Chapter 26

"That will be 500 gold pieces, ma'am." The NPC marketer handed me the central stones as I handed him the gold pieces.

"Thank you."

Going into my character function, I found an area where I am was able to import the central stones. The number of central stones I can level up my armor with before the limit was 100.

"Hope this works."

After enhancing my armor with the central stones, I was able to do a limit break. However, the one thing I forgot about was the diamond.

"Wait...where do you get diamonds?"

"（≧ｙ≦＊）I can't believe that was the one thing you forgot about! You were too focused on the support stones weren't you?"

"Shut up. Tell me where you find them."

"Geez. （￣ε￣）You don't have to demand it. Though, You remember when that Syrus girl was talking about chrysoprase stone?"

"Oh, is that where you find the diamonds?"

"Sort of. （￣s￣;They are in the same cave, yes, but in different sections of the cave. You'd probably have to split up again. ｡:ﾟﾟ(´∀｀)･｡But you wouldn't want to do that again, would you now?"

He is referencing to that time with Yumi, isn't he? What happened with Yumi hurt. I don't want that to happen again to any of my friends. If it is the last thing I could do, I will help my friends.

"We will not split up this time. I'm going to make sure we will stick together. None of us will die."

"Wow. Such a great leader. (ฅ`ω´ฅ) Always wanting to protect his subordinates, but fails to do so."

"They are not my subordinates!" I yelled out and hit my fist against the wall next to me. "They are my friends, and I will do whatever I can to let them survive this hell of a game!"

"O.O Wow. Look at you. You're all talk. Why did you say, 'I will do whatever I cam,' instead of, 'I will make them survive?' You aren't sure that you can save them, huh? O-O No confidence at all..."

"Haruta!" I heard Dana call out my name. "We are ready to head to the cave. Ready to go?"

My heart began to drop. I know I can save them, and I will. I will never let my friends die again.

"Haruta?" Dana grabbed my shoulder.

I couldn't stop shaking. I was frustrated. "Yeah, let's go, Dana."

The developer was wrong. My friends will survive. They all will see their families again.

"I heard that the chrysoprase is in the caves. I think if we split up, we should be able to find them easi-"

"No!" I interrupted Syrus. "We can't separate. We need to stay together. As the guild leader, I order that."

I began to walk towards the entrance of the cave.

"What's wrong with her?" I heard Syrus whisper to Dana.

"A friend of theirs died when we took our separate ways in the icy cave. I was the one that thought of the idea. And, Haruta's friend died when Haruta tried to save her. It seemed to have scared her."

"Oh." Syrus then ran up to me and grabbed my shoulder. "Let's go in as a team."

"Thanks, Syrus." I forced a smile. I didn't know what else to do. At least this way, with having everyone by my side, we can all save each other. No man alone. We all can survive...

No. We all will survive.