Part 15

The next day party was planning to go out into the city, get some information and do some shopping. Unfortunately for them, Lewyn's walk through the city the night before interrupted these plans. Aa he was famous around these parts, they received a lot of attention wherever they went. That only got worse when it was revealed they received Dragon King's Blessing. That made their plans impossible. However this wasn't all bad. After everyone got invited to their respected guilds, a nice surprise was awaiting for them. They were to receive a new set of uniforms that better represented their new status. All they needed to do was to officially join the guilds and give their measurements in order to fit them perfectly. They gladly did this. After all of this was done and they returned back to the inn, they had to admit that all of this attention wasn't too bad and that they would simply reschedule their plans for the next day.

The shopping trip went better next day. After restocking their supplies, Mari and Rosch went to a local magic shop to gain new magic. Mari went for a Healaga, a powerful healing spell, while Rosch went for the NulDeath, a protective spell against spells that could kill them instantly. Unfortunately, it seemed Rosch reached his current potential in black magic so he couldn't acquire more powerful black magic. After getting lunch, they were planning to gather more information so that they had clue where to go next. That's where Lianna dropped the news on them about the location of the next Crystal as well as the fact that she hired Noelle to help them on their journey. Lewyn was miffed at this, but still grateful at Lianna for giving her this opportunity. After convincing others about the power Noelle wielded, others had agreed to make her join and help her in the completion of the submarine. That evening everyone had convened at the inn to discuss the plan. According to the information they had gathered, a trade caravan under the merchant Underhill had somehow acquired a fairy and was trying to sell it at a high price. At that moment he was somewhere in the desert west from Onrac. Lewyn had a clue where he might be as he had actually visited the camp that he often set shop in. He also sold concoctions that, when drunk, they could give the person the same or similar effects to spells such as Haste. This got the attention of everyone as it made very clear what their next location should be. They were all in agreement where they should go next. However, an unexpected event that night ruined these plans.

When they awoke the next day, they were met with unusual news. According to the rumours, during the previous night a strange comet was seen outside the city and hit somewhere in the mountains north from the city. This news mainly came from a man called Kobbe who swore that he was telling the truth. While he was met with much speculation, those who knew him believed him as he wasn't a drinker nor known for lying. In the end a quest was issued to investigate this rumours. This got the attention of the party. The timing of this event was very unusual, not to mention the trajection. Apparently some thought it might have came from the Lufenian city as the description of the event was similar to the events 400 years ago. In the end they accepted the quest and decided on their next course of action. They would return to their ship and then split off. Warriors of Light were going to take their canoe and travel up the Taquila river to investigate this incident. Afterwards they would wait for Sky Empress to return in that village near the Gelder bridge. Meanwhile, Lianna and Noelle were going to take the ship and travel west to the caravan. Lewyn would mark the place on the map and the view from the sky would help in reducing the area of search. And, even if there was a trouble, they could rely on Lianna's and Noelle's experience to solve them. With that, the plan was formulated.

With their preparations done and the supplies and stuff from Noelle and Romy loaded onto the wagon, the party set off, much to Sead's chagrin. His wagon wasn't designed in mind for 8 people that he had to carry. The wagon was overflowing and there was no room for anything else to put, something that others realized when they defeated two manticores on their travel. There wasn't any room for the material that they would usually pick up from the defeated monsters. When they asked Sead what they could do about this, he answered them honestly. They should avoid getting more people to travel with wagon or they should get another wagon and hire another driver. With promises to do that and that this circumstance is a one-time thing, they pressed on to the Taquila River. After getting to it during the late afternoon hours, they set up camp for the night. Everyone was in good mood as they ate dinner and prepared to sleep for the night. Unfortunately, a fight between lovers changed that for some.

When Rosch and Lianna left the camp while others were preparing to sleep, no one batted an eye on this. They thought the lovers just wanted some privacy so they left them alone. So it was unexpected to hear their shouting some time later. While others prepared to defend the camp, Kelin and Lewyn went to check on them thinking they might be in trouble. Their assumption turned out to be false when they found the couple shouting at each other. Realizing they had an audience, they stopped and decide to go their separate ways. From the looks on their faces it was clear to Kelin and Lewyn that whatever Lianna said to Rosch made him very angry. As soon as he returned to the camp, he moved his sleeping bag as far away as he could from Lianna. Others had asked him what happened, but Rosch refused to answer. Lianna refused too and accepted his decision to move away from her. This ruined the good mood everyone had that night as no one could figure out what happened. The following morning the situation didn't improve. While everyone else had warm farewells and promises to stay alive, the farewell between the lovers was very cold as Rosch didn't even want to look at her. With this, the Warriors of Light had boarded their canoe and went upstream.

It was a smooth sailing across the river. It seemed that no enemies would bother them while they slowly went across Taquila. This made the job very easy and allowed them to take break to rest and eat. It also made it easy for everyone to try and make Rosch spill the beans about the night before. Every time he had answered with: "I don't want to talk about it" or "I need to think about it" or "Please leave me alone." Nothing could crack him. In the end they had to let it go. As the evening, they noted their progress on their map. Because there was nothing delay them, they were further along than they expected and so they should arrive to the supposed crash site sometime the next day. They landed on a beach and prepared to camp there for the night. With a quick work, they made their spot pleasant with only Rosch's sulking to ruin. One last attempt to made him failed, forcing everyone to accept that he won't talk and turned in for the night.

Later in the night Lewyn woke up to check on the fire. After he threw a log onto the flame, he noticed Rosch sitting on the beach staring into the river. Curious about this, Lewyn approached him.

Lewyn: "Any monsters down there or did you forget your fishing rod?"

Rosch: "Oh, Lewyn. Shouldn't you be asleep?"

Lewyn: "I was, but then I decided to bug you now. So, why are you up?"

Rosch: "Just... thinking."

Lewyn: "Well, think on your non-sleeping hours. Come on."

Rosch: ...

Lewyn: "You aren't going to?"

Rosch: ...

Lewyn: "Look, whatever that argument was last night, it's clearly eating you up. Now, you said to us to leave you alone and we will. But I would suggest for you to open up before you start making mistakes from lack of sleep."

Rosch: "... Fine. You might be the best person to talk to anyway."

Lewyn: "What is it?"

Rosch: "Lianna told me about what her contract with Noelle was actually about."

Lewyn: "Oh, no. Let me guess, she has to spend the nights with her."

Rosch: "Something like that. Let me guess, she has yet to tell you about this?"

Lewyn: "Yes. But what exactly is the problem?"

Rosch: "I was blindsided when she revealed the truth and let my emotions run wild. It made me realize that I haven't been thinking about the future. Tell me. How can you do that to Romy?"

Lewyn: "Do what? Sleep around while he is my husband? It's called an open relationship."

Rosch: "Not that. The polyamory."

Lewyn: "Oh. Is that what it has been keeping you up?"

Rosch: "Yes. I realized that I never thought about that aspect about her. So now I want to ask you. How can you do that? How can you look around to marry more people while you already have a significant other waiting for you at home?"

Lewyn: "Easy. They say when you are on your deathbed, you have regrets. Well, I want to have as few as I can."

Rosch: "That's it? You base your hedonistic lifestyle on not having regrets?"

Lewyn: "Exactly. The thing about our clan is that there are consequences for our way of life. We accept every meeting we have in our lives as unique because we don't know if that will be the last time we will se each other. I had many departures in my life. Some from people I barely knew, while others from people I wish I could have kept around more. In the end, if you find a person you have a special bond with, you never want to let him or her go."

Rosch: "Doesn't that cause problems in the long run?"

Lewyn: "Yes, but a normal marriage has problems too. There is no truly perfect relationship. What matters is how you solve the issues that pop up."

Rosch: "I still don't see how this is the better choice."

Lewyn: "It's not. There aren't too many places that practice this. There are even some clansmen who don't practice it and no one is pressuring them into changing. What matters is the consent between the partners and to be completely honest about this. Besides, it's better than just having a mistress like many other nobles do."

Rosch: "How so? You choose to complicate matters by taking on more than one partner."

Lewyn: "Answer me this first. Did your father had one?"

Rosch: "Not as far as I knew."

Lewyn: "Then are you willing to choose open relationship?"

Rosch: "To be honest, I am not exactly opposed to it."

Lewyn: "Alright, here's a scenario for you. Let's say you and Lianna get married and you somehow convince her not to take on more partners, but she is allowed to have partners outside the marriage and so are you. Now let's say you find another person you like and form a relationship with her. In the end you realize you want to keep her around because she makes you as happy as Lianna does. What do you do now?"

Rosch: "Um, keep both of them around as you said?"

Lewyn: "Alright. Let's say both of them have a problem and they need your help with it. Which one will you help first?"

Rosch: "I... Hmmmm. I doubt they have the same problem so I refuse to answer now. I need more info."

Lewyn: "Let me guess. You wanted to answer Lianna, right? That's before you stopped to think."

Rosch: "No."

Lewyn: "Don't lie."

Rosch: "I am not. Even if I am, what difference does it make?"

Lewyn: "A lot. Next question. How would you treat them both?"

Rosch: "Equally."

Lewyn: "Are you sure?"

Rosch: "Yes."

Lewyn: "Alright, last question. Let's say you have children with them both. When you die, how shall your inheritance be distributed?"

Rosch: "Equally."

Lewyn: "You sure? By law only your wife and legitimate children inherit in case of no will."

Rosch: "Then I would make the will in which I specify that the inheritance be distributed equally."

Lewyn: "I see. So you are not only a coward, but a hypocrite too."

Rosch: "What?! What do you mean by that?"

Lewyn: "You just said you would make that will, but also that you would treat them both equally. Don't you see the contradiction?"

Rosch: "What?"

Lewyn: "By being that specific in your will, you are giving a preferential treatment to your mistress over your wife. That's just one example. Another one is that lie of yours about treating them both equally."

Rosch: "I would-"

Lewyn: "Stop lying and deluding yourself. You are just making an impossible situation. How can you say you would treat them both equally when you can't man up and make them actually equal, huh? No matter what you do, you are making someone more important in your life. Is that what you want?"

Rosch: "No."

Lewyn: "Look, you looked more happier with my sister than after seeing your attempts at courtship with the Princess. I like you and I would love for you to be my brother-in-law. But you need to figure out what exactly do you want in your life and what will make you happy. I believe she already knows what she wants and I doubt she would compromise on too many things. So you either accept her as she is, with all her flaws and desires, or you let the time run out and end the relationship."

Rosch: ...

Lewyn: "Now that I have given you some actual material to think about, I am going back to sleep."

Rosch: "You sure you don't want to know the details about her contract with Noelle?"

Lewyn: "They are both independent women. I have no influence on them when it comes to decisions. They make their own decisions."

Rosch: "Oh, only if you knew."

Lewyn: "What was that?"

Rosch: "Oh, nothing. Good night."

Lewyn: "Good night."

The next morning Rosch seemed to be in better mood. While Mari and Kelin questioned still what happened, Lewyn was happy to see his talk had some impact on him. After breakfast, they returned back to the canoe and continued upstream. After an hour of rowing, they reached as far as they could, Alverne Falls. Named after the nearby small valley, Alverne Falls was considered the birthplace of the Taquila river as the snow melting from the surrounding mountains created several underground rivers after which they all combine into one creating a magnificent waterfall in the process. After landing at the nearby beach, they consulted the map to see where they should go. Going only by the estimate that was provided, the meteor was somewhere northeast of the valley and needed several hours of climbing. After securing their canoe, they went straight to work.

Finding the crash site was more easy than expected. It was strung along a small patch of forest. Judging from the state of the trees, whatever that meteor was must have hit the trees while crash-landing. While following the path of damaged trees, they encountered several nightmares. Not wishing to be disturbed, they made quick work of them and then reached their destination. They were surprised at the sight of the wreck. Even in its mangled state it could be recognized for what it is, an airship smaller than Sky Empress. It was quite a surprising site to see. They could only speculate how beautiful the ship was before it crashed. It might have even been capable of rivalling the Sky Empress. Luckily, it seemed someone or something did survive the crash as tracks were discovered leading out of it. Since no one was an experienced tracker, they could only follow it hoping that the tracks won't disappear. After climbing down for several minutes they followed it to an entrance of an underground cavern. With no other clues to go off, they went straight in.

As it turned out, the cavern was much larger than expected. There was enough room for everyone to spread around and even for creatures to fly around unimpeded as a small flock of pyrolisks proved it when they jumped Kelin. One Rosch's Blizzaga later and everyone got together to see where they should go next. Unfortunately, they lost the tracks of whatever they were following so all they could do was to explore every hallway and hopefully find it. At least they had interesting scenery to look at. It seemed this cave was used by shelter from one of the nearby kingdoms during the Great Dragon War as proven by the remains that littered the cavern. It could become an interesting archaeological site for anyone interested in history. Shame that all the survivors were turned to mummies, their horses into nightmares and their guardians, the clay golems, no longer knew friend from foe. Due to Mari's and Rosch's magic as well as Kelin's and Lewyn's strength, the task of clearing them was more tiresome than dangerous as they continued further into the cavern. Finally, they found something out of ordinary in this cave. A door. This was where their luck turned around. What waited behind those doors was a strange mechanical creature unlike they have ever seen. It clearly seem out of place as it didn't match anything else in that cavern. It was also in horrible shape as if it went through a battle or something like that. With caution they approached the creature. As soon as it detected movement, the creature's red eye sprung to life. Instead of following the party's example who were to attack at the moment's notice, it instead pulled something out of its chest and started speaking. "I have ... been WAIting... take this CUBE... TIAmat... flying fortress... please..." Still cautious about all of this, Kelin approached it with his shield up and took the cube. While he was inspecting it, the creature started shaking. Kelin jumped away, thinking it might explode. The creature instead just shut down and fell on the floor. Everyone inspected it trying to figure out what it was and even tried to return to life using Thunder magic and Phoenix stones to no avail. In the end they tried their best disassembling the creature and, after taking a look to see what was worth bringing along, they decided to take its head and power source. Anything else would have caused difficulties to carry back and that was reserved for the prizes they have found in this cave. That room had a door for a reason as 5 treasure chests were laying in the back of the room. First two were nothing too special, just money and some kind of a special magical ribbon that no one had any clue about. It was the other 3 chests where the prizes were much more desired. 2 magical swords, Defender and another Ice Blade, as well as a Wizard's Staff were waiting for them. Now all they had to do was carry their prizes back through the cave while more enemies attacked them on their way back. At least Mari's magic only affected mummies and not the money that they were carrying. Once they were out, they took some rest before returning back to their canoe and rowing downstream.

It took them two days of rowing to reach Gelder Bridge and the village where they were supposed to meet with the Sky Empress. Unfortunately for them, it seemed they finished their task much faster than expected as the airship wasn't there. Not wishing to just stay put until they arrive, they hired a wagon from locals to take them to Onrac where they would report their mission and unload their treasures. Unfortunately, the wagon driver that was responsible for the wagon was far less brave than Sead and that caused some troubles. Often, when monsters attacked, he tried to run away from the danger only to attract more monsters. At one point, the party considered relieving him from his service and leaving him in Onrac. Unfortunately, that wouldn't have worked as he would still need to return back to the village. So, as much as they hated it, they left him to drive the wagon until this was all done. At least great news waited for them in the city. Once they reported the results of their mission, they were asked to appear in their respective guilds. There, they would finally receive the promised new clothes for their promotion. Kelin received a freshly minted new armour set to replace his patchwork that he wore until now. Mari and Lewyn received new cloaks with the symbol of their class emblazoned on their cloaks confirming their status. Rosch also received one with the addition of body armour to match him. After receiving their gifts, they went around checking what exactly their newly acquired weapons from the cave and discovering some interesting surprises along the way. While no one could utilize Wizard's Staff to its full power as you need black wizards for that, you could use to cast Confuse, similar to the gauntlets and healing staff. Defender also had similar function, casting Blink on someone. What was the most surprising was that magical ribbon that they have found. It protected it's user from effects such as poison and blind. After some discussion, Lewyn was the one chosen to wear it. With their business in the city done, they returned to their long journey back to the meeting place.