Chapter 115 - Investigation: Returning Heaven

Gren's pitifully small squad of three people were nearing the Returning Heaven Transportation Company. The roof of the stables could be seen behind the guild's stone walls. "We're almost there now. Be on the lookout for anything suspicious." Gren was looking for anybody that might be armed but didn't trust his own judgement.

"The only thing I can think of that's suspicious is our group. We stick out like a sore thumb. We wouldn't even be able to fit in over at the Northwest District with our suits of armor." Gren didn't know what the people in the richest district wore but even the son of a Duke didn't have access to the type of armor that the knights from the Church had. "The best armor I've seen from groups outside of the Church are only made out of black iron. I've heard of people using a stronger material far in the west but it's some kind of stone that needs to be carved into armor."

As Rodge was going on about the different armors he had encountered, Gren noticed something strange. "Don't look now but I think those kids over there are watching us." If it weren't for Armand talking about kids joining a guild, Gren wouldn't have cared about the kids looking at them and whispering to each other. "I've heard that a guild was hiring kids so we should probably expect them to..." Just as Gren was saying that, one of the kids ran off towards Gren's destination. "...do that. I think it's pretty much confirmed that they've spotted us but I don't think we can know for certain if they know what our goal is."

"I think that they'll be able to figure it out if the kid mentions what you're wearing. I overheard some people talking about what we did earlier and they mentioned your armor." That changed the situation they were in by quite a bit. "I think we should hurry up. Once that kid tells them about us then they'll start preparing for us."

"He's headed for the entrance on the other side. We can beat him if we go over the wall." Gren pulled the vampire's hand and started running straight towards their wall. "Keep up, Rodge!" Using his earth magic, Gren created a bridge over the heads of the people walking around that was made from the dirt that he had in his pocket dimension.

Gren's sudden appearance over the top of their wall gave the men training in the yard by the stables a surprise. The men shooting at targets quickly aimed their bows at Gren and fired shots at him. Gren was almost caught off guard by their quick reaction but managed to cover the small gap in his helmet and heard the clinking of the iron tipped arrows against his armor. Rodge had his shield in front of his helmet, protecting his exposed face. "They're here! Prepare for battle!" A woman's voice came from the training field, surprising Gren. The rest of the people were men wearing armor made from chainmail and the leather from monsters so the person in a full suit of plate armor complete with a helmet must have been the woman that just shouted.

Gren had to shield the vampire from the arrows and was a step behind Rodge. "Looks like they were already prepared for us. I guess you can ignore what I said earlier." Rodge got a laugh out of the fact that it was pointless for them to hurry up. The person closest to Rodge had a short spear and lunged forward towards him but he was able to sidestep and strike the person's wrist with the side of his sword. "Now who's the one that needs to keep up? If you don't start moving then there'll be none left for you." Rodge kicked the mercenary's leg sideways and tripped him up which allowed Gren to use the dirt to hold him in place while making sure not to restrict the guy's chest so that he wouldn't die.

After deploying a wall of earth to block the second wave of arrows, Gren rushed to Rodge's side and used a small fireball to disrupt the mercenaries that were trying to surround him. Gren had his gun out but didn't want to shoot the mercenaries so he used the butt of his rifle to bash one of them in the chest while they were recovering from the burst of flames. "Just keep knocking them down and I'll capture them. Nobody needs to die." The mercenary that Gren hit didn't fall down so Rodge tripped them while blocking against another person's spear. "These guys seem better than the last group I went up against."

"That's because we went after the weakest group first to test the waters. Annie was talking about how we were all supposed to go in so that we could work on our teamwork before facing the others before you decided to go in alone." Gren only went in alone because the place was small and he didn't want any friendly fire incidents. Rodge's dodges and parries were well-practiced so it didn't take long for him to take out the enemies. He somehow even knew when arrows were going to be fired at him and strategically sidestepped or used his shield to block them. Gren, on the other hand, was struggling to keep up in the fight.

Gren tried blocking a spear with his gun and managed to take a glancing hit from the tip of the spear to his armpit, one of the only places where he wasn't protected by armor. "I knew I should have put some chainmail on under this thing." As Gren healed his armpit, he backed away from the fight to catch his breath. Although Gren was decent with a spear, the gun with its bayonet was different enough to feel foreign. His practice with the gun never included close quarters combat and it showed in this fight against enemies that actually practiced with the weapons that they were currently using.

Using his gun as a spear just wasn't working for him so Gren stored it away and brought out a sword and shield. The iron shield was destroyed a while back so now he was using a steel one with a similar design. He needed to bring people down without killing them so the sword he used was one of the old training swords that he never got rid of. The blunt edge could still kill somebody but it was unlikely going to do so with them wearing armor. The mercenary that Rodge had taken down while Gren was off getting reequipped tried getting up so Gren stepped on the guy's back and used dirt to cover his limbs. "Sorry about that. I didn't realize how bad I'd be with that thing." Gren felt a bit embarrassed by his poor performance in front of one of his combat instructors and possibly his closest friend.

"It's alright, just do what you can and try not to kill them. You're doing a fine job helping me keep them down." While encouraging Gren, Rodge managed to take down two more opponents; smacking one in the head with his shield and using his pommel to hit another in the gut before kneeing him in the chest. "There are only a few more left and I think that woman with the armor on is going to be harder to take down so just take it slowly. They seem to be protecting their guild instead of running away like I expected them to."

Gren wasn't surprised that they'd be protecting their guild. He'd be doing the same thing in their position. However, Gren was too busy blocking the attack of two different mercenaries to tell Rodge that. They were down to the last six mercenaries with melee weapons but that included the armored woman that hadn't taken action yet. The two archers that hadn't been taken out yet were out of arrows and seemed to be looking for a different weapon to use. One of them picked up a spear that was laying on the ground while the other ran into the guild's main building. "So much for them not running away. You're just jinxing us today."

"They're not running away if they're going inside. Once we take care of these people then we'll be free to chase after him." Rodge was up against three people with a fourth incoming but he managed to take one down using the a dropped spear as a rod to trip them before the archer-turned-spearman reached him. "Gren, watch out!"

Gren felt a stinging pain on his left side where his armpit was and looked behind him where the armored woman was. Her sword was removed from Gren's armpit as she turned it towards him a second time. The pain was bearable thanks to the training he had received but he was losing both blood and focus. Healing wasn't possible since it was taking his all just to block the woman's sword with the one arm he could still move. "I was beginning to think that this mission was pointless until you two showed up. After I take care of you, I'll be able to return those armors to their rightful owners." The woman's short speech gave Gren enough time to heal his wound.

"It's pointless for you to keep struggling. Neither of you are qualified to face me." Gren was hoping that Rodge would be able to face off against her but he just put away his sword and surrendered. "It's good to see that one of you is sensible. So, Gren, was it? What will it be? I must warn you that there's no guarantee that you'll be able to keep your life if you decide to continue fighting against me." Things weren't looking good and Gren wasn't sure what was going on anymore. Why would Rodge just give up when there's an enemy in front of them?

"If I don't keep fighting then you'll just keep on killing people that you've abducted." The woman started laughing when she heard what Gren had to say. "What's so funny? Do you really think it's impossible for me to beat you?"

"I think you're a bit overconfident with your mediocre skills but that's not why I'm laughing. You don't even know anything about what we're doing here and you consider yourself some sort of hero? A hero needs to know what they're fighting for and have the skills to go through with their convictions. You don't get to become one just by wearing a hero's armor." The woman quickly stepped forwards in a flash and knocked Gren's helmet off. "Eh? Hildr? No. Who are you?"

"Hildr's son, Gren." Rodge spoke up and revealed Gren's identity. "I'm from Hildr's Grace. Which order are you from? Only our order has been authorized to operate within this city." Gren was beginning to piece things together thanks to Rodge's words.

"There is no order single of knights involved. It's a joint effort from the five Holy Knight Commanders. We do not need your high priestess's authorization to operate here." Gren didn't know what to do with his emotions right now. He was still full of adrenaline from the fight but it abruptly ended. "Whether or not he's the son of the Goddess is undetermined. Even if he looks a lot like her and can use healing magic, only the Divine Priestess can make the decision to recognize him as the Goddess's child with the Goddess being absent."

"It won't take long for her to wake up. She'll be able to tell you about me then." Gren picked his helmet up off the ground and sat down. "Blood!" When the vampire heard his shout, she came running to his side from behind the barricade that he built for her. Gren had been bleeding and didn't want the blood he had spilled to go to waste so he used earth and water magic to separate the blood from the dirt on the ground before transferring it into a cup. Her face mask had been removed already so she was able to drink without the special cup. Ever since she started getting fed regularly, Gren had never seen her act violently towards anybody.

"You know where the Goddess is? What do you mean that she'll wake up?" The female knight was excited by Gren's words and grabbed his shoulders after rushing to his side. The vampire glared at her and moved her cup away from the female knight, clearly thinking that the knight might take it from her.

"The high priestess already knows everything but decided to keep things hidden so that Gren's privacy wouldn't be violated. If he agreed to the high priestess's proposal and exposed himself to the world then I suppose we would have met earlier." Rodge reached his hand out towards the female knight. "I'm Rodge, one of the three knights that were tasked with keeping an eye on Gren and the Goddess."

"Ophelia. The second Holy Knight Commander's second-in-command." Ophelia accepted Rodge's handshake. "Is there any way you can let my guys go now? These guys are just rough locals that don't know much about our mission." Gren felt a bit drained but he still helped them get out. When the archer that got away from the fight earlier ran from inside the guild's headquarters while screaming at the top of his lungs with a sword in hand, he was surprised to see that their boss was having an amicable conversation with the people that attacked them. Everybody's eyes were on him and a few of the guys laughed while Ophelia shook her head and spoke out. "False alarm. These guys were on our side." Gren would need to heal the people that had some bruises from the fight but they were mostly fine. He wasn't sure if this meant that his part in the mission was complete or not.