Chapter 22: 22. Words Failed

The words failed to register with any of the boys, Kalle was still whimpering in pain while Harold was laid out, and Livia was too busy wiping vomit from her mouth to keep pressuring them. She went to comfort Kalle for a second, whispered some words and then told them both not to try and wake Harold since it was clear he was still breathing.

Livia decided that the best course was first removing the evidence of the recent trauma, right after she helped herself to some of the food, since she was at risk of passing out. She dragged the corpses off and kicked some dirt over the remaining blood stains. Then when things were seemingly back to normal she tried again.

"Okay. Who is your leader?"

Harold was down in the dirt, still passed out while Kalle and Oscar remained awake but still badly affected by their brush with death.

Kalle supposed he was the leader, but he knew answering one question would lead to demands for more. He didn't have it in him right now.

Livia finally accepted the fact that nobody was ready to provide the answers she needed. She went to wake Harold. It took a splash of water and some harsly delivered words, but eventually she got him up. Harold went over to Kalle in a trance and suddenly his badly burned arm was enshrined in a glowing green light and started visibly healing. [Regenerating Form].

When they were all gathered around the fire again Livia tried asking about more basic things.

"What is your name?" A moment of pause. Livia decided then and there to throw the mushrooms she had picked up over the course of the day into the fire. The smoke that started emitting held many strange colours, but the lads barely reacted.

"I'm Oscar, this is Kalle. That's my brother," He pointed to the passed out form of Harold. Livia kept the questions going and while it still had the air of an interrogation, by now she was calm enough that the answers started pouring out. It began simply, with their basic reason for being out here, but eventually they tried telling her every detail they could think of, and despite the fact that they’d been at it for hours, Livia still had more questions.

At one point Harold woke back up and despite remaining groggy he quickly understood the situation. By the end he was the only one still managing some enthusiasm in responding to the questions, but it wasn’t because the others didn’t want to help out as much as possible, they just didn't have the energy left in them once Livia began asking the truly weird stuff, about how dice worked and if they’d ever done any number of weird things to figure out how magic operated under a number of conditions. Is she pulling our legs?

---

Despite having arrived at the camp in the nick of time, Livia rested only a couple of minutes before she got to work on the camp. These boys looked almost too young, but being out here, they must have Classes.

Livia knew she would need their trust, and if she said so herself, she was off to a great start having saved their lives. But the boys were looking shellshocked.

"What were you doing out here?"

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She posed the question ten different ways, barely getting a reaction. When she finally noted their hesitance she decided to focus on Oscar.

"Aren't you a little young to be out here? Do you actually have a Class?" When the silence remained she kept pushing. "I didn't spot you using any abilities, unless those warrior wasps are yours?"

"I'm Oscar, this is Kalle. That's my brother,"

When the truth came out Livia couldn't help but be disappointed. They were at least a week out from any civilization, and these boys were clearly not prepared to be out here. Her sense of panic returned, and she eventually blurted out.

"Were you fellows really prepared for this? How in the hell did you even make it this far?"

The words were clearly offensive, but with the recent rescue the lads' every argument fell short of being uttered.

When they told their story once again, from the start, including everything that Brunner, The Captain, and the rest of the villagers had done to help, it did make some sense, but Livia still had to question how anybody could be so irresponsible.

"We've been acting foolish," The lads declared eventually.

It was due to any number of reasons, they forgot to stop using the Campguard stone once they had entered the inner parts of Doc forrest, despite the fact they knew the creatures would grow much more dangerous around here. The stone was only ever meant to deter non-magic beasts. They didn't station a lookout, they didn't prepare traps nor even figure out a way to set an alarm.

"The real question is what will you do now, you made mistakes, but you also made it through. You're all still here. Do you learn from it?" None of them knew how to respond, despite the words resonating.

"How, if all you do is go back home and hide behind your Townguard field?" They could picture it all too clearly, the safety in numbers and being warned of every attack. "You were sent out on your own because you made the decision to go out and do something, as adults, despite knowing that it would be challenging." Livia's words resparked the fire that had been burning as the lads left home. "This is it, your first challenge, and yes you fell down, but a stranger helped you up. Now what?"

That made the boys go quiet.

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