Seth Chapter 63

“She woke up!” He shouted out, taking the attention of everyone.

Noah and Rebecca turned to look at the woman and Seth rushed to the woman's side and kneeled, looking straight into her blue eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asked as the woman groaned, trying to raise herself up from the ground.

“What? Where… am I?” she asked, her voice sweet as she looked around, her eyes widening at the half destroyed church. “No, no, I'm going to die. I'm going to die! He will kill me!”

“You are not going to die! It's alright now. We are here. Do you remember anything?”

He asked, trying to reassure her of safety, but the woman shook her head and tried to stand up.

The next second, her attempt faltered as she wobbled before falling on the ground again and clutching her head.

Seth picked her up and rolled her onto her back. Putting her head in his lap, he noticed her eyes closing as she passed out, again.

He tapped her gently on her cheeks to wake her up. “Hey, are you okay? Can you listen to me?”

There was no response and although her chest was moving up and down, she seemed to have gotten unconscious again.

“Seth, is she okay?” Rebecca asked. Only now he noticed both of his companions standing behind him.

“She’s unconscious again.”

“She will wake up soon. It's good that at least she's not in a prolonged coma,” she said and he nodded her head.

Going by her words, it definitely seemed like the woman had witnessed some traumatic events, so the possibility of her seeing the perpetrator was high.

“Let's get her in the carriage, so we can start to move. If she wakes up before reaching Hallmark City, we can hand her over to the authorities and let them deal with the aftermath of it.”

Noah said and turned around.

Maybe it was a mistake, but Seth felt like Noah just wanted to wash his hands off the woman and Nasper Town like he didn't want to bother with it. It didn't fit well with him because innocents were killed, but he swallowed the words that nearly came out of his throat.

Picking up the woman, he got her into the back of the carriage and got in himself.

Once everyone was on board, the carriage started moving again.

As soon as the carriage crossed the boundary of the town, he noticed a dirt road that would lead right into the next big city.

The entire time, Seth kept glancing at the woman, hoping for her to wake up again, so he could learn more about the incident.

By her words before passing out, he at least knew that whoever had been responsible was a “he”.

She had seen him and probably hid in the church as the preparator had continued his killing spree. It did match the hypothesis he had made earlier on the woman.

“Seth,” Rebecca called him out, her eyes glancing in between the woman and him. “Do you think she remembers whoever had been responsible for the massacre?”

It seems like she had been thinking the same things as him.

Nodding his head, he said,“I think so. She definitely saw the preparator, but I doubt she will be able to remember him. We have to wait for her to wake up for that. If there's magic which can help us trace her memories, it will become easier.”

“There's a high ranking spell like that.” Rebecca confirmed.

“Then, we can use it to know more if she doesn't remember the appearance of the—”

“Even if we know whoever did it, we won't be delaying our destination to go after that person or group, whoever is responsible for it,” Noah said, interrupting Seth. “Let the local authorities deal with it. They can take help from the Adventurers Guild too.”

“You don't want to help the townsfolk and this woman get justice?”

Seth asked, looking at Noah. His words again implied that he didn't care enough about the whole situation. Why was that? It was a stark contrast to the man who had even taken on a small quest that barely paid back in Sacria City.

“I hope she gets justice. Everyone does. They deserve it, but it's not our place to meddle with it. Like I said before, they are already dead. Poking our nose in this matter might not be good, especially when we have a city to visit.” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

“That can wait if there's a chance we can go after the perpetrators. We can't run away from it.”

“We are not running away. It's just not our business,” he replied, his voice a bit more assertive. “Seth, I get you want to have justice, but it's not the first time someone has massacred an entire town in one night. It won't be the last too. If we try to get too involved with it, it will be an additional burden.”

“Additional burden?!”

Seth shouted out, not able to control his outburst. Lots of emotions circled in his mind, but the one that took precedence was anger.

His voice boomed in the back of the carriage, “I don't know what's your problem, but it's certainly not an additional burden to bring justice to innocents, especially when we have the power to do so. Aren't you the strongest adventurer in the world? Or just got that title as a mistake?” He asked before he could process the words coming out of his mouth.

“A good adventurer knows what challenges to take. And if you want to find out why I got that title, you are free to swing your dagger at me.”

The atmosphere tensed as both of them looked ready to take on each other. Rebecca sat in the middle, looking perplexed at the ongoing standoff.

“You two, please stop! We can't afford to fight right now,” she said, trying to hold both of them down.

“Rebecca, you hear what he said. I'm in my right to be angry here.” Seth looked at her.

“It's not that—”

A faint groan stopped her words and all of them looked towards the woman who blinked her eyes, coming to consciousness again before a gasp escaped her lips.

Before Seth could ask anything, it morphed into a full blown scream as she rolled around the carriage.

“Hey, stop screaming! Everything is alright. You don't have to be scared.”

Seth said, but the woman kept screaming like she had seen the abyssal horror in her sleep before hitting her head against the roof of the carriage. Her body slumped back down and her eyes closed.

Rebecca checked up on her and looked back at the both of them, “She passed out again!”

Both of them frowned, looking at each other.

Noah shook his head and took out a book from a bag. Opening it up, he started turning the pages.

“Don't disturb me,” he said.

Seth didn't say anything in response, not wanting to argue any further. He leaned against his seat, keeping an eye out on the woman.

Her face lacked any blemishes which he found strange. Maybe she was sheltered all her life? Shaking his head, he closed his eyes, deciding to not think about it.

The rest of the journey passed in silence other than the occasional outburst from the woman. She would wake up screaming before passing out again and again.

It seemed like she had been going through nightmares and something was pulling her back into sleep. They decided to let her be and wait till she finally came to be.

Night fell and they decided to stop by the side of the road to unpack and prepare dinner. With the dirt road and rocky terrain, it was hard to navigate, so they could only start moving tomorrow.

The good thing was that Hallmark City was just a day away from here.

“Seth, here take it.”

Seth stopped stretching his body and looked up to see Rebecca passing him a sandwich. Right behind her, Noah was already stuffing his face into one alongside the carriage driver.

Flames flickered in front of them as they basked in its warmth.

“Thank you,” he said, taking a bite and smiling.

Rebecca was a good cook and as he hadn't eaten for over a day, his stomach was already protesting. He finished the sandwich in just under a minute and drank some water from his pouch.

“Do you have more of these?” He asked.

“Yes, but Noah said he will prepare a soup, so you shouldn't eat more,” she said before her eyes looked towards the carriage. The woman had been left there. “Do you think she had a curse on her with how she's waking up, screaming and passing out?”

“I don't know,” he said. “We would have to let a Cleric check up on her. For now, let's—”

A scream again interrupted him. Realising she had woken up again, Seth ran towards the carriage and entered it, looking at the woman who sprawled on the carriage floor and screamed.

He crawled towards her and held her hands in an attempt to calm her down.

“It's okay. You are safe now. There's no need to scream,” he said as the woman looked at him. “If you keep screaming like this, you are going to attract monsters.”

Her scream stopped. Her eyes looked at him with panic and she struggled to put distance between them.

Realising that she was listening this time, he raised his hands, “I'm not going to hurt you. I'm an adventurer. Me and my companions found you in the church. Do you remember anything?”

“Church?” She simply stared at her before her eyes went wide. Tears pooled up in her eyes as she flailed her arms anxiously. “They were killed… Everyone was killed by flames… my friends… family.”

“Who was it?” he asked, concerned that she was going to pass out any moment. “You can talk about it.”

“I… I don't know his name.”

“It's alright. I'm going to help you. Do you remember what he looked like?”

She slowly nodded her head and Seth felt like he was finally getting somewhere. He heard footsteps behind him and saw Rebecca peeking her head into the carriage.

“Seth, is she okay?”

“Yes, she had woken up. For sure this time,” he replied, turning back. “Let me get her to come out.”

He said and looked at the woman.

She simply cried, grabbing the edge of the carriage and looking at him with fear. He didn't know how to deal with her, but he had to try.

“What is your name?”

“My name?”

“Yes, your name.”

She blinked her eyes, seemingly trying to remember it before it clicked.

“Ma… Maria,” she said.

“Maria, why don't we head out first. We have some food. I am sure you would be hungry.”

An uncomfortable silence descended as she didn't answer, biting her lips and rubbing her face with the hem of her clothes. Seth simply waited, not wanting to look forceful.

“Okay.”

She finally said and they slowly got out of the carriage. Maria gave Rebecca a look, but didn't say anything.

They stepped towards the fire where the soup was boiling and Noah raised his hand, calling out to them.

“So, she's finally up,” he said.

Seth nodded. “I think we should feed her before asking any more questions. Are you hungry, Maria—”

He froze as he turned to look at Maria whose face looked pale as she pointed her finger at Noah. The Archmage Knight tilted his head in confusion as her whole body quivered like she was getting a panic attack.

“He… he was the one who killed everyone! The devil… who slaughtered my… family!!”

She shouted out and accused him. Everyone froze as they all looked at Noah who stood up, his face scrunching up in confusion.

What did she say? Noah destroyed the town?

Seth stood watching her as he blinked his eyes in shock.