A short silence followed, Noel’s beaming face still waiting expectantly for our response. My shoulders sagged as I dropped my face into my hands with a sigh, it was hard not to feel disappointed when our team was so unbalanced. I rubbed my eyes with my palms trying to decide a formation or a plan on how we should fight in the Underhollow, but then a question began to plague my mind.

I sat up quickly confusion contorting my expression, but rather than continuing the conversation we were having I looked to the GGC. “So wait hold on, how common are Candidates? Do Adventurers get classes sometimes? I thought that people who weren’t Candidates didn’t get classes, so did all four of us just so happen to become Candidates?” It was suspicious, there was no way all of this was a coincidence. That was assuming that Noel’s definition of “assassin” was more than just a stealth skill he could have gotten as an Adventurer.

[“Seeker of Magic and Knowledge” explains that people did not become Candidates by chance, Candidates were all chosen, gods looked at a number of factors to fill the quota of Candidates, like personality, base stats, connections, well anything really. But it came down to personal preferences often times.]

[“Whispering Playwright behind a Mask” adds that some gods blacklisted humans so that they couldn’t become Candidates while other gods chose entire groups of humans that were acquainted.]

“Why would they blacklist humans like that?”

[“Traveling Spring Painter” sighs expressing her sadness that many gods with poor morals blacklisted humans they wanted to contract with so they had less choices.]

“Oh, that makes sense. Does that mean that we were part of a group that gods designated as Candidates?”

“Mia? I uh… I’m not a Candidate.” Reid said, seeming a bit apprehensive as he fussed with the decorative throw pillow he’d been holding.

“Oh sorry, I just thought….” I could feel my face getting warm, it would make more sense for at least one of us to be an Adventurer instead of a Candidate.

“Don’t worry about it. Not much point in worrying over something you can’t control.” Reid responded with a shrug and a sad smile.

“More importantly!” Noel exclaimed, his eyes were so excited they were nearly frenzied. “When are you taking us down that dungeon?”

I snapped my gaze towards Caroline, wondering if she had already told them about what was basically my own personal dungeon. I guess it wouldn’t really cross her mind that I might want to keep that private, plus I never asked her not to tell anyone about it. They also were bound to find out that I was way overleveled compared to them, and logically I had to find somewhere to grind in to get to this point. But I planned to help them get to a respectable level before returning there alone, and outsiders knowing about it really hampered those plans.

“Well, you are the highest leveled here.” she paused tentatively, “You don’t mind carrying us for a little bit right?”

The three of them had starkly different emotions on their faces, Caroline was mostly calm with a slight flicker of anxiety in her eyes whereas Reid couldn’t meet my eyes and looked at my still broken ankle. It seemed like he was ashamed of his inability to fully heal me after that fight, but the one I was most surprised about was Noel. It was obvious he was completely certain I’d take them and assist in their leveling, rather than waiting to see if I said yes he was waiting for a when.

I struggled to mask the smile Noel infected me with, he was oddly charismatic and I found it easy to get swept up in his antics. I cleared my throat, “Well I can’t have you guys floundering around down there and dying on me. I was just a little worried, I’m much higher level than you guys. If we go down in a party then it’ll take ages for y’all to level up.”

Plus, I’d really rather fight alone in the first place… But it isn’t as if I can leave the only people I have left alone to die.

Aureus began to respond to my thoughts as Noel began rambling on, You don’t have to help them though if you don’t want to.

“Ahh, yeah you’re right. But couldn’t you have us help you take down higher level enemies? That’d give us a lot of XP pretty quickly.” Noel seemed to be thinking deeply about this issue, but gave the worst option we had at the time.

My head ached as I tried to respond to them both at the same time, No that’s really not what I me-

“That’s really not a good-” I started.

“I mean it only took you a week to get to this level right? Plus you’ve got a literal dragon, how could we lose?” He was excitedly gesturing towards Aureus, and a pang of sadness followed the praise. Aureus was still upset about how I’d gotten hurt.

Master I will definitely protect you, I can do it. You don’t have to help them, I will-

“Yes Aureus is very strong, but he is still young and there are too many of us to just expect him to-”

“We are going to fight too though! I’m not expecting you and Aureus to do everything we can definitely-”

This human is very rude, he won’t let you finish. Why don’t you let me-

“If we do it like-”

I should smack him for talking over Master.

“And you wouldn’t have to-”

We should leave these humans

Their voices blended together in my mind, “Shut up!” I yelled. I refused to look up and meet their gazes, I needed a moment to collect myself.

“This is serious…” I mumbled mostly to myself.

“I know, but…” Noel started.

Crack! I had accidentally crushed the armrest I’d been gripping tightly in an attempt to remain calm, and a long awkward and uncomfortable silence followed. I glanced around while the guilt ate at me. Aureus had curled himself up to be as small as he could and the men stared at me slack jawed. Caroline looked quite pleased with the way things were progressing, I wondered if she was just enjoying the chaos.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

I offered a quick apology about the chair and outburst, “I’m really sorry about the chair… I didn’t realize I could… well I guess I knew I was stronger but… Also I’m sorry I shouldn’t have yelled. I was just getting a bit overwhelmed, it’s been a difficult day…” I paused the image of the man I’d essentially murdered burning in my psyche.

“Noel, I’m not trying to be a killjoy, but we are not in a video game. From what I could tell while I was down there, this place and the monsters in it are meant to be conquered as a group. I can’t fight and ensure your safety if there are several enemies, plus what if a hostile group of people shows up?” I said with a sigh, I could appreciate Noel’s enthusiasm, but right now, this situation, it wasn’t appropriate.

Aureus, I’m sorry darling. I didn’t mean to yell at you, I shouldn’t have done that.

It’s okay. He said sheepishly, but didn’t move and remained curled up.

I closed my eyes as I rubbed my temples, I knew a migraine would be coming on soon. The fight we’d been in that day projected in my mind’s eye, my confidence in protecting them was wavering. I allowed another sigh to escape before I continued, “I know we have someone who can help heal us up, but we have to be careful.” The interruption came in the form of a snort from Caroline, I shot her a glare. I knew why she was acting this way, but it really wasn’t helpful.

“What do you know about being careful when you rushed towards your death multiple times since the awakening?” she asked, I couldn’t tell if she was being serious.

“That is exactly why I know. Strangely enough, almost dying makes you more aware of the dangers of a place. Shouldn’t you also know? Don’t you know what could have happened to us today?” I failed to keep the venom out of my voice.

The three of them looked like kids being scolded. “Don’t get me wrong, I want to help. BUT, you guys need to try fighting on your own first. I think it would be best for y’all to party up and I will stay with you and help IF you absolutely need it. You are going to get injured. It is going to suck and it will be harder than you expect, but you have to do it. So you will.”

“So… if we prove we can defend ourselves, will you team with us and fight harder monsters?” Noel looked at me with a small flicker of excitement he was failing to hide.

“Ugh. Yes, obviously that is the plan, but we have to start from somewhere. And I’m not planning on staying with you forever. I’ll help you guys get established… you’re all just level one, yes?”

When only Reid and Noel nodded I was briefly taken aback, but I realized that Caro had participated in the fight with those asshats. We weren’t in a party though, were we? I would have to ask the gods about how that works.

“I’m only level two though, I didn’t get much XP from that fight.” Caroline said when she noticed the confusion in the room.

A realization started brewing in the back of my mind, I just needed a bit more information to be sure so I asked, “Wait, did you ever damage any of them outside of that gunshot?”

“Uhhh, no I don’t think so, why?”

“Reid, can you check your status window?”

“Sure, but I haven’t really left the house at all since it happened so I don’t think… Wait, I have some XP already? Is it because of…?” He awkwardly gestured just towards me in general, but we all knew what he meant.

“Yeah, I think so. This is great news though, it means even if we don’t party together there is some amount of XP sharing based on actions we take.”

“Does that mean that you can help more directly?!” Noel asked, the fire in his eyes was reignited brighter than ever.

“Probably? Maybe? We can try it out, we really need to get going ASAP every minute is wasted time we should be using to level.” The battle me and Caro ended up in on the way back from my place really spooked me, more than anything I wanted them to work on leveling up and getting stronger. Staying up there was also stressing me out, what if that man that escaped found us again? A myriad of strange looks followed my words, it took me longer than I want to admit to remember that I currently couldn’t walk. “Oh… Yeah… So docs, you guys can at least do basic first aid or something right? Can’t we put it in a splint or something?”

“I really don’t think it's a good idea to go down till I can heal you, let's just wait until my mana recharges and then go.” Reid was practically pleading with me, after all it hadn’t been long since I’d arrived on his doorstep with one broken foot in the grave.

“We can definitely put a decent splint on it until your mana is up though. Plus we have to drive to get to the entrance so there's time where she won’t have to walk on it.” Noel said, he finally said something I could wholeheartedly agree with.

“Yeah I’m fine, and it’s not like I’ll have to limp around. I can just get Aureus to carry me, no big deal.” I added with a shrug.

“Alright, then let's get you wrapped up and go.” Caroline said as she stood and walked out of the room.

“Caro!” Reid protested, but he knew he was out voted and just sank into the couch. Noel hopped up from the couch and walked around the coffee table in front of me and sat down. I winced as he reached for my injured leg, Aureus in response got to his feet puffing up like a cat to threaten him. A small smile flashed across his serious face as he lifted and examined my leg. I was surprised to find that his hands were exceedingly gentle.

“How's my ankle?”

Without glancing up at me he responded, “It isn’t your ankle itself, it's the bones in your calf just above the ankle.”

I glanced towards Reid, he hadn’t told me the state of my body when I arrived, but he had gotten a look at it through his skill. Feeling my gaze on him he stated, “He’s right, or at least that is what it looked like to me.” I wondered what it looked like, and what all my injuries were when I’d arrived. I didn’t want to ask him though, it’d probably just agitate him and as long as I healed what did it matter.

Caroline returned with a big first aid kit and Noel patched me up as much as he could, though I felt that it wasn’t that helpful. Aureus carried me to the car and we set off for the Underhollow. The trip was mostly silent save for Noel occasionally asking various questions about the Underhollow and my abilities including Aureus, well mostly Aureus. Just to keep him from asking I started rambling out my experiences over the last week which seemed to shake up the Gallagher siblings again.

“Well this is it kids.” Reid said as he stopped behind a pileup of cars and got out of the car.

“Should we just park here?” I asked as Caro was getting out of the car, she opened my door and handed me my equipment with a shrug. Noel had basically burst out of the car, he really was too excited for this. I put my equipment back in my inventory clicking the “Equip” button after. I smiled as my clothes vanished and were replaced by my slime hunter set, having an inventory was so useful. I took her hand since she hadn’t retracted it after and stood on my good leg. Aureus was quick to follow us out of the car scooping me up immediately.

Master, when is that “healer” going to fix your leg?

Why did you say it like that? He did heal my injuries earlier, and he’s my friend… or family I guess.

Tch. So when?

“Reid? How much longer till you can heal me?”

“20 minutes.”

Over the line of cars I could see the familiar glowing runes inscribed into the pavement of the intersection, however that time they were glowing red. That change didn’t scare me but it definitely put me on edge, the things I’d learned before might not apply here.

“Well, I guess we should climb over these cars huh?” Caroline said as she pulled herself onto the hood of a blue sedan. All eyes turned to me and Aureus as he tottered towards her. He stopped short looking all over, I knew he was trying to think of a way to help me up.

“There's no need for that, I’ve got her.” Reid said, and Aureus reluctantly handed me to him after I reassured him multiple times that it was okay. We climbed over the cars in awkward silence and eventually got to the entrance.

“Wow! Did the other one look like this too?”

“Well yes, but not nearly this big! And it was vertical like a door rather than just walking down into it like this. Oh and the runes there,” I pointed to the runes that encircled the stairwell down into the earth, “Mine were purple not red and more like… pretty? They were just cooler, looked less like some dude took a knife to a rock and put glowy red stuff in it.”

“Let's go!” Noel cheered ignoring my comments as he took off into the unknown, we scrambled to follow after him.