Alice

“Hello everyone,” said Alice. “You must be the adventurers I am to join. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise,” I said. “My name is Flynn. This is Flora, Sofia, and Lucille.”

“Ooh! You can use healing magic right?” asked Sofia.

“I can, yes,” replied Alice.

“Lucy broke her arm on the way here,” said Flora. “Is that something you can heal?”

“Of course. Allow me to take care of it,” she said. Alice stepped next to Lucille and held her hand out over Lucille’s broken arm. She recited a short spell and a soft amber light washed over Lucille’s arm. Lucille removed the splint from it and began stretching, reacclimating to her healed arm.

“Thank you, miss Alice,” said Lucille.

“I was merely performing my duty,” she responded. Arlo came over to speak to us.

“Thank you all for coming,” he said. “Please take good care of Alice for me. She is precious to me.”

“Father! You’re embarrassing me,” she said, blushing. She nervously twiddled with her hair, revealing her pointed elven ears. Arlo had human ears. I made a mental note to ask her about that sometime later.

“Nonsense. It is a father’s duty to ensure the safety of his child,” Arlo said, smiling.

“We’ll make sure she’s safe,” I said. “I can’t guarantee she won’t be injured, as adventuring can be dangerous, but I assure you she will return in one piece.”

“I understand. Allow me to see you all off as you depart tonight,” he said.

“Wait what? We’re leaving tonight?” asked Sofia.

“Yes. The pilgrimage is meant to emulate that of the first pilgrim, so we hold the ceremony at night and embark right afterwards, as did Lady Yulia,” Alice explained.

“Guess it can’t be helped,” I shrugged. “I was hoping to get one more night in a proper bed, though.” The rest of the party seemed to share the same sentiment.

“Come along,” said Arlo. “I have taken the liberty of having your mule and wagon prepared for you.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Flora. We followed the bishop outside where sure enough, Hershel was already attached to the wagon.

“Oh, is the mule injured as well?” asked Alice, crouching next to Hershel’s bandaged legs. She cast another healing spell and removed Hershel’s bandages.

“Thanks, Alice,” said Flora, petting Hershel’s snout. Alice nodded before circling around and climbing in the back of the wagon.

“Ah yes, that reminds me. Here are your payments,” said Arlo, handing a bag of coins to me and another one to Flora.

“Great. I nearly forgot about that, to be honest,” I said, scratching my head. The rest of us piled into the wagon after Alice, Flora driving as usual, and we headed out of the town.

“It would likely be prudent to learn your capabilities, Miss Alice,” said Lucille.

“Ah, yes, of course. I’m currently a level 3 cleric. My only two spells are a healing spell and a light magic attack. I have no experience in hand to hand combat, so I would prefer to remain in the back ranks and focus on healing,” she said.

“I’m level 3 as well,” I said. “I have four skills. One allows me to steal a random item from an enemy. Another lets me turn someone invisible. Then I have a buff for my allies and a combat skill that lets me use magic to enhance my attack.”

“I’m a level five Paladin,” said Lucille. “I have a taunt, a stun, an anti-undead attack, and a self buff.”

“I’m level five too. I’m a pyromancer. I’ve got three spells and a passive self buff,” said Sofia.

“Good to know,” said Alice, rubbing her chin. The wagon suddenly stopped.

“Hey guys!” shouted Flora from the front of the cart. I hopped out of the wagon, circling around to the front.

“What is it Flora? Oh,” I said, taking in the sight before me. Strung up in the middle of the road by ropes were three bodies. Corpses. All disemboweled. Written in the ground at their feet in blood was a single word: ‘Retribution’.

Realizing I recognized one of the corpses, I suppressed the urge to vomit. Sofia wasn’t so lucky. She ran off to a nearby bush. The center corpse was an old man. The same man who had given us a fishing rod and food for the road. The other two corpses belonged to adventurers. A fighter and a priest, both male.

“Who could do something like this?” said Alice, horrified.

“It must have been the bandits,” said Lucille.

“Huh? Them? Why?” I asked.

“Think about it,” she said, gripping her sword. “We killed a few of them, and then sent the guild their base’s location after the survivors fled. Who else would make a display like this? They strung up the adventurers that went after them, as well as a civilian who aided us. Retribution for the lives we took.”

“Damn it all,” I cursed. “They’re dead because of us!?”

“It would seem that way,” said Lucille grimly. “These bandits should not be underestimated. The ones we fought were likely their weaker members. For them to so easily defeat adventurers, they must be rather strong.”

“Yeah. We should hurry back to the capital and request reinforcements,” I said. “But first, help me get them down, Lucille.”

We cut the ropes, getting the poor men down. Using a shovel from the wagon, we spent the next few hours giving the three men a proper burial. Exhausted, we decided to find a place to camp for the night. Setting up a watch rotation once more, we went to sleep for the night. I took the first watch, spending my time anxiously doing some training.

After a few hours, it was time to wake Alice for the next watch. I opened the flap to Sofia and Alice’s tent and gently shook her awake by the shoulder. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, looking around.

“Shh! Sofia’s still asleep,” I whispered to her. She nodded in understanding, quietly exiting the tent alongside me.

“Is this sort of thing the norm with you all?” She asked.

“Depends an what you mean. The camping out and traveling, yeah. The burying of dead people and setting up watches for bandit attacks, no,” I said.

“The world outside the church is truly a dangerous place. May their souls find a new life under Lady Esther’s guidance,” she said, reciting a short prayer.

“So, what’s the deal with your dad?” I asked. “I can’t help but notice that you’re an elf, but Arlo isn’t.”

“Oh, that. My mother was an elf, so that makes me a half elf,” she said. “There isn’t much difference between half and full blooded elves. Elf genes are very adaptable, so the race of a non-elf parent doesn’t particularly matter. The child will almost always look like a normal elf.”

“Interesting. I was always curious how that would work,” I said.

“I’m not familiar on how it works for other species, but elves are fairly simple,” she said. I nodded, getting ready to head off.

“Be careful on watch tonight,” I said. “Keep your eyes on the tree line. If you see or hear anybody, wake the rest of us up. We can’t afford to have a campfire when people are after us, so use a blanket to keep warm. The moon’s out, so you should be able to see just fine.”

“Thank you for the advice, Flynn,” she said, wrapping her blanket around her shoulders. I waved goodnight to her, heading inside the tent and lying down next to Sophia. Soon enough, sleep came to me.