Grief could be processed in many forms. Everyone had their own way of managing and coming to terms with something that they lost.
In a way, the entire kingdom had been placed into a state of grief after the loss of three cities and three villages. This loss had rooted itself into the kingdom and could be felt everywhere. That included the little guild known as Phoenix Flight.
Mama Herta was silent as she cleaned one of the ale glasses out with a rag. At the bar, Clause was also quiet, nursing a glass in his hands. Olem stood near the back, leaning against the train's wall, his arms folded, and Miranda was lounging down on the counter, her head lazily looking in the direction of the Squire's dorm rooms.
That left Gormay as the only one who was making any noise, and as usual, it was because he was eating as loudly as he could, shoving whole plates down his throat. Well, he and Vlad, who was in the corner, his back turned to the world, quietly cursed at the arcade machine he was playing.
The six of them were the only ones in the hangout room. The other guild members were all elsewhere. Captain Laerton was constantly being forced to attend various meetings alongside Pock.
Ragna and Greenie were out on mission after mission, as well as checking on all the nearby cities, making sure to visit them hourly. No one knew when the last time he slept was. Tea and Dog also still hadn't returned from their quest because of how long it was taking.
Falco and Ghost were out somewhere on the beach along with Sieg and Ken. For the past few days, the four of them had been training nonstop. At first, Falco wanted to help Ken with her fire magic, but Ken was almost as skilled as him already and even began to surpass him in some areas, so now it was just a straight brawl between the two, while Ghost was also bored and wanted to play with Sieg.
Davi had left the guild base the moment they all returned and hadn't come back since. Ragna said he was okay but busy. This was because, apparently, Davi learned that Alice Ward was helping in the cleanup of the destroyed cities, as well as offering medical aid to those in need, and Davi joined her to try and help. He should have returned sometime today.
Lastly, that left Olivia.
She was in her room. For the past three days, that was all she did. She barely came out, save to use the bathroom or to bathe, and food had to be brought to her. She was holed up, and Olem couldn't get her to leave, nor could Ghost, Ken, or even Davi. Everyone knew why.
She had lost the most.
"You've been staring at the rooms for a while," Clause noted in a soft tone. "Got something on your mind, Miranda?"
"Of course I don't." Miranda lazily sighed. "Hurry up and die from your curse so you can leave me alone."
"You're so easy to read." Mama Herta let out a soft snort. "You always get like this when a guild member is suffering. You know, it's okay to say you care."
"My sister caring about someone other than herself?" Gormay let out a loud burp. "Nah. Not possible. She's one selfish bitch."
Miranda jabbed her elbow into his gut as hard as she could. "Shut up before I kill you, you fat bastard."
"See. Total bitch."
"I can't imagine it," Olem spoke up. "Losing someone you loved is a horrible feeling. What about losing everyone you loved? The place you grew up at. All those memories. All those events. That life that helped shape you. All of it is now gone. I don't blame her for wanting to be alone."
"Is that healthy, though?" Mama Herta questioned.
"I don't know." Olem shrugged. "I'm not even a doctor; I just have healing magic. I don't know why you all insist I put people back together. Physically, it's possible for me, but mentally… Well, everyone in this guild is a little fucked in the head if you ask me. Everyone has a process. When Olivia needs help, I'm sure she'll get it, but until then, she's made it clear she wants to be alone."
Clause tugged a bit on his beard. "I wish I had more wisdom. Perhaps if I were older mentally, I could help Olivia out more. I'm glad Davi and the others seem to be holding up as well as they are, though."
Miranda gave a weak snort. "Holding up? The blonde one and that bitchy one have been getting put through the ringer by Ghost and Falco, who are both taking their anger out on them. The scarred one is already insane and is helping Ward out with a pointless task. As if giving out free aid will actually matter. What these recruits need is to stop sitting around and do something."
"Someone should take them on a quest." Mama Herta hummed. "Giving them a job to do might help. At the very least, it seems to be working for Davi."
"What quest would we even take them on?" Clause asked.
"Don't look at me." Olem shrugged. "I can't leave even if I wanted to."
"I refuse to leave," Gormay grunted.
"Any ideas, Vlad?" Mama Herta called out.
"Piss off." Was Vlad's crude response, and he didn't even bother to turn around; he just kept playing his game. As usual, he was less than helpful…
Miranda suddenly let out a growl and stood up, shoving her chair back. "All of you suck." She stomped toward the door that led to the Squire's room.
"Where is she going?" Clause questioned.
"I guess she decided to help." Mama Herta smiled.
Miranda's teeth gritted together hard enough to nearly crack as she opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Sieg and Ken had taken their own rooms, and their doors were open, as was Davi's. Only Olivia's was closed, and Miranda walked up to it and kicked it with her foot. It was nearly ripped off its hinges and swung open with a loud bang.
Inside, she found Olivia. The snow-haired girl was curled up in a ball on her bed, her blanket wrapped tightly around her. She thought the girl might have been asleep at first, but in the darkness of the room, she found a pair of dull, blood-red eyes gazing suddenly at her. Something in the air felt off, and Miranda felt a strange tightness around her body, as if something was squeezing down around her.
It was constricting and even a little painful, but she brushed past it and entered the room. "Hey." Miranda folded her arms. "Get up."
Olivia blinked and studied the silver-haired woman. "Why?"
"Because I said so," Miranda responded, getting a little annoyed.
"What do you need me for?"
Miranda paused at the cold tone that came from Olivia. It was as if ice itself was pouring from the girl's mouth. Olivia hadn't been this snappy before. This incident really had changed her.
"We're going on a quest." Miranda finally said. "Ragna is away, but we have missions to do still, and I decided you little bastards should be put to work. Your little friends are all busting their asses, so you're going to get up, you're going to stop sitting around, and you're going to help out."
Olivia's gaze didn't change. She just kept staring at the woman before her in silence.
Three days. It had been three days since the incident occurred. Three days since Rosco… His body hadn't been found, but she knew in her heart he was gone. Everyone in Fri was gone. Farmer Jermy, Rosco, and even Nev. Her home, the place she had been raised, had been wiped off the planet.
Lotus had been set ablaze, and its people were burned to a crisp, the city being reduced to a wasteland of ash. It reminded her of the dungeon Davi found his sword in. Fri was also like the dungeon. The first floor that was. An entire lake had been placed where the city was, and its people were either bloated or had long since been devoured by the sharks and other fish that were in its place.
And this incident. This horrible thing that would forever leave a stain on her life happened to so many other people. How many people suffered? How many people died? How many people lost the ones they loved?
With no body, there wasn't a proper funeral held for Rosco, and with all the chaos that was going on in the kingdom, it meant the guilds that actually mattered were all working their asses off trying to figure out what happened. That meant she couldn't even talk to Bruno. What was her friend going through?
She had loved Rosco and loved the village and all its people, but in the end, she was an outsider. Bruno had been born there and lived there his entire life. That was his dad. The pain she was going through must have been nothing compared to his. And yet she couldn't talk to him.
He wasn't answering any calls or responding to texts. She knew he was alive because he'd show up on TV. The Shining Sentinels were doing the most out of any guild, and their efforts were being shared live. Sometimes she'd catch a glimpse of Bruno. See the dead, hollowed-out look in his eyes.
It was as if her friend had died with his village.
His smile was truly gone.
Ash wasn't any better. She never liked him, but he had seen the same horrors she had. He saw his life come to an end and was there with her. She didn't see him on TV, but she knew he had thrown himself into his work.
Yet she couldn't blame him, for she was doing the same. To the rest of the guild, it looked as if she had given up. As if she had placed herself in her room and was content to die, yet that was far from the truth.
For the past three days straight, she had worked harder than she ever had before. She only stopped when she needed to eat or to use the bathroom. Even right as Miranda kicked her door down, she had been hard at work training.
The method was everything the king told her not to do. He had asked her not to push herself as far as she could, but she didn't fucking care what he thought or wanted for her anymore.
She would use her magic to cast a spell she had never thought of using before because it was mostly useless. Row Blood Rabbit summoned a small rabbit made out of her blood. She had gotten the spell at the time because she wanted to have a cute familiar she could cast spells through, but sadly, this rabbit wasn't that, and the rabbit couldn't be used that way.
This was because, unlike other constructs, the rabbit technically didn't fall into the category of a construct. A construct was a mix of Conjuration, Alteration, and Enchantment magic. Conjuration created the substance the construct was made out of, Alteration changed how it operated, and Enchantment magic allowed it to be programmed.
The Blood Rabbit spell was a mix of Illusion and Restoration, but it did use a tiny amount of Conjuration as well. Conjuration was used with her blood to make the shape of a rabbit and hold itself together, but that was all it did. Since the spell lacked Alteration, the rabbit couldn't alter its state of being, which meant it couldn't move once it was placed down, and since it had no Enchantment school in it, that also meant it couldn't be programmed or used to fire out other spells.
In essence, the rabbit that was created was no different than a brick. It might as well have been a statue. If she leveled her Enchantment up more, it'd later be possible to change the spell. She could do it now, but not in any drastic ways, and she couldn't add any new schools to the spell without having a high grade in Enchantment. The most she could do right now was affect the Illusion and Restoration schools of the spell or have the rabbit come out in different poses when she made it.
And yet, she still got some uses out of this spell. By casting the spell over and over again, she would slowly level up her Restoration, Illusion, and Conjuration, which would lower the costs of all spells in those schools and allow her to add more lines of code to the spells when her Enchantment got up. She also hoped to increase her Restoration so her healing spells could heal more blood than she lost. So far, she hadn't managed to do that, but this process would eventually give her the path to that goal.
Blood Rabbit was also used instead of any other spell because of the effects it caused. The spell would create a small blood statue that was in the shape of a bunny. This bunny would then have an area of effect around it. All those caught in the area would have two things happen to them. The first was from the illusion school. The pain they felt would be significantly dulled and reduced to a great extent. This allowed them to overlook the damage their body had sustained. The second effect was that they would gain a soft healing factor.
The healing factor wasn't that good. It was barely equal to a D- grade Quick Regeneration. Still, it was useful because, unlike a normal healing spell, this one would continue to patch up the user after just one cast. The only issue is that it'd take a long time since the healing was so bad.
This was really good for her, though, because with the illusion, she could dull the pain her body was going through from how hard she was pushing it, and then she could use the rabbit's healing, which would stack with her body's normal Quick Regeneration, to slightly heal a bit faster.
This is where her training came in.
She'd cast Row Blood Rabbit three times, which would then cause her body to collapse. She'd use Polymorph to enter her witch form and cast the spell again three times, which would in turn cause her to collapse. She'd cancel Polymorph and return to her normal state. Due to casting three spells, being low on blood, and using a Polymorph, her body would fully black out, but the latest use of Blood Rabbit would leave behind a bunny.
She'd enter the World of Paths and then use Maya to train some more. In the World of Paths, she could cast spells, but they wouldn't actually cause her to improve. Instead, she used Maya and the World to learn. She'd chain different combos together and practice. Because it was a dream, she could keep spamming spells all she wanted. She'd also practice with her dagger or her scythe, attempting to get better with them and learn some new tricks while in the World of Paths.
With Maya's help, she also read the book Crowe gave her. She could read it while in the World of Paths, since she had reviewed it, and Maya could create an exact copy. Maya was also exceptionally skilled in alchemy, it seemed, and this allowed her to have a great teacher who guided her. As a result, she began to practice creating potions as well.
Unlike the last time she was training, she thoroughly used Tori, taking advantage of the fake Tori's Master trait, to learn faster and operate quicker while in the World of Paths, which in turn was going to level up her Determined trait.
Eventually, in the real world, her body would regain enough blood thanks to her healing and the rabbit's healing, and she'd come out of the World of Paths and begin to use her spells again to black out so she could instantly go back to the World and speak with Maya.
She repeated this process over and over again for three consecutive days. Non-stop. She would only sleep when her body was exhausted, but even then, her mind was still with Maya.
That was the true power of the Determined trait. She could work till she dropped and then keep working even after exhaustion. Most people have to sleep and rest, but not her. She'd be able to train forever if she kept it up.
She'd do whatever it took to get stronger.
The image of Mr. Bloom was burned into her mind. The mutant that had tried to harm Davi was tied to whatever had happened to her village. She decided she was going to become strong enough to beat him, then she'd find out who in his group killed Rosco, and she'd make that person suffer as much as she could.
They would not get an easy or quick death.
Sadly, her plan was ended when Miranda barged into her room. Olivia finally let out a sigh, and she undid the blanket that was around her. Her hair was a mess, and bags resided under her eyes. She was still in her leather armor and hadn't actually bathed in over three days or removed it, simply training as much as she could.
She reeked of blood and filth, but Miranda didn't seem bothered; the silver-haired woman instead quietly studied her. "You're actually going to listen to me?"
"Why not?" Olivia sighed again. "It'd be good to move around, and I'd like to kill something if possible."
Miranda gave a half-smirk. "Good. Then come on."
Olivia numbly followed, and they left through the side door, bypassing the central area. Miranda walked toward the beach, and as the two of them approached it, Olivia heard the sound of fighting.
In the center of the beach, glass and ice were scattered around. The glass was from Falco and Ken, the two fire mages trying to burn the other one alive, and so they kept raising their body temperature over and over again. The ice was from Ghost, who kept phasing and dodging out of the way of Sieg's lightning bolts.
"That's enough, you four!" Miranda yelled, and the fighting instantly came to a stop.
"Oh! Miranda!" Ghost looked excitedly at the woman and then at Olivia. "Liv! You finally left your room!" Olivia didn't hug Ghost back as the girl wrapped her up in a tight embrace.
"What's up, M?" Falco asked as he, Sieg, and Ken approached.
"I need those two." Miranda gestured at the two Squires.
"What for?" Ken's eyes narrowed.
"We're doing a quest," Miranda stated bluntly. "You and that masked prick are coming with me."
Ken frowned but held her tongue. "What sort of quest?" Sieg asked.
"I'll explain when we have the last idiot with us," Miranda said, pointing her thumb in the direction of Oleander.
"Want me to come as well?" Falco offered.
Miranda shook her head. "No. You should stay here. If an urgent incident does happen, you're one of the only people who can deal with it. Haru knows my fat-ass brother won't get off his lazy butt."
Falco gave a chuckle. "Right. Well, stay safe. I'll let Ragna know when he gets back."
"Good." Miranda turned. "Now let's go find Davi."
Davi Hawker was in Oleander City. For the past three days, he had also been without sleep, helping Alice Ward with the aid of several cities and villages that had been nearby when the other places were attacked. Curses were used on Lotus and Fri, and that dark magic seeped into the land, causing harm to nearby areas that required medical help, and so Davi decided he'd help with that, and he used his shadow magic to take supplies to various places quickly.
"You okay, kid?" Alice leaned against a van and blew on a pipe, letting out a stream of smoke.
The work had finally come to an end, and they were back in Oleander. "I'm hardly a kid," Davi said in his usual blank tone.
"If you're under thirty, you're a child," Alice rolled her eyes. "Especially to someone like me." She eyed Davi up. He mainly looked fine, but she could tell he was tired. No sleep and backbreaking work, helping with all the cleanup effort, and yet he never complained or stopped to take a break. She practically had to force him to eat. "Why'd you offer help?" Alice questioned, her eyes narrowing slightly. "I didn't ask for any members of Phoenix Flight to help out. My men and I could have handled it all."
Davi shrugged. "It went smoother with me, didn't it?"
Alice frowned. Indeed, he was right. Instead of having to take several trucks full of supplies, only one was needed for her and her men since Davi placed everything into his vault. Most containment storages had a limit on what they could carry, and none would have even been able to hold one-tenth of the supplies she was giving away, yet Davi stored it all, and he had done so for free.
"So? Yeah, it went smoother, but why did you do it? Are you expecting payment?"
"It was the right thing to do."
"That can't seriously be why you did it?"
Davi gave Alice a bored look. "Why did you?"
"What?"
"Why did you gather all these supplies and give them to the people in aid?" He asked. "You must have spent a fortune, and you're not gaining anything out of it either."
Alice looked away, a little embarrassed at having been called out by a junior. She thought the people could use a helping hand, and so she did. To the rest of her crew or anyone else, they'd assume she did it because she wanted to get a new story out or wanted to make herself look better. Most people would see a kind act and paint it off as something the person did for their own selfish reasons. So, how did Davi instantly see through that and see her for what she was?
Someone who wanted to help people.
He really was a total weirdo.
"If you need help with anything, let me know." Davi stepped away from the bus and began to stretch lazily. "I'll help out."
"You're weird."
"So I've been told."
Alice rolled her eyes and was about to say something but paused when she felt a shift in the air. Davi turned with her, and standing across from them now were Miranda and three other Phoenix Flight Knights.
"There you are." Miranda rolled her eyes and grabbed Davi by his wrist. "Come on, we're going on a quest."
"Okay." Davi nodded, and he looked toward Sieg, then Ken, and finally Olivia. "What sort of mission?"
"A boring and easy kind," Miranda stated.
"Seriously?" Ken frowned. "So it's not even an interesting one?"
"Oh, this one is interesting," Miranda said.
"How so?" Olivia quietly asked.
"Because this quest was given to us by the Pantheon guild."
Another guild wanted to hire Phoenix Flight.