With the high priest's order. The two stopped their skills holding on to the last bit of their mana. Alice's bracelet glowed as it sent her the stored mana. Her complexion was much less pale and she seemed to hold a little more energy. The exhaustion was still clear though. Walker was not as lucky. The old man was not around with another mana potion so he was much slower moving. The guards that looked just as exhausted were being directed by some nuns. Alice also motioned for Walker to follow her.
Some cots and bed rolls had been stored in the closets off of the main cathedral hall. These were being set up for the injured and those without a place to sleep. Many of the benches had already been moved against the walls to make room for the switch to temporary sleeping quarters.
There were many of the carpenters and carpenters families watching as Walker and Alice moved things to set up. A few said their thank yous and nodded to them. "Walker!" Gil's ragged voice broke out from nearby. Gil was dragging along ten bed rolls to where Walker was setting up a cot. "Su and Remey are just about out of energy. Midnight and Onyx are over in the corner there. They nearly passed out on the move before I told them to go rest. The nuns and healers are on their way to rest, some assistance came from the military academy an hour ago. With them and the other students the guards are off to rest as well.." Gil looked like he had been moving nonstop.
With ash and blood on their clothing Walker and Gil looked about for Remey and Su. "Su!" Walker called out seeing that Su was still setting up a cot, Remey was walking around trying to help but nearly falling over herself. The two had pushed their stamina to its limits."Leave the rest up to the academy students. Gil just told me they were sent here to heal and assist. It's part pf their emergency training. Take a look."
Su looked around as well seeing the military academy uniforms moving around taking over for nuns and healers alike. "Finally…" Su dropped the bedroll in her hands on the cot and shuffled towards where Midnight and Onyx had fallen asleep.
Walker had no more words for them and instead propped himself against the wall with the rest of the party. Alice came over looking at them all leaning against the wall and sat down next to Walker. "I brought your books." Walker smiled at Alice who just shook her head smiling too. They lacked the energy to speak or even attempt to converse farther and chose to drift off in to an exhausted sleep. The hours passed until the hustle and bustle of others woke them up.
By the time the entire party and Alice had opened their eyes there were five tall burly men standing in front of them. One had a guards uniform on and seemed ready to report. The other four were obviously carpenters that had been living in the carpenters quarters. They had some bandages or small burns still. One man seemed to be propped up just by a crutch yet he still stood tall in front of the party.
"Walker, these men are here to speak with you." The high priest looking more lively than hours ago came around from behind the group of men. He gave a nod to the guard to speak.
"Sir hero, the I am the guard captain in charge of the remaining guards on sight. The fire was fully extinguished, the injured have been transported, and those that are still injured will be resting here at the cathedral. The castle has sent for supplies to rebuild the quarters and are also supplying food to those without their home. May I please dismiss the remaining men back to their home?' Walker stood up as fast as his body allowed. He was shaken by the guard reporting to him.
"I told him that you are the person to report to. As the leader of the Omnipotent party it is only right. Without the hero title the emergency quest would not have been sent out to so many people. Actually I will also report." The high priest cleared his throat and straightened his back. The airs of professionalism he put on only with nobles spread off him. "The church has healed those that we can and will be housing as many as we can. Any in need of healing will still remain here until they are well enough to return to their family or to a new home."
Walker was trying to grip the words being spoken to him. He was still stunned when one of the carpenters spoke up as well. "Sir hero, thank you on behalf of our families and fellow carpenters. This fire was not anything we could have dealt with without your assistance. With the system sending out that emergency quest we received immediate help. If a hero was not around we would have lost valuable time. On behalf of every carpenter team, business, and family. Thank you, even if it was by chance, thank you. We will never forget the heroic actions every one of you have taken today. My son is alive because of your party member right there."
What surprised Walker was that the man was pointing at Midnight. "That little dragon of yours dragged him from the remains of the building. My son had hidden in the bathtub as the building collapsed. He survived the fall but was still surrounded by fire. No one but your little dragon could have gotten to him safely." Midnight stood tall next to Walker hearing this praise.
"Her name is Midnight, We were all just doing what was expected of us and deserve no thanks. Please attend to your family. High priest, I hope that every healer can rest now that it has calmed down, you included. Captain, thank you for bringing the water and your men. They were extremely important in the transportation of the wounded. Please send my thanks and let them rest fully."
"Understood sir." The captain left towards the cathedral doors where two of his officers stood looking on with dark circles in their eyes. When the captain reached them then relief on their faces was clear as day.
The carpenters went off towards other groups spreading their own news about the party and talking about the events that had occurred. "This was really a blessing, the hero title you kids hold made all the difference. It made the emergency quest spread to some citizens nearby that are already helping out. One of the nearby clothing shops is producing clothing, there is an order being transported by a stable owner, and even a bar has closed so it's staff can provide food and water to those in need. Whether you believe it or not you are all the catalyst to the lives saved today." The high priest left them on that note.
"That was...A lot to take in." Gil didn't quite have the words to explain how he felt over all this.
"I feel like we did the best we could, but I still feel we could have done more." Su could only think that she wanted to help more, but as she saw the scene in front of her she knew that everything that they had done had led to the safety that was now here.
"Walker, if every trip to the cathedral is then I think you scammed us. If we do this every time we might work to death." Remey was joking a little to break the tension. "I just never imagined this could all happen, everyone keeps looking at us and whispering." She was seeing many families or healers point their way. They were all still fulfilling the emergency quest.
"Sister says that she is very happy with the attention. They even told her they would ask her for help again in the future." Onyx spoke up for the first time in a while. "The children really seemed to like me, I think I should volunteer to baby sit some time." Onyx was dead serious about this, he had enjoyed distracting the children and keeping them in one spot and away from the working healers and guards.
"Today was a lot to take in. That emergency quest was a surprise to say the least. Let alone the fact that it got sent out to so many people. I feel like we shouldn't take credit for any of this but the way it looks we can't argue. I am sure the emergency quest will end any time now though. With so many people helping I think there will be a lot of leveling up, it will really help the cathedral have better healing power." Alice nodded over and over knowing that the more healers and nuns that leveled up the better they could do to help others. It was an ideal situation.
Having only rested a few hours the group was about to huddle back down and rest more. Before they could speak any longer and get to rest the system notified them. There were a lot of notifications incoming.