BXBX NOVEL Chapter 121: St. Amella
Chapter 121: St. Amella
It was dark outside the windows. It was night. A slight mist had come from the mountains and settled in the valley.
Adam\'s eyelids fluttered. He was about to wake up.
While slowly waking up, he heard distant noises. Those clearly didn\'t come from the same room but from outside. Perhaps from downstairs.
He opened his eyes. It was so quick that it almost looked like he had already been awake, just resting his eyes shut.
"Blanket?" Adam sat up and slowly removed the blanket, but he was immediately hit by a wave of familiar cold and the memory of the sea.
He covered himself up again.
His skin had turned paler than usual, almost blue, like ice. There was a frigid feeling still lingering in his bones.
"Where am I?"
He looked around the unfamiliar room. It made him wonder whether he was still dreaming.
At first, he thought he had died and got thrown back into the real world. However, the room in the Navy Town house wasn\'t as warm as this one or as cozy.
"I was found." Adam sat on the edge of the bed, pulled the blanket with him, and stood up from the bed.
It was hard to walk at first, but he managed to take a few steps towards the door.
He wrapped the blanket around his freezing body, then made his way through the door, then down the hallway that led to the staircase. He made his way down the steps.
The sounds became louder and had hints of familiarity.
An arm suddenly wrapped around his shoulder and squeezed in a comforting manner.
"Finally, you wake up, aye?"
Adam turned to see Zahn grinning at him. His cheeks were already flushed and clearly drunk, but he was still in complete control of himself.
A mere alcoholic drink wouldn\'t be able to shake the mercenary\'s state of mind.
"Zahn..." Adam whispered. "What happened? How am I here?"
"You\'re awake!"
Lucette heard noises and came over to see Adam, who had finally woken up. Her voice was full of joy as she jumped to Adam, pressing her chest against his face and hugging her in a
motherly fashion.
Hearing that, the rest also came to the staircase, joyous to see Adam awake and well.
It was truly shocking to hear the ringing of a bell and then pass out Adam on the doorsteps. He just appeared there, out of nowhere. They tried to ask around if someone knew who brought him, but no one had an idea.
A couple of the council\'s members also visited their living place, coming to talk about Adam\'s sudden appearance.
They were clearly hoping to see Adam awake so they could speak to him, but they couldn\'t linger around for too long either, or it was clear that they had some other reasons for being there.
Footsteps came from the steps above them. Digby also came after hearing the commotion, a relieved smile on his face. He was the happiest after seeing Adam on the doorsteps.
"Adam." Digby nodded, sounding formal. "You must be surprised to be here."
"Yeah..." Adam scratched the back of his head. "How am I here?"
"Let\'s take a seat by the fireplace; you must be freezing, and we\'ll explain everything to you." They left the steps of the staircase. It was too narrow there, and then they went to the next room. Everyone continued patting Adam on the shoulder, welcoming him back warmly.
Adam took a seat closest to the fireplace. Its logs are crackling softly, filling the room with warmth.
It was very warm, as they knew that Adam was freezing, almost like a block of ice, so they had been warming up the house for hours after his return.
It was so warm that others even sweated but didn\'t complain, knowing that Adam was in desperate need of the warmth.
With a blanket and a fireplace next to him, Adam still felt slightly cold. Not as bad as before, though. The color started to return to his face as well.
"Mind telling us what happened first?" Digby asked.
Adam nodded and began from the beginning. Telling everything he talked about with Amella. Then he talked about what happened after that and where he ended up after falling to the sea.
"It was all Aria\'s doing, after all," Valora spat out angrily. "It\'s unfortunately all hearsay. We cannot accuse her of anything."
"I thought someone of her caliber wanted you to be on her side," Digby said with a frown. "To think that she would straight up kill you for refusing her offer."
"That sounds badly thought of, no?" Zahn said. "Adam would\'ve just lost a couple of months. It\'s not a big deal. He can start from over, and Aria would\'ve made an enemy out of S-ranker."
"Every month counts," Digby said. "A war is coming. There\'s no stopping."
Digby had a simple thought about Aria\'s plan. She didn\'t care about the status that came with having an S-ranker in the same faction. It didn\'t really matter to her.
A strength, on the other hand, did.
If Adam wasn\'t strong enough before the great war came, then he would be pretty useless to everyone. Thus, if he refused her, she wanted him killed so that he would waste precious
months.
He would only bring status to the faction. It could increase the numbers of that specific faction, but she didn\'t care about that.
She already had a big guild and an even larger army backing her. She only needed strong
members.
"Do you know who saved you, Adam?" Lucette asked, rubbing her warm hand on his shoulder, comforting him like a mother.
"No," Adam shook his head. "I guess I passed out."
"The Gathering starts tomorrow," Digby said. "Stay here. I am not putting you in danger\'s
way anymore."
"But..." Adam sighed but realized why, and then he slowly nodded. "I\'ll stay put..."
"What should we do with the Shattered Shields?" Zahn asked. "We killed their guild master."
"Amella is dead?" Adam asked in surprise.
"Yeah..." Valora nodded. "She fought back hard, but it wasn\'t enough."
"A war might be heading our way," Digby said. "Luckily, Amella was their only Royal Princess. They do have a couple of Prime Mercenaries, but I think I can take care of them."
"Their home base is in Imperium City," Lucette said. "However, I think they\'ll leave. They are not strong enough to live there anymore, or they\'ll get swallowed by other guilds." "We\'ll need to be careful here," Digby said. "The rumors spread like wildfire. I wouldn\'t be surprised if they already know we killed their guild master."
Adam stayed quiet. This new took him by the surprise. It left him with a sour taste in his
mouth.
\'I suppose this was her goal, after all. When I was on that wretched rock, I was thinking about what she was possibly thinking. She was going to quit the game nonetheless.
\'Her life went way differently in my past life-there, she ended up marrying the King, gave
him a couple of children, and lived a life of luxury in the palace. She was also a crowned saint
of the orphanage it was renamed St. Amella\'s Orphanage.
\'I wonder if she\'ll be happier with her current life. Only time will tell, I suppose.\'