Emersyn waited patiently after collecting all the space rocks in the dried up lake. She even started throwing normal rocks at the Leviathan. Grumbling, she approached the dragon and kicked it.
"Hey, wake up."
There was no answer.
"... are you really dead? Not like you can answer me right now."
She turned to look at the monster's diaphragm and it wasn't moving.
"Oh. You're dead. I already absorbed more than half of the impact, yet you perished before me?"
She shook her head then retrieved a sword before carefully cutting the humongous monster into parts, storing them in her inventory. Unfortunately, there weren't any treasures for her to take. She ransacked every corner of the lake and returned with nothing in her hands. Moreover, she saw that the demi-dragons surrounding the lake started appearing with clarity in their eyes. She caressed her chin, thinking on what to do to these monsters. If she could, she would definitely send the monsters to the group she left behind. Or, she could use this as a training process. However, a thought came into her mind. Killing those that were much weaker than her wouldn't give her anything but resources.
Maybe she could just… her eyes suddenly shifted towards the huge mana crystal still floating at the center of the lake.
"Hmm..." Emersyn tilted her head and tried reaching out to the crystal. As if it came back to life, it rattled then floated towards her before stopping in front of her. It suddenly glowed brighter and started seeping into her veins. "Interesting..." she muttered as she sat down, her legs crossed.
She closed her eyes as she started to assimilate her body to nature.
After a few days of meditating and guiding the mana in her circuits, feeding her already wide oceanic Life Energy. When the crystal reduced to an adult's fist, it stayed like that and stopped shrinking. However, she didn't seem to notice and just continued absorbing the material already living in her veins. Her circuit expanded and pure silver energy flowed smoothly, punching through the remaining blockage that would take a lifetime to break through. There, she could feel her old strength coming back to her slowly, but surely. Before she knew it, she coughed out six mouthfuls of clotted blood. A lot of mana flowed into her hungry body and quickly converted it to pure energy.
"...ster!"
"My Lady!"
She slowly opened her eyes and the sight of Flora and Elodiaren running down the slope entered her sight. She chuckled then stood up from her position. However, instead of a warm greeting, she was nagged. It didn't really matter and she was the one at fault anyway, so she accepted those words as their worries for her.
"Why did you leave?!" Flora screeched, her face red from anger.
"Haa… My Lady, even if you are strong, you can't just run off and do things on your own. Will you please stop doing that? You almost gave us a heart attack."
"I understand, I won't do it again."
"Just how many times did you leave us?! Did you really think that just those mere words can make us feel at ease?!"
"..."
"This Master… is so hopeless! Please! Just stop disappearing on your own!"
"... yes."
Flora took a few deep breaths.
"Tell me what happened after you left us."
"... I was thinking---"
"What happened after you left us," Flora interjected.
"I killed a few demi-dragons around the camp and then I headed towards where the mana was so dense. I found a huge, no, humongous dragon that was much likely a Leviathan. I fought and then it suddenly summoned a meteor from space and struck down. I managed to change its course towards the dragon and the meteorite killed it."
"How strong is that dragon? Hmm?"
"Uhm… about two Calamity rank monsters?"
"Why are you asking?"
"Well, it was so weak---"
"Look around you! You call that existence weak?! You both almost destroyed the surrounding area! Look at these frozen trees and damages from a sharp weapon, which I deducted as sharp ice, and left even more damage on the lake! There was another crater here! You see this? A crater!"
"But… it was still weak..."
"Nonsense! Okay, let's just say that the monster is weak in your standard. How about us that wouldn't be able to hold our ground against these powerful attacks?"
"Then… you all are weaker---I mean, it is pretty strong---"
Flora smacked Emersyn's head. Elodiaren's eyes widened at how Emersyn just allowed someone to smack her head.
"We're going back now, you stupid Master!"
"Yes, ma'am..."
Flora grabbed Emersyn's hand and began pulling her out of the dried up lake. True to Flora's words, there were now two craters in her sight.
When they met up with the rest, Emersyn realized that they had fewer numbers than they first started. Fortunately, all of the heroes were alive and well. Lance greeted her with clear contempt in his eyes. Emersyn stiffly smiled as they went back together to the kingdom. Moreover, Emersyn just knew that the name of the kingdom that summoned these heroes was Paladius. The rest of the expedition team safely arrived at the border of Paladius and Burundi, and they were greeted with more knights and soldiers as an escort. Then, the proud walls of Paladius came into sight and they roared in victory, overriding their grief of losing their comrades. There, at the entrance of the south gate, Royal Guards, Queen Camellia and the citizens greeted them with warm smiles.
"Welcome home, brave soldiers, adventurers and mercenaries!" Camellia announced loudly.
"Welcome home!" The people simultaneously followed through.
"Come, we are eager to hear your story," Camellia smiled then led the procession towards the castle as if she was one of the people that came back alive from their mission.
Meanwhile, Emersyn was feeling the unexpected heat coming from her right wrist. She ignored it at first, but when she felt that it was getting intense, she immediately summoned the bracelet and went to the teleportation function that was blinking red. There, she saw that the coordinates of Eucarro were being burned away. Her eyes widened, surprised at the phenomenon happening in front of her.
"Master? What's wrong? Why are you pacing out?"
"I am afraid we won't be able to come here again," she mumbled.
"What?"
"You know how we enter another dimension, right?"
"Yes."
"The availability of Eucarro is now gone."
"We won't be able to go back now?"
"We can still go back to Strevalia, but can't come back here."
"Oh… then we should finish whatever needs to be done!"
"Like increasing the mana here using those crystals that you got from the monsters?"
"Yes!"
"It could happen, but we won't be the one deciding that."
"Ah, yes. I agree."
"If Queen Camellia agreed to the proposal, then that's good. They would be able to thrive further than they are now."
"But… Master, these crystals already belonged to the kingdom. They could do whatever they want with it."
"True. Should we just let things be? They'll figure things out sooner anyway."
"Yes."
When they arrived in front of the castle and was led towards the spacious ground, Camellia stood before them and loudly announced, "Now that you safely came back from the mission, I was expecting that you would bring what you gained from the mission. But seeing that you don't have anything, I am thinking of not giving any rewards you deserve. Since our treasury is precious, we can't just give it to people who didn't do their jobs right."
"... this btch," one of them murmured.
Lance, who was keeping his silence, let out a sigh and immediately went in front of the Queen. He didn't even bother kneeling down.
"Queen, we have them."
"Are you kidding me, Commander? Even the heroes don't have anything in their hands."
"No, we have them."
"Since you are so insistent, go on. Show it to me," Camellia scoffed.
"Flora? Please take it all out. All of them," he emphasized.
Flora stepped out of the crowd and immediately took out complete bodies of the monsters they killed. Camellia's eyes went wide, her mouth agape.
"Wha-what?"
"Queen, if you just let us talk before you decide things, we wouldn't be mad at you. We risked our lives just to fulfill your mission to us; and in return, we got nothing but ridicule?"
"That..."
"I understand why you said those words, Queen."
"..."
"But you have to discuss things with us before abruptly coming to a decision from whatever you see."
"I... I understand."
"Perfect."
"I'm sorry..."
"I don't need your apology. These people need it."
"Yes…," Camellia cleared her throat and then said, "I apologize for abruptly coming to a decision without hearing things first. I will prepare the rewards as promised. We will calculate all of these materials, so until we finished, please wait for at least two days. I promise, in the name of Paladius, that we will properly compensate you. But, please do receive a small amount from your compensation as a down payment. Please follow me, I will take you to the treasury," she said as she bowed and turned her heels and gracefully walked inside the castle.
Some were still displeased, but they didn't bother now, so they quickly formed a line under Lance's orders and followed the Queen. When the line stopped in front of a huge and heavy door, Camellia ordered Lance to open the door.
"How many are the survivors, Commander?"
"Sixty-seven, Your Majesty."
"Give each of them twenty silvers for now. The rest will be given after we are done calculating the materials."
Those that heard her were shocked and started whispering at each other.
"As you wish."
Then, the distribution came after each of them wrote their names on a piece of paper. Exactly twenty silvers were handed to them and they rejoiced.
"We're rich! We're rich!"
"Treat us to a luxurious meal once we get the whole reward!"
"Heck no! Treat yourselves!"
"Don't be stingy~"
"Spend your own money, asshole!"
The heroes came last but they weren't given anything. They were puzzled at first, but when Lance approached them with pouches in his hands, their eyes twinkled.
"Since you heroes are the one who contributed the most, you get these," Lance said as he jingled the pouches in front of them. When the noise of metal hitting against metal, all eyes dropped at the pouches in the commander's hands.
"Must be nice to be a hero. I wish someone would summon me in their world."
"Idiot. Being a hero shoulders too many responsibilities."
"Ah. You are right. I don't want to be a hero anymore."
"How much of a wuss are you? If it's for money, we are going to do whatever!"
"Shut it! Don't jinx us!"
"What's wrong about it?"
"What if someone who wants to overthrow the Queen shows up?"
"... don't jinx it."
"See?"
"Though it is bound to happen..."
Emersyn, who was quietly listening to the blabberings of this one particular group, was only leaning on the stone wall with the mouth of a bottle in her mouth. She didn't get anything, but she was okay with it. So, she spent her time alone as she waited for Elodiaren and Flora to come and get her. Though she was getting stared at by these people for some reason.
"Master, we are done."
Emersyn tilted her head and glanced at Flora, saying, "Welcome back. I'm hungry."
"Yes, yes. I will prepare food for you now."
"Beef curry?"
Flora smiled widely then nodded her head.
"Beef curry."
"Hey, how about me? I like beef curry too," Elodiaren suddenly appeared and interjected.
"Yes, yes. Sure."