บท 48: The Crown, Part 2

"We find our strength in those moments when we're not allowed to fail," Mistress Lorelai said when she arrived to give me my reward. "That'll do, Mr. Wisdom. That'll do."

She tossed me an object that had been part of our previous run of the maenad's garden. It was the thyrsus she'd pulled out of the grass that had triggered the maenad's trap and eventually got me killed.

"What's this for, ma'am?" I asked. 'I thought this would have burned up in the fire...'

"To the victor go the spoils, Mr. Wisdom," she explained. "And you've certainly earned the game ball."

"Thanks, but," I hefted my glaive over my shoulder, "I've already got a weapon."

"Don't turn your nose up on this thyrsus too quickly. It survived a conflagration of novice magic without a single scratch… it's a grimoire," Mistress Lorelai answered. "Can you not feel its energy for yourself, young mage?"