Chapter 566: Concerns (1/2)

Chapter 566 Concerns

“This is delicious,” Ilea said, shoveling more food onto her place as she chewed.

“Thank you,” Briana said, a warm smile on her lips as she watched Ilea eat. “Quite a compliment coming from Lilith.”

“Mother… please,” Willa said in a quiet tone.

Briana smirked. “Oh? But you always go on and on about her. She’s the most powerful healer in all of Elos you said, the hero we needed, the savior of Riverwatch. Or was it Dawntree?”

The mother giggled as her daughter cringed.

Ilea glanced between the two of them and smiled, facing the father again.

He sat opposite her, bulky and nearly bald. His look was stern, his face betraying nothing as his eyes seized her up, arms crossed in front of him.

“Andres, you should eat something too,” Briana said, putting some food onto his plate.

His demeanor changed for a split second as he looked at her, his eyes much less hard. “It’s fine. I will eat later.”

“Oh come on, don’t be so hard on her. When’s the last time we had a guest over, let alone someone as prominent as her,” Briana said.

“She has no manners,” Andres said, looking back at Ilea.

“Apologies. I’ve been fighting a monster for what feels like days,” Ilea said, continuing to eat. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to be doing wrong. She was even using the fork.

“See, I’m sure someone as wild and powerful as her can be excused,” Briana said, glancing at Ilea with a warm smile.

I can feel your sarcasm, woman, Ilea thought and smiled back.

Andres sighed. “I don’t care about your name. You want to take away our daughter and I will not have it. She is safe here, taken care of. Here she has a future. Better than out there in a war torn and unstable world.”

Ilea chewed and swallowed, smiling slightly as she leaned back. She wasn’t covered in ash anymore of course. “Willa asked me to come. I’m here because of her.”

Andres glanced at his daughter. “You bothered her with your talks of adventure?”

Willa looked back at him but didn’t say a word.

“I wasn’t bothered. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here. She shows promise. Under the Sentinels, she can grow into the healer she wants to become,” Ilea said.

Andres frowned. “I know enough about healing orders to know where this leads. You won’t corrupt my daughter,” he said and stood up, his chair hitting the wall behind.

“It’s not a healing order. If she can’t keep up with the training, she can leave anytime. I’ll even have someone fly her back here,” Ilea said.

“Your songs may have swayed the fools in that tavern but I won’t believe these empty promises,” Andres said.

Ilea was impressed that he would go that far.

Monster Hunter charged and released with a low hum.

[Mage – lvl 42]

“I’m touched by your bravery. All for your daughter’s sake,” Ilea said, forming a small sphere of ash in front of her.

Andres lost some color in his face.

“But with all due respect. If I had wanted to take her, I would’ve done so,” Ilea said with a smile. “I can only offer you my promise. That she receives the same training the other Sentinels do. There’s no catch. I simply want there to be more healers around,” Ilea said. “Yes. There will be pain and danger, but that’s the price you have to pay for power.”

Andres looked at her, still defiant. He glanced at his daughter. “Willa. Is this truly what you want?”

She stood up and looked back with a determined gaze. “Yes. I want nothing more.”

Andres deflated a little, glancing at his wife.

Briana nodded with a slight smile.

“Then so be it,” Andres said before he leaned closer to Ilea. “But I tell you now, Lilith. If you have any ulterior motives. I will find you, and I will finish you.”

“I understand,” Ilea said, respecting the father’s concern but staying somewhat realistic. “Can we finish dinner now? It’s getting cold.”

Briana smiled and continued eating, so did Ilea.

Willa sat with a wide grin and Andres calmed down a little, his eyes opening wide when he glanced at Ilea again.

“I… I hope I didn’t offend,” he said in a whisper, after they had eaten for a minute or two.

“You didn’t,” Ilea said. “But maybe work on that temper a little. Could end badly with the wrong people.”

He nodded lightly. “I know.”

“Not the first time he’s done something stupid,” Briana said. “But this is most definitely the worst of all.” The woman seemed proud when she said it, a bright grin on her face.

“She’s going to make you proud, I’m sure of it,” Ilea said, winking at Willa who turned red as she tried to sink under the table.

Briana laughed and joined Willa, teasing her with a few more remarks.

“What were you doing here anyway?” Andres asked after a while.

“Came to fight Specters of Rot. They were monsters occupying the lower parts of the caverns,” she said.

He looked at her. “The monstrous abominations people whisper about?”

“Oh no, much worse than those. Turns out there was an ancient settlement down there, carved into the mountain itself. They had a Queen called Lumian,” she said.

“The lost regent,” Andres said. “She was here?”

Briana looked up from under the table.

“You know her?” Ilea asked. “It looked fucking ancient.”

“There are poems about her. A queen dedicated to her people. She’s a local hero… for some even a deity,” Briana explained.

“Any idea why she would retreat down into the mountain?” Ilea asked.

“Poems are poems. Doesn’t mean she was liked quite as much back then, nor that she could defend against invading forces,” Andres said. “Though I don’t know what would’ve driven her to hide inside that dungeon.”

“I see. Either way, she can rest now,” Ilea said.

Andres opened his eyes wide again.

“Thank you,” Briana said. “To some of us, this will mean more than you know.”

Ilea looked at her and summoned the crown. She glanced at the thing and moved it over on a bed of ash. “Maybe with that, someone might actually believe the story.”

Briana glanced between the artifact and Ilea, hesitating to touch the thing. “It’s… real… the iron crown.”

She had tears in her eyes. “Are you sure? This is a priceless artifact.”

“Returned to where it belongs,” Ilea said. “Just don’t get killed by some thief who wants it.”

The woman looked at her before she gingerly touched the crown. “Thank you.”

Willa looked on with confusion, her parents now admiring the artifact together.

Hope that shit isn’t cursed.

Ilea frowned before she displaced the crown into her hands. “Sorry, just to make sure I’m not fucking you over,” she said and placed it onto her head.

Nothing happened.

Hmm.

Seems like the description is accurate.

“Okay it seems fine,” she said and displaced it back to the parents.

“I can’t believe she wore it,” Andres said before he started laughing.

“It doesn’t suit you,” Willa said.