103 Turning Point 2

It was late at night as I went to answer our front door.

Hope and Laws had gone to bed, Zenith was helping Lilia clean up in the kitchen, and Paul was upstairs putting Norn and Aisha to bed. Sylphy and Eris were chatting together on the living room couch.

Ghislaine decided to visit with Philip and Hilda so that Eris could spend the night here before heading back to the Holy Land of Swords to continue their training. Everyone else had gone home.

I opened the door only to find an unfamiliar face. He was a young human man, in their early twenties if I had to guess, and an adventurer by the looks of it.

"Hello?"

"I'm sorry to bother you so late at night, but I have a letter for Rudeus Greyrat. I'm told he lives here. Is he available?"

"Yes, that would be me", I was somewhat surprised that he didn't recognize me. I've become somewhat of a celebrity in town. He's probably a rookie who's new in town.

I accepted the letter from him.

"Could you please sign", the adventurer asked as he handed me a small metallic card.

I placed my finger on a small magic circle in the center of the card and said "Task complete". Before handing the card back, however, I noticed something peculiar. The job was labeled as a special 'emergency delivery'.

"Please make sure to read the letter as soon as possible", the young man said. "I was told it was urgent." The courier / adventurer left as soon as I returned his metallic card to him.

At first I figured this was someone who Paul reached out to sending me their best wishes since they couldn't make it, but now I was getting a bit nervous. I quickly opened the letter while being careful not to damage its contents.

The letter was short and to the point. It read as follows:

____________________

Boss, Roxy is in danger. She's been trapped in a Labyrinth on the Begaritt Continent near the city of Rapan.

~Geese.

____________________

My mind could understand the written words but I refused to accept their meaning. I kept re-reading the letter each time more slowly than the last, as if maybe this time the meaning will change. Maybe I missed something...

"Rudy? Is everything alright?"

I could hear Sylphy's voice but it sounded muffled and far off.

"Who was that? Rudeus? Rudeus!"

The sudden jolt of Eris grabbing me by the shoulders and shouting my name brought me back to reality.

"What happened? Who was that?", she questioned me.

I didn't answer her. Rather, I dropped the letter and ran to my room upstairs. Quickly, I grabbed my traveling gear and ran back down heading straight for the teleportation circle in our basement.

By the time I got back downstairs, Sylphiette had finished reading the letter.

"Roxy...", she said in despair. "We need to go save her!"

"I know", I said in agreement. "I'm leaving right away!"

"I'm coming too!", Sylphy said with determination!

"Me too!", Eris agreed despite not quite understanding what was going on.

"No. I know of the dungeon she's trapped in. It's too dangerous."

"You don't have to do everything yourself, Rudy! Let me help you! I've been working hard all this time to grow strong too!"

"You don't understand... The boss of that dungeon has scales that make it completely resistant to magic."

"Wha-? Then what are you going to do!?"

"For one, I don't plan on fighting the boss. I'm just going there to save Roxy and that's it."

"Let's at least tell Paul and Zenith. It would help to have an experienced swordsman like him if you do run into something like that", Sylphy suggested.

The image of Paul's upper half laying dead on the floor flashed in my head.

"No! No, I can't wait... I need to leave now. Roxy's life is hanging in the balance!"

I said that in the moment because of my past trauma with Father, but that was actually true. I can't afford to waste a single second.

"I'm sorry Sylphy, I really am... but I need to do this. I can't let Roxy die..."

"What about you!", she pleaded as she began to cry. "How do you think your Mom and Dad will feel if anything happens to you? What about how *I* feel!"

"Rudy? Sylphy? Is everything alright?", Zenith called from the kitchen. I also heard footsteps coming from upstairs. It seems our shouting had alarmed the other members of the household.

I clasped Sylphy's hand between both of mine. Seeing her cry like this, tears began to well up in my eyes as well. She's right. I know how devastating it feels to lose those you love, but that's precisely why I have to go save Roxy.

"Sylphy, I will come back safe and sound. Nothing will happen to me. Wait for me here. I'll be back for your fifteenth birthday. I promise!"

"Rudy, wait!"

Sylphy reached out for me as I ran down to the basement. Her hand clasped nothing but air as I barricaded the door behind me with Earth Magic.

'Please forgive me Sylphiette... I need to do this alone. I can't bear losing any of you. Besides... as much as I hate to say it... I can get there faster alone. Companions would only slow me down."

As soon as I reached the teleportation circle, I modified the destination at breakneck speed while I heard voices calling out to me from upstairs. As soon as the modifications were ready, I threw my palm into the center of the magic circle and activated it.

My surroundings changed as I was transported into a stone ruin. The walls were a tan-brown color while sand lined the floor and piled up in the corners. There were stairs on the opposite side of the room leading upwards. As I walked towards them, I spun around ready to attack. Unexpectedly, I heard footsteps following behind me.

Eris nearly fell back in shock when I spun around and pointed my hand at her in an aggressive stance.

"Eris!? What are you doing here?"

"I don't care what you say, I'm coming with!", she insisted. "I'm not letting you fight some monster that's immune to magic by yourself!"

She must have snuck into the basement ahead of me while I was talking to Sylphiette... Normally I would have noticed her with my Magic Power Eye even if she was hiding behind something but my emotions were running wild and I was so preoccupied that I must have missed her.

Eris began to storm her way past me up the stairs without giving me a chance to argue.

"Eris, Stop!", I yelled as I chased up the stairs after her. "You don't even know where you're going!"

The frigid and dry night desert air hit me all at once as I reached the top of the stairs. The quick shift in temperature caused me to stammer momentarily. Eris, meanwhile, continued her rapid pace forward, not slowing for an instant.

I ran to catch up to her but she didn't even turn to look my way.

"This is crazy. You're going to wander aimlessly into a barren desert in the pitch black of night?"

"I'm going to find that dungeon with or without your help."

"Eris... be reasonable."

"No! I'm a grown adult! You have no right to tell me what to do! If I want to wander into the desert, that's my own business!"

"Ugh..", I sighed.

There's no reasoning with Eris when she makes up her mind like this. The only way to stop her now would be to knock her unconscious and drag her back to Sharia myself. Recalling all the times she beat me down in my troubled past I feel like that might not be as easy as it sounds... Not to mention she'd probably never forgive me for it.

"Fine!", I yelled in frustration. "If you're going to insist then you can come with. Just make sure you keep up. Roxy is in danger and every second matters!"

Eris' mood shifted instantaneously as an excited grin appeared on her face.

"Who do you think you're talking to! It's you who better keep up with me!"

She broke out into an all-out run. I summoned my magic armor otherwise I really wouldn't have been able to keep up.

"Eris! Wait! That's not even the right way!"