There wasn’t a person alive who hadn’t heard of the Elixir—but more importantly, the fact that it was a fetch quest means they needed a natural one.
Ligg nodded at me, arms and legs languidly trailing off the chair in all directions. “Yeah, that’s right.”
That was quite the tall order, then.
There were two forms of Elixir—the naturally occurring variety and the man-made replica. The former was extremely rare and hard to come by, so a famous league of wizards collaborated to create a synthetic one to match the demand. Not even the synthetic one could be mass-produced, however, and while its healing properties were famous, they couldn’t hold a candle to the real thing. Natural Elixirs could heal any malady and could even revive the recently deceased. While I’d run across synthetic ones in the past, I’d never seen a true Elixir with my own eyes. That meant these adventurers must have found a lead.
“We got the World’s Eye to tell us,” Pelorro explained with a grimace. “It took half the guild’s furniture, but we managed to pay in full.”
Even I had heard of the World’s Eye. Supposedly, they knew everything in the world, but even the smallest kernel of knowledge came at an exorbitant price. The knowledge of a true Elixir would have entire empires chomping at the bit, so I could only imagine how much they paid for that knowledge. Lucika was lucky to have people like them by her side.
Apollo nodded. “Now, though, we’ve got a different problem. We can’t get to the Elixir where it’s at.”
I wasn’t surprised. It was a legendary medicine, after all, so of course it would be somewhere far off the beaten path. I wanted to know where it was exactly, but Apollo wouldn’t be foolish enough to tell us anything unless we’d promised to help.
Realization lit in Soulgros’s eyes, and she began muttering to herself. “Ahh… I knew I had seen them before…”
More importantly, I asked them how Lucika had been cursed in the first place. It was a nasty piece of work that slowly and painfully drained its victim until they died—definitely not the kind of curse one ran into often.
“We slew a monster like a giant jellyfish, but a bunch of strange black smoke came out of its body,” Ligg explained. “The cloud rushed at Lucil, but Lucika jumped in its path.”
Lucil gritted his teeth in frustration as Ligg talked. He assumed it was his fault she was cursed, then, and I couldn’t imagine how he must’ve been beating himself up.
From Ligg’s explanation, however, I had a good idea of what had happened, and I told the group my hypothesis. The monster was likely a Ragel, a monster that was incredibly rare here in the middle of the kingdom. They lived in isolated patches of wilderness, and while they were close to helpless in a fight, they had the ability to curse anyone who attacked or slew them. A simple injury would’ve occurred a light but painful curse, but killing it had amplified it many times over.
“Shit!” Lucil cursed, slamming his fist into the table. “I knew it! It’s all my fault she got hit by it!”
Apollo shot him a stern look. “If you hadn’t killed it, Pelorro or I would have. Lucika wouldn’t want you to beat yourself up like this.”
Lucil turned to Soulgros and me. It was clear from his quivering lip that he had failed as his sister’s protector and was desperate to make it right. “That’s why you’re gonna enter our guild for a little while and help us get that Elixir together! I’ll do whatever you want when she’s healthy—just promise me you’ll save her!”
I could understand the boy’s feelings well, especially his willingness to sacrifice himself for Lucika. Similarly, I was touched that the other guild members were just as desperate to heal the girl. That was why I looked them squarely in the eyes, each one in turn, as I told them we couldn’t help—that Soulgros and I were agents of a dark guild.
Lucil stared at me blankly. “You what?”
“A d-dark guild?!”
Apollo and Pelorro both stood up in an instant, drawing their weapons and leveling them at us. It was an unpleasant reaction, albeit the expected one. Even hardened groups of criminals were merely considered gray guilds; it took a special kind of evil to be a true dark guild. Personally, I didn’t believe we were that evil, but that was beside the point.
“Shit!” The tip of Apollo’s sword quivered in the air at us. “I knew you were strong, but I never thought you were dark-guilders!”
Soulgros rolled her eyes. “Cease thy whimpering. We have no interest in thy petty guild.”
I grimaced a little, wondering aloud if it was truly worth all this nonsense.
“Hah, don’t give us that shit!” Apollo spat. “How could we trust you Aichnen goons?!”
I blinked. I’d never heard of a guild of that name.
Soulgros shook her head. “We are not of that wretched mass of imbeciles. No, we are of the Messianic Legion, Yerkchira, a mighty dark guild forged in service of our all-powerful Master.”
Apollo’s eyes darted between us. “Uhh… Yerkchira?”
That wasn’t surprising. We weren’t that well-known, partially by design, and it seemed natural we would be conflated with this other, apparently more infamous guild.
“Rest easy now, and lower thy weapons,” Soulgros commanded. “I shall not slay thee unless Master relays the command.”
While that was an admirable attempt to defuse the situation, there was also the implication that she would kill them all in a heartbeat if she had reason to. Apollo and Pelorro exchanged uneasy glances and made no move to sheath their blades.
At this rate, there would be no way for us to help them, though the curse’s progression would be stalled as long as my mana remained within Lucika’s system. I reminded them that the curse had not yet left her body, advised them to retrieve the Elixir as soon as possible, and turned to leave. Soulgros moved to follow me.
“Wait!”
I turned at Lucil’s call. His guildmates looked at him in horror, but the boy’s eyes were fixed on the table before him.
“I don’t care who you are or where you’re from,” he muttered. “If you can save Lucika, we need your help.”
“Are you insane?!” Pelorro shouted. “I know you wanna save Lucika, but this is too far!”
That was the obvious reaction. Dark guilds were the enemies of decent society at large, and any legal guild caught dealing with them would see no end of trouble.
Lucil turned calmly to his guildmates. “I don’t wanna cause trouble for you, so you can kick us out of the guild or whatever when this is over. Right now, I’m getting their help.”
Pelorro swallowed hard. “L-Lucil?”
I never thought such a young boy could be so determined. Brotherly love was truly something.
“Dumbass!”
“Ow!”
Apollo smacked Lucil hard on the back of his head, sending tears welling up in the boy’s eyes.
“We’re guildmates. We’re family. I’d do anything and everything for you, no danger’s too great.” The old guildmaster looked up at Soulgros and I with a wry smile. “Besides, these two don’t seem like Aichnen.”
Ligg sighed. “If you two left the guild, we’d be down to three members. We’d have to disband anyway.”
Lucil looked at the pair in surprise. “Apollo, Ligg…”
The love that they had for each other was nothing short of inspiring. I looked to Soulgros, announcing that no guild cared as much about each other as we did at Yerkchira.
She stiffened. “Er. I could not say.”
She was being humble, no doubt. I’d never felt as at home anywhere as I did in Yerkchira.
Apollo bowed to us. “Sorry for giving you such a runaround, but we’d be honored to have your help if you’re still offering it.”
Ligg followed suit. “Please, we beg of you.”
“Please save Lucika!” Lucil echoed.
I hesitated. Surely they knew the risks—that if it was ever discovered that they had made such a deal with us, they’d be marked as a gray guild overnight. While their situation wouldn’t be as bad as a proper dark guild’s, I doubted they could get above-board work after that. With a mere five members, they would struggle to survive without stooping to such crimes. I had to know if they were prepared for everything our aid would entail.
Lucil nodded firmly. “Yeah, I know.”
Looking at Apollo and Ligg, they were of the same mind. I nodded—in that case, I would gladly aid them.
“Yeah!” Lucil cheered.
Finally, I turned to Soulgros. We would still have to join under Apollo temporarily, and I needed to know if she could accept that.
Soulgros nodded. “As thou willst, Master. Thy wish is my command.”
That felt a little extreme, to be frank, but I was glad to have her cooperation. The likes of Laladie or Vampille would have refused my request outright, as they had a profound hatred of everything outside of Yerkchira. There were precious few guild members who had the level-headedness to accept such terms, if only temporarily. They overreacted so easily, over so little.
At any rate, we were officially on the trail of a natural Elixir from that moment on.