At that moment, Helena joined them too, having a bowl filled with cookies in one hand, and a tablet with cups and a jug of water on it in the other. She placed them down on the small wooden table in front of them, and then sat down on a chair next to Balinth.

As the scent of the cookies filled Theora’s nose, she strongly considered learning to bake. That wish intensified when she saw Dema’s happy face as she picked the first one up and bit down on it in pure bliss.

“Gotta love cookies!” she yelled out, mouth full. “They remind me a lot of rocks!”

Of course they did.

If Theora acquired some kind of baking Skill, would she be able to bake cookies out of rock?

Probably not. Having a brewing Skill that did that was already remarkable enough. It’s not like learning general Skills like that was a common occurrence; she was lucky to even have two, and after all, a hundred years had first passed before she’d gotten the second one. And since then, barely twenty years had gone by. So, would it take another eighty for her to get a new one?

She only now realised she was still staring. Dema reciprocated the gaze with raised eyebrows, as if asking a silent question, still slowly chewing on the cookie. Feeling caught, Theora looked down.

“So, what brings you here?” Balinth asked, taking in each of the three other adults in the room one by one. When she eventually rested on Helena, she added, “Do you know them?”

“Nope. Never seen them. They’re travellers. Wanted to ask some questions, and since there’s nobody in the streets…”

“Oh,” Balinth said, shrugging. “Makes sense, makes sense.”

“So, you gonna tell us what this is about?” Dema ventured. “The guard who let us into town was being really vague. Some kinda issue?”

Helena leaned back on her chair. “Well. I don’t know how much you know about Hallmark? Essentially, there’s an issue with the mana crystals that are powering the city. Most of them are in the mountains around.” Saying that, she made a circling gesture with her fingers at what Theora assumed to be the boundaries of the settlement. “And some of them are underground, too.”

“Good to know!” Dema cheered. “So, like… Mana based classes refill their stuff on those crystals? And so they can help the town go big?”

“Yes, more or less,” Balinth replied. “But a few weeks ago, the veins got infested by Afterthoughts. Many, many. Guards fighting them back, but… It’s just too many. And they have to divide efforts between all the veins so the Afterthoughts won’t seep out and wreak havoc.”

Theora frowned. That sounded rather peculiar.

On the other hand, she really had no idea what kind of problems usually befell large cities, because she rarely spent a lot of time in any. Of course, it was possible for Afterthoughts to form around mana crystal veins; it wasn’t unheard of, but a sudden spark like that indicated that something had happened to cause it.

Was that why the guard had asked to announce her arrival? In hopes that whoever or whatever was responsible for this outbreak would yield now that she was here?

It was a weird and uncomfortable feeling. Could Theora’s mere existence serve as a deterrent? She did not like to draw attention to herself; it was tiring and uncomfortable, so she’d barely considered that possibility. The possibility of existing loudly. It made her deeply uncomfortable to think about.

But then, suddenly, a flash of memory came to her, sending shivers over her skin. The last words of the Devil of Truth sunk back into her mind like hot iron.

“A true shame. Had I known the Roaming Blight was still alive, I would have stayed dormant in hell.”

It felt like a bucket of ice-cold water emptied on her head. How had she never seen the true meaning of these words before? How had she never really grasped what he had told her?

If Theora had been more boastful about her existence; if she had given her name more frequently, lived in a way that was impossible for others to forget or ignore, would that have resulted in less evils inflicted on the world?

The truth was, Theora understood that deterrence wouldn’t always work; it may even just have a very small effect, and maybe it wasn’t a good strategy. On the other hand, revenge wasn’t, either. Regardless of whether her existing loudly or not would make the situation better, at the very least she could assume that if, by any means, the Devil of Truth had known she was still watching the planet, perhaps he would never have attacked.

If she’d done things differently, the people who’d been in that hospital might not have died the gruesome way they did.

It was a terrifying thought. One that she knew she needed to contain for now, so she closed her eyes firmly for a few seconds and tried to focus back on where she was and why.

That’s right — she was with Dema, in Hallmark, and had just been told that Afterthoughts were threatening the city. And at least with that, Theora could help. She could walk from one outbreak to the next and dispatch all the Afterthoughts. Of course, being just one person, there was a certain limit to how much she could do, but maybe she could start to make up for her mistakes of the past.

Except that her future was bearing down on her as well.

“Do you know if the city has a library?” she asked. “Or a university? Or a place for scholars?”

“All of these, all,” Balinth said. “I can— Hell, can you get out the map?”

Dema grinned. “Why you callin’ her Hell! You know, that’s where I come from, actually.”

Balinth huffed. “Helena is far too innocent of a name for her. You’ll see.”

“Oh, stop it!” Helena jumped in, blushing slightly. “You two can call me Hell too, honestly. I gave my full name on reflex.” After that, Hell got up to get the map, and Dema started involving Balinth in a conversation about the banes and boons of having a daughter.

“Yeah, we’ve just got one too!” she said. “A few weeks ago.”

“Oh?” Balinth let out, her smile turning wider. “That’s amazing! Oh, it has to be hard while travelling? Where is she? Did you manage to find a babysitter? Or is your party larger than just the two of you?”

“Actually,” Dema said, her face slowly depleting into a sour grimace. “She ain’t with us right now.”

“That sounds awful. What happened?”

“She ran away!”

Balinth hesitated for a moment, and frowned. “Wait, how old was she again?”

Dema scrunched up her face in thought. “Not too sure, honestly. Maybe like… twenty million years? Give or take.”

Balinth blinked, and then decided not to pursue this line of questioning any further. Instead, her gaze switched to Theora. “You’ve got an interesting companion,” she said, and Theora opened her mouth to respond, but wasn’t sure what to say.

“Truth be told,” she eventually said, “All of what Dema just said is true. It’s a very complicated situation. I’m going to explain it all to you in detail when we have time, if you so wish.”

Balinth sighed. “Complicated situation, huh? I can relate to that.”

“Oh? How!” Dema cheered.

With a shy shrug, Balinth answered, “Well, Hell’s a long-time friend of mine and moved in a while ago to help when I was pregnant, and then with the baby too. Now’s curfew, so she’s stuck. I feel a little bad for her.”

Dema’s smile grew as she heard the words, and then let out, “Somehow, I think you don’t gotta feel bad! It’s gonna be fine, I bet. I’m already sure she loves being here.”

Balinth let out a soft and surprised laugh, and then shrugged. “Well, that’s good to hear?” At that moment, Hell returned into the room, so Balinth cleared her throat and said, “Anyway, from what you’ve been saying, I take it you’re not just any travellers? Heroes of the System?”

“She’s one!” Dema blared out immediately, somehow in a voice full of pride. “She’s super strong! I bet she’s gonna take care of your little Afterthought issue in no time. Because actually, we got some other stuff to do too. We wanna find someone who can locate our daughter, and we gotta get info on little rabbit’s current quest. Something about Fragments of Time. That’s why she asked for a place with scholars!”

“Oh!” Balinth nodded, and pointed at the map Hell had brought back with her. “Would you mind showing them the magitech guild?” Balinth looked up. “‘Fragment of Time’ sounds a bit like an item, right? Maybe rather than a scholar, go to them first? They specialise in magical utensils and ancient artefacts.”

Magitech? Was that a new kind of discipline? Theora had never heard of it before, but it did sound like it vaguely hit the mark. Of course, she had no clue if a Fragment of Time was actually an item of any sort, but it was worth a try, especially since they could always just ask in the library afterwards anyway.

Then, Theora asked about the headquarters of the guards who took care of the outer defences and the mana crystal veins, and received a location quite close to the centre of Hallmark.

“It’s just one of their outposts, but it’s the biggest one, so you might find what you’re looking for there,” Balinth said.

So with that, at the very least, Theora had her first and second location to visit in this town set for herself. She glanced at Dema, who was still occupied staring at the baby. They’d already walked the entire day, and it was getting late. “Hey, Dema, do we want to go find a place to sleep?”

Dema looked up and frowned in thought, and meanwhile, Balinth and Hell exchanged a glance.

“I don’t know how easy it’s going to be to find something,” Balinth suggested. “Can always crash here for a night, though, we have a guest room. If it’s okay for you to sleep in one bed, that is.”

“I can sleep on the ground!” Dema cheered.

Theora gently shook her head. “I will be the one to sleep on the ground.”

“No! Me! Don’t take this away from me!”

“I know you enjoy sleeping on rocks, but this is not going to be rocks, it’s going to be the floor,” Theora tutted. “Aren’t you exhausted from the journey? And, you still haven’t fully recovered from your injuries. You need a soft and warm bed.” After a moment of thought, Theora added with a glance to Balinth, “Also, I would not feel great about imposing on the two of you. Maybe we should look for another place to sleep first and come back only if we don’t find anything.”

Hell looked dejected, letting out a short “Aw!” and giving Balinth a sad look. “It’s not imposing at all! Guests are no problem for us. Plus, It’s been a bit lonely with the curfew.”

“Curfew? Because of the Afterthoughts?” Dema asked.

Hell nodded. “It’s not enforced or anything, just a suggestion. But, baby and injured leg? Not going to happen. So, we’ve been at home.”

Dema turned her head to Theora. “Sure we don’t wanna stay?”

Her face was way too close. This was hard to bear.

“Staying it is,” Theora murmured. “But, please let me help with household-work.”

Dema snorted. “Aren’t you gonna be busy enough already! I can do the household stuff! And help with the baby.”

Theora closed her eyes for a few seconds to parse what was happening.

So, she was going to waltz into this house of these two nice people, exploit their hospitality and space, and she wouldn’t even get to make up for it by helping out? This was crushing.

Also, she still hadn’t recovered from the split-second idea of sharing a bed with Dema.

That said, if there was a task only she could do, then it was true that she’d need to prioritise it. In other words, she would do her best to help out with the Afterthoughts, at least until the threat was contained. Then, she could still make up for all the hospitality afterwards. She would just mentally take note of every single thing that they would do for her, and then reciprocate it with interest the moment she got a bit of free time on her hands.

At that, she gave a weak little sigh, still feeling Dema’s warmth on her way too strongly.

She’d just have to address one problem after the next, and hopefully, she’d be able to keep up.

Starting with the Afterthoughts.