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CHAPTER 50: The bond of the three

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          I'm going to save everyone.I repeated in my mind to keep my resolve strong. I know it's going to be difficult, but they did the same for me. After meeting up with them, they talked to me normally and not one person said anything about meeting Luro. I didn't mention anything also. I'll carry everything and get them all home. Even now, I feel like the whole world is against me but, with them, I feel like I can keep going.

        "No matter what, I'm not letting anyone die," I whisper as I stare at the moon hovering above us. They begged me and pestered me to sleep so I lay down on a leaf bed Takumi built for everyone. His passive skill is really useful outside. I can build the same leaf bed if I tried but it won't be as comfortable as this one. Goro and Amaguchi are on guard duty and they'll alternate during the middle of the night.

        I feel someone breathing beside me and as I look, I see Suyeon sleeping using her hands as pillows. She's huddled near me sleeping comfortably. Daikichi is on my right with Kana by his side as the two spoons together trying to keep themselves warm. I look back at Suyeon and I see some of her hair strands over her face. I slowly move my hand to tuck it behind her ear at the same time, trying to not wake her up. She suddenly moved closer to me and I thought I have woken her up as I froze in place. But her breathing is still relaxed as she sleeps talks saying something I can't really understand. Probably Korean or maybe it's random mumbling.

       I see her eyes move under her eyelids and from what I learned, those have a dream or even a nightmare, and their eyes remain active even if they have it closed. It doesn't look like a nightmare since she's not screaming or going crazy, so I didn't bother waking her up. I relax on my back and I stare at the moon and earth hovering above the trees. At least earth never disappears. Whether it's day or night, it remains floating in the sky. It's much more relaxing to stare at night as different light from the city leave a star like texture that most people dream of seeing if they ever traveled to space.

        What's weird is if this planet existed way before I was brought here, how come we can't see it from that side?I say in my mind. I just relaxed my body as I try to let my worries go. It's a weird phenomenon but it isn't something I want to question too much. Looking at earth, it keeps me calm because I know there's hope. Even if it's slim. There's hope. I stared at it until I completely fall asleep. Morning came and we all woke up feeling refreshed. After eating breakfast, we started walking through the forest following Takumi while I stayed in the back with Daikichi. The same formation we had since we left the cave.

        "Heeeeey~ Are we close?" Lisa asked as she drags her feet around. "Please tell me we're close."

        "We're not even halfway. We usually use a carriage following a path but since we're going through the forest, it takes longer to get there. But we should reach a river by sundown which we can use to move faster." Takumi says as he looks back at us smiling at Lisa.

        "Urghhh." Lisa groans as she reluctantly followed. "Suyeooon~ I need energy~"

        Lisa suddenly grabbed Suyeon's arm like they're a couple. Both of them giggled and talked as we walked through the forest.

       "So, Yasu. Why were you crying in the middle of the dark?" Daikichi whispers towards me without looking my way.

       "I wasn't crying. I told you. Something got in my eye." I tell him. I know it's not something he's just going to ignore but at least, I know he didn't tell everyone. The only people who saw me in that state was him, Suyeon, and Takumi who kept it silent also. I feel bad keeping it to myself what Luro told me but it's better this way. If I tell them, it will be much more difficult for me and everyone else.

        "Alright man. But remember, I'll keep anything you tell me a secret." He says as he placed his arm on top my shoulder and I gave him a smile. "So, what's going on between you and Suyeon?"

       "What?" His question caught me off guard and for some reason, my mind went blank.

        "Oh come on, I see her really close to you," Daikichi says and somehow I feel embarrassed. "She even sleeps beside you."

        "Ha, didn't you sleep beside me also? What's going on between you and Kana? I never got the full story. How did it happen?" I asked him.

        "Oho~ Changing the topic I see. Well, it all happened when you disappeared." He says as we both walked the same pace and talked to each other without looking at each other.

        "Oho~ so you waited for me to disappear~ I see how you are." I joke around with him and he started laughing making me chuckle also.

        "No no no, that came out wrong. Let's see, after you disappeared, me and Kana went crazy trying to look for you. Every night, she would cry not knowing where you are. She sees you as a family more than anyone." He tells me and it made me feel warm on the inside.

        "Back in the days, we only saw each other in school. But after you disappeared, we met up a lot outside of school to ask around if they have seen you. We even handed out fliers with your image." He tells me and I pictured both of them wandering about handing out paper with my picture in it.

        "And?" I asked him intrigued by their story.

        "We kept meeting up and meeting up to the point we became a thing." He tells me and I gave him a weird look.

        "Ewww I'm getting the goosebumps," I tell him as I hug myself pretending I heard something yucky.

        "Ha ha. But, I was glad I'm there. She was starting to go crazy you know. She even wanted to fly around the world to look for you." He tells me almost making me laugh.

       "Seriously? Knowing her family background, she probably can do it, I bet her family is turning the world upside down right now." I tell him remembering Kana is from a wealthy aristocrat family lineage that has a very heavy reputation even in school.

        "I had to talk her out of it. And that's when we both suddenly woke up here." Daikichi tells me and as I glance at him, I see his hands in his pockets as he walked matching my pace while looking at the ground. I have always felt alone and there was a moment in the hidden dungeon that I felt everyone back home moved on. Hearing his story have brought me happiness yet guilt that I didn't trust them enough and gave up on the hope they're looking for me.

       Daikichi, thank you. I say in my mind and I see him look up to me. He smiles towards me and at the same time, gave me a middle finger.

        "You're probably so touched you want to hug me. Not gonna happen Yasu. Not gonna happen." Daikichi jokes around and I let out a small laugh.

      "Hahaha, very funny douchebag. Well, At least my disappearance leads to something positive." I tell him joking around and he just smiled placing his hand back in his pocket as he looks forwards at the group in front of us.

        "I'm glad we found you." He held out his fist towards me without looking and I fist pumped him back.

      "Haha, correction, I found you guys," I tell him and we both laughed and he told me more stories about the earth. I heard it from Ms. Sam about my mother and hearing the story again from Daikichi, I'm glad the school decided to keep a close eye on her. At least this way, I feel safer but, knowing Luro, he can easily take people from their sleep. Which is something I always worry about. After walking for hours and only taking a couple of minutes break here and there, we reached the river Takumi was talking about. We came across a couple of wild wolves and boars but that's it. We got there while the sun is still up and picked the best spot to camp. They relaxed a bit while Takumi started building something near the water.

        "What is this?" I asked as I approach him.

        "Oh, this? It's the base of a raft.” He tells me looking at the river calmly floating along. “We're going to use the river to reach the next town. It'll be faster that way."

        "Oh, need help?" I asked him and he nods as he started explaining to me the design he's trying to make. I helped him place a couple of logs and somehow, he's surprised about my abnormal strength.

        "How the hell did you get so strong?" He asked me with one eyebrow raised.

        "Worked out. Solo a hidden dungeon. Picking up heavy rocks until I could pick up a boulder. Aren't you guys the same?" I asked him and he shook his head.

        "Uhh, we can pick up heavy things easily but not like you. You probably can lift all of us like a superhero. Wait, can you fly?" He asked me seriously almost made me laugh as I shake my head. 

        "No, that would be awesome if we all can fly," I tell him.

        "If we're all a mage, yeah, we can." He replied back.

        "Mages can fly?" I asked him as easily picked up a log with one hand and dragged it near the water.

        "Fucking superhuman…" I hear him whisper as he stares at me easily moving the log. "Yeah, they can fly for a brief moment since they can control all forms of elements. Well, the mage class Luro gave us can. The one they give to the inhabitants of this world can only specialize in one class since trying to master all will take them forever."

        "Why for a short time?" I asked him to try to understand more about everyone's class.

       "Well, I don't know about you but, mages use mana.” He tells me as he started working on the log. “There's no mana bar that they can see but when they run out of mana, their magic becomes really weak. Mages are good when they're full of mana since they can use their skills are at the strongest. She can use the wind to float but as her mana depletes, the wind she makes is only strong enough to move a pebble. When she's full of Mana, her strength is crazy abnormal to the point she can fight a dragon. She was the one that subdued the dragon that we needed to kill to get to our castle."

      "How about you, don't you guys use mana?" I asked him as I held the log in place while he cut it in half.

        "Not really but, I would say it's our stamina. If I use the same skill over and over, I'll get tired making me feel groggy. It goes for everyone but the higher the level we get, our stamina increases since I'm able to use skills pass beyond my limit. Isn't it the same for you?" He asked me as he looks up and I shook my head.

       "I don’t think so," I tell him.

       He looked at me like I’m a weird animal, "It isn't?"

      "I can use my skills over and over without feeling tired," I tell him watching him get back to cutting the log in half with his sword.

        "That's just fucked up. You're like an overpowered game character. You sound like the final boss." He tells me.

        "Haha imagine I am," I tell him as I picked up another log he needed to be lifted so he can run vines under it to tie it to another piece.

        "Wait, won't this raft sink?" I ask him after placing down the log and seeing the design. "Won't this log be too heavy?"

        "Not really, the good thing about my passive skill is it lets me know which trees in the area that I can use to make it float. This raft should be able to hold all of us without sinking." He explained and his passive class is really useful outdoors.

        "Oh." I helped him as he cut trees and slice it in half from the middle. He placed the split log on top of the two giant logs keeping the flat side facing up. He went to cut more trees and as he says, he hand-picked trees that he needed. After resting, Daikichi and the other guys helped us build it while the girls followed Suyeon picking up sticks and twigs around the area to build a campfire.

         "Yasu, please tell me you've seen an elf," Amaguchi says to me and I shook my head.

         "The only things I have seen are monsters from the dungeons and you guys. Also, the bandits who are humans."

         I wonder what happened to Dorang…That bastard didn't even say goodbye. Took my slaves and my diamond.  I say in my mind.

        "Tch, oh well. One diamond gone won't hurt me." I whisper to myself.

        "Takumi, please tell me there are beautiful elves here," Amaguchi says hopeful and Takumi smiled at him nodding. "Yes!"

        "There are very conservative and is practically closed to outside race. If you're an elf, they'll welcome you but if you're any other race, you can forget about finding them." He explains and Amaguchi looked dejected as fast as he looked happy.

        "Aww, whyyy?!" Amaguchi asks slumping his arms and everyone started laughing at his reaction.

        "Well, they don't like any other race and think they're above everything. No other race has ever set foot on their land. We don't even know where their land is and, we never really see elves also in the human section. The only time we saw them is when they made a sudden visit to the gold city." He explains making the elves sound luck a stuck up brats.

        "Ohhh, girls?" Amaguchi asked and Takumi shakes his head.

        "An old elf that looks like a mage and another one that looks like the king of elves. They have a different name for it but I forgot what they called them. It's easier to remember elves anyway. But yeah, when they made a sudden appearance in front of the castle gates, everyone made a big deal out of it. I guess the sighting of elves is a rare occurrence." He explained and it even got me curious about what they looked like. 

        "What did they want from you guys?" Daikichi asked and I just remained quiet listening to them.

        "Well, they didn't want us." Takumi stopped looking and suddenly looked at me. "They wanted him."

        "What?" I say surprised.

        "What did you do to them?" Daikichi asks me in a sarcastic tone and I gave him an ‘I don’t know’ gesture.

        "Well, we don’t know what they wanted with Yasu. After we told him he's not there, they just left without explaining anything. We didn't trust them also, so we didn't mention that you were in the hidden dungeon." Takumi says looking at me. "Did you do anything to them?"

       "I don't remember I did. The only thing I remember is the shitty starting dungeon, leaving it through a hidden passage, dealing with the psychopath Rikimura, going to another dungeon, the fucking dragon, then the hidden dungeon. I don't remember seeing any elves or murdering any of them." I say and everyone went quiet as they look at something behind me. As I turn around, I see Ms. Sam with a furious look as she crossed her arms. I see her finger slowly tapping and her eyebrow raised she sees me look at her.

        "How many times I have to tell you, stop using words like murder, killing, or any negative words. And stop cursing." She says as she comes close to me. Ever since she came with us, she's been keeping me in check and every time she hears me curse, she'll come my way and scold me.

        "Ah, s-sorry," I say as I feel embarrassed being scolded by her yet, it's refreshing. A feeling I never had before. I guess I do have anger management issues.

        "Good. Now boys, please. If you see him curse and act crazy, tell me." Ms. Sam says as she turns to everyone and they all silently nod while Daikichi tries to hide his laugh. "Alright then, play nice you guys."

        She turned around and went to the girls who started building the campfire. Daikichi burst out laughing and somehow, I wanted to lightly punch him in the face. "Oh man, you are done for. You got Ms. Sam homing missile directed at you."

      "Haha very funny," I tell him chuckling a bit. Even though it sometimes irks me, it feels refreshing for someone to keep me in check. Daikichi suddenly came close and put his arms around my neck while he tried to whisper something in my ear.

        "It's alright. At least, you got a beautiful girlfriend." He whispers as he points at Suyeon making my face feel hot. They all came back after picking up sticks and I see her sitting on a log while the other girls try to get a campfire going. When she sees both of us staring at her, her body went rigid while her face slowly turned a bit red. I averted my gaze and shook of Daikichi's arm.

        "D-don't be stupid dude. Sigh. I would throw you in the stream if the current wasn't that strong." I tell him and he started laughing and while everyone else looked confused.

        After the sun has fully set, we stopped building the raft and decided to continue tomorrow. Takumi quickly built a table for us to eat on and we used logs as our chairs. The girls with the help of Lisa have managed to build a campfire since he had a skill that can light things on fire. I cooked for everyone since and they all waited patiently as I finished while Goro-sensei along with Miki-sensei is washing everyone's plates in the river. Takumi told them not to go too far since the current is too strong and if they get swept away, it will be difficult to retrieve them. After washing the plates, they came back and handed them to Daikichi and Kana who used a clean towel I gave them to dry it up.

       "Ok, everyone. Dig in." I tell them as I place my plate on the table and sat down at the available space. Daikichi probably had something to do with where I'm sitting since its right next to Suyeon and he keeps smiling my way while Suyeon happily stared at her food not noticing anything around her.

         I want to punch him in the face.I whisper in my mind as I give Daikichi the middle finger. Ms. Sam saw it and glared me down make me avert her glare.

        Everyone ate so fast they finished their food in an instant and good thing I made a lot since they wanted more. They're all still skinny but not as bad as before. It's good since it shows me that in a couple of days, they all should be back to normal. After eating, Ms. Sam and Miki-sensei took on dishwashing duty in the river and we talked more about what we're going to do after we arrive in town.

        "For you guys, it's fine, but for me and probably for Yasu, we need a way to conceal our identity. Otherwise, the soldier's station there will definitely identify me on the spot. It's been a while since we left them, so they probably sent a message on all towns to keep an eye out for us." Takumi explained and bursting in there threatening people to give up information won’t work so I nod in agreement.

        "We can cover our faces when we get there," I tell him, and he shakes his head.

        "After what you did to the governor, they probably tighten the security on all the towns the gold district control. They will definitely find it suspicious if two guys walk in town with their face covered. They'll most likely tell us to remove our masks." He tells me and I felt beaten. Somehow, my way of thinking has become dull and what once the smartest guy in school is now the stupidest one in here.

         "Well, what do we need to go in the town for anyways?" Kana asked.

        "We need to restock and get you guys equipment. We also need information about the overlords or anything about where the diamond castle might be." I tell her and she looks down at her clothes.

        "Oh, can we buy new clothes also?" She asked me and I nod.

        "That's one of the reasons we're going there. I can't have you guys walking through the forest with this gear. It's far too dangerous. The next town is surrounded by monsters ranging from level twenty through level sixty." Takumi says.

        I see Ms. Sam with Ms. Miki come back with everyone's dishes and they all handed it out to everyone to store in their bag.

        "So what are you guys talking about?" Miki-sensei asked as they both sit down.

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        "How we're going to approach the next town. It seems like Takumi won't be able to come with us. Probably Yasu also since they might identify them on the spot. Given what we did to the gold members, they'll probably throw us in jail and ask questions later." Daikichi replies.

        "Well, they'll definitely identify me," Takumi says and everyone looks at him. "But, there's a probability that Yasu won't be recognized if he somehow changed the way he dresses and, I guess his hairstyle also."

        "Well, we're all kinda dressed the same you know," Amaguchi says as they all wear the same type of clothing like me except for Ms. Sam. "Wait, I still have my slave clothes, maybe he can use that."

       "You kept your clothes? Why?" Lisa asked him and he just shrugs.

       "Let me see," I tell him and he took out his dimensional bag and hand me his clothes. The minute I got it close to my face, the smell almost made me vomit my dinner.

       "Ah, hehe I didn't wash it," Amaguchi says.

       "It's fine, I can just keep using what I'm wearing," I say and I hand it back to him. "Since I kinda know how the currency system works around here, I'll go but I think its best for only two of us to go. Suyeon, come with me."

        She suddenly looked up and stared right into my eyes as she nods and smiles happily.

        "Awwww I wanted to see a town," Amaguchi says and he started pouting.

        "Ok, you can come with us. Before we go to the town, we'll take everyone's measurement and buy you clothes and armor according to that." I tell them and they all nod. This is much better since we can go in and then out of town within a day. The last thing I want is sleeping in a town those bastards’ control and waking up inside a jail cell. Our main motive now is to gear everyone up with what they need before training.

       I can't protect them. They need to get stronger. I say in my mind as they all started talking about what they want to get and what they need. Takumi has swords he got from the first dungeon while I have also weapons I can sell. I gave Goro-sensei a sword and everyone who specializes in using swords but, Lisa, Ms. Sam, Miki-sensei and Kana needs a staff and robes for their class specification. Goro-sensei also needs a shield. We can just look for a dungeon, but, I doubt they'll do any damage killing monsters and it's not a guarantee these monster will drop what they need. I was so deep in my thoughts I didn't hear them call my name.

    "Yasu."

      "Yasu."

        "Yasu!" Kana shouted out made me suddenly glare at her out of habit. She suddenly felt scared as my expression probably is terrifying, and I suddenly realized they're all staring at me.

       "O-oh. F-force of habit. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to glare at you." I say to her. When I was in the hidden dungeon, every small noise means an enemy is coming making me on the edge. It's what caused me to have insomnia.

         "I-it's okay. Jeez, that was scary. We're talking about the guild. Takumi told us how to invite people in. Can you invite all of us?" She says smiling at me, and I felt relieved she didn't hate me for glaring at her.

        "O-oh sure. How do I do it?" I asked Takumi as I look towards him.

       "Say the command ‘Diamond District Status Window' and it should show you something," Takumi tells me and I nod at him.

        "Diamond district status window." The minute I say those words, a new window came up showing my name on top with a parenthesis right next to it. Inside the parenthesis is the word, leader. I tried everything but who knew it’s as simple as saying status window right after the guild name.

Diamond District Guild

Yasu Kurosawa (Leader)

         So I was actually the leader.I say in my mind as I look at the empty window with only my name.

        "Do you see something?" Takumi asked me and I nod towards him.

        "Yeah, a window with my name," I replied as I tried to touch it but my hand just went through the hologram.

        "Good, so now say the command ‘invite member' and another window should come up telling you to say the name out loud to the person you want to invite.

        "Invite member," I say and a notification came up.

Please say the name of the person you want to invite.

         Hmmm, since Suyeon was the first member, I should invite her first.I say in my mind.

        "Suyeon," I say, and she suddenly looked at me. I waited but nothing, the notification still remained in form of me. "It's not working."

        "Oh, you have to say the full name. I guess its mechanism to prevent mixing up who you invite since names are quite unique here. I have never seen or heard people with a similar name." Takumi explained and I turned to Suyeon who stared at me.

        "Suyeon, what's your last name?" I asked her and I see some of the girl's eyes went wide while everyone looked surprised.

       "You don't know her last name?!" Kana suddenly stood up and it made me feel embarrassed.

        "Well, it's not like I needed to know…" I say and I see Suyeon looking a bit gloomy after I said it and now, they're all glaring at me. "W-w-what? J-just tell me so I can invite you."

        "Park. Park Su-yeon. Su-yeon is my first name, Park is my last name." She says as she kept looking down on the table and I felt glares my way from the girls while Daikichi is trying to not laugh.

        I really want to punch him in the face.I say in my mind.

        "Park Suyeon," I say her name like how she told me but still nothing.

       Oh, wait. It might be backward since her last name is Park. I say in my mind.

         "Suyeon Park." The minute I said her name, the notification disappeared. "Oh, it disappeared. How come I don't see her name on the list?"

         "She has to accept it. Suyeon, do you see a notification?" Takumi asked her and she nods looking at something in midair. "Okay, say the word, accept."

        "Okay. Accept." Suyeon says and suddenly, I see her name on the list right below mine with the parenthesis and a word ‘sub-leader' is inside the parenthesis.

Diamond District Guild

Yasu Kurosawa(Leader)

Su-Yeon Park(Sub-Leader)

         Sub-leader?I whisper in my mind as I study the list.

        "Do you see her name?" Takumi asked and I nod towards him. "Good, it should say her name with the word member right beside it."

        "I do see her name but, rather than member, it says sub-leader," I tell him and even Takumi looked confused.

        "Oh, then I guess the first member you pick becomes sub-leader. You can kick her out again and re-invite someone for the sub-leader position." He tells me as I stare at the list.

        "This is fine as it is. She is the first member of the guild anyway, so she earns the title sub-leader." I say as I look at her and she looks at me with her face turning into a tomato.

        "I want to be part of the guild also! Invite me!" Amaguchi says excitedly and I invite him to the guild. His full name was Amaguchi Akiyama. After he accepted the invite, his name appeared on the list with the member role on the side. I invited Daikichi next and Kana since I already knew their last name. Daikichi last name is Furuya and Kana's last name is Koinishita. I invited Goro-sensei next since his last name is quite simple, Goro Endo. I invited Miki-sensei next by saying, Miki Fujino. Saying the adult's names fully is embarrassing but then again, I have been calling them by their first name, which is something only done to close friends or family back where I came from. Since they didn't mind, I kept thinking it was their last name this whole time. I invited Mamoru next who remained quiet this whole trip but did talk to tell me his last name, Fujiwara. Lisa was next and American names roll off my tongue quite easily.

        "Lisa Miller," I say and she waited for a notification to come up.

        "Oh! There it is! Accept!" She shouted happily and I see her name appear on the list with a member role.

        "Alright, next is Ms. Sam," I say, as I didn't need to ask for her last name since I know it. "Diamond District status window. Invite member, Samantha Collins."

        "Oh." She says reading something in mid-air.

        "Did it work?" Takumi asked looking curious.

        "Y-yeah but it showed me something different from before. It says the same but there's extra." She says reading the notification in front of her.

        "Oh, what does it say? I wasn't quite sure it would work since we're both members of the gold District guild." Takumi replied and we all looked at Ms. Sam who silently read the notification.

        "Well it says, you will automatically leave the previous one if you proceed. Ok, let me try, accept!" She shouts happily and I see her name under Lisa with a member role. "oh it worked!"

        "Oh shit," Takumi says as he read something.

        "What happened?" Amaguchi asked curiously on what's Takumi's reading.

        "I didn't know this would happen; it gave me a notification Ms. Sam left the guild. It also shows the reason. Holy shit, they'll know we joined up with you guys." He says and I can notice he's a bit worried. "Ah, fuck it. Invite me."

        "You sure?" I asked him and gave me a nod.

        "Wait." He says right when I was about to ask for his name.

        "Gold District status window." He says and I see him reading something we can't see. "Ok, go ahead. My last name is Tanedaya."

        "Diamond District status window. Invite member. Takumi Tanedaya."

        "Accept." I hear him say and I see his name appear on the list.

Diamond District Guild

Yasu Kurosawa(Leader)

Su-Yeon Park(Sub-Leader)

Amaguchi Akiyama(Member)

Daikichi Furuya(Member)

Kana Koinishita(Member)

Goro Endo(Member)

Miki Fujino(Member)

Mamoru Fujiwara(Member)

Lisa Miller(Member)

Samantha Collins(Member)

Takumi Tanedaya(Member)

        "Just wanted to see who's alive before I left. All of them are." He says after accepting the invite.

        "Oh, how do you know?" Daikichi says after drinking from his water container.

        "In the guild member list, once a person dies, it will say deceased right next to its name." He tells me making me feel reassured I have a way to keep track of them.

        "Oh, Diamond District Status Window." Daikichi tries the commands only to end up with a confused look. "Hey, it's not working."

        "Yeah, only the Leader and the Sub-leader can see the guild member list. As for members, we only see it on our status window."

        This guy…he must have been the sub-leader. Hahaha, the Gold sub-leader joining us. I say in my mind as I heard him say the command earlier.

        "Status window," Daikichi says and he reads his status window while letting out a sigh. "Damn, I need new skills."

        "Once you level up to twenty, you get a new skill," Takumi tells him and Daikichi’s expression lit up.

        "Nice! I can’t wait!" Daikichi replies and he started asking more question to Takumi who told him everything he knows about their class. Ms. Sam along and Miki-sensei seems to get along quite well as they both talk about their time on earth and about work, they did in the past. Everyone's conversing with each other and somehow, it's making me feel happy seeing such a scene yet, deep down in my heart I feel a sense of guilt.

        Hiding this secret to them, I don't know how will they react if they found out. I say in my mind as I observe all of them. Takumi knows they're all alive, Luro did tell me they survived. I wonder what type of expression they have seen these two leave their guild to join ours.

         "Wait. Takumi, won't they be able to invite you back since they know your full name? Won't they have the ability to spam you?" I asked him.

          "Nope, you can only invite a member that's close to you. Which means, to invite me back in, they need to be in front of me." He replies and I felt a sense of relief.

         "Whew, imagine you wake up seeing an invitation notification appearing non-stop," Amaguchi says and somehow, his attitude reminds me of someone. "I would go crazy."

        "Well, at least they won't be able to do it. Can they track us?" Kana asked and Takumi shook his head.

        "If it was easy to track a person through the forest, we would have found Yasu long ago. But there are mercenaries that specialize in finding people." Takumi says making me remember the first nightmare Unum gave me where I saw two mercenaries.

       "Well, let's go sleep. We have a long day tomorrow. Even using the river, it will take a while to get to the next town." Takumi says and everyone started clearing the table and started setting up beds near the campfire. This night was really cold, so everyone huddled together while I was forced again to sleep while Daikichi and Kana volunteered to be on guard duty. But since I couldn't sleep, I sat near the lag that's around the campfire and watched the flame eat its way through the stick I throw in.

        "Ughhh, fuck it's cold," Daikichi says and even the blanket I gave them is not helping. Even I felt a bit chilly.

        "Man up Daikichi, look at Yasu he's not even shivering," Kana says as she huddles near Daikichi.

        "You know what will make us warm?" He tells her as he looks at her moving his eyebrows up and down.

      "Daikichi! You're so nasty." She says as she tries to glance at me, and I pretend I'm not seeing them.

Cough*

Cough*

        I let out a fake cough and at this moment, I regret not sleeping.

        "Look what you did, you made Yasu cough," Kana says joking around and I chuckle a bit. "So, how's it going with you and Suyeon?"

       Dang, Daikichi is rubbing off Kana. I say in my mind glaring at Daikichi.

        "Umm, nothing. What's going on between us?" I ask her and they both raised their eyebrow. "What?"

         "Oh come on. Everyone see that she's especially close to you. Even with Daikichi or the rest of the guys, she still has issues talking to them. Sometimes she would get scared when one of the guys accidentally touch her. I wouldn't blame her. She probably went through hell in that dungeon.” I see kana look down on the ground with a sad expression that her eyes are starting to tear up. "Dammit, if only I dragged her out with me."

        I see her place her head on her knees probably trying to hide the tears falling out of her eyes.

        "It's my fault. If only I didn't get hurt…" Daikichi says as she hugs Kana. After she calmed down a bit, she looks up to me and I can see her eyes are red from crying.

        "Yasu, can you tell me in detail how you found her? She just keeps telling us you found her but doesn't want to go with details. I need to know to help her." She says and even though I want to not tell them, I think it's best someone knows to be able to help her recover.

       Sigh*

        "Ok, but, don't tell anyone and keep it to yourselves. Don't even mention anything to her and wait for her to tell you guys. Understand? I'm only saying it since someone needs to know what she actually went through. Or I should say, what I summed up she went through."

        They both nod and I can feel my body shivering from the cold.

        "Fuck, it is getting colder. Give me a minute. Item bag." I took out Mole's fur out of my bag and used it as a blanket. "Ahhhh, thank you, Mole."

        "What is that?" Kana says curiously as she moves closer to me eyeing mole fur. The minute she touched it, she crawled underneath to sit beside me. "Ahhh, so warm. What is this? It's so fluffy~"

        "What? That's not fair! Me too~" Daikichi says as he crawls under and sat on my other side. Now both of them are huddled around me with me in the middle, as Mole's fur was big enough to cover all three of us.

.

.

.

        "Ok, now it's too hot," I say as I lower moles fur to cover us from the waist down since our body heat was making it too hot, I'm starting to build a sweat.

        "Ah, this is life~ This fur is soo fluffy. Where did you get this? I want one." Kana says as she lay her body on moles fur.

        "This is my precious friend's fur. He died a year ago." I tell them.

"Wait, what? A human?" Daikichi says as he looks at the fur baffled.

        "No, a giant baby chicken. His name was Mole." I say remembering about Mole.

        "Ohh, I was about to say, this human must have been hairy." Daikichi jokes around almost making chuckle picturing mole as a furry person.

         "Thank you Mole~ For keeping us warm~," Kana says as she kept hugging the fur. "Ok, Yasu, tell us. I promise I won't mention anything. I just really want to know."

        "Ok, well, when I found her. I thought she was dead." I tell her.

        "Dead?" Kana asked surprise.

        "I found her in a room full of shit. Literally, that place was a waste dump. Good thing it was dark. I was looking around and tripped on her body." I tell them remembering about the shit-filled room.

        "She was sleeping here?" Daikichi asked me.

        "Uh no, as I said, I thought she was dead because I couldn't recognize her. Her body was completely burned. It's like someone poured gasoline and lit her on fire." I say and they didn't say anything but I could sense their anger as their expression tightens. Rather than waiting for them to reply, I continued talking.

        "I wanted to test out if a portion would work on corpses. I wanted to see if it can restore a dead body to its original condition. I also wanted to find out who's burnt belonged to, Luro came to me saying he brought new people in and I thought my mother would be here."

        "If he brought her here…" I see Daikichi clench his fist and I know the anger he feels since I felt the same when I went looking for my mother.

        "I was glad she wasn't one of them but then I found out from Suyeon you guys were here. Good thing she told me or else I would never look for you guys." I grab a couple of sticks and threw it in the fire to increase the flame before continuing.

        "So, as I said before, I thought she was dead. But when I poured a healing potion in her mouth, her body slowly restored. What really irked me was the condition of her body. She was naked when I found her."

        I can see Kana bring down her head towards Mole's fur. Probably to hide her tears again.

        I hope Mole can bring her comfort.I say in my mind as I tried to stroke her back but I stopped since It felt embarrassing touching someone.

        "Are you guys sure you want to continue?" I asked them and I can see Kana's head move up and down while she kept her face buried in Mole's fur.

        "Well, I saw a piece of clothing near her body that was ripped to shreds. I had an idea what happened to her, but I didn't want to dwell on it since I thought she was dead. But, she was most likely raped. Not once but probably multiple times until they burned her alive. After healing her, I went back towards the room where there's a stream of water to wash my hands since it smelled like shit. Well, after washing, I figured out that she might have been alive so as I turned to walk back, I see her standing near the door with her hair over her face that made me shiver. I thought I was looking at the ghost. Remember that movie where there's this girl who keeps coming out of the TV? It looked like that."

         "Then what?" I hear Kana and as I look, I see her wiping her face.

        "She tried to kill me and I had to…um….push her away," I tell them not remembering if I did or punched her in the face.

         "Well, it looked like she was afraid of people. Shit, she was a hell of a task to deal with in the beginning. I don't know if she told you, but I was blind at one point because of her. She kept struggling trying to stay in that dark room while I tried my best to get her out of the dungeon. Right where we're near the exit, she grabbed the Gatekeeper's ashes and threw it in my face causing me to go blind."

        "She didn't want to leave?" Kana asked me and I nod.

         "It's like she was so broken in her mind that she just wanted to curl up in that dark corner. There's only one reason why she would be so broken and it's the people that are with her. After she told me the story of how you guys got out, I got a much clearer idea. Ever since then up until I found her was probably a month or maybe more. In that time, every day, she probably suffered in the hands of not only her brother but also everyone else in the dungeon she was left alone with. And they were all alive when I found them. There were more guys than girls so imagine what she had to go through every day."

        "Suyeon…" Kana says as she brings her head down towards her knees, which is covered with mole's fur.

        "But, even going through all of that, she still trusted me and followed me around," I tell them feeling guilty about leaving her in the governor's mansion.

   Sigh*

        "There is one thing I regret," I tell them before they even had a chance to reply, I continued talking. "It’s when I left her."

        "Left her?" Kana asked me as she looks up with tears coming down her cheeks.

        "Yeah. When we got out of the Dungeon and down the mountain, we came across the boar town. You probably heard the story about the governor." I tell them as I look at my hands remembering when it was covered in his blood. "When I got there, I quickly handed her to the guards. She visited me and that's when I destroyed the inn. Once I met with the governor, the minute I saw a chance to leave her there, I did."

        I paused for a minute while I close and open my hand.

        "I saw the look she gave me as I walked out. And when I went back to her, she was naked while getting slapped around by the governor. What pissed me off is she didn't fight and just kept apologizing. Took every hit from the governor like it's something normal people would do to her." I clench my fist really tight as I close my eyes. I tried to calm myself and I felt a hand on top of mine and as I slowly open it, I see Kana and Daikichi holding it looking at me.

        "Somehow, at that moment, I felt like I did a grave mistake. I did the same thing they did to me. I didn’t give her a choice. From then on, I vowed to train her. To make her strong enough so no one would do that to her. Even I don't know why. I hated her in the beginning how she's always crying and apologizing but at that point, I hated myself for putting someone in that position. Heh, maybe I'm a hypocrite. I'd kill anything that gets in my way yet here I am, saying some nonsense."

        "No Yasu, it's not nonsense. You didn't leave her, you came back and saved her." Kana says as she tried to stop the tears that are coming out of her eyes.

        "So that's the when you saved her twice. When the third time?" Daikichi asked me and I froze in place thinking about what she did to the Bandits.

        "Uh, when she was captured by a bandit. That's how I found you guys." I tell him lying about what she did.

        "So that's how you've come to kill the so-called governor," Kana says as she stopped her tears as she placed her hand on top of mine. "Yasu, no matter what, we're on your side and Suyeon's side. We both won't leave you two alone. But, when we heard what you did, it made me question you in my mind and I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

        She went and hugged me tightly. I can feel her body shaking as she silently cried.

        "Kana," I whisper her name and she slowly pulled herself away from me. "You don't have to apologize. None of this is your fault or Daikichi’s. All of this is one person's fault."

        "Luro," Daikichi mentions his name and it's making me want to cry in the dark corner. Remembering what he said makes me feel like there's no hope, but I held myself since now is not the time to look weak. It's making me depressed and the only source of my strength in them.

         "Well, that's about everything. How about you guy's what are your plans after all of this?" I asked them to try to change the topic and they happily answered, and we talked all night until both of them fell asleep by my side. I hear them breathing next to me as Kana and Daikichi's body leaned on me while both of them sleep. I pull Mole's fur to cover them fully.

.

.

        "Guys. Thank you. Thank you for saving me." I whisper as I leaned on the log and stared at earth above the sky. For the first time in my life, I felt happy and relaxed yet, I couldn't stop the tears coming out of my eyes.

       I'm sorry. I whispered again over and over in my mind as I silently cried through the night.