In a detached part of my mind, I considered the way that [Appraisal] picked up Erryn as a monster, while the other cores I'd seen were detected as items. Just a random point of interest to distract me from what Liv was holding, and what it represented.

I looked around the room with [Soul Perception], just in case, but there was nothing aside from me and Liv. Zephyr joined us a minute later, having made his own way here in response to Liv's scream, before stopping dead and whining mournfully. How long ago had this happened? I struggled to believe we coincidentally happened to arrive minutes before she finished whatever she was doing, but in that case, where were the missing dwarfs?

Now what? The earth mother was dead, but the world hadn't ended. I could still see a small patch of the Emerald Caverns, where a constant stream of materials and people were passing through the portals. Nothing had changed there; the rebuilding was ongoing, and no-one was panicking. We still had the missing victims to find. I'm not sure how long I stood there stunned, but eventually I pulled myself out of it and listlessly wandered over to the pedestal. On which, now that I was closer, I saw a number of letters.

The top one was for Liv, amusingly addressed to Blobby. Beneath was one for Zephyr, several for names I'd never heard of, one for Krana, and one for me. We must be the ones that Erryn had talked to directly. I tore mine open immediately, only to find an apology, of all things. With some shock, I discovered that my former brother had also been reincarnated in this world, and that Erryn had mind-wiped him, without ever mentioning the incident to me. His location was included, but I felt no need to visit. There were also some notes on her reincarnation research, not that I could understand any of it. It was heavy information, but nothing in the letter was immediately relevant. I could deal with it later.

"She left you both messages," I called to the two monsters, handing out their own marked bits of paper. Both were broadly the same, along the lines of 'I've coddled you far too much already, and you're every bit as capable, and no less a person, than any member of the surface races.' The messages went on to say that they didn't need Erryn. That was true, but it completely missed the point. I didn't need my family either. That didn't mean that if they died, pointing out that fact would comfort me. Even till the end, Erryn didn't quite understand human thought processes. Although, in this case, the recipients were monsters, so perhaps I shouldn't make assumptions about how their minds worked. Neither of them looked any happier, though, so I felt reasonably safe in my guess.

Liv's message also included a second section that was far more relevant to our current situation.

No doubt you rushed over here immediately on hearing the news about the Emerald Caverns. The victims are in room B6. They all know where they're going, so bring the group back to my dungeon and the delvers guild can sort out transport. The only exception is an unaccompanied newborn, who will need to be turned over to an orphanage. Again, the delvers guild will help you.

These must have been prepared before we even set out, if she predicted Liv's arrival but didn't know me and Zephyr were with her. That didn't bode well if there was a newborn. They would need food, quickly, and we were a couple of hours away from Synklisi even if Zephyr carried us at top speed. How even was there a newborn? Or at least one that needed transferring to an orphanage; why could Erryn save the baby but not the parents?

Liv was in no mood to move, so I hurriedly found the room myself, then smiled as through [Mana Perception] I realised the whole thing was wrapped in a preservation enchantment. It wouldn't have mattered when we got here; we could have arrived days or weeks from now without a problem. Then my smile turned to a frown as I realised this enchantment was completely different from anything a runecrafting skill would produce. For a start, a normal preservation enchantment wouldn't affect living things. Secondly, there were no runes, which were a rather defining feature of runecrafting. So, this was how enchantment worked outside the System... Could I learn it?

That would be a project for another time. With the missing confirmed safe, I returned to Liv. I'd managed to cheer up Cluma after her whole ordeal, but somehow I suspected this one was beyond my abilities. Fortunately, Zephyr was here too, so they at least had each other. Deciding to give the two of them some time alone, I grabbed Krana's message, detached a toe without severing it, then transported myself back to the Emerald Caverns to report.

I opened my eyes to find Tilyana standing over me, along with a bunch of rather surprised looking dwarfs. I may have been comfortably lying down this time, but perhaps I need to add 'private space' to my list of conditions, before I freak everyone out even more than I normally do. Or freak the dwarfs out, anyway; Tilyana had her usual unflappable smile and was no doubt here deliberately.

"You probably know why I'm back, if you were here waiting for me."

"You have news to share, of joy and of mourning alike," she answered, with her usual hundred percent accuracy. She turned around and walked off, so I jumped up and followed, hopping briefly while my second foot finished transferring. I was really starting to wish I had regular teleportation...

We ended up back at the great hall in which we held our last meeting, with the same members, all staring at me expectantly.

"Why so glum?" asked the Dawnhold guild master. "Not good news, I assume?"

"It's... complicated. Everyone who died in the battle has been brought back, but they're stranded somewhere quite far north of Synklisi. I'm there at the moment, so I'll be leading them to Synklisi soon."

"No you aren't," pointed out Hassok.

"I'm at both. My rank three class is weird. Blame Tilyana, she gave me the advice."

"But you requested it of me," she responded in the most coherent sentence I'd ever heard from her, and eliciting a small smile from me in response.

"So, the bad news?" asked Jolik.

"Erryn, the earth mother, died in the process," I answered, not mincing my words.

The three dwarfs stared at me blankly, presumably not able to comprehend the concept of the earth mother dying. Not because of the Law, this time, but simply because a goddess dying made no sense.

Krana narrowed his eyes, and while I couldn't interpret dragon expressions, I could at least tell he wasn't happy. "That I do not believe," he said eventually. "How could Erryn die?"

"Acts against nature have a price," repeated Tilyana, the only one of the group still smiling. "This time, she willingly paid it. All living things must die, and thus the cycle of life continues."

Cycle... My eyes opened wide in shock. Dammit, no matter how high my mental stats get, why am I always so slow? No wonder there was an unaccompanied newborn! She'd told me in her letter that she was doing reincarnation research! She...

"I can't say for sure, but she may have used the knowledge she gained from researching me to reincarnate herself."

"Not quite like you," answered Tilyana. "For her, there is no before. That was her price."

That one took me a few seconds. "She has no memories?"

Tilyana didn't respond, just continuing her knowing smile.

"I... need to go back and check," I stammered, unsure how I even would. I lowered myself to the ground and started [Redistribute], remembering Krana's letter only when it was already halfway up my leg. "Here," I said, pulling it from my [Item Box] and throwing it over. "She left letters for everyone she was personally acquainted with."

"You remember this now?" he growled.

"It's been a stressful day!"

Almost getting murdered by ogres, being dragged by a dragon to floor fifty of a corrupted dungeon, hanging around with all these important people, getting dragged again by Liv to some ancient facility that not only predated this civilization but also the last one, trying to piece together what Erryn had done... And this had all started in the middle of the night! I probably should have taken a nap, rather than messing around with my new spells. I was starting to feel rather sleep deprived.

Once my eyes had transferred, I could see Zephyr and Liv exactly where I'd left them. Erryn obviously hadn't wanted them to know, but then she also thought that pointing out they could live on their own would stop them from being depressed. Erryn didn't know best. "Erryn might be alive. Kind of," I said, and both monsters snapped around to stare at me. "The baby, mentioned in your letter."

"What are you talking about? Mother is... mother. Not some baby."

"Reincarnation. Like me, although she probably doesn't have her memories."

Liv stared for a bit longer, before taking on a look of determination, and growing slightly. "Show me," she stated.

The three of us ended up outside of the sealed room. "It's time stopped at the moment, but once we open it, we're going to have limited time to get the baby somewhere it can be fed. Why don't you two rush back to Synklisi, while I lead everyone else back more slowly?"

"You had better be right about this," said Liv, to which Zephyr barked an affirmative.

I pushed open the doors, watching as the enchantment snapped once the space was no longer isolated. Inside, almost a thousand naked people lying on the floor simultaneously opened their eyes, some gasping or clutching at wounds that no longer existed. Liv ran in, ignoring them all. Zephyr at least maintained sufficient presence of mind to hang back, a giant wolf monster not being the first thing these people would want to see on waking after being killed by monsters.

There were, of course, still plenty of screams as they saw Liv, so I started shouting to get their attention. "Everyone, listen up! The attack at the Emerald Caverns has been dealt with. You were all... seriously injured and were brought here for healing. The slime girl over there is here to help. She's not going to attack you. Please just wait a moment while we search for a baby who needs immediate attention."

Many of them were looking at me incredulously, largely those who were rubbing their necks, or other vital regions. My excuse wasn't a great one; a decapitation wasn't generally curable. Although, now that I thought of it, I could remove my own head, couldn't I? Something to do the next time I want to mess with Cluma. No, that would be too mean for Cluma. Next time I want to mess with dad.

Moments later, Liv came running back, gently holding a tiny baby. Given that Erryn could create a body at whatever age she wanted, why newborn? No, silly me, it was obvious... Aside from an older body not really working without any memories, how often had I complained she didn't understand humans? Now she was going to live a full life as one. Couldn't get a much more educational experience than that.

I hoped having Liv glued to her wasn't going to spoil it. I'd need to detach them before she grew up too much. I almost wanted to talk my parents into adopting her, but that would doubtless lead to Liv turning up in our village. Besides, in this world of Law there was no prejudice or disadvantage from being raised in an orphanage. Best to leave her in Synklisi.

And what was her end-game, if there even was one? Would she return to being the earth mother once this new life was over?

"Mother? MOTHER! She won't wake up! What's wrong with her?!" exclaimed Liv.

"She looks like she's only a few minutes old," I answered, grinning at the spectacle of a slime girl shouting 'mother' at a baby. "I'm sorry, but she won't remember you. But I can assure you that it is her. Hurry up and get her back to Synklisi." I pulled out a shirt from [Item Box] to wrap the baby in and watched as Liv and Zephyr shot off back out of the facility. They'd be even faster without my added weight. That would be partially counteracted by lack of mana, but they assured me Zephyr's pool would hold out for the trip.

It was fortunate I had been with them; I wasn't sure Liv would have known what to do if she was on her own here... Tilyana really saved the day. Although, the others in here would no doubt have helped. There may well be a nursing mother among them.

As for why I was so certain it was her, I read through the result of [Analysis] once more before dismissing the message.

Erryn, Human, Commoner (1/1)