Chapter 18: i require more mana (getting into the groove of things)

Lower Wind Month, 22nd-29th Day, 600 AGG

"Next," Yuriko called out in an exhausted voice. "Name of person?"

Draudillon finally had a chance to talk to the angel again towards the end of the hectic day. After last night, they had ended up returning to the castle with 『Gate』. When Martin—the Prime Minister— had found out about their abrupt return, he immediately went to lecture them until he saw their faces and decided to keep his mouth shut instead.

The blood that had been caked all over her probably played a role too.

It was… a difficult night. After cleaning up—separately—Yuriko had clung to her the entire night, silently sniffling and crying when she thought Draudillon had fallen asleep.

Draudillon couldn't get any sleep anyways. The dragon queen was far too consumed by guilt to relax, even while she was in the desperate embrace of the angel. All it did was remind her of how she didn't deserve to comfort her, not when she was the one at fault for Yuriko's distress.

"Date of birth or death?"

She and her courtiers had ended up redistributing some nobles who had some blood relations to the ones who used to be in charge of the areas around the city, but there was a sinking feeling that it wasn't going to be enough in the long term. At the very least, it was an acceptable solution until they started dropping from overwork.

Draudillon approached the angel. Yuriko had taken it upon herself to repeat her stunt at Mohajar and resurrect as many people as she could. It was wonderful of her to want to do so, but…

There were just far too many people. The number of deaths here was a magnitude of an order greater than what the attack led by the Bafolk Lord had accrued.

"Yuriko," she gently touched the angel's arm, ignoring the awed looks of those around them. "You should take a break."

"I still have mana," the angel focused on the next person in line. "Name of person?"

"Yoris."

"You'll burn out. Like that time last week."

"I have people helping me like you told me to do," she vaguely waved at all the soldiers and the few clerics that could be spared. "I'm not doing it all by myself this time. Date of birth or death?"

"I-I don't know when—when he, oh g-gods," the man in front of them broke down into tears. "O-Oh gods."

Yuriko quietly waited for them to finish with an unreadable expression. "I'm sorry."

Eventually, they managed to calm down and give the rest of the requested information. "『True Resurrection』."

Holy light flashed, reconstituting the form of the deceased from nothing. Yuriko sported a small smile at the success. "Here. Take care of him. He'll probably feel a little weak for a while."

"Th-Thank you—thank you s-so much!" the man bowed his head even while he supported the newly resurrected and confused man with his arm. "How can we ever repay—"

"It's fine," Yuriko lightly cut him off. "Just stay safe, okay?"

"Yes!" the man wiped away his tears. "Of c-course!"

"Okay, okay, I'll take a break now," the angel spoke before Draudillon could ask her again. "There's something I wanted to think about anyways."

Yuriko looked at one of the clerics nearby. "Could you tell everyone I'm closing for today?"

"Of course," the cleric lowered his head. "Thank you for your work today as well, Lady Yuriko."

"Yeah," she waved back with a hint of exhaustion. "You too." Yuriko turned around to look at Draudillon. "Let's go."

"To where?" the dragon queen curiously asked. 'And for what?' she wanted to ask.

"Warehouse," Yuriko replied without elaborating. She didn't have to though; it was clear that guilt was still eating away at her.

The fire-damaged building wasn't far. In retrospect, it was odd that it had survived the『Fire Storm』. Draudillon reminded herself to get spellcasters to look at the enchantments on the buildings later. Perhaps some of them could still be of use despite the unpleasant memories they would bring up.

The pair entered the warehouse. Draudillon noticed that the floor had been swept clean and a large, unembellished pot filled with ashes was sitting in the corner.

"I thought about resurrecting them at first," Yuriko broke the silence and looked at Draudillon with a self-deprecating smile. "But wouldn't that be, like, disgustingly hypocritical?"

"If that's what you want to do," Draudillon slowly said, suddenly feeling cripplingly self-aware of every word that was leaving her mouth. "Then you should do it."

"And if I don't want to? What would that make me?" Yuriko stared at the large ash-filled pot with a complicated expression.

"The people of the Draconic Kingdom would still think you to be a hero," Draudillon laid a hesitant hand on the angel's shoulder. "But that's not the answer you're looking for."

"I feel like I'm going insane," Yuriko swallowed thickly. "How could I ever, ever be considered a 'hero' for doing this?" Her voice broke. "Someone—anyone else would've done a better job than me. They wouldn't be here feeling s-so miserable."

"But you're the one who's here," Draudillon mumbled. "Not someone else."

'I don't want someone else to be here. I want you. Only you.'

"Yeah," Yuriko let out a shuddering breath. "Yeah."

A brief moment of shared stillness passed between them before Draudillon spoke up. "What do you plan on doing next then?"

"Free the second city," Yuriko answered immediately, albeit with a weary expression. "End this war. Then after that maybe… maybe I'll go bury them in their homeland."

"Okay," Draudillon agreed. "You—We can do that."

"It feels so empty," the angel continued. "Like, why would a dead person care about where they're buried? Wouldn't they just rather be alive?"

"If it's an empty gesture," a pang of melancholy struck Draudillon's chest. "Then it's one most would have to be content with."

"So it comes down to an empty gesture and being a hypocrite," Yuriko put the pot of ashes into her Item Box. "Forget it," she let out a sigh filled with self-derision. "I guess I'm a disgusting hypocrite. 『True Resurrection』."

Radiant light coalesced into the form of a wolf-like beastman, illuminating the entire warehouse under the glow of the moon. It was a beautiful sight, even if Yuriko might have thought otherwise.

Despite the angel's words—and the ridiculousness of resurrecting the butchers of Caldevera—Draudillon couldn't help but smile in relief. In the end, she was still Yuriko at her core. "So this is your decision?"

"It is," the angel looked more upbeat already. "I'm gonna—"

"What the fuck?" the beastman groaned as he rubbed his bleary eyes. "What the hell happened?"

"U-Um, h-h-hi?" Yuriko greeted the recently revived beastman with an awkwardness that bordered on absurd. No, Draudillon revised her thoughts, it was the situation that was absurd. "So, uh—"

"Holy shit," the beastman's eyes widened in terror as he clumsily scrambled back from the pair and tried to put on a brave front. "Wh-What the fuck do y-you want? One time not enough for you bitches?!"

"N-No!" Yuriko panickedly waved her hands in denial. "I'm not gonna do—something like that again!"

"Like hell—!"

"Silence," Draudillon sternly commanded. The beastman immediately shut his mouth. She had no qualms with what Yuriko decided, but that didn't mean she'd forgiven the beastmen. She had a feeling that she never would. "Excellent. Now, you should understand that your new lease on life is only thanks to her good graces, yes?"

"I didn't ask for this fuckin' shit!" the beastman spat. "The hell am I gonna do now? Don't got a job, and it ain't like I'll find one back home if I had to come all the way out here!"

"We'll figure out what to do with you all later," Draudillon frostily responded. "For now, help her resurrect the rest of your… friends."

"Fine," the wolfman nervously glanced at the angels that were in the warehouse. "I'll fuckin' do it, happy? How am I supposed to help her anyways, huh?"

"Yuriko?"

"O-Oh, yeah!" Yuriko avoided looking at the beastman. "Just gimme their names and sorta what they looked like."

"That's it?" the beastman looked baffled. "Nothin' else?"

"I think that should be it," the angel looked at Draudillon who shrugged in response. "Sorr—I mean, maybe I could write it down somewhere? I'm running a little low right now."

"Do whatever you want," the beastman grumbled. "Ain't like I can tell you what to do."

"R-Right," Yuriko pulled out a piece of parchment, inkwell, and quill. "Erm, go ahead!"

"Alright. Ektehl, looks like a jaguar. Dosah, monkey looking idiot. Diyach…" the beastman fell into a comfortable rhythm of giving names and general descriptions. While he did, the angel took notes on the parchment that she laid on the floor.

"Is this the language of your homeland?" Draudillon peaked over Yuriko's back and was met with the sight of messily written characters that looked oddly reminiscent of scripts from the south. More Player influence, she was sure.

"Mhm," Yuriko said, chewing her lips as she focused on the wolfman's listing. "It's a little bit messy because I didn't practice a lot with this stuff, but… y'know."

Draudillon didn't 'know,' but decided to leave it at that. "Not all of them will be able to be revived."

"I know," Yuriko's shoulders slumped a bit. "But this is the best option I've got. It's not like I'm thinking I'm a good person for doing this, but if you had the power to undo even a few of the things you've regretted doing, wouldn't you?"

"Yes," the words hit a little too close to home. "I would."

"S-Sorry," Yuriko noticed her verbal misstep and looked up at Draudillon with a guilty expression. "That was uncalled for."

"It's fine," Draudillon shook her head and tried to ignore the small twinge of pain that came with those words. "I understand what you mean."

"Are y'all done?" the beastman had finished listing all the names he remembered and worked up enough nerve to cut into their conversation. "Do I just… stay here or some shit?"

"Yeah, I'll ask for more names after I resurrect some more people," Yuriko stopped to think for a moment. "Um, you don't have somewhere else to stay?"

"Hell no," he scoffed. "All the humans are free now, aren't they? I'll get fuckin' ripped to pieces the moment I step outside."

"You'll be kept here for now," Draudillon decided. "And we'll decide if there's still a place for you here after we come to a consensus."

"Alright," the wolfman leaned against the wall of the warehouse with a sigh, a distant and forlorn gaze in his eyes. "Fuck."

'Don't feel sorry for them,' Draudillon immediately crushed the small amount of pity that welled up within before hardening her heart. 'They're already receiving more than enough mercy.'

"We'll try to be quick," Yuriko attempted to cheer up the beastman. "I'm sorr—never mind. Y-You probably want to be left alone." The wolfman didn't respond. "We'll just—get going now."

They left the warehouse under the watchful gaze of innumerable angels. After aimlessly walking for a few minutes, Draudillon spoke up.

"I…" she didn't quite know how to continue. "There's still some bodies in the abattoir I went inside yesterday."

"I know," Yuriko quietly said. "I'm sorry you had to see everything in there."

"You're not angry?" Draudillon found solace in the angel's words. "I took your summons and used them in a way you wouldn't have without telling you first."

"I'm not," Yuriko stopped walking and turned around to look at her. "Well, it would be kinda messed up if I did, wouldn't it? Not like I'm in the position to say anything."

"Still."

"Seriously, I'm not mad," Yuriko gave her a surprisingly dry smile. "It is what it is. We fix what we can, live with what we can't, and what I think is a mess-up might not be a mess-up for you. We come from different worlds, right? It's not like my way of doing things is magically better just because I'm an alien."

"Your world was different, wasn't it?" Draudillon softly asked. "Less… killing."

"It probably happened a lot," Yuriko wistfully replied as she continued her pace. "Out of sight though. Where most people would never see it, but they'd always know it's happening."

"Were you scared?" Draudillon felt very vulnerable all of a sudden. "Knowing that it's happening but not being able to do anything about it?"

"Not really?" they reached the building where Draudillon along with a number of other temporary administrators were holed up working and sleeping. "I guess it's the sorta thing that doesn't hit you until it happens to you, y'know?"

"I suppose," for some reason, the answer didn't feel satisfactory. Draudillon opened the door to the building and stepped inside before looking back at Yuriko. "Thank you. Truly. For everything."

She blushed as Yuriko suddenly grabbed one of her hands and bashfully muttered. "If it was my old world, I would be super useless," the angel lifted their eyes to match hers. "But here, I think I can try to be a little less useless. I-If you're fine with me messing up from time to time, th-that is."

"I know," Draudillon's heart warmed as she clasped Yuriko's hand between her own. "And despite our occasional disagreements, I've never once thought you were useless."

"Thanks," the angel's voice sounded painfully small. "Could I, um, come inside too?"

Draudillon's lips curled up in a sincere smile.

"You didn't even have to ask."

Aardev groaned and blinked the blurriness out of his eyes.

'Holy shit,' he panickedly patted his body. 'I'm alive. I'm fucking alive.'

He had… died. Definitely. That human woman had entered with those two fucking winged nightmares and then they had died.

So why was he still alive?

"Hello?" a blonde human with golden eyes waved a hand in front of his face. "Oh right, everyone feels woozy when they just get back." She looked to someone behind him. "You can take your friend with you now."

"Up you go, you bastard," the same someone grunted as they lifted him up, putting his arm over their shoulders. "How you doin', Aardev?"

"Sinkh?" Aardev winced at how weak his voice sounded. "You died."

"Yeah, well, you did too, dumbass," Sinkh snorted. "Guess we got better."

"Didn't they kill us though?" Aardev looked at the winged beings floating around the streets with caution—and no small amount of fear—as he allowed the Lion Zoastia to drag him to… somewhere. "What the hell's going on?"

"Dunno," Sinkh shrugged. "Whatever it is, I ain't complainin'"

"The humans got the city back?" he grimaced as one of the humans dressed in some formal attire shot him with a hateful scowl. "What's stopping them from just killing us a second time?"

"They haven't yet, at least," they arrived at a building with a line of demihumans queued outside. "Now, we just wait here."

"For what?"

"So they can figure out what the fuck do with us," the words sounded strangely ominous. Were they revived to become slaves for their new human masters?

'Well,' Aardev sardonically thought. 'Not like anything really changes.'

"You know what you're gonna do after this?" Sinkh asked after a brief moment of relative silence. "Y'know, assumin' they let us out."

"Would they?" Aardev believed that it was very unlikely. "It wouldn't make sense."

"Assumin', dumbass. Assumin'," Sinkh huffed in exasperation. "I'll probably head back home. Sick of this shitty backwater bumhole."

"Yeah," Aardev sighed in agreement. "I get that. You got any family back home?"

"Pft," the lion beastman chuckled. "Hell no. Useless bastards up and died. You?"

"Two siblings," Aardev wondered if they were doing alright. "A dad. Was working here—"

"'Cause you needed to support them, yeah, yeah," Sinkh yawned as he picked his nose. "Nothin' new around here. At least half the poor fuckers who worked here probably do. Or did."

"Fuck you," Aardev was too tired to say anything more. Was resurrection supposed to make one feel this tired and weak? He guessed he couldn't really complain, like Sinkh had said. Coming back from the dead by the hands of the ones who put him in the grave was certainly a once in a lifetime miracle. Or two lifetimes now, maybe. "Where do you think those guys are going?"

He pointed at the beastmen—his former coworkers—exiting the building and being led away by winged beings. It looked somewhat disconcerting for some reason; perhaps because it appeared as if they were the livestock now?

Aardev shook the thoughts out of his head. "So I'm guessing more people got revived than just us?"

"No shit," the line crept forward. "That monkey bastard got offed too, could you believe that?" Sinkh exhaled wistfully. "Wish I got to see it before they got me."

"That…" Aardev was at a loss for words. "That's so fucked up."

"Eh, he's alive now, so who cares, right?" Sinkh smirked. "Would've been funny to see."

"So what's he doing now?" Aardev hurriedly changed the subject. He didn't dislike Hanu'va that badly.

"Goin' back home. Spellcaster like him can probably find a job wherever even if he can't get into the Archives," Sinkh paused. "Why the hell was he all the way out here then?"

"Had problems back—ah, we're next."

A group of beastmen walked out, probably from the same team,with a trio of winged beings trailing behind and beside them. Oddly enough, they bore a shaken look on their faces. Aardev tried not to think too hard about what awaited them.

The pair walked into the building and into a small antechamber filled with the four-winged lion-headed monsters. They approached the door to the next room before being halted by one of the beings.

"One at a time, I guess," Sinkh rumbled under his breath.

"I'll go first," Aardev took in a deep breath in an attempt to calm his nerves. "Might as well get this over with."

The winged beings let him pass and he was greeted with the sight of the same human woman who had them killed.

Fear.

He was afraid. It was weird, he thought. He would have expected himself to be filled with hate or anxiety, but fear was unexpected.

The human in front of him was not strong. Despite that, he couldn't help but feel as if he were standing on the edge of some precipice.

"Name?"

"Aardev," the beastman did his best to not stutter.

"Full name," the human raised an eyebrow.

"A-Aardev Saluja," he stuttered. The atmosphere was far too stifling for him; he felt completely outclassed and overwhelmed.

"Saluja," the human coldly said and looked him in the eyes with a pitiless gaze. "You have two options: One, we escort you back to the Beastman Country. Two, you can choose to stay here and work in whatever role we deem necessary."

"Why do you need u-us to work here?" wouldn't she want humans to have jobs instead? Maybe this really was slavery, though in that case, giving them a way out was bizarre. Perhaps it was a trap?

"I'm sure you're more than aware," if words could kill, Aardev would've froze to death already. "But there's currently a shortage of people in this city. Hence, we have decided to be… flexible with our workforce for the time being."

'That makes sense,' Aardev would have blushed in shame at his ignorance if he wasn't so piss-scared. "So I can just go home?"

"Yes. Is that what you want?"

"I-If that's alright," Aardev didn't have a high opinion of the gods, but he prayed that this wasn't all some cruel joke by the humans.

"Very well," she flicked her eyes to the door. "An angel will take you to a designated waiting area. All of you should be ready to be flown out by the end of today."

"You don't want anything out of us?" Aardev avoided her eyes and gulped. At least he knew what the winged beings were called now.

"You can leave now," she ignored his question and dismissively gestured towards the door. Aardev assumed that meant 'no,' as surprising as it was. "Unless there was something you didn't understand?"

"W-Why?" he immediately regretted asking. Surely it was incredibly foolish of him to put forth unnecessary questions at this point.

"Why," the woman derisively scoffed and put her quill down. A contemplative look crossed her face, or at least Aardev thought so. Reading the facial expressions of humans was difficult. "I suppose you could say I have a persuasive… friend."

The answer didn't feel complete, but Aardev just nodded, gave a quick 'thank you,' and let himself be escorted to the waiting location, nodding to Sinkh as he passed the lion beastman on the way out. It wasn't as if he needed to know the answer; it was just a moment of impulsiveness, that was all. His stomach churned as waves of nausea sloshed back and forth, all while he considered how lucky he was.

'Can't wait to go back home,' at this point, anywhere would be better than this city. 'Maybe we should move. I wonder if Karnassus accepts immigrants?'

Aardev slumped his shoulders. Who was he kidding? If he were by himself, the journey might be possible; however, with two juveniles and a cripple, their chances of success drastically decreased. The wilderness between the Republic and City-State Alliance were far from safe—filled with countless environmental hazards and monsters as they were.

'One thing at a time,' he straightened his back. 'Focus on getting back home first.'

One step at a time. For that was all he could do.