The youth’s eyes barely got used to the darkness when he fell through a crack in space, landing in the dirt. He looked around in the early day light; realising that he lay on the ground of the battlefield in front of Hunor’s walls. Feeling something in his right hand, Regis looked to the side and saw his broken bladestaff. The lower part of the weapon was nowhere to be seen and as he cast charlatan’s wisdom on the heavily damaged weapon, painfully bad stats appeared in the air above it.

{Soulbound sunstone bladestaff (broken)}

{Item rarity: uncommon}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Greater enchantments: 2}

{Lesser enchantments: 1}

{Durability: 17/125}

{Damage: 5/24}

{Arcana cost reduction: 5%}

‘This is bad.’ He stared at the weapon for a few moments before looking down at his own chest. There was a hole beneath the hardened leather plate that protected his ribs with several leather stripes cut through. His body was back to normal with no injuries, but his gear was a mess. Regis looked around, but there wasn’t a single soul nearby.

The battle field was mostly clear of corpses or anything else for that matter besides a blight rat in the distance. The usual corpse duty workers and guards were missing too, but the sight of the still burning pyres scattered on the battleground and the archers on the walls made him sure that Hunor was still occupied by the living. After getting back on his feet, he walked towards the large gates. As he neared the gate, an arrow drilled itself into the ground a few steps ahead of him.

“The fallen are here!” A scared voice yelled from atop the walls before another one scolded its owner.

“The fallen can’t walk under the sunlight you moron! That’s got to be one of them outlanders. I’ve heard they come right back after being killed off; lucky bastards. You there, get your arse inside!”

“Yeah, yeah!” Regis said as he walked through the gates, earning a strange gaze from the gate guards.

“Do you know where the 9th guard troops are?” He asked and one of the guards pointed towards the general direction of the barracks.

“Thanks!” The young dark elf nodded as he headed towards the market.

The market was surprisingly quiet and he could have sworn that he could barely see a third of the crowd of refugees he had seen before. The area with the workshops was still busy, but even that was milder than before. As he reached the rundown smithy where his friends worked, the sight of a tall woman working near a heated forge made him smile.

“I’m glad to see that you’re keeping yourself busy.” He sighed, making the woman shudder.

“Regis?” The tall figure turned around, her face alternating between surprise and relief.

“Regis!” He heard his name from a different voice before a soft body crashed into him.

Sophie noticed a familiar figure in the crowd as she stitched together a piece of leather armour, but when she heard the voice of the stranger, she couldn’t stop herself from rushing over to hug him. The slim frame of the girl packed a surprising strength as she hugged the young man.

“I’m glad to see you too Sophie.” The dark elf said as he stroked her head.

“And we’re glad to see that you’ve made it back in one piece.” Amanda nodded as she patted him on the back.

“Not entirely in one piece.” He said as he raised the broken staff in the air.

“We’ve found the other half once the battle was over and the sun came up.” The half giantess admitted as she picked up a rod shaped item from a nearby table.

She handed the broken staff piece over and Regis sat down in a corner of the shop, grabbing a few bronze coins from his pouch before holding the two parts of the staff, connecting them back together. Amanda and Sophie watched in silence for a good five minutes as the dark elf meditated and how the coins melted into the staff, fusing the broken pieces together. Once the young man opened his eyes, a bladestaff with full length greeted him. Charlatan’s wisdom also showed a much more friendly description.

{Soulbound sunstone staff (damaged)

{Item rarity: uncommon}

{Item quality: common}

{Greater enchantments: 2}

{Lesser enchantments: 1}

{Durability: 72/125}

{Damage: 16/24)}

{Arcana cost reduction: 5%}

“It still needs some repairs, but it’s already better.” He admitted before turning towards the two women that stood a few steps beside him.

“So, what did I miss?”

“A lot,” Amanda sighed dejected. “After you... left, Fabien ran out of arcana and he got swarmed. Valerie tried to reach him but one of those armoured things stopped her. It even cut her whip in half. She went out swinging though, using some kind of self-exploding magic to take the bastard with her. After the guards brought Osmond back, the last bone rat was cut apart by the undead.”

“We thought that we’ll be next,” Sophie cut into her friend’s words with a faint voice. “The defenders were trapped between the closed gate and the incoming undead. We were ready to go out like the rest, but then the gate was suddenly raised and the crowd rushed inside while a whole bunch of wizards showed up to burn those things to ash. After that there were no more waves. It’s been quiet for the entire night, aside from the blight rats coming out of the forest almost every hour to look for bones and corpses.”

“What about the 9th guard troops?”

“They’ve lost a few people too.”

“Is Norma...”

“She’s alive,” Amanda reassured him. “She got a few nasty cuts, but nothing that couldn’t be healed.

“Thank Avenar,” Regis sighed before remembering something else. “What about the boats? Did you get a place on any of them?”

“They’re still here,” Sophie said with a downcast expression. “The next few hours after the battle were chaotic. A lot of refugees and mercenaries died and the people were desperate. First there was a lot of crying for the dead and then the refugees started to riot, threatening to rush the boats. That Verner guy commanded the guards to keep order, but that only made things worse."

"It's all right, little one." Regis tried to console the visibly shaken girl, but Sophie steeled herself and continued on..

"A lot of people tried to fight and were killed for it. In the end, almost a hundred refugees died in the riot. After the sun came up without any further undead attack incoming, the city lord sent out scouts along the road leading inland. They came back an hour or so later, reporting that the road and the nearby forests were completely devoid of any undead. When the people found out, they’ve gathered whatever they could and left Hunor. Some of the guards tried to talk some sense into them, but they’ve said that they didn’t want to stay in a place where they would either starve to death or get killed by the lord of the city. By the time we got patched up by Lithia, more than half of the refugees were gone. A good hour ago however, things changed.”

“What happened?” Regis looked at the young woman with his hand still gripping the damaged bladestaff.

“First, a new ship managed to dock in the harbour, bringing dozens of people. Then the scout boat returned from up the river. They haven’t released any information yet, but I’ve heard that barely half of them had returned.”

“That doesn’t bode well. I’ve noticed the lack of people on my way here, but this whole riot thing with the executions is fucked up. I hope Bray is all right. He pretty much predicted shit would go down this way. Oh yeah; did you girls at least manage to salvage anything from the battlefield? We took out a lot of those things.”

“We did actually.” Amanda said with a smile as she walked over to the back of the smithy, pulling off the tarp from a long line of piled up items.

“Yes,” Sophie nodded. “With all the grief, the wounded and the riot, no one wanted to go outside. After we got patched up by sister Lithia, we got some food and rested a bit before going back outside to gather whatever we could. No one else came out beside a few very desperate corpse duty people, so we had plenty of time to get what we’ve earned.”

“We took a lot more than that,” Amanda stated with a grin. “I’ve separated the piles for everyone, so you guys could decide what to do with your loot. I have to admit though; I’m a bit envious about the stuff you’ve got. Both of those armoured brutes had iron swords. Can you believe that? They had actual friggin iron weapons! That’s worth its weight in gold right now. Oh… shit. Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s all right Amanda.” Regis said with his hand involuntarily reaching toward his chest where the hole in his armour could be seen.

“Yeah, still sorry! So, I’ve had to wrap them in rags to make sure the guards didn’t see them. There are also the things that those fallen wizards had. I’m not experienced with magic equipment yet, but even I could tell that pretty much everything they had on them was good stuff.”

“Oh,” Regis raised an eyebrow. “The spell weavers were ought to have good gear, but I can only hope that there’s actually something useable amongst them. So, which pile is mine?”

“The one on the left,” Sophie pointed at a hefty pile of equipment. “We threw in a few extra weapons and stuff we didn’t know where to put. You’ve said it before that you needed some spare resources for your craft. Amanda and I are already on the brink of becoming novices in our trade, so these wouldn’t help us either way.”

“Thanks,” the young dark elf said. “I’ll lug these back to Bray’s place. By the way, do they still record the kill scores? I took out quite a few bastards, not to mention that 10th level freak.”

“10th level,” Amanda stuttered in surprise. “That brute was actually on the 10th level?”

“Yes. I even got a message from the Heart about it before getting thrown back to Earth. I’m sure it would earn me some reputation once I turn it in. At least that counts, right?”

“Captain Grego told me that they’ll keep waiting for the rest of the outlanders to…”

“Hey there everyone!” A familiar voice cut into their conversation and as the three of them turned towards the source of the voice, they could see Fabien standing there along with a cloak cowered, barefooted Valerie and a wide smiled Khan.

“I’m glad to see you’ve made it back!” Regis said with a relieved smile that quickly turned awkward when Valerie walked closer.

As she began to move towards them, the cloak shifted for a moment, revealing her smooth skinned legs up to her knees. It was then that Regis remembered how Amanda told him about Valerie’s self-detonating spell. Knowing how his own armour stayed damaged after coming back, he realized that Valerie’s clothes must have been blown to pieces too. He turned his gaze sideways as she coughed slightly.

“Sophie, do you have any spare clothes? I think Val is in dire need of them right now.”

“Why would…oh.” The elven girl noticed the infernal pair’s flustered expression, shaking her out of her own question.

“Come with me, I’ve received a spare set from Lithia.”

Valerie didn’t say a word, just nodded and followed her friend inside the closed off area of the smithy. Her brother stopped beside the dark elf, clasping hands with him in a brotherly way.

“I’m glad to see you’re back as well,” he said. “And thanks for taking the initiative for Val’s sake. She was adamant for me to return first and wait her with my cloak in hand. At first I didn’t understand why she wanted me to do that, but when she fell out of the rift, I almost choked as I ran up to her. Thank Avenar that none of the guards were looking at our direction when it happened, or she would have died from shame.”

“Valerie and shame? Are we talking about the same flirty Valerie that’s been messing around with everyone?” Khan looked at Fabian flabbergasted.

“She’s a difficult person.” The infernal youth answered shortly as he noticed his sister returning with Sophie.

“How many did we lose?” Valerie asked from Amanda to change the awkward subject.

“A lot.”

“Are these…”

“They’re your share of the spoils. That one is Regis’ and those two piles are for you and Fabien. The one on the far right is Khan’s.”

“What about those piles?” The Mongolian youth looked at a few smaller heaps at the side of the smithy.

“One is for Cruz, the other two belonged to Letty and Osmond, but they’ve left them here. They’ve said that neither of them had any craft that could make use of these. We’ve repaired their gear and gave them a few extra pieces. Aspen already took off with his share to pawn them off for his other ‘necessary’ stuff. The rest is for me and Sophie to split between us as materials. Aspen already took his stuff and scurried off to fuck knows where. Oh right Valerie, I’ve asked around and managed to find a man that had some skill in whip crafting. I’ve traded away some of your loot for a new one.”

“Thanks,” the woman nodded. “But I’m not sure if I’ll stick with whips as my weapon. That undead cut the previous one apart like it was nothing, making me realise that it was a flimsy weapon.”

“I can fix that for you if you want,” Regis said. “I could infuse it with bronze to make it tougher. It would add a bit of weight to it, but it would also make it more durable and it might even increase its damage. I could also add either fire or frost damage to it if you want me to.”

“Really? A fire enchanted whip would be awesome, thanks! What do you need for it? I’ll try to pay you as soon as I can.”

“Just give me some bronze for the infusion and we’ll call it even. It will help me raise my craft, so that’s a payment of its own. Anyway, I’ll grab my share and head back to Bray’s place. I need to see if the old man is fine before heading over to the barracks. You guys should catch up on what happened while we were gone.” He said as he tied the corners of the tarp that held the large pile, lifting it up with some difficulty.

Valerie put a few bronze weapons atop the pile, along with her new whip before giving a small kiss on Regis’ cheek. The youth said goodbye and headed over to the alley that led to the elderly man’s underground camp. On his way, the young dark elf earned many strange and curious gazes, but no one bothered him.