The Fate of the Seven Heroes

It took a while, but we finally managed to round up everyone and everything in the cave. The bandits have been using this as their base of operations for quite some time now.

To someone like Sereya, who has ventured into the deepest, darkest dungeons, this amount and quality of loot was probably nothing, but to the rest of us, it was a huge haul.

As I stood by the mouth of the cave, I was stunned by how much stuff had been brought out. Everything from silverwave to silver swords were carried by the crateful. The bandits’ horses were turned into beasts of burden, ready to transport the ill-gotten gains back to the pilgrim camp.

Undoubtedly, some of these items will definitely be confiscated by the authorities once we reach Breven. Anita’s meticulous organisation of the goods ensured that the most contentious items would be localised into entirely one cart.

The rest could easily be sold or traded once they made it past inspection. However, according to one of the pilgrims, all profits made would go back to the Temple of Evan in Breven. I just wished the Goddess or some other minor god would get jealous and just smite that building with lightning.

The carts were designed purely for transporting goods. They were smaller than the one we used and could navigate through the trees comfortably. It was unfortunate, but it seemed like all of us had to walk.

That included the bandits we captured. There was no shortage of shackles and chains as well as other equipment used by slavers. The abductors have turned into the abductees as they were chained together in a coffle. The long line of criminals numbered at sixteen, with Rolf at the head and Talbot at the tail.

With the pilgrims armed with their own swords and clubs, it seemed unlikely that the restrained bandits would escape. Even if they could get past them, they would never get past Sereya.

“Hey, how’re you holding up?”

Ah yes, speak of the devil.

“It hurts, but I’ll get by.”

Not like I had a choice anyway. It was a wholly unpleasant feeling as if two huge rocks were squeezing my forearm at all times, but I wasn’t going to whine to someone who was missing theirs.

“Hmm? What’s that?”

Sereya bent forwards, taking a better look at my injury. At first, I thought she was surprised by the ball forming on my arm due to all the swelling, but it was Ain’s drawing that caught her eye.

“Ain painted on my arm.”

“Oh. It looks like garbage.”

With my good arm, I grabbed Sereya by the shoulder and pulled her closer within whispering distance, “Don’t you DARE tell her that.”

“Okay, okay! Relax, Uncle.”

A sigh escaped my lungs. From someone who was sincerely sorry for the pain she inflicted on Ain to being willing to pick a fight with her, Sereya was certainly a handful. She wasn’t the best at communicating with strangers, but she could at least put in more tact.

“Anyways,” she coughed as she changed the topic, “I managed to secure an extra cart to transport you!”

She proudly displayed the empty cart behind her. I appreciated the gesture, but “transporting” a person sounded kinda off. I could probably walk back, but I didn’t want to take the risk.

“Thanks Sereya.”

She helped me up the cart. I thought that she would keep an eye out on the bandits or something, but she ended up sitting together with me.

Anita was making the final checks, ensuring that everything was accounted for. She had to look after the entire convoy as she led us out. Thankfully, I recalled Ain leaving a lot of hints and signs as she disturbed the shrubs and plants on the way here, so it would be easy to find our way back to camp.

Just Anita gave the signal to head out, Ain quickly climbed onto my cart, too.

“Mum’s busy. She told me to keep an eye on you two so that you both don’t do lovey-dovey things.”

I was a bit shocked to hear that from her, but was that really an instruction Anita would give?

“Hmm?” Sereya raised her eyebrow, “Are you sure you’re not just jealous?”

She locked her right arm with my left and even placed her tilted head on my shoulder. I wasn’t complaining, but was it necessary to try and spite a child this badly?

“Hah! It’s normal for a girl to fall for someone stronger than her, but you’re the only weird one who goes for a weaker man! No offence, Uncle, but I’m just spitting facts.”

Your offence was already carried out, Ain.

Wrapping around my good arm even tighter, a smug expression lit up Sereya’s face.

“Oh, but he’s stronger in a lot of other places.”

“SEREYA!”

I had to cut in. Was she seriously going in that direction in front of a child? Wait a sec—we haven’t even done anything yet. How did she even know that?!

“What? I’m referring to your strong courage and charisma. What else could I be referring to, hmm?”

Normally, I would love to flirt back, but unlike her, I had decency.

Ignoring her foolish little game, I started a new conversation entirely.

“Ain, didn’t you have something you wanted to ask Sereya about?”

“Harh?! Why would I want to know anything about someone with a filthy mind like hers?”

Not helping the situation was Sereya who was sticking her tongue out. Seriously, there was no difference from babysitting two children at the same time.

“She wanted to know more about Timon.”

“Hey!” Ain protested.

However, it was Sereya who had a disgusted face. Her expression warped from a playful one to one of total revulsion, as if she had just seen a rotting, dead animal.

“I respect Remus, but Timon? Urgh…”

She started to shake her head. Was he that bad?

“Hmm? Are you sure you’re not just jealous?”

Admittedly, it was pretty funny that Ain actually shot back at her with the exact same line she said at first, but Sereya looked gravely offended. She gasped in utter disbelief.

“Me? Jealous? Of that shameless womaniser?! Why in the world would I be jealous of that unfaithful, lonely, single-ass pervert when I already have a partner of my own!?”

“Shh! Keep it down.”

Sereya raising her voice had gotten unpleasant looks from the other pilgrims. I had to remind her to tone it down a notch.

“But how is his music though?”

Unlike before, Ain asked a question out of genuine curiosity this time. Sensing her honest intent, Sereya took some time to think before answering.

“Okay, if there was ONE thing that I was jealous about, it’s that he’s really good at playing different instruments. Unlike the rest of us Heroes who were only good at fighting, the last I heard—Timon’s making a pretty good living from being a performer.”

Hearing about Timon had made me genuinely curious about the rest of the Seven Heroes.

“Sereya, could you tell me more about what the other Heroes are currently doing? Besides Timon, Evan, Remus and yourself, of course,” I asked.

“I briefly talked Azelia last time, didn’t I? Well, she’s still recovering from the final battle. Even with her Blessing, her mana isn’t like how it used to be.”

“What do you mean?” Ain sought clarification before I could, “I thought her Blessing of the Sun meant that she had infinite mana as long as the sun is up?”

“Well, yes and no. Her Blessing made it so that her mana regenerates instantaneously during the day, but because of what happened in the final battle, her maximum mana capacity is really low.”

Sereya’s explanation lost me, “Sorry, but could you explain it in err, simpler to understand terms?”

“Think of mana as a bottle. Everyone has this bottle inside of us, but only mages like Azelia could use it. In her case, her Blessing makes it so that it’s always filled. The problem is that her bottle has become super tiny now, which makes it impossible for her to cast expensive spells. Also, she’s basically useless at night.”

“What happened to her?”

“Uncle, you seriously don’t know?”

Gosh, for Ain to say that, it meant that I was missing common knowledge again.

“On the night of the final battle, she permanently stunted her magic by summoning the sun.”

Oh she summoned the—WHAT? Was that even—

No, this was a realm beyond my understanding.

“Err, what about the others?”

I hoped my brain wasn’t going to explode if I kept hearing more about this.

“Well, there’s Urstix, but he’s currently in the northern lands making sure that they’re safe for people to live in now that there are no more demons. He’s doing pretty okay, I think. I mean, his children are helping out with politics.”

True, I remember seeing Urstix the Giant’s son, Uriah, back in the summit. They must be from an important noble family, it seemed.

“What about the Reaper of Darkmist?” Ain wondered.

“Him? I have no clue. I only met him once. Nobody knows what happened to him.”

Curiosity was getting the better of Ain and me. We couldn’t help it after all—we were learning about the Seven Heroes straight from the horse’s mouth!