The Wolf Howls

Amnesia was a condition not unique to Isaac's old world. Even here, in the Labyrinth City Orario, most people were aware of it. After all, while there were multiple different kinds of amnesia and there were a variety of causes, one of the most common ones was a head injury. Adventurers didn't exactly have the safest work environment, so those weren't a rarity. Therefore, it had only been a matter of time until people of this world found out about this ailment. Well, even before there was a dungeon, people already knew about it. Anyway, that trivia wasn't important right now.

"There isn't really a way to combat or treat amnesia. You can only wait for her to regain her memories on her own. It might only take a few days… or a few years. In the worst case scenario, she might never recover."

This was the diagnosis of one of the Guild's contracted healers. Immediately after the red-haired girl had asked the students about her own identity, they had called for assistance. Sadly, however, there seemed to be no healing spell or therapy that could be of use. As far as the healer knew, that is. Even in a world full of magic, the exact workings of the brain were still a mystery. In any case, as complete laymen, the students didn't have any other option besides trusting the professional's words.

After the healer left, a sigh escaped Jakk's mouth. He had a bad and foreboding feeling. And sure enough, just moments later, his worries came true.

"I have a proposal."

With these words and a resolute look, Kalin addressed his companions, before explaining his thoughts.

"We still have rooms back in the base, so we can give her a place to stay. Only until she recovers, of course. As we have no idea where she is from, we would only have a few other options. First of all, we could rent a room for her here but that would be far too expensive. Secondly, we could let her stay at an inn. That would also cost money and come with some additional danger - who knows what could happen to an amnesiac there? With her looks, she might even attract the attention of a bad crowd. Now, compare this to our place: We've got unused rooms and we also get free food from the Loki Familia. It's the perfect solution."

As his argument was sound, Mina immediately seconded this and Jakk didn't have a reason to go against it either. Besides the heartless option of leaving this girl alone on the streets, taking her back to the subordinates' home was indeed the best option.

"Alright, we'll do as you say. But before this, we'll go to the Guild and have them spread news about her. That way, it won't take too long to find someone who knows her. Her organization or familia can then come to pick her up. We'll only let her stay until that happens, okay?"

While Jakk was anything but averse to having another good-looking girl around, he also didn't want to bring back trouble to his familia. Having one more mouth to feed might not sound like much, but it was still a bother. Nevermind that they hadn't even asked Isaac, who was renting the base in the first place, for his approval. All in all, Jakk was quite unhappy with the situation, but he wasn't a heartless bastard, so he could only begrudgingly help this poor girl.

Of course, nobody had any problems with the restrictions Jakk had set.

A little later, the students had just visited the Pantheon and reported saving an amnesiac girl from the dungeon. One of the Guild staff had drawn a portrait of the girl in question and would replicate these along with a short description of the situation she was in. They would be posted all over town and if somebody wanted to know more, they would have to contact the Guild. They, in turn, would check whether there was truly a relation between the approaching party and the girl and only after it had been confirmed would they contact the students.

This way, there was no chance for profiteers to take advantage of this girl's plight. In the past, there had been quite a few innocents who had become the victims of slavery and other horrific arrangements due to the Guild handing over amnesiacs to the wrong person. It hadn't happened too often, as amnesiacs weren't too common to begin with, but there was still a sizable amount of people who had been wronged. When the Guild found out about this, it hurriedly revised its strategy and the current system was put in place.

Before the students left, however, the Guild staff gave them a sobering warning. Quite often, when whole parties were wiped out in the dungeon and there was only a single survivor, there were no people left in Orario who were closely connected to them. If the party had been a part of a local familia, that wouldn't be a problem, as the deity would wait back in the city. But once non-familia adventuring parties or people from a familia whose deity didn't live in Orario were taken into account, quite often, nobody would be left to remember them or pick them up.

Whether or not this was the case was anything but certain for now.

On the group's way back home, Mina gently held the red-haired girl's hand and led her down the street. All the while, the girl curiously sized up her surroundings, with confusion still clouding her gaze just as much as before.

"Do you recognize anything?"

Although she knew that she shouldn't hurry the girl, Mina still couldn't help but ask this question. After all, this was a very well-known place in the city. Almost every adventurer had been to the Pantheon before. She didn't have high hopes for a positive answer but just asking the question couldn't hurt, right?

A contemplative look appeared on the girl's face, then a moment later, she shook her head.

"Not really. I feel like I might have been here before, but I can't put my finger on it. Sorry…"

Seeing her so downtrodden made Mina's heart hurt, so she smiled sweetly and grabbed her hand a little tighter.

"No worries, that's already a great start!"

While the two girls were slowly growing closer to each other, Kalin was stealthily glancing at them every now and then. But no matter how much he seemingly wanted to, he didn't attempt to join their conversation. This, of course, didn't escape Jakk. So while the girls were in their own little world, he walked closer to Kalin and whispered, just loud enough for the young man to hear him.

"Since you like her, why don't you try to grow closer to her by taking care of her in her time of need, just like Mina?"

Jakk's opinion of Kalin was surprisingly high. While usually, he didn't like to spend time with others, after they had been comrades in arms for a couple of weeks, he didn't mind being around Kalin. He would still prefer being alone, though. In any case, because of his high opinion of the young man, when he saw him show interest in a girl for the first time since they had known each other, he thought it would be a good idea to give him some advice. As was so often the case with certain people, while Jakk was great at giving romance-related advice, when it came to putting his own advice into practice, he couldn't possibly be any more incompetent.

A slight blush crept on Kalin's cheeks when he heard Jakk's words, but he didn't deny anything. Instead, he replied in a hushed voice.

"I would feel bad if I interrupted them. They seem to get along so well…"

Hearing this, Jakk shook his head and nudged him a little.

"Nonsense. Just join them, they won't mind. You've got to start somewhere, right?"

In all honesty, what held Kalin back the most was fear. Although it was unlikely, he thought the amnesiac beauty could potentially dislike him if he tried to interact with her. There was no basis for this worry of his, of course, but he really didn't want her to dislike him. So, instead of trying to talk to her, he adopted another approach - she couldn't possibly dislike him if she didn't know him, right?

Now, hearing Jakk's rational words, this cowardly side of his was finally suppressed and he took a deep breath. What his friend had said was nothing revolutionary. No, it was something completely obvious. Still, to finally take the first step, he had had to hear it. Kalin shot a grateful look in Jakk's direction, then he approached the chatting girls.

"So, do you remember anything at all?"

For now, the two had still been talking about this topic. Mina had wanted to make sure that they weren't missing any clues that could potentially aid the red-haired girl's recovery, so she asked this broad of a question.

A pained smile flashed across the girl's face for a moment, before she yet again shook her head.

"Just bits and pieces. I have yet to make sense of them."

With an understanding smile, Mina nodded. Then, suddenly, the girl grew delighted and exclaimed.

"But I think I've remembered a name. It appears so often in those snippets that it's gotta be mine! So… call me Valenoa from now on."

Before Mina had a chance to reply, Kalin chimed in from the side happily.

"That's a beautiful name."

While listening to this, Jakk's face scrunched up because of how cringy that line was. Couldn't he have been a little more eloquent? Which girl wouldn't look at someone warily if they came up to her and praised their name out of nowhere? Sure, most people would feel flattered, but they would also suspect that person's intentions instantly. Luckily, instead of making a fuss about Kalin's unprofessional behaviour, Jakk held himself back. All the while blissfully unaware that he behaved far worse in similar situations. This slight imperfection was nothing compared to his facepalm-inducing levels of cringe.

A bright and innocent smile played across Valenoa's lips. Not even for a second did she doubt Kalin and simply took the praise at face value.

"Thank you!"

Kalin's breathing sped up slightly when he saw this - her smile was just too breathtakingly beautiful! It was like a lethal dagger that found its way right into his heart.

From this point onwards, all the way until they returned to the Twilight manor, Kalin, Mina and Valenoa talked amongst each other happily.

After about thirty minutes of strolling later, the group finally arrived in front of the manor grounds. When they stepped into the area the magical formation covered, the Loki Familia members currently on guard duty immediately got a notification - some guests and a regular familia member wanted to bring an unregistered person onto the premises. Usually, such a minor matter would immediately be approved if an Executive or above accompanied the unregistered person. Normal members or guests would first have to explain the situation before asking an Executive, Top Executive or their goddess Loki for permission, though.

Of course, Jakk knew about this arrangement, so he had Kalin, Mina and Valenoa stay back and walked towards the main manor by himself. On the way there, he encountered the guards and told them that Isaac's students wanted to house an amnesiac girl in their base until she recovered. Seeing how the commotion seemed to be just a minor matter, the guards dispersed immediately, while one of them told Jakk to wait and went back inside to get Loki's opinion. As she usually didn't leave the manor while an expedition was ongoing, due to security reasons, most matters were handled directly by her. She often complained about the amount of work, but in the end, she still did her job, workload be damned.

Five minutes later, the guard came back with a reply: The girl was allowed to stay. But she would only have a very restricted guest access, which Loki had already set up. Besides being able to use the pathways that led to the exit of the manor grounds, she would only be able to stay in the training area Isaac's students usually frequented and the house they rented. While that was quite the harsh treatment, it was already sufficiently merciful. After all, an amnesiac wouldn't need more than simply a place to stay, right?

When Jakk returned to the others and explained the situation, Kalin and Mina heaved relieved sighs. Seeing how everything seemed to have worked out, Valenoa also showed a happy smile, then faced the others with a grateful look in her eyes.

"I don't really know what is going on, but it seems like I have troubled you a bit. Thank you again for your help!"

Soon, the group reunited with Quinn back at the base. Averin also didn't bother to hide anymore. If they were going to let Valenoa stay here for a prolonged period of time, she would run into him sooner or later anyway, so there was no harm in letting her see him. More importantly, she didn't even think there was anything weird about a talking rooster. Amnesia could really be a blessing in disguise sometimes.

While eating some snacks, they explained how they found Valenoa and everything they knew about her. Even though her confusion didn't lessen in the least and she didn't remember any of these events, she was still able to comprehend that these people had done her a favour greater than she would probably ever be able to repay. Wanting to survive was an essential instinct that even amnesia couldn't easily wipe away.

Yet again, Valenoa flashed them a bright smile and thanked them for their help. For some reason, she just couldn't stop doing so. Time and time again, the moment she thanked them, she already discovered something else she should be grateful to them for.

After they had finished their small meal, Jakk got Mina, Averin and Quinn to follow him to their usual training area for some sparring. Seeing how they had returned from the dungeon way earlier than intended, it wasn't a bad idea to spend their time like this. Of course, all of this was just so Kalin could be alone with the red-haired beauty. Jakk had subtly been hinting at this to the others previously and they weren't dense enough to miss his intentions. Well, Quinn was. He thought that Kalin simply got left with the job of watching over the amnesiac girl, so he didn't complain. Still, the end result was the same.

Jakk almost felt like patting himself on the back for being such an astounding wingman. As for the morality of enabling a young man to worm his way into an amnesiac girl's heart… yeah, he didn't think there was anything wrong with it. After all, if two people ended up in a happy relationship, who would care about how exactly it came about? He certainly wouldn't.

Being left alone with the innocent beauty, Kalin felt a little bit panicked. It had been quite easy to talk to her when the others were around, but now that there were just the two of them, he didn't really know what to say.

Before he could decide on what to do, he felt someone pull his sleeve shyly.

It was a somewhat embarrassed-looking Valenoa. Previously, when Jakk had told the story of how they saved her, he had made sure to make it abundantly clear that Kalin was the reason they even went out of their way to save her in the first place. Kalin was also the one who had administered the first-aid, without which she would have died, and the one who carried her out of the dungeon.

This left Valenoa completely unsure of how to react. After all, as far as she recalled, she had never been in such a situation before. Now that she was facing the one who had saved her life, she didn't know what to do or say.

As her emotions showed on her face quite clearly, even Kalin could understand them without a problem, so he calmed down his hastily beating heart and showed Valenoa a comforting smile. This finally gave the redhead the courage to say what was on her mind.

"I would like to know you better. Can you tell me a bit about yourself?"

Unconcealed interest was displayed in these mesmerizing, emerald-green eyes of hers. Wanting to know more about one's saviour was perfectly natural. Oftentimes, people wondered about what exactly had motivated them to prevent other people's demise. The amnesiac Valenoa was no different. However, compared to others, who mostly held back from asking about these things as it might seem rude, she didn't have any of these reservations.

For the next few hours, Kalin told her all about his past, answering any questions she had. Although this afternoon didn't perfectly follow the script in Jakk's head, the two still grew a lot closer.

-----

In the late afternoon, Bete was rapidly making his way through the 54th floor, obliterating the tens of monsters surrounding him without them being able to put up much of a resistance. He had an irritated look on his face and even more bloodthirst than usual exuded from his body. It was like an apex predator had been unleashed upon the 'innocent' monsters. If they hadn't been out for blood as well, to the extent where they would disregard their own survival, they would have probably turned around and fled long ago.

Ever since Ais, Tiona and Tione had overcome monsters he hadn't even dreamed of facing on his own before, the brash werewolf's mind had been a mess. What made it even worse was that he had seen just how far superior to everyone else Isaac was in technical skill. Coupled with the young man's mind-boggling speed of growth, he knew that if Isaac ever caught up to his Level, he wouldn't even have a chance to resist.

Not only were Bete's companions leaving him in the dust, making him feel weak and useless, even someone he had looked down upon once was improving at a breakneck pace. Everyone but the 'three old farts' was growing stronger by leaps and bounds, only he was lagging behind, standing still.

A certain memory flashed past his mind for a moment, casting a depressed shadow over Bete's face, before he howled furiously and let anger forcefully take over his reasoning, trying to suppress it. He didn't want to think about it again. He didn't want to be weak… again. He didn't want to be a burden. He had to be stronger! No matter what, he couldn't lag too far behind.

Bete's current resolve was beyond compare - he had never been as set on something in his entire life. Even when he had done his best to improve previously, he hadn't tried his hardest - after all, he hadn't felt too threatened by his companions' rate of progress. But this time, it was different.

He had been searching the dungeon's floors for many days now, hoping to find something - anything - that could stand in his way. Anything that could help him gain the qualifications to rank up. No matter how many monsters weaker than him that he faced, he knew that it was of no use. Small fry might be able to drag him down if there were a huge number of them, but even overcoming such odds wouldn't earn him anything, besides a meagre amount of excelia. Only fighting against a monster significantly stronger than him - and defeating it - would let him reach Level 6. This shackle that had held him back for so long would be broken.

But where was he supposed to find a monster stronger than him? While he could barely make it to the 57th floor alone, all monsters on the way there were weaker than him, with their only strength being their huge numbers. Before any of the Monster Rexes on the other floors or Cadmus respawned, there was nothing he could do. Still, he didn't want to give up, so he had been running through these endless hallways for many hours every day, hoping to encounter a strong monster or irregularity. After all, the girls had come across such luck before… there was a precedent.

Finally, after seeking out mortal danger for so long, Bete felt a stifling presence approaching from a nearby corridor. All monsters in the vicinity had long since been taken care of by him. While he was relaxedly dodging the Valgang Dragons' bombardment, he was focusing on the place that his upcoming opponent should appear from any moment now.

But no matter how much closer the presence got, Bete couldn't hear anything. Whatever it was, it was able to move completely soundlessly, causing him to raise his guard even higher than before. Thankfully, he had excellent senses. Otherwise, he might have been ambushed by whatever monstrosity was approaching.

A couple of seconds later, he could finally see it. It was a spider big enough to clog up most of the vast corridor. Thanks to spinning a web right in front of it and underneath its feet, it was able to move without alerting its prey. Its whole body was purple and there were a few black spots as well - they almost looked like scales. Its tens of eyes were of a dark shade of red and looking all over the place, observing its surroundings.

'It looks similar to a Deformis Spider… but I've fought their variants before and they didn't look like this. They were also only about half of this thing's size…'

With confusion all over his face, Bete tried to analyze what exactly he was facing. Still, he didn't get a chance to think for too long, as the spider near-instantly discovered him. Its pincers produced a somewhat unnatural, disturbing screech as it rubbed them against each other, then it charged at him quickly, not bothering to hide the sound of its steps with its web anymore.

Now that the spider didn't bother to disguise its strength any longer, Bete could sense it clearly. His eyes shook and his knees almost went weak in fear. He had felt something just like this before, when he had faced Tastrophanus, the Monster Rex of the 32nd floor. Every time the familia had faced it, they had had to rely on Riveria to defeat it. Now he was supposed to fight this spider on his own? Who was he kidding!?

All of a sudden, Bete slapped his face as hard as he could, then he spat out a mouthful of blood. A ferocious look had appeared in his eyes and his knees had stopped shaking.

So what if he had to face what seemed to be a roaming, as of yet undiscovered Monster Rex alone? Wasn't that exactly what he had been looking for?

Death? He wasn't afraid of it. No, he was. But he couldn't let himself be afraid. He wouldn't allow it. Even if he died in the process, he had to try to grow stronger. He just had to! Not for anyone else… but himself. He didn't want to look at his reflection and see a weakling anymore. Never again.

With rapid movements, Bete avoided the spider's first attack, then he observed it for a moment. Compared to Tastrophanus, it should have a far weaker Endurance. After all, spiders weren't really known for their physical resilience. So with that said, if he managed to deal enough damage, he should be able to defeat it. Theoretically.

Bete took a deep breath and avoided yet another attack, before rushing off into the distance as fast as he could, creating some distance from the Monster Rex, all the while roughly predicting where the next of the Valgang Dragons' breath attacks would come from. When the spider saw this, it was incensed and hurriedly tried to catch up. But what Bete wanted to do wasn't escape - he couldn't even if he wanted to - but gain about fifteen seconds. Although he hadn't been able to master Concurrent Chanting, with his various speed-boosting abilities, he could often temporarily create enough of a gap between him and his opponent to use his Magic even in the face of danger.

Rapidly, he began to chant the fire enchant type magic, Hati, while standing in a spot that should give him just enough time.

"Chained Fros. The first wound, Gelgja…"