Everyone stared at Lua, pondering over what he had just said. They had been promised a "medium difficulty" mission, yet they had nearly been obliterated by this quest. This raised many questions, with the most important being:
Had they deliberately been sent to their deaths? If so, who was the mastermind behind such a villainous act?
"We'll ask Victoria when she wakes up. She's the one who picked it up in the first place." Mick chimed in, suggesting to shelf the question for now. With no leads, all the others could do was relent.
"What do we do now?" Anthony asked, wondering what they should do now that the quest had been completed. Luna, the interim Captain, thought for just a split second before answering his question.
"We'll rest here for the night. Victoria can't possibly be carried back by us. We need her awake." Luna pointed out the obvious, reminding everyone the weight of the Captain.
Thank God.. Lua couldn't help but sigh in relief that they wouldn't have to carry Victoria all the way back, especially after the heavy combat they had been doing. It would certainly be a challenge.
Before the next hour, Lua and Arc had already set up the tents. Winston had set up a bonfire while Luna and Mick went hunting. Anthony was still tending to Victoria, making sure her situation didn't suddenly turn critical.
After some time, Luna and Mick returned from the hunt, carrying a deer and a few ducks. It appeared that their adventure had been bountiful, enough to feed everyone here.
Luna looked at Winston. "Make a soup for Victoria. It'll be a pain to feed her solid food while she's unconscious."
Winston nodded. He was the Chef of the group, talented enough to make jaw-dropping dishes from even the most simple ingredients. He was a true master at the art of cooking.
Winston prepared a stew quicklyfrom the meat broth he had prepared, separating the solid food from the liquid ones. For solid food, the team ate a surprisingly delicious stew with potatoes and meat. Lua nearly believed Winston's descendancy was related to cooking instead of observing. It was simply too good to be pure skill.
Lua devoured the meat as if he was a starving beast, not daring to slow down to process the large amounts of food he was taking in. He was quite hungry.
He then watched as Luna fed an unconscious Victoria the soup, filling the stomach of the fallen warrior. As her body was recovering, she desperately needed nutrients. The meat was perfect to give her the protein she needed.
After dinner, Lua retreated to his tent. From the exhaustion, it didn't take him long to fall asleep. He began snoring almost instantly.
The next morning, Lua woke up considerably early. Although he didn't have a reason, considering they were waiting for Victoria to wake up, he just couldn't sleep too long due to the uncomfortable terrain. Although they had sleeping bags, it didn't feel the same as a mattress.
He left the tent, seeing Arc already up and about. This was a sight Lua was used to seeing. He saw Luna wiping her blade, and decided to ask her for Victoria's condition. He approached her and cleared his throat to get her attention.
"How is she doing?"
Luna looked up at him, then continued wiping her blade. After a second, she said:
"Better. She woke up in the middle of the night and fell back asleep. She should be awake today, according to my assumptions."
Lua sighed, smiling. "That's good to hear."
He spent the next few hours of waiting by tinkering with his glove. Although he made no major upgrades, he managed to significantly speed up the rate energy got extracted from the rune. In real time, however, this only made a millisecond of a difference. It was too much effort for something so insignificant.
"She's awake!" Anthony yelled for all to hear. Finally, good news had arrived for the team after repeated disasters.
Lua left his tent, rushing to Victoria's. He saw everyone huddled in the cramped tent, giving little room for Lua to see the condition of his Captain.
"You had us worried, Cap." Winston said, his jokester tone returning. He had been considerably less joyful since they had arrived, and it made Lua happy to see him once again return to his relaxed and funny demeanor.
Victoria smiled, clearing her throat after all the time she had not spent speaking. "Not getting rid of me that easily."
She then looked a bit worried. "Whatever happened to that damned creature?"
Luna spoke with utter confidence. "We handled it. Its corpse is rotting a kilometer or so away. We moved it to prevent maggots and smell."
Victoria visibly relaxed and let out a small sigh. "Good work. I can't believe I let that demon get the best of me.."
Lua decided not to raise his question for now. He didn't want to bother his Captain with useless questions while she was still recovering from her ordeal. He simply shook the intrusive thoughts away, not letting them get the best of him.
After making sure Victoria was able to walk, they began to unpack their equipment, including their tents and bags. It took them under half an hour to get ready - much faster than they packed. They were on the road in no time.
It was obvious right from the beginning that Victoria would be slowing them down tremendously during the journey. She was clearly limping, but trying her best to catch up. Luna supported her, but it didn't do much in terms of speed. They were destined to get back in a few days at most.
Lua took this opportunity to ask his question at last. They had too much free time, and it gave them no benefits to waste time by not discussing important things, such as the current matter at hand - who had given them this information? Lua mustered up his courage and asked.
"Victoria, that mission was too difficult and dangerous to be classified at "Medium". Have we been misled?"