Seeds of Discordia

Liam and the others stepped out from the Dungeon Tower and took in the rising sun as it peeked over the horizon. After they squinted their eyes and adjusted to the light they took in their surroundings. What they saw made their hearts sink.

Many buildings were destroyed. While there were few that were untouched and some had minimal damage, majority of the buildings had walls smashed in, roofs missing, or were entirely razed to the ground. Businesses, homes, and more. The damage wasn’t discretely to one.

Liam and the others slowly made their way through the town. Their joy of surviving the Black Dungeon, their gained levels in abilities and sub-stats, and their new equipment quickly gone as they watched the people around them.

People were walking around moving debris out of the way to see if there was anything inside some of the buildings that could be salvaged. Adventurers, Merchants, Crafters, Citizens, and even people that only came to visit were moving around helping where they could.

The cries, angry shouts, and hysterical wails told the small group all they needed to hear as they saw some people hovered over dead bodies and more. Even though they did their best to try and help those they could while making their way to the Dungeon Tower to stop what was going on, they couldn’t save or help them all. He was just lucky that while his one tracked mind he hadn’t seen the dead or fallen people.

There were some people sitting against broken rubble, battered, and bruised. Bandages were wrapped around missing appendages, chests, legs, arms, anywhere they were badly wounded. Liam wanted to help them, but knew he didn’t have much that could. He was low on Minor and Weak Health Potions. If he handed what he had to some there was likely a chance everyone would try to flock him that needed one. He didn’t have the heart nor the energy to fight with those in need at the moment.

“Liam?” a voice questioned causing him to look in the direction of where it came from.

Liam saw Mila with her group helping some wounded people out. She looked tired. Liam noticed red marks around her eyes, indicating she had cried a lot. However, the recognition of seeing him made him think she was crying because she had thought he died during the chaos. He was right as she swiftly got to her feet and ran straight for him.

Artem, Blair, and Roman were shocked as she ran right into Liam and wrapped her arms around him. The moment her arms locked more tears started to flow as she mumbled, “You fucking idiot. Where were you!? I couldn’t find you anywhere. I thought you had died. Do you know how worried I was ?!”

Liam froze as she cried into his shoulder. After everything that had happened back on earth he didn’t have someone who was like this. When he faced hardships and came back barely alive, there was no one to greet him home, no one to be worried about his safety, no one to be afraid that he might have died. He was out of his element because all the people that could do all of that had already been teleported here. So he was unsure of what to do.

However, after he felt her arms tighten, he came out of his confused stupor and wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back. He whispered in her ear, “I’m sorry. Things were hectic. I’m alive. We’re alive. We survived. I’m happy to see you’re fine.”

“No thanks to the potion supply you gave us,” a feminine voice called out.

Liam saw Mila’s team slowly approach them. Vera, the Wolf-folk Beast-kin, had damaged armor. Alphonse and Molly, the Runeborn twins, looked tired and battered. Last to approach Alv, the Red Fox Fox-folk, gave Liam a stoic nod. That stoic expression quickly softened as he gave him a smile and explained, “She looked for you everywhere during and after the waves hit. Some mentioned seeing you run towards the tower and when we couldn’t find any traces of you she thought the worse had happened.”

Liam gave him an appreciative smile as he said, “I’m fine. We had gotten into some trouble, but we cleared the dungeon and was able to stop the waves from continuing.”

Mila’s team looked confused as they stared at him. They then noticed the other four right behind him. Alv and Roman locked eyes with each other for a long moment before looking at the others.

“Who are you guys?” Alv asked cautiously. “It’s not often a Kitsune, a Dragon-kin, and an Orc come to the Empire.”

“They are my teammates,” Liam said as Mila finally released her hold on Liam and got a proper look at each of them. “The Dragon-kin is Blair, the Half-Orc is Artem, the Kitsune is Roman, and the human is Gimmel. Artem, Blair, and Roman are three of the six that were teamed up with me back in the Tutorial Area. Gimmel I met here but he’s now a part of our team.”

Mila and the others looked surprised after hearing all that. Alv was about to say something, but was cut off as Mila said, “Thank you for looking after my cousin. He can be a handful at times, but at least he’s not as much of one like his brothers.”

Artem, Blair, and Roman looked at each other. A small grin slowly grew on their faces. “He has been quite the handful that’s for sure,” Roman teased.

“However, he has helped us just as much,” Artem added.

“You mentioned you were his cousin?” Blair asked.

“Yes,” Mila nodded. “You’re not blood related, but we grew up together.”

Blair eyed Liam for a brief moment before looking back at her. “You both are family regardless. Can I ask you if there is anything we can do to help? We just got out of the dungeon and are a bit tired, but we can still spare some time to help where it’s needed.”

“That’s right!” Mila quickly stated as she looked back at Liam. “What the hell were you thinking?!” She placed both hands on her hips and glared at him. “You were nowhere near the right level to take on a dungeon like that one. Are you stupid or something?”

Liam took a step back and averted his gaze from hers.

“If something happened to you while you were in there no one out here would have known. What could I say to your brothers or father if something happened because you wanted to rush straight for the danger? Huh?!”

Liam didn’t know what to say to that. She was right about him being an idiot, but at the time he just felt like he had to do it. He was going to say that, but the look on his cousin’s face told him that would be a very bad idea.

Mila let out a long breath as she said with some irritation, “I swear. Out of you three I knew you’d be the most excited about a world full of magic and mysteries, but I also thought you’d be smarter than them. But noooo, you have to be just as fucking stupid.”

Liam grimaced, understanding who exactly she was talking about.

Mila suddenly realized she was asked a question and then looked embarrassed as she looked back at Blair and said, “I’m sorry. I swear I didn’t ignore you. It’s just that…”

Blair put up a hand as she chuckled and said, “Its fine. For some reason after spending as much time as I have with Liam I can understand why you are lecturing him.”

Mila’s face turned red for a brief moment. “Has he caused you that much trouble in the short time you’ve known him?”

“Eh, the amount of trouble he has caused is only equal to the amount of trouble I go along with,” Blair stated.

Mila stared at her for a few seconds. She then looked at the others. After a few more seconds had passed she said, “If any of you know any Healing magic there are injured people that need help. There are others who could use some help moving things like debris or ruble. Also there are people trying to prepare food and need more hands.”

“Alright, we’ll go do that then,” Blair stated as she looked at the others. “Where should we met after we help?”

“There’s a forested area with some crafting spots along the outskirts of the city. We’ll meet there say in a couple of hours? I know we should help, but we won’t be able to do much if we pass out,” Liam suggested.

“Alright sounds good. I’m going to go see who needs help moving ruble,” Blair said.

“I’ll join you,” Roman and Gimmel stated.

“I’ll help out with the healing,” Artem said as Mila and the others swiftly looked at him. Their suddenness made Artem feel awkward as he asked, “Is there something wrong?”

“Did you just say you’ll help out with the healing?” Molly asked.

“Yeah,” Artem replied as he looked down.

Liam looked confused as he asked, “Is there something wrong with him helping out with the healing?”

Molly shook her head. “No. there’s nothing wrong with it. The more help we can get the better. It’s just that…”

“It’s just what?” Roman asked.

“It’s just that its underheard of, of someone from the Blood Thirst Plain Clans to have healing magic. Self-healing isn’t something out of the ordinary, but regular healing…,” Vera explained.

“Ah, I see,” Liam started. “Well, that doesn’t matter. Artem here is one hell of a healer so there’s nothing to be surprised about when he says he’ll help heal.”

Artem let out a sigh as Blair shook her head.

“Alright, times a wasting. I’ll catch up to you guys later,” Liam said as he left.

 

---

 

Liam let out a long breath as he set down the knife in his hand and poured the chopped vegetables he had just finished prepping. He looked over at the other people who were helping with the cooking. He had picked helping here because he thought he would find Uncle Naro. The man loved to cook so he believed this to be the area he would help out at. However, as time had passed, the bear of a man hadn’t shown up. He was beginning to think it was futile.

“Liam. Is that you?” a wizened voice called out.

Liam turned to see Milly, the Squirrel-folk crafter. She was slowly making her way over to him as he moved away from the cooking area. He was happy to see the squirrelly older woman was fine without a scratch on her. He gave her a smile as he approached her. That smile lasted for two seconds as she suddenly and swiftly smacked Liam on the top of his head.

Liam was stunned as he didn’t see any movement from her. She was glaring at him with a look that reminded him of his grandmother when she was angry with him. He wasn’t sure why she was so angry with him, until she yelled at him.

“What the hell did I say to you yesterday?” Milly glared.

“Yesterday?” Liam repeated with a confused look. He tried to think back at what she had said. He was about to say he didn’t remember but stopped as the conversation between them played back in his mind.

She was against him leaving her house. It had taken him some time and some convincing along with a verbal agreement that he would come right back after doing what he needed to do. Uncle Naro didn’t want him to leave her house, and she had agreed with the man due to a feeling she had. Turned out her feeling was correct.

“I…,” Liam had started to say but was stopped as she placed a finger up and chastised, “Ap. Not a word out of you. You said you would come right back. After the sun had set and all the monsters started attacking the city I thought the worst had happened to you. If Naro hadn’t informed me that you were fine I would have continued to think you were dead.”

Liam grew timid as she scolded him. That lasted for a second as he realized she had said she had spoken to Uncle Naro. “You saw him? Where?”

Milly narrowed her eyes at Liam which made him wince.

“I’m sorry. A lot had happened,” Liam started to explain.

“I don’t need your excuses,” Milly harumphed. Her scowl then grew into a light warmed smile as she said, “I’m just happy to see that you’re alive. Next time give an old woman some peace of mind and let her know that when things like last night happens.”

Liam smiled back at her. “Yes ma’am.”

Milly shook her head. “As for your question, yes I saw him. It was at my place, while I was still waiting for you to return to.”

Liam grimaced as she eyed with those words.

“He had left a message for you saying it should be safe to meet him at the spot where you guys met later today. He’s taking care of some stuff right now.”

Liam nodded. “Thank you for letting me know. I appreciate it. I’m really glad to see you’re doing fine and not hurt.”

Milly shook her head. “It’s nothing. No corpse hijacking spider can keep this old squirrel down.”

Liam let out a chuckle.

“I’ll leave you to whatever you’re doing,” Milly said as she turned and walked away.

Liam watched as the older woman walked away. As he did he felt a faint vibration come from his pocket. He looked around before placing his hand in his pocket. There were a lot of people around which made him pull his hand back out. he found a small, secluded area and made his way to it. After he made sure no one was around or looking at him, he pulled out his Web Watch, channeled some mana into it and waited for it to open.

 [Good Afternoon Phantom Cat. I have a message from Lady Arachne. – Silky]

 “Good Afternoon to you as well Silky. What is the message?” Liam asked in a low hushed tone of voice.

[Lady Arachne wishes for you to come to the Fiddler’s Spider Web….She wishes for you to speak to her about last night’s events and to receive your part of the reward. – Silky]

Liam’s brows furrowed as he asked, “Is the building still intact? Does she want me to come right now?”

[Yes. The building is still in place with no damages. And yes. She wants you to come now because there is something she wishes to speak to you about…while the other members are out. – Silky]

Liam didn’t like that. What could she possibly want to talk to him about while the other members weren’t there? Could something have happened? He knew thinking about stuff without having any details would just lead him to assumptions and assumptions could create problems.

With a nod, Liam responded, “Alright. Let Lady Arachne know I am on my way.”

[As you wish Phantom Cat. – Silky]