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*******************

I was reaching the edge of the camp when I saw another familiar face.

It is Sofia, the director of the magic academy, who is under an awning, sitting in an ornate chair while drinking from a silver cup.

"Hi. How are you?" I say to her effusively as I approach, since I still feel the effect of Ozy's energizing smoke very strongly.

"Aghh, great. Another one coming to ask stupid questions," she says, slurring her words, and I see she has big dark marks under her eyes. "How do you think I'm going to be if, when I wake up from the magic coma I fell into to save the queen's ass, I had to spend huge amounts of mana again. Whereupon I almost fell back into a magical coma. And all because our little soldiers hadn't been able to fulfill their only task, which was to defend the kingdom!"

"Ahh," I say, backing away a bit aghast at the headmistress's manner of speaking.

"Excuse me, dear, I'm not at my best," she says, softening her tone of voice, but a second later she snorts and adds, "but you have to be a fool to ask such a question!"

"I think... I guess I'll see you later at a better time," I say, and slowly walk away from the director.

"Very good! You seem to have been able to connect two neurons in that tiny head of yours," she says gruffly, but a second later she clears her throat, sighs, and says, "yes, dear, I think you'd better do that."

***

I'm flying closer to the capital, riding Azur. And, while we are heading to Julia's house, I check the benefits of this battle.

I went up 1 level in all the older classes, and 15 in Explorer. I distributed the stat points evenly, bringing all stats to 82 points, except for Agility and Strength, which have 83 points.

I also leveled up my Survivor skill, so it's now at level 5. And that gives me 15% per minute regeneration of health, mana, and stamina for 10 minutes.

I guess fighting without rest for so long has its benefits… But that's just because I don't pass out from exhaustion.

We get to the area around Julia and Raila's house and slowly descend in their direction. It's funny to watch people run away in fear when they see a blue-black dragon coming down towards them.

When I came with Octavo, we needed a wide place to land since Octavo is not very strong physically, but now that I am alone, I simply jump to the side while we are still a few meters off the ground.

Whereupon my partner can simply start changing size even while in the air.

Before jumping, I put the saddle away in my inventory and, after landing on the ground, semi-bent over; supporting one knee, my foot, and my fist, while extending one hand back to steady myself; I start to stand up and, shortly after, Azur lands next to me.

As we reach the entrance of the house, Deirdre greets us cheerfully, as she rushes out through the doorway, "Master! How did it go? Did you defeat the orcs?"

"Easy, child. Let the hero do the talking," Raila says with a smirk, as she stands leaning against the doorway. But she has to move out of her place immediately, to let Julia pass through since she also rushes out of the house to check on me.

I don't understand what this attitude is all about, but I don't care... I have limited time to talk to them, and I'm not going to waste it on nonsense. Maybe Ozy's skill is making me look at things too positively…

However, despite the barrage of questions from Julia and Deirdre, I prefer to talk about these things while sitting in a chair, since I don't know when the fatigue from the fight will return, and I don't want to fall unconscious in the middle of the street.

So, when Azur finish downsizing, we enter the house. And, after sitting at the table, I set out to talk to Julia, Deirdre, and Raila.

Mia was sleeping since it was late at night, but Julia told me that she was also very worried about me.

...

"I think... " I say when I've finished telling them the story in the most summarized way possible, and now I start to give them my opinions about the things that happened during the fight, but my sentence is interrupted by a yawn, "I think it could have been worse."

Hmm, I feel that the effects of Ozy's energizing smoke are already wearing off. I'd better go to sleep soon.

So, reducing my opinions about the fight to a minimum, I finished talking to Deirdre and the girls and went to the inn to sleep.

Deirdre also went home, and we agreed to meet tomorrow to talk in more detail about what happened in the battle and go to the labyrinth.

***

In the end, I slept for a whole day, and when I woke up, my whole body felt stiff.

During that time, Deirdre came looking for me. But, hearing from the innkeeper that I was still sleeping, she decided to let me rest.

Today, when I woke up and found out what happened, I went to her house and told her about all the details of the battle against the orc army.

When we finished talking about it, we decided to go to the guild to sell the leftover remnants of the animated armor we defeated in the forest, as well as the loot from all the monsters.

Since, even though Charity took some as part payment for our weapons, there's still quite a bit left over.

And the orc can't buy it from us, since the refugees don't have enough money to afford it.

"Ahh, I forgot. I still haven't apologized for not waking up yesterday. Thanks for letting me sleep in, by the way." I smile at the therian walking beside me.

"Don't be silly!" she says with a chagrined expression. "I'm the one who should have realized you couldn't go to the labyrinth after such an hours-long battle."

"Well, neither of us thought of it, so don't read too much into it. Are you planning to buy anything with the money from your share of the loot?" I ask her to change the subject of the conversation since Deirdre looks uncomfortable. "It'll be quite a lot, I suppose, considering what the orichalcum is worth."

"I..." she starts to say, looking at me with a strange smile on her face. And, after hesitating for a few moments, she continues, "I don't know. I've never had money before. The truth is, I'd rather you keep it for me. I'll ask you for it when I want to buy something."

"Wouldn't it be better if Charity kept it for you?" I ask, confused by the girl's idea. I'm surprised that she's trusted me this far. After all, we haven't known each other that long.

"No!" she exclaims, aghast at my suggestion. "Miss Charity has many virtues, but knowing how to take care of money is not one of them. She's always thinking about helping people, even if it leaves her without a copper because she doesn't know when to stop..."

"Hmm, ok," I say simply in response, because I can't think of what else to say against that argument.

After thinking about it for a while, I tried again with another of his acquaintances. "And Drok? He seems to take good care of the money, seeing how he fought for the price Charity wanted to put on the manufacture of my sword."

"Master!" exclaims Deirdre, with an irritated expression, "Does it bother you so much to keep the money for me?"

"No! It's not like that. It's just that I think you should leave it with someone you trust..." I start to explain but I am interrupted by her.

"Well, let me decide who is trustworthy and who isn't!" She says, annoyed, and starts to raise her voice, whereupon passersby start throwing curious glances at us.

"Ok," I say, raising my hands in a gesture of surrender. "ok, I was just saying..."

In response, Deirdre huffs and speeds up, making me walk faster to keep up with her.

...

"Here you go. That's 959 platinum coins in total. Thank you for choosing us," says the guild receptionist, who passes the money across the counter to us.

Half of it is Deirdre's, but she told me she'd rather I keep it myself…

So...

That's a lot of money!

Now I'm the one who's starting to feel uncomfortable carrying such a large amount on me, but Azur seems to love the idea of being that loaded, and I notice he's making fun of my feelings of discomfort....

Anyway, I guess I don't have much to worry about....

Woe betide the thief who tries to steal from Azur and me.