Morning has arrived.

Most people who weren’t doing night shifts have woken up from their nightly slumber, and they were ready to start their day. It was the norm to start the day with a proper healthy breakfast, and the royalty was no exception. Vierra and Sedhoust were now having breakfast together in the study without anyone else present there. The royal guards were standing by right outside the door, along with the maids waiting for a call which Vierra could make by ringing the bell on the dining table.

“Sedhoust, what are your plans for today?” Vierra asked.

Sedhoust, after swallowing the food in his mouth, replied. “I canceled almost everything in my schedule today because I want to do some investigation about that murder case and see what information I can gather.”

“Would you like me to help in any way?”

“No need. Today is your day off, right? Better enjoy your rare rest day rather than getting yourself involved in this matter.”

Vierra smirked before speaking back. “I could say the same to you, no? Going out of your way canceling your activities, all for getting yourself involved.”

“Yes, but I have my reasons.”

“And you think I don’t?” Vierra said while she kept smirking. “Resting all day is boring, so a detective work will be a nice change of pace.”

Sedhoust lowered his head and put one hand on his forehead with a small sigh.

“It probably won’t be done in a single day. What would you do afterwards?”

“Depends on how much information we will manage to gather. Two heads is better than one, right?”

Sedhoust sighed again, but he wasn’t exactly unhappy with Vierra’s persistence. Moreover, she had a point in all accounts. Both Vierra and Sedhoust, along with Keith, were basically the benefactors of the survivors. Having one of those people convicted as a criminal would make them feel responsible in a way. Also, this case was strange in a number of points, so he concurred that two heads would be better.

“Alright, you win.”

“Gotta change to a more casual wear then. Or perhaps something less conspicuous?”

“All the people in the city know your face. Just wear whatever you like.”

Half an hour later, Vierra and Sedhoust left the front gate of the royal palace. Sedhoust wore his usual suit which made him look like the head butler of a noble family, while Vierra wore her casual set of clothes consisting of a newspaper boy hat with a decorative ribbon tied around it, a long coat over white shirt, shorts, knee-high socks, and high top boots. Her color theme was around the blue color fitting with her affinity towards Water Weave magic, while contrasting the red-brown color of her shoulder-length hair.

The guards stationed at the front gate showed a little reaction seeing Sedhoust and Vierra, but there was nothing more. After all, this wasn’t the first time their queen left the palace without escort and so they were already used to it.

“What’s our first stop?” Vierra asked while walking.

“The crime scene.” Sedhoust replied. “Like you told me last night, I want to ask the witnesses myself.”

“Lead the way, then.”

Sedhoust then activated his flight spell and carried Vierra in a princess carry stance. She held on to Sedhoust’s shoulder with a smile on her face as her hair was waving, being blown by the breeze.

Having known where the crime scene was from Keith, Sedhoust flew straight towards the location and arrived there within ten minutes. The place where the crime had taken place was a relatively cheap tavern located about fifteen minutes of walk away from the guild. The meals served there were notably cheaper than the ones from the guild tavern so it was a popular alternative for adventurers who were tight on budget. In addition, unlike most other taverns it had outdoor tables, adding to the charm.

Breakfast time had passed and lunch time was still far ahead, so it was natural for the tavern to be mostly empty. All the outdoor tables were empty, and barely any noise came out from the front door. Sedhoust glanced over the outdoor tables and noticed that one of them was fenced off with a rope barricade.

“That’s probably where it happened.” Sedhoust said while looking at said table.

“Most definitely.” Vierra said. “Shall we go in and ask around?”

“Of course.”

Ring! Ring!

The moment Sedhoust pushed the front door, a bell connected to it with a thin rope was tolled, producing a ringing sound.

“Welcome! Please take a seat wherev-“ A fairly young waitress greeted, but her speech was halted midway upon seeing the ones coming, remaining silent and freezing up afterwards.

“We’re here not for dining.” Sedhoust said. “Could you find us someone we can ask questions about what happened yesterday?”

“I-I will need to ask the owner first. Please wait for a moment and- and take any seat you like.” The waitress said, trying to maintain her professional tone but audibly failing at it.

The waitress walked to the back in a hurry, and then Sedhoust and Vierra sat down on the nearest vacant seats. They waited for just less than a minute until a middle-aged man wearing a white apron came out from the back along with the same waitress from before. The moment his eyes met with Sedhoust’s, he immediately kneeled and the waitress did too.

“I feel honored by your presence in my humble abode, Your Highness. How may I serve you?”

Sedhoust sighed, resting his head on one hand and glancing at Vierra who chuckled at the sight.

“You may rise and speak to both of us casually.” Vierra said. “We are here in regards to the terrible thing which happened yesterday. Therefore, we would like to ask questions to anyone who witnessed it in person.”

“That would be me.” The owner said, slowly standing up.

Sedhoust stood up from the seat and spoke. “I hope we didn’t interrupt your business terribly.”

“All is good, Your Highness. It’s not busy hour now so my employees can take care of everything.” The owner said with his body hunched forward, visibly trying to keep himself lower than Sedhoust and Vierra.

“Let’s talk outside then.” Sedhoust said. “Shall we?”

Sedhoust, Vierra, and the owner walked out from the tavern, making the bell above the door ring as they went through. They all then approached the fenced off table and stopped nearby.

“Before we begin, what’s your name?” Sedhoust asked.

“Deweg Brandul, Your Highness.”

“Alright. So, let’s begin by you telling us what you know and remember.”

“Right away.” Deweg nodded, and then he took a deep breath before beginning his story. “It was noon, the busy hour that day. One of my boys was absent so I had to take the frontline work to fill the gap. I think I was taking orders from one table when I suddenly heard a sound from the outside.”

“What kind of sound?”

“Umm, the one that comes out when someone falls to the ground. Thud! Like that.”

“I see. Continue.”

“I didn’t pay it much heed at that moment. Work comes first at busy times like that. But then I heard a woman screaming from the top of her lungs. Of course at that point I could no longer ignore it so I quickly ran out the door to see for myself.”

“What did you see?”

“I saw one man sitting on top of another man who was down with his back on the ground. A woman nearby was screaming ‘He cut his neck! He cut his neck!’ while pointing at them. Before I could process everything, a group of adventurers jumped in and knocked the man out. It happened so fast, I’m not even sure if that’s what really happened at that point. But that’s how I remember it.”

“What happened next?”

“I don’t remember what they exactly said, but they found that the man they knocked out was an adventurer too, so they decided to bring him to the guild. The body of the other man was brought away by city guards who came soon after.”

“Is there anything else you remember? Nobody else saw more?”

“Among my employees and myself, nobody was outside at that time and I was the first to come out. I’m afraid that’s all I remember and nobody else saw more than me.”

“I see.” Sedhoust folded his arm and lowered his head. The information he got so far wouldn’t be of any help for Doctor Kai’s case. At this rate Doctor Kai would soon be found guilty and be sentenced to death. Sedhoust couldn’t imagine how Elana and the rest of the survivors would take the news, but one thing for certain, he most probably would lose the opportunity to freely study their otherworldly ship.

While Sedhoust was deep in thought, Vierra chimed in and asked a question to Deweg. “By the way, was the victim a customer of this tavern at that time?”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Deweg replied. “He ordered a large mug of mead and a serving of extra large grilled meatball skewers. I remember because I was the one who cleaned up the leftovers after his body was brought away by the guards.”

“Meatball skewers...” Vierra whispered to herself while squinting her eyes.

“Umm... please forgive me, Your Highness.” Deweg said with his body kept hunching forward. “May I know why Your Highness is questioning witnesses personally?”

“Unfortunately that isn’t an information we can disclose for the time being.” Sedhoust replied. “Nevertheless, we should go. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Oh, anytime, Your Highness.” Deweg bowed as Sedhoust and Vierra walked away.

“What do you think so far?” Vierra asked.

“The information we got so far isn’t really helping. It just basically implies that the victim and Doctor Kai had a fight which somehow ended fatally.” Sedhoust replied with a flustered face.

“What’s our next stop?”

“I’m thinking of going to the guild to ask questions to the adventurers mentioned, but do you have a different idea?”

“Well...” Vierra looked up with her index finger touching her chin. “How about we go to the morgue and check on the victim’s body?”

“Morgue? It’s kinda out of the way, but not a bad idea.”

“Lead the way again.” Vierra said, and once again Sedhoust carried Vierra in his flight.

The city morgue was located at the back of the government-run hospital, which was the largest hospital in the city. People who died under unusual circumstances, like the victim of this murder case, would be kept inside a special section of the morgue for a certain amount of time depending on a number of factors.

As Sedhoust expected, all the staffs immediately recognized himself and Vierra, and therefore the two of them had no problem in gaining access to the section where the body of Keith Pilgrim was stored. A male staff member of the morgue accompanied them there, keeping his professional behavior.

Unlike other bodies which were kept inside huge drawers lined up along the wall of the room, the body of Keith Pilgrim was still laid on one of the examination tables. The only clothing covering the body was a single piece of white blanket spread over the lower half. Sedhoust could feel the presence of magic over the body, which was the standard spell used to preserve the body’s condition and prevent further decay.

“What are the results so far regarding this victim?” Vierra asked the staff member as she approached the body alongside Sedhoust.

The staff member quickly browsed through the sheets of paper he was holding, and then he began replying just a couple seconds later. “No examination has been conducted yet. According to the schedule, it should be in an hour from now.”

“I see.” Sedhoust said. “Then I will take a good look myself.”

The staff member looked surprised for a moment, then he spoke in an audibly nervous tone. “P-Please refrain from tampering with the body too much.”

“I know.” Sedhoust said without taking his eyes away from the body. “I have learned a thing or two from someone, so no worries.”

Sedhoust then took a closer look at the body. As expected of a pugilist, the body had an athletic build. There were several battle scars, showing the experience this man had obtained. Sedhoust wondered why this man had been only Iron rank, but the answer had already been taken to the grave so there was no use thinking too much about it.

“Hmm?” Sedhoust squinted his eyes the moment he looked at the neck of the body. “His throat was slit, right? Why is there no wound?”

The staff member browsed through the sheets again. “According to this report, a healing spell was cast on him on the scene.”

“So there was a healer among the adventurers on the scene. Then why did he still die?”

“We still haven’t found that out yet. We should have more information after the examination.”

“Hmm...” Sedhoust looked at the face of the dead body. The area around the mouth, especially the lips, was strangely blue. Not only that, but the entire face had turned blue to some degree.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Sedhoust?” Vierra asked while her eyes were still on the dead body’s face.

“Yes. Definitely.” Sedhoust replied, casting a spell which covered his right hand in a protective layer. He then, without hesitation, inserted his hand into the mouth of the dead body.

“W-What are you doing, Lord Grasmord?” The morgue staff asked in surprise.

“Saving you some trouble.” Sedhoust replied without stopping himself from probing inside the body’s mouth. “Be sure to get this on the record.”

“A-Alright. As you wish, Lord Grasmord.”

***

It was almost noon. A number of people were gathered in the guildmaster’s office. Those people were Keith the guildmaster himself, Sedhoust, Valeria, Theo, and a female adventurer of Gold rank dressed in sky-blue themed adventurer clothing. The latter three were standing with tense facial expressions for each their own reasons. Having been aware that her presence would have been unnecessarily overwhelming, Vierra had returned to the palace and therefore she was absent here.

“I believe all three of you know the matter at hand which made me call you here.” Keith spoke, sitting on his guildmaster seat with his arms folded and resting on his work desk, while Sedhoust was standing upright behind him to his left.

“Yes, but please let us speak in Doctor Kai’s defense!” Valeria said.

“That will come later. For now, I would like to speak to Juliana.” Keith said with his eyes set on the female adventurer.

“Y-Yes?” Juliana said, visibly looking intimidated by Keith’s dead serious face.

“You are the leader of the party who witnessed what happened yesterday, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“According to witness testimonies gathered this morning, your party came across the alleged crime scene and knocked the culprit out. Is that correct?”

“Y-Yes..” Juliana replied with her eyes glancing at Valeria, who visibly gritted her teeth and clenched her hands. “He brought the victim down on the ground, took out a small knife, and slit the victim’s throat. So we-”

“But-!” Valeria was about to intervene. However, Keith raised his hand towards her.

“Let’s respect each other and let her finish.” Keith said. “Your turn will come and I will fully hear you out. Do you trust me?”

“I... Uhh, alright. Fine.” Valeria said with a heavy sigh.

Keith looked at Juliana before speaking. “Continue.”

“So we immediately took action to stop him from injuring the victim further, and I healed the victim with my healing spell.”

Valeria became visibly more upset as Juliana spoke. Keith then asked a question to Juliana. “But the victim still ended up dead. Do you have any idea why?”

“Sadly... no.” Juliana shook her lowered head with closed eyes. “I only can make a guess that the knife was poisoned or enchanted with a deadly effect which I was unable to cure.”

“Do your party know about this? Do they agree with you?”

“...Yes. To both questions.”

“I see.” Keith then turned his head to Valeria and Theo. “Now is your turn.”

“Doctor Kai was trying to save his life!” Valeria shouted.

“Calm down, Miss Valeria. Shouting won’t help your case.” Keith said in a slightly raised tone of speech. “Take a deep breath and begin explaining what you meant about saving Keith Pilgrim’s life.”

“Tch!” Valeria clicked her tongue, but she complied and took a deep breath before she began speaking. “The victim was choking. Doctor Kai happened to be nearby and noticed it, so he applied emergency aids to help the victim.”

“Choking, as in, having something stuck in your throat and thus you can’t breathe?” Keith asked, to which Valeria responded with a nod. “What emergency aids?”

“If someone is choking, the first thing to do is to lean the person forward and give some hard blows on the back. If that fails, hug the person from the back and give strong thrust to the area above the belly with your palms. Alternate between the two methods, but if everything fails and time is running out, the last resort is to cut an opening on the neck. That’s what Doctor Kai did.”

“That’s absurd!” Juliana shouted. Her facial expression showed high tension. “I’ve never heard of such a violent method! You made it up!”

“On the contrary, the method exists officially.” Sedhoust intervened. “It is not widely used yet because of the controversial bodily harm involved. And like Valeria said, the method is usually used as a last resort. Because it requires precision, not many doctors can perform it, even in the capital city. However, in Belmott Empire most doctors can.”

“No...” Juliana shook her head and her eyes went wide. “That’s not true... It’s a lie!”

Sedhoust continued speaking, not paying much heed to Juliana’s reaction. “The postmortem examination has produced a preliminary result. The victim’s cause of death was in fact choking. They also managed to extract the object which got stuck in his throat, which is a large piece of meatball that he most definitely ate at the tavern-“

“Sedhoust. Stop there.” Keith intervened while gesturing Sedhoust to look at Juliana.

Thud.

Juliana fell on her knees. Her arms limped straight down while her eyes emptily gazed into space while leaking tears.

“No... Please tell me it’s not true...” Juliana held her own head with her hands. “Tell me it’s a lie!”

“Please calm yourself, Juliana.” Keith said.

“How can I calm down!?” Juliana shouted. “It all means I made him choke again by healing him! I killed him! I’m a murderer!” She wailed from the top of her lungs.

Click!

Suddenly the door opened and three people entered in a hurry. They were two guys and one girl dressed in adventurer gears, and they immediately came to Juliana. The other girl kneeled and hugged Juliana trying to comfort her, while the two guys stood between her and Keith, shielding her from view.

“Guildmaster, I respect you but you have gone too far!” The slightly taller of the two guys spoke.

The other guy followed up. “Y-Yes! I didn’t hear much, but Julia is crying and I can’t accept that!”

Keith sighed seeing things unfolding the way they were. “Look, I didn’t mean to make her cry or anything. Sooner or later the fact will come out and I figured to tell her sooner slowly, but my friend Sedhoust here lacks tact.”

“What fact?” The taller guy asked. “Like Mathias, I didn’t hear enough to understand. Could someone tell me quickly?”

Keith leaned back to his seat before speaking. “The victim choked on food, Doctor Kai used an emergency aid method only widely known among doctors in Belmott Empire, which is cutting an opening at a precise spot on the neck so he could breathe again. Juliana healed that opening on the victim’s neck, and thus he choked again. This time to death for real.”

Both Mathias and the other guy stood still with their mouths agape. The same applied to the female adventurer comforting Juliana, the latter of whom was still sobbing and leaking tears to the revealed fact that she had inadvertently killed someone.

“E-Excuse me. May I ask something?” Theo spoke up, breaking the silence.

“Go ahead.” Keith replied.

“Is there anything similar to Good Samaritan Law here?”

“Good Sama- what?”

“It’s a law existing back in our home. It serves as a protection against litigation in the event a medical professional fails to-“

“Theo, you’re making it difficult to grasp.” Valeria intervened. “To put it into a simple example, if you stumble upon a dying stranger on the streets, tried your best to help, but the stranger still ends up dying, the law will protect you from getting to jail, on the basis that you meant well and good deeds should never be punished.”

“Oh, yes there is.” Keith said. “It’s called Passing Saint Law here. I’ll put the details aside, but indeed it is applicable to both parties according to the facts gathered so far. Meaning Doctor Kai will be cleared of all charges and Juliana’s party won’t face any legal repercussions for obstructing Doctor Kai, because everyone meant well in their own interpretations.”

“That’s good to hear!” Valeria said, showing her excitement. Theo had a similar expression, but none of the rest seemed to share the sentiment.

“The problem is what comes next.” Keith said, resting his arms on the desk. “The case happened in public, so people will demand answers. As I said, none of the parties involved here will face legal repercussions, but if we publicize the facts as is, Juliana and her party will be under the risk of social punishment for having been ignorant of what Doctor Kai was trying to do, resulting in the death of a person.”

“Oh... Right.” Valeria said, averting her eyes from Juliana and the rest of her party.

“In any case, I will have Doctor Kai released immediately and declare him cleared of all charges. Though I highly recommend him to stay indoors for a while, at least until we eventually publicize the facts.” Keith folded his arms as he spoke, before he looked at Juliana’s party. “The guild will help your team with this matter to the best of our ability, but first I’d like to hear if you have an initiative in mind.”

“No choice but to disband, isn’t it?” The taller guy said.

Mathias immediately shook his head. “No, Reiter! Why do we have to disband over a single mistake!?”

“A mistake that cost someone’s life.”

“But there must be another way!” Mathias said with his voice raised, then he looked back to the two girls. “Right, Julia? Yuril?”

The two girls didn’t answer Mathias. Instead, Reiter gave him a pretty hard blow on the back. “Face it, Mathias! We are covered by Passing Saint Law, but that doesn’t change the fact that we have obstructed someone from saving another’s life!”

“Aaah! Why did this have to happen when we finally got into Gold Rank!!?” Mathias shouted and stomped the floor several times. “Why did that doctor have to be there!? If only he wasn’t there we wouldn’t have to be in trouble like this!”

“Mathias!” Yuril intervened. “By your logic you should also blame Keith Pilgrim for eating at that tavern, or Deweg the tavern owner for serving such a big meatball skewers! Does that make any sense to you? There’s nobody to blame but ourselves!”

“Alright, cut it out.” Keith spoke out. “You’re all overwhelmed. Go home and rest, then come back to me after you have calmed down. Don’t even think of disbanding yet, alright? We’ll find a way to sort this out.”

Without saying a word, the team of four left the office with their heads hanging in a mix of frustration, depression, and shame. Seeing that, one couldn’t help feeling pity on them.

The door closed with a click, and then Keith sighed. “Well, that’s that for now. You also may rest. I’ll have Doctor Kai returned to you in at most half an hour.”

“Is there any good way to wrap this up?” Theo asked, glancing at the closed door.

“Well...” Keith folded his arms and lowered his head with his eyes closed. “For now the best way I can think of is to not mention the fact that Keith Pilgrim choked again because of Juliana’s healing spell.”

“But that would make an implication that Doctor Kai failed in his attempt.” Valeria said.

“Yes, that’s my concern too.” Keith replied. “Anyway, put that aside for today. We won’t publicize the facts until next week at the earliest, so we still have time.”

“Alright then.” Valeria said, and then she bowed towards Keith. “Thank you so much for finding the truth so quickly. I honestly didn’t expect that.”

Keith pointed his thumb to Sedhoust who had been standing upright behind him to the left. “Give the credit to this guy here. It was all thanks to him pushing everything to breakneck speed, otherwise even though Doctor Kai would eventually be proven innocent anyway, he would’ve spent at least a week in jail.”

Sedhoust folded his arms and averted his eyes from everyone else. “It’s not like I helped out of kindness. For me, it was an opportunity to make your captain owe me a favor. That’s all.”

“Yes, I heard from Captain Mayer.” Valeria said. “You want to study on our spaceship, right? Regardless of your motive, I still thank you all the same.”

“Thank you!” Theo said while bowing towards Sedhoust, and then he and Valeria left the office. Sedhoust and Keith remained silent for a few more seconds before the latter glanced at the other with a smirk.

“You’re funny, Sedhoust. You want Elana’s favor, yet you outright told them that you have an ulterior motive. That’s counterproductive, y’know.”

Sedhoust didn’t look back at Keith when he replied. “I merely didn’t want to be lumped together with scheming scoundrels out there.”

“Right...” Keith said. “By the way, did you notice what Valeria said?”

“I did.” Sedhoust put his hands on his hip. “Spaceship, eh? So they really came from outer space, somewhere beyond the stars. To think that, within our lifespan, we got to see living proof that we are not alone in the universe...”

“Quite a slip of tongue she got there. But better not spread it ourselves for now.”

“There’s no merit in doing that anyway.”

“So, what’s your plan now?”

“Have lunch, and then finalize my purchase of land at Merchant’s Guild, I guess. I canceled everything else in my schedule after all.”

“Oh yeah, yesterday you were surveying the land outside the city. So you’ve decided to purchase it, huh?”

“Yes. It wasn’t that expensive.”

“Y’know. I’d be surprised if you didn’t purchase all ten hectares of it.” Keith looked at Sedhoust with a wry smile, to which Sedhoust responded with only a smirk.

***

At the previous day, the same day the alleged murder case happened in the capital city, a group of people were walking through the dirt road in the grassy wilderness. It was not long past noon so the sun was still high in the sky, and thus exhaustion was apparent among the group due to the heat. Not to mention the fact that some of them were injured from their encounter with Calamity Beasts, needing someone else to lend their shoulder and thus slowing the pace even further. The path being a slight downward slope helped, but not by much.

“Are we getting there yet?” Robin asked while walking and panting.

Elana glanced at the map projected in her vision, and then she replied. “We’re about halfway.”

“Oh come on, give me a break! Why’s there no passing carriage or something we can hitch a ride on?”

“Can’t be helped.” Jerome said. “This road we’re walking on is out of the way for most routes since the only settlement it leads to is abandoned.”

“Uhh, can this day get any worse now?”

“Now that you’ve just jinxed it, it probably will soon.” Jerome replied with a small laugh.

“On the contrary,” Elana said while looking to the left. “It might get a little better soon.”

Everybody else looked the same way, and they immediately noticed a horse-drawn roofed carriage traversing in a relatively parallel direction with theirs, at a distance likely close enough for a scream to reach the people over there. Probably thanks to the new hope in sight, Robin somehow restored his vigor and jumped with his hands up while shouting towards the carriage.

“Heeeeeey!! We’re here!! Help!!”

Robin’s actions fortunately bore fruit. Just a few seconds later the carriage visibly slowed down and changed its course towards the group. It was a sight which filled everyone with hope and relief after all the exhausting trip.

The carriage and the group soon met. The driver was an adult man with an adult woman sitting at his left side. Both of them looked visibly bewildered upon seeing the group.

“What happened to you all?” The woman asked with clear worry written on her face.

Jerome stepped forward in response. “Please allow me to explain. I’m Jerome, a captain of the private soldiers of Lunavond Family. We were commissioned by Viscountess Mirabelle Lunavond to inspect an abandoned mine in the mountains. However, the mine turned out to be infested with Calamity Beasts. We’re survivors of what used to be a larger group.”

“Oh my!” The woman gasped and covered her mouth with both hands.

The man pointed his thumb to the back and spoke. “Get on. We’ll take you to the lakeside village north of here.”

“Thank you! That’s where we were going.” Jerome said, and then soon everyone were onboard.

“Man, you sure all had it rough.” The man said while driving the carriage without looking back. “What beasts appeared there?”

Jerome, who sat nearest to the driver, replied. “A swarm of red centipedes and one rock golem. The rock golem was defeated, but no idea if there were more.”

“Rock golem? That was dangerous! I heard many adventurers fell to defeat even one.”

“That might be a little exaggerated. But yeah, we’re lucky to have capable ones among us. Otherwise we wouldn’t even be here now. Our task was not a subjugation one to begin with after all.”

“I see. Anyway, it will be about one hour until we arrive at the village. Feel free to sleep back there until then.”

“Well...” Jerome smirked while looking around within the roofed carriage. “Some are already doing exactly that.”

Elana looked around as well, and indeed a number of people had already fallen asleep. Claune and Robin, also Lillie and the rest of her squad, all succumbed to the exhaustion which most definitely had burdened them for quite a while. Seeing their peaceful faces, Elana smiled, silently thanking them for their good work as the rattling carriage roamed through the open grassland of the wilderness.

Later, after one hour had passed, the carriage arrived at the aforementioned lakeside village. Elana peeked outside to see the scenery, and she saw that the lake in question was quite small, one probably wouldn’t be ridiculed for assuming that it was a pond.

“If you need it, I’ll drop you off at the village doctor.” The man said while glancing at Jerome.

Jerome in response glanced at the others and then he replied. “Yes, I think that’ll be the best. Thank you for the offer.”

“No prob! Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Louis, the son of the village chief. And this is my wife Karina. Remember us when you get back home, alright?”

Jerome laughed a little before replying. “Heh, sure.”

Soon later, the carriage stopped in front of a two-story wooden house which was notably larger than most others. There was also a sign hanging above the front door which read “Doctor Duncan”. Everybody other than Louis and Karina stepped off the carriage, and then the couple waved goodbye before leaving.

“Let’s get a proper treatment for those wounds before we try searching for a ride to the capital city.” Jerome said. Nobody disagreed, and so they approached the front door of the doctor’s house.

Knock! Knock!

Jerome knocked on the door, and then after ten seconds it was opened. The one coming out was a middle-aged man with generous, but pretty neatly trimmed, facial hair. Like the beard, the brown hair covering his head was also trimmed well.

“Are you Doctor Duncan?” Jerome asked. “We got some wounded here.”

“Why, yes! Come in!” The man said while urging everyone to come into the house, confirming that he was really Doctor Duncan.

Everybody went into the house following Doctor Duncan, who went into one corner of the room and washed his hand on the basin placed there.

“Seat the wounded over there.” Doctor Duncan pointed to a nearby small bed as he began rummaging through some drawers of a shelf at the back. Robin and Claune stepped forward and sat on the bed as instructed. “Isaac! We got patients! Come down and help me!”

Elana, and probably all of the Mountain Squad, couldn’t help reacting to the name called by Doctor Duncan.

Just someone with the same name definitely.

Elana immediately thought that way, knowing that there was no way the one called by Doctor Duncan was Isaac Bravomac, the engineer who had sacrificed himself to reactivate the engine of Martin Alphen. He had been blown out of the ship in high altitude, and there was no way to survive a fall from that height.

As Elana was musing about it, incoming footsteps could be heard from further within the house. Just a few seconds later the door at the back opened and someone came out.

“W-What!?” Lillie blurted out the one-word question. Elana froze up, and so did Ulysses and Gregory. Their eyes met with the newcomer, and he immediately froze up as well, with his eyes going wide and his mouth agape.

“C-Captain Mayer...?” The man asked.

The man called Isaac was, without a doubt, Isaac Bravomac.

***