Armed with a few gifts, I pack up the rest of my stuff and head towards my home village. I am honestly a little worried that I can't find my way back there, but I think I can recognize the dirt road that connects to the cobble one. I don't really know much about what gifts to pick, so I got help from the smith by describing mom, Vella and Hannah and got him to recommend something to me. I had no idea what to get Jorgen, but ended up finding some expensive alcohol, which I am praying he will like.

The trip home doesn't run into any complications and I make it somewhat fast. It took roughly ten hours of decent-paced moving last time, but I made it in eight hours today. It is getting late, so I am thinking of going to Jorgen's first and head to my mother's place tomorrow. But as I arrive at Jorgen's house, something is wrong. I try knocking and yelling, but no answer comes. I open the door and look around the house, but there isn't anyone here. Oh well, maybe he's cleaning out the dungeon again, he did mention that was a responsibility he had. I will speak to Yuro tomorrow to see if he can give directions to the place. I feel that if anyone would know it, it would be him.

The next day my sleep is magically cured. I also discovered that pretty much any dirt, sweat or whatever is removed too, though my clothes will still end up stinking from it, I can just change tunics and I will be fine. The problem is more the leather armor that is starting to stink something fierce.

I go to the church. Since I am an adult now, I should be allowed to enter, but I still feel somewhat uneasy about it. Luckily I quickly encounter Yuro.

"Greetings priest Yuro, I am back for a bit."

"Oh, greetings young Yos. I was just about to send a letter for you, though the peddler from Brahms haven't been here since I needed to."

"What good would it do to send me a letter, priest Yuro, I can't read."

"Hmm, so you haven't heard?"

"Heard what?"

"Truth is, Jorgen died last month."

Time freezes a little for me. Jorgen died? That strong, old, stubborn, traditional man died? It somehow feels unreal.

"And so it should fall to you". I have a feeling I was stunned and missed something there.

"Sorry, I didn't hear that, could you repeat it for me?".

Yuro gives a sympathizing nod and talks again. "I said, when Jorgen came here some thirty years ago, he apparently left a lot of grown children in the city, but we don't know their names or where they are exactly, making it pretty hard to pass his property to them, but you were his foster son, and so it should fall to you".

I am still a little confounded. I have this feeling like I lost something irreplaceable. Couldn't I have visited earlier, somehow said goodbye? He's just gone? And you want me to take his stuff?

"What about Hannah?" I ask

"That young thing that lived with him? Seems she went somewhere pretty quickly afterwards, not wanting to remarry I presume."

Oh yeah, other people shouldn't know she is a dryad. I wonder if it is a problem I told that to the others from the clan? They all feel like good guys so it shouldn't be.

"Do you know the place where Jorgen sometimes went to clear the abandoned dungeon?" Maybe Hannah is there. I don't know what to do right now, but I feel like finding her and... hearing about his last moments from her might help.

"Ah, yes. I have some old, crude map somewhere you can look at."

And so he guides me to what seems like an office room in the temple. It is filled with all matter of small, decorative objects and a lot of paper. It smells a little weird too, wonder if that is a property of that weird yellow paper. He goes through an area of stacked papers while I take in the various things. There are wooden carvings of all manner of things: A ship, which I haven't seen before in this world, some monsters, a young woman and two dragons.

Seems he found it. He lays the map on the desk, on top of some already loose papers and I look at it. The map is very old, and I think it doesn't reflect how the village currently looks. I end up spending a little time finding a route that goes past some landmarks and hope that I can get there without problems, though I somewhat doubt it.

I load up all my baggage once again and head out to the abandoned dungeon. I don't really know if I can do anything to dispel this sinking feeling inside me, but I feel like I have to try.