463 We Still Have To Finish The Quest

Truth be told, I wasn't expecting them to be able to do much.

But then light emanated from Emilia when Harge completed her chant, an indication that her healing magic was a success.

Chamie was gaping at her sister comically and even the girl herself was staring at her hands like she had just pulled off a miracle. Tiara on the other hand, who had volunteered herself as Chamie's patient, was still looking bored.

Well, I suppose in their case, it really was something incredible.

"Sister?! How?!!" Chamie cried, grabbing her sister's shoulders.

Harge was still looking at her hands, "I… I don't know… I just… I just… I don't know."

"No way! That was great! You must have done something different right? What did you do?"

"I… I think… I did it because I was thinking about how Miss Aster looked while she was healing… And the magic came to me…"

Both sisters turned to look at me.

Err… Just ignore the Infrid who's busy rubbing her cheek against mine… Or the Amrap hugging me from behind while I sat on her lap… Or the Siren who's napping on my lap… Or the Inugami currently feeding me sweets…

Yeah, just ignore all that.

Emilia clenched and unclenched her fist, "Hmm… It feels like the healing is a little rough but passable I guess. Now ten Decreas please."

Yeap… She's charging them ten Decreas just to let herself be healed.

Well, as expected of the money-loving Nekomata I guess… At least she wasn't charging me to heal her.

Harge did not even argue and passed her the coins she asked for since she had agreed to this beforehand.

Tiara prodded Chamie, "Alright now come on, we don't have all day. We have yet to clear the cave at the back in case you've forgotten about it. So if you can't do it, then just say so."

Oh yeah… For some reason, no Orcs came out of the cave and they even opted to barricade the cave entrance and hide instead.

The entrance was piled high with crates, broken piles of lumber, several broken weapons and a smashed up wagon was even rolled there as well.

When we tried to approach the cave, several arrows were shot out from behind the barricade and we retreated back into the stronghold to take cover. Thus, we took the time to heal up first.

I was expecting at least a few Orcs attempting to attack us while we were doing that but they seemed content to hide inside their cave.

I'm guessing the fact we brutalised their Orc General might have something to do with how they're acting but the girls told me this behaviour was actually unusual for Orcs though they don't have an explanation for this either.

Chamie turned back to Tiara who was showing her bruised arm to her, the Iatromancy senior taking a moment to swallow her saliva before trying again.

She chanted the spell to cast the healing magic but nothing happened like the previous twenty odd times she had tried.

Harge placed a hand on her sister's shoulder, "Remember how Miss Aster looked when she was healing everyone. Put that image firmly in your mind before you try to cast the magic. Pretend that you are trying to be like her."

Chamie nodded before sucking in a breath, though I'm seriously wondering if that image would even help…

She then looked at Tiara's arm with a determined expression before trying again.

"Flesh to flesh, knit and repair, heal and cleanse the wounds, return the flesh to its pristine form. [Close Wounds]!"

Oh! She did it! Tiara's bruise was slowly fading away!

But really, just thinking about me is enough to overwrite their trauma huh?

You know what? I'm not even going to question it.

"I did it, sister! We did it!!" Chamie cheered, hugging her sister.

Her sister hugged her back, "We did it!"

I smiled at them, "Congratulations you two. It seems like this trip was worth it."

Chamie turned to me, "Thank you, Miss Aster! We could not have done it without you!"

Emilia tapped her foot impatiently, "Alright, I guess we should focus on the money making quest now, don't we? We still need to clear the Orcs inside the cave or this quest won't be counted as completed."

Odeta perked up, "Do I charge in again?"

"Please don't," I rejected the idea immediately.

The first time she tried, she almost got shot by an arrow that Katsuki caught out of the air before it could hit her.

Emilia crossed her arms, "Hmm… I think I might be able to cross the distance between the stronghold and the cave before they shoot me down… Provided I get paid for this of course. I think five Creas would suffice, any takers?"

I couldn't help but lean towards Lisa, "I know she likes money… But I don't remember her asking to be paid for everything she was asked to do… Did something happen?"

Lisa gave me a complicated look and I got a little worried that it may be something I should not know.

Katsuki then leaned close to me to wipe my mouth with a handkerchief at that moment and whispered, "Mistress. I assume you might be thinking about our trip on her ship? In that case, Madam had made an agreement with her that she would not request additional money from us throughout the trip and she would pay an additional sum of money to her once the trip ended."

Eh?

Wait… So you're telling me that Mother already expected something like this to happen and prevented it… So if she did not, every time I had asked Emilia for something, she would have acted like this?

Err… I guess the fact that she stuck with that agreement even after we got thrown overboard was admirable? Ignoring the fact that we were also helping her get back to her ship of course…

But seeing how she's like now, I think Emilia would have asked us to pay her just to receive her help in getting us back to the ship had Mother not paid her off beforehand…

I will have to keep that habit of hers in mind… She definitely came along because she thought she could earn more money by receiving requests from me since her contract with Mother was up, didn't she?

Sorry Emilia… But I don't have the same spending power as Mother does… I'm honestly dirt poor as compared to my Mother so don't expect too much from me.

I guess Lisa was also interfering with Emilia for this reason since she knew that Emilia had the wrong idea about my economic power.

Oh well… I feel a little bad for Emilia joining us for this misunderstanding but it can't be helped I guess?

Katsuki pulled back from me and turned towards Emilia, "There's no need to put yourself at such a risk, Miss Emilia. I shall be the one to clear the barricade instead."

"Tch… Why is this party full of such capable people… This party is really too overpowered…" The Nekomata muttered, though I still managed to catch what she said.

I bet Katsuki also heard what she said but also chose not to comment on it and turned to me instead, "Mistress, shall I proceed?"

"Umm… Just in case… How are you planning to clear the barricade?" I asked.

"I shall hide in the shadows and shoot a fireball at the barricades, Mistress. That would not only make the Orcs at the entrance retreat from the barricade, but we can also use the smoke to drive them out of the cave and into the open."

"Oh~ That's actually a great idea! Let's do that!"

Katsuki bowed, "It will be done, Mistress."

She then moved towards the gate of the stronghold, taking a moment to chant the spell to cast [Shadow Wall] on herself before she slipped out through the gates.

I pried myself from the others and snuck my way there as well, peering round the corner while casting [Shadow Wall] on myself just like she did, the others forming up behind me.

I didn't want to get shot in the face after all.

It was still night time and there weren't any moons out tonight to illuminate the area so the only light source around were the torches at the gates and right outside the cave entrance, making the area in between these two places completely pitch black.

Thanks to my night vision however, I could just barely see a vague shadow moving through the darkness heading straight for the cave entrance.

From here, I could also spot the Orcs that were peeking out from behind the barricades, watching the gate with sharp glares.

There was also the glint coming off from the arrowheads they had nocked on their bows pointing towards the gates.

They seem to be really scared of us huh?

I guess they would have another thing to be scared off soon enough because Katsuki reached the side of the cave without any of them even realising she was there.

At that angle, she should not be able to be seen by the Orcs so she released her cloaking spell and started to materialise a ball of fire in her hand.

One of the Orcs noticed the flickering of light that came from the side and peeked out to check, only to see Katsuki chucking the fireball at the barricade and lighting it aflame.

There was a shout of alarm and a few of the Orcs panicked, releasing their bow strings and causing the arrows to shoot out from their bows.

I barely ducked back behind the wall in time before an arrow flew through where my head had been a moment ago, that would have been a rather embarrassing way to die…

Welp, the fire has already started, so all we need to do now is to wait for those Orcs to come running out of there!