“Mm…”

  “Hey! She’s waking up!”

  When I opened my eyes, I found myself lying in an unfamiliar bed. Hovering over me was Tris and Lisa, both looked ecstatic at my waking.

  “I-I’ll go get Jeanne!”

  The pallum immediately bolted out of the tent, leaving me alone with Tris. She turned to me and asked, “How are you feeling?”

  “S-Sore… and a bit light-headed…” I stated as I pushed myself up, “Where are we?”

  “Back in Under Resort.” She told me, “After what happened on the 24th floor, we had to bail back up here to regroup and recover. Thankfully, our camping supplies survived intact, if barely.”

  “I see…” The haunting scene of Drake bleeding on the ground came to mind and I immediately asked her, “I-Is Drake—!?”

  “He’s alive.” She assured me, before grimacing, “But…”

  “Is it… bad?”

  Tris nodded “…He hadn’t regained consciousness yet. What that bee monster did to him… it is a miracle that he is even alive at this point.”

  “Drake…”

  The guilt came pressing down on my conscience. It was due to me that caused him to get that fatally wounded in the first pce. If I had pulled myself together sooner, then maybe…

  Then, a morbid thought came to my mind.

  “A-And what about Leos? Is… Is he also…?”

  This time, my friend had a solemn look; lips trembling and tears started to swell in the corners of her eyes.

  “Tris…?”

  “Leos, he… he…” A sob escaped her lips as she struggled to speak.

  Was something the matter? Were Leos’s injuries just as bad as Drake’s? Or even… My blood ran cold at the thought of the grim possibility of—

  “He’s dead.”

  Jeanne’s voice cut in with an answer that I didn’t want to hear; my Familia’s captain walking in with Lisa right next to her.

  “H-Hey, Jeanne, that’s a little too…”

  “It’s better to tell her outright than to wait for her to find out on her own.” The elf told the pallum, the tter likely not agreeing with the sentiment, but I wouldn’t have noticed.

  The words she just told me, the accursed sentence echoing in my mind over and over. That was followed by the scene of the st time I had seen Leos alive.

  The exact moment the giant stone club smmed into him.

  “D-Dae…?”

  “…W-We were j-just…” I found myself stuttering, the words getting caught in my throat as my vision blurred with tears, “He… he told me…”

  The st conversation we ever had; it echoed in my mind like a broken record.

  “Even if you don’t, you’ll still have a pce here. You can make new memories with us, ones that you would never forget.”

  “Wua… uaaahh…”

  I found myself bawling my eyes out; I barely registered Tris’s arms wrapping around me in a hug, which I subconsciously leaned into. A small hand patted my back, Lisa’s small gesture giving much comfort.

  I didn’t notice Jeanne leaving the tent until much ter.

  Jeanne left the tent, taking a small gnce at the grieving half-elf being comforted by Lisa and her fellow rookie.

  While she didn’t think what she said was wrong, she nevertheless felt sorrow for causing such pain on such a young individual. The loss of a close one was never a painless affair; one she knew all too well.

  ‘It is better to let her grief than try to delude her with lies.’

  “I heard Dae is finally awake.” Garos walked up to the elf, “How is she?”

  “Physically, she is fine. But…”

  “…I take it she didn’t handle Leos’s death very well.” He stated with a sigh, “Can’t say I’m surprised. This is probably the first time she experienced death in the Dungeon.”

  Dying in the Dungeon was inevitable. All adventurers were made aware of that grim fact. But being aware of it and experiencing it first-hand were two different things.

  After all, hearing about someone’s death was different from watching a comrade die in front of you.

  It was this small difference that separates the hopeful newbie adventurers from the resolved rookies. Most newbies were unable to handle this truth and chose to leave the profession all together.

  And right now, their test member was faced with that hard fact and was no doubt in the middle of the crossroads. Would she remain an Adventurer or not?

  “Well, Tris is with her, so she is in good hands.” The vice-captain noted, a wistful look on his face, “It is always easier to cope with friends…”

  “…yeah…” Jeanne agreed with the same wistful look. She quickly snapped out of it and turned to him, “Any changes to Drake?”

  He shook his head in response, “He still hadn’t woken up.”

  The elf gnced to the tent housing their second casualty; the entrance rolled opened to show an unconscious Drake lying on the bedroll with bandages around his gut while Tetra wiped the sweat from his brow.

  She let loose a small sigh, “Considering his wound, it was a miracle he didn’t die on the spot. It was a good thing we splurged on a few Elixirs.”

  “Yeah… still, it would be best if we get him to Dea Saint as soon as possible.”

  “We are definitely going to be in the red for a while…”

  Dea Saint, a Level 2 healer of the Dian Ceht Familia that can heal just about any injury. If anyone could save Drake from the brink of death, it would be her.

  Unfortunately, just asking for her services alone cost a small fortune at least; thanks in no part to her money-grubbing god. That’s why her services were mostly used by the more well-off Familias.

  The elf could already picture the ludicrous price they would be forced to pay, ‘We would need to tighten our belts for the next couple of weeks…’

  “Drake is not going to like that…” Garos muttered.

  “At least he’ll be alive to compin about it…”

  Probably due to prior retions from his former Familia, Drake had quite a distaste for the Dian Ceht Familia; he would sooner rather die than be indebted to them in any shape or form.

  In any other scenario, she would agree with the sentiment. But considering the current circumstances, they had little choice in the matter.

  “Well, enough of that for now…” Jeanne sighed before turning to her vice-captain, “Any news on Jirou and Kyumaru?”

  “None yet.”

  “Are they still fighting? What’s taking them so long?”

  “To be fair, Jirou is probably the only Level 4 adventurer fighting.” Garos pointed out, “And a Monster Rex takes a while to defeat compared to other monsters.”

  “I know, I know.” She sighed, “It is still taking quite a long time.”

  The two second-css adventurers had been recruited by Bors, the headman of the rogue town of Rivera, to help with clearing away the Goith. Considering Jirou being a Level 4, they should have no trouble with defeating the Monster Rex.

  But it had been a few hours since they departed, and they had yet to return.

  “Maybe I should have joined in the effort as well…”

  “We should have asked Jeanne to join.”

  “Yeah, we should have.”

  “RRWWWWAAAAARRRR!!”

  Jirou’s words along with Kyumaru’s response to them were drowned out by the cries of countless adventurers as they all charged at the monster horde by the dozens; the monsters replying in kind with just as much vigour.

  It had been a few hours since they started the assault on the Goliath. And so far, they were in somewhat of a stalemate.

  Bors’s pn of attack was the same as the usual attack pn for the Goliath, which was basically rushing at it and wearing it down as fast as they could.

  Their formation was simirly straightforward, with any heavy defenders rotating with their fast attackers in the frontlines and the mages and long-ranged attackers support from the rear, while supporters supplied all of them with potions and repcement weapons.

  All in all, it was a simple battle of attrition, one that was effective as it was simple.

  Fortunately, the giant Monster Rex was still suffering from the injuries their Familia had inflicted on it thus making it a lot weaker than usual. Even so, it was still a Monster Rex, and thus still not easy to take down, even with their massive numbers; that’s not also mentioning the horde of monsters from the upper floors that kept interfering with their attacks.

  ‘If we have Jeanne’s magic, we would have dealt it the finishing blow by now…!’ Jirou grimaced as he cut down another minotaur. ‘The longer this battle dragged on, the closer Drake inches closer to death.’

  ‘We have to end this, now!’

  “Kyumaru, clear a path for me!”

  “H-Huh!? Oh, on it!”

  “Hey, where are you going!?”

  Ignoring the cries of their fellow adventurers, the Renard lunged forward, bde swinging and cutting down several monsters in front of them in record time. With a path cleared, Jirou dashed out towards the Monster Rex at speeds befitting a Level 4 adventurer.

  “Bors, distract the Goliath for a moment!!”

  “Tch! What a sve driver you are, Bloody Bde! Archers, fire a volley at the Goliath!!”

  The eyepatch man gave out the command and immediately a cloud of arrows flew towards the giant monster; the attack doing nothing more than annoyed it as it swiped them all away, but it did its job of distracting it from the real strike.

  In that short window of time, Jirou lunged at its only foot and swung his sword, slicing clean through the Goliath’s tendons. The sudden severance causes it to buckle and drop onto its knees, bringing its scarred face closer to the ground.

  “A chance!! Mages, let the damn monster have it!!”

  At Bors’s command, all the mages unload volley after volley of magic right into the Goliath’s face. The other adventurers all charged at the monster as well, sshing and smming into the monster’s leg in an attempt to weaken it even further.

  The Goliath, undeterred by the countless attacks, smmed its hand down at the adventurers underneath it; they quickly scattered away while the ones that didn’t manage to get away were sent flying away by the aftershock of the attack.

  Unbeknownst to the adventurers and the Monster Rex, Kyumaru and Jirou had managed to climb up onto its back and made it to the back of its neck for one decisive finishing attack.

  “Match my timing!”

  “Okay!!”

  The two swordsmen struck in unison, their bdes digging into the Goliath’s nape and slicing it clean through. Or at least, that’s what they had hoped.

  Instead, their bdes had only barely sliced through its skin and exposed its spine, nowhere deep enough to deal a fatal wound on the Monster Rex.

  “Damn it, not deep enough! Kyumaru, once more–”

  “Jirou, look out!!”

  Kyumaru barely managed to tackle Jirou out of the way, just as the Goith smmed its hand at their location. They would have plummeted to their deaths if they hadn’t managed to slow their descent by stabbing into the Monster Rex’s back on their way down before tumbling onto the ground below.

  “That was close…!” Jirou let out a huge sigh.

  “What now?” Kyumaru asked him.

  “We will try again.” He shouted, “Just one more strike should do the–”

  *SHINK*

  “…Eh?”

  In a single moment, someone dashed out of the stairway from the upper floors and leaped towards the Goliath. And in one swift strike, he decapitated the Monster Rex before it could even react.

  “W-What just…?”

  “Look! I-It’s…!”

  “No way…!”

  As the headless Monster Rex tumbled onto the ground, the man nded with a loud thud, making himself known to them as he towered above most of them with a massive greatsword in his hand.

  “It’s O-Ottarl!”

  “The Freya Familia’s captain!?”

  “T-The King is here!?”

  “No wonder he took down the Goliath so easily!!”

  “As expected of Orario’s strongest adventurer!!”

  Kyumaru blinked in surprise at the spectacle. ‘That’s the King, Orario’s strongest adventurer. For him to take down the Goliath so easily…’

  “Taking away my kill like that…” Jirou sighed with a conflicted expression, “Well, whatever. At least now the Monster Rex is finally dead. Oi, Bors! Remember our deal, alright!? Ten percent, or else!”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know!” Bors shouted back, “No need to keep nagging me about it!”

  “Do we really need that much money?” Kyumaru asked, “We still have the magic stone and Drop Item from that Irregur Troll.”

  “We do. But doesn’t hurt to have more, especially when dealing with the Dian Ceht Familia.”

  Jirou could already picture the insane price that money-grubber of a god would make them pay for Dea Saint’s services.

  “Bloody Bde.”

  They turned around in stunned silence as Ottarl towered over them, staring with an unchanging frown of indifference.

  “What is it, King?” Jirou asked.

  “I’ve overheard you mentioned something about an Irregur Troll.” He stated, “Mind telling me about it?”

  He and his fellow easterner looked at each other, completely confused by his question.

  The King; that was the alias of Ottarl, the captain of the Freya Familia, one of Orario’s strongest Familias; and the city’s strongest adventurer. I had heard of him in passing, but I never would have imagined that I would ever meet him in person…

  Yet, for whatever reason, that said man was standing in the middle of our camp.

  The man was as huge as they say; towering over everyone with chiselled muscur features bulging against the tight top he was wearing. His eyes, dark as his rust brown hair, staring down at us even as he sat on a fallen log with a sword as big and just as intimidating as him next to him.

  “…”

  As expected of the one known as the strongest; just his presence alone was overwhelming.

  “So, may I ask why Orario’s strongest Adventurer is here in my camp?” Jeanne asked.

  “I was sent to deal with an Irregur monster by the request of the Guild.” The giant boarz expined as he gnced at Jirou, “Bloody Bde mentioned that the Hecate Familia had already dealt with it.”

  “You? Alone? Without any supporters?”

  “It is much more efficient that way.”

  “There has to be a limit to how overconfident a person can be…” Garos muttered under his breath, “As expected, First Css Adventurers really are something…”

  “No, I think he is the sole exception.” Lisa noted.

  “If it is the Irregur Troll the Guild had put notice on, then yes we did deal with one.” She nodded.

  “Please give me a description of the monster and of its demise.”

  “To make sure it is indeed the monster the Guild issued a Quest for, I presume?” She asked, the giant man nodding in response, “Very well. But please keep it short, we have someone in dire need of a healer.”

  “…I’ll try.”

  One by one, we each gave our accounts on what had happened to us down on the twenty-fourth floor. The Irregur Troll appearing out of nowhere, bringing a stampede on top of us, the fight for survival that broke out afterwards, we told him all of it.

  I didn’t even realize that it was the Troll that called a stampede on us. I was way out of it than I had originally thought.

  Then, it was my turn to speak.

  “It came out of nowhere. I didn’t even realize its presence until Leos…”

  The image of Leos getting swatted away surfaced in my mind; I felt my throat tighten up and my hands began to shake from the memory. I forced myself to stop and carry on with my recounting.

  “After that, everything was… foggy. I remember shouting, Lisa pulling me away, a roar… when I finally got my senses back, Drake had already taken an attack for me, a-and he…”

  The image of him lying in a pool of his own blood appeared in my mind and I felt my bile rising as I struggled to push back the urge to vomit.

  “It’s okay, Dae.” Garos said to me, hand on my shoulder. “You don’t have to force yourself.”

  “I-I’m fine.” I assured him, though my shaking hands weren't exactly convincing.

  “Anything else?” Ottarl asked.

  “I… remember getting really angry and charging at the monsters, and then getting battered…”

  “…okay. Thanks.”

  “Is that enough?” Jeanne asked.

  “Yes. The characteristics of the Irregur Troll match the one reported by the Guild.” He noted.

  “Then I guess we kind of stole away your prey.” Jirou noted in an apologetic tone, “Really sorry about that.”

  “As long as the Irregur is taken care of, whether it was me or you lot who killed it is of no consequence to me.”

  “No consequence…!?”

  Tetra’s cry rang out as she stomped towards the rge boarz before getting stopped by our vice-captain, “We had to fight for our lives, Leos got killed and Drake is on death’s door! And you say it is all of no consequence!?”

  “Tetra, calm down!” Garos cried as he struggled to hold the Amazon back.

  “If you had finished the Quest sooner, none of it would have happened!! If you had come sooner, if you had killed that damn monster earlier, Drake wouldn’t be—”

  “THAT’S ENOUGH, TETRA!!”

  Jeanne’s shout immediately silenced Tetra, the elf gring at her as she said to her, “Not another word.”

  “B-But he…”

  “…The moment an adventurer enters the Dungeon, their life is in their own hands.” Ottarl told her, “Whether they live or die, it is all their own responsibility, no one else.”

  “I-I know that… but—”

  “But nothing. If they die, then it just means that they are weaklings, too weak to survive, let alone achieve their goals and dreams. Nothing more, nothing less.”

  “Grgk…”

  Tetra couldn’t say another word to counter him. That’s because she, and everyone else, knows that what he said was the truth. We all knew that entering the Dungeon, blessed with a falna or not, was a death sentence waiting to happen.

  She knew that.

  I knew that.

  And yet…

  “Take that back.”

  “D-Dae!?”

  I found myself snarling at him, the strongest adventurer in Orario. I could hear Tris gasping at my tone, but I didn’t care. I could not let what he just said stand.

  “Leos… is not a weakling! He’s the hero that saved my life!!”

  “…Hero, huh?” Ottarl huffed, “How stupidly na?ve. If he’s a hero, he should have been strong enough to save you and himself. He would be standing here and arguing his case. But he isn’t, because he was too weak.”

  “Shut up!”

  “Why should I? I’m just stating facts. He used his life to save yours, because he is too weak to save both you and himself. That is the actions of a fool, not a hero.”

  “I said shut up!”

  Before I knew it, I lunged at him with a fist reeled back ready to slug into him. Not a moment ter, I felt something akin of a wall smming into my face and my vision went bck.

  Then, almost immediately after, I felt myself crashing into the trunk of a tree and my vision returned. I felt myself gasping for air and the taste of iron in my mouth.

  “Dae!!” Tris ran up to me, “You okay!?”

  “Urgh…” I could only let out a small groan, my blurry vision focusing on the scene in front of me; Jirou having his weapon drawn and pointing at Ottarl.

  “I think you had done more than enough, King.” Jirou stated firmly, his sword drawing closer to the King’s neck.

  “I’m only answering her question.” He stated, unfazed by the bdes pointed at his neck, “And she attacked first. I merely countered in self-defense. Or should I take it as an attack on my Familia?”

  “Should we take it as one?”

  “Should you?”

  “Jirou, weapons down.” The elf sighed as her partner lowered their weapons, “I apologize for the actions of my comrade, King. I’ll be sure to discipline her when we return to the surface.”

  “…I accept your apology.”

  “Then, back to the topic at hand; what are you going to do about the Quest?” She asked, “If you want, we can give you its magic stone and Drop Item and have you take the credit for it.”

  “I refuse to take credit for something I did not do.” Ottarl stated firmly, “The Hecate Familia can have the credit and the reward for sying the Irregur. I will, however, require one of you to come to the Guild with me to support that cim.”

  “Then, which one of us should accompany you?” Garos asked.

  “The one responsible for the kill would be best.”

  “Then I’ll go.” Jeanne stated, “I might as well cash in our own Quest along the way. Can’t have Jirou spending any of the rewards on alcohol.”

  “Oh, come on! It was just that one time!”

  After she grabbed the sack of Drop Items, she turned to the rest of us and started issuing out orders, “All of you, head straight to the surface; try to avoid any monster encounters as much as possible.”

  “““Understood!!”””

  “Garos, you and Lisa get Drake to the Dian Ceht Pharmacy as soon as you reach the surface.”

  “Okay!” / “Got it!”

  “And Tetra.” The Amazon flinched as the elf turned to her, “Both you and Dae go home and cool your heads, okay?”

  “…okay…”

  “Good. Then, I’ll see you all back home.”

  Without another word, Jeanne and Ottarl took off in a fsh of movement; their figures already disappearing among the trees.

  High Css Adventurers are ridiculous…

  “I hope this teaches you not to fight about your weight css.” Jirou scolded me angrily, “You are lucky that he stopped with only one punch.”

  That was just a punch…!? How powerful is Ottarl…!?

  “I…I understand.”

  “…You better…” He sighed before turning to the rest, “Well, you heard the dy. Let’s pack up and move out!”

  We packed up our campsite as quickly as we could; and with a heavy heart, we set out towards the seventeenth floor. As we did so, Ottarl’s words weighed heavily on my mind.

  Despite having an unconscious Drake strapped on Garos’s back, we made quick time travelling up the Labyrinth at top speeds. Our formation remained somewhat the same, with the exception of Lisa joining the frontlines and Tetra not supporting with her magic.

  Not sure if it was luck or fate, we made all the way to the Upper Floors almost without encountering any monsters. There were a couple of minotaurs and a few Almiraj but our frontline fighters easily made short work of them.

  When we reached the foggy twelfth floor, Jirou had us stop by the stairway entrance to take a breather, as well as to check on Drake to make sure his condition was still somewhat stable.

  “Looks like we made it up here without much of a fuss.” Lisa noted.

  “It doesn’t look like there are any monsters around this floor.” Garos noted.

  “That can’t be a good sign.” Jirou noted, “We better be on guard for the rest of the way.”

  “Agreed.”

  As everyone double checked the equipment at hand, I walked over to Jirou with a question I wanted to ask.

  “Jirou.”

  “Yes?”

  “Is Ottarl… right, about Leos? That he’s…”

  Jirou stopped examining his sword and turned to me, a conflicted yet understanding look on his face. After a deep sigh, he turned to me.

  “Ottarl can be rather… blunt.” He expined, “But… he’s not wrong. Sacrificing oneself is only something a weakling would do. Only the strong survive down here, while weaklings perish; that much is true.”

  “Then… you agree with him?”

  “Yes…, and no.” Jirou stated to my confusion, “Sure, sacrificing one’s life just to save another could be seen as foolish. But to me, that act of self-sacrifice isn’t something just anyone can do. To do so takes a level of strength not a lot of adventurers have. Leos and Drake have that kind of strength. So no, I don’t believe that.”

  “I…I see…”

  “And what about you?” He asked, “Do you think Leos is really what Ottarl says he is.”

  “…No.” I shook my head, “Leos…Drake… they aren’t weaklings. They were not fools for saving me. And I…I want Ottarl to take it all back! But… I don’t know how to…”

  “Simple; By proving him wrong.” He stated, “Prove that Leos isn't a fool for sacrificing his life for you, that your life is worth his sacrifice.”

  “H-How should I…?”

  “…I’m afraid that’s something you had to figure out on your own.”

  Jirou left me with those words to ponder over as he rallied the Familia for the st stretch of our ascent; the rest of our trip back was just as seamless as before.

  Prove that my life is worth Leos’s sacrifice, huh…

  …To be continued…

  Yup, aftermath to a close friend dying in front of you. I’m not that good with writing this kind of stuff, so if there is anything I did wrong or can improve on, I’m happy to know for further reference.

  Originally, this chapter was going to be a little longer with a different direction, but I feel like a good end to a chapter here, so I decided to stop it here.

  With that, I thank you all for reading this!