Shaina was very pleased with the result, thanked us a lot for solving the issue with her oven and said she’d be very glad to have us staying as her guests for the next week… I was hoping Shaina would offer to extend the deal since we did more than what was asked for, but she said no such thing… I suppose that was my fault for not asking for more once I did the initial fix.

At the same time, we just wanted a place to stay the night, so this deal was good enough for us.

While we were in the middle of explaining how the oven worked though, my stomach rumbled very loudly… That was embarrassing, we spent too long working on it… Luckily, Shaina just laughed and made use of the opportunity to try it out and cooked me dinner, which I happily devoured while Iris looked at the scene with a casual smile on her face.

The meal was surprisingly tasty, I’m surprised Shaina didn’t keep at least some clients when she cooks this well… Hopefully they will come back now that the heat issue is fixed.

After I finished eating, Shaina showed me my room and gave me the keys to it. I got inside, locked the door, undressed and immediately laid down on the bed. I was tired and wanted nothing more than a good night’s sleep, Iris seemed to share my thoughts as she also undressed and laid down next to my face. “Good night, Aria.”

“Good night, Iris. I love you.” She blushed and fidgeted a little. Cute.

She eventually replied in a really quiet tone, “You really shouldn’t be saying that…” I’ll say it as many times as necessary though, and a thousand more afterwards.

“It’s just the truth.” I answered. Iris blushed a bit more before touching her forehead on mine.

“Good night.” She said nothing more after that, so I closed my eyes and relaxed while listening to the faint sound of her breathing…

 

I held her hand, it was soft. I giggled at the joke she told and then looked at her face… She wasn’t smiling, now she was, but it was creepy, it was terrifying, this was not a smile I was happy to see.

I could no longer see her, the smile took over my vision, I ran, ran ran and ran under the dreadful rain. I ran until I tripped and fell on the muddy ground… Laughter, I looked around and they were laughing at me, snickering, their whispers felt like giant bells ringing in my ears.

Iris flew in front of my eyes… Help me… “I’m sorry.” She said with a dejected face… No… Don’t go… Don’t leave me…

She turned around and started flying away, I stretched my arm towards that tiny back and tried to catch her, I had to reach her… I had to…

 

“Aria!” I opened my eyes… Iris’ face was so close to mine that I could probably kiss her if I tried, but she looked really worried and troubled for some reason, so I wouldn’t pull this kind of stunt, “Are you alright?” Why is she asking me? She seems on the verge of crying even.

“I… Am?” I answered a bit confused.

She looked closely at me for a few seconds before heaving a large sigh, “Don’t scare me like that.” She said before flying a bit farther from my face… I wouldn’t mind if she stayed closer for a while longer though.

“Just what are you talking about…?” I replied while rubbing my eyes a bit as my sight was still a bit blurry… Why do they feel so wet though…? Was I… “Was I crying?” I asked.

Iris nodded, “You looked like you were going through some horrible pain, for a moment I thought you were suffering from mana insufficiency, so I desperately tried to wake you up.” So that’s why she looked that distraught…

I shook my head though, “No, it’s still too early for that… I think I just had a bad dream or something, you don’t need to worry.” And then gave her my best smile.

“Alright, but tell me if something is going wrong, okay?” I nodded, “Good, then you should go eat something, we’ll have a long day ahead of us.”

Not one to decline the offer to eat, I quickly picked my clothes from the place I left them yesterday and after we both dressed up, we went to the inn’s hall to have breakfast. I wonder if Shaina will give us two free meals per day or if she’ll limit it to one… Let’s hope we get two.

Shaina gladly made a big meal that should last me the day and said I could come back for dinner as well. This honestly surprised me, thought I’d have to bargain for the second meal… I won’t complain about that though.

After I finished eating, I asked if Shaina provided a bath… She laughed and told me she’ll lend me a basket to get water from the city’s well. Can’t say this was out of my expectations, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

While I went out to get the water for my bath, Iris went to the top of the inn to sunbathe… I get that she doesn’t want to be accidentally wet while I’m handling water, but I wish she’d trust me a bit more and stay close instead, it feels lonely without her… She’s not one to yield in this kind of matter though, so I didn’t argue too much.

The well was fairly empty at this hour, probably because the sun rose some hours ago, so most people must have taken the water they needed by now, which made me thankful we woke up somewhat late, as It didn’t take too long to get enough water for myself. Afterwards, I carried the basket back to my room in the inn and then washed myself… I’ll need to go to a river later, one basket of water is not enough to clean me up after all this time travelling…

Not much I could do about it now though, so after feeling like I was decently cleaned, I dried myself with a rag, dressed up, hopped onto my broom and flew to the inn’s roof to meet up with Iris. Then, we flew to the guild.

I got out of my broom near the door and headed inside, Thalia seemed to be idling around behind the counter… Doesn’t she have any work to do?

She noticed us as we entered though, and immediately called us over, “Aria, you got lucky! I found a job for you!” Great! Now please tell me it’s something reasonable this time around.

I hurriedly approached the counter and replied, “Thank you so much! It’s not too dangerous, is it?”

She looked at me with a deadpan expression, “If it wasn’t dangerous, it wouldn’t come to us… That said, it’s not something that will directly threaten your life, so you should be able to do it.” This doesn’t reassure me much…

Ignoring my troubled expression, Thalia continued, “This request comes from the King,” holy mother of all gods in the heavens, please stop joking! “he asks that we retrieve an ancient relic that was passed down to the royal bloodline by their patron, the goddess of sacrifices, Hikari.” The patron goddess of the royalty of this country is a goddess of sacrifices…? And people are totally fine with it? Wait, that’s not the real issue here, the issue is that I’m getting involved in this mess.

Not minding the blood draining from my face, Thalia kept talking, “The relic has the form of a crystalized blood red wild rose.” Is there any difference between a normal rose and a wild rose? How am I supposed to tell them apart? “And was lost many generations ago in a war against the Kingdom of Belgard to the North.

“Recently however, the relic has reappeared in a mostly unusual way. People reported seeing it in unusually clear dreams, they see the relic calling to them, in a far away dark place, emanating a calm red light that tempts them, slowly but surely pulling them to it.

“Most people wake up while they are still very far from the relic, however, in the next time they have this dream, they seem to be in the same positions as they were at the moment they woke up. Moreover, the temptation also gets stronger with each passing day… And so they keep getting closer as the nights pass, until they are just a bit far from it, when they know they should be able to touch it the next time they have the dream.

“Well, the royal magi obviously have been investigating this phenomenon for a while, as it is clearly not natural. However, something happened that made the king decide to seek for outside help on this matter… Mainly, one of his counselors that was having the dream, haven’t woken up in 3 days.”

I really shouldn’t have joined this guild… This is too dangerous… “You mean… He died?” I asked.

Thalia shook her head, “No. Not yet at least, he is just sleeping, and getting weaker day by day… At a faster than pace than what you would expect from someone that hasn’t eaten in this long, his life is getting drained and pulled somewhere.”

I gulped and waited for her to continue… “And that’s it.” Wait, seriously!?

“There is no more information to go by? Anything?” I asked in earnest.

“If there was something more solid to pursue, the royal magi would have already gone after it and they wouldn’t be needing outside help now, would they?” That makes sense, but…

“Are you sure it is a good idea to give this task to me though? I mean, it’s a pretty serious deal…” Why does she want me of all people to handle a job that was even the King’s court can’t handle!? Is she crazy!?

Thalia seemed to already expect my reaction though, so she just nodded, “You’re probably the best person for the job.” Oh, come on… “You see, the mages we have in here are mostly specialized in either destructive or restorative magic. The kind of powers that would be useful for killing giant threats or curing plagues, you know? It’s the exact kind of thing heroes usually need after all. The arcane is not something that we have had people specialized in until you joined, so it’s quite hard for our other heroes to investigate this issue.

“However, as that is part of your specialty, you might be able to find something from those dreams that other people didn’t.” She must be joking…

“But wouldn’t there be plenty of people specialized in the arcane within the royal court and in the mages’ tower? What would I be able to find that none of them could?” I answered while still a bit incredulous at all this.

“Who knows?” Don’t give me that! “More people looking into it means more people having a chance of finding something. Maybe you will try approaching the issue from a different front and get a different result.”

She then looked directly into my eyes before continuing, “You’re a heroine, aren’t you? How can you have such defeated attitude at all this? You can do something your peers can’t, so shouldn’t you be eager to prove your worth instead of acting all scared and trying to flee from the job in any way that you can?” B-but look at the scope of all this…

Suddenly, Iris intervened, “You know Aria, she’s right.” What!? Why aren’t you on my side? “Sure, you joined by making a terribly misinformed decision, but you’re already here and need to do something about it, don’t you? We need the money if we are to live past the next week anyways.

“So why not give it a shot? It’s not like there is any penalty for failing the job, is there?” She asked Thalia.

Thalia shook her head, “Aside from maybe earning the ire of the king for being a useless heroine, no penalties at all.” That’s a big penalty, alright?! “But that’s just a maybe, you shouldn’t worry too much about it.” Easy for you to speak…

I took a deep breath before replying, “Okay, so… Just clarify one thing to me then. You said all this story over how the relic has been reappearing in dreams and pulling people in, and how this seems to be dangerous, but…

“How does that tie in to the task of retrieving the relic? Shouldn’t the job be to… Solving this whole problem instead?”

Thalia smiled, “Because that’s not what the king wants.” He… Doesn’t? “The king doesn’t mind having a few people sacrificed for the sake of this endeavor, this is the best chance in centuries to retrieve a lost relic, so he wants as much manpower as possible being put into it.” How can she say this while smiling like that? This horrible smile that cares not for what the other party is feeling… I hate it.

I was at a loss for words, I was angry. Angry at this guild that pretends to be filled with goody-two-shoes, yet doesn’t care about saving people… This kind of job is not what I joined this guild for… Iris seemed to share my thoughts, as she replied, “This doesn’t look like a hero’s job…”

Thalia’s tone suddenly became sad… I’m not sure what to take of it, “It doesn’t indeed, does it?” She took a small pause before continuing, “But you see… If the relic is recovered, then this whole ordeal might be solved, maybe the people that have been put to sleep will wake up again.” People? Wasn’t it just the counselor? “Maybe those people that can only despair as their loved ones are withering away will see some hope if the king’s relic is retrieved.

“Isn’t that fitting for a hero’s job?” Her face was still smiling, but there wasn’t a single happy person in this room right now… Just who are those people that are withering away right now… I wanted to ask, but at the same time, I felt like I shouldn’t.

In that case, I think I know what I need to do… “Got it, so… If I were to accidentally find a way to wake people up from their slumber and stop their power from being drained while searching for this Wild Rose thingy… Nobody would complain, right?” Thalia opened her eyes wide for a moment.

She staggered a bit, “No… Nobody would complain indeed…” Now that’s a smile I don’t hate, it’s much better than the one you were showing just now.

“Okay, I’ll accept the job, wish me luck!”