CH.99 Funeral Fire
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<span style="font-weight:400">I was at the guild again. I guess an adventurer would find themselves here on a daily basis. Unless they were taking a day off because of a thunderstorm.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Lord Brandon, wee. We have been expecting you.” Zayaan weed Brandon to the guild in a serious tone.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Stop that already. You know you don’t need to kiss my ass anymore.” Brandon responded.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I suppose so.” Zay said, much more casually. “Lex just wants me to keep up the presence fitting of a guild master.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Lex? Oh yeah, the ex-master was Alexander.
<span style="font-weight:400">“And I see you brought Brian with you as well.” Zay added.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes, I came along as well. I hope you don’t mind.” I responded.
<span style="font-weight:400">“It’s fine. I was expecting at least one guard with Brandon.” Zay said to me.
<span style="font-weight:400">… oh yeah. We didn’t have a dedicated guard with us. Just the coachman. I thought it was normal for a small-town noble, but perhaps Brandon is just using me as a guard. Should I be angry at him for using me like this? Or just impressed that he actually has any trust in me at this point.
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<span style="font-weight:400">We moved to the backyard of the guild. They had built up a pile of lumber there. The area was a little tight for something that size to be lit on fire, but I suppose they have some water mages present to keep the fire under control. They wouldn’t just do it otherwise, right? This isn’t some idea by Zay that is being done for the first time, right?
<span style="font-weight:400">I also noticed some people I didn’t know present in the backyard. Considering that Mario is with them, they might be the families of the deceased.
<span style="font-weight:400">I stood off to the side as Brandon went over to the deceased, saying something akin to a prayer next to each of them.
<span style="font-weight:400">For me, this was a moment I took to make a toploader for a spell I wanted to use.
<span style="font-weight:400">5x Mustering of the Dark Scorpions, 4x Kagemusha of the Blue me, 3x Dark Energy, 3x Kumootoko, 3x Dark Scorpion - Chick the Yellow, 3x Two Thousand Needles, 2x Goblin of Greed, 2x Dark Scorpion Combination,
<span style="font-weight:400">After Brandon had his moment to say what he was saying, the families had their final moment as well. Then the bodies were moved to the lumber pile and the pile was set on fire.
<span style="font-weight:400">I decided this would be the optimal time for my spell, so I pulled it out of collection.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Soul Release.” I said quietly. A barely noticeable blue glow surrounded the bodies in the fire, but as the fire was zing around them, I doubt anyone noticed any difference.
<span style="font-weight:400">Soul Release allows people to pass on in peace, making sure they would never rise again as undead. I think the fire would prevent it as well, but at least with this, they will hopefully make it to the afterlife or the circle of reincarnation fine.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Brian, did you do something?” Lua had sneaked next to me from somewhere. I didn’t even see her at the guild earlier so I thought she would be out draining blood.
<span style="font-weight:400">“No, not really.” I told her as I showed her the card I used.
<span style="font-weight:400">She quickly read it before handing it back to me. “I suppose for you, this much is nothing.”
<span style="font-weight:400">We stood there side-by-side watching the fire.
<span style="font-weight:400">Rico. I may not have known you well, but I know you deserved better. I hope you can get everything you wanted to do in this life, in your next.
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<span style="font-weight:400">“So Brian, when will we leave the town?” Lua asked me as we were watching the fire. She was apparently on fire control. They would usually hold these funeral fires outside, but as Brandon was going to visit it, they held it in the guild’s backyard.
<span style="font-weight:400">Brandon had already left, but I decided to stay at the guild for now, with the excuse ‘I’m an adventurer’. I said I’d return to the manor in the afternoon. Sorry Alice, but you need to learn that the world doesn’t revolve around you.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Are you in a rush?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“No, but I’d rather help the other dhampirs as soon as possible.” Lua said to me. “I have good self control so I could live like I did, but most can’t. I want them to be able to truly experience life.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I see. Well I still have at least one more thing I need to do before I can leave. Also, what about your team?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Well I told Alex and Zay I wanted to leave. And with Zay bing the GM and Rico… well.” Lua tried to say it but couldn’t.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I understand. You don’t need to say it. But what about Alex?” I asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">“He said he would go to a bigger town and find a new party to join.” Lua told me.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Then perhaps he cane with us some of the way.” I told Lua.
<span style="font-weight:400">“That would be nice. What about the thing you have?” Lua asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I just need to name Christina as the dungeon master of my dungeon.” I told her.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oh. I guess we never named one.” Shemented.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I also need to do some final preparations for the dungeon before it’s officially opened. I think we could leave after that.” I told Lua.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I see. Do you have any ces you want to visit? I’ll make a travel n.” Lua told me.
<span style="font-weight:400">“No, not really. I did promise to visit either the capital’s guild or the main guild office, so one of those two is a must. But other than that, nothing.” I told her.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Well there is a dhampir sanctuary close by to both of those ces so we would drop close by anyway.” Lua told me.
<span style="font-weight:400">I guess they would be built close to major cities. But not too close.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I should head back to the Watchman manor. If I’m here for the entire day, Alice will get angry with me.” I told Lua as I got up to leave.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sure. Make sure to drop by the guild again so we can improvethe n.” Lua told me as I left.
<span style="font-weight:400">I would still make it in time for lunch, but I told Brandon I would have lunch out in town today, so I dropped by Uncle Sam’s burrito stall and picked one up for my lunch.
<span style="font-weight:400">That reminded me that I haven’t made a toploader for the Upstart Goblin I got yesterday, so I quickly made one.
<span style="font-weight:400">4x Acrobat Monkey, 4x Guardian Elma, 3x Guardian Kay''est, 4x Thousand Needles, 2x Ojama Trio, 2x Arsenal Robber, 3x Dark Scorpion - Gorg the Strong, 2x Agido, Frozen Soul
<span style="font-weight:400">With that, I had a money generator. I was thinking of using it straight away, but that might not be a good idea in the middle of a street.
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<span style="font-weight:400">“Brian!” Alice called angrily when I got back to the manor. “What took you so long?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sorry. I just spent some time at the guild. That’s something an adventurer does.” I told her, trying to get her off my back.
<span style="font-weight:400">“But we were supposed to train together.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Well, I’m here now, so we can do it now.” I told her.
<span style="font-weight:400">We spent the beginning afternoon practicing the no-contact mana loop. Alice said she was figuring it out a little and she didn’t need to add as much mana to it as she had tost time. And here I am at the level where I couldn’t do it without Laura.
<span style="font-weight:400">Well, I suppose Alice has been practicing for years and I’ve been doing it for a week. I can’t learn everything immediately. And I already have the cheat code called system support.
<span style="font-weight:400">We kept the practice going until we had afternoon tea.