Returning to the AA HQ after the unexpectedly long stay in Montauk was surprisingly relieving. James knew the blonde woman, whose real name he was sure was different than the Lucy Bleu she gave him, wouldn’t have harmed them, at least not directly. But the safety of the AA’s solid walls and the presence of more than a dozen high-rankers made him feel much better.
Unfortunately, Miss Walker couldn’t stay for long. She listened intently to their report, shook her head in bemusement at all the messes they got themselves into, apologized profusely for having missed the poisoned air and left.
She seemed genuinely remorseful for her mistake and confirmed that she had sped through the dungeon while in the shadows, thus completely avoiding the toxic gas.
For all of that, she also seemed confused about it. She explained that while more minor environmental changes were expected in dungeons, like the unnatural shadows of the rat den, this kind of complex obstacle was usually found only in D-rank and above.
It was quite lucky, she told them, that Ezekiel realized what was going on so soon. Immediately after saying it, she had gotten a pensive expression, and the implication that it might not have been a natural phenomenon was left to hang in the air.
She seemed very busy, though, so they didn’t bother her any longer. At least, she had promised them a more in-depth review of their dive and all the exciting things that happened while they were out of town.
Without Miss Walker, Team 0 unanimously decided they could take the rest of the day off. Their debrief was done, and they could write the reports at home. While the training room’s showers were good enough to clean up, they needed to go back to their own beds and sleep the stress away to truly relax.
They all said their goodbyes to each other and promised to hold off on assigning the stat points, pending a review of their performance.
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“I’m hooome.” James called, making sure to brush his feet against the porch rug, knowing that his grandmother would have his hide if he tracked dirt in.
“James! Welcome back, love. How did it go?” Rosa asked from the kitchen, where she was already busy preparing dinner for his return.
He had called the previous evening to let them know he’d be sleeping out since he knew they’d worry endlessly without hearing anything from him, even if he was technically an adult.
They have gotten used to me being an Awakener surprisingly quickly, but if I don’t call regularly, they will freak out like when I was fourteen.
“Pretty well, actually. We got a good haul in, leveled up a few times and had a great dinner. I’d say this was my favorite dungeon so far.” He answered, purposefully not mentioning the toxic air or the spooky lady who dined with them.
Well, considering that the other three dungeons I went to saw me either confronting my trauma, getting horribly injured, or discovering a dead body, I’d say that this is honestly the best one so far.
Rosa smiled, coming into the Living room to give him a hug. She removed her apron, which sported a few tomato sauce stains, and embraced him “That’s good to hear, love. I know how hard you are working and how much it means to you.”
James hugged her back, breathing in the familiar scent and finally relaxing. He had been wound up ever since he realized they were being tailed at the restaurant, and while getting to the AA had helped, a part of him had yearned for the warmth of his home.
They let go, and he dropped his bag to the side, going to sit on the sofa.
“Is that James?” His grandfather’s voice called from the upper floor, even as he was already coming down to check.
“Just got back, Grandpa.” He waved, smiling as the older man took a spot beside him.
“You’ll have to tell us all you can about it at dinner. I’m making lasagna. Nonna’s recipe.” Rosa announced and left for the kitchen, looking determined enough to face a dungeon herself.
“Did everything go well?” Larry asked once she was out of earshot. James understood he wanted to know if he had gotten hurt, but the old man had never been good at talking directly about that kind of thing.
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“Nobody got hurt badly, and even then, Ezekiel quickly healed everyone. It really went well.” He tried to show how sincere he was. And it was the truth; putting aside the nerve-wracking dinner, the dive was very successful. The monetary profits alone made it worth it, considering that the AA Loot Desk had estimated them to be about five thousand dollars each.
If he managed to keep his growth rate steady, he’d reach G-rank in a couple of months or so and E-rank in less than a year. That was a breakneck pace, even for prized Guild members whose Talents they wanted to nurture.
If the whole Team 0 got to E-rank before a year had passed from the Dawn Initiative’s beginning, they’d prove that the money the AA had spent on them was more than worth it.
“Good. I know you can handle yourself.” Larry continued, eyes cloudy as he looked at the photos on the fireplace’s mantle “But your grandmother worries. She doesn’t get that you are too much like your father to stay at home, safe, while the world goes to hell.”
James barely stopped himself from coughing in surprise. His grandfather seldom spoke of his father and certainly not favorably. He had made his opinion clear on his son, calling him irresponsible for leaving a little kid behind to go and play hero.
To hear him compliment him, even if indirectly, was surprising, to say the least.
“It’s just that I couldn’t live with myself, knowing I have the power to make things better. People, real people, are suffering out there.” James finally answered.
It was the truth. He didn’t think of himself as a paragon of justice. He wouldn’t necessarily go out of his way to tackle every problem in the world. But the things he could affect, that he knew should be different… Well, he couldn’t ignore those.
Larry half-smiled, chuckling lowly “Yeah, that’s what he used to say, too. Difference is, you are a kid with your whole life ahead of you. Nothing is holding you back. He had responsibilities that he deliberately put aside because of what he felt was more important.”
“Grandpa…” James didn’t want to bring up too many painful memories, but he didn’t know when the next opportunity to ask would come. “Is that why he left for that last mission? Because he felt he was needed more elsewhere?”
It was a question that had haunted him for a long time. He could vividly remember, having been eight at the time, his father’s kind smile as he put on his armor to go on a mission he would never come back from. More than once, he had asked himself if he had been forced to go or if it had been voluntary.
He knew his death had come because his team had not received the reinforcements necessary to hold their position and had been swept aside by a monster tide. His death lay at the feet of the weak and ineffective government that initially chose to abandon so many places all over America.
But that didn’t answer the much more emotional question of whether his father had willingly gone on a mission he must have known to be extremely dangerous, if not suicidal.
“Your father loved you, James. That much I can recognize. But after that woman… Well, let’s say he changed. He became a man obsessed with his duty to the country. He threw himself at everything with a fierceness that should deserve praise if it hadn’t been a way to be away from his family.”
And that was the crux of the matter, wasn’t it? His father had been a broken man who used his duty as a crutch. Or maybe that was too simple a judgment. It was easy to pontificate long after the chaos of the Mana Apocalypse, but in those days, people honestly thought that the End had come.
“Dad was… He cared; I remember that much.” He finally said. Thinking of his father always brought him strong emotions, be it determination to solve the causes of his death or mourning for his absence. “He knew that people would die if he didn’t go.”
Larry chuckled bitterly. “And where did that bring him? I told him many times what would happen. But he didn’t listen. He needed to save the world by himself, even if it killed him. And it did.”
“I’m not going to die.” James said, cutting to the heart of his grandfather’s fears.
They were speaking too loud not to be overheard in the kitchen, but since he knew his grandmother shared the same preoccupation that he’d end up the same as his father, he didn’t bother to lower his voice.
“You can’t know that, James. You have no idea what kind of crooks are out there. The monsters that roam the land are not all so convenient as to have horns.” Larry answered, his frown pronounced and eyes shiny with suppressed sorrow.
No tear fell, as he was not the kind of man to allow himself such a relief. Larry Summers was a Catholic through and through, self-flagellation and all.
“Of course, I don’t know the future. But I have the System. I have friends and a good teacher. I’m not alone against the world.” James countered, feeling himself get emotional. It wasn’t often that he had such heart to hearts, especially with his grandfather.
Before the older man could answer, James stopped him, lifting a hand in the universal sign for silence. Someone with a powerful will was outside, sitting on his neighbor’s lawn.
He carefully went to the window, acting as if he just wanted to open it to get some fresh air, and spied a nondescript man having a beer with Bobby Mattinsky, the doctor who retired a few years back and whose house in Florida had been destroyed by a monster attack, forcing him to come back to New York.
He didn’t seem under duress, chatting with the unknown man without a care. James’ ears, however, picked up on their conversation, and it was so inane to be highly suspicious. After all, who would welcome a person they weren’t directly related to - Bobby’s family had died in the same monster attack that took his house, leaving him without close relatives - only to speak about the weather for several minutes.
No, the man was obviously there to do something else. To not give up that he had been discovered, James returned his attention to the living room, bringing a finger to his lips even as he spoke “How’s that lasagna coming, grandma? I’m starving after all that work. There is nothing but snacks at the AA.”
Luckily, the two elders caught on without a problem, putting away the heavy topic they had been discussing and smoothly transitioning to dinner table talk.
“I’ve been told that adding some sugar to the tomato sauce cheapens it, but you just can’t get the natural sweetness of the Calabrian ones here. Without that hint of sugar, it’s surprisingly bland.” Rosa said, setting the table without a hitch.
While his grandfather spoke of some other inane thing, James kept his physical and metaphysical senses on the stranger.
He didn’t appear to be doing much, barely bothering to reply to his ‘friend’. Instead, he was surreptitiously glancing at the window James had left open as bait, further confirming his suspicions.
That man is here to spy on me, there is no doubt about it. But if his presence is any indication, he must be at least E-rank, possibly even D, if he’s keeping his power concealed.
Considering his last encounter with a possible spy, James felt more sure than ever that a network of surveillance had been set up around him, and probably his teammates too.
The Guilds, it seemed, were not playing around.