Jacob stumbled inside his aunt’s house.

Aunt Linda immediately started fussing about his injuries and whatnot, telling Joseph, who had slept in their house, and telling him to take the Spiritual Herbs and Alchemic Tagliatelle.

Jacob was waving his hands, signaling that he did not need anything. But, unfortunately, after shouting among the crowd, he had completely lost the ability to speak for the moment.

“I already fed him my blood, Linda. Apparently, it has healing properties. Jacob cannot speak. Just let him rest,” Juliet said. She had carried him up to his house without accepting a no as an answer, even though Jacob had signaled her to go home.

“What happened?” Linda asked. She had not been among the crowd, unlike Joseph, who had just run back home.

“We did it. But Frederick did not make it,” Juliet said in a low tone. She was clearly tired and needed some rest herself. Even though she reached the Mantis realm, she had spent every last bit of energy making sure that the Charybdes were dead.

Linda cared for other people, but at the moment, Juliet’s words put her off. She said in a high pitch: “What happened to Jackie?”

“He…” Juliet couldn’t find the right words.

Jacob banged his words on the table at his side, regretting it immediately after. However, it was quite effective. Aunt Linda immediately took after him and ferried him off to bed. Juliet took advantage of that moment and left the house.

…

Jacob was lying down on the bed and thinking.

The extent of his injuries was quite large. Thanks to Juliet’s Phoenix’s Blood, he would still recuperate swiftly, though. He could probably concoct something with the help of her evolved flames and her blood.

If he found the right ingredients, he could hope to improve his talent.

…

Joseph was in the kitchen while Linda was trying to cook the meat of a Demonic Wolf.

“It’s softer than it looks like, Joe. Do you like meatballs?” she said while poking the chunks of meat she was trying to mince.

“Yeah,” Joseph said, deep in thought.

“What’s up, Joe?” she asked.

“Frederick died, miss Linda. I’m… upset? I thought no one would die, honestly. Jake has done a fantastic job, and I thought—”

“You thought that staying by his side. No one would be hurt,” Linda said.

“Yeah, kind of,” Joseph scratched his head, partially realizing the stupidity of his own words. “I don’t know… I wasn’t close with Frederick. I kind of hated his guts before sh*t went down.”

“Language, young man,” Linda took a wooden spoon and pointed it at him.

“I’m sorry, miss Linda,” Joseph raised his palms.

After a moment, Linda turned her back to him.

“People die, Joe. My brother died with my sister-in-law by his side. They died because of stupid cars. Frederick died while trying to protect St. Peter instead. So, if anything, we should celebrate, not mope. And I know we are at risk of dying ourselves, but it’s not a good reason not to live happily. On the contrary, it’s exactly the reason why we shouldn’t be moping, but moving on to the next problem and having a little fun while at it.”

Joseph looked at the back of the short and older woman and found himself with tears in his eyes. He still hadn’t moved on from his parents’ possible death. He did not really know whether they were dead or not, but he couldn’t help feeling like they would not be a part of his life anymore.

But Linda was right. He needed to live with some measure of happiness.

“Joe, if you want, you can stay here with us. I’m sure Jacob wouldn’t mind, and we have a free room,” Linda said while figuring out how to make a sauce or some meatballs from the Demonic Wolf.

Joseph felt a warm sensation in his heart and started nodding before realizing Linda couldn’t see him.

…

Helena had gone home and had heated up some water with Magic. It wasn’t that hard, and she had figured it out on her own. She only had to reverse engineer part of the Fireball Spell. And it was much easier than it sounded.

While soaking in the warm water, she heard her dad knock on the door.

“You okay, honey?”

She had come home with a dark frown, angry for the death of Frederick. Helena couldn’t really blame Jacob, and she knew it. But, nonetheless, she was still mad at him. She couldn’t help but wish Jacob had done something more to save Frederick.

Maybe he let him die on purpose to get to me… He likes me, I think, and he knew that Frederick liked me. Perhaps he felt threatened.

“I’m good, dad. Thank you,” she said aloud while starting to harbor malignant thoughts.

…

Geneva was cuddling her husband, but she couldn’t stay put. She wanted to get out again, to move around, to fight. And the more she thought about the insane battle they went through, the more she was antsy to get to the next one.

“Hey, are you here?” her husband joked.

“Yeah,” Geneva almost felt sorry, but her marriage suddenly sounded much less interesting than it had ever done.

…

Marcus was sleeping soundly on a hammock in his garden while Lucius practiced his Spells next to him.

…

Marina was keeping company with Luis Albert since she had known the man for a while. She had worked with him in the past while having a small internship at St. Peter to become a certified teacher.

She was making food for the man, who now looked like a ghost. The body of his son lay in front of him, lifeless but still composed. The local funeral parlor had dressed his wounds, and they had slipped him in an elegant suit. Even in his death, Frederick looked like a dashing hero.

END OF VOLUME 1