That same night, very far from the village of Aberswan, two suspicious men were chatting at a campfire.
The place where they were at was a clearing in a forest, but not any normal 'tree' forest. No, it was the Mycorgloom, a 'forest' of giant fungus that towers upwards, sometimes touching the ceiling above.
Because there was no sky above the Mycorgloom, as it was underground. The biggest cavern complex of the Underdark existed southwards from Drakestadt, under a shallow sea.
Also, the campfire was not an actual fire. Just a magical stove that emitted heat without actual burning. One of the two men was preparing a meal as they talked.
"Are you sure that what you're looking for is in this forest, Sir?"
"It's the third time you've asked me that, Vraen. Yes, I am. Though where it is in it, that I don't know. Yet, I have no doubts that it is here."
The man called Vraen was a dark elf, clad in leather armor, and his eyes were always darting around, as if expecting danger to come from anywhere at any time.
He didn't look satisfied with the other man's answer.
"Say… What was your name again? Martin? Well, whatever. Can you at least tell me what it is that we're looking for? We're already here, and nobody would be able to hear it."
The human called Martin sighed and shook his head.
"I'm not sure myself, to be honest."
"Haaa? What do you mean you are willing to come here to Mycorgloom, intending to comb it through, without even knowing what you're looking for in the first place?"
"I mean… I know what it IS, but I'm not sure what it would look like. But I'm not going fully blind."
As he said that, he took a small device from a pouch. It looked like an oversized needle, but, when Martin infused it with mana, it floated, turned around, and then settled, pointing in a direction.
"This will show the way."
:::
The following morning, Cecilia woke up feeling rested and determined.
She got up and looked around the room, then looked at herself in the mirror.
"It doesn't matter how many days have passed, it's still weird to wake up in the morning and be here, in this body. Well, it's what we have for today, so let's first have breakfast and talk with Gertrude."
She quickly got ready, put everything that she had into her inventory, and went downstairs.
"Oh, good morning, Cecilia. You're up early today."
"Hey, good morning, Gertrude. Yeah, I decided last night to go to the capital earlier than I had planned. I think that I might meet some old acquaintances there and learn more about the situation."
Gertrude stopped what she was doing and said with a sad face.
"I see… Well, Marya's going to be sad you're gone."
"Oh, but I'll be back. Don't worry."
"You better really come. I'll be holding the change of that coin until you spend each of its days in the inn."
Both chuckled as Cecilia sat at a table and Gertrude brought her breakfast.
"Speaking of which, where's Marya?"
"She's gone to Mutt's house to bring them water from the well. She's so excited with the prospect of the baby coming that she uses every opportunity she has to visit them."
"I see."
Cecilia remembered the odd conversation Gertrude and Marya had the other day, about Marya's training. She was very curious, but she refrained from prying. It wouldn't be very nice of her if she did it.
Instead, she remembered the other piece of information.
"Isn't the guy who went to Trollhodd supposed to come today with the doctor?"
"Yeah. It's Mutt's cousin, Brett. But I guess they'll arrive in the late afternoon at the earliest."
"It would've been better if it was earlier. Well, at least now she has recovered from her illness. But aren't there any midwives here? Why send someone to another town?"
"There was one, but she died last month. Marya was to begin her training to become one, but without someone to guide her…"
"I see…"
((So that was the training mentioned... But wait, what if the baby had already been affected by the illness and malformed? Did my healing also reach the fetus? Ugh…))
She felt bad with the idea of leaving before the doctor arrived, and she also didn't trust said doctor that much. She suspected that they would be pretty much like Mutt, someone with real-life abilities but no skills or techniques.
She still didn't know if Mutt's reaction to the idea of skills and techniques was a reflection of the overall state of the world or not.
After all, Aberswan is a backwater village in a forgotten corner of the kingdom. The forest it bordered was unclaimed land, untouched by any civilization. So it was no surprise that people here wouldn't have access to certain information.
While Cecilia was eating her breakfast, pondering about all that, Marya entered the inn, running. She tried to say something but was already out of breath.
"Marya? What happened?"
Gertrude rushed at her, and Cecilia did the same, forgetting about the half-eaten breakfast.
"The baby… the baby is coming. We need a doctor…"
"I'll go."
Cecilia rushed towards their house, as she already knew the way. She was trying to remember all the information about childbirth she knew. Which wasn't much.
She had never seen a childbirth before and wasn't sure anything she knew would be of any help. But she knew that she could at least use heal…
((Wait, Ephemerys also presides over rebirth, doesn't she? Is there a spell to facilitate childbirth?))
Running was something simple for the body she was living in, so she has the leeway to think about the lore she helped write.
One downside of being a priestess of Ephemerys was that she didn't have access to any resurrection spells. That was because of the positive view about death, in which death was just a step for rebirth.
With resurrection spells, a fallen party member could be brought back to life within the battle instead of respawning at their base. They also worked on NPCs, who didn't respawn, but only under some very restrictive conditions.
She designed the religion with the idea that resurrecting a dead person was a blasphemy against the natural cycle of death and rebirth. On the other hand, birthing was very important. That's why she had no access to those spells and why she thought that there should be some for giving birth.
At that moment, she arrived at the house and entered through the open door. Nobody was in the living room, so Cecilia called out.
"Mutt? Maragarete?"
"Here, in the room!"
She rushed in to see Margarete on the bed, with blood flowing between her legs, and Mutt looking desperate and lost.