The Adventurers Guild

by Phoenix Grey

"The first time you do it, it's going to suck. You're going to get sick. You might even throw up. And that's fine. Trust me when I say it gets easier over time."

  "But those people clearly don't deserve to be slain." Azure tossed his head in the direction of the door. "They're just trying to protect whatever is inside from falling into the wrong hands."

  "People die for pointless causes every day. If it's not us, someone else will come kill them. Someone much worse. They knew the consequences of their actions when they entered the dungeon. You knew what you had signed up for as well." His jaw tightened as he bore down on Azure with an intense gaze.

  Lonnell gently touched Azure's shoulder. “He's not wrong. You should have known things would eventually come to this.”

  Azure pulled away from him. “Killing someone who is clearly evil is different from killing someone who is just trying to do what they think is right.”

  "Who are you to judge what's right and what's wrong?" Sir Thornton gave him an incredulous look. "Every villain thinks they're right. By standing in our way, these people are denying a race that didn't deserve to go extinct a chance to live again. We are not the enemy they think we are. How can our cause be any less just than theirs?"

  Azure sucked in a breath. Smoke filled his lungs, and he coughed a few times. His gaze drifted back over to the blazing inferno they had created to push back The Children of Dyasitet. “This is not how I thought my first bounty quest would go,” he muttered.

  "We are committed to this, Azure," Lonnell told him. "I'm sure this won't be the last time we do something that you consider questionable. If you don't have the stomach for it, then you shouldn't be an Adventurer."

  "Well said." Sir Thornton nodded in agreement.

  Azure couldn't believe what he was hearing. If anything, he had thought that at least Lonnell would have taken his side. Righteous Lonnell, the guy who had always seemed so morally courageous to Azure. Had coming to the mainland really changed him so much? Was desperation and greed getting the best of him? Surely, he understood what this would do to both of them.

  "You need to decide now," Sir Thornton began, stealing his attention once more, "whether you are going to continue on with us or go back. This last situation was all right because our enemies were not hostile, but that might not be the same for the next floor and the one after that. Hesitating could very easily get you killed against an enemy that has no regard for human life. Even worse, it could get one of us killed.

  "I'm not dumb enough to rely on you, but he might be," Sir Thornton glanced at Lonnell. "When the time comes, will you be able to make that split decision to take someone else's life instead of allowing them to kill your friend? If you don't know the answer to that, then you need to leave."

  Azure hesitated. “I need some time to think.”

  He looked at the fire, which was barely showing signs of dying, then he looked toward the mouth of the cave where cool air was streaming in to soothe the heat. Out there was freedom. Out there, he didn't have to worry about killing people―didn't have to worry about what that would do to him. Did he?

  It's just a game, he told himself. But that phrase had stopped having meaning a long time ago. It wasn't just a game. He hadn't woken up in his warm bed in his small apartment. Every morning, it was the same"hard floor or uncomfortable mattress. If anything, this was his afterlife. And it felt as real as anything he had ever experienced before.

  No, this wasn't a game. If they killed The Children of Dyasitet, they wouldn't come back. In his old world, it used to be commonplace for religious people to die for a pointless cause. This was no different. He just hated the idea of being the one who delivered that death.

  A peaceful resolution was no longer a possibility. If there hadn't been a door on the other side of the tunnel, Lonnell would have suffocated them to death with the smoke. They would undoubtedly attack next time, and he couldn't blame them.

  "Fuck," he whispered, still undecided.

  It would be easy enough to cancel the quest and resolve to just taking monster, gathering, and miscellaneous quests from now on. Just because Azure didn't have the stomach for killing people didn't mean that he couldn't still be an Adventurer. And if he didn't want to be an Adventurer at all, he could always resolve to spend his time fishing and foraging. The past week had proven that he could make enough money to pay his bills that way.

  Azure glanced over at Lonnell, who was looking at him expectantly. As if to nudge him into a decision, Lonnell said, “I don't want to do this without you. I have a feeling we'll need your bowmanship to get through this.”

  "We will," Sir Thornton agreed grudgingly. "Most, if not all, of what we encounter in here will be magic casters. That's why Lord Blakemore wanted to send me with a party. I'm not an archer, and I don't know any magic."

  "I wish I could offer you more loot, but we both need money," Lonnell continued to try to convince him. "But if you go through with this, I'll let you pick from the loot we receive first. Anything you want, I won't argue."

  Azure wasn't even sure why he had thought it would be that way before. Maybe it was because he had wanted the Stamina potion and bag so badly. He hadn't even considered that splitting the loot would require negotiation.

  "This isn't about the loot," he told Lonnell. "Have you ever seen what killing someone does to a person?"

  Sir Thornton laughed. “I'm not sure where you're from, but you're living in the wrong place if you're worried about having to kill someone. Few people in Squall's End haven't matched blades with another human, and someone is always on the losing end. Honestly, you're better off getting a taste for blood now. That way, you'll be better able to defend yourself when someone tries to rob you or stab you in the back.”

  "You robbed me," Azure reminded him dryly.

  "And you were too weak to stop me," Sir Thornton countered with a wicked smirk.

  He didn't want to argue. They could go back and forth all day about how strength could be gained. But this wasn't the time. Besides, both men were beginning to look annoyed by Azure's continued hesitation. He needed to make a decision. Now.

  Azure closed his eyes and searched his heart for what he thought was right. From what he'd seen of The Realm so far, Sir Thornton probably wasn't lying to him. There would eventually come a time when he would have to take a human life. The thought sickened him, but it seemed like an inevitable reality. And honestly, when was the next time he'd get a chance to get a Medium Bag for free? It wasn't really worth a human life, but still, if he was going to have to kill eventually anyway...

  "So, what's it going to be?" Sir Thornton asked.

  Azure sighed. “Let's get on with it.” He nodded toward the fire.

  "Excellent," The Asshole Knight said, though he didn't smile.

  The blaze was still burning bright, though the flames had died down somewhat. They still wouldn't be able to cross, but Azure imagined that it would only take about five more minutes for the fire to succumb to its inevitable demise.

  "Should we wait for them to try to come back out?" Lonnell asked. "They're low-level, so I doubt they'll venture further onto the next floor. We'll have the advantage if we wait for them."

  "And they'll have the advantage if they wait for us," Sir Thornton pointed out. "Whoever opens the door will be at a disadvantage. They know that a swift death awaits them if they come out. They won't be able to cast their magic before I'm able to strike down whoever opens the door."

  "I'm not so sure about that," Azure argued. "If they opened the door quickly enough, that woman could probably make that ice blade thing again."

  "It's called Ice Strike," Sir Thornton informed him, "and I highly doubt they would be able to coordinate effectively enough to pull a move like that. Ice Strike is a volatile spell. The ice builds as the caster pours Mana into it. They have to release that Mana before it gets out of control or the spell will pretty much explode and cause backlash. As soon as they open the door, she would have to strike. The odds of her being able to concent
rate enough to actually hit something are also pretty low because she'd be focusing so much on controlling her Mana.

  "If they're smart, they'd stay back from the door and wait for us to come to them. More than likely, they'd cast Grease on the floor in front of the door so that as soon as we entered, we'd be slowed. That would give them even more of an advantage. I know they don't seem particularly hostile, but believe me when I say they will do their best to kill us now that we've shown our intent."

  Azure couldn't disagree, nor could he blame The Children of Dyasitet for their newfound hostility. “So what do we do then?”

  "I say we wait by the door and give it an hour. Hopefully, one of them is dumb enough to peek out and check on the fire. I could strike down that person, and then we could flood in and take them unaware."

  "Then we wait," Lonnell said.

  It wasn't much longer before the fire was out, and they proceeded toward the door, choking on the lingering smoke. Thankfully, most of it was being sucked toward the mouth of the dungeon. When they got to the door, Sir Thornton stood next to it with his sword in front of him. Azure imagined that he would make a stabbing motion at whoever opened it.

  Not sure what he was supposed to do, Azure leaned against the wall next to Lonnell, the three men now in a row, ready to charge the door as soon as it opened. The wall of the dungeon crumbled slightly as Azure pressed his back against it, clumps of cool dirt falling onto his armor. It was a blessed sensation after the heat they'd all endured. Now, all they had to do was wait.

  CHAPTER TEN

  THE REALM – Day 54

  An hour passed without any sign of movement from the other side of the door, not that Azure was sure they'd be able to hear anything anyway. Without asking questions or even so much as speaking, they waited until Sir Thornton was ready to proceed.

  "I suppose we'll have to do this the hard way," he said with a sigh. "Azure, draw your bow. Once we get inside, start shooting. And for the love of the Gods, man, don't hesitate." Sir Thornton sounded like he fully expected Azure to fuck this up. It reminded Azure of how Uden had treated him in the beginning. Except Sir Thornton was much less pleasant to be around, in general.

  Azure readied his bow, drawing an arrow from his quiver in preparation to nock it.

  "On the count of three," Sir Thornton said to them in a whisper. His lips formed the numbers, but no sound came out.

  When he got to one, he opened the door and thrust his body inside. Lonnell and Azure followed behind, surprised when they didn't encounter anyone. All that awaited them was a small platform leading to a set of stairs going down.

  Sir Thornton paused, his sword held in front of him. “Shit,” he cursed under his breath. “They're probably at the bottom waiting for us. And now we've made a racket to let them know we're here.” He was clearly disappointed in himself and feeling outsmarted. “Let's go.” The Asshole Knight shook his head but began descending the stairs nonetheless.

  Azure held his breath as he followed Sir Thornton down. The scene at the bottom of the stairs was completely unexpected. Four white-robed bodies littered the floor, each in their own puddle of blood. Three were a fair ways down the hallway, while the fourth was much closer to them.

  "It looks like this one was running away." Sir Thornton nudged the body with his foot. Then he knelt to examine her wounds.

  Azure noticed that, much like the demon dungeon, the scenery had changed. It appeared that they were in a man-made structure now. The walls were gray stone, the ceiling a good ten-feet high. Large diagonally set square tiles comprised the floor. They were smooth and nonporous, which made the dark crimson blood puddles all the more recognizable.

  "What manner of beast did this?" Lonnell asked as he stared at the body that Sir Thornton was examining. It looked like the woman had been stabbed in the back. The cuts were clean and deep.

  "I doubt these were from a beast," Sir Thornton said what Azure had already guessed. "These are dagger wounds. I'm sure we'll find out who made them soon enough." He began taking off the woman's robe.

  "What are you doing?" Azure asked.

  The Asshole Knight stopped for a moment to look up at him. “I'm looting the body. If you think knights get paid well, you're wrong. You guys can have the other three.”

  Lonnell immediately began walking further down the hall to get to the other bodies. After a few steps, he paused to turn back to Azure. “Come on. Their stuff is no good to them now that they're dead.”

  Azure supposed that he was right, but that didn't make him feel any less uncomfortable about it. Seeing as how Lonnell had done more work up to this point, Azure settled for just looting one of the bodies. He knelt beside the guy who had told them that they were unworthy of the staff. First, he rummaged through his pockets and was rewarded with two copper in one and a book in the other. Not a great haul, Azure thought as he looked the book over.

  You have received the following item:

  Book: Scriptures of Dyasitet

  Quantity: 1

  Durability: 1/1

  Item Class: Common

  Quality: Average

  Weight: 0.4 kg

  Uses: A history of the God Dysitet.

  "Is this worth anything?" Azure asked Lonnell. He really didn't have any interest in reading about the Gods.

  "Not much," Lonnell confessed. "While it's not a very common book around here, they still don't sell for much."

  "Do you want it? I'll trade you something." He tried his best to appeal to his friend's love of reading.

  Lonnell smirked. “I've already read it. Sell it at the market for a copper. Every little bit helps.” His head fell again as he continued to loot the corpse in front of him.

  Azure frowned as he stuck the book in his bag. It felt like it would just take up space. Still, he couldn't force himself to leave it behind.

  Undressing the body brought up two new item notifications.

  You have received the following items:

  Life Monk's Robe

  Defense: +0

  Type: Light Armor

  Durability: 10/10

  Item Class: Common

  Quality: Average

  Weight: 0.9 kg

  Traits: +5% resistance to Death Magic

  Enlivened Sandals

  Defense: +0

  Type: Light Armor

  Durability: 10/10

  Item Class: Extremely Rare

  Quality: Average

  Weight: 1.0 kg

  Traits: +3% resistance to Death Magic

  Requirement: Level 31 in Life Magic

  The first thing Azure noticed was that neither item offered a defense bonus, which was strange. After that, he took note that the Enlivened Sandals had a requirement, something he'd never seen before. Requiring level 31 in life magic would have made the man he was now looting an Apprentice Life Mage at worst. That meant he probably had good healing spells. So whatever was in this portion of the dungeon must be able to do a good amount of damage if having such a high level in life magic hadn't kept this guy alive. The last thing he noticed was that the Enlivened Sandals were classed as Extremely Rare, which probably meant they were valuable. Since Azure couldn't wear them because he had no proficiency in life magic, he placed them, along with the Life Monk's Robe in his bag.

  "Find anything good?" Lonnell asked. The smile on his face told Azure that he had. It was kind of creepy to see his friend so happy to be stripping a dead body.

  "I'm not sure. Just a robe, some sandals, two coppers, and the book." He kept his answer vague. While Azure trusted Lonnell not to rob him of the potentially valuable items he had just found, he didn't trust The Asshole Knight. For all Azure knew, as soon as they left the dungeon, Sir Thornton might shake them both down for their loot. He didn't want to give The Asshole Knight any good reason to, which is also why he didn't ask Lonnell the same question in return.

  Azure and Sir Thornton stood by Lonnell's side while he finished stowing the last of his looted items away in his Bag of Holding,
then they proceeded cautiously down the corridor. Torches set in sconces along the walls lit their way. It felt to Azure as if they were walking through an underground passageway inside of a castle, but he couldn't be sure considering that he'd never been in one before. As they continued down the hall, they began to hear voices chanting and the sound of a woman crying out for help. The three Adventurers gave pause to listen.

  "Cultists." Sir Thornton's lips curled in a snarl as the word rolled off of his tongue in a disdainful whisper. He looked down at Azure, his gaze searing. "They will not be like the last batch we encountered. Since we will be interrupting their ritual, these Cultists will likely attack as soon as we approach. They're magic casters, so it will be important for you to shoot first and ask questions later." His head pivoted to Lonnell next. "Don't try to reason with them," he warned. "That will likely just get you spell-blasted in the face."

  Both men nodded in agreement. These Cultists were not like The Children of Dyasitet. The wail of the woman made it clear that they were up to evil deeds. Azure felt far less apprehensive about engaging them in battle. To prove that point, he immediately pulled his bow from his back and drew an arrow from his quiver, preparing to nock it whenever the necessary moment arose.

  There was a bend in the hall that separated them from the Cultists. The chanting grew louder as they approached. Though the woman continued to plead for her life, there was no interruption to their incantation.

  Sir Thornton cast a quick look around the corner. As soon as he turned back, he faced Lonnell and Azure. “There's a room at the end of the hall. I see three Cultists crowded around an altar, but there could be more out of my line of sight. The woman appears unharmed but frightened. We should make haste before that changes.”

  "Agreed." Lonnell sounded eager to rescue the woman.

  "Let's do this." Azure nocked an arrow to his bowstring but didn't draw.

  "I'm going to charge in, moving on the right side of the wall. Lonnell, you follow me. Azure, move to the left and start shooting. Stay a few paces behind, and try not to hit us." He gave Azure a warning look.