Tears of Souls: Lament at Midnight

Chapter 4

The leader of the merchant caravan was an amiable middle-aged man who welcomed Candace's presence.

As Vina had put it, having a free apothecary along for the journey was a steal for the caravan.

However, the leader's excessive enthusiasm made Candace a little uncomfortable. She politely declined his offer to ride in the carriage with him, opting instead to sit in the back on the open wagon carrying goods. Several guards hired by the caravan rode alongside on horseback.

They were all temporary hires from the Adventurer's Guild, a motley crew dressed in a variety of mismatched outfits.

The wagon was bumpy and offered no protection from the elements, but everything was new and exciting to Candace.

She placed her suitcase and backpack to the side, holding onto the staff Vina had given her with one hand and gripping the wagon's railing with the other as she took in her surroundings.

They had traveled some distance, and the towering walls of Aruboum City were shrinking in the distance, slowly disappearing below the horizon.

"Speaking of which, that mountain is strange, completely bald at the top."

The guards escorting the caravan began to chat amongst themselves, pointing at the peak of Mount Fakar.

"Isn't that where the magic academy is? Maybe those mages blew the top off."

"Don't be ridiculous, magic isn't that powerful. But those alchemists are a different story. I heard they blew up one of their buildings just the other day."

"Yeah, I heard about that too..."

Candace couldn't help but interject. "That's not the mountaintop you're seeing, it's ruins."

The guards didn't seem to mind her sudden participation in their conversation. One of them, a burly man with a thick beard, even seemed intrigued. "What kind of ruins?"

"Ruins from the Golden Age, they call it the Tower of Babel. Of course, only the base remains now." Excited to discuss a topic she was familiar with, Candace launched into a detailed explanation. "Legend has it that the giants of old wanted to wage war on the heavens and usurp the gods. They built Towers of Babel all over the world, and that's one of them."

The younger guards listened with fascination. "Giants actually existed? I thought those were just fairy tales."

"Of course they existed." The bearded guard puffed out his chest. "I've seen giant skeletons with my own eyes. One thigh bone was taller than this young lad here!"

The younger guards gasped in amazement.

"Aha, now I understand why they call this place the Ivory City." One of the guards pointed at the ruins in the distance. "It's because of that, isn't it? From afar, it does look like a giant ivory tusk!"

Another guard scoffed. "Please, it's called the Ivory City because the walls of Aruboum are white."

"No, no, I heard it's because the previous lord of Aruboum had a thing for ivory. He once spent a fortune on cartloads of the stuff!"

Candace listened to their rambling with amusement, her thoughts drifting.

Her heart was still pounding with a mixture of anxiety and excitement at leaving her comfort zone.

This feeling of novelty made her grip on the staff tighten.

"You're a student at the magic academy, aren't you, miss?"

The bearded guard glanced at the unfamiliar figure in grey robes on the other side of the wagon before turning back to Candace with a grin. "I heard the boss mention you're headed to Parma Town?"

Candace, surprised by his sudden question, straightened her back and replied politely, "Yes, I hope I'm not causing any inconvenience."

Her flustered reaction only made the bearded guard laugh harder.

Candace: ???

Noticing her bewildered expression, he quickly composed himself. "This your first time traveling far from home? What brings you to these parts?"

"Yes, it is." Sensing no malice in his tone, Candace relaxed slightly. "My mentor assigned me a research project. I'm to search for the Hero's Tomb in the North."

"Well, your mentor certainly knows how to give a tough assignment." The bearded guard frowned. "They say the Hero's Tomb is filled with countless treasures. But look around, there are plenty of grave robbers out there, and none of them have found it..."

Candace: ...Well, if they did find it, they wouldn't exactly go around bragging about it...

As if reading her mind, the bearded guard added, "And it's not just grave robbers. Adventurers, nobles, even royalty from all over the world have been searching for the hero's treasure."

Candace stared at him, dumbfounded.

Had she been naive all this time? She had imagined the Hero's Tomb to be similar to the catacombs beneath Aruboum, just with a more distinguished resident.

"What kind of treasure are we talking about?" Candace felt like her days of research had been for naught. "Didn't the hero, Irelius, come from humble beginnings?"

No matter how impressive the title of "Hero" was, it didn't change the fact that he was essentially an adventurer.

And adventurers, as a rule, were constantly broke. Slaying monsters didn't exactly pay well.

Even Irelius's famed sword had been a gift from the villagers he had saved...

Candace could believe that his tomb might contain an ancient book from the Twilight Era, considering the healer in his party had been an elf.

But a treasure coveted by royalty? That seemed a bit far-fetched.

The bearded guard leaned closer, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "Rumor has it that the hero was actually the illegitimate son of a king."

It took Candace a moment to process this information, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Why else do you think he was able to attend that fancy magic academy of yours?" The bearded guard gave her a knowing look. "His mother died young, and his uncle, a humble carpenter, raised him. He wouldn't have had the money to send him to such a prestigious school."

The rumor was so well-constructed, so logically sound, that Candace almost believed it.

Lowering her voice to match his, she asked, "So, this treasure coveted by royalty, you're saying the hero hid some kind of national treasure or a dangerous secret?"

"Exactly! And this particular national treasure is no ordinary trinket." The bearded guard nodded solemnly. "It's the Philosopher's Stone, said to grant immortality and turn lead into gold!"

Candace struggled to contain her laughter. Despite her best efforts to maintain a straight face, her eyes crinkled at the corners.

"What, you don't believe me?" The bearded guard chuckled, unfazed. "This conclusion was reached after careful analysis of intelligence gathered by guild members from all over the continent. It might not be entirely accurate, but there's definitely some truth to it."

The Adventurer's Guild had a vast network of informants, their information both extensive and often unreliable.

But for them to reach a unanimous conclusion from such a mixed bag of truths and fabrications... that was impressive in itself.

Besides, it was another lead regarding the hero.

Candace pulled out her notebook and jotted down the information.

The wagon bounced along the uneven road, forcing her to use shorthand. She looked up, curious. "You seem so interested in the hero, why haven't you gone looking for his tomb yourself?"

"I have a wife and children to support, that kind of adventure is not for a middle-aged man like me." The bearded guard laughed heartily. "I have dowries to save up for my daughters."

Mention of his beloved daughters loosened his tongue even further.

Candace found herself warming up to the man, her initial stiffness fading away.

She rested her arm on the railing, swinging her legs idly.

The caravan turned onto a side road, entering a small forest.

It had rained lightly the previous night, but the sun was out now. The dirt road was muddy, and puddles had gathered in the hoofprints left by passing horses.

The air was filled with the scent of damp earth and foliage, lifting Candace's spirits.

The bearded guard was now talking about his third daughter. "My Angelica, my little angel, my youngest. She's only nine years old, but she already helps her mother with so many chores around the house."

He puffed out his chest with pride. "She even knitted me a new pair of socks before I left."

Candace touched the pendant hanging from the necklace around her neck.

The pendant was shaped like a three-leaf clover, each leaf a different gemstone. Only two gemstones remained, a reminder that it had been used once before.

It was a defensive artifact given to her by her adoptive father, Professor Aubrey.

To be fair, Aubrey had never mistreated her, but he had always kept her at arm's length.

Candace understood, to a degree. He had been almost seventy years old when he had found her.

Expecting an old man to suddenly become a father to a young girl, no matter how well-intentioned, was a tall order.

"She must be very happy to have a father like you," Candace said, a hint of envy in her voice.

The bearded guard beamed.

His eldest daughter was around Candace's age and shared her quiet, reserved nature. But she had been married for four years now.

"All I can do is save up as much as I can so that they can have a comfortable life after they get married." The man sighed, thinking of his eldest daughter, whom he hadn't seen in a while. "That's what parents do, we want our children to have better lives than we did..."

Candace clutched the pendant on her necklace, her thoughts turning inward.

When Aubrey had taken her in, he hadn't shown any intention of providing her with a formal education.

He had given her food and shelter, treating her more like a pet than a daughter.

It was Candace who had fought for the opportunity to study at Humus Academy, earning her tuition and living expenses through part-time work.

Aubrey hadn't stopped her, but he hadn't expressed any joy or pride either.

When she had shown him her acceptance letter, he had merely glanced at it with indifference before returning to his experiments.

As she grew older and her knowledge expanded, Candace found herself understanding the old man less and less.

She wasn't the most outgoing person, but after living with someone for almost a decade, surely some familiarity should have developed.

Vina, for example, had become her closest confidante after only six months of sharing a dorm room.

But with Aubrey, it was different. Ten years had done nothing to bridge the gap between them.

Their relationship wasn't that of family, nor was it quite friendship.

If anything, it resembled a strictly professional dynamic, with Aubrey as the distant mentor and Candace as his apprentice.

His occasional strange behavior only added to her unease, even bordering on fear.

Her decision to befriend the apothecary and offer to work for him after graduation had been a calculated move to gauge Aubrey's reaction, to see how much control he truly exerted over her life.

Although it seemed that plan had backfired spectacularly...

Candace sighed, her legs swinging listlessly. "Yes, I suppose so."

The bearded guard, misinterpreting her dejected tone, lowered his voice sympathetically. "I know noblewomen tend to marry later in life, but every girl dreams of finding a good husband eventually..."

Candace blinked, then realized that outsiders might assume Humus Academy only accepted students from noble families. "I'm not a noble," she said with a chuckle.

The bearded guard's jaw dropped. "You're not? But you don't have any guards with you?"

Candace couldn't help but laugh. "Why would I have personal guards?" She couldn't even afford to hire adventurers from the guild.

The bearded guard's eyes narrowed, and he quickly scanned their surroundings. The grey-robed figure who had been following the wagon on the other side was gone!

"Everyone, be alert! There might be an ambush... Gah!"

An arrow protruded from his shoulder.