"Grandpa! Grandpa! I want Grandpa..." The little girl's tender voice cried out hoarsely, her small hand reaching forward helplessly.
A long blade pressed against the old man's neck as solemn royal guards dragged him away. A woman in a luxurious corseted bodice held the girl tightly, stopping her from chasing after him. The woman's own tears wouldn't stop flowing, dripping onto the girl's neck.
Bodies hung beneath the clock tower, swaying and swinging in the wind...
"Ah!" Stella Famillion bolted upright in bed. Deep into the night, amid the downpour outside the window, a bolt of lightning cracked down, its cold glow spilling across the window glass and illuminating her pale face.
She'd once mentioned to her teammates in the Last Defender of the Way adventurer squad that she came from a fallen noble family. The fact of the family's decline wasn't the scary part—what was terrifying was living through the process of it all falling apart.
Two years of high-stakes adventuring had chased those painful memories from her mind.
But two days ago, seeing an executed criminal's body dangling under the clock tower again—even though she knew this was Re-Estize, a thousand miles from her hometown—the dark memories came flooding back like a tidal wave.
In her dreams, she drowned in those memories. She stretched her arm straight out, eyes wide, the recollections choking her throat, leaving her speechless...
Her sleep had been awful these past two days; even the soundproofing spell wasn't helping, and a single thunderclap could jolt her awake. Stella rubbed her forehead, used magic to light the copper candlestick on the bedside table, and fumbled her way out of bed.
Winter had set in, and the late-night thunderstorm made everything damp and chilly. She threw on a cotton robe, picked up the candlestick, and slipped out of her room, heading to the kitchen for a cup of hot water.
The girl tiptoed along, trying not to make a sound. The captain, Barrett, and Sean were still fast asleep in their own rooms, and she didn't want to wake them.
"Whoosh~ whoosh~" Faint snoring filtered through the door—that was Barrett sawing logs.
Good thing Sean doesn't snore at night, or I'd never put up with it down the line. Wait, why am I even thinking that? Stella froze in her tracks, stunned by the thought that had popped into her head. In the candlestick's dim light, a flush of red crept across her pale cheeks.
Thump... thump..., thump..., besides Barrett's snoring and the storm muffled by the house, there seemed to be another sound in the darkness—like someone knocking on a wooden door.
Her adventuring experiences had made Stella a lot bolder. She stopped and listened carefully for a moment, realizing that the intermittent knocking was coming from outside the front door.
In this stormy night of cold rain and howling winds, was someone knocking at the door?
Stella approached the door softly. Amid the patter of rain on the oak door, the knocking grew clearer, but its rhythm slowed, as if the knocker outside was growing weaker.
The young cleric lit the candelabras and oil lamps in the room one by one. She gripped her staff tightly, readied two spells, then cautiously asked in a low voice, "Who is it?"
"It's me..."
To Stella's surprise, it was a weak boy's voice. It sounded familiar, like she'd heard it somewhere before... After thinking for a moment, Stella immediately dispelled the warding magic on the door, turned the handle, and pulled it open.
As the door swung wide, a drenched figure collapsed in the doorway.
It was Eddie! Old Tony's nephew! He was soaked through, water everywhere, his sodden robes clinging to his skin like he'd just dived into a river for ten minutes and been fished out.
Stella hurriedly dragged Eddie inside, laid him flat on the sofa, and used a simple water-repelling spell to squeeze out some of the moisture from him. Eddie was already delirious, his brows furrowed, eyes shut tight, lips slightly parted as if murmuring something.
While dragging him, Stella felt how icy cold Eddie was all over. Now, as she touched his forehead, it burned like fire!
No doubt about it—the boy had a high fever. On this wintry, chilling rainy night, who knows how long he'd been out in the downpour; burning up wasn't surprising at all.
Stella didn't have time to wonder why, in the dead of night, Eddie had shown up looking like a drowned rat, all alone and knocking. Staff in hand, she chanted a blessing incantation in a low voice, warm radiance enveloping the suffering boy.
After evaporating the rest of the rainwater from Eddie's body and temporarily easing his fever, she went and woke the other three in the house one by one.
"Why is Eddie here?" Barrett and the others were shocked too.
EeDechi rubbed her sleepy eyes, groggily staring at the unconscious boy, as if her drowsiness was worse than his fever. Sean eyed Eddie, whose head was pillowed on Stella's lap, his gaze a mix of sympathy and jealousy that was hard to pin down.
"What's with this guy Old Tony? Can't even keep an eye on his own nephew?" Barrett grabbed the oilcloth cloak from the coat rack and ordered, "You guys help him change into some clean clothes. I'm going to check on Old Tony's place."
With that, he threw on the cloak and charged out into the howling wind and rain...
Old Tony lived in the eastern district of the capital, quite a distance from where Barrett and the others stayed. Barrett could hardly imagine how Eddie had managed to run through that storm to get to their place.
The rain had let up a bit now, the roads full of potholes. Barrett splashed through puddle after puddle that came up to his ankles, holding a glowing lantern, racing straight toward Old Tony's address in the darkness.
His stamina was top-notch; it wasn't long before he reached the area near Old Tony's house. From afar, he saw a crowd gathered around, blocking off the whole street.
In the crowd were mounted guard knights on tall horses, squires and militia with longswords and round shields, and several figures in enchanted black cloaks, dressed like wizards.
Barrett hurried forward, grabbed a wizard in a pointed tall hat, and asked, "What's going on?"
Raindrops pelted the wizard's black pointed hat from the sky, beads rolling down the brim. He looked at Barrett, his eyes filled with endless sorrow. "Old Tony was attacked by enemies and gave his life!"
Barrett felt like he'd been struck by lightning. He staggered back two steps, staring incredulously at the pointed-hat wizard before him. He'd guessed something unusual had happened, but not this outcome!
"Impossible!" Barrett rasped, "This can't be! I know him too well—this old turtle who specialized in defensive spells, he wouldn't die even if all his teammates did!"
"It's true." Two murky tears slid down the pointed-hat wizard's cheek from the corner of his eye; he lifted a trembling hand to wipe them away.
Barrett looked around at the guard knights surrounding Old Tony's house, the militia and constables on high alert, and several silent high-level mages standing there. He realized the news was true.
"Can he be revived? Can we find a mage who uses 5th Tier Divine Magic to resurrect him?" Barrett stepped forward, clinging to one last shred of hope.
"Can't... his body was destroyed... only a head left..." The mage sniffled, tears sliding down nonstop, "Even his high-level mage badge and Orichalcum adventurer badge are gone."
Barrett stood in the rain, his face blank, completely unaware of the raindrops drifting onto it. The grief in his heart felt like a massive stone lodged in his throat, on the verge of bursting from his chest.
"How... could this happen..." He pressed his hands to his temples, slowly squatting down on the rain-swept ground, wracked with pain.
...
"What? You're saying Tony Ulea is dead?!" Hearing the news Barrett brought back, EeDechi and the other two were completely stunned. Barrett slumped onto the sofa; he'd run back from Old Tony's house to their place, but he still hadn't caught his breath.
He remembered their last meeting with Old Tony— the two had argued for a long time over a disagreement, parting on sour terms. If he'd known that would be their final farewell, he would've gladly agreed to whatever Old Tony asked, no matter what.
In life, you should treat every goodbye as if it's forever, so you don't end up with regrets.
"Let's go check on Eddie," Sean suggested. "Maybe he knows something."
"Right!" Barrett sprang up from the sofa. "Old Tony must have told him to come to us."
The four of them went into Stella's bedroom together, where Eddie, dressed in fresh cloth clothes, lay on the bed.
Eddie's body had been wiped clean of all water stains, a thick quilt covering him. Thanks to Stella's healing, his high fever and cold were pretty much taken care of, but his mind was in tatters, like he was stuck in a nightmarish swamp, struggling and unable to wake up fully.
His lips were still pale, opening and closing faintly, as if murmuring something.
The four adventurers listened closely for a moment and made out Eddie's broken whispers, "Uncle said... must... make Barrett..."
Barrett sat on the edge of the bed, his big hands wrapping around Eddie's slightly cool little ones, and said softly, "I'm here, right by your side."
"Uncle said..." Eddie's small hand, enveloped in Barrett's warm palm, seemed to perk him up a bit. His eyelids fluttered open slightly, and he looked at Barrett.
"Uncle said... must... make Barrett's... captain... join the Warrior Captain tournament..."
"Me?" EeDechi raised an eyebrow, totally baffled.