Ox held a hand up and her mouth snapped shut. He pierced all of them with his cold glare, spending the most time on Arek.

“Excuse my teammate. She’s easily excited, and today has been very high adrenaline. You are not in trouble by any means. In fact, you made our job a lot easier. It would have been crushing to arrive and discover that Red Mount had already fallen. Would you accompany us back to Riverfall on the morrow? We would like to escort you to the Adventurer’s Guild there. We believe a promotion is more than in order.”

“Thank you for your generous offer,” Arek said. “However, I’m afraid we’ve got other plans. I think we’ll have to refuse.”

Ox’s gaze narrowed. “Why would you do that? What could be more important than receiving a promotion? It is a great honor. Especially for a team as misclassed as yours. I can’t think of a single C-ranked team that could have held off a horde on their own.”

“Well, it’s a good thing we didn’t hold anything off on our own,” Belmont said. “We just helped the guards. Our own role was minimal.”

“That’s not what we heard from the town,” Ash said. “There are numerous reports of a man clad in glowing green armor bounding across the rooftops, slaughtering monsters with every stroke of his massive blade. In addition, a lone woman matching your appearance lured a group of nearly one hundred wyrms away from a group of guards and another unknown man. She was buried under them, and yet here you stand – uninjured. Need I continue?”

“We just did what anyone would have,” Arek said. “Forgive me, but I don’t understand your line of questioning. Are you accusing us of something?”

Ox let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t want to be. You’ve done a service for the city. However, there have been situations where adventuring groups intentionally create issues to swoop in and fix them so they can get an easy rank up.”

“You think we caused a monster horde?” Belmont asked, his voice going cold. “That we killed dozens if not hundreds of guards to get a… rank?”

“People have done it before,” Ox replied. “Although, unless you’re all fantastic liars, I doubt that’s the case.”

Ash shot Ox a surprised glance, but the large man just shook his head. “Look at them, Ash. There’s no guilt or fear on their faces. These adventurers did not set off the dungeon.”

“Set off the dungeon?” Belmont parroted. “What does that mean?”

Ox reached into his pocket and pulled out a small green stone. It was smooth and shiny like a marble. Arek’s stomach knotted and he drew a sharp breath, doubling over as his vision flared with green light. The feeling faded to a dull pressure on his chest and Arek straightened, a grimace still present on his face. Ming didn’t look like she was doing much better.

“What is that?” Arek asked, his hands tightening on his armrests.

“I was hoping you might recognize it,” Ox said, his eyes narrow. “We found it in the boss room of the dungeon. It was driving the wyverns insane and putting off so much magical energy that they were practically multiplying in front of us.”

“I have a suspicion it’s got something to do with being a Blessed One,” Arek said. “Please put that away. I don’t know what it is, but it makes me incredibly uncomfortable.”

Ox returned it to his pouch and the pressure vanished. Arek and Ming both sat up straighter.

“Blessed One?” Ox asked. “Please elaborate.”

Arek didn’t see a reason not to answer the question, especially when avoiding it would have put even more suspicion on the group. He spent a few minutes bringing Avenguard up to speed on the curse.

“So… being a Blessed One, is it rare?” Rovin asked worriedly. “I don’t want my city to descend into further chaos from insane mages duking it out in the streets.”

“I don’t know. I’ve only encountered two others with the curse. The first…” Arek cleared his throat and gave a small shrug. “And the second was in this city. He went by the name of Vint.”

“And what happened to Vint?” Ox queried.

“He ran off after Arek saved Malissa,” Belmont said. “There are dozens of guards that can verify that.”

“That is concerning,” Ox said. “I do believe that your group had nothing to do with the incident, but this stone clearly has something to do with your curse. However… I have one more question. You claim that you’re forced to fight other ones that have been cursed, correct?”

Arek nodded.

“Well, your companion is also cursed, is she not?” Ox asked, nodding at Ming. “Yet your story says that she looked straight at Vint and never attacked him. How is that possible?”

Arek’s mouth opened. Then he froze, scanning through his memories. Ox was right – she’d looked at Vint multiple times yet hadn’t attacked him once. Had his battle rage somehow influenced the curse to make it worse?

“I… don’t know,” Arek said, clenching his hands. “In the heat of battle it slipped my mind. She’s never fought another Blessed One. Maybe it has to be activated? I didn’t feel the draw at the beginning either, but it got much stronger after I killed the first Blessed One.”

“That’s possible,” Ox allowed. “Regardless, it’s something for you to consider. I don’t believe it has anything to do with the stone. However, this Vint character certainly might. I take it you fought him?”

“I did,” Arek said. “He was strong. When I first saw him, he was tearing through the horde without any trouble at all. He actually might have been holding back when we fought.”

Arek briefly described the man’s appearance.

“Concerning,” Ox said. “We’ll keep an eye out for him. I suppose it does seem that you did nothing but assist the town. Are you certain you don’t want to accompany us back to Riverfall for your promotion?”

“We’ll pass,” Arek said. “Thanks for the offer.”