"We didn't even know it belonged to you creatures. We killed a monster and took what it dropped. That's how the profession of adventuring is."
Following her statement, Iris crouched beside Ria. Her eyes scanned the blonde assassin's trembling form. Clearly, her teammate was greatly traumatized by that horrible spell.
She cursed under her breath with guilt tightening her chest. She had been one step too slow. The drop of bile had reached Ria before she could intervene, and the image of her teammate shriveling up alive still burned in her mind. Her hands flexed uselessly behind her back.
"I… I should have stopped it," Iris muttered quietly, though the words weren't meant for anyone but herself.
The woman knelt next to Ria. She could not touch the girl properly; her hands remained restrained by their bindings.
But almost as soon as she did just that, she began calculating, scanning for any possible way to regain control of the impossible situation she had been thrust into.
