Returning Home

Mors stopped for a second to think... Had he heard it before...

He didn't think so since this seemed like a bad thing. But he might be wrong.

So with some confusion, Mors replied, "No."

"Oh my! Well, I guess I will have to tell you then." Alice stated with a worried face as they continued on their walk.

As Alice began to explain, Mors learned how heroes became heroes.

Apparently, after passing the Adventurers Test, they can get a potion that gives them strength.

It's usually a secret that heroes have to keep, or else both Alchemist Association and Adventurers Association will come after them.

This potion allowed them to fight with greater strength but came with a few drawbacks.

Their blood basically becomes a potion of its own, and it has to be regulated by the user.

Genn popped in to explain better with this part, saying, "Basically, you just have to meditate before sleeping most nights and calm down your body after fights."

"If you don't do it, then there are a few consequences. Nothing too bad. You just fight uncontrolled until you naturally calm down," continued Genn with a smile.

Taking in the information, Mors became a bit thankful for not having that potion and felt bad for all the heroes that took it.

But at that moment, Alice continued her explanation, saying, "After the adventurer dies, they no longer can control their blood, so it kinda goes out of control."

With Mors becoming shocked, thinking that the potion would decay and be gone when the person died, Alice continued.

"As a result, it becomes a hazardous material which requires a separate place to be buried, in a graveyard way outside of town, just to make sure none of the blood could reach the town," added Alice.

"Oh, that's why my graveyard is so far from town. I always wondered why," thought Mors as he processed this information.

His brain seemed to skip around the worrying information as he thought about it, but soon he started to think about it some.

"Wait. Usually, the Association keeps the bodies for a few days after death. I used to get mad about it, but maybe they were draining the blood. I usually find holes in the bodies," Mors thought out loud.

Genn appeared again, explaining, "Well, yes, the Association will try to remove the blood, but the blood apparently isn't the easiest to come out, and there's still a lot left in the body."

"What, Really?!" Mors worried as he thought about the consequences, but with another thought, he asked, "What can this blood do if it's so solid?"

Hearing that, all three ghosts appeared and said, "MANY BAD THINGS! THAT'S WHY WE ARE SO CONCERNED!!!"

Starting in a line, Genn said, "We were taught that when the bodies decompose, it creates a zone that causes potioned blood to freak out."

Then with Afiero, he continued saying, "Also, once the body decomposes, the blood will mix with the water and cause many problems for those who drink it."

Ending with Spir, he explained, "One of the poisons some assassins use is that blood since it causes problems for adventures and even regular people."

Then Alice chimed in, saying, "Another fun fact, it can contaminate crops if eaten long enough."

Realizing how bad it was, he wondered how no one had informed him. Also, more worrying was he basically grew up in that graveyard, so he was definitely contaminated.

But then, how was he not dead if it was that bad?

But when he thought about it, maybe he was immune to the effects since his family did work with a lot of graveyards.

As they were talking, they unknowingly reached the halfway point on the trip, as the trees started to change slightly.

To make sure he was immune, Mors grimly asked, "What exactly are the effects? I might be immune."

Saying this, Mors told the group about the family history he knew about, with his family going into the gravedigging business.

Hearing that, the group turned silent as they continued their walk as they looked around.

It was about a minute later before someone talked again, as Afiero explained, "Well, you are already contaminated. That is how you awakened with the hill troll."

"Really? Interesting..." Mors responded as he thought about it. So he really was contaminated, but it probably didn't hurt him.

Hearing that, Mors decided to just leave it as it was. Hearing about being contaminated with basically poison was a lot to worry about, and he was done listening for now.

It wasn't hurting him currently, so it wasn't that bad.

Quickly finishing the conversation, saying he was now informed about it. Mors asked Afiero what they could do to keep Alice safe from the contamination.

Then began the quick safety procedures. Mors decided to listen in to see if he did any of these...

And he didn't.

Most of the steps he failed to do.

Anyway, this conversation continued until the group reached where the hill troll showed up.

Reaching there, the living didn't even notice the damage.

But all the ghosts noticed something up.

But after a bit of quiet conversation, Genn and the two unknown ghosts stayed back to look around.

It might be unknown why they didn't just ask Mors and Alice to stop for a bit to look around, but it might be due to the dangers around the place.

Besides the strange bit of elements wandering around the place and acting strangely, it was mostly empty.

But there was no Array around. Such strange sight.

After a bit, all of the ghosts came back, and Mors reached a point where he started to recognize a lot of the trees and such.

Feeling more relaxed seeing those trees, Mors felt excited that he was basically home, even if it was a hazardous place.

Coming up on it, Mors didn't see any damage to the fence or anything inside the graveyard, which was relieving for him.

Reaching the graveyard, Mors quickly helped Alice feel as at home as he could, placing down the luggage and grabbing a few things.

Alice, on the other hand, was looking around the place, filled with tombstones and patches of flowers spread all over the place.

It looked peaceful and calming as the red bark trees filled the perimeter.

But there was also a grim and dangerous feeling in the background. Surrounded so many dead bodies and contaminated blood, it was understandable.

Going over to help Mors out, Alice quickly said, "I'll just sleep outside. I don't want to invade your space."

Mors didn't even think much about it and decided to grab some blankets he recently got from his house and grabbed some firewood, and some stones.

Creating a tent thing and campfire in a clear space with no dead bodies below, Mors prepared a one-day setup for Alice.

With that, Mors stayed for a bit longer just to help Alice learn where everything was before, including the small creek where it was safe to drink.

There was another creek that his father had told him would be poisonous due to it being below the graveyard, and apparently, it collected "all of the blood of the fallen."

Alice thanked him with a kind smile on her face. She quickly settled in and told Mors that he was fine to go get the herb and she would be fine for a while.

After a few reiterating that she was fine, Mors left on his moral duty to steal that dang herb.