[Ren’s POV]
The walk away from The Lantern was quieter than I would have liked.
Clara walked beside me, her hands clasped in front of her. Every so often, she glanced back towards the street we’d left behind. She didn’t have to say anything for me to know who she was thinking about.
Joseph.
The guy had managed to turn himself into a walking headache. He knew things he shouldn’t, had somehow found his way into House Vellmore, and had deliberately provoked me until I lost my temper in front of half the street. Now he’d managed to get himself beaten half to death, and Clara was still worried about him.
I couldn’t exactly blame her. She was in love with the man. That much was painfully obvious.
Still, it was difficult to ignore the fact that she’d asked me to take her with me only because she wanted to save him.
"Do you think he’ll be all right?" Clara asked.
I glanced at her. "Joseph?"
She nodded. "His injuries looked serious. I know the healer came, but I didn’t get to see whether he was properly treated."
"He’ll live. Maren stayed with him, and the healer seemed to know what he was doing."
Clara pressed her lips together. "I should have stayed."
I slowed my steps slightly. "You asked me to take you with me."
"I know."
"And I agreed."
"I know, Ren." She looked up at me, her expression earnest. "I meant what I said. I want to go with you, but that doesn’t mean I’m not worried about Joseph."
There was no hesitation in her answer. She wasn’t trying to hide her feelings or make me believe there was something between us that wasn’t there. She loved Joseph, and even after everything that had happened, her concern for him hadn’t changed.
I looked ahead again.
"I’m not asking you to stop caring about him," I said. "I just don’t want you putting yourself in danger because of him."
Clara was quiet for a moment. "I don’t want either of you hurt."
"Yeah, well, Joseph and I seem to have a talent for that."
She let out a small breath, almost a laugh, but it faded quickly.
We continued along the street. I had no intention of taking her back to The Lantern. After what had happened, that was probably the last place either of us needed to be. Besides, I had somewhere else in mind.
Sera’s estate.
It was the most sensible place to go. Sera had already agreed to help me, and given everything that had happened with Joseph and House Vellmore, I wanted to speak with her. Clara also needed somewhere to stay while we worked out what came next.
As we walked, I opened the Hero System.
[HERO SYSTEM]
Status: Yamamoto Ren
Class: Chosen Hero
Level: 15
Luck: ∞ (SSS)
Combat: Peak (Tier 3, Enhanced)
Charm: Flawless
[ACTIVE QUESTS]
Main Quest: The Dragon Kingdom
Side Quest: Win the Trust of Clara Dale
Status: ACTIVE
Hidden Quest: Investigate the Anomaly
Status: ACTIVE
My attention settled on the side quest. Its lettering was still grey, just as it had been before.
I opened the details.
[QUEST DETAILS]
Objective: Win the Trust of Clara Dale.
Target: Clara Dale.
Status: ACTIVE.
Progress: UNAVAILABLE.
I stared at it for a few seconds.
Clara was walking right beside me. She had agreed to travel with me, yet the quest hadn’t changed at all.
What exactly did the system want?
I’d spent weeks trying to build her trust. We’d gone riding together, I’d helped her, and I’d done everything the objective seemed to expect. Then Joseph appeared, and the whole thing went sideways. The quest had greyed out when Clara refused to accompany me into the forest, but it had never failed or disappeared.
Now she was coming with me, and it still hadn’t updated.
If this were a game, I’d be checking the forums by now. Maybe someone had found a hidden requirement. Maybe there was some obscure dialogue option I’d missed. Or perhaps the quest was simply bugged.
Unfortunately, there were no forums, no guides, and certainly no chat to spam suggestions at me.
Just me and a system that seemed increasingly determined to give me incomplete information.
I closed the display before Clara could notice anything.
"Ren?"
Her voice pulled my attention back to the road.
"Hmm?"
"You’ve been quiet."
"Just thinking."
"About what happened?"
"Among other things."
She looked down at the road, her fingers tightening around the strap of her satchel. "I didn’t want things to turn out that way."
"Neither did I."
That wasn’t entirely true. I had wanted answers, and I still did. But I hadn’t expected the conversation to end with Joseph lying in the street and Clara standing between us.
"I know Joseph can be difficult," she continued. "But he’s helped me more than you realise."
I glanced at her. "You don’t have to explain your feelings for him."
"I wasn’t trying to."
"Good."
She seemed to consider saying something else, but eventually fell silent.
I couldn’t fault her for caring about Joseph. What bothered me was how little I understood about him. He knew what a Chosen Hero was. He knew the term NPC, and he’d used it as though he understood exactly what I was. That wasn’t something I could dismiss as coincidence.
And now he was working for House Vellmore.
There was too much connecting him to the things I was investigating. I needed to know what he was doing there and, more importantly, how much he knew.
Sera might be able to help with that.
The journey to her estate passed without much conversation. Clara remained quiet, and I didn’t force her to talk. There was enough on my mind without turning the walk into an interrogation.
By the time we reached the entrance, I had a rough idea of what I wanted to ask Sera.
The guards recognised me. One stepped forward, his eyes briefly moving to Clara before returning to me.
"Good evening, sir. Do you have an appointment?"
"Not exactly. Is Sera available?"
The guard hesitated. "May I tell her who’s asking?"
"Ren. Tell her I’ve brought someone with me."
He nodded and disappeared through the entrance.
Clara glanced towards the estate. "You know her well?"
"Well enough."
"Is she expecting us?"
"Not particularly."
She looked at me again. "Then I hope she doesn’t mind unexpected visitors."
"She’s usually good at hiding it."
Clara gave me a small, uncertain smile.
A few minutes later, the guard returned and gestured for us to follow him.
We were led through the estate, past the familiar halls and into a quieter part of the house. I had visited Sera enough times to recognise the route, though this was the first time I’d brought someone along.
The guard stopped outside a set of double doors and knocked.
"Lady Voss, Ren has arrived. He’s accompanied by a guest."
There was a brief pause.
"Let them in."
The guard opened the doors.
Sera stood inside her study, dressed elegantly as usual. Her gaze settled on me before shifting to Clara. One eyebrow rose slightly, and a faint smile appeared on her lips.
"Ren," she said, stepping aside. "And you’ve brought company. Come in. Both of you."