The Achievement Junkie

"Can you at least tell us what's wrong?" asked Rydel, shocked to hear that even a lv. 34 mage was unable to do anything.

The queen shook her head. "As the girl said, these internal injuries aren't accepting any form of magical aid. They don't feel permanent, but perhaps the injuries can only heal naturally?"

Rydel looked back to Byron, a strand of hope remained in his eye. "What exactly happened between the kid and the troll? Do you know what sort of injuries he took?"

"Well, it wasn't much till the end," explained Byron. "This pestro didn't take him seriously until the kid went all out. By then, I joined the fray but the kid wasn't able to tell between friend or foe, so I wasn't able to do much. In the end, he was hit by that club and launched into the wall, leaving him unconscious."

Glancing at the club on the ground, Rydel hoped it carried some magical property that caused this weird phenomenon. To everyone's disappointment, it was only a powerful lv. 35 club made from a strange concoction of bone and iron.

The hunter shot a quick question to Byron, "Mind if I take this? It would be for our branch chief."

"Well, I was the one who killed him so it's technically mine. I could part with it for a price, but…" Byron glanced at the unmoving Jack with a wave of his hand. "I'll pass it on to that kid. Consider it a gift for my rescue."

"Thanks." Rydel quickly stored it as footsteps were heard from the dungeon steps.

Rushing into the room was a blood-covered and wound ridden samurai in a red and white kimono. He turned his head in every which way to assess his surroundings before he said, "What's going on? Why did ya stop responding after ya entered the dungeon? Ya could've at least said that thing was dead."

Scratching his head, Rydel admitted, "Sorry, I got caught up in the situation. Something's up with Jack."

"What's wrong?"

"The kid has internal injuries from facing a lv. 36 head-on and no magic can help," stated Rydel. "He seems stable, but there's no explanation for the inability to heal."

"Hmm, that's strange." Maynard instantly relaxed, revealing his shaky footing and extreme exhaustion.

"How about you all rest here for the night?" interjected the queen. "I'm sure you could all use a good night's rest after everything."

"What, you aren't going to try anything in our sleep?" laughed Byron, startled by the queen's generosity.

"We'll take you up on that offer," answered Rydel. The party captain turned to the still naked Byron, who held the bundle of clothes at his side. "The queen and I had a long talk and have figured out a few things. We'll talk about that later, but for now, we rest."

Not wanting to return to his cell, Byron shrugged and went with the flow.

Jack was carried by Rydel as the group exited the dungeon and was led to a few guest rooms in the inner palace after Slivia and Byron had their belongings returned to them. Slivia received her own while Rydel paired up with Maynard in the neighboring room. Byron was just across the hallway and he was neighbors with the unconscious Jack. Brunar and Troni, who arrived at the palace shortly after Maynard, were also given a room on the other side of Slivia's.

Nothing else was shared between the group as most of them let exhaustion take over.

Soon, only two people were awake and chatting over wine in Byron's room. The room's temporary owner joked, "You can't be serious about all this. Isn't something like that a little too much, even if it's against the scum of the Royal Court?"

"I'm not sure, but if it's like how the queen said, then we've got no choice. We need to prepare for the worst," replied Rydel, quickly finishing his cup. "I should get some sleep. I may not be physically exhausted, but a mental rest sounds perfect right now."

"Well, I'm not stopping you. I look forward to hearing the rest of your plans," said Byron as he waved goodnight to the hunter.

Rydel was about to open the door when he suddenly stopped and put his ear to it.

"What's up?" asked Byron, tilting his head as he drank more wine.

"Shhh," Rydel put his finger to his lips and motioned for Byron to stay silent, listening carefully to a conversation on the other side the door.

"Really, I'm fine. There's no need to check up on me," a familiar feminine voice softly stated.

"Nonsense," replied a tired, male voice. "After everything you went through, you can't possibly tell me that you're fine. Do you trust these goblins enough to drop your guard?"

"I'm fine Troni, you don't need to baby me. Besides, nothing is going to happen with the captain and your master here, not to mention the Balt Guild heir. I don't need your protection," reasoned the female voice.

"Fine but come straight to me if you need anything or something happens. You will, right Slivia?" Troni's appeared to be worried but carried some forcefulness as well.

"Okay, okay, I'll come to you if that happens. Goodnight, Troni," Slivia quickly replied and shut her bedroom door.

Rydel removed his ear and shook his head. He glanced at Byron and mentioned, "If you catch that samurai kid trying something with her, let me know."

"You got it," responded Byron with a lifted mug, ready for him to chug.

Silently opening and shutting the door, Rydel noticed Troni still standing in front of Slivia's door. Before the young samurai noticed Rydel's presence, Rydel had his arm over Troni's shoulders. "I don't think the situation is fitting for you to go in search of a booty call."

Shocked by the hunter's sudden appearance and more so by his words, Troni ducked under Rydel's arm and back away towards his room. "I was just making sure she was alright. After everything that happened, surely something's wrong with her."

"That's not your place to judge," stated Rydel. "Get to bed already or you'll be too tired tomorrow when we leave early morning."

"Leave tomorrow? I thought we were staying here to rest awhile?" asked Troni.

"There are some things we need to take care of. We'll leave tomorrow morning and head for Baltwood," answered Rydel.

"But why? We have free stay here and we're all too tired—"

"Goodnight." Rydel stared at Troni as if waiting for Troni to enter his room first. After the young samurai took the hint and retired to his room, Rydel finally let himself rest well after three days of no sleep.

Morning came easily, surprising most of the party as they tried to oversleep. Rydel, Maynard, and Byron were wide awake and ready to move out, but the other's didn't even roll over in bed.

It was impossible to tell if it were morning my normal means for humans. The cave goblins and most other creatures in the mine had an internal clock of sorts that had been developed by countless years of evolution. Rydel and the party relied on a necklace that Rydel carried.

Rydel wasn't the only one with such a necklace, Maynard and Byron also possessed their own. The necklaces carried something known as a moon shard. It was a crystal shard that was known to glow whenever the moon was out; its dimness determined how high in the sky the moon was.

With those handy, the three veterans were easily able to tell that morning was upon them and they took initiative to wake up the rest of them.

Maynard attended to his disciples; Troni, in particular, was known for occasionally sleeping in. Byron checked on Jack's condition while Rydel woke up Slivia.

When Rydel entered her room, he was surprised by what she wore to bed. She had everything returned to her, yet she still slept in the cloak that Jack gave back to her, wrapping it around her like a blanket. Such a sight brought a slight smile to his face before he walked to the side of her bed.

"Hey, it's time to get up sleepy head. I can tell you're awake."

Slivia's head moved and turned aside to meet Rydel's gaze. "How's he doing?"

"Byron is checking him right now. You can go see for yourself if you hurry. We need to get going so don't take too long," said Rydel as he walked out of the room.

The moment Rydel exited, Slivia rolled out of bed and stood up. Her stance was awkward, and her shoulders were hunched forward shyly. The usually confident and outgoing Slivia wasn't in the room, instead, it was a nervous and overly anxious girl in her twenties.

A couple of minutes passed before Slivia gave herself a pep talk and brought herself to Jack's room. Inside were Rydel and Byron, leaning over one side of the bed. Slivia approached the other and asked, "Anything new?"