As I sit, completely hunched over, lost in an endless darkness, and my hands clawing into the flesh on my face, my mind raced with the thoughts and images of the past few days cycling through my head. The blackened blood streaming down my fingers felt hot as dragons fire, my eyes, bulging and unblinking, felt as if they were going to explode out of my head at any moment. The cycle of memories, they would begin again…

Resolving the issue of the exam with the City was by no means a small affair, especially considering how much of an uproar it had caused. Such a significant bout, catching most people completely unaware, had naturally caused a severe panic. Fleeing people had caused various injuries and numerous counts of property damage throughout the district.

However, Baal bit the bullet, and took the lead in handling negotiations with the city on reparations and how the guild would make up for the chaos it caused. Naturally, he also drug Lu with him as necessary “witness” testimony, and likely as punishment for getting involved in the exam process.

What was supposed to be a completely clandestine affair, and a frightfully simple one at that, completely blew up into a massive scandal. Which was the excuse Eric gave, insisting that while Diane would still receive her promotion, she couldn’t get her new adventurers card until after they cleared up the rest of the mess with the city.

Why is all of this important? Well, because after I gave Diane a potion to wake her back up, she didn’t feel like waiting around at the guild for who knows how long to get her new adventurer’s card, and instead decided that instead she would go see Haraldr to give him the good news!

Except… except… this started a terrible chain of events… Things I cannot comprehend… what is this… pain? Why… do I feel like this? I need… to make… a choice…

A visceral, terrible scream pierces through the veil of darkness, resounding into the night sky.

*Shortly after the Exam*

Diane was marching proudly down the road towards Haraldr’s home, her face clearly beaming! At least, she was marching as proudly as she could, considering I was helping shoulder most of her weight. I suppose the human word for this would be hobbling?

“Haha, I actually managed to make Terra eat her words! Did you see her face when I jumped through that fireball? Teach her to underestimate me!”

“You know, you still lost… and, she didn’t even bring out her battle axe…”

“Hmph! So what? If I am able to grow this much, then next time, not only will I make her use her battle axe, but then I will win against her too! Still… who knew there was this much of a difference between silver and gold rank adventurers?”

“Somehow, I don’t think we should consider Terra the normal standard for Gold rank adventurers…”

“MMPH, MMPH!” Jumping in to the conversation, Emily nods her head aggressively in agreement. Her grunts were the closest thing to speech she had used in weeks!

“Haaaaah? So what you are trying to tell me is that I pushed someone stronger than normal that far? Hah! Of course only I would become so great!”

Boldly riding so far off my coattails… its true I will forge her into someone who can stand at the top, but this is not the lesson I wanted you to learn from that fight!

*sigh*

“Yes, of course! You are certainly the greatest. Now why don’t you go let Haraldr know? I am pretty sure this was his house.”

“Heeee, jealous much? Catch you inside!”

Straightening up, Diane dashed to the door of the house, followed closely by Emily. It was nestled between several other homes near the outer edge of town, and certainly farther from the premier waterfront properties, but not quite in the slums. The walls were made of magically treated wood, standing two stories tall, and a slanted roof covered in clay tiles. All the visible windows were darkened and had their curtains drawn.

I know my recovery rate is incomparably better than any humans, but still… the recovery of human children compared to adults is also quite a wonder to behold! She was bawling her eyes out after she woke up, and now she is already running again… what an odd species.

“You know, I am glad to see that boy finally has some visitors! It has been quite a few months since I last saw him with some company around here, maybe it will finally brighten his face up! Eh, and what a nice pet you have!”

The raspy voice of a venerable old man reached out to me, turning I could see him leaning out of the window sill of his home.

Without missing a beat, he rambled on. Even as I stared at him, eyes almost glazing over.

“You know, now that I think about it, it has been a few days since I have seen the boy. See if you can’t get him out into the fresh air, will you! I hate for people to stay cooped up too long, it can’t be good for your health, hahaha!”

Something… felt wrong. A smell, so subtle from this distance yet absolutely unforgettable wafted across my nose. The smell… of Death…

It’s a smell Clover clearly recognized too, his fur began bristling, and low growly rumbled out from him.

“Oh my, does he bite?”

“KYAAAAAAAH!”

Diane’s piercing scream pierced the air, filled with fright!

Ignoring the old man, Clover and I rushed inside after Diane and Emily.

The house was completely dark, and the moment I passed through the door, the smell of slowly rotting flesh filled my nostrils. There was no need to check any of the other darkened rooms, as I could sense Diane’s presence, and without hesitation I leaped to the second floor of the house. I didn’t want to waste a moment on those stairs, appearance be damned! I could feel an immense amount of pain flowing from Diane into me… a strange, horrible pain…

“DIANE, ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?”

With a shout, I rounded the corner into the last room. And then… I froze…

“What…”

A short rope was hanging from the ceiling, cut partway through. A lone chair lay on its side on the floor, Diane’s rapier had been thrown to the side, and the rest of the rope… was tightly wound around Haraldr’s neck. His eyes were bulging and yellowed, his bloated tongue protruding from his blue lips, all color having drained from his face. Signs of rot were present on all other exposed parts of his body, as Diane held him in her arms… sobbing uncontrollably.

Emily had backed herself into a corner, curled up with her hands covering her eyes. Her breathing was completely ragged, and her face contorted in absolute fright.

What… do I do here?!

Slowly, I entered the room, looking at everything.

No forced entry. No magical residue. No blood. Nothing at all out of the ordinary.

So who killed him and why? Unless...

On the table, I saw a single piece of parchment next to an inkwell, stained with spots of water and some rather pathetic looking scribbles… not that I could read them anyways.

“If it wasn’t for me, everyone… everyone wouldn’t have died. If I wasn’t such a coward, maybe they could have survived… I’m sorry, everyone…. I’ll see you soon.”

Not that I needed to be able to read it to understand what happened here.

Weak. He was weak and useless to the very end.

But…

Why does she care so much about such a piece of trash? She should be glad to be free of this baggage! What is it about him that is causing her so much pain?! How do I make her feel better??

“Diane, I…”

I reach my hand towards her shoulder, but stop partway through…

What should I do? What would a friend do?

“Diane, there is nothing more we can do. We should call for the guards. They can help clean this up.”

For a moment, her eyes shot daggers at me, before she quietly laid Haraldr’s corpse on the floor, her sobbing subsiding. Slowly standing up, she haphazardly walked to the corner where Emily was curled up, her darting eyes almost completely detached from reality.

With a swift and powerful motion, Diane ripped Emily’s hand away from her face and yanked her into an embrace.

With a soft and bitter sound, her voice still choking with snot and tears, eyes bloodshot and hands quivering, she whispered into Emily’s ear:

“Don’t you dare think about doing it, not you too…”

It felt almost as if time had crawled along, for who knows how long, before she stepped back. Emily’s eyes had seemingly calmed down.

“Let’s go get the guards.”

Emily nodded, as Diane took her hand and walked towards the door. I was still standing motionless near the entrance to the room, completely lost. Right now, I felt as if, for the first time in my life, I was facing an insurmountable enemy I had no idea how to defeat.

And yet… Diane’s small, quivering hand took me completely by surprise! She grabbed my hand, tugging towards the door, her eyes downturned towards the floor.

“Come one, we have to get the guards, don’t we?”

“… yeah. Let’s go….”

It was at that moment, I began to realize this might be a battle I was going to lose.