Julius-"I didn't need to-"
Voice-"That's enough. We've already discussed this, even if Damion was able to remove it there wouldn't have been time"
Julius(in his head)-"You're right"
Voice-"Lucious was about to kill Adam, Joe, and possibly even more people. Killing him was your best choice"
Julius(in his head)-"I said you're right, I just want to move on from this"
Marigold-"Julius, are you alright?"
Julius-"Yes, I'm fine"
Marigold-"Are you sure, you seemed to be panicking. Do you need some time to adjust?"
Julius-"No, I'll be alright. Thank you though"
Damion-"So what happened?"
Marigold-"Lucious was about to kill Adam. We were able to stop him"
Damion-"Wasn't Adam mind controlled?"
Marigold-"Yes, but Lucious was losing so he used the spell to try to kill the people under his memory manipulation. That is why they started screaming out in pain"
Damion-"Oh, how did you stop Lucious?"
Julius-"We... I had to kill him"
Damion-"Okay... didn't you say that it was wrong to do that though? Or something like that"
Marigold-"Wait, have you done that before"
Damion-"No, my parents did though and it was pretty clear that they were awful people"
Marigold-"Oh, I see. I'm sorry you had to deal with that"
Damion-"Thanks"
Marigold(in her head)-"It would be impossible for his parents not to be killers. The majority of curseborn children come from parents who already have dark magic. And the only way to get dark magic without being a curseborn is to complete a ritual that requires a sacrifice"
Julius-"Killing is wrong. This was just a specific circumstance and it will probably happen again"
Damion-"Like, often?"
Julius-"Preferably not"
Damion-"Ok, do you know when they will wake up?"
Damion looks at their unconscious friends.
Julius-"I don't, hopefully they should wake up soon"
Voice-"You have forgotten your stamina recovery skill. You unlocked it back when you needed to wake up Adam, Elise, and Joe at the inn"
Julius(in his head)-"Right, I forgot about that skill"
Julius-"I have a skill that might be able to wake them up?"
Marigold-"What is it?"
Julius-"It's called stamina recovery. One of the things it can do is allow someone to get a full night's rest in a few seconds"
Marigold-"It could work"
The golem puts Adam down next to Elise and Joe.
Julius-"Support skill: stamina recovery"
Adam, Elise, and Joe all experience a full 8 hours of sleep. The spell fades and they seem to be waking up.
Joe-"Ugh, my head"
Julius-"Are you guys alright?"
Joe-"Well my body feels sore. But other than that yeah"
Elise-"(groans)You're always so whiney"
Joe-"He asked me a question"
Adam-"When will we catch a break?"
Julius-"So um, what do you guy's-"
Adam-"Remember?"
Julius-"Um, yeah"
Adam-"I remember you asked me that question earlier. My head feels less foggy now"
Joe-"Ironically I think my head hurts the least of my body now"
Elise-"Why are you sore you barely did anything?"
Joe-"Well Damion hit me with that spell"
Elise-"He did that to me too and you don't see me complaining"
Marigold-"You guys remember the fight?"
Adam-"Yes, I remember being really angry at Julius and attacking him. Although I know now that was just because of Lucious"
Julius-"You didn't remember when you woke up last time"
Adam-"My memory came back afterwards. I guess I just needed some time to sleep"
Elise-"It's infuriating though! I can't believe I got my memories messed up by that guy!"
Adam-"It is very frustrating. I'm confused why you guy's weren't affected"
Marigold-"Lucious's memory manipulation was a dark magic skill activated by eating that chocolate so it didn't work on me because I have holy magic. It also didn't work on Damion because he has dark magic. The reason Julius wasn't controlled is because he didn't eat the chocolate"
Elise-"Why would his spell be tied to chocolate?"
Marigold-"One of the ingredients in the chocolate is a plant found in a forest that is filled with dark magic"
Adam-"If there was a forest filled with dark magic, the guild would have cut the thing down"
Marigold-"It appeared only a few years ago. The dark magic doesn't appear until deep into the forest so not many people know about it"
Marigold-"Still, if the guild hasn't found it. That means that somebody wants to keep it hidden"
Joe-"Do you think that somebody was Lucious?"
Marigold-"Lucious did hold some influence due to all the people he was controlling. But not nearly enough to influence the guild in any meaningful way"
Julius-"Since Lucious was controlling a bunch of people, does that mean a ton of people just gained their memories back?"
Marigold-"Most of the alterations he did were simply making himself the long time friend of a bunch of people by inserting himself into their memories. However, there are likely many people who have fallen unconscious"
Joe-"I hope nobody was doing anything important when they got their memories restored then"
Adam-"Well we woke up pretty quickly"
Julius-"That was because I used my stamina recovery skill on you"
Adam-"I see, well if that's the case. Marigold, how many people do you think in the village are currently asleep"
Marigold-"...Likely most of them. It would probably be best to let them wake up on their own"
Joe-"We should still head back to the town to make sure everyone is okay"
Julius-"Yes, let's do that"
The group begins walking back towards the village.
Elise-"Hey Marigold, there is a question I was wondering"
Marigold-"Yes?"
Elise-"Why was I forgetting Lucious's name? If he had inserted himself into our memories that seems like something that shouldn't have happened"
Marigold-"It means that the spell was starting to wear off. He likely used the spell on you years ago and he was weaker back then so the spell wasn't as strong. It's also part of the reason you came here"
Adam-"Why's that?"
Marigold-"Since the spell was growing weaker it automatically surfaced itself to the front of your mind. That encouraged you to come here and find Lucious so that he could reinforce the spell"
Elise-"So since I was forgetting Lucious faster than Adam, does that mean I have a stronger will than him?"
Marigold-"I don't know every detail about how the spell works. But that could possibly be the reason"
Elise-"And to think, Adam was bragging about remembering their name. Guess I've just got a stronger will than you, not that anyone's surprised"
Adam-"She said that 'might' be the reason. It could just be your memory is really bad.
Elise-"You would think that wouldn't you"
Damion(in his head)-"After all that, they are still fighting"
Julius(in his head)-"That is some strong sibling rivalry"
The group exits the woods and sees a bunch of people unconscious on the ground. Other people are panicking checking the people on the ground to make sure they're okay.
Marigold-"We should probably explain what happened"
Damion-"I don't think telling everyone that everyone is on the ground because we killed the town hero is a good idea"
Joe-"Damion has a point"
Julius-"It would be best to simply wait for them to wake up"
Adam-"We should stay until they do so we can explain to them what happened"
Elise-"I hope it doesn't take too long"
Joe-"Honestly though, it would be a nice break from all the action"
End of chapter 66.