The Witch's Relay

Chapter 16: Office Talk

I wave at Linda, and walk towards her, my face not moving.

"I'm surprised you're here.. After last night I mean.." She says once she shuts the door to the corridor behind the counter.

This is my second time in this area of the guild building, so instead of waiting for her to take the lead, I begin to head towards her office.

She shuts the door, and seeing me getting ahead goes into a light jog in order to come up alongside me, and walks next to me in silence until we reach our destination.

"Are you alright? I can understand this is difficult for you."

"Somehow.. I'm ok." I reply. "I don't feel anything about it. I just came here to find out more."

"So.. Yea you're definitely not ok if that's really the case." She looks at me worried.

"Well, it is the case and I do feel fine. Honest. You don't need to worry about me."

Linda opens the door to her office and we both walk in.

"Then if.. In the case you don't feel fine though.. Or actually, I recommend this to you regardless of what you think, because this is not a normal reaction to grief. We have a psychologist at this guild, which you can go to in the case of.. mild trauma?.." She sounds like she is trying to be careful with her wording. "It is common for adventurers to experience some sorts of ptsd and trauma from either terrifying encounters, or the loss of party members, and we send them to our therapist to help deal with that.. Although this isn't an incident related to the guild, so the guild does not technically cover it, I could do the paperwork right to get you a session."

I force myself to laugh and smile. "Haha, no, really, I'm good. There's no reason to bend over backwards for me in this. If I need help I'll let you know, but right now I just want answers."

"If you say so.. but if you ask me you should definitely see someone. Being all chill about the death of a parent the morning after is not normal." She looks at me carefully while speaking, presumably to find any reaction I might give to buttons being pushed.

"Maybe it isn't. But I'm alright. Now, I want to hear more. What are the strange circumstances you spoke of yesterday, and how did my father die? Also, what happened to my sister?" I say it all calmly and monotonously.

I take a seat on the couch.

She sighs, taking a seat across from me on a wooden chair. "Your sister is gone. Noone knows where. The "strange circumstances'' are mostly regarding your family's debt, and your father died due to some strange illness, and also what happened to the noble either related or unrelated."

"Strange illness?" I ask.

"Yes. As a matter of fact, I did a great deal of investigating this whole ordeal before transfering over, so I probably know more than anyone else about the matter. Your father died of some strange pneumonia-like disease."

"Pneumonia-like disease? Why does your voice sound like something isn't that straightforward?" I question.

"Well, it was just such an isolated case, but that's just about it. Noone else in the entire village got anything, and no news from surrounding villages either. Everyone else could have just been extremely lucky to not have gotten sick, but it just seemed odd."

"That does seem odd, but still, what other explanation could there be?"

"I don't know. He must have been somewhere to have contracted some sort of contagious infection with awful symptoms. But where that could be I can't guess."

"Me either. But what happened to my sister?"

"Here is where the real suspicious stuff begins." She hesitates for a moment. "Turns out your family's debt was paid in full, how no one knows, but when people found out that's when rumors began to spread."

I tilt my head. That definitely sounds sketchy, and also does not make sense in the slightest. Where could you possibly get so much money in such a short time?

"What rumors?"

"The rumor goes that your father struck a deal with the god of mischief. In return for the debt paid, he traded his life. Nonsense of course."

"Of course." I agreed. What the heck?

"But, following his death, your sister, Grace, vanished. Noone knows where she disappeared off to, but a couple days later the noble, the same as your father had owed money to, was found dead in his study."

"Dead?" I suppose that is not completely unwelcome news. He deserved it.

"Yes, he was found stabbed in the heart from behind. Which then caused people to speculate that either Grace had something to do with it, or the deal with the god somehow enveloped them both in some sinister way as well. Although we both know that countless people wanted him dead. Frankly the village is a better place without him. Anyone could have done it, and simply taken advantage of all the chaos going on."

"Hmm.. Interesting."

"Look.. I really think you should visit the therapist.. What I've told you here-"

"What you've told me here is tragic, but really, you don't have to worry about me. As you know I got my tears out last night." I cut her off.

"That may be true.. but still.." She stops.

"It is true, but besides. I've got some snowboars to hunt." I once again force upon myself a smile, and standing up I put back on my cloak which I had taken off prior to sitting down.

She looks down at her feet for a few seconds before looking me in the eyes. "Just know, if you ever need someone to talk to, I am here. Even if you refuse the therapist. I know how losing someone dear can be.."

"I'll remember that." I grab the doorknob, and twisting it I head out into the hallway and towards the exit.

I have a lot to think about.