement and ears for sound. Lianne noticed it too and she readied her bow. "What is that?"

Something was moving around us in rapid pace. I couldn't really pick anything up. Dick and Servesta got up and looked around as well. But we saw nothing. 

"I don't sense anything," Jori said.

My eyes darted from here to there. "Let's keep moving. Maybe it'll show itself again soon." 

Did I imagine it? 

I was pretty groggy so it wasn't implausible.

We packed up and kept moving. On the road, I kept my senses as sharp as I could.. Even if I was groggy I still had to keep my guard up.

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