The Blame Game

The "giant" corpse in the distance still smoked, its acrid, scorched stench stubbornly polluting the air.

Xia Lin slumped on the cold stone ground at the cliff's edge. Each time he tried to breathe, it felt as if invisible flames were burning his lungs and the wounds on his shoulder.

He looked toward Kasimir, who was slumped on the ground as well. Even the Duelist's usually cold face had turned pale with exhaustion.

On the other side, Barrett lay facedown like a heavy sack of grain, his chest rising and falling faintly.

They had won, though they had nearly been torn to pieces doing it.

"Ugh... my head..."

Lila's groan broke the stillness.

The young Apprentice Mage wobbled as she sat up, one hand pressed to her forehead, confusion written all over her smudged little face.

She blinked and looked around. When her eyes landed on the hideous monster's corpse, its head half missing, she sucked in a sharp breath. Then, the joy of having survived burst across her face.

Her gaze shifted to Xia Lin, Kasimir, and Barrett. The joy vanished at once, replaced by deep concern.

"Nethys above!" she cried, scrambling to her feet.

She staggered over to Kasimir and crouched beside him, urgently checking him over.

"Mr. Kasimir, are you all right?"

The Duelist merely raised a hand slightly to show that he was just exhausted.

He looked at Lila, his voice dry as sandpaper. "Potion..."

He didn't even manage to finish.

Lila sprang up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She quickly pulled two standard dark-red healing potions from her overstuffed backpack and tossed them behind her without looking.

"Here, sir!"

Then she brought out a large potion bottle, as exquisite as a perfume flask. The liquid inside glowed a warm amber and seemed to radiate a soft light.

Holding the potion carefully, she hurried over to Xia Lin and knelt beside him, gently helping him sit up.

"Xia Lin! Hang in there! Here, drink this. It's a Potent Healing Potion!"

She deftly pulled out the crystal stopper and gently brought the bottle to Xia Lin's cracked lips.

Kasimir reached out and neatly caught the two standard potions before they could hit him in the face. His eyes flicked toward the way Lila was practically tending to Xia Lin.

As he watched her fuss over Xia Lin with such tender care, something on his face, frozen for ages, seemed to melt for the briefest moment before quickly freezing over again.

He uncorked one of the potions and waited until he had regained a little strength.

Kasimir stood and walked over to Barrett, confirming that the tough old crocodile had only passed out.

He roughly pried Barrett's mouth open and poured the potion straight in, then kicked him beneath the ribs with his hard leather boot.

"Quit sleeping, idiot."

"Ugh... damn it... Which blind bastard..."

Barrett's eyes flew open. He mumbled a string of curses and struggled to sit up, only to immediately aggravate the pain in his chest and suck in a sharp breath.

"What happened... Where's the monster?" He looked around, clearly still unsure of what was going on.

"The monster's dead, and we're alive. Thanks to the new guy," Kasimir explained briefly, tossing Barrett the other unopened potion.

Barrett caught it and drank a few gulps. His complexion improved, and at last, he understood what had happened.

He looked toward Xia Lin, his expression complicated.

They had escaped death. You'd think they would have celebrated or comforted one another.

But the next moment, these three "veterans" erupted into a heated argument—or rather... a blame game.

Kasimir struck first, looking coldly at Barrett. "If you hadn't been so slow, you old crocodile, and gotten knocked flat before putting up [Bulwark] in time, we wouldn't have ended up in such a mess."

"Bullshit!" Barrett's eyes immediately bulged as he spat. "If this greedy brat hadn't gone scraping that damn candle wax and made the thing go berserk, I wouldn't have exhausted myself saving her and given the monster a chance to catch me!"

"I... how was I supposed to know the candle would attack people?" Lila's eyes grew red with indignation, but this time she didn't back down. She put her hands on her hips and argued, "Besides! Uncle Kasimir, you were the one in charge of keeping watch and handling the most immediate threats! If you'd noticed something was wrong with the altar earlier, none of this would have happened! And Xia Lin..."

As she spoke, she glanced worriedly at Xia Lin, who was being rejuvenated by the "deluxe" potion.

"My task was to eliminate the spellcaster threat. I made no mistake," Kasimir replied expressionlessly.

"You call that keeping watch? You didn't notice the Kobold until it jumped right in your face!" Barrett roared.

"Still better than some people who can't even keep their shield steady."

"Who can't keep their shield steady?!"

Barrett was about to struggle to his feet, but then he met Kasimir's cold gaze. His roar caught in his throat.

Lila wisely fell silent too.

The three of them glared at one another. The tense atmosphere from just a moment ago deflated like a punctured balloon, leaving only awkward silence.

Xia Lin leaned against the rock wall as the amber potion warmly mended his body.

Watching the three go from blaming one another to falling silent as a group, he could barely hold back a laugh. Even his wounds seemed to hurt less.

Barrett coughed heavily, breaking the silence.

He struggled to his feet. Though he staggered, he was the first to set off toward Xia Lin.

Kasimir and Lila exchanged a glance, then followed in silence.

The three stopped in front of Xia Lin.

Xia Lin looked at them, unsure what they were doing.

Without a word, Barrett, Kasimir, and Lila—the three adventurers who had just been bickering—bowed deeply in unison to Xia Lin, who was still sitting on the ground.

"This time... thank you, Xia Lin." Barrett called him by name for the first time. His voice was hoarse from shouting, but unusually solemn. "We owe you one. Honestly, without you today... at least two of us would've been left in this godforsaken place to become those beasts' snacks."

Kasimir and Lila nodded too, their eyes conveying the same sentiment.

Xia Lin's gaze swept over the enormous Golden Candle, the Shaman's corpse, the Kobold weapons scattered on the ground, and the spots where something might be hidden.

Barrett straightened and looked at Xia Lin with a serious expression. "As we agreed earlier, that batch of 'cargo' is mine. As for the other things we found on this adventure..."

He paused, stressing his next words. "We'll split the money four ways, between you and the three of us. As for the other items—the damn candle, the odds and ends on the Shaman, or anything else valuable we can scavenge from the cave... you get first pick!"