Episode 4: To Start Over (2)

"...ugh."

On the second floor of Cerulean Cafe, a blonde-haired man could be spotted sitting by the window seat in the corner of the room, seemingly impatient.

"Dammit Lisa... When are you coming?" Tapping his finger continuously on the coffee table, the vibration from his taps slightly shook the cup, creating small rippling waves in the coffee. "You called me over here just to not show up yourself?"

Turning his head over towards his phone, he checked the time, noting that it was [ 2:31 PM ].

"She's already 31 minutes late..." He grumbled, soon entering Lisa's chatroom and sending in a spam of texts towards her. However, even after [100+] messages, Lisa didn't respond. "Tch... This witch... Why won't you just respond?! God. I could be doing much better things than having to wait for you!"

Having to wait for so long in a deserted area with absolutely no people in sight, the man was at the end of his patience. After a few more minutes, he finally stood up, angrily making his way over towards the staircase.

"...that's it! I can't wait for this witch any longer!" Ruffling his hair in frustration, he took a step forward down the stairs. However, right at that moment, his eyes were greeted by the sight of two people climbing up the stairs. "Just you wait, Lisa! You won't hear the end of... Huh...???"

"Alright. Master Landon should be upstairs waiting for you." In his line of sight, he saw that a waiter was escorting a black-haired man behind him. "I'll bring you a cup of coffee in a bit."

"...do you have tea?" The young man asked. "Otherwise, it's fine. I don't need any drink."

"Oh, you want tea?" The waiter nodded his head. "I'll prepare tea for you then."

"...Lazy Eyes???" As the two men were conversing with one another, the blonde-haired man cried out. "Why are you here...? Huh?!"

"...oh, Master Landon!" Upon noticing the man, the waiter bowed. "Your guest is here. I'll be taking my leave now." After gesturing towards Jace, he turned around, soon making his way down the stairs the next moment.

"...why do you look so shocked?" Seeing that the waiter had left, Jace turned his head towards Landon, slightly confused.

"Huh? Why do I look so shocked??" Landon raised his brow. "I don't know! Maybe it's because I'm seeing you in a place where no one ever comes to???"

"Well, your friend did invite me," Jace lazily replied. "So I ended up coming here out of boredom. Though, is there really a meeting here? This place looks pretty deserted to me."

"...friend? Huh?? Who invited you?!" he questioned.

"Lira, I think." The young man thought to himself, having seemingly forgotten her name. "Or was it, Linda? Uh... It's something Li, I think."

"...Lisa?" Landon blinked.

"Ah, her."

"...SHE INVITED YOU?!" At Jace's confirmation, Landon took a step back in shock. "Hey, hey, hey! I need an explanation here!"

"...explanation of what? The invitation?" he asked.

"Well, everything! Explain from the start!" Landon shouted out, soon pulling Jace from the stairs into the second floor of the cafe.

...

"...so you're telling me, you just 'coincidentally' stumbled upon her?" After dragging Jace over towards his window seat, Landon began barraging a bunch of questions over towards him, wanting an explanation of his encounter with Lisa. "And you came here just like that?!"

"Well, I guess if you put it that way, then yes," Jace shrugged. "I had nothing better to do anyway. So, I might as well see what this is all about. Though... Is it just you? I was kind of expecting a few more people."

Since entering Cerulean Cafe, Jace was greeted by the sight of a few workers who were overjoyed at the appearance of a customer. However, after telling them the reason why he came to the cafe, disappointment loomed in the air as they helplessly took Jace to where Landon was.

"Well, I was expecting to have a talk with Lisa," Landon sighed. "But who would've thought that the very person who asked me to come here, isn't even responding to my texts?! Bleh! Did she even tell you the reason why she invited you?"

"She did say it would be a small meeting," Jace responded. "But, it looks like to me, it's more of a meet-up than anything else. I expected you, but I was also expecting other people."

"Well, that witch just told me to come alone!" he grumbled. "So the only one here is me, well, if you count Toriq and the others, then them too! But whatever! Since you're here, I can finally ask that question. Where did you go yesterday?!"

"I went home." The young man blankly stared at Landon.

"Hah?! You went home just like that?!" he frowned. "Hey! We were about to go out and celebrate, you know! You should've stayed, the dinner was my treat!"

"There was no reason to stay," he calmly replied. "I just wanted to get the license and sleep."

"Ugh... What rank did you get anyway?" Landon glared at him.

"F-rank," Jace answered without hesitance.

"No way."

"I got F."

"NO WAY!"

"...I got S-rank," Jace helplessly sighed.

"Hey, don't lie!" Landon cried out.

"What else do you want me to say? C-ranked?" he scratched his head.

"...you really got F-rank?" The blonde-haired man stared at Jace in disbelief. "How badly did you do on your exams to get an F-rank?!"

"What do you think?" Jace lifelessly said.

"Tch... At least E-rank or something, I don't know!" he scoffed. "You didn't do much during the matches!"

"I got the license and that's all that matters."

Although Jace had aced his written exam and gotten a decent evaluation during the physical test, when it came time for the practical, everything went awry. His low rank stemmed from his lack of showcase for skill or ability. In the end, he was ranked F, the lowest rank in the world of dungeons.

"That's all that matters for you?!" Landon frowned. "Hey, we're talking about rank here! Do you not care what others perceive you as?"

In the hunter's community, as F-rank was considered the weakest of the weakest among hunters, they were typically looked down upon. In terms of comparison, they were pretty much like civilians but with powers. There wasn't much distinction.

"Hmm... I don't care about that," Jace shrugged. "As long as I can dungeon, that's all that really matters in the end."

"Jee..." Shaking his head helplessly at his attitude, Landon took a deep breath as he stared deep into Jace's eyes. "Well, whatever. I know of your fighting prowess with that gun of yours, so, I'm going to say this once! You're invited to join my guild!"

"...your guild?" he tilted his head in question.

"Yeah! Don't you remember what I said back then? I'll be creating a guild!" Landon rubbed his nose proudly. "How does 'Lion Fang' sound?"

"Boring," Jace bluntly stated.

"Hah?! Boring?! No way! It got a positive response from everyone!"

"It's boring. I don't know what else to tell you..." Jace helplessly shook his head.

"Tch... Do I have to rethink the name?" he muttered out. "Ugh... I'll think of that later! Other than that, you need to join a dungeon party, don't you? Well, you're in luck! I'm going to enter one tomorrow. So join me and my guys!"

"Going into a dungeon so soon?" he raised his brow in doubt. "What gate is it?"

"Well, I was thinking of Serpent's Cove or Valley of Whispers!" Landon excitedly proclaimed.

"...say, what rank are you?" Jace blinked.

"...B," he coughed in reply.

"And you're going into an A-ranked gate?" Jace was speechless at Landon. "And you have the audacity to drag an F-ranker like me? Are you crazy?"

Serpent's Cove and Valley of Whispers were two infamous dungeons known in Aurelis. The mortality rate of hunters was high, as such, only a handful of parties would take on the dungeon. Even then, parties would typically include A-rankers and above, as it was that difficult.

In addition to that, even after clearing the dungeons, they would keep persistently appearing over and over in different places, causing an endless cycle of dungeon clearing. This was the case for many other gates as well.

"Okay, okay! I was joking!" he sighed. "It's going to be a standard forest-environment dungeon. F-rank! I'm not crazy enough to go into an A-ranked gate so soon!"

"Yeah, right," Jace rolled his eyes. "But... The offer does sound interesting. I mean, for the gate part at least. As for the guild's invitation, I will kindly refuse your offer."

Much like he did in the past, Jace was not looking to join any guilds, even now as a Synergist. After all, they were a hassle for him, with constant guild obligations and representation. All he wanted to do was clear dungeons. As such, just like how he handled it as "Ace", jumping from one team to another seemed the best for him.

"Huh?! You're refusing to join the guild?!" Landon's eyes opened wide in shock at Jace's response.

"I'm not interested," he replied. "Is it mandatory for me to be in the guild if I want to join your dungeon run? If so, I'll have to decline that as well."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Landon pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, no, no! You're going about this wrong here! You're refusing to join the guild? Why!?"

"...I told you, I'm not interested," Jace sighed.

"..." he blinked, not knowing what to say. "Sigh. As long as you come and join our party, then that's good, I guess. But mark my words! You'll regret declining my invitation to join the guild!"

"...yeah sure," he shrugged. "I'm just here for the dungeon."

"Well, whatever you say!" Scoffing at his words, Landon soon stood up from his seat, shoving his phone in front of Jace the next moment. "Give me your contact info. I'll text you the details of the dungeon!"

"Can't you give it to me now?" Jace blinked. "Giving my number is..." He felt that it was troublesome. After all, he didn't want another person to spam him with a bunch of text messages.

"What, you don't have a number?" he tilted his head. "How do you contact anyone then?! Nightcord? If so, then give me your hashtag! I'll also invite you over to my server."

"I have a number, it's just that..." As Jace was about to explain himself, he was interrupted.

"If you do, then there's no problem!" Landon nodded his head. "Come on, give it!"

"..." Seemingly helpless at the situation, the young man sighed, soon typing his number into Landon's phone the next moment. "There. Just give me a text, I don't like calls."

"Great!" Delighted at Jace's compliance, he cheered. "Now that that's over with, let's talk about other things! Do you play games? What's your favourite food? I'll treat you to lunch here! We didn't celebrate yesterday, so we have to today!"

"No, it's fine," he calmly rejected his proposal. "If we're done here, I'll be taking my leave."

"Huh? Hey! Who says you can go?!" Landon cried out, noticing that Jace was about to leave the premises. "Hey! At least get takeout?? The food here is great! Just let me treat you to something!"

"No need," Jace waved goodbye to the blonde-haired man. "I'm going home now."

"Hey, Lazy Eyes!" he shouted out. "Jace!"

And just like that, Jace left the cafe, leaving Landon behind with a helpless expression.