Chapter 76: New Party Member
The soldiers on night duty at the campsite were beyond startled to see the hero of item box, who had stubbornly insisted on venturing into the dangerous forest for a night stroll, now hurrying over carrying a disheveled and heavily wounded young lady in his arms who looked almost half dead as he yelled..... "This lady needs help!. Quick, go get the hero of healing light!"
The soldier was forced into immediate action by the urgency in the hero’s voice as he rushed to get the hero of healing light. However, there wasn’t a need for that since Zorat’s rushed entrance had already woken up the entire camp, and everyone was quickly gathering around him and Myrra.
Zorat carefully laid Myrra on a fabric that had been quickly laid out by the ever-efficient Ariana as she implored the drowsy Lily to come administer some healing.
It took a minute for Lily to gather herself, and she begrudgingly got to using one of her only available healing skills on the observably gravely injured Myrra, as a green light of pure warm manner washed over Myrra’s battered form.
Her torn skin mended in real time, her rushed, raspy breathing steadied, and in only a couple more minutes, her condition had visibly stabilized, and she was soon fast asleep in deep rest.
"Who is this person, hero of item box ?’ The knight commander, who had been watching Zorat’s every move the whole time, finally spoke.
In fact, she had been fully awake when Zorat had arrived with the injured woman, but made absolutely no move to assist in any manner, and was only just zoning in on Zorat’s every mannerism, as if trying to unravel the mystery behind his latest ploy.
Azaria felt this was oddly similar to what happened at the dungeon; the hero of item box always seemed to be involved in something. Compounded with how she already felt about him, Azaria was going to make sure she unravels this person’s secrets.
"Found her half dead in the woods. What, was it wrong to help her ?" Zorat replied indignantly to Azaria, not even bothering to glance her way as he appeared visibly worried for resting Myrra.
Azaria, of course, wasn’t buying this act; she had the feeling that the hero of item box wasn’t exactly the helpful kind of person who would save a damsel in distress, just like the real her. Still, she couldn’t come out and say all that; the more she observes this person, the more she feels the need to take action before it’s too late.
"Fine. She should be fine in the morning and... I will get the rest of the story from her," she muttered, turning around as she went back to her resting futon by the comp fire.
Azaria hadn’t slept a wink. She had been up the entire time Zorat had left. Suspecting he was up to something, but because she couldn’t leave all the other heroes alone while she stalked him, she chose to remain in place and await his return; and this same hero happens to find an injured girl by chance in the woods ?. Azaria shook her head at the improbability, thinking something sus must have happened in the woods, and she now regretted not tailing him.
The other heroes stuck around as Myrra was moved closer to the campfire. They talked some more before everyone slowly went back to sleep, and eventually, so did Zorat.
He had to push himself a little extra, using his earth manipulation ability to cause exaggerated surface-level injuries on Myrra that were done to look like a beast attack to fool his hero party and Azaria about her origins.
These wounds are only surface-level, as no one present could have investigated any deeper before healing was administered.
As it turns out, Myrra was terrible at enduring pain, so Zorat had to be particularly surgical in the implementation of those wounds, so the pain doesn’t overwhelm her.
Still, she wailed like a banshee all through, causing Zorat to almost reconsider having her around.
Zorat was disappointed Myrra didn’t share his exquisite passion for the flavors of pain, as he had hoped. Which was indeed a shame.
He knew once they got to the camp, even though it was obvious that the girl, Lily, didn’t seem to like him very much for some reason, at least she would do her duty as the hero of healing light and heal someone who was injured. And that’s exactly what happened.
Before long, it was morning again, and Zorat was fully rested. The higher his realm climbed, the faster his body’s restorative capabilities improved.
As soon as everyone was awake, they all gathered around Myrra to find out what exactly had happened to her, and none was more curious than the knight commander.
She bombarded Myrra with successive interrogatory questions.... However, Myrra was playing the role Zorat had instructed her to perfectly.
Her only response was that she couldn’t recall anything about herself and only knew she was saved by Caleb last night before she passed out.
And the conclusive effect of that was that she had to be suffering from memory loss from whatever accident led her to her present situation.
Since they couldn’t just abandon the young lady who was clearly a blank slate upstairs, some of the heroes suggested that she join them on their journey back to the palace before her origins are properly traced.
Ariana and Julia were most enthused by this idea since they were eager to help a potential girl pal.
The knight commander was at first stubbornly against that idea, but with the insistence of the heroes, she decidedly succumbed on the condition that they thereafter conduct an extensive investigation into who exactly the girl is, which was always the plan; they needed to find her family. Someone out there must surely be looking for her.
Zorat had to give the knight commander kudos for her intuition, which was spot on...
He had already figured out why she had been particularly hostile and confrontational with him ever since he arrived in this world.
He was now actually quite enjoying the drama and Azaria’s every suspicious reaction directed at him. Which she rarely bothers to hide now.
Even though technically, Zorat was from an entirely different dimensional space, he is still one of the primordials of an entire supreme species of demons.
Though his presence inside Caleb’s body has been intentionally repressed to an infinitesimal amount so the body does not implode on itself, his mere presence could still directly influence the perception of every demonic race around him.
At his current repressed aura level, he wasn’t sure exactly what Azaria would be feeling when she is in his presence, but it should be akin to reverence....
Which, for a woman so proud, could also be warped into hatred since her subjective perception of Zorat was still that of a weak and lowly item box hero.
It was a certainty that Azaria is a demon, but Zorat isn’t exactly sure of her origins in this world; however, something tells him he will soon be finding out.
The journey through the forest soon resumed, with Myrra now tagging along.
As it turns out, she’s also quite likeable, and soon she was freely conversing and blending in with the party of heroes.
The occasional fights with forest beasts would ensue, and though Myrra was at the master realm, since she’s supposed to have lost all her memories, she stayed behind and let the others do all the fighting.
And finally, after so many grueling days, they had arrived at the palace gates.