The Insider System

Chapter 326: Grateful

"He's right down there." Lake didn't stop as he said this so he wasn't sure if Hert had actually been able to hear what he said or not because of the speed they were moving but it really didn't matter since they were almost there and he could just say it again once they stopped.

When they got down to the bottom of the mountain where the hurt guy was hiding, Lake stopped and yelled. "I'm back, let us in." Seeing the entrance to the cave reaper a half second later, Lake was happy to know they had made it back in time to save the guy because finding him dead would have been a real bummer after all the effort he had put in.

Alright go ahead and crawl in first, there isn't much space and you'll need to be able to get close enough to get rid of the curse, right?" Hert nodded after Lake said this and got down on his hands and knees to go into the cave.

Lake briefly thought about leaving since he was supposed to be taking care of something for the Temple of Light and word of his slaking could get back to them but he decided to just go in to see what this getting rid of a curse would look like.

Once he got to where the other two men where Lake could see the process had already started and turned on Mana Vision so he could get a better look at what would be going on around the man's core.

Right away he was able to tell the process was a lot more fierce than he had expected with what seemed to be internal combat going on between the curse and Herts mana strings that were coming from his hands.

Lake really hadn't expected for the curse to fight back since it kind of looked like a formation originally to him but he guessed it made sense that if you knew what you were doing you would want to make something called a curse as nasty as possible. It did make him wonder what the process of creation was like and if it was actually a lot different to making a normal formation.

After a while Lake saw one of the parts of the curse dissolve and a few seconds later the whole curse started to fall apart from where the mana strands coming from Hert were holding onto it. He guessed this was the end and was about to ask if they needed a health potion when the guy on the ground suddenly sat up and started vomiting.

This was quite gross to watch since the man on the ground was still wearing his helmet but eventually it ended and Lake offered the potion. "Do you need this?"

He figured that now that the most life threatening injuries were physically they would take him up on this offer right away but surprisingly Hert turned him down by saying. "No, it's fine I have some here in my bag." After he said this he pulled one out and took the top off. "Dek I'm going to take off your helmet so I can give you this potion."

"Go ahead. I would do it myself if I could move my arms." As Hert took off the helmet Lake got his first look at the man he had been trying to save for the last few hours and had no idea how the guy was still alive. His flesh was completely gray and it looked like his head had partially split open. It was all really bad except for the man's eyes that looked lively somehow.

This all quickly changed as the potion started to enter his mouth and Lake sat and watched in silence as the man's limbs untwisted themselves. "The Armor is getting in the way because it was damaged in the fall so help me get it off of him so the healing isn't affected in any way."

Lake didn't say no and carefully started to take the dented metal that seemed to be getting in the way off of the man's legs and arms. Once they were done he watched as Dek was given one more potion to fix anything else that might have still been broken and was about to leave when Hert started to talk to him.

"Sorry about the others not believing you. It seemed they were right that no one should have been able to survive a fall like that though. Those are probably the worst injuries I've ever seen someone survive after all of these years of being a healer."

Lake loved it when people gave him thanks so he quickly accepted in a way to look humble by saying. "It's no problem. I have to go back to my mission now so I'll be leaving. Good luck."

"Wait, take this with you. Once this is over, bring it to the Temple and I'll make sure you receive an award for helping us even though you are in the middle of something. The treaties only cover important people like an Oracle or a Temple Leader so you didn't have to help at all. You've probably saved the rest of us as well so you really don't know how much this mattered."

"How did I save all of you? You were fine in the camp, right?" Lake wasn't opposed to taking more credit that he deserved but he wanted to understand what Hert meant. "We were kind of stranded but with Dek we'll be able to get back to the city in a matter of hours on a stone platform. If we were stuck out here we would have probably starved before we made it back."

Hearing this explanation Lake took the piece of twisted armor that was some type of reward token and turned to leave. "Well in that case I'll see you later. Like I said, good luck out here." As he was leaving the cave he was happy to know he had helped another high ranking person here in the Metal Domain and actually received a promise of a reward this time.

All his other actions were kind of hard to get credit for since the amount they actually helped were hard to calculate but saving the guards of the Metal Oracle probably was easy to put into cash value since they would know how expensive it was to replace them all.

Just because he was promised didn't mean it would happen though; with the situation the Metal Domain would be in even if they did somehow win to a point they could start paying people the financial situation would probably make getting one million gold from them impossible.

...

"It's dealt with but I don't think this will be the last time we are attacked on the way back." The Temple Head started talking the second she opened the door to the cart so Tiff wasn't exactly ready for what she was saying and asked. "What?" Even though she had clearly heard it all.

"We'll probably be attacked again and I wouldn't be surprised if the gods have to get involved to protect us." The Temple Head was saying now that they would be traveling in the Holy domain again a Demigod belonging to the Demon Lord would probably appear thinking they had to since the Light Temples Temple Head and one of their newest demigods in training were in the same place as the God of Metals Oracle.

If they were somehow able to destroy this cart they would get a huge return on whatever they lost to get it done. Being such a bid target wasn't great so Tiff asked. "Should I get out and try to sneak back on my own." With her not here all the important people wouldn't be in one place so the risk wouldn't be as great.

"It's up to you but I believe we should trust in the God of Light to keep us all safe. If we split up there will be more demigods that have to get involved if you are discovered." Tiff guessed the Temple Head was right and decided to stay even though she apparently had a choice. It was still weird to her that the Temple Head no longer got to order her to do things since it had been that way for so long.

"Do you think the God of Metal will send a demigod to help protect you if we're attacked?" Hearing this question Tiff turned to the Metal Oracle to see what she would say. "Probably not. With no war sending any divine beings down would be against the founding laws of this world."

"Maybe he should declare war then." Once again something came out of her mouth accidentally before she could think about it and Tiff realized that she didn't like the Metal Oracle for some reason. She wasn't usually rude or even able to talk to someone as important as an Oracle so her acting like this meant she was mad at her for some reason.

"No, I think he knows what's best." It was obvious the Metal Oracle didn't appreciate Tiff openly questioning her god but it seemed she didn't find it offensive enough to lose her cool. Tiff was actually grateful for this because she knew her animosity towards the Oracle was misplaced since she was at the whims of their gods like the rest of them and probably more so because of her position within the Metal Temple.