When Basil wakes up, he notices
that Julia is gone along with all her belongings.
“She left you in the dust with her
parting gift only being the lipstick on your head,” Atlas says as stands by the
door.
Basil feels his head and feels a
sticky area that feels like lipstick. Julia got lipstick yesterday, but she
never wore it before. She doesn’t even look like the type of girl who would
wear makeup or benefit from wearing it. Basil had thought that she was keeping
in case she needed it and wouldn’t wear it on the first day because she thought
she looked beautiful without it.
“Why would she need it?” he asks
Atlas.
“I couldn’t tell you for sure. She
looked like a completely different person walking out of the door especially
that necklace she was wearing. There’s no way she could afford everything she
was wearing.”
Basil looks down at the floor
because he knows what Atlas is thinking. Atlas’ intense stare gets Basil to
look at him in the eyes.
“What?”
“Look. I was in the exact same
situation you were in when I first started out. Passable equipment, a girl I was
close to, and a white knight attitude. Cynthia was like Julia in that she did
everything she could to get a good life, but it ended up costing her…a lot let’s
say. That’s why I’ve been giving you constant advice. I don’t want you to make
the same mistakes I did.”
“Why’s that? You seem to have come
out pretty well.”
“I didn’t. I’ve ripped off and stepped
so many newbies and other people to get ahead in life to try to catch up to
her. People even died because of me because I missed her. When I caught up to
her, she wasn’t the same. Before, she used to be like Julia. Now, I barely
recognize her. Her personality and looks changed in her quest to live a normal
life. That’s what this kingdom does to you. I’m sure you’ve noticed it already.”
“I thought that was just how things
work around here.”
“I thought that too, but it didn’t
need to be this way. We don’t have to make you live in these rooms, give you a
meager pay, force you to buy licenses, and make you accomplish dangerous quests
for us. It could’ve been simpler.”
“What should we do about it?”
“There’s…there’s nothing we can do
about it. I’ve tried being an honest adventurer and a hero like I wanted to be,
but I couldn’t.”
“We can’t tell the people outside
the kingdom what’s really going on to get something going against it?”
“No. There are too many people
outside already singing its praises. I know of people who tried to start an
uprising against the kingdom. That was years ago, and I haven’t heard from them
since. They were probably drowned out by the praise or silenced in some other
way.”
Basil looks at the floor with an
empty mind.
“Here’s the thing, Basil. You can
walk away from this, go home, and forget that it ever happened. Live your life,
find a different girl, and find a job as a soldier, guard, or something else somewhere
else to fulfill your dream as a hero?”
“What about the good people here
that are honestly trying to make it? What’s going to happen to them?”
“I know you want to help them, but
there’s not much you can do not in a group and not by yourself.”
“I’m not going to give up on them
and I don’t think Julia will betray me.”
Atlas throws his arms up in the air
and looks around as if looking for an answer.
“Okay, okay. You’re just like how I
was and I was a hard head about believing the good in people and that I could
make a significant difference no matter how small it was. Fine. I heard that
new people are coming in. You can come with me to help train them. What
do you say?”
“I’ll do it.”
“Fine. Let’s go then.”
Atlas and Basil go out to find
recruits and manage to find three people who appear combat-ready. One is well
armored, one appears to be a sword dancer with her two swords, and a man with various
kinds of knives. Atlas gives them the same kind of introduction that he gave
Basil while Basil acts friendlier to them and gives them advice about the
dungeon. The only thing Basil leaves out are the things that Atlas told him too
when he was instructing him on recruiting. Still, Atlas feels like Basil is
being a bit too friendly.
They then bring their new recruits
into the dungeon to test their abilities although Cynthia doesn’t come along as
she went out to run an errand or so she said. Inside the dungeon, they find the
first demon. The demon stands in the dead center of the hallway and appears to
be motionless.
“Armored boy, he’s yours,” Atlas
says.
The armored man approaches the
demon as stealthily as possible as his armor clangs. Despite the obvious noise,
the demon doesn’t move. Instead, the demon only moves when the armored man
attacks. He blocks the attack and fights defensively until seemingly giving up.
Once he’s dead, the armored man turns around, only to have elongated teeth come
from behind the man and stab through his armor. Basil tries to go to help the
man, but Atlas stops him because it’s too late as the armored man’s body melts into
the floor.
“You’re up fancy girl. Show us your
skills.”
Atlas sends the girl with two swords
to fight the small group of demons. She manages to beat them all while sustaining
a few scratches. The group moves further into the dungeon to find a large room
with a treasure room at the end filled with demons.
“This is perfect for you two. Go
get them.”
The knife thrower and dual swordswoman
fight the demons together a bit imperfectly but manage to survive with some minor
injuries. As they enter the treasure room, a door closes behind them. Basil
looks at Atlas who’s just as surprised as he is.
“This isn’t good, Basil. They’ve
been in there too long.”
“What’s going on?”
“This could be one of those rare
treasure traps. Demons will sometimes hide as treasure to ensnare adventurers
who are greedy, unaware, or both.”
“I’ve encountered them before, but
I didn’t know they could impersonate treasure rooms.”
“They can impersonate anything and
anyone. You’ve seen them use human skin to impersonate themselves as people.”
A secret room opens to reveal
itself as the real treasure room.
“That’s not a good sign, but at
least we get the treasure all to ourselves,” Atlas says as he goes to collect
the treasure.
Basil goes to check the closed door
and hears muffled screaming behind the door.
“They’re in trouble!”
“Trust me, it’s better to not know
what’s going on behind that door. If they’re dead or dying, they’re dead. If they
aren’t, then they still have a chance. For all you know, what you’re hearing
behind that door could just be another trap now let’s go.”
“…fine.”
Atlas and Basil take the treasure
and after they do so, a set of teeth close the treasure room.
“Run, Basil!”
Atlas and Basil start running out
of the dungeon with the treasure room itself chasing them. Once they enter the
rotating room, the treasure room demon stops and opens its mouth again close by
to entice the two to get more treasure, however, Atlas has already pushed the
button to go back home. The two take their treasure back to the guild. As the
guild’s members count the loot they got, Basil sits by himself and thinks over
what he should be doing. Seeing his gloomy state, Atlas sits by Basil and
brings over his payment, which is larger than usual.
He says, “Cheer up, Basil. Think of
it this way. With this paycheck, you can buy that weapon that you’ve always wanted
or maybe a nice suit of armor. You even get that ebony set you’ve always wanted
even though I prefer the shinning one, of course. This should be enough to buy
it.”
“This doesn’t make up for what
happened.”
“But there’s nothing you can do
about it, so you might as well take what you get and make it useful.”
“Okay, fine.”
“Thatta boy.”
Basil walks out of the guild and buys
a sword at the local blacksmith. It’s an ebony sword that appears to be in top quality.
Once he comes back to the guild, he goes to bed, admires his new sword, then tosses
it on the ground and goes to sleep. This is just how things are going to be
from now on and Basil can only do his best and nothing more. This is just
things are to him now.
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