Bloodfallen: Curse of The All Knowing

Arthur laid in the bed he was given alongside the tent as he recovered. The mage that treated him came back every day at about noon to check on his condition. Arthur learned that her name was Junia.

Junia’s was at the conjurer level of restoration which was also where most of her magical talent lie. Thanks to her regular treatments Arthur’s fractured leg would only take about four days to heal instead of the usual four weeks.

While Arthur waited for his wounds to heal he continued practicing magic. He discovered how to conjure earth with his geomancy so he didn’t need to use any actual dirt to practice anymore.

He also discovered how to use geomancy to create armour like he saw the demon do, to a certain extent. He couldn’t cover his whole body but he could easily cover both of his arms up to his elbows or any other part of him with a similar surface area.

Arthur would mess around with the stone gauntlets he made for himself, changing the design from something more like a smith would make with metal to something that resembled scales in a beautiful layered pattern. While he did this he would also use his hydromancy to form large spheres of water that would have thin rings rotate around them. With his increase in mana manipulation he found it far easier and mana effective to do.

Although Arthur’s physical condition was improving his mental condition was not quite the same. Hambel’s death was not something he had ever expected and when he saw his corpse it did nothing to help. Hambel was covered in wounds and had a large gash in his neck where he was stabbed with a sword.

‘He didn’t deserve that.’ Arthur would think to himself.

On the fifth day after the betrayal at the hands of Saturio and his crew Arthur was declared by Junia to be fit enough to resume active duty. Although Arthur technically wasn’t a soldier it still applied to him given the circumstances and the fact that half of the expedition were mercenaries employed through the mercenaries guild.

Junia also was instructed to give Arthur a letter from Lyra the moment he was fully healed. The letter told Arthur to go to Lyra’s tent as he was due a reward for his act of heroism and bravery.

Arthur immediately walked over to her tent and pushed aside the curtain. Citro was by the flap and excused himself to tell Lyra he had arrived. A minute later Citro returned and said Lyra was waiting inside.

When Arthur entered the main room of the tent it looked a little bit different than it had before. Most of the furniture was off to the sides including the table where the projection of the old man came from weeks before.

“Thank you for coming so quickly Arthur.” Lyra smiled, although Arthur could see a touch of sadness in his expression.

“I came as soon as I could.”

“Well that is good because I think you should know how you will be rewarded by the kingdom.” Lyra continued as she took out a piece of paper. “The kingdom likes to give these magic infused slips of paper that the owner takes to one of the royal treasuries to receive their rewards in a safe and secure way. There were some problems in the past when the rewards of noteworthy individuals was public knowledge.”

“So what exactly will I be receiving?” Arthur was thankful that he wouldn’t be robbed as soon as he received his rewards but he was still thinking about Hambel.

“Well for starters you will receive a lot of money for stopping a traitor from either using the obelisk to empower himself or enslaving the demon. You will also most likely receive a recommendation for both the mages and the mercenaries guilds for your display of martial and magical prowess.”

“What do the recommendations do?”

“A recommendation will allow you to skip a significant portion of the waitlist to take the exam to join.” Lyra saw a bit of disappointment in Arthur’s eyes as she spoke. “It could take weeks normally to have an exam be scheduled and I don’t think you would want to wait so long for the benefits that you would receive along with membership.”

“What are these benefits?” Arthur was a bit more interested now.

“It basically boils down to specialized training and knowledge that you wouldn’t otherwise have access to unless you were given it as a reward from the kingdom for your service. There are also ways to earn money while being a part of the guilds, the mercenaries guild is the more obvious one of the two.”

Arthur thought about the rewards we would be receiving. ‘Worst case scenario I would need to wait to join the two guilds, with the money I will be getting I would be able to survive for a while.’

“Thank you Lyra for your help, now I'll take my leave. I don’t want to take up your whole day now.” Arthur stood up to leave.

“Actually there is one more thing, something from me instead of the kingdom.” Lyra reached down under the table and brought up a satchel made of leather. It was a well made bag with a nice strap to carry over one's shoulder and a nice size to carry a little extra without taking up too much space.

“This right here is a dimensional bag. It was a gift from my father when I turned 40, and now I want to give it to you.”

Arthur was a bit surprised by Lyra’s willingness to give away something from her father and she definitely noticed.

“Don’t worry, I haven’t used this in years. Not since I bought a better one from a powerful enchanter in the mages guild.”

With great reluctance Arthur took the dimensional bag. “Thank you, I just have one question though. How do I use it?”

“Oh it's quite simple, all you need to do to store something is to place it inside. To retrieve it you need to think of it in clear detail and reach inside and if you recall it correctly you will find it. Also if you forget too much about its appearance or forget all that you have in there if you turn it inside out everything will be expelled.”

‘I keep forgetting he doesn’t know all this stuff, heck even most commoners don’t know anything about magic items.’

******

Since all of the fortress had been explored and a proper safe zone had been established in the caverns the expedition had been given clearance to return to the opening of the tunnel and wait for the military to come and take over from there. Apparently the kingdom was interested in settling the fortress and using the caverns to produce large amounts of food.

It would also add a new city that could easily become a new trading hub and some other economic terms that Arthur didn’t really understand. Cassia told Arthur that essentially whoever oversaw the region would need to actively try to sabotage it to produce poor results.

‘Perhaps one day I will return and see how things have progressed.’ Arthur thought to himself as the expedition force walked upwards over the course of several hours.

The dead were brought up with carts used by the laborer's.

When they reached the mouth of the tunnel Arthur was able to see for the first time what the outside world looked like. He saw valleys of beautiful green from a plant on the ground that he learned was called grass to the trees that to his surprise had a few variants that had different coloured trunks, looking nothing like the mushrooms he saw in the caverns.

The opening of the tunnel was on a large cliff face that had a large portion of land with an equally wide slope where everyone could squeeze their tents onto if they really needed to. Arthur pitched his tent close to the edge and spent the rest of his day practicing magic while looking down at the fields and valleys below him, until it was time to make dinner with Theo.

Only two days later Arthur, who was one of the few people looking over the edge, saw a large group of people marching towards their location which he promptly informed Citro who then informed Lyra. It was two full platoons of military personnel numbering about one hundred who came to keep the fortress safe from anyone who wished to take it for themselves.

The man leading the platoons was a human that looked to be in his mid thirties by the name of Philto Sorio. Philto wore a full set of plate armour with a layer of chainmail underneath, he wielded a large halberd and instead of wearing a helmet he had a deep blue hood. According to Cassia who Arthur asked, Philto Sorio was a battle mage with several victories against the Yolan empire under his belt.

A battle mage according to Cassia was a mage that specializes in a wider variety of magic than most other mages and typically use either a mace or a polearm such as a spear or halberd as a melee weapon.

After a short meeting with Lyra in her tent only lasting a few minutes Philto left with a few maps in his left hand and ordered his troops to follow him inside the tunnel and into the fortress.

After this the expedition packed up their belongings and began a march back to the capital city of the Rathen kingdom, Antium.

The trip took six and a half days and passed through several small farming villages that were no larger than one hundred people each. When they had finally reached the Antium it was already past midday and was getting quite close to dinner time so Lyra had the entire expedition wait in one of the larger taverns more to the center of the city while she and Citro went to report their return.

A few people bought a few mugs of whatever alcohol was being served but not many were in the mood to buy any food. They simply wanted to be paid what they were owed by the crown and to sleep. What felt like hours for all but a few Citro returned.

“Lyra is still with the clerk at the guild so you all should hurry up and collect your rewards.”

The group followed Citro the the branch of the mercenaries guild where Lyra was waiting with a dwarven clerk who handed out the money everyone was owed. Lyra ended up pulling Arthur aside.

“Since you are technically not a part of the guild and didn’t take the job through it you will be paid by the crown itself at one of their treasuries.”

“Well where is the nearest one?”

“The closest one is actually near the center of the city and since you don’t really know your way around just yet I will take you there.”