With the Kobold King taken care of, I hurried back to Hayla. She was still on the ground, though she was starting to prop herself up, now that the danger was over.

“Are you okay?” I asked, crouching down next to her and putting a hand to her shoulder.

“Yes, I’m alright.” She looked up at me with an expression that seemed slightly troubled. “Thank you.”

“I’m glad. Come on.”

I offered her my hands and pulled her up to her feet. Initially, I didn’t know what the look on her face was about, assuming that she was just shaken from the attack. However, when I noticed her glancing up and down the trail the boss had left behind, I realized that she had a hard time looking at the mangled guards. Somehow I had glanced past that entirely. While I was looking around I also quickly scanned the others, to make sure that nobody was injured, but they seemed healthy as well.

Having instructed the guards, Captain Grym walked over to us. The boss was beaten, the dungeon gone, but he did not look happy. “Tomar!” he bellowed. “That was a category six at least! You call that weak!?”

“That was a misunderstanding,” I said. “The dungeon as a whole wasn’t supposed to be difficult to clear, but if the boss leaves, all bets are off. I don’t know about categories, but the difficulty level doubled when the Kobold King left and the lights turned purple.”

“Kobold King? Another fancy name for a deadly monster,” he spat. “The smaller ones looked similar, were those normal ‘kobolds’ then?”

“Well, I didn’t see them, but that stands to reason.”

“What do you know about these beasts?” he asked forcefully.

“Let’s see... Physically they’re not overly strong, but they’re witty and they like to use others’ weapons against them. They also lay traps and work together against tough opponents. Individually, they shouldn’t be a threat, but they can be tricky to deal with when they’re in a group.”

“That’s them, alright... And you just happen to know them? These beasts that we’ve never seen before?”

“Apparently.”

He seemed to be getting angrier by the second. “Listen, boy. I don’t care if you lost your memory. You need to do better. If you had led with this difficulty doubling crap, maybe we could’ve still done something. We wasted several minutes! Do you understand that?”

“I did tell you that it’s easier to fight the boss within the dungeon, though I should’ve been clearer about it. In my defense, I didn’t know you were at it for hours already, and that you sent more and more men inside in an endless cycle. Normally It should take about four days until a dungeon ruptures.”

“Alright,” he said with a long sigh, calming himself. “Let’s hope this was a one-time event, or that one of you will be around right away next time. Though I expect you to fill me in on all the details.”

Very demanding for someone who’s supposed to be talking to their boss.

“You should assume that this wasn’t the last time. Not by a long shot. But you should know everything by now. Unless... Do you know about loot?”

“I do not,” he grumbled.

“Okay, in that case there is more. The positive side to the dungeons. But that has time.”

“Okay,” he said and studied my face for a moment. “By the way, how serious is your condition?”

“I’m not sure. I know things nobody else seems to know, but I don’t remember anything about my life.”

“Hm. Well, you talk like Tomar. And you haven’t gotten weaker, that’s for sure...” Turning towards Berla, he continued, “but you know that he can’t rule like this. Get Lilly back as soon as possible.”

All heads turned to her, sitting on the ground, holding the girl in her arms protectively.

“That’s... going to be difficult...” she said, frowning.

“Maybe you don’t understand, Alarna needs a proper ruler, or the powers that be will fill that role against your will.”

“I’m here as well,” Hayla said, interjecting herself into the conversation.

“I see that, Miss Varant... though I don’t know why,” Grym said.

“Tomar and I are betrothed, and I just started helping with administrative duties. There won’t be any issues,” she confidently said.

“Oh?” Grym’s constant grimmance turned into surprise. He seemed to search for the right words to react to these news, but had a hard time finding them. “That’s... Huh. I did not expect this, but I have to say that I’m pleased to hear it. A union between the Varants and the Lillys, so to speak. Congratulations, Miss Varant, Tomar.”

“Thank you,” she said, a pleased smile on her lips.

It was obvious that she enjoyed the respect shown to her. We had apparently imprisoned all members of the former administration for the time being, during the transitioning phase, and I just got her out of jail. It was no wonder that she was happy to get back into a position of power. And seeing her smile, I was happy for her as well.

“I will get back to it then,” Grym said, saluted, and turned on his heel. Though he glanced back one more time. “Boy! Move it!”

With a sigh, Bren quickly saluted me as well and then hurried after his father. The saluting aside, I appreciated the casual tone of the people I had met so far.

““Tomar—”” Hayla and Berla said in unison, just as Bren had left. Having talked over one another, they stopped and stared daggers at each other. The first one to continue was Hayla.

“We should get back as well, don’t you think? I’d... rather not stay out here, amid this... chaos.”

She still looked uncomfortable, and I could hardly blame her. There were dead bodies in both directions, blood splatters everywhere, and thirty meters away, a dozen guards tried to pull the corpse of a huge beast out of a former tent. I thought that this should affect me as well in some way, but it just didn’t. If it wasn’t the same for her, I would comply with her wish to leave, though I was curious what Berla had wanted.

“Sure, but before we go: What did you want to... say...?”

I trailed off. The moment I looked into Berla’s eyes, the feeling from before returned. There was definitely something about her, and not just that she resembled Hayla. It was on the tip of my tongue, but it just wouldn’t come out.

“I need to talk to you in private,” Berla said.

It would’ve sounded innocent enough if it wasn’t for the grave expression on her face. Hayla, in turn, looked anything but happy about this request. My running theory was that Berla and I had some kind of relationship, and it would presumably be helpful to hear what its nature was. But on the other hand, I didn’t have a contract with her. She could tell me whatever she wanted. And of course I didn’t want to anger the one person I was relatively sure I could trust. In short: I didn’t know what to do.

“You can’t say it here?” I asked.

She shook her head. It was just us three, a sleeping girl, and an animal. If she couldn't speak freely, Hayla must have been the problem. Though that theory was turned on its head when a voice came from right behind me.

“You need to talk to her.”

Huh? Did someone sneak up on—

My eyes widened when I turned around and came face to face with the wolf. Briefly considering whether someone might be standing behind him, I glanced past his sides, but there was no one.

“You can talk?” I asked, perplexed.

“Yes,” he said, somewhat happily, before dropping his head. “You really don’t remember anything?”

“Certainly not that animals can talk...”

That seems like an important detail... Why can I name beasts the guards have never seen before, but I don’t know about talking wolves?

“Not all of them!” he corrected.

“Is that so... Alright.”

I guess that’s better?

“It’s really important,” Berla said, getting us back on track.

My eyes once more fell on her and the girl in her arms. Thinking about it, she had been sleeping since I got here, despite everything that happened around her. I could see that she was alive and well in her mana, but this entire group seemed a little weird. A Fighter with only one leg... a talking wolf... and an awakened girl who, funnily enough, slept through a life threatening dungeon rupture.

“Has it something to do with that girl?” I asked. “I am very curious how it’s possible that she’s still sleeping.”

“Not directly, no. The reason she’s out of it is because she overexerted herself, fighting back beasts inside the dungeon.”

Regardless of what her mana looked like, I was immediately worried about her well being. I was still reevaluating raw mana use, and my brain told me that she could be in danger if she had fought to exhaustion and fell unconscious.

The reason I wouldn’t have chosen this practice, was that your body was essentially running entirely on mana after awakening. It produced and regenerated it on its own, which could technically be very useful. Not only would your physical abilities be enhanced, you could also use scripts on your own body, drawing mana from within.

The downside was that you were henceforth relying on your mana. If anything disturbed its flow, you might suffer health issues. And if you used it up, and your body didn’t respond fast or efficiently enough, it would cease function. I half-expected to die when I fought back against the Kobold King, but apparently my mana was fine and my reserves large enough.

In her case, I couldn’t be sure. Though I would’ve expected her to be dead already if she had reached that point. And not being able to do anything about it either way, I had no reason to stay here for her.

“Hm, alright. Listen, I’m still struggling to remember my own name, and I’d rather talk to Hayla a little more first. We can speak at a later time, okay?”

Graveness gave way to sadness as she replied, “Okay,” and I turned around to leave with Hayla at my side. It felt like the right decision at that moment, despite my mixed feelings about leaving Berla behind.

We can always talk later, I told myself. Maybe when Hayla isn’t around for a bit, so there’s no... whatever is going on between them. We could’ve offered her help to get back... but I’m sure there’s more than enough guards who can lend her a hand. Yea. This is fine.

I had successfully justified the decision to myself and walked away, step by step. Until a young, female voice called after me and I froze.

“Miles!”