章節 13: Stories of Past Sorrows
Kaleb felt he had heard of the Mountain Tomb before, and as he thought back, it hit him.
'That's the place where Ameri's parents died.' He thought in shock. Someone was asking Ameri to guide them to the place where his parents had been killed!
Kaleb watched Ameri for some sort of reaction, but his face was unreadable as he seemed to ponder the offer.
"If they hire both of us and neither of us have to enter the tomb, then we'll do it." Ameri said seriously.
"You'll have to discuss the specifics with them. I'll set up a meet for you and you can work it out with them." Numen said, looking back at his ledger and giving them a dismissive wave. "Come see me tomorrow and I'll give you the details."
Kaleb and Ameri left the shop and headed deeper into the maze of adobe that made up the town. They made their way through alleys and across rooftops until they came to the top floor of the western outskirts of the town. One of the buildings that could be considered part of the towns wall.
They entered the top floor of this building and came into a small single room. The floor was bare wood and the walls held no decoration. Kaleb was starting to think that artwork just wasn't a thing in this world. There was a bedroll against one wall and two crates against another, with a bucket in the corner opposite the bed.
"Don't worry, I have a second bed roll." Ameri told him walking over and rummaging though one of the crates.
Kaleb just nodded, a motion lost on Ameri who was looking through the crate. Kaleb was staring at the bucket in the corner, and thinking of what he had learned in school about medieval plumbing systems.
'Please tell me that's a water bucket.' Kaleb thought in dread.
Ameri had glanced at Kaleb when he didn't respond and followed his line of sight.
"Oh yeah. I don't have a curtain up because its always been just me, but we can work something out tomorrow. For now just tell me and I'll look away until you're done." Not understanding what Kaleb's look was for.
Kaleb's stomach dropped at this news. 'I have to get back home.'
"Found It!" Ameri said, pulling the bed roll out of the crate with a flourish.
"This is going to be awesome! We can go to the market tomorrow and get some new clothes with our earnings and we can get a bunch of food and since we already have a job lined up we can take our time on figuring out how to lure Dune Traps. It's great having a partner!" Ameri beamed at Kaleb.
Kaleb watched Ameri's happy rambling with sad eyes. He had some questions to ask and he knew the answers would probably bring up some unpleasant memories.
"Ameri I have some personal questions for you, if that's all right?"
"Sure what is it?"
"Well," Kaleb started, wondering how to phrase his question. "You seem very well known and respected in town. I'm wondering why that is?" He decided to start with a question that wouldn't bring up the past and ease his way into the more painful ones.
"Oh." Ameri's face fell. "That has to do with my parents."
'Damn it.'
"See, like I told you, my parents where both powerful adventurers. We lived a happy life and they would even take me out exploring with them sometimes! Then a opportunity came along. A group of Paladins were going to conquer the Mountain Tomb and they invited the top warriors from the town to join them. Originally my parents were going to say no, it was just too dangerous, but then they found out the reward was to become Ascenders!"
"Ascenders?" Kaleb asked, hating to interrupt the story.
"Oh, right. An Ascender is the rank above Worthy. They are able to enter the 12 Pillars which are towns that are as big as 100 regular towns combined!"
'Cities.' Kaleb thought, choosing not to interrupt this time.
"They say that there is magic in the 12 Pillars that has been lost to the rest of the world! They also say even being a shop keeper in the Pillars is better than being the highest ranked adventurer in a regular town! But, to become an Ascender is extremely difficult! Most people will never see such an opportunity in their lives. So, my parents joined them." Ameri explained in a sad voice.
"It ended up being a disaster. There were only three survivors of the 20 that went. Numen was one of them and the other two were Paladins. Numen, he was a famous hunter before he went. When he came back he bought his shop and hasn't left the town since. Apparently my parents saved his life in the tomb and so now he looks out for me, but he's never talked about what happened in there. Only that my parents were the only reason there were any survivors at all." He trailed off, as if lost in thought, as he talked about the mystery still surrounding that event.
"Then what did the Inquisitor mean when she said you turned down their offer?" Kaleb prompted.
"After the incident in the Tomb the church offered to take me in to be trained as a Paladin. But, all I ever wanted since my parents would take me out on adventures was to be like them, so I refused their offer. The church still keeps an eye on me and helps me when they can. That's why they helped you get a status plate."
'The church offered a reward of becoming an Ascender and when the task was failed they didn't even hold up their end of the bargain? Neither Numen or the kid of the couple who died received what they were promised. What kind of fanatical brainwashing has this church done to get away with this?' Kaleb thought. He still felt annoyed at how the church had scammed them earlier and the more he learned the more disgusted he became.
"If this Tomb is such a bad place why would you know how to guide people there. And why would you want too?" 'And why would Numen, who had almost died there, ask you to go?' Kaleb kept the last question to himself, not wanting to hurt Ameri with his questions anymore than he already had.
Ameri stood up and went to the only window in the room, looking out over the night shrouded wilderness.
"Every year I visit my parents grave, the Mountain Tomb. I go to the entrance and I plant a new flower there for them. The entrance to the tomb is perfectly safe because monsters stay away from it. That's why we'll be fine as long as we don't go in. Guiding them to the entrance shouldn't be a problem."
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票