Chương 27: Worship

When Liesel woke up, the expedition had returned to the base. It was late into the night by then. Her body had mostly healed, but her shoulder flared in pain when she moved her hand. It was wrapped in bandages and supported by warm, healing magic-infused splints that almost instantly eased the pain. She approached the door. The air of dread was stifling in the living space. And there was another stench—of blood and misery. They all glanced in her direction as she stopped at the door.

"What happened?" Liesel asked.

"Verka lost his hand," Healer Borran said.

"His condition is stable, so it should be fine." Liesel nodded.

"How?"

"It's your fault!" Garvin said. His hand was covered in bandages, and he looked like an hour from death. It could be a minute, depending on his next words.

"Because you egged half of the team into being rebellious, they refused to follow us into the second layer. We didn't have enough support, and those wretched insects overwhelmed us." Liesel gave little weight to his words. He had a very skewed view of her.

"You are not a child. Neither are they. Whether they decide to follow along or not is up to them. And given your state, I'd say you were the one to make the poorer judgment." His fist clenched. Bashing the desk once, he hopped off the chair and went inside his room.

"He's still not healed," Healer Borran said.

"You could've been a little gentler." Liesel shook her head.

"Thank you for saving me." He nodded, smiling slightly.

"If I were alone, it would've taken a week to heal your injuries. But something inside you boosted my magic." Liesel's brows furrowed in confusion.

"It's odd, but it doesn't seem to be harmful," he added.

"I see," Liesel nodded. Was it Auram?

"You should see Verka. He was asking for you when you woke up."

"Okay." Verka's arm had been torn off below the elbow. And the healing seemed to have consumed almost all of his body fat. He looked like a gaunt specter under the moonlight.

"How are you feeling?" Liesel asked as she closed the door behind her.

"As I should, after losing one hand. It's not as bad."

"I am sorry," Liesel said.

"Are you?" He looked at her, raising a brow.

"I have done nothing. It was just words of consideration."

"You pushed half of the expedition against the leader."

"I did not," Liesel said.

"You may pretend to treat him like a leader, but you bare yourself open when you accuse me of turning his subordinates against him. If what you say is what you believe, then it is a leadership failure. You blame the leader for failing in his role, and doing so would have dignified him as a leader. But even now, you treat him like a child around whom I and others pretend to be subservient."

"You are irrational."

"It is simply the nature of a Leader's title. All blame—his own, every individual under him, as well as his enemies—is his, and his alone to bear. When I say it, I speak of the principles that the Empire preaches and imposes on all beneath its banner," Liesel said.

"They are not merely my beliefs. You should seek inside yourself what he is to you."

"He's the leader of our expedition." Verka's voice was hard. Liesel held back a sigh of exhaustion.

"What did you need from me?" Arguing with a bedridden man was not an exercise she could dignify.

"Are you really going back to the city?" Fiya asked. Liesel nodded, tying her hair with a string. She couldn't with one hand. Fiya helped her out.

"I have to see the Seer. I should be back tomorrow night." Liesel said. Yehia had also barged into her room with their dinner. Of course, their goal was to learn how Liesel had killed the Door Guardian. Liesel didn't feel she needed to hide everything. Only the fact that her sword could hold a rune in it.

"That's a bit outrageous. I am not calling you a liar, but it's kind of impossible to believe all you need is one impact rune to defeat it."

"If I didn't have the capacity to strike at the base of its wrist, I'd feel the same," Liesel smirked, earning a jab from Yehia that sent a jolt of pain coursing through her body. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"Sorry."

"It's fine," Liesel shrugged.

"I will probably see a healer in the city who can heal me the rest of the way."

"That would be good."

"My battle was ninety percent luck. If I had missed a single Impact Rune, it would have ended very differently," Liesel explained.

"And it did act just about right for me to escape its strike. If it were a little less angry at losing its arm initially, as well as its technique, I wouldn't have won."

"There must be a reason, though," Fiya said.

"The Door Guardian wasn't like a... demon. It seemed too much like a human."

"I don't know. It was afflicted with the Ashening Curse, so it couldn't have been a puppet controlled by the Tomb," Liesel replied. Its name, Sarvikal, lingered in her mind. That seemed like the name of a human, rather than a demon.

"Can demons be touched by the Ashening?"

"I don't think it's too far-fetched for demons to be tainted by the same decaying force." Liesel could still see that orc, unable to groan in the misery it was trapped in. Liesel left the key to the Shade Passage in Yehia's hand as she left for the Saffron Helm. This time, while crossing the corridor, Liesel kept her eyes shut but spread her senses as far as possible. Or she tried, but the corridor itself seemed to have a way of trapping her senses inside.

She could feel the gaze of something dangerous lurking at the bottom. It was beckoning her to peer down from the side. She didn't, of course. She'd never. The door on the other side was opened. The Seer had asked a guard to open it every day in case anyone wanted to leave or return. She was not alone, of course. Garvin and a few others were leaving as well. They were the injured ones, and Healer Borran couldn't help everyone, so they'd be healed by residential healers.

They didn't want to be participants in the dangerous combat, which was one of the reasons why there weren't many combat healers in the Saffron Helm. In a place with a higher density of ascendants, most healers would be forced to work as one or remain unemployed. Liesel had to wait an hour in the council building for the Seer. She was offered a ride to the Seer's home, but Liesel refused. Perhaps that was the actual reason why she had to wait in the empty hall in the first place.

Eventually, she was called in for the meeting.

"Sorry for making you wait," the Seer uttered, yawning. Liesel nodded, proceeding to succinctly tell him everything that had transpired in the last two days, including Verka losing his hand.

"Oh, fuck me," the Seer groaned.

"What about Vera?"

"I haven't seen him, but there was no conversation about him being injured." He nodded.

"So, Verka wants you to withdraw the request for the Commander."

"How did you kill it?" Liesel prattled on about her battle, trying to downplay anything that wouldn't qualify as fortune.

"You are one lucky woman, Miss Wyrn," he smiled smoothly. It may charm an unsuspecting person, even.

"And you could be luckier if you accept my help."

"I am already suffering from my fortune, and I'd rather not play off it anymore." Liesel shook her head.

"Can I leave?"

"Sure," the Seer nodded, smiling slightly.

"Fortune aside, it'd seem I have severely underestimated your strength. If it can cut through Verka's wards and strike my nephew, then it was a class above the demon I was expecting you to encounter at the tomb. And the second layer seems to be even more dangerous."

"Are you going to cancel the expedition?"

"I cannot. Assembling another team is basically impossible. We are stretched thin on all fronts, and the day of Scholars' arrival is fixed. So long as you can proceed, please do. I might have to change things around if you do fail."

"Failure means death?"

"It does, unfortunately. I have no say." Liesel could always run away, but the Necropolis held the key to a better future. Without it, Wraith Shaman would be impossible to hunt.

"I will be going then." The Seer dropped another five large silver coins on the table.

"Take this for now."

"Aren't you being generous?"

"We'll decide that when we balance your account at the end of the month. For now, you should buy better gear for yourself. You are a little more important for the expedition than I'd have preferred, but that's fine." Liesel didn't mind. She, however, only wanted to buy a better rune jewel. If possible, she'd like to buy a pair for different situations. And she needed a sturdier vest. First, she went to the healers. They changed the dressing, using more potent elements to boost the healing.

But they were adamant that her body had crossed the threshold of healing magic, and she'd need to at least rest for the next few days until all that magic had assimilated with her body. She returned to the residential quarters and decided to rest in her room.

"Auram." The spirit was missing since she woke up, which led Liesel to believe that Auram had done something to heal her faster. Why do you have to be so reckless? She didn't get much sleep. The moment they opened the stable area, Liesel went over to meet Fur. The Lunar Bear had become even taller than before. He was happier to see her than Liesel was, which made Liesel feel a little peeved. Even a bear could feel much more joy than she could.

But that was a small price for the ability to face a Mindeater and survive. After that, she spent some money to buy a few sets of regular clothes. And after having breakfast and changing into better clothes, she went over to see the blacksmith and the alchemist.

"I am grateful for your work on the sword," Liesel said.

"I only refined the shape forged by you in your battles," he waved his hand, downplaying his own skill.

"We welcome honest business."

"Honest?" Liesel raised her brow.

"Honest only to our customers." Liesel chuckled. She told him about the jewels she was looking for. He used to sell them before, but he didn't find the effort worth the risk. He did offer to carve one for her if she had anything particular in mind. Liesel didn't, for now. An Impact Rune would help. But the market had them readily available. She might buy one. The one she used against the Door Guardian was destroyed.

She went over to Isa's side, who had not opened the store today, and instead busied herself in her lab. Liesel knocked on the door, and after a minute, Isa opened it.

"You are back?"

"Thanks to you," Liesel smiled. She went over the story of how effective the resistance dissolvent was in her victory.

"It played a small part," Isa shrugged.

"You want to buy something else?"

"I am not sure what I will need." Liesel shook her head.

"What are you working on?"

"Just the standard stock of healing boosts, numbing potions, and adrenaline injections." Liesel glanced inside the lab.

"You work alone?"

"I don't like others bothering me. I tried at the start, but they can't handle the materials and don't remember the recipes. More often than not, I am babying the person I hired to lessen my work."

"Oh," Liesel said uncertainly.

"You should try hiring other alchemists."

"They are expensive. It's fine. It's one day's work, and I sit around the counter for the rest of the week." Liesel stuck around until lunch, then returned to the living quarters. She handed a little tip to the staff member in the cafeteria for taking care of Fur. She took the giant baby bear for a walk through the city. More than a few people were fascinated by it, of course, but the guards did find it a little troubling.

Cutting her walk short, she returned Fur to the stable and made her way back to the Saffron House, having dinner on the way. She had been training her Layering Technique in the waiting area when a watchman walked up to her.

"Lord Vera is asking for you." Liesel raised her brow.

"Kurvam?" The guard shook his head.

"It is the Chancellor of Saffron Helm, Karvil Vera."