Chapter 29 - The Morning After

Air left my puffed cheeks. One might have called it a sigh of exhaustion and one may have been right.

I was leaning against the wall of some building in the village center. My eyes kept falling shut, but impressions from all over the place made me open them up reflexively.

Some bag brushed my thigh as it was placed next to me. I looked up and saw a princess that made me question if I looked even worse than her.

“All packed up?” She asked me.

“Not like I have a lot of belongings,” I answered.

Raynard and Shelly also came into my field of view.

“The carriage is still going to take a bit of preparation,” said Shelly, her voice unusually quiet.

I just looked straight ahead, and had Raynard join me on the ground.

Aurelia looked between the two of us and Shelly and proposed: “Want to take a morning walk?”

***

The sun had already risen, and it was unusually quiet, considering this being a village and all. Most people tried to get sleep if the events of the night even allowed them to.

I didn’t really know where to go with my eyes, as the scenery almost gave me whiplash. A forest in ashes to the right, tidy little houses to the left. The forest would be full of carcasses to remove, and I hoped it wouldn’t be any of the villagers that were still alive the day before, but of course I wouldn’t be able to tell.

The goody two-shoes within me wanted to somehow help clean this mess, after all it was partly my fault. In reality though I was all too happy to just take the carriage back to Ataraxia. Which seemed a million miles away to me at the moment.

“So, any idea what ever happened last night?” Aurelia said in a hushed tone, almost as if not to wake anyone. If I wasn’t standing next to her, I might not have heard her.

“Only thing I am certain of is that this is going to be one heck of a report,” Shelly answered.

These two seemed to be the only two capable of holding a conversation at this point. Though Raynard seemed very interested in hearing what Shelly had to say.

“The only thing I can confidently say about what happened last night is that this probably was the most successful attempt at necromancy in recorded history.”

Due to everyone being awfully tired I wasn’t really able to interpret the other’s reaction. I barely had one myself but that was mostly because I had no idea what to make of necromancy in this world. Since my arrival, which mind you has only been around two weeks ago, I have seen so many out of this world (my world) things that I am so over-saturated, that I am just hardly impressed when anything impressive happens.

“Necromancy is definitely not my field of expertise though, and I suppose you kids aren’t any smarter either.”

“We are just about to become third-graders, so no,” was Aurelia’s answer. “What about the pastor?” She promptly changed topics.

“I have him restrained, so he shouldn’t be a problem. You did quite the number on him though, wouldn’t wake up, no matter what. Let’s hope he wakes up until we arrive in Ataraxia because questioning might become a problem.”

“What about Misha?”

“Poor girl doesn’t know anything of course, she only knows some rogue magic spells, which by the way, I could also get her arrested for, if we were in the city.”

“That’s not quite what I meant,” Aurelia answered with a weird mix of emotions, somewhere between weirded out and surprised. “I meant how she was doing.”

“Oh! Well-” Shelly suddenly stopped in her tracks. “I think you can ask her that yourself.”

Misha suddenly appeared in front of us. It would have been anyone’s reflex to ask her how she found us, but considering we were the only people walking a village with barely a couple dozen houses, that would have been a dumb question.

“My mom and I are thinking of leaving the village.”

Oh.

None of us said anything but honestly thinking about it, what was there to say.

“That’s ... understandable,” Aurelia replied rather bluntly.

“Have you made any proper plans?” Raynard asked. “Just leaving your home like that after living there most your life is a ... pretty big thing.”

“We’re not sure. Most likely to the city. My mother could make a living as a cook, and I, maybe I could do something with my magic. Though, as Shelly told me, considering I haven’t been schooled, I might get into trouble instantly.”

“Why not just apply for some magic school?” I asked out of curiosity. I mean, if a weird case like me could spontaneously apply for third year, despite not having been taught any proper magic, what could possibly stop Misha? “You’ve been doing this for a while, you’re better at magic than me, you should be fine, shouldn’t you?”

“That’s because all our money is whatever that house was worth,” Misha answered pointing towards the burnt down inn behind us.

“Most magic schools in the cities require tuition fees,” Shelly explained to me.

That just made too much sense.

Wait, what about Ataraxia?

I wanted to ask, but I figured it wasn’t the time.

“Well, if you ever have the time or need, make sure to visit us in Ataraxia,” Aurelia offered.

“Thanks, I’ll ... keep that in mind,” Misha said, though it sounded rather unsure.

Well, imagine a country bumpkin being invited by a princess to her castle.

“Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you and goodbye. I need to figure out how I can help my people and what will happen next.”

“You’ll manage,” I tried offering some words of comfort, but honestly, I don’t know how it came out.

“I will.”

They seemed to have had some effect.

“Until then,” Misha said with a wave, disappearing behind another house, almost as if she was walking out of the frame in a movie.

The four of us stood in a row next to each other, not quite sure what to do with ourselves.

Slowly the village people decided to have their late awakening. And as the hustle and bustle got louder with people thanking us, some through decent acknowledgment, others more enthusiastic, slowly the rattling of a cart mixed into all of it.

“WHAT KIND OF A FUNERAL PARTY IS GOING ON WITH YOU FOUR!”

“Good to see you too old hag,” I replied not expecting her to hear it. Whether she did, or for once decided to not respond, I do not know.

“I have already loaded in all your luggage,” Raven, who was also here, said.

“Thanks man, we appreciate it, really,” Raynard said, and was the first to get onto the cart.

Surprisingly, we would have a rather relaxed ride back home.