Getting on with the day

"Of course, I didn't spend it all!"

"..."

Melinda hurriedly assured Adiranna, making her go silent but not without a look of suspicion in her eyes.

"I also got the map with the monster areas around the city. I went for the Boarkin Orcs because they travel in groups… and somehow managed to meet them, like, ten blasted steps away from the walls and realized that I have wasted the money on the bracelet…!"

"Happens."

Melinda said, raising the arm with the bracelet and glaring at the completely innocent piece of equipment with pure hatred, while Zane nodded in understanding of that reaction.

"So I killed three out of four, used the scroll while the last one hesitated, and was about to return right back to sell the carcasses in the guild and get back to you two when AN ACTUAL DAMN ROYAL SERPENT OF THE TEMPEST SHOWED ITS UGLY MUG OUT OF NOWHERE!"

The hooded girl reveled, taking a deep breath before raising both hands and shrieking in desperation.

"My lady, watch your mouth, please! You speak like an elf…!"

"HOLY SHIT! SO THAT REALLY WAS THE ROYAL SERPENT OF THE TEMPEST?! I THOUGHT I WAS HALLUCINATING!"

Adrianna breathed out and tried to do her duty and point out the behavior unbecoming of a noble lady, but then got shouted over by Zane, who used even more foul language than the girl.

"YES IT WAS! AND… AND…! AND! AS I WAS SAYING! THAT PIECE OF CRAP SHOWED UP FROM THE DIRECTION IT HAD NO BUSINESS HANGING OUT AROUND!"

Melinda continued shouting, waving her arm, proining straight towards the dock and the Amber Sea.

"Oh shit… oh shit! Do you think that it could be that whole easter egg the developers decided to leave?"

"That is exactly what I thought that was going on."

The monstrous servant gasped in shock and whispered and the noble lady nodded her head with a solemn expression.

"...wait... YOU aren't sure that it was it?"

"I wasn't properly implemented at that point."

Melinda opened her mouth but then closed it and asked in confusion, to which Zane simply shrugged his shoulders and confessed.

"Oh, makes sense. Anyhow. By that point, what else was I supposed to do? I already had the Boarkin Orc's weapon in hand, so I tried to toss it to get its attention and lead it away from the two of you. But it died from that... a-and this whole thing happened."

Melinda shrugged her shoulders acting all dismissively, but the more she said, the more she was lowering her head, so by the end of her speech she was bowing apologetically to the other two.

"Well… in the end, our lady was clearly not the one in fault… You shouldn't have shouted so much… What if someone overheard you through the rain and will report the whole thing, painting our young lady in a bad light?!"

Adrianna swayed from side to side before looking around with concern, glancing toward all the hollow windows.

"Huh? No, you don't have to worry about that. The shockwave deafened everyone. The ones with the highest levels should regain their hearing in around an hour, others… well.. up to a week or two with good medicine involved. We can shout some more… not that it's necessary anymore. After all, it could have ended much, much worse."

Zane raised his brows before shaking his head and reassuring the troubled maid.

"Exactly. What should we do now?"

Melinda let out a sigh of relief before asking, looking up to Zane with a hopeful expression.

"Let's take those monster corpses and get back to our inn. We will hand them in tomorrow just so it wouldn't be suspicious that we are already up and operational while everyone else is out of it. After that, let's go straight to the teleporter and try to buy ourselves a spot and get to the Jade city and Jade Academy."

"Sound's like a plan."

"Alright."

The monstrous servant shrugged his shoulders and proposed, and Adrianna and Melinda agreed without any objections.

"If I may… Since everyone else got hit by the shockwave, how come we are fine?"

The maid furrowed her brows and asked.

""That's because the party members aren't affected by any AOE of attacks of their teammates.""

Melinda and Zane answered her in unison without a moment of hesitation.

—-----

"..."

The next day, the trio dragging four monster corpses through the streets of the destroyed city desperately trying to recover did get occasional looks of shock and bewilderment from the civilians, guards, and local adventurers alike, but all in all, no one called out to them, so they made their way to the adventurers guild without any unforeseen stops.

The guild itself was a much more lively - or rather completely hectic - place, with adventurers rushing in and out with either desperate or focused expressions.

The wind and rain were partially making their way inside the building, even with the boarded-up windows, and it was a rather miserable sight.

People were shouting, people were running, and Melinda, Zane, and Adrianna were making their way towards the counter in the back without looking around.

The person by the counter wasn't the young black-haired girl who helped out Melinda with the registration - instead, It was a tall, serious-faced red-hiared woman with intense green eyes.

"Hello, we would like to exchange four Orc corpses. Here's my guild card."

Since Meiinda was the one with the card, she spoke up to the serious receptionis, even though Adrianna wanted to do it for her.

"...I see…"

The serious receptionist's expression became troubled as she glanced at the chaos from all sides before focusing on the trio, who looked completely unbothered by it all.

"I imagine that you barely arrived in our city… I am afraid that it will take some time before we will be able to pay you for those…"

The woman too a deep breath and lowered her head, apologizing profusely.

"Excuse me, madam, but can't it be done as soon as possible? Our lady is quite strapped for time."

The receptionist was handling the situation perfectly, but even so Adrainna felt that it was her duty as Melinda's personal maid to spare her lady from mundane chores like this whole talk so she chimed in.

"I'm terribly sorry, but as you can see, our city has been struck by a disaster. I ask you for understanding."

The receptionist breathed out and straightened her back, as her expression turned back to serious or even strict as she glared down at the brown-haired maid.