Chapter 31: Interlude 6 : Mourners

Caelicia stared at the adventurers with a sympathetic if twisted face. I mean, what do you say to that ? They had gone out for a dangerous if lucrative job as adventurers, and were coming back for summer with money and gifts for their families. And it turned out that their hometown had been razed in their absence, by someone they knew no less.

Both the female mage and the archer dude were inconsolable. Even the other chick was clearly masking her sorrow with calm in the name of supporting her friends. Caeliciahad just stared at them for a while. Frankly, she didn't know what to say, so she withdrew herself a bit from their conversation, leaning against a stone wall.

It took a bit before the other chick, the defender if Caelicia understood right, to approach her. She raised an eyebrow as the other woman stared at her, trying to find words for something. "...If Aetherea destroyed everything... why... why are you still here ?"

"Me ?" Caelicia asked with a shrug. "I like ruins. I like this place in general. It's quiet, there's not much trouble out there, it's a nice place to stick around for a bit.", she answered, the defender seemingly shocked by the answer. Even if she was getting a little bored, compared to the Before it was a welcome break.

If Caelicia was to be honest with herself, she didn't expect having to end up dealing with any of that. Caelicia got for a split-second a feeling that Aetherea saw herself as someone who was unable to leave anything behind but messes. That girl clearly had no love for herself at all, Caelicia frankly found it kind of tragic.

"What ?", she asked to the defender, who was still here. "You want me to leave ?" She could do that, it was no big deal either way. Might end up doing so either way. The wind blew quietly, an almost comforting gale in the early summer . It wasn't that hot that far up north, but it got the stormy kind of cloudy, heavy weather.

The defender ended up withdrawing with the other two, leaving Caelicia alone with her thoughts. Aetherea... she had known her for less than an hour. She made her dumbest classmates look like Nobel Prizes and that Zoemie chick look friendly and amicable.

And yet Caelicia could say without any hesitation that Aetherea had done more for her than anyone else she ever met. That she held more affection for her than to some degree her own family. Was it strange, to mourn and grieve the person that hurt and was cursed by others, while in their presence ? Probably a little.

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Caelicia had ended up leaving the ruined town outright, leaving the adventurers to their grieving. She herself was feeling dour, still. She could picture Aetherea's face without breaking down anymore, but it was still an unpleasant feeling.

Caelicia had never truly mourned anyone or anything before Aetherea. It was a strange feeling still, the pit in her stomach. The what ifs ? replaying within her mind, as a part of her couldn't help but wonder what would things have looked like had she arrived earlier.

She shook her head. She knew there wasn't much point to speculating, ultimately, but a part of her simply couldn't stop replaying these events in her mind. She clenched her teeth, taking a deep breath and trying to calm herself down.

Caelicia looked at the sky. How long had she been here, now ? Two weeks ? Maybe three. Yeah. Maybe it is time to go out again. She could teleport easily, so no need for inns or hotels. Sounds like a good idea.

Reading those foreign comics had done quite a bit to take her mind off things, but she was starting to get kind of bored. Although Caelicia had thought the only comics that existed were American superhero comics, but these apparently were French ? Whatever, Caelicia decided as she shook her head.

Another reason to leave is that she had made herself a proper fighting baseball bat, and was dying to test it out on some monster or another. With her newfound extreme power, she had found herself unable to fight with her old bat, as it quite simply shattered apart under the strain. She had tried making herself a new one, but couldn't figure out a method to keep them from breaking apart.

However, she had managed to teleport herself an ingot of some strange metal that could absorb her power and, with minimal effort, she turned it into a new, metal bat that could finally contain her immense power.

While her fists packed plenty of raw power still, and she could absolutely rip and tear a dragon apart with them alone, she still liked having a bat around. It made her feel somewhat safer and granted her welcome range in a fight.

Her first tests with it involved her shattering a log in a single blow. She was pretty sure she could brutalize anyone she wanted with that level of power, but she was still unsure what she wanted to do with it.

She knew she didn't want to take over the world, at least. It was far too much work to handle the administrative duties. She kind of wanted to do something with it though, but she wasn't certain what. And stickin' around here ain't gonna help me find it, she thought to herself, making her decision.

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Mejanqa sat down in the courtyard, away from the maids. Her knuckles were white with how tight she clenched her fists, the purple-haired young woman's tears hidden under a black hood. Memories replayed within her mind.

She remembered Qareva boasting and showing off her catch, when she came from her first hunt with their father. She was radiant back then, the deer hoisted on her father's broad shoulders, although Mejanqa discovered she didn't like venison that much.

Qareva always had been the stronger of the two sisters, so when she went off to become an adventurer it didn't surprise Mejanqa one bit. She came home time to time with proud smile and money. Lots of money. It was a pleasant feeling, the windfall making life a lot easier, particularly as their parents slowed down and aged.

She remembered how she and her blonde friend showed up one day and promptly slaughtered a large monster that appeared out of nowhere. Her hometown would've been destroyed if it wasn't for their intervention.

The village had cooked a feast with the shadow-winged draconid's meat and some leftover grain from the last harvest. It had been the tastiest meal she had ever eaten in her life, the greasy, marbled purple meat melting in the mouth despite its unappetizing appearance.

And now she was gone. She was gone and nothing remained of her but those memories. It took Mejanqa all she had to not break down again, and she still ended up punching the wall, the pain in her knuckles an almost soothing feeling from her sorrow as she tightened her grip on the handle of her scythe.

She had gotten this manor, too, that she wanted nothing to do with, and all of these maids. Those poor, enslaved maids that Mejanqa didn't have any need of. They were afraid of her. What did Qareva do to them that they were afraid to that degree ? Mejanqa didn't want to know.

And then there was... fuck. What to do with this whole mess ? Mejanqa shook her head, still horror-stricken. And now she was gone ! And it was up to Mejanqa too clean up her sister's mess. Urrrgh, whyyyy ?, she whined internally.

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It was a bit later in the day, now. Mejanqa was pacing in the courtyard, her stomach a sucking, hollow pit. She had no idea what to do or even where to begin to solve this whole mess. She had asked the maids to leave her alone for now, she needed to think.

After she resumed her pacing, she walked for a bit before hearing footsteps behind her, instantly turning around, cursing herself inwardly for leaving her scythe on the bench. However, it only was one of the maids.

Mejanqa sighed. She hated having to deal with them. She felt like she had to constantly walk on eggshells least the collars take offense to their actions. She didn't want to hurt them ! They did nothing to wrong her or deserve it !

But the collars were very sensitive and seemed to punish their wearer quickly and easily, so Mejanqa always had to words her request very carefully, something she deeply disliked. She took in a sharp breath. "Yes ?", she asked.

"It's going to be dinner time fairly soon. Is there anything you w...wish for ?", she asked, shaking a bit as she did so, while bowing and keeping her bow, looking at the ground. Mejanqa pinched the bridge of her nose. She was, very frankly, not hungry at all, but didn't know how to word it.

Food had been the last thing on her mind, and she wasn't in the right frame of mind to enjoy it either. She considered a bit. If she wasn't in it for good food, it would be a waste of said good food. "Something... cheap and easy for the maids to make", she said after a bit, the collars not reacting.

"And... the... arrangements for tonight ?" the maid started to ask, but Mejanqa interrupted her, not really wanting to know what these involved.

"I will sleep alone in the guest room on the floor.", the purple-haired woman said, the maid nodding. "Please have it ready in an hour or two.", she said. She didn't know how early she would go to sleep, but with awful the day had been so far going to sleep early didn't seem like the worst decision.

Mejanqa felt her skin crawl as the maid nodded and left. Ordering people around like felt wrong to her. It was the single most viscerally unpleasant thing she had ever experienced. She only wanted to cut and run out of here as quickly as possible.

She slumped on the bench, rereading the letter. Apparently, it had been written by someone called Vosvelz. As in Duke Vosvelz ? How did Qareva manage to get the man's attention ? Mejanqa wasn't sure, but she would have to pay the man a visit. Maybe he had more information on what happened to Qareva.

Plus, she couldn't stay in this place another day. It was too upsetting.

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