One of us

As we kept exploring the rest of the dungeon we didn’t encounter any other spiders or threats, it seemed that the ogre killed all the spiders before we came here, and the ones that we encountered a few moments ago were the ones trying to escape from him.

“If the mother is dead, then there isn’t so much reason to stay I guess…” —I said.

“That’s how animals work after all, if you kill the queen, then the rest don't know what to do” —Elizabeth said.

“But I got a say, you were amazing, Alex! I didn’t trust you completely that you could fight with your fist but you did an incredible job!”

“Seriously?! That makes me happy to hear, but I could say the same for you, Ryu, I didn’t know you possess the power of the water with you”

“I haven’t dominated it; I don’t even know any spell… but I have been training it in my free times”

“So, you trained without me, huh?” —Elizabeth said.

“Liz…”

Liz laughed while we kept exploring the dungeons, the place had long hallways but not many entries, we only found four rooms in total that had a few books that were unreadable due the time they were in the dungeon. As we kept moving forward, we kept talking and we finally got to the final room, this one had a chest and we looked at it.

“What do you think is inside?”

“Probably gold, or gems, anything to make money… but it could be a trap or maybe it has a legendary weapon-“ —Alexander started to talk.

Elizabeth looked at him and opened the chest, in there it had a ton of coins, mostly bronze ones but it was a lot.

“How much is in here…?”

“I don’t know…” —Elizabeth said.

Alexander closed the chest and took it, resting the chest on his shoulder, we followed him to the exit and when we were out, we noticed how late it was.

“How far is the inn?” —Elizabeth asked.

“I believe an hour” —Alexander said.

“At this time… it is already late…” —I said.

“We should set up a camp there, I will go bring some branches” —Elizabeth said.

“Do we have food, Alex?”

“I think so, we still have some meat from the rabbits that I brought”

“Awesome, I’ll prepare for the campfire then”

Alexander nodded while exploring the surroundings, I’ll put some rocks in a circle and when Elizabeth came back with the branches, we set up a fire and grilled the meat with sticks that were around after we washed them up.

We drank some wine that was in Alexander’s backpack and prepared our sleeping bags. Alexander took the first turn again and now he was standing next to the chest. Elizabeth and I were ready to sleep but we heard a sound.

Somebody was coming, Elizabeth and I took our weapons and waited for the person to appear and it finally appeared, a person with his hand in his abdomen, bleeding.

“Help me… please…”

All of us rushed to the person and the moment we got close he took off a knife and tried to stab us, Alexander took the hit and the knife bounced, making the person fall to the ground. Alexander grabbed the person’s hand and dragged him close to him to hit it with his helmet.

The person fell unconscious to the ground and a total of 8 persons came out of the woods.

“Can we take them all?” —I asked.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be your shield. YOU ARE NOT PUTTING ANY HANDS ON MY FRIENDS!” — Alexander shout.

“Thanks, Alexander, I’ll give you a prize after this” —Elizabeth said.

We got close to the chest and we were taking a position where we could see all the people, they came in without any strategy, just running towards us and screaming. I was preparing an attack with my water and when they came close, I shot on the floor.

The people stumble upon each other and at that moment, we hit them with our weapons, making them unconscious. We kept gathering guard while we looked at the thieves, when they tried to wake up one of us hit it again until the sky became a little more clear.

When that happened, we leave the forest and walk under the dark blue sky, with eye bags and walking as if we just ran a marathon and were obligated to run it again. We got to the inn and reported the thieves, and some guards left the inn to catch them.

We delivered and got our money compressed, five gold coins, after that we went to sleep upstairs and when we woke up it was already midday.

“Ryu… come on… Ryu~”

Elizabeth was shaking me but I didn’t want to get up, I took her and made half of her body in the bed.

“Let me sleep… more… uugh…”

I was still sleeping and Elizabeth pitched my chick and she stood up.

“Come on, Ryu, we need to leave…”

“Okay…”

I stood up and took my stuff while I went downstairs to take “breakfast”, I was eating with so low energy, none of us were completely rested, even Alexander didn’t talk, just eating. After, Alexander went to the place where he let his horses rest.

We got into the carriage and went to our town, we were still sleeping until we got to one of the towns that was in the way, we got down and asked for a place to stay, Alexander fell in the bed while Elizabeth and I were playing cards in the bed.

“And three of a kind!”

“Are you serious?!” —Elizabeth shouted and covered her mouth.

“Haha I don’t think he would wake up after being awake that much, even if we sleep a little that wasn’t enough…”

“You are right…”

Elizabeth was taking the cards and saving them in her backpack, we turned off the lights and looked at each other.

“We are already a three-member group, aren’t we?”

“Yeah… I never thought about it… it's all thanks to you, Liz… if it wasn’t for you…”

“Enough, it’s normal to be so cautions, but I’m glad I was right, we need to reward him for his hard work”

“A food would be enough, let’s order a good meal when we get to the guild”

Elizabeth nodded and we went to sleep.

The next day everyone was in good shape, we ordered food to take-out, and another day of traveling awaited us, that’s what we thought but the commercial route was more pleasant than the one in the woods.

“I guess that’s why merchants avoid taking this way, it really is better, even the horses are a bit faster since the road is not rocky, I am disappointed in myself for ever think that they just didn’t want to ride with them”

I laugh and hit Alexander’s back.

“Don’t worry, we all thought about that, but how would we know about it? In any case, your horses are for sure capable of anything, they transport us without any problem”

“I know, such is their dedication, I’m really glad you guys are in perfect shape even if I don’t take you out more, but… uh… never mind…”

“What is it, Alexander?” —Elizabeth said.

“No, no, it is nothing”

Elizabeth and I looked at each other and smiled. We had an idea of what was happening, and after taking the horses to Alexander’s house we went to the guild and delivered the request.

“My! You really cleared the dungeon? Congratulations on your first official mission!”

“And we want to celebrate right away!” —I said.

“Understood, we have something prepared just in case”

“Oh and…”

I whispered to the receptionist and she smiled at me.

“I understand, we are going to make the preparations then”

I went to the table where Elizabeth and Alexander were sitting and sat down with them.

“I already ordered, let’s enjoy our celebration!”

“Yay!”

“Yes”

Alexander was a bit quiet and we sat down, I was talking about my sword technique to Elizabeth until Alexander broke his silence.

“They took their time, huh?”

“Yeah, but they should be in here in no time”

After I said that, the staff from the guild came out, having the best dishes from the guild and a giant pie that was put in front of Alexander.

“This… isn’t too much of a celebration?”

“This is not only a celebration, Alex” —Elizabeth said.

Alexander knew what was happening but even with that he asked.

“Then?...”

“This is your welcome party, Alex”

Words have such a powerful impact, the moment that I said that, Alexander broke down crying and laughing, holding his head, Elizabeth and I were smiling and patting his back.

“Don’t let us down, Alexander Silver”

“We are counting on you, Alexander Silver”

Alexander sat down properly and hugged us while crying.

“OF COURSE, I WILL BE THE BEST PARTY MEMBER OF YOUR TEAM!”