Epilogue: Awakening to Anxiety

Epilogue:
Awakening to Anxiety

 

“I REALLY THINK we ought to do something about that condition of yours. You seem to end up in the hospital every single time.”

That was how Lapis started the conversation as she used a small knife to peel a fruit by Loren’s bedside.

I’m not getting hospitalized by choice, Loren grumbled.

They were once again in a hospital in Kaffa—the one with which Loren had grown far too acquainted since he started his adventuring life. He wouldn’t have been surprised had he opened his eyes to Monte Lugar, where the training academy was located. He was actually rather shocked to find himself back here.

“I left Mr. Claes and Ms. Ange behind. They had to report the facts.”

The transfer gate on the tenth floor of the Wolfe labyrinth was meant to send its users to a certain room in the academy. However, Lapis explained that she had changed the destination by fiddling with the settings. Saying she urgently needed to get Loren to a hospital, she drove Claes, Ange, and all the surviving students into the gate at its default setting, then modified it to send herself and Loren straight to Kaffa.

“You were in a pretty bad state, Mr. Loren. You were covered in slime, unconscious, and your hands were shaking. You were almost like a newborn fawn.”

“How did you explain away your ability to tamper with a transfer gate?”

“I am a priest of the god of knowledge.”

Another day, another bar raise, but Loren opted not to worry about it. He couldn’t, as soon as he imagined himself in the state Lapis described to him. It couldn’t have been pretty. He hardly wanted to see a man covered in goop, even if that man was himself.

“How’s my condition?” Loren expected he had been on the verge of death, just like every other time he had been carted to the hospital. Can’t see why this time would be any different.

Lapis shook her head. She even looked a bit sullen. “Strangely, it wasn’t that bad this time.” She placed the peeled fruit on a plate atop a nearby stand, slowly wiping the juices from her hands before picking up a sheet of paper by the plate. “Your wounds total up to a dislocated shoulder and a few damaged tendons. A handful of torn muscles, and a bit of internal bleeding here and there, but that’s about it.”

Loren was already aware of all the wounds she listed off. But usually, when that something clicked in his head, he ended up draining his body of even its last reserves. This time, the energy Scena had snatched up from the black slime had presumably been enough to compensate for the drain.

He had still been paid in kind for his efforts—the power he received had been too much for his body to bear, and every time he’d swung his sword, he had overexerted his arms. This damage was largely the consequence of his own actions.

“It will only take a few days for a full recovery.”

“Ain’t that a bit fast?” He had expected at least twice that.

Lapis turned her body away and proclaimed, “You have a master of blessings right next to you.”

“Ah, sorry about that. And thanks.”

“On the contrary, you suffered such grievous wounds that it will take a few days, even with a priest as excellent as myself. Do you understand how serious your predicament is?”

Lapis glared at him hard, and he meekly nodded back.

In truth, he’d gotten off far lighter than expected, but he understood that didn’t mean that the wounds were objectively light. He didn’t have full control of his body yet, and as he was, he didn’t have the willpower to oppose Lapis.

“So how long was I out?”

“Three whole days. Mr. Claes and his girls have already returned since giving their report.” For these details, she picked up a separate piece of paper. “First, the ringleader, Mr. Al. He was expelled, shipped back to his parents, and will probably be sent straight to take his vows. I doubt they’ll let him see the light of day for the rest of his years.”

In noble society, sending someone “to take their vows” was shorthand for ridding a house of the sorts they couldn’t let out into the world, she explained. Whether they really were sent to a holy institution—or to somewhere much darker—was unclear to those outside the upper echelons. However, those who received this sentence were rarely ever seen again.

“Ms. Phem is being treated as if she dropped out of her own accord. She was essentially expelled. Her whereabouts are currently unknown. Since she’s not a noble, she won’t be sent to take any vows, and she might actually become a formidable adventurer.”

There were no qualifications required to become an adventurer. Phem was light on her feet, and it wouldn’t be strange for her to end up one, despite everything. However, Loren refused to imagine what would happen should that occur, nor did he want to meet her again.

“Mr. Cloud…is being treated as if he died during the exam. His remains were…well, he was swallowed by a slime, and his body was caught up in your rampage, so…what was left of him was collected and buried. Mr. Ein’s exam was suspended, and it is up to him what he does from now on.”

Al aside, Ein had gotten along well with his other two comrades. One had betrayed him for money, while the other had been killed by a slime. Loren didn’t know if the boy would be able to endure the grief. Ein was presumably in a state of shock; his recovery would be up to him, and this wasn’t a matter that someone who was at best an acquaintance could do anything about. Loren offered him a prayer.

“Ms. Parmè failed the exam and will have to retake it. Her party was annihilated—that one can be chalked up to bad luck. There isn’t much else to say.”

“What about her party members?”

“One is dead. We saw her ourselves. Recovering the body…would be impossible, given its last known state. The other two are missing. The school has sent out a search party, but knowing the situation down there, their chances of survival are despair-inducingly low.”

It seemed that besides Cloud, three students—whose names he didn’t know—had also died a tragic death in the labyrinth. This apparently wasn’t entirely rare for the school. Through a bout of bad luck, the students had been wrapped up in a mass slime outbreak due to the revival of some dark god—but far too many adventurers lost their lives to bad luck, as it were. This wasn’t rare either.

“Ms. Parmè left a message with Mr. Claes. She said she will definitely repay the favor she owes you, and that, if you were ever to pass by her estate, to please stop by. Good for you, Mr. Loren. You’ve received an invitation from quite the lovely lass,” Lapis joked, seemingly to conceal the darkness in her eyes.

“I can’t say I care for blonde ringlets,” Loren muttered.

“Oh, really? A shame for her, then. Incidentally, what are your thoughts on black ponytails?” Lapis pointed at her own hair.

Loren’s mouth curved into a sharp frown, and he maintained his silence. He could tell things would instantly get strange if he responded in the affirmative. Though if he said he didn’t, the mood would turn perilous instead.

There was no right answer to the question.

“No response? That’s a little discouraging,” Lapis said, though she didn’t seem discouraged in the least.

Loren knew it was time to change the topic. “What about the quest?”

Their job had been to proctor the exam. Surely they hadn’t done poorly enough for that to be treated as a failure—although Loren wasn’t sure if he would call the quest a success either. The exam had been a mess. That said, the fact that Al had been after one of Wolfe’s treasures had nothing to do with their responsibility as proctors.

“The quest is being treated as a success. The headmaster swore that he would see to it—at least, that’s what I heard from Mr. Claes.”

Lapis placed the paper back on the table. Next, she picked up the plate and cleanly split the fruit into six segments. She took one and placed it in her mouth before offering the rest to Loren. Each bite she took was crisp and clean.

“I would have protested if they treated it as a failure after everything we did,” Lapis said after swallowing. “Hardly any of that was our fault.”

Loren stared absentmindedly at the fruit placed before him, and he posed another question. “What about the dark god?”

“The matter has been reported to the headmaster as well as to the adventurers’ guild. They interviewed me and everything.”

There were no documents or legends pertaining to the “god of sloth.” Even the headmaster, Wolfe’s direct descendant, hadn’t heard anything about it from his forebears. The box that Downer Acedia had been sealed in was briefly mentioned in the master list of artifacts, but no one had known what it was used for. Its only description was purpose unknown, and it had been stored rather haphazardly.

“There’s no use in us thinking about it. We haven’t the slightest idea where he went, after all. It won’t be so easy to track down someone called a dark god.”

“Was he…a demon?”

The dark god’s eyes had been purple. Demon-kind were the only race in the world who possessed eyes of such color.

“I don’t know,” was all Lapis said to that. “He had the traits of my kind, but he was sealed hundreds of years ago. It’s hard to identify him as a demon solely based on those eyes. I might be able to root out some more detailed accounts if I return home…”

What sort of place is your house? Loren thought to ask, but he contained himself. He still had another question. “What about your arm?”

“Are you talking about this?”

Lapis waved her left arm at him. Appearance-wise, it looked no different from what she’d sported before, but Lapis seemed satisfied as she looked at it. “I finally have a real arm—now if only I had the other one too.”

“Congratulations, I guess.”

“Thank you. At this rate, I should be all flesh in no time.”

Her satisfied smile suddenly became serious. Loren was taken aback by the abrupt shift, especially after she placed her arms on the bed, leaning her face closer to him. “On another note, Mr. Loren. Is there something you’d like to say to me?”

Loren felt his mouth unconsciously slacken as she stared at him up close. It took all his willpower to maintain his calm and keep his mouth tightly sealed.

He did have a vague idea of what she was referring to. In order to enable Loren to escape the slime, Scena had made full use of her Lifeless King powers. There was no way Lapis hadn’t noticed, though Loren desperately wanted to postpone that discussion—even if for just a little longer.

But Lapis’s expression was a little too intent for him to get out of this without incident. As his mind raced as fast as it could, Loren finally reached the words that could set him free. “I’m sorry you have to carry me to the hospital every time, Lapis. I really am grateful.”

Lapis seemed entirely surprised by this expression of sincere gratitude. Once she recovered, she puffed up her slightly flushed cheeks.

“Was that not it?” Loren asked, feigning obliviousness—though he knew it was nowhere close.

Lapis let out a long sigh, brushed her hair aside, and backed off. “No. I will accept that answer for now.”

So she’s going to wait until I’m ready to talk. Loren nodded. “Thanks for that.”

While Lapis no doubt knew, she would act like she didn’t so long as he didn’t spell it out. He once again thanked her for her consideration and slowly closed his eyes.

It would take a few days before he was fully recovered, and either because his stamina had yet to return or because he had talked a little too long, he could feel the drowsiness that came with fatigue.

“Please take it easy,” Lapis said. “We’ll look for another quest once you’re back on your feet.”

He heard Lapis stand. She had evidently sensed that he was about to sleep and decided it was best if she left him to it.

“Ah, I’ll subtract the hospitalization fees as well as those for my blessings from your quest payment.”

“There’s not gonna be a single copper left after that.”

Loren got the feeling Lapis’s treatment fees would be far higher than those the hospital charged and sighed. He heard Lapis giggling.

“Let’s hope the next job is a little more profitable. Good night,” she said, and at last, she left. Her presence vanished from the room.

With his eyes closed, a hazy anxiety seeped into Loren’s head. Is a job like that ever going to come my way?

But it wasn’t long before the hands of sleep had whisked him away to his dreams.