[Second chapter otw]

Leonel led Aina into the basement. The sudden movement caused everyone to look in his direction simultaneously, their gloominess on full display.

Kaela smiled somewhat weakly when she saw Leonel. Realizing that he was holding a girl's small hand, she looked over and gave a polite nod to Aina as well. As for the fact she was wearing a mask… Well, Kaela wore a lab coat everywhere, so who was she to judge.

Leonel scanned their faces. He couldn't help but feel a twang of guilt seeing their downcast expressions.

The truth was that Leonel wasn't very surprised to find them all here. It was clear and obvious that none of them cared to go to the arena after hearing the bells because they somewhat already knew what would happen.

However, what Leonel didn't expect was…

"I'm sorry!"

After a deep breath, Kaela suddenly stood and bowed to everyone. She did so, so deeply that her forehead almost rebounded against her shins. It would have almost been comical had tears she had been holding back not spilled forth at that very moment.

It was obvious to everyone that Kaela was only waiting for everyone to be present for her to give this apology. All her frustration and rage welled up in her eyes, flooding forth. It became obvious very quickly that she had only bowed so low in an attempt to hide the tears she could no longer hold back.

"It's all my fault. The moment I saw him, I should have known things wouldn't be so simple and should have pulled us all out. It's my fault, it's all my fault."

She felt that she had failed as a leader. She had walked them all right into a trap and wasn't even any wiser. She knew that her former master wasn't such a nice person, and neither were his wives. Each was more evil than the last. To have trusted them was the worst mistake she could have ever made.

Kaela's knees buckled, falling to the ground. Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

But, before she could lose balance, a strong arm had already propped her up.

Leonel's arm had reached forward at the same time as Rum's, but his speed was much faster. It was easy for Leonel to tell that Rum wouldn't have made it in time.

With a subtle wink, Leonel passed Kaela off to Rum. But, the big man was just as depressed as everyone else and hardly noticed this at all.

"It's not our fault at all, Kaela!" Litia immediately interjected, rushing up and helping Kaela to wipe her tears. "We'd never blame you for something so sinister. It was clear that we were just unlucky to be targeted."

Everyone supported Litia's words. Even the quiet Thilly hummed in almost silent acceptance.

Leonel sighed. If there was anyone to 'blame', it would be him. Kaela was a convenient target not much unlike he was. Leonel had a feeling, though, that regardless of which Faction he had chosen to enter, the result would have been the same.

Now, not only had their name been dragged through the mud, but all the resources they had poured into their products were considered to have been wasted too. They had no Ores left, their merit points were now deemed useless, and even if by some miracle they managed to recover, who would buy from them?

Realizing this, even with the comfort of everyone, Kaela couldn't hold back her stream of tears, her shoulders quaking.

Years ago, she had left the safety of Valiant Hall because she believed her master wasn't looking out for her. Since then, despite having poor combat prowess as a Crafter, she managed to join Brave Peak and claw her way back, gathering a group of friends and setting out to build her own faction.

Unfortunately, things like this never went smoothly. Everywhere she went, it seemed that she would run into another roadblock.

Whether it was the soaring price of Ores, the monopoly on stores, the difficulty in completing a novel design with her lack of knowledge… It was like continuously climbing one mountain after another.

Yet, when she finally reached the peak of the last, instead of finding shining sun and colorful rainbows, she found a steep drop into an endless abyss she could never climb back out from.

All those years of torture and laborious work didn't break her, but this most definitely did.

Aina clenched her fists watching Kaela's breakdown. She didn't know of her story, but she could still feel a shadow of something familiar when she looked at her. It almost felt like Aina was watching a possible ending for herself.

The Dimensional Verse was a cruel world. Hard work didn't necessarily mean you would succeed. The successful like to think that they reached their level simply because they did and sacrificed more. But, this was nothing but the rose tinted glasses of the rich and privileged.

Hard work guaranteed you nothing. Sacrifice guaranteed you nothing.

For a long while, Leonel stood and said nothing. He crossed his arms across his chest, allowing the group to comfort each other. Watching them support their leader in her time of need made his heart warm, but one wouldn't be able to tell by the look on his face.

Leonel emotionlessly watched it all from start to finish as though engraving this moment into his mind. Every tear, every tremble, every sob… He imprinted it all.

Eventually, Kaela managed to hiccup her way into a semblance of a steady breath. She felt quite embarrassed by her actions. Her plan was to apologize and then try to prepare a future path for everyone, likely without herself.

But, instead of succeeding in this, she had made a bumbling fool of herself.

She looked toward Leonel with a hint of shame on her face, but all she saw was a sturdy pillar, standing there as though the world couldn't impact him in the slightest.

Leonel suddenly smiled, but somehow, it seemed detached, as though it was a reflex rather than a display of his genuine emotion.

"Now that that's out of your system…" Leonel said slowly. "Do you want to watch Valiant Heart Mountain dance on the palm of your hands?"