Chapter 4

The wind blew through the forest, sending leaves rustling and fallen leaves flying. Overhead the sun shone brightly, while birds fluttered from tree to tree, singing happily. Porings bounced along the grass and happily stole other monsters' loot, while Fabres squirmed around. A pupa sat in its spot and thumped happily away.

And then there was a loud 'OW!' that sent the birds flying and the monsters hurriedly running away.

Valkron aimed his sword at Emeth. 'Don't you dare come near me,' he said warningly.

'What? I was just helping.' The wizard edged away from the sword. He was holding a damp cloth, and with this he clamped it over his eye. The blood streaming from the cut was not a pleasant sight. 'You asked for it.'

'I never said I wanted you to press on my bruises, thank you,' snapped the knight. It was amazing that such a well-armoured person like Valkron could get bruises, but he had plenty. There was no need to mention about the large one that crossed his back, which Emeth had spotted while they had been washing themselves in the nearby river.

'I still say you need medication for them,' said Emeth. 'I've never seen bruises like that before.'

Valkron didn't say anything. He had taken off some of his armour, so what he appeared to be wearing underneath all that metal was a brown, thin cotton shirt. Most of his bruises were showing.

After a while he said, 'Why do you need hair to cover one eye?'

'Hm?'

It was not surprising Valkron had asked this question. The Kobolds had scored the hit under Emeth's left eye, which was the one covered. Because of this the wizard had to pull back the fringe to hold the cloth there.

'Are you blind in that eye?'

'No, thank you very much,' said Emeth hotly. 'It's the hairstyle, all right? I can see with my left eye through my hair. The fringe isn't that bloody thick.'

Valkron raised an eyebrow. 'I was just asking.'

The peco had been watching interestedly. Since both of them were sitting on the ground, its head had been looking down and turning from side to side like a spectator watching a tennis match. Now it looked up and gave a nonchalant squawk.

Valkron looked up. 'People coming.'

'You can understand your peco?' said Emeth. The knight looked irritably at him.

'I know what you're going to say next,' he said. 'You're going to ask me if we take peco language courses at the Prontera Chivalry, right?'

'Erm, well, no. I was going to ask you if it was a result of being, you know,' Emeth vaguely waved his hands as if trying to shape his thoughts into something substantial, 'together all the time.'

Valkron snorted, but did not answer the unspoken question.

A party of King's mercenaries emerged from the forest just ahead of them and passed by, talking cheerfully. There was a priestess and a priest with them. As they walked by the two men, the priestess whispered something behind her hand to the rogue beside her, all the while pointing at them. Then they burst out laughing.

The priest was a lot kinder. He stopped, and said, 'Both of you lost?'

Valkron and Emeth looked at each other, and then the knight said, 'We'd just like to know where we are.'

'Geffen's just up ahead,' said the priest, pointing. 'I'm not lying, so you don't have to look at me like that. We just came from there.' He took a step back and gave the two of them a careful look. 'Where've you been, in one of the ancient dungeons scattered around?'

'What do you think?' said Emeth. The priest took a step back.

'Honestly, I was just curious,' he said apologetically. 'If you go up to Geffen there'll be a priest or two who might be willing to help you fellows out.'

'Why don't you help?' said Emeth.

'Can't.' He leaned closer to them and added in a whisper, 'Mercenary party rivalry. I have rules to follow.'

He hurried off to catch up with his party. Valkron leaned forward to watch him. 'Looks like mercenary status is getting popular,' he said. 'Let's go, Emeth. We might be lucky to get a priest to clean us up.'

No more words were said until they reached Geffen. It was an odd city, in Valkron's opinion. For one thing, it was built sunken in the ground, so reaching its central spire would mean walking down flights of steps. He didn't feel safe in a city where you looked down to see the people. Then again, it was a city of magic, so it might be well-protected after all.

They walked down the flights of steps, Emeth limping slightly. The place wasn't as busy as Prontera, but there were still plenty of people walking up and down. A lot of them laughed at the two.

'If it wasn't for the rules of the Magic Academy I would be freezing these idiots gladly,' said Emeth in a low voice.

'What rules?'

'Can't use magic on other people no matter how tempting it is unless you're fighting.'

There were, indeed, a lot of priests walking about the place. Valkron wasn't surprised. Geffen Tower, the central spire, was home to the wizards in the floors above and home to the horrible creatures that roamed in what was left of the Geffen Dungeons below. Ruins of the ancient dungeons left behind from the old days of the world contained much to the aspiring mercenary, such as priceless treasure. Unfortunately it also meant a lot of injury.

They watched the people milling about the entrance to the dungeons. From time to time someone heavily bandaged would be carried out on a stretcher, where one of the errant priests around would come over to help out.

'It looks like they're here to heal the mercenaries visiting the dungeons,' said Emeth doubtfully. 'Do you think any of them would help us out?'

'We'll have to push our luck, then,' said Valkron, 'but I'm not going to stand aside and suffer in silence. Emeth, you go that way. I'll take this place. Ask the priests around here for help. I'll meet you back here.'

'Oh, yeah, sure.' The wizard wiped the blood away from the awful cut and clamped the cloth back onto his eye before limping off. Valkron watched him go before going around to ask.

They spent the entire day asking. Valkron soon discovered that the priests had been paid to stay around Geffen Tower. Apparently a large group consisting of an alliance of mercenaries had gone into the dungeons to look for the 'threat', just as the King had ordered. Many of them expressed regret for not helping him out, but they said they couldn't do anything about it. They had been told not to help other mercenaries.

Others simply told him that if he paid more than what the large group had they would do what he wanted. It appeared that they had paid the priests a total of 100, 000, 000, 000 zeny, and Valkron had only 60, 000 with him right now. He'd kept the rest of it somewhere safe.

Emeth and Valkron met again as dusk was falling. Valkron had thought of calling it off for the day, but when he saw Emeth he knew he couldn't. The cut under the wizard's eye had become swollen and inflamed. He'd stared at it.

'I can tell it looks bad from your expression,' said Emeth, pouring water on the bloodstained cloth. 'But no priest seems willing to help. People these days - all they want is money.'

'Money makes the world go round,' said Valkron. Emeth nearly dropped his cloth.

'I'm sorry, did you just say that?' he said, staring incredulously at the knight. 'Whatever gave you that ide--'

'I apologise for interrupting,' said someone next to them. They looked at him.

It was a priest. He had short blond hair sticking out of his black cap, and for such a young man he had an eyeglass. He was also nonchalantly standing there with his arms folded.

'A friend of mine notified me that there were two casualties strolling around Geffen seeking aid,' he said. He had a polite, accented voice that made Valkron feel as if he was some sort of butler. 'I'm offering the help you're searching for.'

'What, you aren't with the rest?' said Emeth, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the mass of people around the base of the tower. Since it was getting dark torches had been lit and were now standing around like sentinels guarding the tower. People were resting under them.

'Well, no. I wouldn't take such an offer of money just to stand around and waste my time.' The priest smiled. Valkron suddenly noticed a golden glint on his right earlobe. 'Shall we take refuge in a nearby inn?'

It was only a matter of time before their injuries were treated well. The priest didn't use spells, unlike the others. He carried a large pack with him, and used strange, evil-smelling ointments and liquids that Valkron swore could have come out of a drain polluted with chemicals. There was a sloshing sound from inside the pack whenever the priest carried it. No one was inclined to ask what it was.

'I prefer natural medicine to magic, really,' he said, as he carefully unscrewed the lid of a jar with thick yellow ointment. 'To me the whole point of using magic is not really using it unless it's in dire need, of course. After all, our senior priests do warn us of excessive use of magic.'

'Really?' said Emeth. He was still holding the cloth to his eye. The priest had said that that cut would be attended to later, and the wizard had asked how long was later. He'd nearly got a mace in the eye.

'Oh, yes. It's fine for the wizards, but not for us.' The priest scooped out a large amount. He was dealing with the bruise across Valkron's back. 'The process would take too long to explain though. Hold still.'

There was a squish, and Emeth noticed the knight had actually jumped a bit. A few seconds later the wizard had an expression of horror etched across his face.

'Well, it does sizzle a bit,' said the priest, catching the expression. 'I used essence of fireflower in this.'

'Are you mad?' Valkron managed to choke out. 'The thing's burning!'

'That would be just the right sensation to feel when the ointment's working its effect,' replied the priest smoothly.

After much yelping and hissing with pain from both of them, the priest finally turned to Emeth. 'Let me see that,' he said.

The wizard took off the cloth. The priest studied it for some time before pointing a finger at it. He said a word. The cut healed, the swelling down and the skin reverted to its rightful colour. He dusted his hands. 'There.'

'And we thought you didn't use magic,' said Emeth, touching his eye.

'I didn't want to treat it the way I treated your other injuries. It might result in something irreversible.' The priest screwed the lids back on the various jars and returned them to his pack.

Just then the murmur of sound outside erupted into screams. Valkron and Emeth looked out of the window to see a sudden flow of people rushing out from the doorway. A torch had fallen and was now burning a small stall next to the tower. There were dark shadows amassing at the entrance.

'We'd better get down there,' said the knight, strapping on his armour. 'Come on, Emeth--'

'You seriously aren't thinking of saving those people down there, are you?' said the priest, looking up at them. They stared at him.

'Yes. Why?' said Emeth, fastening the clasp of his cloak.

'Then I'll ask you the question you asked me. Are you mad? The monsters populating the dungeons have been affected by the strange magic coursing through our world due to the portal being opened. Since Geffen has a high level of magic the probability of winning against these monsters is, well...zero point three three.'

'I know that,' said Emeth, still staring at the priest. 'How did you come to understand that?'

The priest closed his pack. 'By observation,' he said calmly. 'And since I am a King's mercenary I am considered quite selfish, moneyfaced, and a stinking liar.'

There was silence, only filled in by the screams outside. Then Valkron said, 'You're telling us that it's not okay to go down and help?'

'Oh, no, I didn't say that. Go on, save them, it's okay to go. It's just that this threat's being the unexplained force that causes monsters to go berserk on people. I do know that serving your world is a good thing, but I certainly don't want to lose my life in the company of people who are a lot more powerful than I am, like those down there. Okay, I'm not what I said, but in general people think that's what being a mercenary is all about. Besides,' he pointed at the window, 'those monsters won't get far. The portal's magic will only allow the monsters to reach the ring of torches, and that's it. All anyone has to do is bring in the wizards, hunters and other similar long-range warriors and wipe them off. The matter is simply that.'

The silence this time was a lot deeper and longer. Finally Emeth said, 'You know a lot about the portal. We need to know. I think you'll be staying with us for a long time.'

The priest smiled. It was unnerving to see one at a time like this. 'My name is Samaroh. And, to tell you the truth...I told you all I know so that I could join you.'