Chapter 23: Interlude 4 : Adventurers

Yngrid took another bite of the bread. It wasn't bad by any means, quite tasty in fact. There was something... earnest about the gratitude of the girl who gifted it to her yesterday. Last time, it had been monsters, this time, livestock rustlers who attacked the pastoralists in small bands during the night and took sheeps and / or goats.

She chewed, feeling a sense of relative peace within her. The men had been properly accounted for, and would pay for their actions. Some kind of community service ? She didn't know, and frankly didn't care very much. She went through the castle gates, and wandered through the castle corridors before she found faces she knew.

The professor nodded at her, the black-haired older woman's always slightly tired face looking almost haggard. Myrianne next to her greeted her with a wave, the brown-haired, grey-eyed, glass-wearing class representative serious as usual, Yngrid nodding in return.

"Stevenson." the professor started, closing her eyes for a second. "Glad to see you're well.", she continued, a bit of relief creeping into her voice. She had been rather worried when Yngrid had said she wanted to go adventuring, but ultimately hadn't stopped her. Although she had been rather worried for them all.

"Same to you, miss." Yngrid answered in turn. "And you too.", she said, looking at Myrianne who answered in turn with another nod, before they started to look over their... some kind of drawing , scratching their heads. "What are you working on ?", the blonde asked.

"...Not much." admitted Myrianne. "Me and some of the boys were working on some form of stasis array for food storage, but we couldn't get very far and then Lyna and Junille got involved." Yngrid emitted a groan despite herself. "I swear these two weren't that bad before, but... Yeah, I just decided to take a break for a while."

"Stress, maybe ?" Yngrid theorized. "I mean, I don't think any of us has been handling that mess particularly well." she continued. It seemed the most logical to her, although she had never interacted with either of the girls much, so she couldn't say how much they had changed.

"Ask Rickard that." Myrianne snorted. "He's clearly having the time of his life here." Yngrid had... complicated feeling about Rickard. On one hand, he's always been a perfectly decent dude to be around, at least as she remembered, but then she had received a message in her locker claiming he had raped someone.

Yngrid had thought it a lie, she could never see or even imagine a guy like him for something that horrible. But she could never look at him again the same way after, distancing herself out of a "better safe than sorry" feeling. And there were the rumors... but then again every high school had these kind of rumors floating around.

She pushed the thoughts out of her mind, and answered. "Hmm... yeah, maybe ?" with a noncomittant shrug. She wasn't sure how well Rickard was doing, and very frankly didn't particularly want to. There was a short lull before the professor sighed quietly all of a sudden, remembering something.

"I won't be able to stay." she said, the two high school girls looking at her a bit confused. "I have a meeting soon, and should probably get going." Makes sense, Yngrid thought. Things had calmed down quite a bit – their arrival had been rather hectic.

"Another ?" Myrianne asked, surprised, Yngrid raising an eyebrow in confusion. The professor nodded as she left. "She's been up to her eyelashes in meetings ever since we arrived here." she explained, Yngrid nodding in answer.

"Must not be fun.", the blonde adventurer said. Yngrid wasn't a big fan of meetings, they were slow and kind of boring, although Myrianne simply shrugged. Which kind of made sense for Yngrid – Myrianne definitely struck her as the type to mostly not mind meetings.

"So. What have you been up to anyway, Ms. Adventurer ?" Myrianne asked with curiosity in her voice, Yngrid starting to talk about her adventures in turn as the two girls wandered down the corridor.

---

Rickard snarled internally as he travelled through the heavily worked fields, pigs oinking as he and his buddies entered the city. There were many small houses here, clinging to the road like vermin around food, full of peasants and girls and children. And not a single one of them noticed him.

None of them hailed his return. He was a hero of the nation. He wasn't some random man-in-the-street peddling his wares ! He deserved to hear people hail his name as he travelled through the streets ! He shook his head, suppressing his anger as one of his buddies spoke up. "Man, talk about having no damn respect !" he mumbled. "We're heroes, and we get treated like that."

"I know, right !", Rickard acquiesced, keeping his tone pleasant and lighthearted, masking the depths of his anger. They arrived at the gates, a quick flash of Rickard's Outsider card getting them into the town. He kept to the big road, disdaining the path through the slums, as being a hero he had a right to not to have to see them.

He and his buddies instead arrived at the best tavern in the capital, if not the country. Normally, it would not be open to commoners that easily, but since Rickard was a hero, he and his buddies had access to facilities as they desired. Still, there was no point causing a scene. Not only would that be most unfitting of a hero such as himself, it also by experience never really worked.

He opened the door as he did every other time he had used this tavern, approached the counter in the same way as he did every time before. The man manning the counter stared at them unpleasantly. He didn't like them, but he took their business, and for Rickard that was enough.

"Your five best rooms currently available, for one night, please.", Rickard requested, knowing the quality of the food and service here would alleviate his annoyance. The man went upstairs, and came back down a few minutes later.

The man gave them their keys. "30 to 35." he said. Rickard knew the man considered them unworthy of their hero title. Ha ! He would swallow his pride eventually, when Rickard's name would resound around the country. The men nodded to each other, each key went into a magical storage, and the adventurers separated.

---

Rickard had considered what to do for a while, from wandering the streets to going to the market or maybe even the pub ? But he had eventually found himself... in the castle, talking with the old priest, Kvutar, who had greeted them at the assembly. "It is good to see you, boy." the old man said.

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"And it's good to see you too, old man." Rickard said, sitting down as the old priest smiled. He had to say he liked old Kvutar. He had been nothing to Rickard but kind, helpful and friendly. Frankly Rickard wished more people were like him.

"How has your party been treating you ?" he asked with a almost grandfatherly smile on his face, Rickard smiling in answer.

"Swimmingly !" he answered. "I'm gettin' along real well with them. How did you find them, anyway ?" he asked afterwards. As far as he knew, they had told him the old priest basically teleported up to them individually and made them an offer.

"Glad to hear it ! I found them with magic, mostly..." the old man answered. "I had a bit of trouble with some... had to bribe the guards !" he said with a low laugh. "I swear, the gods have ordered you and your folks here. If they wish for you to be a hero, what guards are to deny you a party ?" he continued, a bit annoyed.

"Right, yeah, he told me that !" said Rickard as he recalled the rogue's face. It was an interesting story he had been a little interested in, even if ultimately it wasn't very important. "Why was he in trouble, anyway ?", he asked, curious.

"I am not certain." Kvutar answered. "Assault and... attempted rape, maybe ? A girl complained ? I am not sure." The old man went deep in thought for a short while. "It must be a lie either way. Anyone you'd work well with must be righteous, boy."

Rickard smiled in answer. "Ain't that the truth ! She was probably a liar, yeah. That's women for ya." He remembered that someone had apparently put papers in girls' lockers claiming he had raped someone ! That was bullshit ! Rape only happened in dark suburbs alley with a stranger jumping from the bushes. He would never do such things !

---

The old wizard wandered through the town, watching the repairs. Save for the lack of beard and short hair, he looked like what's you'd expect from a wandering old mage, white hair, electric blue eyes and an elderly, withered face and body, wearing simple clothes. He looked at a pair of peasants attempting to set up a wooden beam.

He approached, using his magic with minimal effort to do it for the men, the two men nodding at him with a smile in thanks before they went out to secure the beam properly. Gratitude is everlasting, he thought.

For Yuulvan, the Ancient Wizard, was not merely old, but truly old. He had watched dukes and kings rise and fall, and after their death they were all but forgotten, footnotes in the grand scheme of things. Glory and worldly power were fleeting things, is the lesson he had learned the most in his life.

But the smallfolk never forgot those who helped them in their time of need, whether it be famines, war, corrupt nobility, Apocalypses, or even more unusual threats like dungeons rampages. The two men done, Yuulvan moved onwards, assisting with other repairs.

In the high ranks of strength where the like of Bleeding-Hands or that new Demon General resided he was but a footnote. But age and experience had a quality all of their own, and when that is counted in centuries, assisting with these kinds of repairs was a cinch.

A girl came up to him, a dour, young thing who stared around at her village, as Yuulvan levitated stones for a group of men, needing little focus on the task. "Have you often seen this kind of destruction, sir ?" she asked. He thought about his answer.

"It comes in many forms, destruction." he answered after a short while. "I have seen Apocalypses rampage through the world, whether it be 2-4-7 spreading its rotten curse or 9-1-9, its glittering ink fouling seawater to the horizon." He shook his head. "But none of that changes what this town has suffered"

"...A bandit did that." she said, the girl. "I think he's called the Crimson Wraith. He found and unleashed deers so the men and guards who go out to try and hunt them, and he attacked while they were gone." She looked to the side, shivering. "Me and Mother are only alive because we managed to hide."

"It must have been terrifying.", the mage answered, the girl nodding vigorously in answer. He had slain quite a lot of bandits, himself. He almost disliked them more than monsters, as, while superior in power, monsters were mostly driven by their instincts.

"He's dead, now.", the girl said while Yuulvan and her moved to another part of the town. "A group of adventurers that passed by had taken up hunting him down after they saw what happened. They returned recently and told us he passed somewhere he really shouldn't have gone, within the Seaguard Greatwoods, and died there."

A righteous group, Yuulvan considered. Some adventurers were decent fellows, who truly sought to be do well by the smallfolk. Other, and most of them some would say, were merely thugs who used their strength to be no better than the bandits they often hunted. "That's how all bandits end.", Yuulvan answered, looking at the blue heavens as he lended a carpenter magical assistance for measuring planks.

"I cannot recall a single bandit that didn't get caught or slain eventually. There's always more fools to take to the woods, and always they fail. Most of them aren't as smart as this... Wraith. That they even consider banditry a good idea speaks of their foolishness."

The girl smiled dourly in answer as Yuulvan absentmindedly checked the quality of the water inside of the well and refilled it somewhat. When not in a dungeon, conjuration from nothing was difficult and expensive, even for a mage of his caliber.

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