The Infinite Bk. 01 Ch. 09

Noah rolled to the side, gasping for air with his spell coming undone. Hopefully, Oath would be much more sensical when he woke up. As Noah got to his feet, there was a monster's snarl, followed by Beth's scream. One of their pursuers from within the shell had arrived and was attacking Beth. It looked like some kind of cycloptic tiger with a mat of quills across its back. Beth was pinned, her arm in its mouth with her flesh being torn and her bones breaking.

"Damn it!" Noah growled.

Beth still had his bow, so Noah pulled out his short sword and threw it, winging the beast in the shoulder. It turned to Noah and charged, and Noah, trying to activate his magic, realized he had used the last of his mana to deal with Oath. He jumped to the side to dodge the lunging tiger, but as he hit the ground, he realized he had less strength than he thought. He had planned on hitting the ground with a roll and then jumping to his feet, but he just fell like a tree. All he could do was roll on his back, and this time, when the tiger pounced, he wasn't able to dodge. It tried to sink its teeth into his neck, but he blocked its mouth with his sword, though he could do nothing about its claws, digging into his shoulders. It was pushing down on him with its full weight, and he didn't have the strength to hold it back.

Noah stared into its one, fist-sized eye, watched slobber pour from its mouth, mixed with the blood from its cuts that his sword was creating. This certainly ranked among the top of his weirdest deaths. Yet when his strength was about to falter, Oath attacked the tiger from behind, slicing off his head with a swing of his sword. Oath then kicked the tiger's corpse off Noah and pointed his sword at him.

"You'll never get a better chance than this," Noah said with a smirk.

Oath took a deep breath and sheathed his sword. "I suppose saving your life is as much an accomplishment as ending it." He held out his hand to Noah. "Let's go home."

Epilogue

The town of Clive was bustling, filled with adventurers following the news of the dungeon crab's emergence. Around half of them would die within its shell, but those with skill and luck came back to town with pockets full of ores and gems. Having returned to town just the previous night, Noah had tried listening for gossip of whether or not anyone else had managed to capture the dungeon. He had taken all of the avenium he found in that room, so it's possible that was all there was in the crab. Oh well, they'd just have to make do with everything else they found. The majority of the adventurers were smart enough or perhaps not ambitious enough to go very deep into the crab.

But that's not what Noah was focusing on at the moment. He was at the inn, sitting on the bed in Beth's room and examining her arm. It had been badly mangled by that tiger and wasn't fully healed. Since they were out of potions at the time, Noah and Oath had to wrap it and tend it as best as they could. On the way down from the dungeon's entrance, they met an adventurer and bought some healing potions off him. However, they weren't able to completely reverse the damage. The flesh on her arm looked molted, like severe stretch marks, and the muscle underneath was out of proper shape. At least the bone had been reset properly, but the way Beth winced as she stretched it per Noah's instruction, he knew that she was lucky to still have it at all.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you'll be able to draw a bow or lift anything heavy anytime soon. If you find someone with healing magic, they might be able to undo the damage, but otherwise, I can't imagine your arm will ever regain its full use or strength."

"That's fine," she said with a monotone voice and dead fish eyes. She shuddered, as if shaking herself awake. "No, it's not fine, it's terrible. But... I don't have to worry about using a bow."

"You're quitting being an adventurer?"

"After everything we went through in that dungeon... I don't ever want to experience something like that again. I'm going to try and find a healer to mend my arm, but after that, I'm going to do what Mira wanted and settle down and build a family."

"That's for the best, I suppose."

"Thanks. And Noah, about what I said to you in the dungeon, about how I was..."

"You're not pregnant. Mira was."

She looked at him in shock. "How'd you know?"

"I have enough experience with women to know how to avoid getting them pregnant, and I can tell when it's close to that time of the month. Mira told you she was late before we entered the dungeon, didn't she? You pretended it was you instead. Did you lie to try and save yourself, or her?"

"Both, I guess. Oath didn't know, he can never know."

"I'm surprised they were able to keep it hidden from me. They always seemed a little protective of each other, but I had no idea they were so intimate."

"She told me they were both drunk when it happened, and later told Oath that she thought it would be better if they focused on getting stronger for conquering the dungeon. After, they would have the rest of their lives to..." She trailed off, then looked out the window and sighed. "I'm going to go visit her mother and siblings, tell her what happened. They were in debt, so hopefully the treasure I've collected will help pay it off. I owe Mira that much."

"This should more than cover it," said Noah, handing her a small bottle of avenium.

"So much trouble, so many tears over this metal dust," she muttered, staring at the bottle.

"Take care of yourself," Noah said before getting up and leaving.

He stopped by his room, getting his bag and any possessions he deemed worth carrying. He had already sold off all of his ores and gems, so he had plenty of gold coins with him, along with various other tools and treasures hidden within his ring, including a vast fortune of avenium. He put on his backpack with his swords hanging from his belt, including a new longsword, and left the room, locking it behind him. Downstairs in the tavern, he handed the landlady the key.

"Thank you for your hospitality."

"Aye, I'm a bit sorry to see you go. But before you do, you should talk with your friend. He certainly needs some help."

At the counter, he saw Oath slumped over with a half-empty mug in his hand. After returning to Clive, he had checked in with his father only briefly, then came straight to the inn and started drinking to drown his sorrows. It was a miracle the boy hadn't died from alcohol poisoning.

"Are you planning on drinking away your entire fortune?" Noah asked.

Oath raised his head, looking at him with bloodshot eyes. "Leave me alone."

Noah took the stool next to him and ordered a drink. "I will, soon. For now, just humor me."

Oath sat up and wiped his face. "Remember that hunting trip the six of us took in the beginning? When we were sitting around the fire, you told me that I had to decide my reason for living, for fighting, that I had to create my own meaning. When I went into that dungeon, I thought I was doing it for my father, to finally win his approval. But when Mira died, I realized I had done it for her. I wanted to prove to her that I was a man, that I was just as strong as you and Trevor, and I wanted to prove it to myself. Everything I failed to do, they were the achievements of the baron that I wanted to be. I loved her, but my pride got her killed. Now... I just don't want to think about it, any of it. I just want to forget so everything will stop hurting."

Noah, having received his drink, downed it in one gulp and slapped the glass on the table, then took a deep breath. "If I were to give you one last lesson, one last piece of advice, would you take it?" Oath just glanced at him, neither agreeing, nor refusing. "Stop drinking. Go home and mourn her properly."

"Why?"

"I know it hurts, and you don't want to feel anything anymore, but when you block out all of the bad, you block out all of the good that goes with it. Cherish your feelings for Mira, your memories of her. Don't try to bury them and forget. Be grateful that it hurts. Believe me, there is nothing more painful than being truly numb. When you've lost all meaning and sensation, you end up in a very dark place, where you'll do anything just to feel again, and you never fully come back from that."

For a moment, the words went over Oath's head, but then his eyes widened as a memory flashed through his alcohol-soaked mind. The face Noah made when Tin died, that stony expression, it finally made sense.

"Is that what happened to you? You lost someone?"

"I've lost a lot of people, more than you can imagine. Losing a loved one, mourning them, it's supposed to be hard, because if it's easy, you forget how to do it." Noah then got up and shouldered his backpack.

"Where are you going?" Oath asked.

"I have business in the capital."

"My father and I are going there in three days. You can travel with us."

"Nah, I'll find my own way. Besides, I've already given your father enough avenium to ensure you become a noble, so there is no point in sticking around here."

"You never told us what he promised you. Why were you so obsessed with conquering the dungeon?"

Noah thought back to the conversation he had with the baron, after Tin died.

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Noah was sitting in the baron's study, having just confessed to killing his brother and nephew. "We didn't have the chance to talk about payment for this job, but don't worry, I'm not interested in money or land. There is something else I want."

"Which is?"

"I want a letter of recommendation to the Uther Knight Academy. I heard they only grant admittance on the good word of a noble, such as yourself."

Ivan scrunched up his face and nearly spat out his drink. To be an Utheric knight was a great honor and responsibility, as while they ranked below barons on the nobility scale, their achievements could give them greater authority and political influence. "You expect me to put my good name on the line for a stranger? Just take some avenium for yourself and become a noble. You'll be even richer than a knight. Or if you want to serve your country, just join the military."

"Any schmuck with a pulse can be conscripted and turned into a soldier. I'm not after wealth, prestige, or achievements, and I don't care about this country."

Noah then reached into his pocket and placed a yellow potion on the baron's desk.

"What is that?" Ivan asked.

"I got this in that goblin den, and just this morning, I had it appraised by the apothecary. It's a high-level antidote, able to cure almost any poison. I doubt even a baron like you could afford one. I had this with me when Tin was shot and didn't know it could save her life. She died because of my ignorance. I've come to realize that despite my skills and experience, I don't know nearly enough about this world. I want to change that, and to do so, I need an education. Spending years in an ivory tower doesn't interest me. I want to learn how to live and properly fight in this world, and the best place to do that is the knight academy, where they supposedly train the best of the best. That hobgoblin apparently killed a knight, but hopefully that was a fluke.

So what do you say? Is your son's future not worth a single letter?"

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"I suppose..." Noah said, looking back to Oath, "I just wanted to finally keep a promise, rather than making yet another lie. Good luck to you, Lord Fault."

Noah left the inn and walked over to the post where his horse was hitched. He rode out of Clive, and when he was finally alone, he held out his hand, and an envelope appeared on his palm from within his ring. On it was a wax seal, the Fault coat of arms. With this, his path was laid out before him. His next stop: the Utheric royal capital.

To be continued in Volume 2! Please comment!