Polk and I followed Gash into the final room and as we did, I scanned the place.
It was built pretty much like the other rooms. It was a decently sized room with stone walls and a podium in the middle with a stone slab on it. The greatest difference could be found behind the podium. Behind the podium was a large chest that had a keyhole. For the third and hopefully last time, I read out the what was written on the slab.
"Now that you three have lit your bond's fire,
It's time to state what about each other you admire!
For this, friendship is the key
Make bonds as strong is family
And from this chest you will get what you desire."
"AWWWWWWW MAN! Polk, this is YOUR fault! The only chance I had to fight was ripped from me!" Gash pouted as he sat on the floor cross-legged.
This was the perfect time to ask Gash about what exactly he admires so much about me. As much as I enjoy having someone that admires the things that I do, my method of doing things could be seen as...
Unhinged...
"What made you admire someone like me, Gash?" I asked as I sat next to him.
"It's simple! You and I are exactly alike!"
"In what regard?" I raised my eyebrow.
Based on the interactions I had with many types of people, I figured that my experience with my parents was a unique one. Because of that, I want to make sure we're on the same page before I blurt anything out.
"You want to live life in the fullest, of course. You find your day to day life to be a boring cycle that'll never end, so you find enjoyment in doing whatever you want in THIS world! You're probably in the service industry, just like me!"
So that's the kind of person he thinks I am? He probably would feel betrayed if I mentioned I'm a billionaire, so I won't tell him that part.
"I'm not the maelstrom of unhinged chaos you think I am, Gash. Maybe when I just started playing this game, I was willing to do anything and everything to die. But why would I do something like that when I could make my death way more valuable? If I could die in the final stages of this game, or maybe even in the battle against the demon king, I'll be happy."
Gash tilted his head in confusion. It seemed like he heard me, but he wasn't listening. It was as if he processed my line of thinking, but couldn't understand the conclusion.
"But why bother? Wouldn't you want to instead take your anger out on the world for doing this to you? Aren't there strangers out there that piss you off to no end? Why would you stick your nose out for these random people?"
"I don't mind the people. They're better off alive than dead because at any point, they can improve. They can be better members of society at any given moment."
What is wrong with Gash? He's part of Lightspeed, but he thinks like this?
Gash saw the confused face I was making, and corrected his behavior. "Well either way, I'm certain that I'll have fun playing this game with you!"
"Matthew...I-"
"POLK!" Gash gave an enthusiastic smile to his healer as he continued. "I admire your consistency! I admire how you ideals and your willingness to do everything for our ideals!"
"Right." Polk nodded.
None of us were paying attention, but the keyhole to the chest was glowing brighter with every word we spoke to each other. Gash's last comment was enough to unlock the chest. When the chest flew open, the door at the very beginning of the Deposit could be heard. It probably opened because we beat it.
The three of us walked towards the chest and took a look inside. What was in the chest was a lone red crystal. I reached for it and examined to see what exactly the crystal contained. A window popped up with an image of a red floating in a wavy, clockwise direction. Alongside that window, was a description of the item:
[String of Fate: The owners of this item have been through thick and thin together! When these three are near each other, all of their stats are boosted threefold!]
This item isn't that bad! With this, a team would have an instant advantage over anyone their level. Of course, they would get destroyed by someone like Roxline, but they could definitely handle people five or even ten levels above them! Now the real question is this: should I share this with the other two?
Before I could even consider it, the item automatically got equipped and entered my inventory. Once it did so, a red string appeared and wrapped itself around my wrist. It then immediately shot towards Gash and Polk and attached itself to their wrists as well. After doing so, it quickly disappeared. They must've been instantly notified of the item's capabilities because their expressions instantly changed. Polk's eyes grew wide in shock while Gash giggled in excitement. I swear in another world, he and I are brothers.
"I guess that wraps everything up here. We should probably get going back to the carriage to meet up with the others. It's a shame we couldn't find any food, but it's not like it's necessary." I said as I lead the way out of the Deposit.
"Maybe the real food was the bonds we made along the way-Pffft HAHAHA! I couldn't even finish that sentence." Gash tried to keep a straight face, but gave up halfway through.
Polk stayed completely silent.
Once we crawled out of the hole we came from, we finally stepped out of the Deposit and onto the sands of the scorching sands frontier.
"Welp! We'll just have to go back and tell them we couldn't get any-"Gash wasn't looking where he was walking and almost fell into another deposit. I Immediately grabbed him before he could fall into the darkness.
"PLEASE watch where you're going!" I berated him.
As I helped him up, the three of us looked into the deposit and saw two large red eyes staring right back at us. Not long after, a large growl that made the very sand below us reverberate could be heard.
"Yup. That's definitely a monster." I said.
"Looks like we're eating good TONIGHT!" Gash let out a giddy battle cry as he leapt into the Deposit.
I sighed as I ran to dive in right after him. "Hey Polk, you got our backs, right?"
"Yeah..." Polk ran right behind me.
Long story short, we defeated the monster with ease and was able to haul back loads of meat to cook for tonight and our final day. Violet and Roxline were logged off, but Hermes was still on driving the cart. Aegis was still nowhere to be seen, but I think we'll complete the quest without him at this rate. I feel kind of bad, but I'm sure he's alive.
After Gash cooked us some food, we all ate it and Hermes explained that for the final day, he wanted all of us to be online in case we ran into trouble with the other guilds.
"We are a tad bit behind after all!" Hermes said.
"Only a tad bit? As expected of our guild leader." Gash mentioned.
With our bellies full, we logged off for the night.
===
The final day of the expedition began with me opening my eyes to find Violet's face looking down on me with a flush of embarrassment. What could be wrong this time?
The back of my head felt like it was on a soft cushion instead of the hard wooden floor of the carriage. I used one of my hands to feel the pillow I was using and immediately went flying to the other side of the carriage. After that, I finally pieced together everything that just happened: I was just using Violet's lap as a pillow.
"WHY?!"
"GASH SAID PLAYERS GET ONLINE FASTER IF THEY HAVE LAP PILLOWS! IT GIVES THEM A NOTIFICATION IRL AND EVERYTHING!"
"Violet...he's messing with you..."
"Pffft-HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Gash rolled around on the floor of the cabin in laughter.
I looked around the carriage and Aegis was nowhere to be found. At this rate, it's best to assume that he's not coming in time. I also looked over to Roxline and it doesn't even look like she's on. As expected. She wouldn't even help if she was on. This is going to make what's coming difficult.
"Thirty more minutes until we get to the rendezvous point! Thank goodness this journey is gonna come to an end! it was a long one for sure-"
"Stop the carriage" I interrupted Hermes.
"Huh? But we're about to-"
I leaned and whispered into Hermes' ear "If don't want to die or lose this expedition, you'd do best to stop here and now."
Hermes understood my intentions and stopped the carriage.
"What's the matter, Matthew?" Gash asked.
"Nothing much! I just got to clear some things up! I'm gonna need everyone to step outside for a minute!"
Once everyone filed outside, I began my line of questioning.
"So what did you want to tell me back in the Deposit, Polk?"
"I..." Polk trailed off and looked at the floor.
"He was probably gonna tell you how much he admires you! We had to do it for the Deposit, after all." Gash gave me a sincere smile.
I kicked the sand and looked into the endless blue sky as I continued. "You know, spending this time travelling with you guys has made me think about things. A LOT of things. I even started to think back on my first day of this game. Hey, Gash! You're the Matthew fan! Tell me what happened!"
"Oh that's easy! You took on an army of players from the Anarchy guild." Gash pointed out.
"RIGHT! OF COURSE! Thinking back on that day, I was in a really dark place! I pretty much saw the world in a scale of gray until I found my purpose! I can't even recall the faces of the people I saw that day!"
Polk stayed silent, Gash's grin began to grow larger and larger as I went on, and Violet stood confused.
"I don't get it." Violet tilted her head in confusion.
"Don't worry Violet! I'm getting there!" I continued. "I was okay with never paying any mind to days like that again! That is until yesterday. When I fought someone with almost the exact fighting style as a priest that tried attacking me with his Anarchy pals! That coupled with comments on me lucking into armor and a standoffish attitude made me really think! So I'll ask you one more time, POLK!"
Polk jumped in fright and as soon as he made eye contact with me, I stared deep into his eyes with an ice cold glare.
"What did you want to tell me back in the Deposit, Polk?"
Polk began sweating bullets as he tried to get the words out to defend himself.
Out of nowhere, two swords were going directly for Violet's neck. I unsheathed my labrys and met the two swords halfway. With the clashing of our blades, I found none other than Gash on the other end of the dual swords. As we stood with our blades locked, trying to overpower each other, Violet took a couple of steps back to help at a distance. Polk stood in place, frightened at the event unfolding.
"kehehehehehe...HAHAHAHAHAHA! AS EXPECTED OF MY BEST FRIEND! NOW THINGS ARE STARTING TO HEAT UP!"
I had this feeling, but I didn't want to be right! Damn it...
DAMN IT!