Chương 91: Chapter 79. Goals

Jaime Wilkin's Point of View" Laura, it's been a day! You need to eat something!" Ashley spoke softly to Laura, who has been unresponsive since realizing what has happened to us. It's been 2 days since we lost our battle against those strange demons who stopped us in our journey. Since then, Luke has been unconscious and being healed by the best Healers of the logistics group. Laura would most likely be able to heal him in seconds, but she isn't in the state of mind to do anything.

Lucy, Ashely and I are currently sitting with Laura in her tent, trying to break through to her." Laura, we need to focus on what's next." Lucy spoke to her. It seemed she just said what came to mind. To this, Laura had a response. She spoke for the first time since waking." Next? What is next, Lucy?"

"!" Lucy seemed to not be expecting Laura to answer her. She stumbled and couldn't string a sentence together. I decided to speak for her instead." We need to head back to Promethia and regroup." To my words, Laura reacted ever so slightly. She began to speak." Regroup? For what? Luke was struck down by the Paladin! Jessie went to save him! Look at Jessie! He was beaten back that badly! By people we didn't even consider! We lost! We were ignorant!

We thought that this was like a fairy tale or a game and now because of that!....." Laura stopped speaking and just looked... Well... Defeated. Ashley was the first to approach Laura.

"Laura, what do you mean when you say." Now because of that!" tell us, please?" Laura looked away from Ashley. Instead of facing her, Laura looked at the roof of the tent we were in. Ashley didn't lose her nerve and waited for Laura to respond. When she noticed Ashley was going nowhere, Laura began to speak with tears welling up in her eyes." I wanted to end this as soon as possible! He's getting farther and farther away from me! I can feel it! The nightmares don't stop! Even when that damned woman knocked me out!

When I lost consciousness, I saw it! John, he was bleeding! And moving farther away from me! No matter how I called to him! He simply faced away from me! That purple sky in my dream! It was like it was looking at me! Dismissing me! Then evaluating me as if I was the one to be tested to reach John! I need to get back to him as soon as possible! But instead, we're stuck here!" We all were shocked by this. Laura had collapsed and started bawling. But wait! Why does this sound familiar to me?

I feel like I've heard something like this before!? Wait... Was it that book!?" THAT'S IT!" Everyone, including Laura, were shocked to hear me yell. Laura even stopped crying. I ran to my tent to grab a book on Job Classes my teacher, Ethel, gave to me to read back when I first started my training." Look! This book! It has something to explain your dreams, Laura!" They all looked at me with interest. Laura began to speak again." What can it tell me, Jaime?" I moved quickly to the Cleric section of the book.

I searched the page for the information. I found it!" Right here, Laura! Look! A Cleric will receive messages from their God about subjects they hold dear! For you, it must be in your dreams!"" So that's why I keep seeing John in my dreams? Even so! None of the imagery says anything good about it!"" Yeah, I guess so..." I slumped down a little at Sarah's response. I began to scan the page for an answer. Wait! This is it!" Laura! Look at what it says here!

A Cleric can receive clearer visions if they hone their powers! They can even communicate with people through their dreams if their ability is high enough! That's the answer! How to speak to John while still being here! You can apologize, not just for yourself, but for all of us!" The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation." Really!" Laura showed the first smile I've seen from her in ages. Her face returned to her usual expression as she began to think about something.

In time, she began to explain what she was thinking about." Okay, first things first! We need to get back to Promethia! I need to speak to Agnus about how to grow my abilities as a Cleric. I think all of you do as well! We need to redeem ourselves for this! We need to find a way back as quick as possible! In the meantime, I'll find out how to talk with John and we can exchange messages!" Laura explained her thoughts with surprising Vigor. Ashley was the first to bring up a complication." Laura, don't get me wrong.

I'm all for doing this, but we're kind of stuck here until Luke is healed."" Don't worry, I'll handle it!" Laura got up and put her shoes on and began to walk out of the tent. We all followed her to Luke's tent. We entered to find Jessie there, also recuperating from the battle." Lady Laura! Are you here to heal us?" Laura looked at him with disinterest and began to speak." Yes, I will heal both of you. After that, we need to make our way to Promethia!

There are important things we all need to discuss with our teachers." Jessie smiled and moved so Laura had enough room to preform her Healing Spells. First, she healed Luke and then she healed Jessie." There, now wake him so we can depart."" Don't you think he will need time to decompress? Lady Laura?"" He can do it on the road! He is a Hero. Its time he started acting like it truly, instead of just enjoying the fervor from the Prestige of the Title."" Is this all right with you as his sister? Lady Lucy?"

Lucy looked at Jessie and began to speak in a calm tone." Yes, Jessie. This severe of a defeat is caused by my brother not properly training enough as a Hero. We lost because we were outmatched. We may have had a chance if we had a proper Hero on our side. But we didn't. I would hope you will train him well from now on as a proper teacher." Jessie looked at Lucy astonished. He simply nodded to Lucy, and we left the tent. While we were leaving, Laura began to speak." Everyone, thank you for being by my side.

I don't know where I would be without you all." We all smiled to her words. Laura then looked specifically at me and began to speak." Thank you in particular, Jaime. You've given me hope. Something I haven't really had. Only a vague goal. Now I have something I can truly work towards and finally have some peace when I accomplish it!"" You don't need to thank me for it. We're all Friends after all!" Grip! Tighten! Wrap! Wrap! Laura hugged me as I responded to her. Before long, it turned into a group hug.

This is the first time in what feels like forever that we all acted like actual Friends... I hope we can stay like this moving forward. The sun was high in the sky as we all separated to prepare for travel. We all met back up in about 30 minutes and we left to find Jessie, to start the march home. When we found him, he was speaking to Luke, who was finally awake. We found them as they were in the middle of a discussion. Luke had bowed down to Jessie and was asking him for something." Please, Jessie!

Train me for real this time! I failed as a Hero! I can't do that again! Otherwise, it's all worthless! All the Status and Support is meaningless if I don't produce results!" Jessie looked at him with stern eyes." I won't lie to you, Luke. I did the bare minimum while teaching you. I figured that as a Hero, you could figure it out. Also, your attitude left a lot to be desired. I will teach you again, but I'll warn you. This will not be easy, and you will be hurt a lot. Are you sure you want me to train you?"

Luke looked up at Jessie and began to speak." I want it no other way! I need to be strong so I can defeat my enemies! Otherwise, I'll just be a laughingstock of a Hero! I need to be better than everyone else! Otherwise, what's the point of me being a Hero!? The next time I meet that Paladin, I want to beat him in one blow!"" Very well." Jessie had noticed that we arrived after agreeing to teach Luke. He spoke to Luke again after seeing us." Luke, raise your head." Luke did as he was told and noticed us as well.

Luke spoke to Laura immediately." Laura, thank you for healing me!"

"..." Laura didn't offer him a word. She only nodded to his thanks. Jessie interrupted before Luke could say anything else." Now that you all are here. I'd like to inform you about a few things." We all gave our attention to Jessie as he began to speak. He went over his battle with the Paladin. Then he told us about the Demon King. We all were shocked at his recounting of his experiences." So, his name is Matthew! And he has a second Job Class!" Luke formed a fist and was looking into the distance.

Seems he has a goal." The Princess of Diablos, Sarah Dreadnaught!" Laura was also angry. Now she had a name for the face of one of the women who beat her. Honestly, we weren't too far behind her. That yellow-eyed girl beat me so easily. To move forward, I need to be stronger than that! While we were all reestablishing our goals, Jessie called for our attention again." To add onto that, I want to say a few things about these people.

The first being that Matthew the Paladin and Sarah Dreadnaught will most likely grow even stronger form here on out. That guy Matthew was inexperienced to say the least. From what I could gather, it seemed like he was trained by the Demon King. The Demon King was protective of them both, leading to my feeling that he was trained by him. Because of that, Matthew had a calm analytical mind as he fought me, someone who was leagues above him.

He will most likely continue to grow either from fighting inside the country against domestic enemies or other foreign invaders." Jessie gave us a minute to absorb his observation. He continued after a minute of silence." The same goes for Sarah Dreadnaught. After I used that last Spell, something changed in her. Her mana grew stronger and more malevolent. I have no doubt her Job must have evolved. I don't know to what, but it's nothing good for us. I don't want to scare you.

But from here on out, you all need to truly train like your lives depend on it! Because it just might next time." Jessie left us to handle the logistics group's organization for the march. It was a quiet walk that day as we all reflected on what we could have done better.