Alister closed his eyes with a bright smile on his face while he spun around and fell into a pile of gold coins.

  "Jackpot!" Alister said as he tossed a handful of coins into the air. More party members followed suit by diving into piles of gold and silver coins.

  A few party members began to stuff some of the coins and jewels into their pockets, which made Alister sit up.

  "Hey, don't take too much. Only take the coins and nothing flashy that the mayor or townsfolk would ask for," Alister said as he flipped a gold coin into the air before catching it again and stuffing it into his pocket.

  Klint stormed toward Alister. He knocked a bag of jewels out of the hands of a party member who was greedily filling his own bag while he stepped in front of Alister.

  "Al, how many times do I have to tell you that letting party members steal from recovered cache vaults will anger our clients? What if important items show up missing?" Klint said while pointing at an axeman who looked around before stuffing a jeweled necklace under his shirt. Alister sighed heavily while flipping a gold coin into the air.

  "We'll just say the bandits already sold it at some Black Auction or just ran off with some of the goods. No biggie. Besides, the value in this vault alone is way more than what that puny town could cough up," Alister said with a grin while spreading his arms and looking around the treasure vault.

  "And what will happen to your reputation when word gets out that you shafted a village that bandits robbed? No one would want to hire us anymore, and you'll definitely piss off the other Heroes, especially the Sword Hero and his party. This will be a public relations disaster."

  Alister's grin quickly vanished at the mention of the Sword Hero. He combed through his hair with his fingers for a few moments before releasing a deep groan and rolling to his feet.

  "Ugh, why can't I just do whatever I want? Somebody is always breathing down my neck. Alright, boys, let's roll. No more stuffing your pockets with gold. We'll clear this vault out after the carts arrive from the inn," Alister said as he picked up one more coin and stuffed it into his pocket.

  Voices of contempt and hesitation came from a few party members until Alister raised a hand with a small ball of yellow light in his palm.

  Tiny bullets of light shot out of the ball and crashed into the head of each complaining party member inside the treasure vault, except Klint. They stumbled and fell to the ground dazed, but still alive.

  "That was just a love tap. Get moving or get carried out in a bag like this treasure."

  The party members inside quickly dropped the sacks and started filing out of the vault.

  Alister grumbled to himself as he walked out of the treasure vault and past Mill, who paid him no mind since she was too busy healing multiple seriously injured party members outside the treasure vault.

  Klint exited the treasure vault and found Mill healing a swordsman who had lost his right arm from the elbow down. The swordsman screamed in pain and grief from his lost limb while Mill tried to hold him still and calm him down.

  "Haran, stop moving so much. I can't heal you properly if you keep moving."

  "B-but my arm! It's gone! Alister will kick me out of the party now that I'm worthless. You should have just left me to die!" The swordsman whined while tears flowed down his face. Mill grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

  "Don't say that. You shouldn't think so little of your life while you still have it. I'm going to fix this, trust me," Mill said as a yellow light emitted from her left hand that grasped the shoulder of the man's severed arm, instantly taking away the pain.

  Mill closed her eyes as she removed her hands and began to mumble ancient words while holding her hands over the man's arm.

  Green circles and dots formed on the ground around Mill and the man, causing the man's body to glow a faint green until a beam of green light extended from the man's severed limb before taking the shape of an arm.

  The lights began to fade, revealing a new arm on the swordsman who raised it to compare to his other arm.

  "I-I can't believe it. My arm is back! Those old Healers could never do this!"

  "It's a complicated Mysteria Skill, so I'm not surprised, but try to take it easy for a while. It will take time for you to get used to your new arm."

  The swordsman tearfully thanked Mill profusely as Klint walked over to Mill in disbelief.

  "I heard rumors that you knew Regeneration Mysteria, but this is the first time I'm seeing it for myself. I'm genuinely impressed."

  "Yeah? I'm known in mercenary circles for this very skill, but it does a number on my Mana reserves. Anyways, more party members need healing," Mill said as she rose to her feet and looked at the other party members waiting to get limbs restored.

  "You did a great job today, Milletta. This might be the first time we made it through a job this dangerous without significant casualties. I'm interested in hiring you again for your services since we have an important job coming up soon..."

  Mill frowned as she opened her mouth, but she closed it again as she walked over to another injured party member.

  "I'll get back with you on that after I finish up here. I want to make sure to take care of these party members properly."

  "Of course, I shouldn't be talking about contract negotiations during an active mission anyway. We'll pick this up later," Klint said before walking away with more party members in tow.

  The remaining party members stood guard in front of the treasure vault's entrance as Mill continued her healing methods alone until she was jolted to attention while finishing up her healing on the last party member.

  Sounds of walking and clanking chains made everyone look down the hall, putting some of the Staff Hero's party members on edge.

  They reached for their weapons but quickly relaxed once they noticed it was the hostages. The hostages, now free of their chains, marched forward at a hurried and frantic pace.

  A young girl among the hostages noticed Mill's Healer uniform and rushed forward while pointing back at the hostages.

  "Ma'am, are you a Healer?" The girl said in a hurried tone with tears in her eyes.

  "Yes, is one of the hostages injured?" Mill said as she quickly picked up her staff and turned to the hostages.

  "No, we're fine now, but that kind man who saved us is in really bad shape." The girl said as two hostages brought a slumped-over figure held up by the arms.

  "The place where we were being held suddenly caught fire during some kind of artillery attack, so this man came back like he promised and fought off the bandits while trying to free us. We would've been dead since the southside entrance is ashes now. I don't know how he did it..."

  Mill gasped as she recognized Izick despite the ripped-up and bloodied appearance because he was still wearing the same Scout uniform she had seen him in just hours earlier.

  His head hung low with his hood barely staying on his head, while three arrows jutted out of his back and through the leather armor that oozed blood.

  Mill dropped her staff and ran over to Izick, who she carefully secured in her arms.

  She physically checked his vitals and his eyes, which were distant and cloudy. She muttered a few quick words as she opened her hand, forming a semi-transparent compass made of green light.

  Mill checked his vitals and waved the floating compass over Izick's body, red dots appearing to indicate badly injured areas.

  She walked around to Izick's back and turned to the two men holding Izick.

  "Please hold him still."

  Mill reshaped the green compass in her hand into a green knife that began to hum as it shook. She made careful cuts around the arrows to remove the clothing and leather.

  "Why aren't you healing him yet? Can't you close his wounds as a Healer?" The girl said to Mill.

  "I can close a wound at any time, but doing it now will only embed these arrows deeper into his body."

  Mill turned to the hostages near her.

  "Thank you for bringing him here, but I need everyone besides the two holding him to step back. I need space."

  She dispelled the knife and placed a hand on Izick's back and the other on one of the arrows. She pulsed the soothing yellow light into his back while leaning toward Izick's ear.

  "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can mask all of the incoming pain. Please bear with it."

  She nodded to the two holding Izick and counted to three before ripping the arrow out, causing Izick to stiffen and growl in pain. Mill repeated the process twice more while continuing to talk and reassure Izick, while everyone else watched spellbound as Mill worked to save him.

  Mill placed her hands over the open wounds to close them. Izick's eyes began to clear up as he became more aware.

  "I need to remove the rest of your gear to check if there are any other foreign objects that have pierced your skin before I continue."

  "G-go ahead, but it won't be pretty," Izick said while struggling to keep his head up. Mill spoke a few words with her hands, and the blood on them evaporated like melting ice.

  She brought back her Mana knife as she cut away Izick's hood and clothing from the waist up. She stopped a gasp from coming out of her mouth as she looked at Izick's back in horror.

  Multiple fresh cuts were on his back, but there were countless old scars from old stab wounds, cuts, and burns of different sizes littered on him from the bottom of his neck to his arms and back.

  The hostages and even some of the Staff Hero's party looked at the scars on Izick's back with terror, with many being surprised that someone so young had so many scars.

  She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and checked Izick's chest area, where she found a rectangular wound.

  "A spear wound? This one was worse than I thought."

  "I got stabbed trying to unlock that door back there. Rookie mistake," Izick said with more life after he felt his energy beginning to return.

  "Don't talk. I'm only talking to myself," Mill said as she stepped back and raised both hands toward Izick. She spoke words in a language foreign to Izick.

  Green circles formed under Izick as his body became covered in a thin layer of green light.

  The wounds on his back and chest began to close rapidly. He stared in shock as his wounds began to fade away.

  "Thank you, Mill. I thought it was over for me," Izick said as his breath stabilized.

  "Not while I'm around," Mill said with pride as she pointed to herself with her thumb.

  The hostages all gathered around Izick and thanked him for risking his life to save them when he could have just left them to burn and die in captivity.

  Mill supported Izick as she helped him walk through the courtyard toward the exit with the hostages and recently healed party members behind them.

  She frowned when she saw Alister sitting on a large rock with Klint holding a rough and muscular man down to the ground with chains.

  "Please! Please don't kill me! I already surrendered and told you everything I know. What else do you want from me?" The man tearfully pleaded in his kneeling position.

  "You're the leader of these dead bandits, and the mayor wants you dead along with all of your subordinates. But you did tell me everything I wanted to know," Alister said, stroking his chin.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  "Yes! And I'll tell you whatever else you want to know. My knowledge is yours! I'll even become your slave if you let me live!"

  Alister raised an eyebrow as his face became serious.

  "You would become my slave? You would completely and unconditionally give up your freedom?"

  "Without question!"

  Alister motioned for Klint to back away as he smiled, but everyone saw that his smile was hollow, and his eyes held only anger. He placed a hand on the bandit leader's shoulder.

  "If you can't value your freedom, then you can't value your life. Life is worthless if you can't make your own choices, and here you are ready to throw your freedom away unconditionally. You're just begging to die."

  The sound of surging electricity followed by a flash of white light from Alister's hand filled everyone's vision, blinding them momentarily. Their eyes readjusted again to see ashes blowing in the wind and the bandit leader nowhere to be seen.

  Klint grunted as Alister rose to his feet while wringing out his hands.

  "We probably could've gotten more information out of him if we brought him back to the inn before killing him."

  "Nah, I got what I wanted out of him. He was pissing me off anyway with his lack of a spine. I might've let him live if he had asked for servitude instead of slavery. A servant asks for terms because they value their lives, but a slave only wants to keep breathing."

  Alister watched as Mill and Izick walked toward them with the hostages in tow. Mill looked on in disgust as Alister shook off ashes from his boots.

  "Ah, I forgot there were hostages," Alister said, continuing to shake off his clothing.

  "I was going to see if you could check up on the hostages before we found the bandit leader, but it looks like Izick took care of it," Klint said.

  "Hmph, even the NPC understands the value of freedom, which is why he keeps asking for too much money and all of these dumb terms," Alister said to Klint before walking toward Izick and Mill.

  "Wow, you look like trash, NPC. I thought you were good at not getting hit?"

  "You bastard!" Mill said as she stared down Alister, who smiled even brighter. Izick took an unsteady step forward to get in front of Alister.

  "Alister, am I getting a bonus this time like everyone else?" Izick said with every hostage and party member looking to Alister for his response.

  Alister's eyes grew dark as he stared down Izick.

  "Of course. I said everyone gets a bonus, right?" Alister said while turning back to the exit. "The job is finished. Let's head back."

  ***

  The day passed back at Dunbar's Inn, with the party members celebrating the resounding success of the job while Izick recovered in his room.

  Mill was nowhere to be seen since she had left to get her bearings again after the events from that day.

  She returned at night expecting only the inn's clerk to be there, but was surprised to find Alister and Klint sitting at a table near the stairs with dozens of bags of money piled onto it.

  Klint noticed her coming in and quickly motioned for her to come over.

  "Milletta, we got the reward money from the mayor and were just working through the wages for party members," Klint said as he rose to his feet and took two bags, with one of the bags being slightly smaller, from the table. He held the bags out to Mill.

  "This is your share, as well as a hefty bonus for the excellent job you did today. You kept us alive today."

  Mill nodded as she wordlessly accepted the payment and opened the larger of the two bags. Her eyes went wide as she saw her payment.

  "This is an obscene amount of coins, and this is only the first bag..." Mill said as she checked the other bag and saw a similar but slightly smaller amount of coins.

  Alister smirked as he pointed to the bags in Mill's hands.

  "I always pay my party members, no matter what happens between us. I'm just that generous."

  "This completes my payment, so I'll be taking my leave," Mill said, closing the bags and beginning to head upstairs.

  "You're welcome to stay on with us for the next three weeks. I won't go into detail, but the payout will be unbelievable if the job goes well," Alister said with a reserved expression. Mill exhaled while beginning to ascend the stairs again.

  "I'll have an answer tomorrow."

  She was near the top of the stairs when Izick's name was brought up by Klint, stopping her in her tracks. Mill stepped back down as quietly as possible and strained her ears to listen in on their conversation.

  "About Izick's wages. Are you giving him a bonus or not? I know you don't like paying auxiliary members a lot of coin—though you do pay your Healers well—but Izick did an outstanding job today, according to Milletta and a few other party members, by scouting and rescuing the hostages by himself. I'd say Milletta and Izick were the most impactful members during this job," Klint said as he pushed a stack of coins together before swiping them into a brown bag.

  Alister scoffed as he leaned back into his chair.

  "Most impactful? I'm the one who blew a hole in the wall and got us access to the treasure vault."

  "Sure, but that's expected of you since you're the Staff Hero. Also, that last shot you did on the building containing the treasure vault and hostages likely caused the fire, which forced Izick to rescue the hostages early and endanger his own life. The party is also expecting you to give Izick a bonus because of his efforts," Klint said with a sigh as he pushed a small stack of coins toward Alister.

  "This is Izick's usual payment. Party members might look at you strangely if you don't honor your statement of giving everyone a bonus."

  Alister looked at the small stack of gold coins with a troubled expression before grunting and crossing his arms.

  "There's truth to that statement. I would look bad if I didn't honor my promises. I am a man of my word after all."

  Alister reached into the massive bag where the bulk of the coins were held. He pulled out a single gold coin and placed it on top of the small stack.

  "There, how about that for a bonus? He gets thirteen gold coins instead of twelve," Alister said while tossing the coins into a small brown bag and pushing it aside.

  Mill gritted her teeth in anger as she saw how little Alister paid Izick. In her rage, she failed to notice that the step she stood on was cracking underneath her.

  The wooden step broke, causing her to slip and stumble down a few more steps before regaining her footing near the bottom of the stairs.

  Alister and Klint gave Mill a strange look as she straightened up her posture and cleared her throat.

  "Ahem, it seems I'm more fatigued than I thought. Klint, I meant to ask you this earlier, but do you know where the nearest post office is in this town? I need to send a letter."

  "Ah, it's just north of the town square. It's a bit small, but it's quite efficient according to Izick. He likes sending letters. Probably to a family member or something," Klint said while lightly tossing a bag of coins in his hand.

  Mill stared at the small bag containing Izick's payment before stepping off the stairs and walking toward Alister.

  "Speaking of which, mind giving me Izick's wages so I can take them up to him? He's probably too tired to get it himself."

  "I guess. Not sure why you would bother, though, since everyone can pick their wages up tomorrow," Alister said as he picked up the small bag and tossed it to Mill.

  "He's in the last room on the other side of the inn," Klint said to Mill as she went up the stairs as fast as possible.

  Alister leaned over the table toward Klint while snickering.

  "That's one greedy girl. She's taking a poor Scout's wages for herself."

  "Highly unlikely. I doubt she's as twisted as you, Al."

  Alister scoffed as he returned to divvying up the reward money with Klint.

  Mill came to Izick's door and knocked, then heard his voice inviting her in. Izick sat at a large desk stacked with papers and leather books. He wore circular glasses as he scribbled in a book with a fountain pen.

  An oil lamp rested on the edge of the table, illuminating the room. He looked up and smiled when he noticed a bewildered Mill staring at him.

  "Oh, hey, Mill. Do you need something from me? I'm just balancing the party's books since our spending has gotten out of control lately. I ran out of time because I had to go off scouting."

  Mill struggled to find words as she pointed her finger at Izick.

  "Y-you're supposed to be resting! I thought I told you to rest and recover after losing all of that blood! Why are you pushing yourself like this?"

  Izick stared at her in confusion as he laid down his pen.

  "How can you push yourself from just writing? I'm not climbing trees or fighting ogres or something. Besides, I'm in incredible shape because of your healing. You're amazing!" Izick said with a smile while raising his arms and flexing, causing Mill to facepalm and sigh.

  "Alister made you his accountant too?"

  "Klint does this as well, but that's mainly because most of our party members can't read or write. Klint and I do a lot of these types of tasks."

  "Then he should be paying you triple for your work!" Mill said with rage as she got into Izick's face while gripping his measly wages in her hand, causing Izick to jump back in his chair in shock.

  Mill pointed her finger at Izick while her eye began to twitch.

  "Now you're starting to piss me off as well, Izick. Your boss almost kills you with strays, and instead of resting, you're burning the midnight oil to balance his books. Parties would be tripping over themselves trying to hire someone with your skills. How can you accept this?"

  Izick paused for a moment before taking off his glasses and slumping into his chair.

  "Yeah, it is unacceptable, but Klint hired me as a Scout at my lowest point. Don't misunderstand. I'm here out of necessity, not loyalty. I don't want to talk about it too much, but I have doubts about finding a legitimate job outside of deadly Mythril mining if I quit this job," Izick said as he combed through his hair with his fingers before reaching into his shirt and pulling out a locket, which he flipped open for Mill to see. The inside had a photograph of a frowning young girl.

  "That's my sister Cylvia. She's my only family and is six months younger than I am. She's really stubborn and headstrong, but unfortunately, her body isn't as strong as her personality. She has an unknown disease that leaves her bedridden. We recently learned how to stabilize it with medicine, but the medicine is expensive, and only a few Healers in Arekia know how to administer it properly, so I usually end up sending all of my money back to pay for expenses," Izick said as he closed the locket and stuffed it back into his shirt.

  "I can't pay these Healers without this job."

  Mill lowered her head soberly as she shook her head.

  "I'm sorry for judging your decisions without knowing the full extent of your situation. That's a tough position to be in."

  "Oh, you don't have to feel bad for me. I like my work, and my life was way worse before. Alister has calmed down a bit since most of our party members are now mercenaries. This is just my reality, though there's another good reason for not quitting this job," Izick said as he reached into a bag near him and pulled out a scroll. He stood to his feet and rolled out the scroll over the stacks of papers. The paper looked expensive with gold trimmings and elegant writing.

  "What is this?" Mill said as she read the words 'PAYMENT BOUND BY ROYAL DECREE' written in bold at the top.

  "This is my pension that the royal courts guarantee with a few exceptions."

  "A pension? Aren't you a bit young to retire?"

  "Haha, yeah, but this is a bit different. Joining a Summoned Hero's party is different from joining a normal party. Heroes in Arekia get summoned from the Elseworld to solve an issue or bolster the power of a country, but most return to their homeworld after completing their mission. This is great for the Hero, but the Hero's party loses their main source of income when this happens, so there's a pension plan in place to take care of party members when the Hero returns to their home world. This is just a copy, but the real one is in the royal vaults."

  "I had no idea that there was a system in place like this."

  "Yes, and your pension is paid out to your next of kin if you die before the Hero returns home. It's a really significant amount of coin too. More than enough to cover my sister's expenses eleven times over."

  Mill looked sad after this last statement.

  "Is that why you do everything with such reckless abandon? You must really love your sister."

  Izick looked out into space like he was in deep thought and shrugged his shoulders.

  "Maybe? I used to really hate her when I was younger and used to sling mud at her all the time."

  "Wow, that's...unexpected."

  "We fought like cats and dogs back then, but we eventually found ourselves alone with no one to rely on but ourselves. I quickly realized that if I failed, we both would die. Cylvia deserves a future, and I have someone I can't afford to become. Keeping that in mind gives me a sense of purpose," Izick said while rolling up the scroll and putting it away.

  "So you're going to keep doing this job indefinitely? Who knows how long Alister will stay in our world?"

  Izick looked down while tapping his fingers on the desk.

  "I'm not really supposed to tell you this, but I might as well since you're a member of this party now. In three weeks, we will meet up with the other Summoned Heroes and mount an attack to kill the Death Emperor."

  Mill raised her hand while shaking her head in disbelief.

  "Are you serious? Hasn't Arekia been trying to kill that genocidal maniac for the last 40 years?"

  "Yes, but Alister and the other summoned Heroes were summoned here for the sole reason of killing the Death Emperor, so now they will finally strike. The Heroes failed to kill the Death Emperor three years ago, but they believe they're prepared to finish it this time around. It will be costly, but I believe the Heroes will win, meaning I'll get my pension in three weeks if this works."

  Mill sighed as she put her hands on her hips.

  "So there's no way you're leaving Alister's party before then?"

  "Unfortunately, no."

  "Well, I'm not leaving until then either."

  Izick looked at Mill like she was crazy.

  "You heard me when I said we're going against the Death Emperor? A lot of people will probably die there..."

  "Then that's the perfect place for a Healer like me. I'll keep you and the others safe while the Heroes finally defeat the Death Emperor. Simple, right?"

  Izick stood nervously to his feet, waving his hands.

  "You don't have to do all of this for me. There's no point in risking your life like this."

  "Don't be so pretentious. I'm a mercenary by trade, and I'm no fool when it comes to business. I need a good-paying job, and it's a plus if I can prevent people like you from dying. I'm in this now, and I don't plan on abandoning you after what you told me."

  "You might die."

  "Same to you."

  Awkward silence followed until Mill pulled out a hefty brown bag full of coins and placed it on top of the papers on Izick's desk.

  "Here's your payment for today's job," Mill said as she placed a small bag of coins by it. "And here's your bonus for your excellent work in recovering the hostages."

  Izick's eyes went wide as he saw the money, which Mill opened for him.

  "Whoa, this is the most I've ever been paid! I guess the job was more important to Alister than I first thought, but this doesn't make any sense since Alister always pays me way less than this," Izick said while shaking his head in disbelief.

  "Don't think too hard about it. You deserve this, and you can buy more medicine for your sister. I wouldn't bring this up again with Alister, though."

  "Well, you're right about buying more medicine for Cylvia. I also try to avoid talking about money with Alister since he loves his coin. Thank you so much for bringing this to me," Izick said with a smile as Mill sighed again and walked away.

  "I still think a kid like you shouldn't be worried about things like this. You should be having fun instead of playing war games with the Death Emperor. This is insane," Mill said as she grabbed her forehead like she was getting a migraine.

  She closed the door behind her before opening it again to peek her head in.

  "Oh, and go to sleep. I only healed your injuries, not your fatigue. Besides, your body still needs time to recover."

  Mill finally left, leaving Izick with his thoughts. He just had to survive three more weeks, and he was done with this life.

  What were three weeks compared to the three years he had to endure?

  He stretched his arms but stopped when pain returned to his chest area, where he was stabbed. Maybe Mill was right about the importance of rest. He lay in bed as he thought of what he would do when it was all over.

  The road to the end was now in sight and three weeks away.