Chapter 29: Isekai Life & Butler Revelation

We filed into the room the carrion crawlers had occupied, gagging at the stench, and saw what they were feasting on- a small pile of bodies, stacked like cordwood, charred and burned but still quite raw on the inside. They just barely identifiable as humanoid, and since we were unable to do anything for them now, we moved on.

“Am I beginning to sense a theme here?” Voss said after a tense silence, “The fire pattern on the jar, the guy they burned at the stake, the arson of that temple...”

“Yeah, I noticed that, too,” I replied, “That’s part of why we’re collecting evidence. We just need to know how this all ties together.”

“There are a number of gods and goddesses that require burnt offerings,” Ashryn added, “Could be that Lord Gauthi is a worshipper gone mad.”

“Could be that he’s just a run of the mill firebug, though...”

There was a hissing voice from the shadows up ahead. “Would you keep it down! ‘S bad enough we had all them skeletons on top o’ us right off, jeez!”

We continued in glum silence.

Of course I already knew that it wasn’t a “run of the mill” anything. Ashryn’s prophecy was pretty clear. “Fire and storm,” it said, then “Sea and ice. Light, shadow, and doom itself.” If “Fire” was some madman who literally set people on fire, what could the rest of them mean? A wizard who specialized in lightning for storm? A pirate for sea? A viking for ice?

While we walked, I glanced over at Katriana. She had her own scrapes from the fight with the skeletons, although I wondered about what Corgiel said. Was Katriana really carrying my baby right now?

And, if so ... should I be letting her fight like this? But, I couldn’t protest without breaking one of Corgiel’s rules. How would I be able to explain how I knew she was pregnant before she herself knew?

I was going to be a father twice over before I’ve been playing this game for a year. That’s ... that’s a lot to process.

Eventually we caught up to Enna, who was waiting at the mouth to another larger room. She pointed a thumb at it. “Centipede infestation. Shouldn’t be too much of a trouble to pass, but keep your wits about you and don’t let ‘em get close.”

Indeed, the next room was positively crawling with 6 inch long centipedes, who immediately sensed out presence and started closing in. I don’t know what they hoped to accomplish- I guess a group of beggars or whatever else ended up down here would be easier prey- but we immediately set to work squishing bugs.

The “fight” didn’t last long, but it ended with an unfortunate bang- something fell on Calliope from above, and she screamed “Get it off, get it off!” while flailing her arms. Katriana jumped in, grabbing the centipede and flinging it against a wall where it impacted with a dull splat, but the damage was done. All at once Calliope collapsed, with Katriana barely having time to grab the girl before she fell to the floor.

Katriana tsked with annoyance. “Yeah, she was bitten. But it’s okay, she’ll be fine once the venom wears off in a few hours.”

I nodded. “Once we make the basement, we’ll have a rest and wait for her to come around. Until then, can you carry her?”

Katriana sighed and nodded. “She’s not light, but I think I can manage.”

Finally we came into an adjacent room where Enna stopped us, and pointed up at the ceiling. “I think we’ve found our spot.”

Above us was a grate, and beyond that the rough-beamed ceiling of an interior room, dark but with an oil lamp set into the wall. Judging by the ooze that clung to the grating, this was where wastewater and other miserable things were poured down ... but, there were also casks of some kind sitting on top of the grate, which could be bad. No way we could move them if they were actually heavy.

Enna motioned to Voss. “C’mere, Vossy boy, and give me a lift.”

Grimacing, nonetheless Voss kitted his hands together and lifted Enna up to stand on his shoulders as she examined the grate. Filth from Enna’s booth dripped over his shiny new armour.

“Welp, good news is that this grating ‘as been used recently,” Enna said as she slipped her picklocks from a pouch on her belt. I could just make out her wiggling a padlock so it’s keyhole sat over a hole in the grating. A few minutes later, she cursed. “Well, so much for ‘at. Brace yerself, Vossy boy.”

She drew her shortsword and slipped the blade in between where the side of the grate met the floor. She slammed her palm against the pommel of the sword, causing the grate to lift and fall with a loud clatter. She cursed, and tried again, this time opening the padlock with a loud snap.

“Well, so much for bein’ quiet, but we’re in,” she said as she bounced down off of Voss’ shoulders, “Why don’t you give that spear a workout and see if’n you can prod ‘ose barrels off the grate.”

“Yes ma’am,” Voss said, extending his spear up butt-first and pushing aside the barrels with a loud, hollow clatter. He winced, but Enna shrugged.

A moment later she was hefted back up into the air and throwing the grate open. She tied off a rope for the rest of us, and climbed on out, sword drawn.

Getting Calliope out proved something of a challenge, so we eventually settled for Voss climbing out first, then Enna and him hauling her out by her arms while Katriana lifted her up. Thankfully, the ceiling in this chamber was relatively low, only seven or eight feet up, compared to the longer drop we had coming in from the street.

Poor Calliope probably got a number of new bruises and scratches from the experience, but hopefully it wouldn’t be too bad.

With help form Katriana and Voss, I was able to scramble out out myself. Ashryn was getting ready for her own ascent when Enna hissed at us from where she stood beside the door to the upper room. “Douse ‘em torches!”

I heard the sizzling sound of Ashryn and Katriana dousing their torches in the mud below, but my eyes were focused on the door. What happened next was almost too fast to follow, but luckily Enna and Voss were both on point.

The door opened, a blond teenager in scale mail- he couldn’t have been older than fifteen- opened the door and walking into the room, talking over his shoulder. “I swear, old man, if we have rats- urk!” He was cut off as Enna slapped a hand over his mouth, pulled him to the side, and slammed her shortsword into the side of his neck. While the ... squire, I guess? Was busy dying in Enna’s arms, Voss grabbed the person he was speaking to- a sixtyish year old man in servant’s livery, and yanked him into the room, clamping his own hand over the surprised man’s mouth.