AT THE SAME TIME
MICHAEL
I should have gone home; that was the correct choice The smart choice, the alive choice. Instead, I was limping uphill toward a patch of glowing flowers because my list hated me personally. I checked it again, even though I already knew.
Starpetal shards: Rare blossoms that restore divine resonance to damaged holy sites.
"Of course you are 'nearby'." I muttered. "Everything deadly is always 'nearby'."
The slope wasn't part of the Dungeon, thank the gods, but it was close enough that mana still clung to the air. The petals ahead glimmered faintly silver blue, like someone spilled starlight and forgot to clean it up. I exhaled.
"One more." I told myself. "Then I go home, no detours and no heroics."
That was when I rounded the bend and slammed straight into someone, hard.
"Oof-!"I gasped.
"Ah-! S-sorry!"A man gasped.
We both staggered back. I blinked. White hair, red eyes. Knife at the hip. Familiar panic aura.
"Bell?" I said.
Bell Cranel froze like I cast Hold Person on him.
"M-Michael?!" He yelped. "W-why are you bleeding?!"
Before I could answer, the bushes exploded.
"Bell, did you trip agai- oh."I regonized similar voice.
Hestia popped out first, hands on her hips, then stopped dead. Behind her came Liliruca Arde, arms crossed, eyes instantly sharp. Welf Crozzo, carrying a massive pack, already squinting at me as I owed him money, and Yamato Mikoto, calm as ever, hand resting near her sword. All of them stared at my torn clothes, dusty boots, and the very obvious blood soaking my pant leg. Hestia pointed at it.
"Why do you look like you fought a building?"She asked.
"I won." I said weakly.
"You fought a what?!"Bell looked horrified.
"It was rude." I added. "It started it."
"Bell, this is why you shouldn't talk to strange adventurers."Lili sighed deeply.
"I am not strange!" I protested. "I am just temporarily perforated."
"You come out here mining?"Welf stepped closer, eyeing the satchel at my side. His gaze shifted."Those Starpetal blooms?"
I froze. Bell followed his line of sight.
"Oh! Those! We were sent to escort Lady Hestia to check them out!"Bell added.
"They are sacred plants, you know! Very delicate! Very important!"Hestia puffed up.
My soul left my body.
"You are escorting who?"I asked.
"Why?"Hestia blinked at me.
I smiled. Not a sane smile. Please don't ask questions, smile.
"No reason." I said. "Just uh admiring the scenery."
"Michael-dono… are you also here for the Starpetal Shards?"Mikoto tilted her head.
"Y-you too?!"Bell gasped.
"Of course he is."Lili narrowed her eyes.
"Listen. I just need a few petals. Very few. Tiny amount. I will be gone before anyone gets stabbed by divine consequences."I raised both hands.
Hestia stared at me.
"You are fixing a holy site, aren't you."She said.
I didn't answer and that was answer enough.
"T-then we should help!"Lilly gasped.
"Bell!" Lili snapped.
"What?!" Bell said. "He's hurt and doing something important!"
"Honestly? Sounds like my kind of idiot."Welf scratched his head.
"The kami favor foolish devotion."Mikoto nodded solemnly.
I stared at them.
"You are all insane."I sighed.
"Correct! Now scoot over, Level 3. These are our flowers too."Hestia grinned.
She marched uphill like she owned the mountain. Bell followed instantly. Lili complained the whole way. Welf started muttering about preservation tools. Mikoto kept watch like this was a battlefield. I stood there for a second, then laughed, short, breathless.
"Vesta is going to kill me."I said.
But as I limped after them, watching the Starpetals glow brighter under the rising sun, I felt it again, not power, not divinity, just warmth and somehow, that felt worse. The Starpetals were prettier up close. That was my first mistake, thinking about how pretty they were instead of how tired I was. They grew along the edge of a narrow ridge, roots drinking from a thin ribbon of water that cut through the rock like liquid glass, joly water. Of course it was holy water. Everything important was either holy, cursed, or both.
"Okay." I muttered, kneeling. "Nice and gentle. No collapsing, no bleeding on sacred flora-"
My knee buckled. I grabbed the nearest rock, missed, and instead grabbed air like an idiot.
"Oh no-"I gasped.
I lurched forward. My hand closed around a Starpetal bloom. It came free with a soft chime, scattering silver motes into the air.
"Got-!"I shouted. That was as far as my victory speech went.
My foot slipped on wet stone, my balance vanished, and the world tilted sideways.
"MICHAEL-!" Bell shouted.
I pitched forward head first into the river. The holy water was freezing and loud and very awake. I hit with a splash so hard my helmet rang like a bell ironic, and the current immediately decided I was its problem now. I sputtered, choking, arms flailing.
"-ghk-! I'M FINE-!"I gasped.
I was not fine. The water yanked me downstream like I weighed nothing. My pack smacked against my back, the Starpetals inside chiming cheerfully like this was all very entertaining. I slammed into a rock, spun, and finally managed to hook an arm around a root sticking out of the bank. I hung there, soaked, gasping, hair plastered to my face. Above me, chaos.
"WHY DID HE JUST DIVE?!" Hestia shrieked.
"He did not dive!" Lili yelled. "He fell!"
"M-Michael, don't move! I'll get you!"Bell was already scrambling down the bank.
"I CAN'T MOVE." I croaked. "THE WATER IS DOING THAT FOR ME."
"Is it bad that he looks more relaxed now?"Welf leaned over, squinting.
"The holy current may be purifying him."Mikoto nodded thoughtfully.
"It is NOT purifying me." I said weakly. "It is humiliating me."
Bell grabbed my arm and hauled with everything he had. Between him, Mikoto, and Welf grabbing my legs, they finally dragged me out like a very soggy offering to the gods. I flopped onto the stone bank, face down. The world spun as someone rolled me onto my back. Hestia loomed over me, hands on her hips.
"Did you at least get the petals?"She asked.
I lifted my shaking hand. The Starpetal Shards glimmered between my fingers, perfectly intact. Hestia stared and then sighed.
"Of course you did."She said.
I tried to laugh, but instead, my vision dimmed.
"Okay." I murmured. "I am just gonna rest my eyes for half a second…"
"M-Michael? Michael?!"Bell's face swam into view.
The last thing I felt before everything went black was the river still humming beside me and the faint, distant warmth of a hearth flaring hard, sharp, and worried as I had ingredients near me, and then darkness.