New Bath Scene is up!

As a reminder, the government poll will be closing on 3/26. So if you're interested in voting make sure to cast your vote before. If you cannot vote in the poll then you can vote in a comment before 3/26 and I will count it towards the final total.

Part Five

—

Beauty and the Beast

The Cast

Beauty: Viki

Beast: Yuber

Beauty's Father: Pesmerga

Sister 1: Luciano

Sister 2: Gizli

Prince: Hero

—

"This isn't going to end well," Allise mused as she read her program.

"I guess Nāṭaka woke up this morning and decided "Hey, I'm going to put on the worst production possible"," Roen said.

"She certainly looks like she thinks this is going to be a good production," Daunte said. Indeed, Nāṭaka was all smiles clutching her rolled-up copy of the script as the stage lights came up. Pesmerga stood to at right centerstage and Viki, Luciano, and Gizli stood at left centerstage. As per the production there was a backdrop of a white castle in the background and a rose garden in the foreground, and there were fake rose bushes on either side of the stage.

"…" Pesmerga said. From prior productions of Beauty and the Beast the audience knew that Pesmerga was supposed to have lines to open the play. But he didn't say anything and simply stared at the other three people onstage in silence. "Pesmerga!" Nāṭaka hissed at him. "Say your line!"

Pesmerga either didn't hear her or didn't care as he continued to remain silent.

"Oh, um, hi," Viki said instead of her own line. She looked visibly confused. "Um…where are we again?" she asked Pesmerga.

"Father!" Luciano shouted dramatically, startling the people in the front row. "How could you be so foolish as to fall at the hand of a Beast?"

"Yeah you're an idiot," Gizli said in a deadpan voice.

"Heh," Pesmerga responded. There was no humor in his laugh.

"Pesmerga!" Nāṭaka hissed louder, stomping her foot. Behind her the audience began conversing amongst themselves.

"Ah…do you need me to teleport you?" Viki asked cluelessly.

"No," Pesmerga said bluntly, his tone emotionless.

"I will not growl like an animal," Yuber called from offstage stage right.

"…" Pesmerga respond. But despite reciting not a single one of his lines, he did act the motions of the play and hurried to stand behind his "daughters".

Yuber stormed onto the stage in his Black Armor. He looked highly annoyed. "I thought I told you to stop casting me in this garbage," he spat.

"Ohhhhhhh!" Luciano screamed, swooning on his feet. "It's a monster!"

"What a hideous Beast," Gizli said, her tone still deadpan.

"Heh" Pesmerga said.

Pesmerga, Luciano, and Gizli exited stage left. Viki remained onstage with Yuber, one party still looking confused and the other looking irritated. "Great, is it done yet?" Yuber asked harshly.

"U-U-Um, uh?" Viki said. Despite not seemingly to realize that she was performing in a play she still acted the motions and walked towards Yuber and grasped his hands. "D…Do you need me to teleport you?"

"You pests are so ridiculous," Yuber snapped. "What place is there a theatre in a damned Army?!"

"I'm Viki," Viki responded. "I can teleport."

"I swear if you cast me in another one of these, I WILL forgo the contract!"

"Um…teleportation?"

"I don't need to be teleported!" Yuber shouted in Viki's face. "How many times are you going to repeat that?! All I need is to be rid of this idiocy!" They were still clasping hands as per the play.

Viki however looked unfazed by his shouting. "S-So…would you like me to teleport you?"

Yuber screamed in incomprehensible rage, but a loud explosion filled the theatre and a white light enveloped the stage. Viki stepped back from the light as she was supposed to, and when the light faded Yuber was gone and Hero was standing there.

"BEAUTY!" Hero shouted at the top of his voice. "I'M CURED!"

"No, I'm Vik!" Viki responded, but she still hugged Hero.

The audience began booing, drowning out the rest of the spoken lines. Nāṭaka for her part looked dismayed at the audience reaction. "Damn! I thought I had a hit!"

"Why would you think that?" Priscilla asked her.

—

"I appreciate your help with this, Soturi," Daunte said.

Soturi shrugged. "It was nothing."

"'Nothing'?" Freyr asked. "Soturi, you arranged for Varnaz to stay with your family in Yashuna for his weeklong vacation! That's not 'nothing'!"

"The Liberation Army is grateful for the continued support from Falena," Caesar said with a smile.

"The hot springs will be therapeutic for him," Surya said. "I'm only sorry that he found no satisfaction with his vengeance."

"There is rarely satisfaction in vengeance," Georg said. "Avenging someone who was murdered won't bring them back to life. And when your life's goal is nothing but vengeance, you find yourself adrift when you finally achieve it."

"He killed the man who killed his family," Daunte said. "If nothing else he can take comfort in the knowledge that Ramiro Lažov will never be able to hurt anyone else again." He nodded. "Thank you, everyone."

"It's pretty late in the day and we're still receiving updates about the activities from the Holy Army," Caesar said as everyone left. "Why don't you take some time off in the meantime?"

Daunte nodded. "Thank you. I'll do a recruitment quest in the meantime."

"That's not taking time off," Caesar teased him but shrugged.

Daunte left the war room but nearly walked into Sanji. "Oh, excuse me," Daunte said, brushing himself off.

"Ah, Lord Daunte," Sanji said, turning to face him. "I was looking for you. I wanted to talk to you about this."

"'This'?" Daunte looked down and saw that Sanji was holding a large bog in his arms. There was a slot in the front facing Daunte but several pieces of paper were sticking out of it. "Ah…what is that?"

"This is your comment box," Sanji said. "And I see that you've been a bit…overwhelmed. I would like to help you with this."

Daunte's brow furrowed in confusion. "I…have a comment box?"

"Oh yes, it's on the first floor next to the door to the infirmary," Sanji said. He looked a little confused. "Hasn't anyone told you that it's there?"

Daunte honestly didn't know. He couldn't remember having a conversation with Caesar about it. He swallowed thickly as he stared at the box. "Ah…So many people have wanted to speak to me? Nobody has let on that I haven't been answering their messages. I feel terrible."

"Oh, don't," Sanji reassured him coolly. "If it were anything dire then people would see you in person. These are just the odd comment, question, advice, or junk that people will put in this box."

Daunte rubbed at his forehead and looked at Sanji. "You…said you wanted to help me with this?"

"Oh yes. With your permission I would like to read these comments with my broadcasts. To alleviate your burdens. People's questions can be asked, and Bax, Gertrude, and I can answer them. We can read 5-10 a day until we get through them all, and then every so often as more come in."

"Y-You would do that for me?" Daunte asked. He looked at the box again "A-Ah, but what if someone wrote an anonymous letter?"

"Then we shall respect their privacy," Sanji said. "And of course I want to do this for you. Unlike Gertrude and Bax I have contributed very little to this Army. As I cannot help you on the battlefield, I want to help you in other means. So?" Sanji smiled at him. "Would you mind giving me permission to read the notes from your comment box?"

Daunte knew that he could say yes or no. He knew that he could also simply read and answer the comments himself. But Sanji seemed sincere in his desire to be more useful so he nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Sanji. I appreciate you doing this."

"No," Sanji said, bowing slightly. "Thank you, Lord Daunte."

"Wait!" Daunte said he turned to leave.

"Yes, Lord Daunte?" Sanji asked, looking over his shoulder at him.

"The garlic that's upstairs," Daunte said. "I can smell it from all the way down here."

"We both can," Yuber called out coldly.

"Why did you guys hang garlic upstairs?" Daunte asked Sanji. "Was it you, Gertrude, Bax, or the three of you?"

"Oh no, it was my decision alone," Sanji admitted plainly.

"Why?" Daunte asked.

"Is there a problem with hanging garlic, my Lord?" Sanji responded, looking away from him.

"I guess garlic is a natural repellent to vampires," Daunte said. "Sierra has complained of difficulties coming up here because of the garlic. During the ambush she couldn't go up to the sixth floor because of the garlic. I don't want my allies to be uncomfortable here; that's why I wanted to know why you hung it up."

Sanji was silent for a long moment, and he remained faced away from Daunte during his silence. He reached up and fixed his glasses on his face before turning around to face Daunte. "All right, I'll admit it to you. I'm allergic to vampires."

"What?" Daunte asked.

"What?" Yuber asked at the same time.

"Yes, very allergic," Sanji confirmed. "I cannot be in the same room as a vampire without getting violently ill. Of course, I'm embarrassed to admit this out loud so I thought it would be better to just hang up garlic to decrease my chances of running into any vampires."

"H-Have you spoken to Dr. Yulin?" Daunte asked him. "I've never heard of an allergy like this. Maybe he can help—"

"Oh no, there's no cure for my allergy," Sanji said, sighing sadly. "My doctor from—back home, recommended that I just avoid vampires by any means necessary. As vampires are not common in this world currently that has not been a problem. But seeing as vampires are amongst our allies, I didn't want to further inconvenience the Army with my allergies. But it appears that I have inconvenienced you anyways and I apologize deeply." Sanji bowed.

"I-It's okay," Daunte said, raising his hands. "I'll just tell Sierra to not go up to the sixth floor. So you can take down the garlic."

"If it will please you, my Lord," Sanji said, straightening. "I would like to keep the garlic up. For my own peace of mind, if nothing else."

"I-I—okay," Daunte said. "But perhaps you could take some of it down? The smell is quite strong on this floor."

Sanji nodded and smiled. "I can do that, Lord Daunte. Thank you for your understanding."

He took his leave, but Daunte was still confused. "I…had never heard of anyone being allergic to vampires before…"

"I once knew someone allergic to unicorns," Pesmerga said suddenly.

"Really?!" Daunte asked.

"They weren't allergic you idiot," Yuber scoffed. "The fool wasn't a virgin is all!"

"You didn't see what he looked like after he touched the unicorn," Pesmerga said coldly.

"…What?" Sierra said bluntly.

"Ah," Daunte said, flushing with embarrassment at her piercing gaze. "T-That is what Sanji told me. He is allergic to vampires and so he hung up the garlic so he would avoid interacting with you."

"The garlic was unnecessary," Sierra scoffed, shaking her head. "All he would need to do is say he didn't want to be near me and I would avoid him."

"What a strange allergy," Nash said, frowning deeply. "To vampires? I would understand an allergy to werewolves because people can be allergic to dogs, but vampires? It sounds like a made-up allergy."

"He said he was diagnosed by a doctor in his home country," Daunte said. "But in any case, I think you both should avoid Sanji so that there won't be any complications."

"I'll gladly avoid him," Sierra grumbled.

"I don't like him anyways," Nash said. "His broadcasts happen at odd hours and his voice give me nightmares."

"Nightmares?" Daunte asked in concern. Nash shrugged. "I can't explain it, but when he gives his broadcasts while I'm asleep my dreams become unpleasant."

"And when his sleep is disturbed, my sleep becomes disturbed," Sierra sighed.

"Thank you for understanding," Daunte said. "Are you accommodations still good for you otherwise?"

"The baby dragons don't like us, but otherwise we're fine," Nash said. "The food is adequate."

"Yes, it is," Sierra said.

"I was thinking of assigning the both of you to a unit for the next war battle," Daunte said. "Would that be okay?"

"I have a sinking feeling about the next war battle," Nash said. "With the current activities of the enemy Army this will be a massive campaign. You're going to need all the help you can get."

"So would you like to participate in the war battle?"

"No," Sierra said bluntly.

Daunte gaped at her but Sierra shrugged. "War campaigns are not suited for us with the amount of bloodshed that will happen. We will stay here and help secure HQ."

"Yes," Nash said. "Don't worry, you can rely on us on the home-guard."

"I…all right," Daunte said. "I won't put either of you in the war campaign. But given what you've said I'll make sure that we're careful."

"Yes, please guard your life," Nash said cheerfully. "Even as the Tenkai Star and the wielder of the Rune of Restoration you can still die. It would be terrible if you died."

"For whom?" Sierrra asked him. "The Liberation Army, or Harmonia?"

Nash shrugged. "Both?"

"I'll take my leave," Daunte said, quickly leaving. He shook his head as he headed back for the tunnel's entrance. I really do have strange allies…

The next morning…

"With Lord Daunte's permission, I have procured the messages from his comment box," Sanji announced. "We will read them daily and offer the best advice possible."

"All right, let's get started!" Bax cheered. "What does the first one say?"

"Ah, let's see…" there was a loud rummaging of paper. "Oh, this one is anonymous!"

"Ooh perfect, read that one!" Gertrude said encouragingly.

"All right, this is comment #1 from the box!" Sanji announced. "Hmm…'Lord Daunte, I can't stop thinking about Desiree. I'm too embarrassed to tell anyone else this. What can I do about these feelings?' …Oh, that is simply adorable!"

"Someone has a crush on Desiree?" Bax asked. He sounded confused.

"Let me see that," Gertrude said.

"It's a shame the letter is anonymous," Sanji said. "It will be difficult to issue advice when we don't know who will be receiving said advice."

"Yes, but…Desiree?" Bax asked again. "She looks so much like Yaman!"

"What?" Sanji sounded genuinely shocked. "Bax, Desiree looks nothing like Yaman!"

"Really?"

"I got it!" Gertrude announced.

"Oh?" Sanji asked.

"I know the right advice," Gertrude said. "Lanny, I'm afraid I have some bad news—"

"Wait, LANNY wrote that?!" Bax asked.

"Ah," Sanji said. "That handwriting does resemble that of a teenage boy…"

"Oh hello Lord Daunte," Oboro greeted Daunte as he came in. "Please forgive us, but we're still investigating the three people you asked us to."

"No, I understand," Daunte said. "I'm just about to go on a recruitment quest, and—"

"Didn't Lord Caesar give you time off?" Shou asked, shaking his head. "You just sent one of the lieutenants on a vacation but won't take a day off?"

"I enjoy recruitment quests," Daunte said, shrugging. "I know you have your hands full enough, but—"

"Lord Daunte," Masaru said, stepping forward. "I may be able to assist you with information."

"Oh really?"

"Really," Shou deadpanned at him. "He's supposed to pay us first before we go looking for recruits."

"I saw two youths to the east of here," Masaru said, ignoring Shou. "A boy and girl roughly 13-14 years old. They both have a pair of mismatched eyes and they were talking amongst themselves about "contaminated water"."

"Contaminated water…the Great Cistern!" Daunte said quickly. "The potential recruits must be inside the Great Cistern!"

"There's contaminated water inside of a cistern?!" Umeko exclaimed, the color draining from her face. "A-Are we—do we drink that same water?!"

"The water we drink isn't contaminated obviously," Oboro said reassuringly. "But perhaps decontaminating the water should be on our itinerary?"

Daunte nodded. "Yeah…it is a bit overdue."

"—in conclusion Lanny," Gertrude said, catching everyone's attention. "I hate to break your heart but you have no chance with Desiree."

"Wow," Sanji said. "That was quite a speech, Gertrude."

"That was…mean," Bax said softly.

"Hey, I'm only being honest," Gertrude responded defensively.

"I'LL KILL THAT WENCH!" Lanny hollered from outside.

Daunte looked towards the ceiling. "…Maybe giving them the comment box was a bad idea…"

"Oh no, this is quite entertaining," Oboro said cheerfully.

Daunte deliberately avoided interacting with Lanny, Desiree, and the trio on the sixth floor and quickly went to see Caesar and Chinmaya to assemble his party. He could hear screaming from the sixth floor and he saw Yuber twitching violently where he stood. I want to avoid getting Yuber into trouble again, but I should probably get him out of here until the personal drama cools down.

"Hello, Lord Daunte," Chinmaya greeted him. "Are you going out?"

"Yes," Daunte said. "I want Yuber, Pesmerga, and Viki in my party."

Chinmaya's face fell. "What."

"Wow, you're quite invested in those three lately," Caesar laughed. "I overheard the detectives and the ninjas having difficulties with their Investigations of them!"

"Just them?" Chinmaya asked nervously. "T-That's not a full party, Lord Daunte."

"I know," Daunte said. "But Masaru gave me information that leads me to think that I'm about to recruit two people. Those those can make up the rest of my party."

"Well be careful all the same, my Lord," Caesar said.

The three party members came quickly, Yuber looking less than pleased. "So you will take me out now," he seethed. "But you take me out with them?!"

"I-I will do my best!" Viki squeaked.

"Heh," Pesmerga said.

"Hey, you also voluntarily withdrew from the campaign you wanted to force yourself on," Daunte said. "But this time we're going to do a recruitment quest and purify contaminated drinking water."

"Your selflessness is nauseating," Yuber grumbled.

"Viki, the Great Cistern is located underneath Winter Hill," Daunte told her. "And we do not currently have any landmarks there for teleportation, so you can teleport us to the nearest town."

"That would be K'alak'i Patieba," Chinmaya chimed.

"A-Ah, yes," Viki stammered. "I—" she suddenly threw her head back. "AH—"

Yuber lunged forward and pinched her nose, holding in her sneeze. He didn't say a word, but Daunte could see the word he wanted to say in his glare. If you teleport me again, you will regret it.

"Viki," Caesar said calmly. "Where are the noseplugs I gave you?"

"Um" Viki said when Yuber let her go. "I-I…think I teleported them away…"

Despite many misgivings, Viki teleported them safely to K'alak'i Patieba and they quickly traveled northwest towards Winter Hill and the nearest entrance into the Great Cistern. Yuber and Pesmerga effortlessly handled any monsters that crossed their path, but during combat Daunte became aware of a surprising revelation.

Yuber and Pesmerga had a Unite Attack. Called the "Black Knight Attack", it was an extremely powerful attack that had both Yuber and Pesmerga landed blows upon entire groups of monsters. Unfortunately though, due to the nonexistent cooperations between the rival knights Daunte estimated that the unite attack had a roughly 5% chance of being successful. Most of the time he called for the unite attack Yuber and Pesmerga simply stood there glaring at each other with their arms folded over their chests. Which became annoying as they both would refuse to attack for their turn in that case, leaving Daunte and Viki to attack the monsters.

We all need to cooperate to humanize Yuber. But now I'm starting to question if this is actually a good idea.

Thankfully they found the entrance two hours after leaving K'alak'i Patieba. Yuber descended first, then Daunte, then Viki, and then finally Pesmerga. "Oh!" Viki cried out, plugging her nose. "It smells awful down here!"

"Agreed," Pesmerga said.

"Yeah, it smells worse than it did the last time I was here," Daunte said uncomfortably. "Some of the water I purified must have been recontaminated. We'll look for the people Masaru mentioned but our other priority will be finding and purifying all of the water down here."

"Where are these recruits you're looking for?" Yuber asked coldly.

"Ah…" Daunte felt his stomach drop. "Oh. Masaru didn't tell me where they are down here."

"Great," Yuber scoffed.

To Daunte's great dismay a lot of the water he had seen as clean last time was in fact dirty again, and they encounters much tougher enemies on the catwalks above the water than before. Flying monsters such as DoReMi Elves, Rabid Bats, Harpies, and Chimeras of all things were ready to attack and kill them. Predictably though, Yuber was all too happy to fight and kill them right back.

But there were also water monsters as well, and Daunte was horrified to see Dagons, Killer Slime, and even Sharks jumping out of the dirty water to fight them. "W-Where did these things come from?!" he sputtered.

"That is drinking water?" Pesmerga asked, gesturing to the river below them.

"I t-think I'm going to throw up," Viki said, pressing a hand to his mouth.

"Enough of this," Daunte scoffed. "Yuber, Pesmerga. Please lower me down."

"You want to purify the water here?" Yuber asked bluntly. "That would be a waste of time as the source of the contamination is not here."

"Just do it," Daunte said. "It may stop the water monsters from coming!"

Yuber rolled his eyes, but he did as he was told and knelt down. He held Daunte by his left ankle and Pesmerga held him by his right. "You're too close to me," Yuber snapped at him. Pesmerga responded with a glare.

"P-Please don't drop him!" Viki said behind him.

"Everything that comes out of your mouth is stupid," Yuber spat at her.

Daunte started second-guessing the vision again, but pushed it from his mind as he inserted his arm into the filthy water. "Rune of Restoration," Daunte said. "This is drinking water for the whole country. Please, purify this water of any contaminants and make it clean again!"

The Rune of Restoration glowed, and Daunte concentrated on the power of the rune. The glow spread out across the water, illuminating the dark corridors for meters around them. When the glow faded Daunte felt dizzy, but the water beneath them was crystal clear.

"I don't see any Sharks in the water!" Viki exclaimed as Yuber and Pesmerga pulled Daunte back up. "Lord Daunte, you did it!"

"But as I said, this is only a temporary fix," Yuber said coldly. "If you want to get rid of this problem you need to find the source of the contamination."

"There were three contaminated vaults of water," Daunte said, pressing a hand to his forehead. Deep breath, deep breath… "I…decontaminated one of them. We need to find the other vaults."

"This place is massive," Pesmerga said. "I saw so when the Rune illuminated all of the water. We will be lucky if we find the contaminated vaults in a single day."

"I understand," Daunte said, concentrating on his breathing. "Ideally…I don't want to leave until we find those vaults."

"Great," Yuber grumbled.

Their encounter with monsters did decrease with the rushing water now purified, but there were still many monsters to fight. Daunte had hoped the trip would bring the four of them closer together but after a few hours the teamwork was still next to nonexistent.

They DID warn me that this wouldn't be easy.

After traveling for six hours, Daunte knew that they were close to the vault he had purified. The group stopped as they heard voices coming from inside the vault. "I can't believe it!" it was a teenage boy's voice.

"The water is clean!" it was a teenage girl's voice.

"But how did the water get clean?"

"We must find out!"

Those must be the recruits Masaru mentioned! Daunte led the way and entered the room. In front of the vault stood a boy and girl with similar appearances. Both had cinnamon brown hair with the boy having a short fringe and the girl had a pixie cut. They were both dressed in taraz's; the girl wore a dark purple taraz dress with a thin lilac veil and the boy's taraz considered of a red over-shirt with yellow embroidery, a dark undershirt, and a dark fur cloak with yellow baggy pants.

But it was their eyes that drew Daunte's attention primarily. The boy's left eye was dark blue and his left eye was dark red, and the girl was the opposite; her left eye was dark red and her left eye was dark blue.

They're twins!

"Excuse me, sir," the boy said, moving towards Daunte. "Did you see this vault? The water is clean!"

"Yes, I know," Daunte said. "I'm looking for the other contaminated vaults to decontaminate the water here."

"So are we!" the girl cried out, hurrying over to them. "We're from Zinnia, and dirty water has made it way to our wells! Many people in our town are sick!"

"That's terrible!" Viki exclaimed.

"W-We thought it was because we didn't clean the wells properly after Lorik Varra left, but the water was brown!" the girl said. "It wasn't that color when they poisoned the well!"

"We knew that it had to be the Great Cistern," the boy said. "And we came here to try and help get the water clean!"

"…How?" Yuber asked coldly.

"Well, we don't know how," the boy said defensively. "But we were doing to try anyway."

"Ah!" the girl cried out, pointing at Yuber. "Your eyes! They're mismatched like ours! You're just like us!"

"I'm nothing like you," Yuber said sharply.

"Say!" Daunte said, raising his voice to drown out Yuber. "Since we have the same goal, why don't we travel together? It's pretty dangerous down here!"

"That's a good idea," the boy said, looking at his sister. "We know how to fight but we made it to this vault by the skin of our teeth."

The girl nodded in agreement and looked at Daunte. "We'll go with you guys. What's your name?"

"Daunte," Daunte responded.

"Daunte?!" The boy exclaimed, his eyes going wide. "The leader of the Liberation Army?!"

Uh oh.

"You're the leader of the Liberation Army, but you came down here to purify the water?!" The girl exclaimed.

"T-That was one of my motives, yes," Daunte admitted.

"Well, that's better than what the Theocracy is doing," the boy scoffed. "Neither the new Sheikh nor the High Clerics seem to care what's going on in Zinnia!"

"If you can purify the water here, we would like to join you," the girl said eagerly. "My name is Sásta."

"And my name is Áthas," the boy added. The twins produced matching spetums simultaneously. "We won't let you down."

"Fantastic, let's go," Yuber scoffed, turning on his heel and storming out.

"I-I'm very happy to meet you," Viki said to the twins, who smiled back at her.

Even with a now full party it still took Daunte's group another four hours to find the next contaminated vault. And to his dismay, Daunte see the water starting to turn again. The fact that it had started to turn so quickly, whereas before his purification had lasted for an extended period of time, indicated to him that whatever had caused the initial contamination was worsening.

But we will take care of it.

Áthas and Sásta, despite not being nearly as powerful as either Yuber or Pesmerga, still proved to be far more cooperative in combat than the Black Knights. They of course had a unite attack, appropriately named Twins' Might, and though it was an attack against one monster it still had 100% accuracy.

"Here it is," Daunte said when they found the vault. They carefully opened the lid and Daunte retched at the smell of filthy water that filled his nose. He swiftly stuck his hand into the dirty water. "Rune of Restoration, purify this water!" He quickly spat out. Thankfully the True Rune yielded to him and purified the water, and the rotten smell cleared from the air. Daunte could still smell it in his nostrils though and he scrubbed at his nose with his sleeve as he turned. "Two down, one to go!"

"Yes!" Sásta cheered.

"These vaults are quarantined," Pesmerga spoke up.

"Yes," Daunte said. "What about it?"

"Then the pollution isn't coming primarily from these vaults. There must be a contamination at one of the slush gates."

"That makes sense," Áthas said.

"We'll take a short rest and keep searching," Daunte said.

Yuber and Pesmerga did not rest, but the other four slept for a couple of hours before heading out again. The deeper they traveled the dimmer their surroundings got and the tougher the enemies got. Daunte was fairly certain that they had walked halfway across Winter Hill when another putrid smell filled his nose. "There!" He shouted, pointed to a room.

"T-That's the last vault?!" Viki exclaimed.

"I've never smelled anything so terrible in my life," Sásta complained.

"I'm honestly amazed the entire country isn't dead from drinking this water," Yuber said.

Daunte pulled his collar up over his nose and hurried into the room. The vault was in worst shape than the others, with dark grim visible all over it. Daunte dry-heaved, but held the fabric of his shirt over his face as they opened the vault. It took several minutes as the handle was sticky and they met with squishy resistance. Yuber and Pesmerga helped him the handle but immediately stepped back as it opened. Daunte pinched his nose under his shirt and stuck his arm in the water. "Purify!" he choked out.

Despite the short command the Rune of Restoration understood him. Daunte was swaying on his feet where he stood, but when the light faded both the water and the vault were clean. "That…does it," Daunte said, stumbling slightly.

"Are you okay, Lord Daunte?" Sásta asked him. Daunte managed a small nod.

"What kind of rune is that?" Áthas asked him.

Before Daunte could answer, they heard a loud splash to the northeast. "I will check," Yuber said, and quickly left.

"You're not going alone," Pesmerga said, hurrying after him.

"Lord Daunte," Viki said, helping him drink a potion. "Please be careful."

"I will, Daunte said. He raised his right hand. "Howl."

The healing spell washed over them and he sighed in relief as his head cleared. I have one more Howl. I'll need to be careful.

There was a 'whoosh' of air and Yuber returned. "I found it."

"Found what?" Áthas asked.

"Get up and follow me," Yuber said harshly, leaving abruptly once more.

Daunte and the other followed Yuber northeast. He saw the far wall of the slush gate room and realized that they had reached the farthest northeast corner of the Great Cistern. It was a vital corner as the water from Gold River flowed directly into the Cistern that way.

Pesmerga was standing alone on the ledge, his face expressionless as usual. "There is the source of the contamination," he said, pointing ahead of him. Daunte followed his gaze and slapped a hand over his mouth.

Near the opening of the slush gate was giant grey slug easily seven to eight meters long. The slug did not move from its spot but the fresh water washed over it directly and flowed into the Cistern after direct contact with the slug. Unable to help himself, Daunte turned and vomited near the wall.

"That is the primary cause of the contamination?!" Sásta shrieked. "That slug?!"

"It's a Zombie Slug, more specifically," Yuber said bluntly. Sásta hugged her sides and hurried away and also retched.

"HOW could the High Clerics let this happen?!" Áthas shouted. "We all drink this water!"

"N-Not quite," Daunte said shakily, returning to the group. "Mlkwt Alsmwat…they get their water directly from Gold River, not the Cistern."

"Do WE get our water from here?!" Viki cried out. She also looked sick.

"N-No," Daunte said. "From what I remember, HQ was cut off from the Great Cistern when my mom led the Liberation Army. We get our water elsewhere."

"That does it," Sásta said, hiccuping on her tears as she faced Daunte. "I'm joining your Army. I-I-I cannot serve a government that would let this happen!"

"Me too," Áthas said. "W-We don't care if our parents disown us! We'll NEVER serve the Holy Army ever again!"

"I'm happy to have you," Daunte said quickly. "But let's take care of—"

"On it," Yuber said, brandishing his swords.

"Wait—" Pesmerga said, but his voice broke off when the symbol of the Eightfold Rune rose into the air. Yuber lunged forward and the Zombie Slug had no time to react. Yuber moved swiftly, and in seconds pieces of the slug was flying into the air.

"Typical," Pesmerga scoffed. Viki lurched and ran away with her hand over her mouth.

"Done," Yuber said, returning to the group.

"O…Okay," Daunte said. "I'm going to purify everything here. With any luck things will return to normal and no one else will get sick."

"Probably not," Yuber said. "Those monsters came from some—"

"Yuber," Daunte said, raising his hand. "No more."

"It sounds like you had quite the ordeal," Caesar said sympathetically. "But the good news is that you saved the Great Cistern and saved Zinnia. And you have two boisterous new recruits. I have heard Zinnia will be sending representatives here tomorrow, but we will be prepared for their arrival.."

Daunte nodded. "When we win we need to seal that place. We can't have monster freely roaming a place where all of Nagarea's water is stored."

"I drank that water," Chinmaya said softly, looking sick. "I-I…knew that these assassins who became our High Clerics didn't care about us, but this is…"

"Let's not think about it," Caesar said. "This was a great victory for us. I'm sure the High Clerics will try to claim credit for this, but this is our victory. This will bring more people to us."

Daunte nodded and smiled. That was difficult, but it was necessary. I may not know how successful I will be with Yuber, but I know I'll be successful with this war.

Kõrkus

"Mom! Dad!" Brennus burst through the door brimming with excitement. "We're moving out! The Sheikh said we're all to report to the capital!"

"The capital?" His mother asked worriedly. "All of of the soldiers here are leaving?"

"That's right!" Brennus confirmed, nodding. "I'm only stopping by briefly to say goodbye, and because they'll be delivering our new weapons directly to our homes when we leave!"

"They're giving out new weapons immediately before moving out?" Brennus's father asked. He moved his chair close to his son. "What type of weapons are they?"

"I'm not sure yet," Brennus admitted. "But they'll show us what to do."

"Just be careful," his father warned him. "If I could walk I would gladly take your place in this. I'm grateful that your siblings aren't old enough for the draft, but I don't like sending you out alone like this, Brennus."

"Oh, I'll be all right!" Brennus waved a hand dismissively. "I've been a Holy Army soldier since I was 14! That's younger than the draft!"

"Yes, but don't forget that combat is very different from standing guard at the gates of Kõrkus," his mother said softly. "Take care of yourself and guard your life, Brennus."

"I will." He quickly hugged his mom and dad. "I love you, guys."

"We love you too," his father responded, but a sharp knock at the door halted any further words. "That's them," Brennus said cheerfully. "I'll see you guys in a week!" he hurried for the front door.

"B-But what about your brothers and sisters?!" His mother called after him. "Don't you want to say goodbye to them?!"

"He'll be okay," his father reassured her. "He said he'll be back in a week, so he will."

Brennus smiled when he heard his father say that. It's been tough since Dad broke his back. Mom's working, but I've been bringing in most of the money for the family. Seventeen and I'm STILL the same rank I was when I was fourteen. Hopefully that will change now.

"There you are, Brennus!" his commanding officer greeted him gruffly outside. "Here's your new weapon! Guard it with your life because you will not get another!"

The corporal pushed a brown pouch into Brennus's hand. His heart immediately sank as he stared at the bag in stunned silence. "Well?!" his commander snapped. "Are you going to stand there like an idiot or are you going to fall in line?!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Brennus saluted and hurried down the streets towards the gates of Kõrkus, but he couldn't shake the feeling of disappointment as he looked down at his pouch. I thought I was getting a new sword. What is this thing? He sighed heavily. Good thing I kept my glaive with me…

When he passed through the gates and met with the other soldiers, Brennus's spirits lifted considerably when he saw almost every other soldier holding brown pouches that looked exactly like his. They also seemed confused, but reassured when they saw everyone else holding the same type of bag. Brennus managed a breathless laugh as he tucked his pouch into an inner chest pocket. We're all the same. These new weapons must be amazing…

Yeah…checking the comment box in any of games was not one of my strong suits.