The brick-and-mortar ironworks's floor tiles had shattered, the roof beams groaning and creaking overhead, spiderweb cracks racing across the walls. After taking a direct hit from a 7th Tier magic and EeDechi's stomp that pulverized the ground, the whole building was ready to come down.
Barrett unhooked Sean and Stella from the chains still dangling them above the molten iron, unwinding the iron links coil by coil.
The two of them were still shaken to the core. They had come within twenty centimeters(7.874 inches) of plunging into fifteen-hundred-degree(2732 °F) molten iron—an experience neither would forget. Especially Stella Famillion. Half her beautiful long hair had been burned away, the remaining strands scorched yellow and curled tight. But they were alive, and that was already a miracle. She clung to Sean, both of them sobbing, tears pouring down like a spring.
EeDechi looked over the dozen corpses scattered across the floor. The bodies were a gruesome mess, every one of them killed by savage, lethal blows. She lowered her eyes to her own hands. Her knuckles were caked with blood. None of it was hers.
For a split second EeDechi felt dizzy. All these bodies, the blood still dripping from her fingertips—had she really done this? The only reason she hadn't strangled Odys to death earlier, letting him keep gasping out his last words, was that she had suddenly realized how many lives she had already taken, and for a moment she couldn't bring herself to finish the job.
Barrett walked over and snapped his fingers right in front of her eyes. "What are you thinking about?"
EeDechi startled back to the present. She asked in a rush, "Mirror! Do you have a mirror?"
"What do you need a mirror for?" Barrett muttered, puzzled, but he still reached into his spatial ring, pulled out a round mirror, and handed it to her.
EeDechi activated her Innate Talent and stared at her own face in the glass. Above her head, the number representing her Justice Value was still 250, unchanged.
She lowered the mirror and breathed a long sigh of relief. "Phew, I'm still 250."
Barrett hoisted Odys Malcon Waverly's corpse onto his shoulder and flung it into the molten iron. He did it to stop the Waverly family from using 5th Tier Divine Magic to bring the bastard back. Odys's body erupted into flames the moment it hit the trough, burning so fiercely that nothing was left—not even ashes.
EeDechi dug through the dirt, picking up her golden fountain pen, her Bronze Seal, her giant sword, and her spatial ring. She slid the ring back onto her finger and strapped the massive blade across her back. Sean helped Stella to her feet, and the four adventurers stepped out of the collapsing ironworks.
Barrett glanced back at the building. He almost asked EeDechi to torch the place—she'd burned down a brothel once before—but one look at their captain's heavy expression made him drop the idea. Instead he pulled out a fire scroll and hurled it through the doorway.
The scroll was called "Frenzied Dance of the Fire God." He had hunted high and low for it, finally buying the high-grade item from an alchemist for forty gold coins. The effect was worth every coin.
The fire elementals sealed inside the scroll burst free, swirling like a swarm of frantic fireflies. In seconds the entire ironworks was swallowed by roaring flames. The sea of fire surged upward; fir-wood beams, clay roof tiles, and walls all thundered down in a single blazing collapse.
...
Two days later.
The Last Defender of the Way adventurer party stopped in front of an old mansion. Barrett stepped forward and knocked on the door. After an uneasy silence, light footsteps shuffled behind the wood.
The door opened a crack. A haggard face appeared. A young woman stood there staring at them, her features drawn with grief. Dark, puffy bags hung under her red-rimmed eyes, and her fluffy brownish-gray hair fell in a tangled mess over her shoulders. It was clear she had spent the last several days crying and barely sleeping.
"Ma'am, are you Belinda Ulea?" Barrett asked, keeping his tone polite.
"Yes. How do you know my name?" the young woman behind the door replied.
"We're friends of Tony Ulea. Tony often told us he had a daughter he was proud of—Belinda Ulea."
A faint, pained smile touched Belinda's grief-stricken face. "So you're my father's friends. Please, come in." The four adventurers stepped into the living room. Belinda brewed them a pot of red tea.
Old Tony's wife had died of a serious illness many years earlier, leaving him with only this one daughter, Belinda Ulea.
Belinda had inherited her father's talent for magic. Old Tony had hoped she would become a high-level mage, but she cared only for potions. After their big falling-out, she left home to study alchemy on her own. Whenever Old Tony asked her to come back, she would sulk and refuse.
When Old Tony got drunk, he did talk about his only daughter to the other adventurers, but never in the proud tone Barrett had described. It was mostly cursing and grumbling. His daughter had sent back the clothes he mailed her. She wouldn't come home to visit her mother's grave. She was shacking up with some no-good potion-making punk…
At those times the adventurers would sit around drinking beer, joining in and cursing the girl's boyfriend right along with him.
Barrett remembered those nights: Old Tony's goatee quivering as he smugly lit the campfire with his wand, chanting silly spells to tease the others until the whole party roared with laughter… The memory brought a sharp pang to his chest, and his eyes grew moist.
"How is Tony's nephew, Eddie Hill, these days?" Barrett asked quietly, wiping the corner of his eye as he turned to Belinda.
Belinda glanced toward the back of the house and sighed. "These past few days Eddie has locked himself in his room except when he goes to the Mage Tower to study. I don't know what's wrong with him—he's studying magic day and night, pushing himself like a madman."
"Eddie was very close to Old… cough… Tony," Barrett said hesitantly. "Tony always hoped to train Eddie into a high-level mage."
"You can use his nickname, it's fine. These past few days, my father's mage friends and adventurer companions have come to visit many times. Only now do I realize my father had such a warm nickname."
Belinda looked up at Barrett, her eyes steady and determined. "Please don't worry. Even though Eddie and my father weren't blood-related, I see him as my own little brother. I will take on the responsibility of raising him."
Barrett nodded silently. He reached into his tunic and pulled out an Orichalcum badge. The plaque had been pressed against his chest the whole time and was still warm from his body heat.
He handed it to Belinda and said, "I've avenged Tony Ulea! I killed the man who murdered Old Tony and recovered his adventurer badge."
Belinda took the Orichalcum badge with trembling hands. She ran her fingers over Old Tony's name engraved on the back, and large, crystal-clear tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Thank you… thank you…" she sobbed softly.
"We were held up by some matters these past few days and couldn't attend Old Tony's funeral. Could you take us to the cemetery? I want to pay my respects to my old friend."
"Of course," Belinda answered quietly. She gathered her messy long hair, rose from her seat, and walked out of the living room.
A handsome, well-dressed young man poked his head out from behind the door. He carefully studied Barrett's group before asking, "Belinda, are you going out?"
Belinda nodded. "Yeah. If any guests show up, could you handle them for me?"
The young man gave a bitter little smile but still answered, "Don't worry, I've got it covered." With that, he ducked back behind the door.
The four adventurers stepped out of the old mansion. Barrett asked, puzzled, "Who was that?"
"He's my boyfriend," Belinda explained. "These past few days, adventurers and mages have been coming to visit constantly. For some reason, a few of them wanted to punch him the moment they saw him, so he's been hiding in the back room."
The five of them flagged down a carriage and headed for the cemetery on the outskirts of the city.
The graveyard was deathly quiet. Among the rows of tombstones standing like upright dominoes, Belinda led them to Old Tony's grave.
The headstone was a simple, unadorned granite slab with rounded corners. It bore only his birth and death dates, along with a carved relief of an old man with a goatee and a kindly smile.
Barrett gently ran his fingers over the stone, meeting the old man's eyes in the carving. Seeing that gentle, upturned smile eased something tight in his own chest.
Belinda brought over a small iron shovel and said, "Father was always proud of being an adventurer. I think he would want to be buried with his Orichalcum badge. Please let me place his metal badge in front of the grave."
Barrett nodded. Together they dug a narrow, deep hole in front of the headstone and lowered the Orichalcum badge into it.
Sean, Stella, and EeDechi stood silently to one side. They knew the best thing they could do right now was not to disturb the quiet peace of the cemetery.
Once the badge was buried, the five of them stood in a line before the grave. Thin shafts of clear sunlight pierced the thick gray clouds. The cold winter wind stirred the fallen leaves, and in the barren graveyard the withered yellow grass swayed gently in the breeze like restless spirits.
Stella Famillion, dressed in a plain white robe, held the Gaia holy icon in both hands, pressed them to her chest, and began to softly chant a long adventurer's elegy. Barrett and the others quietly joined in.
"Oh, my dear companions, our perilous journey has come to an end."
"The beasts' heads lie in the box, and the ancient treasures weigh upon our shoulders."
"We've trudged through mountains, rivers, swamps, and deserts, with never a pause in our steps."
"The path leads homeward, the town is near, the clock tower's spire appears in sight."
"Thousands cheer, acclaiming the warriors' return, but our blades are battered and broken."
"The coins' crisp clink, like birdsong in the breeze, the scent of ale sweeter than autumn's fields."
"Yet, oh, my aching heart!"
"Crimson blood spills."
"In the left hand, gold coins are held, in the right, your badge."
"The badge, stained with blood, I can no longer tell which hand is heavier."
"In the still earth, my companions rest in peace;"
"In the sorrowful wind around the grave, the raven softly cries."
"The victorious warriors return from their quest, the prize we sought now nearly within grasp."
"But still, I play the chords of grief."
"In faraway lands, my comrades lie in eternal rest."
"They have fallen, their eyes closed in peace, resting at last..."