10

The silence around us only lasts one second, Emilia is the first to freak out. "Puck...? Puck where are you!?" She's clutching her crystal with all her strength. Nonetheless her father doesn't appear.

I get up immediately, ignoring the growing pain in my leg, this isn't the time to be sitting down and resting. Emilia does the same, though she is doing more out of pure terror, her body is tense, as if she's ready to start running at any moment now.

Felt is looking around while freaking out. "The hell!? I can't see shit! Where am!?" She starts listening to her surroundings. "Is that big sis' voice!?" Can't she see around us...? Suddenly I remember that only I could see inside of the well. This place is dark as hell, so it's only natural everyone would be blind here...!

Priscilla summons her red sword, it's light fill the room for a moment, but soon enough it fades away. "There rats, thank me later." She then extends a open hand, on it a flame appears. This mean the place we ended up in is now illuminated... at least a little bit.

Felt looks around, she's breathing heavily. "Man, what's up with this freaky shit...! Why are you guys all here!?" I have no idea. Did Petelgueuse have some last resort attack...!? No, it's clear to see why we are here. It's prophecy related, it can't be anything else.

More importantly however, is the Crusch who's bleeding on the floor. No one has commented on it, even with Priscilla's light, I guess it's still way too hard for them to see her dark blood on the floor? I think she's unconscious too...!

I drop my sword, making a loud noise, and then put my still working hand on her shoulder. "Emilia calm down please. Crusch is bleeding pretty heavily, I need you to heal her." First we need to make sure everyone in front of us is okay, we can worry about Puck later.

Emilia however, doesn't really listen to me. "Iori, Puck is gone! I can feel him, but he isn't coming, he's really far away! Help me Iori...!" I actually feel a sense of relief with what she says. If she can still feel Puck, then he probably isn't dead, we just got teleported somewhere.

And it's only natural Emilia's screams would wake up the sleeping Anastasia, though at least she isn't sleeping. "Ugh, didn't I tell you guys I needed a quick nap...?" She slowly opens her eyes, unaware of the shitty situation we are currently in.

It doesn't take too long for her to realize it though. "Oh no, oh no, oh no...!" She reacts very differently from Felt however. "This ain't happenin' to me, there's just no way this is happenin' to me!" It's almost like she was prepared, and scared of this occasion.

Maybe it's because she's the weakest one? Her body is pretty frail, so it wouldn't surprise me if she was dreading the eventual prophecy bullshit to start. I can only hope she took on the council's offer to get healed by the Blue...

Priscilla snorts. "And another panicking animal starts screaming! This time a fox... What a unbelievably annoying day." Please stop making the situation worse than it already is! Do you want to start a fight!?

Whatever, this isn't the time for them, so I shake the half-elf harder. "Snap off it Emilia, Crusch needs you right now, someone needs you right now!" It's like she isn't listening to a damn word I say, and even I am starting to freak out in a environment like this.

No, I have been freaking out from the start, and it doesn't help that I heard some strange booming voice that nobody is commenting on. Did only I hear it? Are they just not talking about it? Because that's basically what I'm doing right now I suppose.

Priscilla looks down on the passed out Crusch, her smile doesn't disappear at all. "Oh? The Duchess is dying...? What a shame." Her reaction surprises me, I knew Priscilla was cold, but even I didn't know she was this cold.

Felt instantly dashes towards the downed Crusch. "Fuck...! What the hell is this!? Seriously, what's happening right now!?" She's looking at Crusch, and then back at her own hands, like a miracle is suddenly going to happen. "Come on... Stay strong noble cow...!" Even as she says that, she can only look towards Crusch in horror.

Anastasia steps back, she's putting her hands on her neck, as if searching for something that isn't there. She starts muttering. "C'mon, where are ya when I need ya...!?" She's going crazy too, or at least that's what I'm assuming.

I don't stop shaking Emilia, but no matter how much I do, nothing changes, it's almost like she's hyperventilating. "Puck come back! You can't break a promise, you can't!" As people say, panick breeds panick. I'm certainly feeling that as a shudder of fear runs through my body.

I would prefer to be fighting Petelgueuse right now, because at least back then I knew what I was supposed to do, and what I wasn't. Right now though, it's like I have been thrown out of a plane, while Emilia clutches everyone's parachutes and refuses to hand them down.

To my surprise Priscilla rolls her eyes and moves towards Emilia, sword in one hand, and fire in the other. "Ugh, I suppose if the Duchess dies, this insufferable atmosphere will last even longer." She puts her hand with a fire on Emilia's free shoulder, even so she doesn't burn. Then she turns her around with surprising strength... and slaps her. With a hand that's on fire. "Wake up half-elf, full whore, if the Duchess dies it's on you." Thankfully yet again, Emilia is not burned.

It seems Priscilla's slap was just enough to wake up Emilia from her panick attack. "I... Sorry! Sorry!" She then dashes past Priscilla and kneels down next to Crusch. "I'm sorry, please don't die...!" The half-elf extends her hands, and a shine leaves her hands.

Felt backs of the possibly dying Duchess with a grimm face. "Work hard big sis...!" And then an empty silence fills the tunnel. While everyone is either freaking out... or just loud in general in the case of Priscilla... we still understand the importance of letting Emilia concentrate.

As time passes, my leg begins aching more, I don't sit back down, but I do support my own body by using one of the walls, while being careful to not hurt my arm of course. And so I begin thinking about the situation in question.

The name Satella. I got brought over here the moment I said it... It might be just an innocent word, but Puck said he didn't want Petelgueuse babbling about it. Whatever an Archbishop likes is probably bad. That said, I can't reach any conclusions yet, I will question the candidates later and find out what they were doing.

For now the most suspicious person is Crusch anyways, since she showed up half dead... I shouldn't be thinking one of my supposed destined lovers is suspicious while she's dying, this isn't the time for that...!

A concentrated Emilia eventually breaks the tense silence. "Her armor is interfering with my healing, can someone here remove it?" Of course healing someone who's wearing a bunch of metal would be harder! But...

Priscilla shrugs. "Do you think anyone here has any idea of how to do that, specially without moving her body around? Of course not, use your brain. Unless...?" Her gaze slowly shifts to me, as if expecting something. I can only shake my head however, Reinhard hasn't taught me anything about armor yet. "As I thought, simply be better Half-Wit." Don't say skill issue in a life or death situation!

Emilia doesn't respond, or even nod. She just immediately goes back to work... No, she never stopped in the first place. It's strange to think about, but seeing her healing someone... It really just makes the image of her being a bad person sound even more silly.

Eventually our healer speaks up again. "Okay! She should be stable...!" I let out a sigh of relief, and simply watch as Emilia brightly. "She didn't die...! I didn't screw up that badly!" Contrary to what Priscilla said, I don't think people would have blamed you, but I'm happy nonetheless.

Priscilla takes off a fan from her breasts, because of course she does. And even though that fan should be catching on fire, it doesn't... Just how much control over fire does she have? "Well, now that has been settled... Let's talk while we walk, staying idle here would be foolish." Well, we are in a mysterious tunnel.

Emilia raises a valid objection immediately. "W-we can't! Lady Karsten is still hurt...! We can't just leave her here!" That's true, and I have no idea how to carry a wounded person too... At least not when that wounded person has been beaten into unconsciousness.

Anastasia raises an eyebrow. "What happened to her anyways? She was just fine in the Karsten Manor last I heard..." She makes a thinking pose. "She was also receivin' tons of supplies..." I can now see that she has calmed down, I guess the silence around us helped.

Emilia frowns. "I don't know... She was really hurt internally though, like she got hit by a massive blunt object... She also has a few burns, and I think she got... ragdolled? Something hit her hard, that's for sure." Well, that's not a good sigh. "Now, if we do need to walk, someone please help me carry her... We need two people to carry a unconscious person safely." Okay, I admit it, you're the cleric of the party, just as Felt is the thief.

Priscilla shakes her head. "I need to carry my sword if we hope to keep using this flame." She shakes her hand around. "Once the sun goes out, and it becomes night, my sword will disappear by the way. We are on a clock." That's bad, even if I think it's good we can tell it's day... Also, maybe Emilia can light up stuff with her spirit magic as well.

Anastasia imitates Priscilla and shakes her head too. "Sorry, but I ain't exactly strong or tall enough to carry someone like the Duchess... Probably. If y'all wanna try sure." Yeah, it takes only one glance at Anastasia to tell it's a bad idea.

Felt raises a hand. "I can help! Just instruct me big sis!" The thief probably suffers from the same problem as Anastasia, even if she's really willing. Well, she is probably a better fit then the supposed foxy woman.

I sigh. "That's cool and and all, but there's someone perfect for carrying people here. Me, I'm talking about me." Emilia smiles towards my direction. "Just heal my broken arm and my screwed up leg first." And then that smile dies out.

She forgot I was injured, didn't she? I want to call her an air-head, but I can't blame her in this situation. It's clear that Crusch was in a much worse situation than me after all.

So Emilia gets up from Crusch side and gets close to me. "Iori, lay down please...! Don't force your leg." Ah, that's probably a good idea... I don't want to stay down in unfamiliar territory though, specially in this tunnel. If something bad happens... Then there's only way to run.

Still, I obey her and lay down on the ground. It's not hard, it's more like sand, which is probably a good thing to the sleeping Crusch, at least assuming none of it entered her wounds.

First Emilia starts working on my arm. "I'm sorry I ignored you back there Iori." Ah, she's talking about her earlier freak out? It was an understandable reaction, so I'm not mad. Besides, she pulled through in the end.

I smile towards her. "Don't apologize to me, apologize to Crusch... After she thanks you for saving her life, that is." Maybe this can repair her alliance with Crusch, though I still don't quite understand why it broke so easily in the first place.

Priscilla covers her mouth with her fan. "Now that the half-common sense is needing less concentration to heal... Let's take this opportunity to talk and find what just happened." Priscilla quickly takes a position as a leader.

Now that I think about it, she did the same thing back when Emilia was freaking out, and she was also the one who saved me from the Council of Wise Men. It might be that Priscilla's force of will simply makes her a natural for positions like that, even if admitting that might be unfair to the other candidates.

The fiery blonde continues. "I for example was just enjoying a calm day while sipping on some wine, then I blinked and suddenly I was here." She glares at the very ground, as if mad at the world itself. "I must say, I'm not really dressed for the desert, but I'm sure this will turn in my favour one way or another." Yeah, her clothing is definitely bad for this.

I mean she's dressed in some fairly elaborate dress, and it's hot down here in the underground, wherever we are... Only Priscilla of all people would be wearing such a fancy dress while just relaxing.

Felt snarks. "Sure, maybe there will be a fancy ball for you to show some moves." I for one am just glad that Felt is feeling okay enough to fight her fellow blonde. And she's also wearing more casual clothing, thankfully.

Priscilla laughs. "There just might, be ready for if it happens I shall demonstrate true grace. Feel free to feast your eyes then, rat." The right eye of the smaller blonde twitches in anger, she's probably mad that her insult had no effect.

She clenches her fists. "Whatever..." And then sighs. "I was actually looking for big bro over here, but him and Reinhard weren't home, Carol still let me enter the mansion though." I'm glad to see that she's as awesome as ever, and that you came back. "All she told me was that these two idiots left me in some annoying quest..." It was the annoying quest! Don't underestimate it, thank you very much.

Anastasia crosses her arms and looks at me. "So you and the Sword Saint were together? What were you guys doin'? No offense, but it's natural to assume you are at fault here." I guess that's fair, I'm the Child of Prophecy after all.

I nod. "He and I head together to the Roswaal Manor with this girl called Subaru and her maid Rem..." I'm suddenly reminded that most people here must know what Subaru wanted to do. "So we killed the Archbishop of Sloth... And I was with Emilia by the way." The girl nods, but keeps healing my arm.

Felt's eyes are open wide. "Wait a second, when did the god damn Archbishop of Sloth come into play!? Seriously...!? And you guys met Subaru too!?" Right, Felt is the only one who the black haired girl didn't beg for help.

Priscilla laughs. "Oh, don't be so surprised Rat! I mean, he pulled through didn't he?" She chuckles. "I'm a bit saddened you didn't call for my help however, I would have gladly helped to exterminate such a pest." Good to know...?

I raise an eyebrow. "Well, you did reject Subaru's pleas..." I have a feeling I know why, but I want to hear it from her on mouth. I don't want to be disappointed in Priscilla if she didn't do anything wrong after all.

She shrugs. "She was a disgusting pig, not a cute puppy. To be honest, I can't understand why you helped her, but I suppose you were just playing hero?" I can't deny that, it's sort of true... But I still helped. I can't help, but feel a bit disappointed in Priscilla, just as expected.

She isn't the type to lend a hand unless something interests her, and even then her fuse is short. I know that, I lived that... No, I didn't. Priscilla actually treated me rather unusually nicely according to Al, and the reason is probably related to the prophecy.

Anastasia sighs. "It wouldn't be correct to call her a pig... She's just naive. I'm glad she found her shining prince in the form of the Sword Saint though." She smiles. "I got some good information of her stupid ass too! So everythin' went well." Don't call her stupid right now!

Emilia stops my healing for a second. "None of you wanted to help me...?" And then she shakes her head, she knows the answer. And so she quietly goes back to healing me... Damn it, did my party members really have to be political rivals? That's a recipe for disaster.

Felt however, doesn't have nearly as much control as Emilia, so she glares at the two candidates in anger. "What the hell were you guys doing!? People could have died...!" It's fine, I understand it was the wiser tactical decision... In the case of Anastasia, Priscilla just rejected to help, because she's... quirky.

Speaking of her, she rolls her eyes. "Oh please, the pig should be glad I even entertained her presence at all. Besides, she didn't actually have any proof of the Witch's Cult appearance, I just had to..." She giggles a little. "Trust her word." That isn't funny...! For real.

Well, there is no arguing with Priscilla. She doesn't even hide the type of person that she is, so it's no surprise either. If you put your head inside of the lion's mouth, expect to die, that's why I can't get mad at her.

Anastasia however, just shrugs. "It ain't my job to help a stupid and my political rival of all things. I'm a merchant ya know? The best one in the entire world, so what kind of merchant does things for free?" She pauses for a moment and then continues. "Well, I did lead her own, I suppose. But that's her fault for being naive." Ruthless. Absolutely ruthless.

I raise an eyebrow as I ignore the Felt who is seething with anger in the background. "Didn't you said you only screwed over adults? There were plenty of kids back at the territory of Lord Roswaal." Most of them spiritually engaged to Subaru.

Anastasia rolls her eyes. "That was different, this would take too much effort, and too many resources." I guess that's true, and so my objections die out... In some strange way, I feel more comfortable around Priscilla than this merchant now, a fox indeed.

She continues. "Oh, by the way. Before I got summoned here, I was just takin' a quick nap to get at a hundred percent again." She makes a thinking pose. "Julius was guarding over me too, wonder if he saw something..." We can ask him if we manage to leave this place.

I take a deep breath. "So I have a few ideas. First of all, what does the name Sat... S-A-T-E-L-L-A mean?" I think it's better if I don't say the full name again, it might lead to a bad ending...

Priscilla raises an eyebrow. "Satella? That's the name of the Witch of Envy of course." I... should have figured. That's why someone like Petelgueuse would blabber about it. "It's considered taboo to just say it outloud. Satella!" Don't scream after it then! Are you that prideful!? It's like you're a cat...!

Anastasia gives me a stare filled with suspicion. "Why are ya askin' Iori? Anythin' ya want to confess?" You're the ruthless merchant here, please make sure to remember that!

I sigh. "It's just that... It was the last word I said before coming here, it's also why I was careful to not say it again." Felt's and Anastasia's faces immediately go pale, Priscilla seemingly doesn't care and... Emilia stops healing me for a moment.

The half-elf looks me deep in the eyes. "You think she might have brought us here? Like you calling her name was some sort of beacon?" Her body is trembling, this might be the first time I have seen Emilia trying to conceal rage.

I nod. "Maybe... That's not all though. As soon as we got here, I heard a booming voice, it called us challengers, and told us to step forth... I was actually wandering if anyone else heard it." Even if we don't know the way to go. This is a tunnel after all.

Emilia shakes her head. "I didn't." and simply goes back to healing my arm... This is taking a long time, though it is broken to be fair. Hopefully she can do it without issue, she did heal Crusch after all.

A shaky Felt answers my question as well. "I didn't hear anything too... This definitely has to do with the prophecy doesn't it? Fuck...!" I can see that she sent a quick glare my way. I suppose I'm being rightfully blamed for this...

Anastasia looks around, just as pale as Felt. "Y'all think we are in a Cataclysm or somethin'? They are holes, so they would definitely lead underground." I hadn't thought of that... Did we forcefully get sent into a dungeon?

Priscilla shakes her head. "No, the half-scum is using spirit magic, which means the lesser spirits around here are not insane... We are in another place completely." She sends me a questioning look. "So what do you wish to do, hero...?"

I sigh. "Step forth, I guess. Whatever direction that is."