The Knights Hospitaler Guild

After giving our names to Fitgrot which will be engraved on the pocket watch, we are back to where we started; in the guildhall. It will take a couple of days for our pocket watches to be ready. In the meantime, despite already being members of Midnight Dawn, Elina recommended us not to do quests or leave the city since we have no way of proving that we are members of this guild in case we get into trouble. She suggested that we use these days to move to one of the guild rooms, and also get to know the city, and buy what we need to be ready once we receive our watches.

We said goodbye to Elina shortly after, but not before she told us one more time to come to her in case we need help or have any questions.

"So what now?" Ryul asked, "Do you guys want to go for a walk in the city?"

"I think we should rent the room first, so we can leave our things." Shalia suggested.

"Shalia is right!" Sophie asserts.

At that moment, without saying anything, Gerald left the group and walked towards the exit.

"Gerald?" Sophie called him, "Don't you want to come with us?"

"Until the pocket watches are ready there is not much to do, so there is no point in being here." He replies without stopping.

"W-Wait..."

"Leave him alone." Ryul told Sophie, "He is not one of us."

"The elf is right!" Ari added.

"I have a name you know, my name is RYUL!!"

"Whatever..."

"Oh, don't start again..." Shaila said sighing.

While Sophie and Shalia were trying to stop Ryul and Ari, who were once again arguing, I looked at Gerald, who was walking out the door. I wonder why Gerald decided to join this guild. Something tells me that he won't mess with us anymore, but he looks kind of ...lonely. I guess he's not over Caroline. I also noticed that Leona was staring at him the same way. Well, whatever the case, neither Leona nor I have time to think about that right now. We have hundreds of things to do.

After talking to one of the girls at the reception and telling her of our intention to rent rooms, we made the payment for the first month and after waiting for a few minutes, a new girl came to usto take us to our rooms.

The girl who approached us was an elf with blond hair and was quite tall like most elves. In her hands she carried two mugs with beer and she seemed to be in a hurry.

"Oh, you're the new members!? Glad to see new faces around here. Give me a moment, I'll just bring this to those tables." She told us while walking to a table.

"Ah, yes..."

Moments later she came back, "Okay, I wasn't expecting so many new members. Sorry, we don't have as many assistants as before, so among the few that we have, we have to divide the tasks. You know... the guild is not what use to be. So... all of you need a room?"

"Ah, Yes."

"We don't have the rooms ready. In fact, we did not think we would receive new members. Kase's popularity as a new S-Rank has drawn a lot of attention to Oblivion, so we thought everyone would go there."

"So it seems." Sophie replied.

Kase's popularity in the city is both obvious and annoying. There is no place where I go where someone is not talking about him. Everyone treats him like a hero without knowing the real kind of person he is.

"Oh, my name is Rania. If you want to know about the latest rumors in [Riledo], I am the one to go to. I'm the waitress at this place, so I hear rumors from all over the place."

After introducing ourselves to her she continued.

"Okay, I'll take you guys to drop off your things, in the meantime, you can go walk around the city while we prepare your rooms."

We went to the third floor and as we walked to the area where the rooms are, a group of adventurers passed us at a hurried pace almost colliding with us.

"Is it always like this?" Shalia asked, "It seems like everyone is in a rush."

Rania replied. "Normally it is much more peaceful, but at midnight the queen announced an emergency quest. And those who are just waking up are leaving as quickly as possible."

"An emergency quest!?" I asked.

"It's kind of weird. In fact, this is the first time I have seen such a quest. It seems that monsters attacked some villages. The flying squad left at night, but the army will take longer to reach the place. Adventurers who can go faster were given the quest to aid the flying squad while the army manages to get there."

"Villages were attacked!? That's terrible!" Sophie replied.

"I know!" Renia answer while crossing her arms, "Last night some wounded came from those villages to the city. They are now being attended at The Knights Hospitaler guild. But very few managed to escape."

"But isn't that weird?" Leona asked, "I haven't heard of monsters attacking multiple villages at the same time."

"I know. In the time I have been working here it is the first time that I hear something like that happening. We live in dangerous times. But luckily Kase's father managed to make it out safely. He is the father of an S-Rank, so I'm glad he's okay."

I stopped walking after hearing a familiar name, "W-What did you say?

"Ehh?"

"...What village was ...attacked?"

I felt a cold run through my back. I quickly tied the dots, but I wanted to refuse to believe that it was my ...village. Mom...

"Did something happen? Do you feel bad? You became very pale."

"ANSWER ME!!"

"Ohhh, AH? AH... I-I think, I think the name of the village where Mr. Enzo lived was [Merton]. From what is known, several villages around there have been destroyed."

"Darx!!" Ryul turned to see me with the same scared look that I probably had.

It's true. Ryul's village is very close to mine.

"D-Don't tell me... Are you from there?" Rania realized.

Without being able to answer or think clearly, I ran to the exit dropping my things.

Mom, you are okay, right? A couple of monsters are nothing for you.

"Darx, let's go to the Knights Hospitaller guild. Our families are probably there."

I just noticed that Ryul was running behind me.

We ran out of the Midnight Dawn building. I'm not sure how to get to The Knights Hospital guild, but I saw the place a couple of times from the top of the castle, so I know more or less where it is. I ran and ran without stopping or even looking back to see if Ryul was still behind me until I finally reached the place.

I stood in front of the door nervously. What am I going to do if my mother is not inside? Then I felt Ryul put his hand on my shoulder. With sweat on his face and with a scared look said to me, "Let's go inside."

As we entered my heart was beating so hard that I felt like it would jump out of my chest. Inside were many people, moving in all directions. There were many injured people everywhere in beds that clearly looked improvised since they were in the hallways. I tried to stop someone who looked like a healer of the guild, but he didn't pay attention to me saying he was busy and to find someone else. It was then that I heard a familiar voice. The voice of a little girl who ran to hug my leg. It was Alice's daughter.

"Darx!"

Behind her called another familiar voice called me. When I raised my face I saw Amelia and next to her was Oliver

"Amelia!"

"I thought you weren't coming."

I heard the voice of another woman say behind me as she hugged me from behind. When I turned my head, I saw that it was Mia and behind her was Cal. It seems that everyone from our village is here except for Fabe and Emma.

"Did you hear what happened?" Mia asked me.

"Yes, I-Is my mother here?"

"She's not here. In fact, none of our relatives are here." Oliver replied, " We are waiting for Alice to wake up and tell us what she knows."

"Is Alice here!? Is she okay?" I asked.

"The healers say that she arrived quite injured, however was treated by the healers here at dawn. Her state is stable but she needs rest."

"I see."

"Darx, I'm going to find my sisters. Maybe they're around here." Ryul told me before leaving.

I would like to run and go find my mother, however, the most reasonable thing is to wait for Alice to wake up and tell me what happened and to know if my mother managed to escape. Alice was in a private room and next to her was Amelia taking care of her daughter. We have already been waiting for hours, but Amelia has avoided approaching me.

"Your relationship with Amelia is still bad from what I see." Oliver told me.

We were both sitting on the floor with our backs against the wall outside Alice's room.

"Something like that..." I reply.

"Just like you, I was also taken by surprise at how much Amelia changed. I hardly recognize her. After her stay in the castle, she stopped visiting me and when I tried to go see her, she refused to see me. It's like she's a different person. Tell me Darx. What is happening inside the castle? Did they do something to her?"

"The people in the castle seem to be good people. At least that's what I think. It's just training."

"I see...

"So it's most likely her relationship with Kase after all. There's something about him that I don't like. I didn't think he was Amelia's type. After all, she was in love with you since we were children."

Oliver's words took me by surprise.

It's just that it was too late when I realized her feelings. I never thought that someone like Kase would come out of nowhere and change everything. Would things have been different if I had noticed earlier?

"And how is Emma?" I asked Oliver.

"She's fine. But she doesn't know what happened in the village. She will give birth soon and I don't want to worry her."

"You're right. It's for the best."

"Actually, it's time for me to leave. I don't want to leave her alone for a long time. I want to stay here and know what happened to my family but..."

"I know! Don't worry, I'm sure our families are fine. When Alice wakes up, I'll go find you."

"Thanks, Darx! It's a shame that we meet again under these circumstances but it made me happy to see you again."

"Same!"

Now we just have to keep waiting. This situation is really frustrating. I want to believe that my mother is fine. I feel so helpless without being able to do anything.

It is already night and Alice still does not wake up. It was then that someone who I was not expecting approached me.

"Long time since I last saw you."

Out of nowhere, Cal sat next to me.

"Hey... I know this is embarrassing and annoying but how to put it... I'm... sorry..."

"Eh?"

"You hear me. I'm sorry, okay."

"I don't understand."

"Common man. D-Don't make things more embarrassing. I want to apologize for everything I did to you in the villages and all that."

"You feel bad?"

Cal is acting really weird. Is he planning something?

"Physically i'm fine. Emotionally I'm worried about my grandfather. But I already changed. I am not the same as before."

"I don't believe you."

"AHHH?"

"Is Fabe planning something again?"

"Fabe? I have not seen him in a long time. I finally realized that it was a mistake to associate with him."

"What happened?"

"As you already know, Fabe and I received low ranks. Unlike me, Fabe could never accept that reality. Still, we managed to join a guild called Radiant Dusk. It was a small guild but I liked being there."

"Are you guys still there?"

"Nah, Fabe ruined everything. He was hanging around with some bad people who were selling pink incense."

"What is that?"

"It is an illegal incense that makes women really horny. Of course, I didn't know at the time. A criminal guild gave Fabe those incense bottles and his job was to sell them. He asked me to keep one of the boxes hidden in my room, and since I did not know what it was, I didn't know it was illegal and so I kept it around. Eventually, the guild leadership discovered the box with the pink incense, and Fabe and I were kicked out."

"You had it hard."

"That's not all. After I complained to him that because of him I was expelled he became violent and out of nowhere, he kicked me in the leg and as consequence, my knee was broken. After that, I had enough of him."

"It took you a long time to figure it out."

"I know... but not everything is bad. While I was right here recovering from my knee I met a cute nurse. By accident, she saw my drawings and loved them. Sometime later we started dating and she encouraged me to focus on my art skills. And thanks to that I now work as an artist. I'm the luckiest man alive."

"I'm happy for you, I guess..."

"I'll introduce you to her one day. Just don't try to steal her from me with your pretty face and scary eyes."

I guess some things never change. On the other hand, even Cal found his way.

Cal stood up but before going he said something else to me.

"I also apologized to Oliver, but I did say something to him. Tell him to be cautious of Fabe. He's still obsessed with him and Emma. He kept saying that he would take **** on both of them. Also, the last I heard from him is that he joined a criminal guild in the north of the city. He is crazy."

I won't let Fabe mess with Oliver and Emma again. He's done them enough damage already. I'm worried that he already knows they're in town and even where Oliver works. I have to find him before he finds them.

Unfortunately, Alice didn't wake up all night. I was waiting with Mia and Ryul who didn't find his sisters either. Constantly more people came from the attacked villages, but none of our families yet. Every time we saw people enter we got up to check who they were. Leona and Shalia came to see how we were doing and they wanted to stay with us but the guild did not let them because only people related to the patients or people waiting for relatives could stay to avoid the excess of people. We hardly slept all night until Alice finally woke up the next day.

We all walked into the room where an emaciated Alice was in bed.

"You guys grew a lot in such a short time." It was Alice's first words when she saw us.

We were all anxious to find out what happened and if our families were okay. Shortly after with tears in her eyes Alice began to tell us what happened. When Alice finished speaking everyone was crying. Almost all the people I know in the village died. Including Amelia and Oliver's parents. Their deaths caused me great pain. After all, since I was little, I spend a lot of time with them because our families were close. Besides them, Mia and Emma's family had the same unfortunate end. And so does Cal's grandfather. As for my mother the last time Alice saw her she was helping villagers escape, so she is probably alive. At least that's what I want to believe.

Out of nowhere, Amelia ran to hug me while crying uncontrollably. I know our relationship is not the best lately, but it hurts me to see her like this. I hugged her in the same way. It was really painful watching Oliver fall to the ground crying while Mia fainted after hearing what happened to her family. I have the anxiety of running away to look for my mother, but at the same time, I cannot leave my friends in this condition.

It took a long time for them to calm down and even after that Amelia was still hugging me burying her face in my chest. It was at that moment that I noticed Wendy's presence at the door.

"I-I'm sorry I didn't want to interrupt." Wendy said with a shaky voice.

"Wendy!"

"Darx, I need to talk to you and Ryul."

"I'll take care of Amelia." Oliver told me still with tears in his eyes.

Amelia, with her head bowed and without speaking, let me go little by little almost as if not wanting to.

I left the room with Ryul to see what Wendy wanted from us. I notice that she was wearing the armor of the royal guard.

"Sorry to bother you right now, but Harold asked me to give you a message."

"What did he say?" Ryul asked.

He told me that you two were probably thinking of leaving town and to find your families, but he asked me to tell you not to."

"What? How can he ask me that? I need to know if my mother is okay. I need to help stop the monsters that are attacking villages."

"Everything has already been dealt with!" Wendy reply.

"Dealth with? How do you know?" Ryul asked.

"Estella, the guild master of Midnight Dawn, used her skill to see what was happening and said that Kase already took care of the monsters. He stopped the attack and now the only thing that remains is for the army to take care of the rest."

"I don't understand."

"Estella can control crows and can see from their eyes or something like that. S-Sorry, I'm not really sure."

Now that I remember, I heard something about it in the castle. In this way Estella spies on the territory of the demons.

"I still need to go. I need to make sure my mother is okay."

"Harold said that it is dangerous to go to those places at the moment and the army is helping the villagers. If your mother comes here while you are looking for her it will be worse. Please... Harold is worried about you."

"Fuck!!!"

I don't know what to do...

"Also you can't leave your friends now that they need you."

Wendy is right. I can't leave them now. But if my mother doesn't arrive in the next few days, I will go to look for her no matter what they tell me.

'"Alice needs to rest and your friends need to rest too, "Ryul told me.

I know Ryul is also **** but he seems to have agreed to wait.

"I know my father will protect my sisters. I know. I'm going to wait for them."

"I'll help you with your friends." Wendy spoke, "We have to take them to another room."

Alice seems very tired and I don't think it helps to see the state everyone is in.

Fuck!! Why is this happening?

I was helping Mia when behind me, I heard the most terrifying scream that I had ever heard. I turned around scared to see what was happening.

The scream came from Amelia. Amelia was looking at me with wide eyes while holding her head with her hands as she was in a lot of pain. Her pupils moved strangely as she breathed heavily.

"Darx... help... me..." Those were her words before falling to the ground ****.

"W-What... happen...."

"I-I was just trying to help her up." Wendy said next to Amelia's **** body.

I don't understand what's going on.

We took Amelia to another room and the healer who helped her told us that her body was fine, but that maybe she had a nervous breakdown because of the news about her parents.

Amelia was bad, but that scream and the way she looked at me... I can't get that out of my mind. I feel like something else happened. I never saw Amelia like that. She asked me to save her, but how or from what? Was it really just a nervous breakdown like the healer said?

The next day there was no news about my mother and Amelia still did not wake up. The worst part is that no one from her guild even showed up to check on her.

It was around noon when I was checking on Alice that I heard Amelia scream again from her room.

"NOOO! STAY AWAY FROM ME!!! D-DARX!!"

Amelia was screaming in terror. I ran as fast as I could to her room and when I entered she was sitting on the bed quietly and next to her was Kase.

"A-Amelia, are you okay? What did you do to her?"

"What are you talking about? Kase answered me.

"Don't play dumb. I heard Amelia scream."

"She's fine. Maybe you got confused. Right, Amelia!?"

"I'm fine." Amelia answered confused.

Amelia was looking at me like I was the one in the wrong, but I clearly heard her scream.

Kase turned to see Amelia, "I'm sorry about your parents, but at least I was able to avenge them."

Amelia started crying and hugged Kase tightly.

Then Kase turned to me, "As you can see we're busy so get out. I'll take care of my woman, so you have no business here."

I looked at Amelia again, but she didn't say anything.

"Ohh, Ilene is fine." Kase spoke.

What? "Did you see her? How is she? Where is she?"

"Ilene aided me to stop the monster's attack. Also, she reeeally helped me that night." Kase said with a mocking grin.

"What?" I feel like he's making fun of me, but now I'm just interested in knowing if she's okay.

"She is fine and should be in town in the next few days. When you see her tell her to go see me. There is something I want to talk to her about. Now go."

It's amazing how much it irritates me to see Kase. But at least it took a great burden off me to know that my mother is fine. I just hope he's not lying to me. Aside from that, I can't get out of my head how weird Amelia was acting. I'm sure I heard her screaming in terror, but when I came in to see her, she was as if nothing had happened.

Too much has passed these days and I have hardly slept. I can't think clearly. I went one more time to see Alice and when I left I thought about checking Amelia one more time just to make sure she was okay, but as I approached the door I could hear Amelia's moans and the creaking of the bed.

I felt so stupid. What was I hoping for?

I kept walking, leaving The Knights Hospitaler guild.