Lucas opened his eyes and looked at the unfamiliar ceiling. He looked around to find himself in the room lying on the bed.
Lucas noticed the soft silk sheet as its fibres brushed against his skin. He was in different sets of pyjamas. His clothes had been changed by someone.
The bed and sheet were neat and clean and the bed was large enough for five people to sleep. There was a huge cabinet on the other side of the wall which was decorated with various exotic colours. The room may not be big nor too lavishly decorated but it certainly belongs to the place where the upper echelon of the society stayed.
Lucas stretched his back and got up. After going through this dungeon exploration with so much fighting and killing, he seriously wished for a break, he felt as if his mental state had been destabilized by all those killings.
Lucas looked at the side of the bed where a golden bell was placed on the table. Lucas recalled that it can be used to call the servants of the place in a large hotel or places like this.
He looked around and opened the cabinet to see a few sets of clothes placed in it. He picked a random one from the sets of clothes and after changing it, rang the bell.
After a few moments, he opened the door on hearing the knock.
Opening the door, he saw a man wearing a black coat dressed like the butler and standing before him in an elegant upright posture asked.
"How may this servant help you?" The man spoke bowing his head.
"Where is this place?" Lucas asked to figure out the place where he was.
"It's the lord guest house, Sir." The man replied politely.
'Lord guest house, I think I am in one of the residence houses of the lord of Aler.'
Lucas thought for a moment and asked"Have you know or heard anything about a group of students similar to my age?"
"Are you referring to the ones from the Horizon?" The man asked.
"Yeah," Lucas spoke nodding his head.
"The students from the horizon arrived yesterday in the evening and are accommodated in this lord manor."
"Sir, now they are in the hall taking the breakfast. The lord is also taking breakfast with them." The man spoke.
"Okay. Please lead the way to the hall."Lucas spoke and followed the servant who lead him toward his classmate.
Lucas climbed down the stairs and looked at the huge dining table which was enough for hundred people to eat at a time.
On the rightmost corner on a big chair, a man of fifty years old with a moustache was chatting with the students quite cheerfully.
The atmosphere looked quite relaxing and compared to the gloomy expression last time the students had, now they looked quite cheerful and have recovered quite a bit after taking a good night's rest.
Tap.Tap.
Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked around to see the source of the footsteps.
Their expression changed when they looked at the entry of the person whom they probably owe a lot.
Fredrick and Charles who sat at the side of the lord stood up from their seat after asking the lord's permission.
Fredrick rushed towards Lucas and hugged him.
Lucas just gave him a gentle hug and looked at others' gratifying expressions and gave them a brief nod.
'Just a few days ago, I was looked down and cursed but now everyone's outlook of me changed quite a bit.'Looking at their expressions Lucas thought as he compare their expression to some days ago.
He felt quite satisfactory.
" Man, I knew it, there is no way you are gonna die. Your life thread is quite thick and hard."Parth said as he patted on Lucas's shoulder.
"By the way how did you find that bastard? He came carrying you with the city guards. Man don't tell me you change the party for some money or did he offer you honey seeing you are still single." Parth whispered into Lucas's ears.
Lucas's face becomes red in anger. He was fuming with anger now. If not for the presence of the lord of Aler and others, he would have beat him to death now.
Just a moment ago he was feeling quite happy but this man just burnt his happiness just with a few words.
Suppressing his anger, Lucas spoke"Let bygone be gone. Charles helped quite a bit on the way."
Parth and Fredrick's lips curled into O shaped as they were unable to believe what Lucas just said.
They took a peek at Charle's face which was devoid of any expression and looked at Lucas again asking him if what he said was a joke.
"Hmmm. So you are Lucas."
A stern voice echoed in the huge hallway.
Fredrick and Parth retreated for Lucas to face the lord of Aler.
The man sat in an upright posture and even though he was near fifty, he looked quite young.
His name was Alabaster Aler and his family have been handling the fiefdom of Aler for many years.
He had the rank of Baron in the noble society.
"Yes, Sir," Lucas spoke and gave a small bow greeting him.
Alabaster looked at Lucas and seized him up and spoke "I have heard many things about you from the students. Your courage is quite commendable praiseworthy. I was worried since you passed out after reaching here but it's good to see you alright."
"Come here take a seat, Miner serve him." He ordered his servant.
Lucas immediately followed the suit and sat on the left side beside Fredrick.
As they started eating and casually chatted about a few things.
Alabaster put down his cutleries and spoke "I have talked with the Horizon, they will be on their way. After going through such an experience they decided to give you some break. They said the other group's expedition is not over yet and it will take 4-5 days for them to finish. So, meanwhile, you can just stay here and enjoy the Aler city and relax a little bit. You will be treated with utmost care and sincerity."
"You can take a tour of my city. There are many good places. My son will personally guide you."
Everyone's mood instantly brightens upon hearing they can stay here and enjoy a small vacation here.
Many of them have not stepped out of the capital. So this chance was a golden opportunity for them to get used to life outside the capital.
Seeing Alabaster's behaviour, tone and speech, Lucas felt he was a good person for doing these things for the students.
Lucas looked at Charles and thought about the Warren dukedom. Since he had sent the emergency signal, Warren's knight should be on their way but he was puzzled to see Charles dining with them.
"Since, you all have taken your food. I wanted to tell you something." Alabaster spoke with a grim expression.
"My knights were able to find 18 students in the forest and most of them were dead. Out of them, only 6 were hanging on to their lives, when my knights found them. The Knights of Aler tried their best to find as many possible but the rest are either missing or dead." He spoke as he looked at us with a tensed expression.
Hearing the death of their comrade was quite a heavy blow for them to bear. A simple dungeon exploration has turned into a disaster for them
Seeing the atmosphere, Lucas took a deep heavy breath and spoke"I also found one of them."
Although his face was devoid of any emotion, his eyes were quite gloomy and lake the brightness he usual caries.
"He had died by the time, I reached so pardon me. I have retrieved his corpse. I think we should send it to his family for a proper funeral."
After hearing Lucas, their previous happiness of being safe disappeared replaced with sadness and sorrow and many started to cry.
Seeing thier expression, Alabaster spoke"Warriors like you will face death at every turn of your life. Take your deceased comrade as an example of a hero's struggle and danger they have to encounter. Remember them in your hearts and always tried to make sure that their death will be not meaningless. You all are going to encounter things like this quite often from now."
"Don't hold back the tears and the bellows of your heart and just let it out. Don't hold it in, you will feel relieved after releasing it," Alabaster spoke as he comforted us.
Alabaster stood up and seat and asked for us to pray for the deceased soul to rest in peace.
The entire time seemed to be frozen, tears and panic were evident on everyone's face.No one had any mood to eat, no one spoke any words. They just wanted to let out the sorrows and grievances that were buried deep in their heart complaining to God why was he so cruel to them.
Why do they have to suffer out of all the groups present out there? Why is fate so cruel to them
At the same time, they also prayed to God, thanking him for showing mercy for sparing their lives.
Humans' hearts was always conflicted, on one hand, they were full of grievances for being in a dangerous situation and on the other hand, they were thankful to God for being able to see the next day.
While everyone was praying and bellowing to God, Lucas was contemplating something with a serious expression.
Knowing about the seed of darkness from beforehand was making him quite uneasy. He doesn't know whether to say about it or keep quiet.
He didn't know if the King even knew about the seed of darkness or not at the present moment.
Honestly, he was feeling quite conflicted about it and his guy feeling was telling him that this was far from over.
