The Distinguished Mr. Rose Chapter 11: Chapter 11: A Moment of Peace, and a Nefarious Ploy

Read chapter 11 of The Distinguished Mr. Rose by QuiteTheSlacker on NovelPedia.

Chapter 11: A Moment of Peace, and a Nefarious Ploy The party collapsed and took a good, long moment to catch their breaths. “Sheesh, that shaved off like ten years of my life,” Mili said, groaning and letting her head thud on the hard floor. Marco did the same. Jack, meanwhile, was busy bleeding to death. There wasn’t a single spot on him that wasn’t already covered in red, and although Lucius tried his best to attend to the man, it was no use. His arm was practically ripped open - bone and all. It was a miracle that Jack was even conscious at this point: in the next half hour, he would surely breathe his last. Marco and Mili found it difficult to look at him, the young musician most of all. She held his hand and began to tear up, rebuking him with harsh words meant for herself more than any other. “You’re a real stupid guy, Jack,” she said. “But I guess I’m even worse. Dammit… I should’ve been more careful. Maybe if I had blasted that thing earlier—” Jack interrupted her with a laugh, or rather a sputter with how weak his voice was. “Don’t be like that. I chose to take it, and you know what? I always wanted to be a hero. Glad my dream came true.” The man tried to appear casual, but it was evident how scared he really was. His chest rose up and down in panicked, uneven bouts, and his body trembled whenever he spoke. There was no denying it: Death approached with every passing second. At the very least, there was no regret in his eyes. How unfortunate… this was not the ending Lucius envisioned for the timid Mister Thames. The atmosphere was no different than a funeral’s. Everybody looked ready to say their goodbyes, but before they could, Jack coughed and reached out to Marco. “H-Hey, don’t go killing me off just yet. I need… um, it would be nice if Marco could come a little closer. Just a little.” Marco scrunched his brow in confusion, but he did as requested and hunched over. Jack wasted no time and snatched the old mobster’s hand before closing his eyes. Nothing looked different at first, and for a moment the man seemed well and truly dead, but then something quite peculiar happened. Jack’s arm stopped bleeding. Of course it still appeared like it was hacked by a meat cleaver, skin pale as a corpse, but his death was less of a certainty now and more of a very high probability. Which was good. A chance was a chance no matter how slim it seemed. “Phew, I sure am glad I chose Warrior for my class,” Jack said, fooling not a single soul. “Man, it feels great to have a passive healing skill. Like a Warrior would totally have. Yeah.” Marco rolled his eyes and gave the man a consoling pat on the back. “I’m glad you feel better, pal. You think you’re ready to move again, or do ya want to rest for a little bit more?” “No, no, it’s fine. We can get moving. Probably better anyway; we don’t know when that thing’ll find us again.” Mili began to voice her concerns, but promptly stopped. The memory of their recent encounter appeared to rush into her head, and so, too, did her fear. The young Jack was right. The longer they stayed in one spot, the more likely it was they would be found again. Their available combatants would have to be reduced to three for now. Fortunately, none of the abominations they had confronted thus far - save for an obvious outlier - posed any real danger. They were ghastly to look at, foul smelling and readily draining of sanity, but otherwise reasonably manageable. Just not the swine. That was a lesson they needed not to repeat. After getting their bearings together, the party set out once more into the maze. Their pace was slower due to Jack needing to limp along; however, their vigilance was heightened. The four of them were more cautious now—smarter. They were like a gathering of battle-hardened experts. No stray sound went unnoticed; any traces of the Horned Exile were quickly avoided. They even encountered a few more treasure rooms thanks to Jack’s “intuition”. One was a ruby necklace that improved magic by f