Chapter 55. Results of hard work

Michael didn't feel happy after hearing the explanation and seeing the cheerful atmosphere. Instead, he was concerned.

However, he kept a poker face and smiled at Mina as a show of gratitude. He would check later with her and Helen if his assumption could be correct.

[Come, Michael! You'll ride with me.](Helen)

Nodding and gesturing to his party members, they all followed behind the skinnier guards so that they didn't burden the horses too much.

Christine also climbed on Mina's horse, as riding with another man wouldn't have been appropriate. At least, that's how Michael saw it from Burt's perspective.

Who says men aren't capable of jealousy? And even if he wasn't, why risk it?

About ten minutes later, Mina threw a torch burning with a blue fire on the nearest Ghoul Corpse next to her.

"What's that?"

[Watch.](Helen)

A blazing fire wave immediately appeared, burning the corpse of the Ghoul instantly and quickly expanding to nearby Corpses through the blood and gore on the ground.

In moments, the previously snow-covered fields turned blue with burning fire, but Michael saw no temperature increase or the snow melting.

Looking at the fire moving rapidly through the narrow passage, Michael turned and raised an eyebrow at Helen.

[It's called Sacred Fire. It's pretty expensive, but the results are pretty enough. It only works on monsters, demons, and other creatures killed by Wanderers. Not only does the fire not actually burn and can't affect its surroundings or hurt ordinary people, but through the Sanctuary's blessing, the ashes turn into fertilizer for the ground.](Helen)

"That's pretty vicious. Invaders turn into fertilizer. This Sanctuary knows how to play. I like it!"

Watching the spectacle for a while longer, Helen gave the order, and the group returned to Kyovashad.

Helen, Mina, and the other three guards carrying the remaining people were allowed to stay in the middle. In contrast, the remaining guards surrounded them in a box formation, ensuring their safety in case of a sudden attack.

After half an hour of riding on horseback, Helen finally broke the silence.

[What's wrong? You've been silent all this while. Are you upset that I came to save you?](Helen)

Hearing the teasing in her tone, Michael's hands went under her armor and upward, drawing a gasp from the lady.

Proud of his achievement, Michael stopped while ahead as too many eyes were watching.

"Nothing of sorts. I'm not that shallow. I'm a bit worried."

[Hmpf! I'll deal with you later. What's wrong?](Helen)

"The Ghoul Boss was quite intelligent."

[Creatures that reach that level usually are. Even if we can't always communicate with them, their intelligence shouldn't be lower than the average human.](Helen)

"Thought as much. Now, tell me. Is it normal for monsters to rashly attack like that after noticing the penalty imposed on their levels?"

[You mean?](Helen)

"It's too strange. The monster wasn't berserk, and according to you guys, it should be a much higher level but brought down to Level 10 because of our blessing."

[Correct. It should be somewhere around Level 50. Probably even higher after getting Lilith's blessing... Do you think...](Helen)

"Not sure. It might be me just overthinking it. But there are too many coincidences to ignore."

[Do you think she's targeting you?](Helen)

Michael shook his head and didn't continue the conversation for now. Helen also kept quiet, ruminating on the sudden influx of information.

'If she were targeting me, there would've been much easier ways to get rid of me, certainly not while under the Sanctuary's blessing. Also, the Sanctuary's blessing itself is weird, as it shouldn't necessarily be given to us. The guards and the Monk in Menestad were beyond surprised that we got it.'

The more Michael thought about it, the stranger and more complicated the situation got.

After all, sending such strong creatures to get slaughtered by himself and his party wasn't targeting, but feeding them experience points.

Seeing the city walls in the distance, Michael temporarily threw aside the thoughts of Lilith and decided to relax for a while.

[We're finally here. The participants in the rescue party can go home for the night. Your names will be given to Sir Zivek, and you'll have each the respective number of free repairs. As for the newbie party, tomorrow you'll join me for a detailed report on the exact situation.](Helen)

The rescue party thanked them before returning to sleep, as the four newbies, Monk Bozan, Mina, and Helen, stayed behind.

[Your tithe chest, sir Bozan.](Christine)

[Don't give it to me. I was planning to hand it over to another Wanderer party in a Quest to send the Tithing Demands to Menestad, but seeing as you're this dependable, I can't think of a better solution. What do you think?](Bozan)

Hearing the proposal, three heads turned to look at Michael. Bozan quickly followed with a hopeful look, making him smile tiredly.

"We'll finish what we started."

[Great! Thank you! Truly, thank you, Wanderers. If not for you, I'm not sure I would've made it through the night.](Bozan)

[ Quest update - Menestad Coffers

Objective: Deliver the Tithing Demands to Telgun, the Merchant Lord. ]

Seeing the other three party members smile, Michael shook his head and realized that these people might've turned into adrenaline junkies after tonight's encounter.

[After all that mess, I really need some sleep. My insides are killing me...](Burt)

[I'm sorry, but there's not much more I can do about it. That potion is quite ridiculous if its backlash is so strong.](Mina)

[No, no! Miss Mina already reduced the time needed to recover by more than half. I'll be back to normal by noon tomorrow.](Burt)

[I'll head to sleep also. Are you guys heading for Sleepy Peaks also?](Aybdah)

[Mhm.](Christine)

[Yep.](Burt)

"I'll..."

[You'll come with me and Mina.](Helen)

"Eh?"

[Eh?](Mina)

Seeing the strange silence and the six pairs of eyes looking at her, Helen blushed and stomped her feet.

[You need to give me a report of what happened! Also, you said you want to take a bath. We have a proper bath in our mansion.](Helen)

"Sure."

As for agreeing instantly, don't joke around. Who would dare to miss an opportunity to spend the night with many beautiful girls?

When it came to ulterior motives, Michael was confident that he had less than Helen had. This greedy fellow probably wanted him to cook for them again.

The group separated under the envious eyes of Christine and Aybdah, confusing Michael slightly.

'I get why Aybdah is jealous, but why is Christine also? Could it be that she's interested in Helen? In that case, I can only help Burt get drunk for a week straight to overcome his heartbreak.'

Ten minutes later, Michael and the two ladies returned to the Pink Palace, where a servant greeted them and took the horses back to the stables.

Immediately after they entered the mansion, the remaining 'sisters' appeared like vultures searching for good food.

Seeing how eager they were to hear the 'story' and have a midnight snack, Michael almost burst out laughing, as he was certain they were more interested in the snack than the story.

[No snacks after midnight! We talked about it before! If you become little piglets, nobody will want you. Also, Michael just went through a tough and long fight, don't bother him.](Mina)

Seeing Mina rebuking the ladies so fiercely surprised him for a moment until he remembered that this gentle-looking priestess was actually one of the older sisters of this group, alongside Helen and Aylin.

"If you don't mind, I can prepare breakfast tomorrow morning instead. Right now, I'm both sweaty and dirty and super tired. Would prefer to serve you something edible instead of burnt food."

Slightly disappointed, the group of pretty vultures disappeared back to their nests, leaving Mina and Helen aside, whispering to each other.

Seeing Mina blush as she was urging Helen, he couldn't help but snicker. Obviously, Mina caught this, forcing a deeper shade of red on her face.

He only heard something about 'doing things in moderation' from the priestess before she ran away like a startled deer, leaving both Michael and Helen startled and amused.

[Let's go upstairs. I already had one of the servant girls prepare the bath.](Helen)

Looking at the sexy tigress in front of him, still covered in blood from the slayed Ghouls, Michael smiled and approached her.

"Let's take a bath together."

[No. I'm covered in blood.](Helen)

"My point exactly. I can help you scrub it off."

Seeing the disdainful expression on her face, Michael knew he failed. He could only climb the stairs under the sound of chuckles from behind.

The bathroom... lived up to the expectations one might have regarding a palace. Pink or otherwise.

"I know that women care about cleanliness more than men do, but damn this is over the top!"

Looking at the indoor pool/jacuzzi, Michael was stumped for words. Wasn't this the second floor!? How did they dig up a goddamn pool here?

Seeing the water vapor rising from the ridiculously sized bathtub', he could only complain that poverty limited his imagination.

Stripping naked and putting his clothes in the basket as Helen instructed, Michael walked toward the shower in the corner, where he cleansed the grime and sweat off his body.

A couple of minutes later, he was already soaking in the hot water, feeling more healed than after drinking Healing Potions.

"*Sigh* While it's hard to be rich yourself, who says you can't become a pretty face that lives off a pretty woman?"

As he relaxed in the water, the events of the last 24 hours kept replaying in his mind.

He truly believed they were lucky to get out of that alive. If Lilith wanted him dead, he would've certainly died.

'But she needs me alive for some reason. Is it because of the connection? Maybe it has something to do with the Altars?'

At the end of the day, there was too much speculation and too little information. A blind guess was as good as not knowing anything.

[ Attack Power: 168

Armor: 223

Life: 104

--------------

Strength: 38

Intelligence: 39

Willpower: 40

Dexterity: 46 ]

Seeing the new and improved Attributes Page, Michael smiled in satisfaction. This was only with his current low-level items. Once he got better gear, his stats would explode accordingly.

It wasn't that long ago that he reached Level 6 by killing spiders on his way to find Lorath, but now, he was almost Level 10 and got much stronger.

'Not to mention the skills. I am now more all-rounded when it comes to capability. I have Bone Splinters for attack and Essence regeneration, Blight for damage, slowing enemies, as well as enabling my minions, Corpse Explosion for AOE damage, Blood Mist for evasion, and finally Bone Prison for lockdown. Oh! And Raise Skeleton, obviously.'

Thinking back, Michael realized that he valued the Raise Skeletons the highest among all his skills. After all, his trusty minions helped him stay alive by staving off hordes of enemies with their swords, time and time again.

No matter how many skills you have, in the end, a pair of fists is no match for eight hands.

'If we add weapons and skills that enemies have in that equation as well... Without my Skeleton Warriors, I would've probably died back at the camp in a wolf's mouth.'

Soaking and allowing the steam to clean up his skin and lungs, Michael grabbed the golden item box from his inventory, looking at it curiously.

Just then, Helen knocked on the door and opened it slightly.

Looking toward a corner, her mouth twitched, but she said nothing.

[You didn't fall asleep, did you?](Helen)

"Not yet. I was debating whether to open up the item box now or later. What do you think?"

[Do it now. Even if you wait until you're Level 20, you'll still get a Level 10 rare item.](Helen)

"Fair enough."

The box exploded in a spectacle of light, dimming a second later. Blinking to regain vision and cursing at the Sanctuary for being overly pompous with its blings, Michael checked the new item he had gained.

[It looks like a ring.](Helen)

"It is a ring."

[Well... You'll be able to use it soon.](Helen)

"*Sigh* It's fine; you don't have to comfort me."

Michael got up from the super-jacuzzi and watched in amusement as Helen couldn't move her eyes away from his naked body.

Thanking the Sanctuary for the automated abs that came along with this Necromancer build of his, he put on a pair of underwear, some loose pants, and a t-shirt-like piece of clothing he bought while moving around the different shops yesterday.

Grinning, he closed in on Helen and swept her in his arms in a princess carry. He moved his lips closer to her ear and whispered.

"Since I have to wake up early tomorrow to prepare breakfast, we should hurry to bed."

Seeing the difference between the obediently nodding Helen and the fierce Captain only a couple of hours ago, he couldn't help but snicker and plant a kiss on her lips.

With her directions, they quickly reached her room, where she put up two barriers before getting down to business.