Chapter 2 Part 4 - Those left behind

Vandia kingdom, the Dungeon City of Messia…

In one corner of Bondrik's Tavern two men were conversing with each other in hushed tones while watching over the other patrons of the tavern. One of them was nursing a mug of ale, he was a member of the [3*] adventurer party Blood Oath named Lando, Lando was a were cat with black fur and was Jachi's childhood friend. Next to him was another member of his party Tanus, Tanus was an elf with short golden hair, he wasn't a childhood friend of either Jachi or Lando but he had been a member of the party for the past 3 years, at this moment the two of them were discussing a hot topic that had shaken the citizens of Messia.

When Ludger was pronounced dead by the Guildmaster Migo, the Earl in charge of the city, Earl Gendry, announced that everyone in the city should mourn for a whole day. Ludger never thought that many people liked him or thought that well of him but the Earl was grateful to Ludger for how he kept the area surrounding Messia safe and for attributing to the adventurers growth.

When the citizens of Messia heard the news it was as if the atmosphere of the city changed overnight. Many of the young children looked up to him and almost all of the younger adventurers were helped by him or were taught by him, and in a single week the Dungeon city of Messia had lost most of the vigor that is associated with a metropolis filled with adventurers and entrepreneurs.

Arguably the ones who took it the hardest was the guild receptionist Mina who had a crush on Ludger for the past 4 years but she could never tell him due to her shyness, and the leader of the [3*] party Blood Oath, Jachi. When Jachi had found out he broke nearly all the tables in the adventurer guild and ended up getting into some fights with people who were jealous of Ludger's special treatment.

Ever since then he had entered the dungeon every day with the Guildmaster and took out his anger on the monsters until they reached the 28th floor only stopping when his equipment had completely corroded due to the Metal Eaters and he exhausted himself using only his fists.

"You know I feel bad for Mina she never got to tell Ludger how she felt, I am sure that she is still crying by his grave even now."

"Tanus should we ask Shuna to drag her away if she doesn't leave by tonight? I'm worried that if she is left alone she will rot away there."

"Don't worry I already talked to her and she said that Shuna and the rest of the guild girls will take turns watching over Mina for the next few days I'm sure that they won't let her stay there overnight."

After hearing this Lando could only sigh, he knew that everyone at the guild was on good terms with Mina so they definitely wouldn't leave her to be consumed by her grief forever but he still couldn't help but worry about her after all she was basically their party's big sister. To him and Jachi especially, they felt that they owed her a lot since when they had just started out she helped them with most of their guild procedures and recommendations for decent jobs.

Both of them became lost in their thoughts as they sat idle at the small wooden table; Lando reminiscing of when he and Jachi first became adventurers and their brief tutelage under Ludger, while Tanus was worried about Jachi being reckless and getting himself and the Guildmaster harmed in the dungeon, he felt it was about time to get the party together again.

Eventually Tanus spoke, "Tonight when Jachi gets back we should go drinking that way he won't be able to go into the dungeon with a hangover, and we should probably stay at a brothel tonight so he can exhaust himself."

Lando looked at him quizzically and said, "I thought you elves weren't the type to visit those kinds of places with how serious your marriage customs are I'm surprised you even know what they do there?"

After hearing this Tanus smirked and gave Lando a knowing look, "Well it'd be hard for me not to know when you go there just about every other night, what is that girl's name? Cara? Clara?"

Lando's tail stood straight up and his face flushed slightly since he didn't want his friends to know that he was dating a prostitute.

"What the hell?! Who told you about her?!"

"No one did you talk loud and elves have good hearing; honestly I wouldn't be surprised if the whole guild knew already with how much you blab when you're drunk."

Lando grabbed Tanus who had started to pick the remaining food off of his plate and marched out of Bondrik's Tavern after tossing a few coins on the table to pay their tab, the pair were headed off towards the guild to pick up Jachi who should return from the dungeon with the Guildmaster in an hour or so.

Lando swore in his mind that after today he would never drink booze again.

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Castra Dungeon 26th floor.

A calm and gentle voice could be heard amidst the sounds of heavy breathing, harsh grunts and metal clashing against metal.

"Jachi you should slow down a bit you are beginning to neglect your surroundings."

Migo let out a sigh, he had been able to cover for most of the mistakes Jachi made so far but the lower floors would be difficult if he had to protect Jachi and fight off monsters as strong as the ogres.

However Jachi hardly acknowledged Migo's words or at least pretended not too, not because he was currently in battle with 2 Hobgoblins but because he could still feel his throat was as dry as a desert and his hot tears overflowed mixing with the beads of sweat rolling down his face and he knew that once he stopped fighting and moving his body he wouldn't be able to suppress his grief anymore.

This was because the man that was both a father figure and an older brother to him had died, though it was several days ago Jachi had many memories of Ludger and every time he would remember one it would cause him to be swept up in another wave of sorrow and rage.

In his current state he couldn't face his friends or the people of the adventurer's guild so he was thankful that the Guildmaster came with him to the dungeon every day but even having the Guildmaster see himself in this state was humiliating enough for Jachi to want to die of shame but with how he was now he just couldn't refuse him tagging along.

What he didn't know was that Migo being in the dungeon was also a way for him to grieve since he didn't have to put on an act for anyone and pretend that he was perfectly fine, Migo had lost a lot of people that were close to him to the point where he can count his living friends on one hand.

Way before even his adoptive father died Migo was close to death and the faces of the people he used to laugh and live with gradually began to haunt his dreams, just about every day he wonders when is the last time he will have to bury another bright, young person in the ground.

However Migo couldn't share this with anyone, at least not to anyone but his wife, Shuna, so the opportunity to accompany Jachi in the dungeon while he is blowing off some steam is helpful since he has plenty of time to wallow in his sad memories that usually occupy the back of his mind.

The sound of fighting was getting duller as yet another memory entered Jachi's head and he was soon taken back to a time in his past where he had just been kicked out of the knight academy and started being an adventurer, a time when he only had his friend Lando by his side.

Three years ago on the 3rd night of the expedition Ludger and Jachi were sitting around a campfire talking about that morning while keeping watch, Jachi of course was only 14 at the time and had just been kicked out of the knight academy not because he was an orphan from the slums but because he had gotten into a fight with a noble's third son after his friend Lando was called a racial slur.

After said incident Jachi and Lando had gotten expelled, they could be considered lucky that they weren't executed instead. Thus with no more money and no home they decided to join the guild, when they did though they failed the initial exam and were forced to go on a expedition into the Beginner Woods with a senior adventurer for a week.

That is how they found themselves partied with Ludger and two other fledgling adventurers camping out on the outskirts of the Beginner Woods. Jachi had been acting recklessly, charging in and almost getting surrounded only to be bailed out by Ludger with or without realizing it, so Ludger decided to teach him a lesson since he would end up dying if left as is.

"Listen kid, the way things are now I will have to fail you and you will have to wait until the next roster fills up before trying again."

Jachi turned his gaze from the fire and looked at the Instructor, who was roasting a small bird, in the eyes before he clenched his fists and spoke.

"… are you saying that I'm not good enough, that I can't make it as an adventurer either?"

Seeing the kid's reaction Ludger shook his head and sighed, thinking that this kid was a little troublesome to deal with. It was common for people who couldn't cut it in the job they wanted such as blacksmith or merchant would try to become an adventurer at least until they saved up enough money to try again at something else, Ludger figured that whatever happened to this kid must have set him back far enough to where he started to doubt himself.

"No, the fact that you took out a Silk Worm by yourself proves you have potential I'm just saying that if you stay like you are now you'll end up getting yourself and everyone around you killed. When you are in a party you don't only have to think about what's in front of you, you also have to take into account the rest of the members of your party and everything in your surroundings. However if you act like you did today you end up putting everyone else in danger because you're the vanguard; think about it this way if Messia didn't have it's walls then any monster that was wandering about could attack the people of the city right? Well in a party a vanguard is also a wall for their team not a spear that is thrown into the enemy, there is a lot more to it than that but for now I will just teach you three things you need to work on if you want me to pass you."

Jachi trembled slightly as he heard these words; this Instructor had only spoke to them at the training grounds before they left and hadn't said a word since. Also there was something that whispered in his heart that told him that this person had genuine good intentions towards him, which was strange for him since he was accustomed to mockery, disdain and disgust when other people talked to him.

"First you need to assess your surroundings before a fight, charging in like you did is way too reckless for example what if you were ambushed and surrounded the moment you reached the side of the Silk Worm or worse what if the monsters wanted to bait you out to attack the people behind you do you think that little archer girl can fight one of those worms when it's right in her face and she can't use her bow?"

"Second you have to learn how to properly dodge and deflect attacks, most of the time you won't be able to kill a monster in a single blow and you will have to exchange a few with them instead; but what if the monster has a poisoned appendage or acidic venom and all it needs to take you out is a single solid blow, monsters have many ways to attack too, traps and magic aren't just limited to humanoids."

"Lastly you need to understand that in a party everyone has a role or a job and as a vanguard it's your job to protect the others around you and to make sure that everyone is of the same mind before acting, the things like planning and leading usually goes to vanguards, though if the others think you aren't good enough they will either ignore you or replace you."

Jachi stood there looking down at his feet trying to remember everything that was just said but after awhile he began to open and close his mouth repeatedly as if choking on the words that he wanted to say.

"Thank you for teaching me Instructor but…"

Ludger nodded in approval it wasn't the first time he had 'corrected' some of these young fledglings but he thought that this one really showed a lot of promise and maybe there would be one of those legendary [8*] existences in Messia in the future.

When he was thinking as such Jachi resolved himself and asked, even though he knew that asking this he could anger the Instructor and cause himself to fail or worse.

"I heard from one of the receptionists that you always adventure alone so does that mean that you're good enough to fill all the roles in a party by yourself and can't other people also do what you do?"

Ludger was shocked on the inside it seems that Mina was gossiping about him again and to the fledglings no less! Ludger was able to avoid his facial expression changing so he avoided eye contact with the kid and spoke as he stared into the darkness of the forest.

"Well most people that adventure solo are remnants or don't go in the dungeon or on subjugations."

"What do you mean by remnants and you said 'most' people does that mean you aren't one of them?"

Seeing that the Instructor wasn't angry at him Jachi got bolder and was determined to answer all of his doubts.

"Remnants are people who survived there entire party being annihilated and usually don't want to or can't work with other people again either due to grief, dumb superstitions that they will bring bad luck or even the suspicion of foul play."

"You're right though I am different from most people I have always been a solo adventurer but if you plan on trying to one as well I will fail you right now and make sure you don't have the chance to be one again."

Jachi panicked as he received the fierce glare from the Instructor and hurriedly waved his hands.

"That wasn't what I meant I was just wondering why you adventure solo if you think that being in a party is better for people."

Ludger smirked in his mind thinking that this kid that was originally quite solemn and gloomy was actually rather cute when he acted like a kid; but Ludger's reason for solo adventuring was mainly because he didn't want to seek glory from subjugating deadly monsters or delve the great dungeon for wealth and to be honest the thought of losing another person he was close to kind of scared him so he had always stayed away from other adventurers and never made a party.

The more he thought about it though he thought that maybe he should challenge the kid a bit and give him some motivation so he said.

"Well if one day you can become stronger than me I don't mind telling you why I adventure solo, though if you take too long I might forget."

Saying so Ludger laughed before he showed a dazzling smile and started to pat the kid's head.

Jachi felt strange at the warm and gentle hand that caressed his head and for a second stood dazed before he realized the daunting conditions he was given.

"Even making it to [3*] will take me 2 years since I have to be at least 16 to enter the dungeon!"

"Yeah but it's not an impossible thing. I think you'll do great kid, just focus on how you can improve a little bit every day instead of trying to change overnight, a kingdom wasn't built in a day."

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Jachi stood over the two corpses of the Hobgoblins and didn't move, he wasn't moving because his vision had blurred from the tears that had welled up in his eyes, they had begun to fall and he didn't want the Guildmaster to see him crying but he couldn't move forward since walking in the dungeon without being able to see was too dangerous so he just stood still, trying to control his shaky breathing."

While he was standing there his arms began to tremble slightly as his fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly.

Migo already knew what was happening since this was the third time today so he didn't say anything or make any sounds since if he did he would be able to hear the own wavering in his voice, he just sat there quietly making sure to keep watch on their surroundings.

After a few minutes Jachi shook the blood from his blade, sheathed it and then pretended to fix the collar of his breastplate and subtly wiped the tears from his eyes, he coughed twice and then turned around to face the Guildmaster.

"Let's head back."

"Sure."

And thus the two who had mourned for the man named Ludger Folles took out a [Warp Crystal] transported back to the dungeon entrance and headed back to Messia's Adventurer guild.