What Happened to Jack?

Rydel hurriedly tossed the queen her contact crystal and pulled out his own. While rushing out of the main hall Rydel yelled, "You better hope he's okay. If not, then I don't know what I can promise you."

Concerned for herself and her city, the goblin queen followed Rydel through the hallways.

Crossing paths with any guards brought no problems as the queen sent out commands from her contact crystal. The guards were very confused when they saw the queen working together with a human, but no one dared question her as they were distracted by her beauty.

It wasn't long before they reached the dungeon stairs and ran down the steps. They were amazed and astonished at what they found.

Peacefully lying across the floor was the headless corpse of Chraat, as if he had willingly given up his life. Currently, the body was being looted by a naked man holding a unique green saber who was extremely relaxed.

A couple of meters away they saw a blonde woman kneeling on the cold stone floor with nothing but an old black cloak to cover herself. On her lap lay the head a young adult man whose only covering was the end of the girls cloak that she wrapped over him.

When Rydel saw the troll corpse he let out a sigh of relief from reflex, but he quickly sucked it back in when he saw the concerned look on Slivia's face.

"What happened?" asked Rydel. He was quickly walking toward the cleric girl he hadn't seen since she was kidnapped. There was a gentleness in his voice, trying to keep her calm while she brought up some possibly emotional events.

"Jack's an idiot…" answered Slivia, twirling his hair in her fingers.

Confused by the young girl's statement, Rydel waited for a moment until Slivia finally continued speaking. "He acted like facing the troll was no big deal, like he would do it easily, yet here he is. He's stupid sometimes… but I'm glad he came."

Slivia finally looked up as she explained, "Jack appeared in the dungeon and gave me back my cloak before he hid from the troll. When the troll mentioned fleeing the city and taking me with him, that man spoke up and started insulting the troll, calling him a coward and distracting the jailer." Her voice trailed off after that, showing that she wasn't in the mood to say more.

Rydel looked over at the man patting down the troll corpse. "Are you Byron Balt?"

"Yup, and you're with him, right?" replied Byron, pointing to the unconscious Jack. "I've got to thank you for making it this far. Every other party was captured or killed, so I'm sure my father will reward you handsomely for this."

"We'll speak to Jard later. For now, just tell us what happened."

Byron glanced at the goblin queen beside Rydel and chuckled before he spoke. "That kid showed up in search of survivors, so we chatted briefly. As soon as I mentioned where to find that beautiful blonde, he took off without listening to another word."

"Once ugly here showed up, the kid went into hiding somehow. I knew he was looking for an opening of some kind, so I gave him one. I called the troll a coward until he destroyed my cell in a rage and gave the kid a chance to attack." Byron only mentioned the highlights to keep from feeling longwinded.

"The kid was using poisoned blades to slow the troll and stall. In the meantime, I was drinking the potions and elixirs the kid gave me. After I was back in action, I took back my sword from this pestro and decapitated him."

"That's it?" asked Rydel. "How in Halmut's beard did the kid stall for you?"

"That's…" Byron shook his head in astonishment. "That kid wasn't nearly as strong as I thought, but he had quite the trump card."

Rydel also shook his head, but in disappointment that Jack had to go through the toughest opponent of them all. "Well, that explains why he's naked. Here, you can have this."

A bundle of clothes was thrown to Byron, who caught it easily. "Thank you, hunter."

The queen in her silence was filled with shock by how Chraat had been killed. She examined her surroundings carefully and was glad that the boy she heard so much about was still alive. Out of curiosity, she asked, "This is the boy you mentioned, right? Do you know what level he is?"

"Before he entered the city, he was only lv. 14. Now, he's already lv. 18."

When Rydel mentioned Jack's exact levels, all three people present were blown away. Each of the three had a certain understanding of Jack, but each of their understandings was shattered when they realized the gap in strength between Jack and the troll captain.

"lv. 18…" Slivia silently repeated Jack's current level to herself, like a mantra for motivation.

"But… how could a lv. 18 face him!?" shouted the goblin queen. "Chraat, who died thanks to that boy, was lv. 36."

That information reaching Rydel's ears was like a bombshell going off in his brain. Rydel blinked and looked back at the unconscious hero, filled with admiration. "You're right Slivia, he's an idiot."

If Jack had mentioned that he was facing a troll captain, then Rydel would've brought the queen with him to fight the thing together. Jack was too valuable to die, and Jack understood that he could've convinced Rydel to join the fight.

The fact that Jack somehow got this to work was a miracle. Rydel wanted nothing more than for Jack to wake up so he could knock some sense into him.

"What exactly is that kid?" asked Byron. "He's too intelligent for that new of an adventurer. And if he leveled up that fast, that could only mean he leveled up even faster previously, right?"

"Right," admitted Rydel. "Believe it or not, he's a summoned hero that joined the association instead of the Royal Court due to certain circumstances. As for that ability you witnessed, that's Jack's ultimate trump card. It stems from his beast companion, a Hell-flame Fox."

"A Hell-flame Fox!? As a beast companion!?" Byron was shocked to his very core.

"The fox was just rampaging through the city if you find it hard to believe, just ask the queen."

The queen spoke up, taking initiative to speak and not be spoken to. "Yes, that beast stormed through my city, but what does that have anything to do with this boy?"

Rydel glanced at the queen and sighed, "I guess I can tell you since you already know about Bowser. But if any of this leaks out before the association makes a public announcement, you'll be the first one we target. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," answered the queen.

"Right, where was I?" Rydel continued. "Jack has a mutual seal with the fox, letting him borrow some of its power."

"That explains him turning into a flame elemental the size of the troll," reasoned Byron, who was trying to piece everything together and keep himself calm. "Still, that kid's insane."

"Yeah, you're not wrong about that," Rydel confirmed Byron's statement with a nod before he turned back to Slivia. He noticed that there was still a lot of worry in her eyes and asked, "Is there something wrong?"

Slivia refocused herself and answered, "I can't heal him…"

"What do you mean you can't heal him?"

"I can't." Slivia wiped her eyes to keep from water spilling out in a stream of tears. "My healing magic can still enter his body and he looks fine, but I can feel a lot of internal damage inside him. Whenever I try to do anything about that, there's no effect. I can replenish his mana and health, but those internal injuries are still there."

"Let me have a look," said the queen as she kneeled across from Slivia.

Slivia didn't know what to think. She had just been captured by this woman and many of her acquaintances were killed or captured by her and her guards. Not to mention everything she let the trolls do to the captives.

"I won't harm him, don't worry." The queen gave Slivia a look of gentleness and concern. "As for the trolls, I was powerless to object their demands, or my people would have faced a dire threat. And your people have killed far more of us goblins than I can count. I think we're even now."

Nodding at the queen, Slivia pulled her protective hands back and watched the queen carefully.

The queen raised both hands above her chest. Soon, her hands began to emit a soft red glow. She then held her hands just above Jack's motionless body and passed them over his entire body.

As she reached his head, a look of bewilderment appeared on her face. The queen slowly pulled her hands back and said, "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do about him."