Is It Wrong To Skitter In A Dungeon? Chapter 36: Blood Tells (Patreon)

Chapter 36: Blood Tells

“Hey there, Weaver!” a cheery voice called out, and Taylor resisted the urge to sigh.

“Hermes,” Taylor said curtly, not bothering to turn around to face him. She’d felt the god approaching a while ago, but she had hoped he’d just leave her alone.

‘I do not need this today,’ she thought to herself as she walked off. She had a lot on her mind, she didn’t want or need him butting in on her private time.

Hestia had said that she wasn’t allowed into the Dungeon for a while. ‘Until her head was back on straight’ were the exact words, so Taylor was trying to walk around Orario and find more things to fill her room with.

Books and nick-nacks were filling up the basket she was carrying, and she’d been planning to visit a magic tool shop next. But now she was busy trying to shake an annoying person off of her tail.

However, Hermes wasn’t leaving her alone. Worse, his captain, who was normally nearby to keep him in line, was nowhere within her range, and he somehow managed to stick to her, managing to find her no matter how hard she tried she get away.

‘It must be something to do with being a Messenger God,’ Taylor mused. ‘A messenger who can’t find somebody would be a pretty terrible one, wouldn’t they?’

She still had a hard time accepting that these people were actually gods, but some of her skepticism had been chipped away. If Scion and multiple worlds could exist, why not something like gods?

“Don’t be so cold!” Hermes whined from behind her. “Can’t you spare a little time for me? Pretty please?”

“No,” Taylor replied curtly. She was starting to regret leaving Chris behind. Nobody ever bothered her when she had a monster at her side!

“Oof! So quick to reject me! Does wearing glasses increase a woman’s sternness?” Hermes wondered to himself. “Asfi, you, that half-elf at the Guild… I’m starting to see a pattern, here.”

“Hermes, I have had a crappy couple of days,” Taylor said, finally stopping in her tracks and turning to face the god following her. “I do not need the kind of chaos somebody like you would bring while I try and relax.”

“Somebody like me?” Hermes asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I know your type. I even befriended somebody like you,” Taylor admitted. “You’re a nosy know-it-all. Curiosity drives nearly everything you do. And when you find a puzzle or something interesting? It becomes something of an obsession.”

“Huh, I guess you really do have my number,” Hermes muttered, blinking a bit at the accurate profiling of his personality.

He then clapped his hands in front of himself in a begging gesture. “But come on, please? I just want a moment to talk to you and Bell!”

That brought Taylor up and she narrowed her eyes at him. “What do you want with Bell?”

“I have some information that may interest him,” Hermes declared. “Something to do with his parents.”

Taylor frowned at that. From what she knew, Bell was an orphan, raised by his grandfather in the countryside away from Orario. He didn’t know anything about his parents.

“They were adventurers?” she inquired.

“One of them was, but they were both part of Familias,” Hermes replied.

“And why do you want to tell Bell this? Out of the goodness of your heart?” she asked suspiciously.

“Call it a favor to an old friend,” Hermes said. “Bell’s gramps is a guy I used to know. I want to repay some old debts, and letting Bell know about his heritage seems like a good way to do that.”

“Alright. And why me?” Taylor asked. “What do you want with me if this is about Bell’s family?”

“Why, Miss Weaver, I thought you would want to know about your predecessor?” Hermes said, flashing her a rakish grin.

“My predecessor?” she uttered.

“The last Faller to appear in this world appeared… oh, it must have been twenty-ish years ago,” Hermes said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “Give or take a year. And considering your own origins…”

Taylor froze, and a second later her swarm immediately surged forward, insects getting up close to the god by burrowing under his clothes until he was completely covered. To somebody looking at them, they’d see nothing amiss. But Taylor and Hermes both knew that was a lie. One wrong move, and the God of Messengers would have to discover whether or not it was possible to poison a god using mundane insects.

“What do you know?” she demanded in a low hiss.

“People who appear here from other worlds are known to us gods as Fallers, and they are not an unusual phenomenon here in Genkei,” Hermes said smoothly. He was sweating a bit, but still managed to talk confidently. “They crop up once every century or so. They tend to appear around Orario due to the unique dimensional properties of the Tower of Babel. The way it keeps the Dungeon imprisoned bends time and space slightly, not to mention it’s the only place where gods can descend onto the world, which all makes it easier for dimensional breaches to occur near it.”

“So, I’m really not the first? I’m not the only one?” Taylor demanded, wanting confirmation. Lili had mentioned this before, but now, with the prophecy from Cassandra...

“Not the first, and definitely not the last,” Hermes vowed.

“And Bell… one or both of his parents was a Faller,” she realized.

“That’s right,” the god confirmed.

For a moment Taylor just stared at him, and he began to fidget nervously, before the parahuman gave a brisk nod and dismissed the insects, allowing them to crawl away. She did keep a single venomous spider under his collar. Just for insurance.

“Follow me,” she ordered before turning on her heel and walking off. Hermes nervously adjusted his hat before doing what she’d told him to do.

They walked through the streets of Orario until they reached a house that had become Hestia’s newest passion project.

The Apollo Familia had apparently owned a couple of properties in the city, which included a nice little building near the Guild. It had been a café Apollo had liked the tea from and bought the place. However, when the owner sold it he had immediately left Orario, and took his secret to making the tea the god had enjoyed with him. Without a reason to keep it open, the café had languished.

Now, Hestia was turning it into a restaurant. The Jagamarukun stalls were a decent investment and were making a bit of money for the Familia, but Hestia had been inspired by Taylor’s talk of fast food, and wanted to bring things like burgers, pizza, and the like to Orario.

“Why are we here?” Hermes asked as they approached the restaurant that was currently going through renovations.

“You really thought I would let you talk to Bell without Hestia there to make sure you behaved yourself?” Taylor asked with a snort.

“I’m sensing a lack of faith in me,” the god muttered. Taylor rolled her eyes at that as she walked inside.

“…and I want the seats to be over here, with the counter… Taylor?” Hestia exclaimed, cutting off her discussion with somebody from a construction Familia. “Hermes?!”

She quickly hurried over to her Familia member. “Oh no! Taylor, did Hermes do anything to you?!”

Hermes clutched his chest in mock hurt. “Really no faith around here,” he mumbled.

“Hermes wants to talk with Bell and I,” Taylor revealed to her goddess. “I felt it would be a good idea to pick you up as well.”

“Ah. To make sure he’d behave himself. Gotcha,” Hestia nodded in understanding.

Hermes slumped dejectedly at the continued jabs while the builder winced and shot the god a sympathetic look.

“Can we find Bell, now?” Hermes pleaded softly.

“Alright, give me a moment,” Hestia replied, turning to the person she’d hired. “Sorry, gonna have to take care of this.”

“It’s fine. You gave me plenty to work with. I’ll get started on what you already told me about,” he assured her. Hestia flashed him a grateful smile before heading over to her captain.

“Okay, let’s go!” Hestia said, before tilting her head in thought. “Where is Bell right now, anyways?”

“Right now? Being dragged around by Ais,” Taylor informed her as she checked her swarm for any sign of them.

“Is that so?” Hestia asked, her right eye twitching a bit. “Having a nice date with a cute girl, is he?”

Taylor and Hermes wisely refused to say anything, lest they draw the jealous goddess’ ire. Instead, they just left the restaurant and headed off to find Bell.

The trio found Bell rather quickly. He and Ais were simply walking around the food stalls in the area around the Guildhall, sampling the different foods. They would smile shyly at each other, feed each other, blush, look away, and then go back to smiling. It was sweet enough to give somebody cavities.

‘Seems we aren’t the only ones watching from afar, either,’ Taylor noted, seeing some of Ais’ Familia members peeking out at the duo.

Leyfia and the Amazon twins were spying on the two, likely to keep an eye on them. For some reason. Though if they were trying to be inconspicuous, they were failing badly, as it was painfully obvious what they were doing as they tried to hide behind a lamppost.

‘Did they forget Ais is Level 6 and could snap Bell like a twig if he tried anything untoward?’ Taylor wondered idly. ‘Then again, the twins were hopeless romantics and Leyfia did seem to have a crush on Ais, so it explains why they’d try to watch over them.’

Feeling a bit bad about interrupting their date, Taylor cleared her throat behind the duo. At the same time, she took a step back, avoiding the fist that nearly caved her face in.

‘Don’t sneak up on her, good to know,’ Taylor thought to herself with a blank expression that mirrored the look on Ais’ face. The Sword Princess then blinked as she realized just who it was that had drawn her attention.

“Miss Taylor?” Bell gasped in surprise, finally noticing that Ais had stopped walking and tried to punch his captain. Then, he spotted his goddess. “Lady Hestia!”

“Hey, Bell,” Hestia said, her voice dripping with false sweetness. “Having fun on your date?”

“Yes, Lady Hestia, I was, thank you for asking!” Bell said obliviously. Nearby, the Amazon twins slapped their faces and Leyfia squealed in shock while Hermes snickered.

“I hate to cut your date short, but something’s come up, Bell,” Taylor interjected. “Familia business.”

“Oh,” Bell said, excited at first but then realizing that meant he had to separate from Ais. He shot her an apologetic look, and the girl’s expression softened.

“Tomorrow,” she said, and Bell nodded eagerly, please to know they could pick up where they left off again later.

Bell then joined with his Familia and Hermes, wincing a little as Hestia pinched his arm.

“So, where are we going?” he asked, even as Hestia kept pinching him. “And, uh, who’s he?”

“Hermes, at your service!” the god said, giving a flourish and a bow. “A pleasure to meet you, Young Cranel!”

“Hello, Mr. Hermes!” Bell said politely, not recognizing him. That caused the God of Messengers to deflate a bit, before rallying.

“Now, as to where we’re headed… well, I was going to keep it a surprise, but I get the feeling a few people wouldn’t appreciate it,” Hermes said with an awkward cough. Hestia and Taylor both nodded in agreement.

“Keeping that in mind, I’ll tell you straight up that we need to go to the adventurer’s cemetery,” Hermes informed them.

Bell blinked but didn’t comment about it, but Taylor winced. ‘I should have expected that. Bell said his parents were dead… why did I think that maybe Hermes might tell us they were alive?’

The adventurer’s graveyard was in the south-east of Orario, near the walls. It was also the most wide-open part of the city. Where the rest was jammed pack with buildings and streets crammed together, here was the only place that had nothing bigger than a single-story mausoleum.

The place reminded Taylor strongly of the Virginia National Cemetery back on Earth Bet, with vast rows of white tombstones spread out as far as the eye could see. Here and there epitaphs stood alongside the tombstones, and mausoleums dedicated to powerful and famous adventurers littered the grounds.

‘Most of these graves are empty,’ Taylor thought to herself. She knew this intimately thanks to her power detecting every single worm and maggot within the dirt.

“Most adventurers do not get to be buried here,” Hermes said, as if he could read her mind. “The Dungeon claims far too many every year.”

“This… why are we here, Mr. Hermes?” Bell asked, glancing around in confusion. Hestia looked solemn, but also curious. Hermes did not respond, and began to wander through the area until he found what he was looking for.

“This part of the city is where the members of the Hera Familia are buried,” the god revealed as he took off his hat and knelt in front of a grave. He took a single white flower from his pocket and laid it down upon the ground.

The rest of the group, however, had their eyes locked onto the headstone. Specifically, the name carved into it.

‘Meteria Cranel – LEVEL 1 – HERA FAMILIA – Her life was short, but she brought much joy to all who had the chance to love her.’

“Mom?” Bell whispered, staring at the grave.

“You look just like her,” Hermes said softly, glancing at Bell as he stood back up. “Save for your eyes.”

“I-I never knew,” he muttered. “She… she was an adventurer?”

“Both of your parents were,” Hermes told him. “Didn’t know her that well, but I do know a few things. She had a twin sister, for instance.”

“I have an aunt?” Bell asked, desperate hope in her voice, but from the way Hermes winced, Taylor had a feeling she knew what was going to happen next.

“She died seven years ago, during the Darkest Days,” Hermes revealed, an apologetic tone in his voice.

“Evilus,” Hestia said darkly, clenching her hands into fists.

“I see,” Bell said, eyes wet with grief. “Was she… what was mom like?”

“Meteria was a good girl,” Hermes said. “She had lovely blue eyes, and was the sort of person who could brighten up any room she was in. Very kind, too. She would take care of the orphans in Orario whenever she could. Though gods help you if you took food from her! I once saw her force Hera herself to kneel after the goddess ate one of Meteria’s cookies!”

“That sounds like Bell around cheese!” Hestia giggled.

“There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a good cheese!” Bell huffed.

“You nearly stabbed Welf at dinner the other night when he tried to take the last fried mozzarella stick,” Taylor drawled, and Bell flushed red.

“I-it was just too good, though!” he whined.

“Maybe they should call you the Lucky Mouse instead of the Lucky Rabbit!” Hestia teased, and Bell covered his face with his hands.

Everyone had a good laugh at that, before settling down, the mood turning morose as their attention focused back on the grave.

“Did she… what happened?” Bell asked. "How did she die?"

“Unfortunately, she was sickly. Even with the Falna boosting her health, she couldn’t do much,” Hermes replied.

“I killed her, didn’t I?” Bell guessed tearfully, and Hestia and Taylor both hugged him.

“She died giving birth to you, yes,” Hermes confirmed. “But she never regretted it. Meteria wanted… she knew her life was coming to an end, and wanted to trade her death for a new life. Yours.”

“And what about my father?” Bell asked. “Why didn’t he take care of me after mom died?”

“Your father’s grave is elsewhere, somewhere in the Zeus Familia plot,” Hermes revealed, gesturing off into the distance. “Though technically, it’s not a grave. Just a name carved into a stele to honor those who died fighting the One-Eyed Black Dragon.”

‘There wasn’t enough left to bury’ went unsaid, but everyone heard it all the same.

“Who was he?” Bell wondered, staring off into the distance.

“He was known as the ‘Strongest Level 1’ and the ‘Weakest Vice-Captain,’” Hermes revealed. “Despite only being Level 1, he basically ran the entire Zeus Familia. He did the paperwork, balanced the books, conducted interviews for prospective Familia members, and kept Zeus in-line. He was respected by the Guild for his no-nonsense attitude, and despite his low level, feared by his enemies thanks to his Skills, Keter and Malkuth. He was also what was known as a Faller. Somebody who fell through time and space and wound up here in Orario from another world.”

Bell tensed up and Hestia gasped, eyes darting over to Bell and then to Taylor. The parahuman simply folded her arms.

“Who was he?” Taylor asked, repeating the question of her vice-captain.

Hermes sighed but took out pieces of folded up paper from a pocket. He then passed it over to Taylor. Frowning, she unfolded it, finding three documents in her hands. A marriage certificate. A death certificate. And a birth certificate.

On all three, Bell’s mother could be seen. But the rest of the names…

‘Bell Hebert Cranel’ was written on the birth certificate.

And ‘Daniel Hebert’ was written next to it on the ‘father’ section of the birth certificate, as well as on the marriage certificate next to Meteria’s name.

“W-what?” she uttered in disbelief. “No, this-! What is this?! A joke?!”

Around her, the swarm that had been lurking out of sight rose up, menacing Hermes who flinched back.

“Taylor, what are you doing?!” Hestia shrieked. Taylor did not respond, instead taking a furious step towards the god.

“WHY IS MY FATHER’S NAME ON THESE?!” she roared, shaking the documents in Hermes’ face. Bell and Hestia gasped, taken aback, and Hermes grimaced.

“I did not know until recently,” he said, holding his hands up in surrender. “But this is the truth. Daniel Hebert – though he always preferred to go by ‘Danny’ – was the Zeus Familia’s vice-captain… and also Bell’s father.”

Hestia placed a calming hand on Taylor’s remaining organic arm, and after a deep breath, the swarm receded. It was still there, waiting to be summoned again, but for now, it was silent.

“Was it really my father?” she asked, the wind taken out of her sails.

“He would occasionally mention having had a daughter named Taylor,” Hermes replied. “I don’t particularly know much else beyond that.”

Taylor racked her brain trying to find something that would explain the impossible situation she’d just been confronted with.

“Do… do you know how it happened?” Taylor inquired.

“He said something about a ‘time bomb?’ And an adventurer named ‘Bakuda’ who created it? Seems like he got trapped in a bubble of altered time, and then it somehow popped, which caused him to slip between dimensions,” Hermes said, scratching the back of his head as he recounted what he knew. “Sorry, I didn’t know him very well, only had a few conversations with him. The rest is second-hand knowledge.”

“I see,” Taylor muttered, looking down.

It was starting to come together in her mind. Her father had gotten trapped by an undiscovered and unexploded piece of Bakuda’s Tinkertech ordinance, one that created a temporal effect that trapped him.

How long he was like this was unknown to her, but somehow, the time loop must have gotten destroyed, likely when Scion began his planet destroying rampage.

‘There must have been an unusual reaction between the temporal bomb and whatever attack Scion used on Brockton Bay,’ Taylor thought to herself. ‘It must have created a rift in time and space and sent dad across realities. And, like me, he somehow ended up here completely by accident.’

From there, more things began to fall into place. He’d survived the arrival and gotten picked up by a Familia, and his experience as the head of hiring for the Dock Worker’s Union had translated into an ability to running one of the biggest and most powerful factions in the city at the time.

And somewhere along the line, he’d met someone, fallen in love… and had another kid. One who was currently standing right beside her.

“Wait… according to these dates on the tombstone, Bell’s mother would have had to be eighteen, maybe nineteen, when she gave birth,” Taylor said, peering down at the numbers scratched into the granite, her wonder and disbelief regarding his transference from Earth Bet momentarily overridden by her sudden worry about the timeline itself.

“Yes, that sounds about right,” Hermes nodded.

“Are you saying… my dad slept with a teenager?” Taylor uttered, feeling icked out by the thought.

“What’s a teenager?” Bell asked.

“Us, Bell,” Taylor replied. “Somebody who is between thirteen and nineteen years old. A minor, somebody who isn’t yet an adult.”

“There’s an age for adulthood?” Bell asked, confused.

“Different regions, different rules,” Hermes said for the boy’s benefit. “In the Empire, you aren’t legally an adult until you hit your fifteenth birthday. In other places, it could be twelve or sixteen. Orario doesn’t have one, though. Old enough to get a Falna slapped onto ya and enter the Dungeon, old enough to be considered an adult!”

“You don’t understand! My dad was in his forties when…” Taylor trailed off, and Hermes and Bell picked up on things.

“Well, I dunno about that. He looked like he was in his twenties to me, at least when he… left to fight the One-Eyed Black Dragon,” the Messenger God said with a shrug. “Perhaps whatever sent him here messed with his physical appearance or personal chronology?”

Taylor supposed that was possible. Powers were bullshit, and Tinkers like Bakuda were bullshit with sprinkles on top.

‘Still, he’d have been mentally older than the girl… Meteria… when he slept with her,’ Taylor thought to herself before shivering.

No. Nope! She did not want to think about that at all!

‘Focus on the fact I now have a kid brother!’ Taylor ordered herself. ‘Don’t try and wonder about what passed through dad’s head to make him think that was a good idea!’

“I-I have a sister?” Bell whispered, staring at Taylor in nervous awe.

“I-I guess so,” Taylor said, just as nervously.

“Huh. Good to know that your ridiculousness is a family thing,” Hestia mused, glancing between the two, squinting a bit as she tried to spot any similarities in their appearances.

“You’re not the first to say that,” Hermes chuckled in response to the goddess’s comment.

For what felt like an eternity, Bell and Taylor just looked at each other, unsure of what to say or do. Bell was the first to try and act, and he stepped forward, starting to raise his arms to hug his newly discovered sister, but she took an unconscious step back away from him.

The look of hurt on his face almost made Taylor give up and return the hug, but in the end her own insecurities won out and she turned and ran off, disappearing into the distance.

Through her swarm, Taylor could see Bell break down and start crying, and Hestia immediately moved in to give him a comforting hug.

Again, this caused an ache to assault her heart, but Taylor couldn’t turn back and she just kept running.

Running away from her brother.

Running away from the fact that she had just learned her father hadn’t died on Earth Bet during Gold Morning, only to discover he’d perished trying to be a hero fighting this world’s Endbringer proxies.

Running away from her own dark thoughts.

She ran past row after row of graves, the marble and granite flickering past her until they became blurry streaks as she pushed her Level 3 Agility to the limits.

It had been a while since she’d run like this, just letting the wind and runner’s high wash away everything in her head, and she didn’t even stop as she reached the massive walls of Orario in the distance. Instead, Taylor just began to run right up to the wall before jumping with all of her might, leaping into the air and landing on the parapet.

The parahuman wasn’t even out of breath after that, but she was no longer interested in running. She stared out over the horizon, looking at the rolling green farmland that surrounded the city.

After a moment she walked up to the edge… and just kept walking.

Taylor fell off of Orario’s walls, but before she even got halfway down, green and gold wings appeared on her back and she was no longer falling, but flying.

Arcing upwards, the girl with the name of Weaver shot up into towards the clouds before just hovering far above the city. Even Babel looked small beneath her, and for the first time in a long while, she hardly felt anything.

Up so high, the majority of her swarm was beyond her range; just a handful of bugs in the tallest buildings and the insects she kept on her person.

Belatedly, Taylor recalled she was still clutching the documents Hermes had given her, and she looked down at them in midair. They’d been crumpled a bit, but were still readable, which was all that mattered in the end, she supposed.

‘Dad… were you happy here?’ Taylor wondered as she stared at the birth certificate for her brother. And wasn’t a strange thought. It still didn’t feel real, even though she held the evidence in her hands!

He remembered her, at least, if Hermes was to be believed. Did that make it better or worse, though? What could she even say or do about it, too? She'd learned he'd survived Scion, only to find out he'd died for real!

'Oh, and he slept with a girl old enough to be his daughter and had a kid with her!' Taylor thought hysterically. 'Can't forget that!'

Alone with her thoughts, all she could do was think. It wasn’t very helpful.

‘I shouldn’t have run away,’ Taylor eventually thought to herself, and she began to slowly descend back towards Orario.

Flying over the adventurer’s graveyard, she made her way back to the Hearth Manor. Dipping low, she was able to see individual people amongst the crowd as she flew along. Some even spotted her and pointed up in awe. Wasn’t every day people saw a flying adventurer.

However, as she passed by the Entertainment District, her swarm detected something off. There was a person crawling through an alleyway, covered in filth and bleeding heavily. There was something wrong with her aura, too. Beneath the howl of wind and the scraping of sand that was her Falna was the sound of a woman screaming in terror and pain.

Concerned, Taylor dove down, landing in the alleyway. The woman, an Amazon, looked up at her through a bruised and mangled face.

“S-save… save her,” she gasped as she reached out towards Taylor with broken fingers.

“What?” Taylor uttered. “Save who?”

‘And who could hurt her like this?’ Taylor couldn’t help but wonder. From the hum of her Falna, this woman was Level 4!

The woman in front of her didn’t respond, instead, she started to heave and threw up on Taylor’s feet. However, when she did so, a broken piece of black stone escaped the Amazon’s mouth. Stained with blood and vomit, the woman grabbed it with shaking fingers and held it up to Taylor.

“Save… K-killing stone…” she gasped out before passing out, the piece of stone tumbling from her grasp.

Taylor stared at it with concern, as for some reason it was the source of the terrified screaming her swarm was picking up. Not to mention, as soon as it left the Amazon, her Level abruptly dropped down from 4 to 3. For a moment Taylor looked at the collapsed woman, thoughts racing through her head.

After some hesitation she bent down and scooped up the stone, tucking it into a pocket. After which, the parahuman lifted up the Amazon. With her Level 3 strength it was easy, and Taylor summoned her wings again and flew into the air, heading back home as fast as she could.

The parahuman landed in the backyard, startling the Familia members who were training out there.

“Taylor-sama!” Mikoto gasped out. “Is everything alright?! Hestia-Sama and Bell-dono just returned, and they looked upset!”

The Samurai then noticed the woman Taylor was supporting. “By the gods! Is she alright?!”

“She needs potions!” Taylor shouted out as she carried the unconscious Amazon inside. “Get some warm water and a towel! And someone needs to go fetch Miach and Naaza!”

“I’ll go get them!” Emma called out, the pink-haired girl running off, while Lili hurried to fetch a first aide kit for emergency healing potions and Mikoto rushed to find the water and towels.

Taylor brought the injured adventurer over to a couch and laid her down on it. Taylor tried her best to clean her off, only making headway when Mikoto returned with a tub of steaming water and several fresh towels.

Working together, they managed to clean away the filth and disinfect the wounds with rubbing alcohol and the healing potions Lili had grabbed. The rest of the Familia, having heard the commotion, came rushing in soon after.

Taylor tried to avoid looking at Bell when he came in, and he shifted awkwardly in the corner, also trying not to glance her way, but failing miserably.

“What happened?” Miach asked when he arrived, all business as he strode over and began to help Mikoto and Taylor tend to the wounds. Naaza, Daphne, and Cassandra had come too, the latter carrying a big bag full of different potions and medicinal items.

“I don’t know, I just found her like this,” Taylor informed the head of the medicine-making Familia, relieved to have something else to focus on.

“Do you have any ideas? It looks like she was beaten half to death and then forced to crawl through the sewers!” Hestia exclaimed in disgust, coming to join her blue-haired friend beside the Amazon.

“I only have one clue,” Taylor admitted, and she drew the jagged shard of black stone out of her pocket. “Does anyone know what a Killing Stone is?”

From the horrified gasp that escaped from Mikoto, Taylor had a feeling it was going to be far worse than she’d initially feared.