Jin placed the last of the dead bodies they could find onto the massive pyre they built just outside the village wall. Once everything was stable enough, Aima cast a simple [Fire] spell onto the pile. With the dry wood placed in the stack and the oil mixed in as well, it didn't take long for the fire to spread. For good measure, she also cast a controlled [Gust] spell to direct the smoke and stench away from the village, as a precaution to protect Becky's naturally heightened senses and should Sebastian [Augment] his sense of smell as well.
"I know it's disgusting work, but at least they will be able to rest easy now, knowing that their bodies won't mutate and bother anyone. Let's go back to the village centre and make preparations for our departure Jin." Aima threw one last look into the blazing pyre as she headed inside the village, with Jin in tow.
*
Back in the warehouse, Mel and Becky were organising their equipment while packing their rucksacks. Sebastian physically checked the survivors one last time before packing his equipment. They managed to secure a few supplies from the warehouse, but it was just enough for their equipment maintenance.
"Becky, do you have the adventurer tags from Oswin's party? Jin and I have their equipment in our rucksacks." Sebastian called out as he was rearranging his rucksack for the last time to accommodate the spoils they got from Oswin's party. He was against using their equipment at first, but then he reconsidered after being persuaded by everyone else. They argued that they can sell their equipment for their costs, and the shops might re-sell them so it will benefit another adventurer indirectly. Jin and Becky had to discreetly remind him that this was another world, should lingering convictions from Sebastian's previous world affect his opinion regarding this.
"Yes, I have it with me in a pouch. As planned we can turn this over to the adventurer's guild. With the records in their tags and with the survivor's testimonies, they should be indicted of their actions without any problems."
"It's really interesting how the tag even records your actions including the people you kill. It should be enough to dissuade people from committing crimes." Sebastian voiced out his wonder once again.
"You have to consider it from their side. Once they start down the path of murder and heinous acts, I don't think they still have plans to return to the adventurer's guild to report anything now do they."
"I see. I suppose you're right. Although it will help us to prove that what we did was all in self-defence."
Aima and Jin walked into the warehouse as the others were finishing their packing. "Jin and I have done our part for the cleanup. It should be finished with this, although it took us another extra day."
"With this, everyone should be ready now. Do you both still need to pack?" Becky took her usual pose of crossing her arms as she seemingly stood in front of everyone.
"Aima and I already packed this early morning so we should be good to go. Let's go before midday so we can make it back to Wildecross City tomorrow." Jin slung his rucksack onto his back as if to show his eagerness to go.
"That's good to hear. As we have discussed yesterday, we should take the other route around the village to check for other rat imp burrows before we head back to the city. Does anyone have any concerns regarding that?" Becky also placed her rucksack on her back as she checked her weapons one last time.
"I have a question. Since when did you ask for our opinion regarding this? Are you getting soft? Hoo..." Aima found her prey for the morning as she began to tease Becky.
"Sometimes I wonder how we stayed as friends for this long."
"So you admit that we're friends. Hic hic. I'm on the verge of tears, Becky." Aima pretended to cover her eyes as she faked her sobs.
"They're usually like this. She's sane, I assure you. Please don't mind her much." Sebastian turned to the survivors who looked at the scene before them with dumbstruck faces, they couldn't understand what the two adventurers were trying to do. In the first place, they couldn't make sense if Aima was usually jovial about everything considering what they went through in the past few days.
"I heard that Sebastian! That's mean. Hmph." Aima now switched her target to Sebastian as she pouted.
cough cough "Let's go now please otherwise we'll stay here until the afternoon if we play along with your shenanigans." Becky opened the door to the warehouse as she headed first. From their previous discussion, they assumed their usual combat positions for travelling. Becky and Sebastian took the lead as they used their senses to scout ahead, Jin and Mel followed suit to provide support should they engage any enemies, while Aima stayed at the back with the survivors to heal and support the others if needed.
As they walked past the now empty streets of Erimead Village, everyone was solemnly silent as if paying their respects to the departed. There was an eerie stillness surrounding them, without any wind or breeze around. The windows and doors of the searched houses hung open to show their emptiness, only betrayed by the traces of blood and turmoil on the ground. Even though Sebastian had an impromptu debriefing session with the survivors, they still found themselves choking as they struggled and failed to suppress the tears and emotions welling up within. Aima looked sullen as she walked beside the survivors. The party remained quiet as they exited the village and started their roundabout route back to the city. As one final act of consideration, the party had placed the pyre on the opposite side of the village so the survivors wouldn't bear witness to the burning.
***
"So, do you remember the plan right, Sebastian?" Becky broke the silence as they walked for a while outside the village. Jin and Mel kept a bit of distance between the first two, to ensure that they would be spread out should the need for combat arose.
"Simply scout using your enhanced senses and my [Augment] skills to locate for any traces of rat imps near the village. If we do find anything then make sure to steer clear from engaging them. Our party including the survivors might not be able to hold out against the horde of rat imps. If we find anything we should head back to Wildecross City and report to Leo." While he was going over their plan, Sebastian had the sudden urge to apply multiple instances of [Augment] to ensure his senses were at their peak. However, having recently faced off against a battle mage with a huge amount of mana pool, he learned his lesson as he held himself back and maintained the bare minimum to scout ahead.
"That's right. If we can't handle them then we should make a strategic retreat. It's best to not take on what we can handle. If needed, Leo can mobilise the adventurer's guild to hold off a rat imp horde like the last class B quest. It would be wise to include that in your planning." Becky quickly resumed her teaching role as she gave her lesson of the day to Sebastian. One of the unwanted lessons of the day anyway.
"I'll do well to remember that. Thanks, Becky. There seems to be some sort of a clearing there, by the edge of that forest. Should we check it out as well?" Sebastian found relief that he found something to distract Becky from her lecture.
"Hmm. You're right. From this distance, it looks unnatural. Let's check it out. Remain vigilant." Becky signalled for Jin and Mel to follow them as they changed their route slightly. The party had come to like using hand signals from what Sebastian used in the village stakeout. They made up their own signals to use among themselves, although it was for basic commands regarding movement or to stay in position.
When Sebastian and Becky arrived at the makeshift clearing, there were traces of the ground being burned away to create the clearing. It was large enough to accommodate their party even with their spread out positions. They were waiting for Aima to arrive onto the clearing when Sebastian suddenly tensed his body.
"Did you feel that Becky? Something just moved. I think it's underground. Let me adjust my [Augment] -"
As soon as Aima and the survivors stepped onto the clearing, the ground suddenly gave way!
"AAHHH!!"
The ground opened to swallow Sebastian, Becky, Jin, and Mel. Aima and the survivors were luckily at the edge of the clearing so they managed to step back a second earlier. They gazed emptily into the large hole in front of them.
"Becky!!" Aima called out to the void as she clamoured for something to support her while she peered down.
"Aima, please don't stay too close to the edge!" The petite elf named Zes pulled the frantic Aima back as they ran back to safety.
"Noo!! We need to help them now! Let me go!!" Aima's jovial sense was now replaced with panic as she spent her energy struggling to free herself from the rest of the survivors who also struggled to keep her from jumping into the darkness.
"If you jump without knowing anything you might hurt yourself - or worse! Sebastian always assesses the situation before making a move right?" Zes pleaded with AIma as she was almost about to collapse from simply holding her back. Even though there were three of them, the survivors were worn and weary so they didn't have much strength, to begin with. The strength needed to hold back a frantic person was too much for them at that point. She hoped that by using Sebastian's name, it would calm Aima to an extent.
Aima plopped down onto the ground as she lost the strength to stand up. "By the gods. Noo!! Don't take her away as well! Noo!!" Aima began wailing at the top of her voice without considering where she was or who she was with.
Another survivor tried to help Aima stand up, but Zes pushed her hand away. "We're safe at this distance. Let her cry her heart out. We just went through the same thing recently."
Coupled with Aima's wailing, the survivors broke down and sobbed quietly at the edge of the collapsed hole.
*
cough cough
Jin supported himself as he tried to stand up in the darkness. Quietly, he checked himself and his extremities before checking his senses. A skill taught by Sebastian, he mainly taught it for situations like this. Jin suddenly thought about Sebastian and the rest of the party. "Anyone else here?" He called out meekly to make sure he didn't draw any unnecessary attention. He closed his eyes as he tried to focus on his surroundings. Having sharp senses like Becky or Sebastian would really come in handy now, Jin thought.
"I'm here Jin." Mel's voice called out in the dark as he heard a shuffling near him.
"I'll cast [Light] Mel, be ready for anything." Jin took out his glaive as he prepared to cast the spell. When he felt for his buckler, he found that it was broken during the fall. Having protected his body, he felt that it was a valuable tradeoff. He felt for Bodeth's shield in his rucksack as he hurriedly equipped it. The longer they stayed in the darkness, the more anxious he felt.
"[Light]" Jin cast the light onto his side, hoping that it would stick onto a surface to provide the much-needed illumination. To his surprise, it found an anchor within moments as it stuck to the cave wall. After checking his surroundings, he saw Mel lying on her side. Quickly running over to her, he turned her over to check her condition.
"I'm okay Jin, I just lost my rucksack and bow during the fall." Mel tried to stand up with Jin's support before a sharp, throbbing pain on her left leg forced her to sit back down. "Uh! I think I sprained my leg as well. I'll cast [Heal], please wait." She quickly cast [Heal] on it before checking that she was finally able to place her full weight on it. "Are you feeling okay Jin? Are you hurt?"
"I'm okay Mel, I just broke my buckler on the way down. I'm making use of Bodeth's shield for now. It's quite clunky and awkward for me, but it will have to do. Do you see anyone else?" Jin turned around as he strained his eyes to see in the dark.
"I can't see anyone else as well. Let's find a way out. I don't see the light above us, are we that deep?" Mel tried to squint as she looked up from where they fell, but she was met with the darkness staring back at her.
"Does that mean that the others are grouped together like we are?" Jin voiced out his concern as he tried to sense anything near them, although he kept failing.
"Are you worried that Sebastian might be stuck with Becky alone?"
"A little bit. I'm sure they're alive like us, but she might be too much for him."
"sigh. You know Jin when we were facing off against Oswin's party, Becky and I ran to help Sebastian because he was alone with Oswin. When we got there, Sebastian already defeated Oswin and was questioning him. I tried to rush in, but Becky held me back. She said that Sebastian would never kill Oswin, and we can hear Oswin's side." Mel took a deep breath as she continued. "When she heard how Oswin willingly sacrificed the villagers and the battle slaves so they could survive, she lost her usual calm demeanour. It was my turn to frantically hold her back as she tried to rush in and kill Oswin - although I failed to stop her [Dagger Throw]." Silence ensued between both of them as Jin processed Mel's scenario.
"So you're saying that the sharp-tongued and calculating Becky can also be emotional like us?" Jin finally looked up as he voiced his thoughts.
"I think so. She genuinely cares and is concerned about the people around her. However, she has a spiky exterior that precludes everything. People quickly judge her for it I think."
"Wait, Mel." Jin shushed her as he gripped his weapon tight.
Both adventurers turned towards the source of the faint sound in the darkness. Their eyes were transfixed at the corner where the light trailed off.
thump thump
GGGRRRRWWWW
CHWIT CHWIT!!
From the dim edges of the cave, mutated wolves and rat imps slowly advanced side by side into the light.