Aziza’s misty figure disappeared into the train station. Freya sensed she wasn’t entirely at peace yet, but she was on the path. Hopefully, the spirit would take her words to heart and slowly accept she didn’t need her father’s forgiveness. Aziza had done nothing wrong after all. She had just been incredibly unlucky.

The rest of the day passed by in a fog for Freya. Her thoughts constantly returned to Aziza and the silent promise she made. 

They took the train back to the castle district of Soliya to report all their findings to the King. Nightscythe did most of the talking, with Scrimmancer and Hamra also adding bits to the explanation. Since the two necromancers were not originally part of the quest given out by the King, everyone did their best to emphasize their role. Hamra had undoubtedly helped find the King’s brother’s spirit, and they both contributed to cleaning up the Port District.

By the end of the story, King Ilyas’s face remained passive and composed, but his hands gripped his chair.

“All that death and the cause was a foolish dispute between the shamans and the mayor? And neither of them reported anything wrong?” the King spat out.

Nightscythe shyly nodded under the King’s intense gaze. The inciting incident was Aziza picking up the Player Card, but Nightscythe had skimmed over that part of the story. To Freya, the game sparked the incident; but if the shamans had done their job or if the mayor had gotten outside help, the Port District wouldn’t have been lost.

King Ilyas settled back into his chair. He sighed heavily, “And all that happening right under my nose.”

The fury and sadness in the King’s eyes reminded Freya of his brother’s ghost. At first glance, the two didn’t look related to each other. They both held themselves in the same lofty way Freya associated with nobility, but their facial features were quite different. She had wondered if they were only half brothers. However, King Ilyas’s expression now looked exactly like Prince Toychi’s when he received the same news. 

The thought of Prince Toychi suddenly reminded her of the promise she made to him. She stepped forward and bowed to the king.

“Your majesty, if I may, let me relay Prince Toychi’s last words.”

King Ilyas nodded.

Freya cleared her throat and repeated. “Please let my brother know I love him, and I still believe he is the right leader for our country.”

The king’s expression hardened. It seemed the words angered him, but the way his lip quivered made Freya think it was only a mask for his genuine emotions.

After a short pause, she asked, “King Ilyas may I make a suggestion?”

“Go on.”

“As we told you, Prince Toychi is at peace. But there are still many spirits- ghosts, that are not at peace yet. And as you know, ghosts can attract demons. I would strongly suggest hiring strong people to watch over the Port District until it is more stable. Shamans are obviously a good choice, but there are many other strong people too. Wandering mercenaries may not have the knowledge of a shaman, but they can kill demons just the same.”

The king narrowed his eyes a bit, “I’m not allowing demoniclasts into this country.”

“No, no. Of course, I understand. No demoniclasts.”

Freya didn’t completely understand, but she wasn’t going to argue for the demoniclasts given everything that happened with Sangen. The country of Suen had a long-standing ban on demoniclasts entering their country. She didn’t know the reasons for it, but she had no intention of trying to break it now. Freya wasn’t trying to suggest the demoniclast help, but game players. Since the game had started this problem, the least it could do was help solve the issue. 

“Recently, I’ve met many strong individuals that can take down demons, but no one has officially recognized them. They are neither demoniclasts nor shamans, but they are just as strong. I’m sure if you offer them a small reward, they would be happy to take care of any demons.”

Game players were always looking for any opportunity to get experience by killing demons. It would be a win-win for both players and the citizens of Suen.

Seeing the suspicious confusion in the king’s eyes, Freya bowed and added, “This is simply a suggestion King Ilyas.” 

He tapped a hand on his chair.

“I’ve never cared much about people’s origins. So long as they are not demoniclasts, I have no problem hiring whoever can get the job done. Just as I hired you.”

Freya flashed back to when they took this story dungeon quest. They had never introduced themselves. The only question King Ilyas had asked was if any of them could see ghosts. Freya thought at the time the game was hiding the strangeness of the situation from the king, but it seemed she was wrong.

Bowing again, Freya apologized. “Forgive my presumptions. Thank you for hiring us.”

King Ilyas stared at her curiously. He opened his mouth to say something but suddenly twitched. He shook his head, then spoke again, “That’s right, you must want your rewards.”

~~~

“Someone can take my piece of sonder,” Freya said.

Outside the palace, the seven of them were splitting up the rewards from the story dungeon. As promised, most of the rewards were in the form of pure gold coins. But each of them had also received a piece of sonder. This time it was a small charm.

[Seeing Stone]

[Item Class: Piece of Sonder]

[See the hidden world around you!]

The short description hadn’t excited Freya. It sounded like the charm allowed the holder to see spirits. Since she already could, it was useless to Freya.

“Hold onto it,” Infamous Biscuit insisted. “It may seem useless, but it is a piece of sonder. You never know. It might be valuable later.”

After some more convincing, Freya finally kept it. Heilong was designated to figure out the value of the dropped items they had obtained along the way. There was a feature in-game to distribute everything equally, but Infamous Biscuit insisted that it didn’t work correctly. Heilong promised to get back to them tomorrow with the value of everything. Nevertheless, just distributing the gold coins was enough to boost Freya’s mood. 

The shiny piles of gold in her inventory reminded her of the original reason for taking on this story dungeon.

Finally! I can get back my shaman workshop!