Chapter 661 - A long way back home (Patreon)

The group was walking and not sprinting, which meant they would take more than one hour to reach the outpost. They were walking through a more open area of the forest in hopes that, if someone were trying to ambush a group this big, they wouldn't be able to do so. Reynara was by Grilat's side the entire time; her face would shift between pain and anger when a noise caused her to snap in its direction. No one was talking much at first, trying to be respectful of the fallen fighter, but eventually, Blue started asking about spells that would make something cold.

"So no one has one? Something like a way to make ice that stays or to lower the temperature of something without damaging anything," Blue turned to the group.

"My spells only deal damage. I'm not good at making cold drinks."

"I'm just saying. We are going to take a while to get to the village, and if we are going to keep the body around, we should make it cold. Not just to slow down the rot, but also because of the smell."

"It's not a body! He has a name," Reynara snarled.

"Yes, and if we want to make sure what's left of Grilat reaches the Vanguard, we need to consider how to bring his body with us. If we don't do anything, the smell will be a problem for us and will attract monsters," Hera said without looking at the huntress. To everyone's surprise, she was somehow the only one comfortable enough to talk back to her.

"I think I can do something about that," Shane stepped closer to the cloud and enchanted the corpse to be frozen, "I never expected that this spell to make drinks cooler during hot days would be useful like this," she said with a sad smile, still trying to pretend that she didn't have a Legacy.

Half an hour went by, and they were still somewhat far away from the outpost when Hera sensed that Daskka had finished recovering. She wasn't destroyed during the fight, only wounded. Now, the herald seemed to want to come out, even if she still wasn't completely healed. The Empress was feeling somewhat naked, having only two of her court members out. Even if her friends were around, and she knew she could still fight, not having most of the voices that constantly followed her felt odd. Either way, she decided to call Daskka out, even if it was mostly to know what happened with Core.

'Mum! Are you ok?' Daskka asked and snuggled on Hera's cheek just as she appeared.

'I'm fine. How about you? Are you feeling ok?'

'I am. Still a bit tired, but I wanted to help. What are we doing?' Daskka looked around as Armory and Scythe quickly gave her the rundown of the situation.

'Right now, there isn't much we can do, but I have to know one thing. What happened with Core? Why did he break? Please tell me it wasn't the weapon brake skill.'

Daskka shook her head, 'It wasn't. He actually broke because of the combat. The punch of the Night River was too much for him.'

'What about the explosion?'

'I think he was just about to toss a spell. A big one. Then he broke, and the mana kind of went haywire,' Daskka explained.

'So he is ok?'

'Yeah. Well, sort of. He will be out of commission for a couple of days. This is the first time one of your court members breaks, and that's how it works. It takes time for them to recover. The bigger the difference between your attributes and the attributes they have, the longer it will take for a blade to come back from something like that,' Daskka explained.

Hera just nodded, 'Ok. I'm glad.'

A couple more minutes went by when they heard some noise coming from the side, only for Rorik and Nara to come out from behind a tree.

"Are you all ok?" Rorik, the massive bear-human, asked.

"Do you have any idea of what is going-" Nara looked towards the cloud- "Is that Grilat?"

"Yes," Reynara said with venom in her voice.

Nara put both hands over her mouth and continued staring at the cloud with wide eyes, "I'm… so sorry."

"Man… he didn't deserve to go down like this," Rorik shook his head.

"And how did he deserve to go down?" Reynara asked, stepping towards the man and stopping right in front of him.

"I don't know, but not like this. I mean, having their legs crushed by the Night River is a sad way to die."

Reynara moved swiftly; her clawed hands plunged into the man's chest and ripped his heart out in a swift motion.

"What the fuck!" Nara cried and tried to help Rorik, but to no avail; he was already dead.

"The only way to know how Grilat was crushed is if he was there," Reynara replied.

"What? He was fighting against the Night River. That is the first assumption that anyone would make!" Nara screamed.

"No. The first assumption would be that he drowned or that he got punched until he died. He was too specific," Reynara turned to stare at Nara with a fire in her eyes, "Were you a part of this?"

Nara opened her mouth but quickly stopped and, without anything else to say, chose the worst combination of words possible, "Now you can be the chieftain. And he dumped you, so he deserved to die anyway."

As soon as Nara finished her sentence, Reynara flung her arm to the side, her claws dripping with blood as the fur covering Nara's neck was painted red, having her throat opened by the huntress.

"Any comments from the newbies?" Reynara asked as she walked back to the group.

"You got lucky he let you get that close," Shane said.

"And that Nara was on the ground while talking. You could have asked for help. Even if we would let you deal the finishing blow, we could at least trap them," Alex added.

Reynara looked at the two women for a moment and said, "I'll keep that in mind. Can we keep moving?"

Without saying anything else, they continued walking. Aside from a couple of monsters who tried their luck but were quickly dispatched by the group, nothing happened until they arrived at the outpost. In there, most people were inside the dormitory that Hera made, with the ones outside standing guard and with their weapons drawn.

"Who goes there?" the guard in front asked.

"Reynara, the new kids, and Grilat. Well… what is left of Grilat, at least," Shane waved at the guards.

"What's left of him?" one of the guards asked with worry in his voice.

Shane just nodded and gestured to Blue. The controller stepped away from her cloud and lowered his body. The guard who looked over had to step back and hold his mouth, almost throwing up at the sight. Hera understood the reaction. It was hard to see someone with only half their body remaining.

"Shit…" the other guard shook his head before turning back to the group, "How do we know you are not the ones who did this?"

"Do you think I'll let them live if they were the ones responsible for this?" Reynara almost spat the words, speaking while grinding her teeth. Her black eyes didn't show the red caused by her tears, but they were still glistening on her skin.

"What is going on out there?" Multrak emerged from the outpost and saw the group; he walked closer to them and saw Grilat on top of Blue's cloud. He touched the man's cheek with a sorrowful expression, "I'm sorry, my boy. You did not deserve this end."

"Why are you all here?" Reynara stepped forward, towering over Multrak while staring him down, "Why were you not there to help him fight?"

"We were attacked by the rebels. They used some smoke bombs and other things to scatter us, and when we realized what was going on, the priority became gathering up. I trusted that between you, Grilat, Hera, Helena, Blue, and Mylo, you would be able to, at least, push the Night River back. As much as we wanted to kill the monster, I trusted that you would understand your limits and help each other if the situation called for it," Multrak looked at Hera and the others.

"We were holding on without much of a problem, but then I made a mistake, and the Night River used a wave attack that took me out of the crater I think that pushed everyone away," Hera looked around getting nods in response, "When I got up, Kadhan appeared and attacked me," Hera explained.

"He was a part of it?" Multrak gasped.

"Yeah. The goal was to let Grilat die and have Reynara as the new chief. Then they would make her attack or abandon the kingdom as revenge."

"Pielle, Nara, Rorik, Throne, and Kaela were also a part of this," Bonnie added, "We didn't get the full story from them, but the bits and pieces match what Hera said."

Multrak shook his head and kicked a rock with enough strength to get it stuck to a tree. He usually seemed so frail and weak, but now they could see that he wasn't even using his cane anymore but standing at his full height.

"Fuck. Why didn't they talk to me before doing all this?" Multrak sighed.

"You would help them if they did?" Helena asked.

"Maybe. Before anything, I would tell them my experience of going against the kingdom. If they still wanted to go through with it and the rest of the Vanguard agreed to it, I would help. What do I have to lose?" Multrak scratched his head in frustration and walked over to Grilat, "What did this? He shouldn't be this cold yet."

"I did, I have a spell for cold drinks, but it's the first time I ever used it in a body," Shane explained.

"Can you keep the spell working through the night? I would rather stay here for another day before heading back. A lot of people are hurt, and I don't mean just physically."

"I can; I just need to top it off later," Shane lied. She could maintain that enchantment for a very long time, but it would be better to pretend it was just a regular spell.

"Good," Multrak turned to the huntress who refused to leave Grilat's side, "Reynara. You might not want to hear this, but you are going to be the next chieftain. There is no one else fit for the job. It has to be you."

"Can we not talk about this now?" Reynara asked without looking away from the former future chieftain's body.

"No, we can't. To defend against the rebels, I had to use a part of my legacy that comes with a cost. I don't know how much time I have," Multrak explained.

"What? You are going to die too?" Reynara gasped.

"Not quite. But I'll be heavily debilitated. I should still last a couple of days with this strength. Enough so that we can go back to the village without a problem. However, you need to be ready. I'll give you my legacy, and in the worst-case scenario, if I end up going into a coma after the effects of this skill wear off, you need to kill me before I die."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Reynara yelled; even for someone considered crazy like her, this felt like too much.

Hera gently touched the huntress' shoulder, "He is talking about the legacy. There are three ways of getting one, inheriting from someone else, passing a test created by the legacy, or killing someone who was one. Multrak must be thinking that it's better to speed up the process and make sure the right person has the legacy instead of letting it create a test."

Reynara shook her head, "Fine. But stop. I don't want to have that conversation right now, not over Grilat's body."

"I agree. I just wanted to let you know soon so you can prepare yourself. And I'm sorry. I know that, despite everything, he loved you very much," Multrak approached Reynara.

"I'm sorry too. I know you considered him the closest thing to a son you ever had."

Hera and her friends didn't say anything; it didn't feel like a moment where they could help, and joining the conversation felt disrespectful. Eventually, the conversation shifted to what they would do. A few people were still missing, and they couldn't tell if they were part of the rebels or just lost in the jungle. It seemed like none of the hunters were participating in that coup attempt, and because of it, they took charge of the rescue mission. Hera and her friends didn't offer to help. Most of them suffered some injuries during the fights, although no one was in a worse state than the Empress herself. But the main reason for not helping was because they were they new kids. Anyone who found them would be instantly suspicious they were a part of whatever was going on.

When she got a moment, Hera stepped out to go to the bathroom and be alone.

"Sammy. Can you help me with something?"

The turtle appeared out of thin air, "Want me to keep a lookout so no one sees you peeing?"

"No… actually, yeah, that would be nice. But I have something else in mind. Can you feel where my daggers are? I lost them before the fight with Kadhan, and I didn't have a chance to look for them."

"I'm sorry. I can't. Items don't give a signal like you all do," if this were a regular memory, Sammy would be able to find the daggers, and he would know about it. However, here, their items and anything that Hera and the others brought felt like part of the world from the get-go. He couldn't understand why and none of his theories made much sense."

"Crap… ok, thank you. I really don't want to lose them, but I don't think I can look for them right now," Hera sighed and walked behind a tree, "Don't look, but tell me if anything is getting close."

The Empress said that not just for Sammy but for the members of her court that were already out.

"Can't you ask someone?"

"Not really. I could ask Nimbus or Lurize, but then I would be less effective, and I think that would be a bad idea. Asking another person doesn't feel like a good idea either. I will just be sending them to a potential ambush."

"Maybe we can come back in the future? If you didn't have to move with the Vanguard, you and Nimbus would come back and forth without much of an issue.

"Yeah, maybe," Hera shrugged. She was attacked by rebels, almost got killed by the Night River, had to kill Kadhan, and found Grilat's body. Compared with all that, losing her daggers felt like something small, even if it was still a slap on the face.

Finishing up her necessities, Hera walked back to the outposts and found the small faucet created by a spell. She washed her hands and went back inside. Just like almost everyone who was there, she needed rest and healing. Two things that required her to stop moving, and that was an idea she really liked right now.