Chapter 159

159 Don’t leave people behind, please! part “I’m sorry Luke, thanks for the medicine”

Ryu said in between coughs.

“Are you ok mister Ryu? you still look pale”

Sera said as she placed her hand on Ryu’s forehead showing great concern for him.

“I’m fine... I just... Wait, where’s my sword!? they took it!”

“Uh, no, you’re still holding it”

Luke said somewhat confounded.

Ryu then stared blankly at his hand, he was grabbing on to the hilt of the bastard sword, but he couldn’t feel it. It was as if he was holding a stick, he couldn’t feel even a trace of the cursed blade’s power.

It took Ryu a while to compose himself and understand what had happened, even though his health points had recovered already. It was morning already, but everyone was so tired they decided to rest for a while.

.....

Lea had been taken prisoner, Stefan was nowhere to be seen and the soldiers ran back to Celarent. The peaceful sounds of the forest accompanied the group as they chatted, until Ryu finally stood up and walked towards Anne with a determined expression.

“So, you’re really here...”

“Uhm, yeah... I’ve missed you too”

“I... what are you saying all of a sudden. We’ve been waiting for you guys for so long, where’s Helena by the way?”

“Things are complicated...”

“Hey Anne! you said you would tell us what happened once Ryu woke up!”

Luke prompted Anne to speak and everyone took a seat in the forest ground to listen to what she had to say.

“Helena decided to stay at the sacred empire, that’s why I’m travelling alone”

“Why would she do something like that!? she even let you travel all by yourself!”

“Ok guys, if you really want me to tell you everything you got to stay quiet and listen”

Anne directed one of her signature icy glares at Luke leaving him in a daze.

“When we left Ironwoods we stopped by Mountainside to rest, a sketchy guy over there convinced us to take a shortcut but we ended up getting lost in the forest. We got attacked by lizards, spiders and creatures I can’t even begin to describe, at first it was really difficult, but we became stronger and it made things a bit easier”

“Sounds like you had it hard Anne, I’m sorry... If only I went to look for you”

Ryu said with oozing regret and sadness. He was reunited with Anne after so long, only to learn that Helena was still at the empire and he won’t be able to see her in a long while.

“Don’t sweat it Ryu, we learned lots of things and we had some fun times too”

Anne sighed.

“What happened then?”

“We didn’t have any map or compass, all we saw for weeks was nothing but trees and ceatures. At some point we started going in circles and then we decided to rest for a couple days and take the chance to explore the forest. Then, we were found by a party of five men from the church. At first we were worried they might try to do something bad to us, but somehow they learned of Helena’s priest class and they treated us with the utmost respect and brought us back with them to the sacred empire”

“Why would you go with them instead of asking directions to head to Celarent!?”

Ryu sounded both mad and surprised at the same time, this time he too earnedone of Anne’s icy glares.

“Why else? we were desperate to find a cure for your curse! Once we reached the sacred empire they took Helena to a church to learn new skills. She learned so fast they took her to the oracle in less than four days and she became a high priest”

“A high priest!? I’ve heard that those are pretty rare even in the sacred empire!”

Risa exclaimed drawing all the attention upon herself.

“Yes, they are, that’s why they insisted on training her. Not only they taught her for free, they even provided her with an allowance”

Anne replied, still unsure about who that weird looking woman was.

“Is Helena really safe over there?”

Bob inquired.

“Uhm... I guess, last time I saw her she looked really happy”

“So, what is the empire like?”

“I’ll tell you all about it when we’re safe, there’s actually a lot more I want to discuss with you guys”

As soon as Anne said that Ryu got up and started cooking, needless to say he was less than excited to be the one doing all the work, but it couldn’t be helped since his cooking skill was the highest among his companions. A high cooking skill not only meant eating tastier food, raw ingredients provided but a hint of the nutritional value a properly cooked dish possessed.

Ryu stirred the cooking pot as if trying to hasten the cooking process, It was a vegetable stew made in a hurry, but the smell that came out of the pot was so enticing even Ryu’s pets came close to the fire. It was an enjoyable meal for almost everyone.

There was someone in the group who couldn’t care any less about the food and the only thing she wanted was to find an opportunity to escape. Lea was restrained and tied up with ropes, her weapon was confiscated along with her provisions and money. She was the one holding the money they were supposed to pay to the corrupt captain, which is why her purse was so heavy.

The one leading the group back to Celarent was Luke, this was because his group was the only one that came directly from that city, but also because nobody else wanted to take the lead.

Ryu was exhausted and Anne was oddly silent, staring at Ryu at every chance she got.

Famine walked along the road with Sera mounted on top of his loin, since she wasn’t wearing any footwear it was the best course of action. Forcing her to walk like that would only result in her getting hurt and slowing their walking speed. The amarok looked fierce and was a lot bigger than she remembered, but since it was Ryu himself the one who asked her to climb on top of it she didn’t hesitate.

To say Sera was ecstatic wouldn’t be an exaggeration, she was sure that Ryu had tome to her rescue and she couldn’t wait to thank him properly with her body. When they first met she was a skinny girl and, despite being the elder sister, she looked younger than Claire.

That was because of her starving status that was caused by her unintended mana consumption. Mages, especially those who didn’t know they were mages, were prone to starvation because they needed to replenish their mana consuming great amounts of food, Ayumi’s eating behavior was proof of that.

Once Sera consumed the croquettes made by Ryu, which contained a high nutritional value thanks to the elven wheat fruit flour, her body quickly took it’s fated shape giving her the perfect proportions and the fairest complexion. The process was something similar to what Ryu experienced after he recovered from his wounds at the goblin village. When he killed those criminals his maximum energy increased and, thanks to being apart from his cursed sword for a while, his body was finally able to develop into his new toned form.

Sera, who had always thought of herself as an ugly woman undeserving of love, but now things were different. Her outstanding beauty was all that men around her talked about and she was aware of that. So far she’s been playing it safe with Ryu, but she was really excited now she had an excuse to throw herself into his arms.

“I don’t think they’re going to let you get inside the city with that thing”

Risa told Ryu while she pointed at the amarok.

“That thing is my pet, if they don’t let me get inside I’ll have no choice but to live somewhere else”

He shrugged.

“I see”

Risa seemed to be pensive.

“By the way miss Risa, why did you come with them?”

“I still need to thank you properly for what you did for me back then, I also need to return you this cape”

She said coquetishly as she pulled the cape she was wearing as a dress in an odd but still fashionable way, the sudden movement of the leathery attire made her bossom jiggle. It wasn’t a coincidence, she had actually rehearsed beforehand how to answer Ryu’s question in the most flirtatious way, and that’s what she came up with.

Still, Ryu didn’t even look at her, he was too distracted thinking on the events that transcurred during the night and early morning.

First he met Anne by chance, then he realized that Sera had been caught and she was in danger, then Bob, Luke and Risa appeared out of the blue. There was a lot of fighting too and as a result his sword seemed to be dead.

The strong connection he felt whenever he touched the hilt of his blade had disappeared, now his sword seemed to be just a regular bastard sword. Although his life had been in danger many times because of that weapon, he was more than used to wielding it, it felt as if it was a part of him. A part that he no longer could count on.

After their first night together everyone woke up with renewed energies, allowing them to travel almost as fast as if they were riding a carriage.