It was a common understanding among people to avoid problems that were unrelated to them. And just like those people, Deralst would not want to stick his nose into other people's affairs where it does not belong either.
It was not that he was insensible to the affairs of others but simply that he tend to ignore it. He had seen enough injustice and suffering. About people who starved to death, people who killed for petty reasons and people who were dying from torment to understand it.
It was quite a confusing rationale to some people at times.
He may occasionally help someone or save a person's life but he was not an enforcer or a philanthropist. He could not stop people from killing each other, fight the powerfully wicked, nor could he feed everyone who were starving right now. He just simply accepted it and move on. It had became an increasingly common occurrence in this time of age after the war. Those were the things that he would not be able to do much about it anyway. So he just simply became inured to it, not minding or caring much about such affairs. Overtime, he gotten used to lot of things in this cruel world.
Just like everyone else, living through his own life with some form of resignation. And like everyone else, helpless and yet surviving. But even so, he would still encounter people who were able to find various ways to make their mundane lives slightly more interesting now and then, even if it was just for a short moment.
Such was the ruminating observation of a certain Diabolist, as he walked through the crowd bustling with various furry rodents that standing on two legs. It was a dim and damp place for these folks to live in, even with the help of the torch stands and lamps. And yet through the limitations of living within the confines of such miserable complex, they were still able to make full use of it. Everyone around him was always busy living their lives to the fullest without even being bothered by such things.
Some of them opened wooden stalls or selling local merchandise on mats located on the elevated stone worked platforms that served as walkways at sides of the wide sewer channel. And like a busy wet market, the place was very crowded with ratlings haggling and browsing the stall's wares around the place. But most of the crowd's path were mostly congregated at the center area where wastewater used to flow through in the past.
Feeling like an outsider towering above them, Deralst stared down at the crowd of rodent folks below him. They mostly ignored him or gave him a wide berth. At times, some of them were seen on all fours moving quickly around places instead.
The ratlings continued to scamper past him like sliding through walls. It made him wondered what would happen if he were to trip now? He was careful not to let that happen though.
Trying not to lose track of the mole ratling called Pacon that was leading the way. Deralst tried to force his way through the fast flowing crowd below him without colliding with anyone. But it was still an irritating task and Pacon even had to considerately come back a few times just to make sure that he was going in the right direction.
"Aww, this is easier with Rak around....He shouldn't have left his job like that…." Pacon was now complaining beside him but it was as eager as before. Which made Deralst thought that it was not actually bothered about it.
“I don’t mind about it.”
Deralst responded simply.
Aside from the unusual circumstantial situation that came to this, it was uncommon but not rare to have just a single Ratling as a guide. But Deralst did not really care much about it, so long as he was able to reach his destination, no matter who or how many guides there were.
His guide led the way as it continued to chatter on merrily. Navigating through various of the dried up water channels and corridors, until they had finally travelled a distance away from the market area. The tunnels were getting narrower and more twisted. A contrast from the wide straight tunnels at the main hub of the Rattling colony.
"You chase away those bad spiders so easily! You must be really strong!" Pacon spoke on, continuing its chatter while walking beside Deralst. "I wish I could fight like that too!"
It was enthusiastically waving its paws around eagerly. Since Deralst could not discern its expression through its long muzzle and small eyes, he just assumed that it was grinning though the voice of its tone.
Which was an unexpected attitude for someone who had just survived a life threatening experience recently. It may just be a trait of the Ratlings, that were already used to such a lifestyle traveling inside the gloomy dungeon.
"You may be able to do it too....if you move fast enough." Deralst grunted as he turned slightly to look down on Pacon.
"I cannot be an adventurer like you." Pacon said as they rounded the corner into another side tunnel, the place was a lot less crowded than before now.
"Rak said that I cannot go up to the surface. He said I cannot see well up there." It shrugged. "I always wonder what it's like up there.”
Pacon did not seemed to mind much about it. But Deralst sensed from its oddly cheery tone that there's hints of a child's curiosity and excitement for adventure. So he kept silent and walked on.
People would only crave for things they had tasted before. But if someone did not know anything to begin with, they could only be driven by either curiosity or the fear of the unknown. Call him a pessimistic, but as far as Deralst had known, both were not normally something great to have in abundance for a dungeon travel.
After wandering through the sewers for a while, he was eventually led to an alcove of the tunnel after they took another turn to the right at an intersection.
Inside, there's a metal rung latched onto the stone wall with an iron grate positioned at the ceiling above it. There were some glowing faint torchlight revealing a group of people equipped with various accessories standing around there.
They were most likely adventurers and they appeared to be waiting for someone. They were also quick to notice Deralst and Pacon moving in their direction. As expected of adventurers, normally.
"G'day stranger! You're passing through here too?"
An unfamiliar voice spoke out as a man wearing a set of brown jacket, trousers and a cap approached them openly in a conspicuous manner while speaking in an oddly friendly tone. There were four other adventurers gathered there. But it seemed that they had decided to stay around and observe the new arrivals while letting that man do the talking instead.
The man in brown was walking towards them casually in a seemingly unguarded manner. He seemed to be some sort of an archer, what with the bow strapped behind the man's back. Deralst assumed that he was possibly a ranger or a hunter. He had also noted that the ranger's silent steps which betrayed his cautiousness and experience and possibly his party too.
“Erm, Hi! I'm Pacon! Nice to see you again!"
“Oh it's you! So you're our guide today again, eh? I thought there was supposed to be at least two of you!”
The man talked in an obvious way to start the conversation. Pacon greeted back to the man by waving its paw. Then they started talking with each other as if they had met before this. Now closer to Deralst, he tried to keep his expression neutral as he assess the brown capped man. His features looked to be in his mid thirties, his hair was brown and so does his brown tan skin too. In fact, almost everything that guy wore was brown....like dirt or soil.
"Rak's busy, so it's just me. I hope you wouldn’t mind it!….Do you?”
"Of course not! You're our guide afterall!" The ranger simply shrugged and accepted Pacon's reasons and move on to his next topic.
“So now that we are done with the greetings, you wouldn't mind me asking who's the strapping young bloke behind you, do you?”
The ranger turned his attention towards Deralst. The indication of his intention clear despite him displaying an easy going attitude.
"Oh, he's just another person I have to guide too!"
Pacon, like a simpleton it was, simply told the ranger.
"Is that so? Well it is unexpected that there is another adventurer joining us but you're the guide, so it's yer decision anyway."
The ranger seemed to accept it easily, as he looked at Deralst up and down as if he was apprising him in which Deralst returned it was a sharp gaze of his own.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
"Well mate, nice to meet ya! My name's Rendal Mundy. What's yer name?"
He raised his hand towards Deralst and offered a handshake. While Deralst's had a wary impression of the ranger who portrayed himself to be a causal yet direct person. But he still deemed the ranger to be an appropriate stand up guy and considerately returned the ranger's greeting.
"Just call me Deralst."
"Hah! If it's not rude to ask, why are ya travelling alone around here in this miserable dungeon? Are ya lost?"
".....Yes indeed I am, I need a guide to get to the floor entrance so I can meet with the other members of my party."
Deralst tried to answer the ranger's question as honestly and as vaguely as possible. Falsces was travelling with him before, so he was technically considered to be a member of his party.
"That so? All right then! You're welcome to travel together with us! Since we're on the way there too! Now excuse me mate, I have other matters about our trip to discuss with our guide here."
"Oh sure." Deralst nodded and stepped slight away, Rendal turned to talk to the guide more comfortably beside him. Seemingly nonchalant about talking here.
They held their conversation in front of Deralst without care of him hearing the contents of what they were talking about in front of him. It was most likely to help keep the newcomer up to date too, since he may be joining these adventurers in their travels for a while.
And While Deralst did not know Pacon for long, as the Ratling may seemed airheaded and aloof to him but it was definitely knowledgeable and smart enough to hold a conversation with someone properly.
Deralst understood that the ranger and his party were actually Pacon's clients who had requested a guide that was scheduled for their usual travel to get past the sixth floor's entrance too. It was known from the talk that they had also arranged to meet with yet another party of adventurers so they still had to stay around for awhile longer to wait for them to arrive.
"I reckon those adventurers traveling with us will be quite an experienced bunch this time. It may not be the A class sort of bunch, but I’ll be expecting a B.”
"If I may ask, is there something going on here? Your group seem to be large enough already and yet you all still need to travel with another group of adventurers?"
Since the ranger was addressing the issue with his guide in front of him, he might as well take this moment to join into their conversation. He may be able to gain some useful information here too.
"Ah, the dungeon's been quite hectic lately, so the association came up with this corker of an idea to send a group of adventurers to investigate the dungeon's demonic crystal infestation at the lower floors and we're to accompany them too!"
While Deralst appeared to be indifferent, but mentally he was cursing his luck right now.
"That's problematic."
In a lot of ways actually, since he also needed to find those crystals for his own purpose too. Another team of adventurers wandering around clearing the crystals might interfere with his objective. Especially that an investigation group regarding anything of demonic origins will definitely have someone with holy classes in it. Which he really needed to do something about it before he tries anything with the crystals but he could not immediately come up with a proper solution right now.
"No worries mate! We're strong enough to deal with whatever that's inside this dungeon!" The ranger patted his back, misinterpreting his frown. "Now! Let me introduce you to the others in the party!"
And just like that, Deralst was pushed by Rendal to meet with the other members of his group. The other adventurers while more reserved, seemed to have accepted him easily enough and he was treated normally just like any other adventurer. It was not hard, as Deralst had experienced working with other adventurers before, but he still felt a bit uncomfortable meeting these new strangers.
He felt like he was out of place being here among them. While Deralst needed to have a party to travel with, he had prefered to work alone lately due to multiple obvious reasons related his questes and situation. He guess that it should be fine for now if he was just travelling together with them for a short amount of time, just like when he was working Vullen before. There were other more urgent things to think about for now as he stayed with Rendal's party to wait for another group of adventurers to arrive.
While he could trust the integrity of the people from the holy faith as the type who would not do something as underhanded as stealing or backstabbing others, they were still the type of the adventurers he was least keen to work with right now.
Deralst mauled on his thoughts about ways to deal with the investigation of those people as he start to idly pace around the edge of the alcove.
What will he do? What could he do? All this was unexpected for him as he was stuck thinking about it, his thoughts swirled in circles inside his head. Despite so, how was he going to explain about Falsces if the other adventurers were to meet him? At least, if he was gotta wait, he might as well, take out something to chew on for now......
—
After some time of waiting, another three adventurers came into sight through the tunnels walking towards them.
Even from a distance away, Deralst could feel the familiar yet unpleasant sense of apprehension towards those adventurers again. He immediately knew that this the group of adventurers were mostly of the holy faith, and he was sure that they could also sense the same thing towards him too.
Even so, he had made his choice about this, and he would not be withdrawing himself now. So he had to uneasily watch the newly arrived adventurers approaching closer and closer towards him.
Among the adventurers, a young blonde woman in bright armour swiftly strode out of her party directly towards Deralst. Despite her rushing, she still moved with elegant steps and dignified posture until she had finally stood in front of Deralst and stared directly at him.
“You….there’s something wrong with you….”
Great, that was not something he had heard for first time nor was it going to be his last either.
The woman spoke in a stern voice that seemed to be stating a fact. Despite being half a head shorter than him, her sharp piercing gaze still looked straight at him, demanding his own attention in return. So Deralst decided to make full use of it instead.
Her silver coloured armour was covering her full body in what seemed to be made of light steel. There's a metal kite shaped shield strapped onto her left arm, with its sides curved in a manner that made it appear to be smaller than it actually was, designed in way that was more comfortable to carry around and less impeding while moving in combat, like a buckler.
She was fair-skinned and slender even in her suit of polished armour. Her face was scowling slightly, but still retain a mature feminine beauty to it. Rounded features, dark-red lips and shoulder length hair that drew people’s eyes to her. But it's not hard for Deralst to wonder why she did not wear a freaking helmet like Vullen.
"He's corrupted, I wouldn't advise associating with him too much, my lady."
A white haired man snorted as he walked to stand beside the steel armoured woman, it made Deralst frowned at his blunt statement. That man was carrying a long mace with him and he seemed to be quite well equipped too. He was wearing a metal breastplate, some other light protection and a white robe under the armour. He had a full beard covering his face and a stout figure that made him seemed more like a taller dwarf than a fat man. While mature, he does not look that old though.
“Yes, I am….got a problem with that?”
The white haired man ignored Deralst without even sparing a glance and continued speaking to the blonde woman at his side.
"He's a person who threw away his humanity, he may look human......but he was also no different from a monster, in human skin."
“G’day y’all!”
The bearded man's words was interrupted by Rendal as the ranger walked out of alcove to greet the other adventurers.
“Hey there, beauty! So whatcha talking about with the young lad?”
“Mind your speech! This is lady Leonate Brightness you're speaking to here!”
Shouted the third person among the newcomers, whom Deralst would not even bother to pay too much attention at the details by now. But he did notice that the man was wearing armour too.
"I will talk how I want to! So how about ya rack off, ya wanker!"
He sighed inwardly, this was also why he disliked meeting new people inside a dungeon, it's stressful and troublesome at times. Why could he not just meet and talk things with people over a table of hot meal and nice drinks instead?
“That’s the type of person I would expect from someone working with a demonspawn.”
“What?”
Rendal exclaimed as his eyes narrowed in doubt.
Deralst closed his eyes. Should he stay silent about this again? And how long will that last?
No
“I am whoever I choose to believe in, but what are you going to do about it?”
Deralst spat out his words seriously, as he turned towards the third adventurer, to stare at him in the eye. The adventurer who appeared to be a man glared back at him, his eyes seemed like it would pop out.
“Let him be, it's his choice to be faithless.”
The white bearded fat man sighed as he said in a tone of disapproval. Now these were the sort of jerks he was used to.
“Well I actually believe in the light, I just don’t like them very much.”
Deralst simply retorted back, which made the white haired man gave him the stink eye but said nothing in return.
“Should we really let someone like him travel with us?”
The third adventurer asked in irritation. Deralst simply filtered much of the words from that annoying person. Since he was sure that he would not be meeting that guy in the future, nor even wanted to.
“We will compromise for now, I just want to get this done and over with.”
The blonde woman who was Leonate nonchalantly said to the others as she turned to walk towards the alcove, disregarding everyone else.
“Let’s go, there’s no point staying here to argue with these people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with their own speciality."
After the white robed man said something pretty profoundly sarcastic, he also turned to follow Leonate with the other adventurer who did it more reluctantly.
“Bloody pikers….”
Rendal spat out.
Deralst looked towards the newly arrived adventurers and sighed, the path ahead was not going to be easy and full of potential problems to come.
“Why are ya looking so grim? Cheer up mate!”
The ranger gave Deralst a painful but reassuring slap in the back.
“Yeah! I don’t know what happened but don’t worry!” Shouted Pacon from behind Rendal. Deralst did not notice Pacon until the last moment though. Did it just returned with Rendal or it was here all along?
In these parts of world where most people always either looked constipated and grumpy. It was rare for a guy with big personality to be around and it was sad that even these people had more personalities than him…..
At least it was enough to make Deralst smile back.