Dungeon Raider System
Chapter 713 - 713: The souls conundrum Part 1

The very next day Alice woke up in a strange room. It was tidy and spacious, richly decorated with ancient artifacts and the only thing that didn't fit in was a faulty wire right by the light bulb. She felt refreshed and comfortable, but the room felt alien to her which got her confused for a moment.

The first thing she did was to pat her body, finding herself dressed in a silky robe that clearly wasn't hers which sent her into a panic trying to remember what happened the night before. She only calmed herself down when she realized her wounds were completely healed and she didn't feel anything odd about her body.

"Good morning, sweetheart." Alice muttered to Scoundrel as her past eye could still see him on his final moments as though he was right in front of her.

"Hold on! Whatever I did last night doesn't count! If I can't remember it just didn't happen." Nika hurriedly said as she rushed out of bed.

"Miss Nika!? What are you doing here?" Alice shouted.

"It's her room," Uriel said from the other side of the door and then knocked to make sure they were dressed. "It's your first day as a new hire and you're already late for work which is surprising considering you slept in our headquarters. By the way, I'll discount your pajamas from your next month pay."

"Did you..." Alice refrained herself from asking that question.

"Why don't you see for yourself what happened? Can't you see the past?"

"Not anymore..." Alice didn't explain any further, but it wasn't hard for Uriel to understand she decided to keep her sight on Scoundrel's last moments since her left eye didn't stop crying from that moment onward.

Breakfast was awkward to say the least. Alice felt like a fish out of water and the fact that the entire place was filled with artifacts Uriel had taken from what used to be the Alamo dungeon only amounted to that feeling.

"There was a rumor going on in college that you two were dating and that is why you got your job as a teaching assistant. I didn't believe it, but it turned out to be true."

"It's not!" Both Uriel and Nika growled at the same time.

"But you do live together." Alice explained.

"Nika is my assistant and bodyguard of the sorts. Don't be fooled by her airhead appearance and incompetent attitude... she's even worse." Uriel said with a grin.

"Well, at least I'm not a heartless jerk who abandons their friends." Nika rebuffed.

"Isn't that exactly what you did when you left me on my own along with everybody else!?" They bickered in front of Alice as though she wasn't even there. It could be said it was rude, but it let her understand more or less their circumstances which helped to put her up to speed.

"Let me get this straight. This company makes money by selling flux orbs and artifacts you find inside dungeons. It used to have a zeppelin and about fifty members, but you lost everything when your friends abandoned you and now it's just us three?" Alice inquired.

"That's right, if you want to quit..." Uriel offered Alice the easy way out but she shook her head.

"I'm not quitting, no matter what you say. Even if you want me to tidy up the place or clean toilets..."

"That's Nika's job," Uriel cut her short causing Nika to pout. "there's really nothing for you to do here."

"Why do I gt the feeling that you don't want me here?" Alice looked Uriel straight in the eye.

"Because, I don't... I told you already."

"He's butthurt because he feels abandoned and doesn't want to have his heart broken again." Nika said with a mocking chuckle.

"No, I refuse to believe someone who's capable of putting a friend out of his misery without so much as a second thought can be so sensitive. I haven't known you for long, but you have always been blunt with us and it's something I appreciate, but I've noticed you two exchanging weird looks from time to time and you even pretended to argue in front of me just to discourage me from staying.

Just be honest with me and I'll decide on my own, there's no need for games." Alice said, her face stern and proud like always.

"You want the truth? Here's the truth..." Uriel started, Nika placed her hand on his forearm to stop him, but he already made up his mind. "when I killed Scoundrel I did it out of mercy. Had he been a heavenly rank hunter or if we had a competent medic in our team with enough serum we might have been able to save him, but he suffered too much damage from the gunshots he received."

"I know, I was there and I already said I don't blame you." Alice nodded for him to continue.

"There's something I didn't consider at the time. While I spared him from suffering any more pain from his wounds, his soul is now trapped inside one of my artifacts."

"What kind of artifact?" Alice knew about artifacts and the fact that Uriel tried to keep it a secret made her think it couldn't be anything good.

"It's the book o the dead. It stores the souls of all the people I kill which isn't usually an issue, but the thing is... it's cursed and the souls sealed in it get tainted."

"Then release him this instant! He doesn't deserve any more suffering!" Alice demanded.

"That's the problem... I don't know how to do it. Before this happened I never even tried since the people I've killed kind of deserved the punishment. Scoundrel is the sole exception. He was a nice guy and would have become an outstanding archaeologist if given the chance, so now I want to find a way to release him.

I know you had a crush on him and that is why I didn't want you to join us on the investigation, especially since I don't even know where to start investigating." Uriel explained and before Alice could even react, Nika butted in.

"I think I know where to begin our research."