[11:12 | May 12, 2035]

Shin, Fuyumi, and Nightingale waited by the fountain outside of the Urumel lobby. Ahead of them was the same giant obelisk-like structure that greeted them the first time they arrived in Dragonfall. It stood tall in the middle of the main plaza of the city. Small parties of adventurers passed by them left and right, making their way into the stores and merchant stands lining the red and brown brick paved plaza.

Shin leaned forward on the bench, resting his elbow on his knee, and tapped his foot along with the beat of a song played by a nearby bard. He was toying with the new jewel that he received from Diane yesterday. They have been sitting around for the past twenty minutes waiting for Geoff’s party to meet up with them. Normally, they would meet in the Urumel lobby itself, but it was far more crowded than usual. Nightingale hypothesized that people realized Urumel was considered an underground dungeon, which got an experience buff in the most recent patch.

Shin yawned as he pocketed the jewel and leaned all the way back on the bench until his head rested on the top edge. He stared into the false sky, filled with twinkling stars slowly crawling across the vast purple void. Thin white strands of hair and a pale skinned face suddenly blocked his view.

“Don’t fall asleep now.”

Fuyumi moved her hair out of the way, revealing a slight smile.

“No worries, I won’t.”

“Ah!”

Fuyumi’s head jerked back in surprise as Nightingale patted her head. She turned her head toward him and rolled her eyes.

“What’s going on here?” Nightingale said with a devious smile.

“Nothin’.” Shin replied, waving at his green-haired friend.

“If you say so~.”

Nightingale playfully shrugged his shoulders. He opened his mouth, ready to tease his friends again when he noticed Geoff and his party begin to approach them.

“I see you three are still in one piece, hahaha!” Geoff let out a hearty laugh.

“More or less.” Shin responded flatly.

Malady shyly shuffled behind Geoff while Prezzo waved at Nightingale. Scottie scratched his patchy beard.

“So how far did you lot go?” Geoff asked.

“We made it down to the twenty eighth floor.” Fuyumi replied, crossing her arms.

“Damn, that far? You guys really grinded like crazy!” Scottie said excitedly, butting into the conversation.

Geoff stared down the three adventurers before him.

“Seems like you three got stronger. I could check your stats before with my [Inspect] skill but it seems like the level gap between us is too big for my skill to work.”

“I guess so, we're all around level 60 now.” Shin answered him while avoiding eye contact

It was obvious that their exchanges were not as friendly or cordial as they once were. After all, a lot had happened during their time apart. When they learned of Geoff’s antics, it heavily shifted their perspective of him. That greedy behavior of keeping the jewel to himself was completely contrary to the heroic leader that led the charge in the heat of battle during their expedition.

“Did you four get up to anything interesting during our break?” Nightingale asked in an attempt to spark up some conversation.

“I didn’t do too much, I just sold some of the materials from our last expedition into Urumel and celebrated our success with some friends!”

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Geoff made passing glances at Fuyumi as he spoke. She noticed his gaze and made an effort to not give him a satisfying reaction.

“I just went shopping…”

Malady’s soft voice was barely loud enough to overcome the sound of the fountain..

“I just drank, like a lot.” Prezzo said, with a thumbs up.

The conversation stopped again. The awkward pauses were unsettling. Geoff started to look frustrated. Fuyumi averted her gaze to the floor.

“So… shall we go into Urumel?”

Shin stared at the party invite that appeared in the middle of his vision. He hovered his finger over the accept button before selecting decline. He joined Fuyumi in looking at the floor. Nightingale awkwardly smiled at Geoff as he declined the party invite as well. Shin, Fuyumi, and Nightingale anticipated this situation and coordinated ahead of time. Regardless of their planning, the situation was still difficult to navigate through.

“I assume that’s a no…”

Geoff looked down at his hand, Malady took one step back, Prezzo turned his head in confusion, while Scottie looked around aimlessly.

Shin stuck his hand in his pant pocket. He loosely gripped the Bloodshot Jewel. Fuyumi had one hand in her coat pocket and the other on the hilt of her dagger. Meanwhile, Nightingale put his hand on his waist.

Geoff looked at the surrounding crowds of NPCs and adventurers littering the plaza before sighing and peering into the false sky. His shoulders slumped down, breaking the tension.

“I guess this is where we part ways then. We have to go deeper in Urumel regardless of whether or not you three come along.”

He turned around to face his allies.

“Right?”

They nodded in approval.

“Let’s get going. We’ll be seeing you three around, right?”

Geoff stuck his hand out at Nightingale who firmly shook his hand. He then offered his hand to Shin who reluctantly shook his hand. Geoff then raised one eyebrow and nodded in acknowledgement to Fuyumi who furrowed her brows in response.

He raised his hand and signaled for his party to follow him as they walked past Shin, Fuyumi, and Nightingale toward the obelisk. Malady stared back at Shin as she passed him. She briefly paused, before turning around and running up to Shin’s party. The rest of her party stood in front of the door to the Urumel lobby, looking back at her.

She leaned in close and whispered in between the three of them.

“There’s… something wrong with Scottie.”

“Hm? What do you mean, something is wrong?” Shin replied.

“He hasn’t been acting the same since yesterday… like after we met at the guild hall.”

Shin bit his finger as he thought before responding.

“Did he do anything weird in particular?”

“It’s nothing really… he just… isn’t like how he normally is. The conversations and stuff between him and Prezzo aren’t the same as they were before.”

“You mean like their dynamic?”

“Kind of…”

Malady twirled a long strand of her blonde hair around her finger.

“He’s just a little more distant? Like his personality changed a little or something… I can’t really explain it.”

Shin turned to see his friends’ reactions, but they were just as puzzled as he was.

Fuyumi peered over at Malady’s party standing by the door with crossed arms.

“If anything happens, let us know. If you’re willing to, of course.”

Malady nodded her head before bowing her head as a goodbye before running back to her party.

Nightingale raised one eyebrow and put one hand on his waist.

“That was weird. You two didn’t notice anything weird either did you?”

“I didn’t think much of it, but he did seem a little out of it. Like he didn’t read the tense atmosphere from earlier.” Fuyumi responded.

“It’s also possible that she knows what happened between Geoff and Fuyumi and she’s just playing some mind tricks on us. That’s not something that we can just rule out. Afterall, they all seem pretty close.” Nightingale added, crossing his arms.

“I can’t help but feel like she’s not lying to us though. Malady doesn’t really fit in the group like the other three.“ Fuyumi said, sticking both of her hands in her coat pockets.

“Well, it didn’t seem like she was lying. That being said…”

Shin pointed at Geoff’s party.

“Looks like they’re going in without any issues.”

Geoff, Prezzo, and Scottie put their hands on the obelisk and disappeared in a quick shimmer of blue light. Malady hesitated for a brief moment before following along.

“We can go back there ourselves tomorrow. For now, let’s just hit up the guild hall.”

With those final words, Shin and his party left the plaza and began walking toward the guild hall that was just a street down. The separation from Geoff’s party ended as spontaneously as it started.