3 Months later.
3 uneventful months have passed, life went on and Lena kept adventuring. The first month was empty while in the second she joined on a village raid defense party, the third after was empty too with only regular adventuring.
Lena has just finished her quest for the day and is planning on visiting Toto's place for a nice meal.
She can see from a bit of a distance that it's a bit busy so she decides to come back at a later date so she goes back to her room for now. As she walks there she thinks to herself 'This thing really is an inconvenience.' she thinks looking at the huge gauntlet on her right arm. It was elstat's gauntlet that she found while climbing down the mountain long ago.
After the dungeon incident 3 Months ago a week passed where Lena tried adventuring only to find that her entire right body ached whenever she did demanding motion and that her right arm as a whole had grown weaker.
The more time had passed the more pain got to her right side especially her right arm, When she went to a doctor they said that they couldn't find anything wrong and told her to take painkillers that Lena decided to just ignore, But one night 1month after the Dungeon incident Lena was writhing in pain. Her arm would feel as if it's dying even though the only thing touching it was Lena's left arm, She had tried taking the painkillers which did nothing as she kept rolling and rolling on her room's ground, she was tired that day so the fact she couldn't sleep even made her consider just cutting her arm off.
While she basically entered a drunken state barely having any self consciousness a stupid thought came to her 'a gauntlet is surely able to protect my arm from pain.' she thought as she looked at elstat's gauntlet which she kept in her room after selling the sword, And even though she knew she was acting stupid she still proceeded to for it work. Ever since then Lena had that thing on only taking it off when really needed.
As she entered her room she flicked the switch to left of her door with her left hand turning the light on and closed the door after with her right without turning around. After that she slowly walked towards the bed and fell front first on it.
A bit later she quickly wakes with a panic looking at the little window in her room only to see that it had gotten quite dark, scared that toto's might have closed for the day she quickly runs out of her room and hurries towards their place.
As she basically jogs towards it she completely stop at the sight of a person moving in the opposite direction towards her. Trestina was going back home, Lena slumps down her shoulders and gives a long sigh.
"Oh Lena what are you doing there looking all depressed?" Trestina asks as she walks up to Lena.
"Don't worry about it..." Lena says still looking down.
"Sure, if you say so." Trestina says giving a quick shrug
"Anyway, I was thinking about how I would find you so this is a lucky encounter." Trestina says as she looks into the bad with her right hand inside her bag searching for something while her left hand is carrying it.
"There it is." She says pulling out two little papers.
"What's that?" Lena says fixing her posture.
"Hehehe... I got us tickets to the match!" Trestina said excited.
"Match?" Lena asked confused.
"No way... you don't know about the match?" Trestina asked.
"No...?" Lena said hesitant
"If I could punch you I would." Trestina says out of nowhere.
"Huh?!" Lena takes a step back surprised.
"What adventurer are you? How could you not know about the match? Even those who live under a rock know about it!" Trestina says questioning Lena's logic.
"W-well I don't really care that much about people fighting..." Lena says.
"This isn't just 'people' Lena this is THE TOP 10!" Trestina says almost jumping.
"Huh? Wouldn't junas win without even trying?" Lena says.
"No Lena, not our top 10, but THE TOP 10! The strongest Living adventurers!" Trestina says.
Lena still confused tilts her head.
"What?"
"Come on! How much do you even know about the adventurers guild?!" Trestina asks annoyed.
"Well, its mostly only what you told me when I first joined." Lena says thinking.
"Huh, I guess my half-ass is to blame too..." Trestina says regretting.
"Ok, what if I tell you about the adventurer's guild over drinking?" Trestina says trying to get Lena to drink.
"How about dinner instead?" Lena says.
"Oh, so that's why you were here." Trestina says as she puts two and two together.
"S-shut up..." Lena says with a slightly red face.
Lena and Trestina walked around for a bit until they found a still open place where they could eat where Lena enjoyed a meal as Trestina only talked and drunk.
Trestina went more into depth about the adventurer's guild and how It really works.
Firstly, The adventurer's guild belongs to no one, no country, no kingdom, no continent, no tribe, no person, It's like a mind-hive that operates in different places. No one can take control of it since every kingdom needs Its help with how almost every strong human always goes for the adventurer's guild, It's benefits are undeniably made for the adventurers and only the adventurers.
It is said that the person who started it was an adventurer himself who only wanted to support his local adventurers, at first it was more of a large party, but as more time passed and more people joined it slowly became an adventurers embassy all around the world. It runs on the sole purpose of supporting adventurers whether it be young or old they didn't discriminate, It buys loot off of adventurers in the exact price of which it sells it off to making absolutely no profit off of adventurers work, while creating a ranking system so that they wouldn't end up wasting their life early on for nothing the adventurer's guild only lives for adventurers and true adventurers.
Another thing is the report system. For example, if an adventurer would lie in their report they wouldn't doubt their word and rank them based on their report, so that if they were to rank higher than they really are and end up taking a quest which is harder than which they can actually take on that would be a fault of their own. While if an adventurer stays true and only reports what really happened he would be ranked on a level of his own and grow in strength in a less dangerous way.
And finally the most important is the Top 10s, There are 3 kinds of top 10s. One is for independent guilds, One is for the adventurers of a kingdom, and finally THE TOP 10! which rules over all. They are seen as the strongest humans alive, and are how the adventurer's guild makes most of it's money. Top 10s are what mostly generates income for them by making it so that if you want to climb up the board you would have to fight those above you. For example, if the 9th strongest wanted to become the 6th strongest he would have to fight off against him in a prepared match and win leading to the 6th and all below him till the 9th place to go down one rank while the 9th takes over 6th place, But to make it so it doesn't get dull they place multiple rules on making match ups. Firstly, person with a higher rank cant fight those below them, Secondly, to fight the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st you would have to be in the top 10, And to fight anyone from the 10th to the 4th place to join the top 10 you would need to be a custom carving at least.
Fights with the top 10 rarely take place with it being once every couple of years, But when they do take place they always rack an audience of tens of millions from all around the world. The place of which a fight takes place differs each time as they always build a bigger stadium each fight to fit more and more people, making it so that the adventurer's guild and the home kingdom both profit. Multiple Kingdoms have tried to manipulate the adventurer guild's choice, but not once has they succeeded as it to this day stays unshaken.
Once they were done they Left and just before they were to separate Trestina talked.
"The match is going to be in 2 weeks and the place where we are going is pretty far so we will be leaving on a wagon from here and then taking a passenger ship that would take us a 5day long voyage to reach. So you better be ready!" Trestina says.
"What about your work?" Lena asksed.
"Oh you didn't know? joula and the others are going to close shop tomorrow for a month since they will be going on a trip to The Lake of Wothland." Trestina says.
"...." Lena is left speechless as she realizes she had wasted her last opinion of enjoying a meal there for the next month.
"Anyway see you Lena." Trestina says as she turns around and moves towards her home.
Lena watches her for a bit and then turns around and goes towards her inn.
2 days later.
Lena has a pouch of money, her sword, and the huge gauntlet that is almost twice the size of her hand as she heads to where her and Trestina are to meet up.
Trestina is already there, when she first sees Lena she waves at her excited only for her to slow down and form an angered expression.
When Lena reaches her Trestina starts complaining.
"Come on Lena... Couldn't you at least get a better set of clothing? If I didn't know better I would've thought you were going on another quest... you aren't right?" Trestina says worried.
"Couldn't you at least wear the dress we bought that one time?" Trestina asks.
"I don't think the dress would really fit with this." Lena said as she places her left hand over the gauntlet.
Trestina sighs.
"And what's with the sword? I know since you are a gold adventurer they will allow you to take it in, but still!" Trestina complains again.
"You never know what we will run into." Lena says with a straight face.
Trestina sighs longer this time.
"Sure whatever I don't even know what I was expecting..." Trestina says dejected.
"Anyway The match will be taking place in Nikolovia. It's the home of everything scientific so even before and after the match we will still have a lot to see and explore." Trestina says as she looks around with her head.
"Oh there it is." Trestina says as she starts walking towards a parked wagon.
She greets the man driving it and gets in alongside Lena as the man takes them to where their boat is.
The ride took them around 5 hours and quite boring but at least it was comfortable unlike where they are gonna go now.
The ship was completely filled with all of the passengers going to the match just like them.
So even though they were given their own room with the amount noise coming from all over the place they barely felt any kind of privacy.
As they sat down in the room Lena thought to make up some small talk and know more about trestina so she starts by asking.
"So trestina... I haven't you mention your parents much." Lena asks as she slowly realizes how bad of a start that was.
"You're finally interested in my past huh..." Trestina says with a quite voice.
"A-ah I knew I shouldn't have said anything s-sorry that was stupid of me!" Lena says in a panic.
Trestina gives a quick surprised look which quickly disappears with a giggle.
"No, don't worry about it, If anything I'm glad you asked. My parents are well and alive, It's just that we choose to avoid each other..." Trestina says looking down with a smile.
"why is that?" Lena asked intrigued.
"Huh... I'm surprised you care that much." Trestina says.
"S-sorry..." Lena apologizes again.
Trestina sighs and continues.
"Do you remember Latryu?" Trestina said.
"Latryu?" Lena asked.
"The guy who thought you magic." Trestina said.
"Oh right him..." Lena remembered him with a tsk.
"Right! there was history with you two right? He told me to tell you that he is sorry or something and he even called you a with a nickname... I think it was ahh... yeah 'Tres'!" Lena said as her memory didn't fail her.
Trestina flushed red as she heard the nickname.
"D-d-don't you dare say that again!" Trestina said with a red embarrassed face.
"Huh.... Tres..." Lena says with a mischievous smile.
"S-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-STOP!" Trestina screams.
"Oh don't scream now.... Tres..." Lena says almost laughing.
Trestina stands up and jumps at Lena to shut her up.
"S-STOP CALLING ME THAT!!" she says with her eyes closed and her hands over Lena's mouth.
"Ok ok, Sorry." Lena says almost laughing.
"*sigh* I can't believe he still calls me that..." Trestina says pouting.
"Anyway what's up with him?" lena asks.
"R-right... you see we are actually childhood friends." Trestina says as she shakes her head.
"We grew up together, Had fun together, and dreamt together, But I guess we dreamt too much." Trestina says nostalgic.
Lena listened silently.
"Ever since we were like 4 we would spend everyday together enjoying our time I don't even have a single bad memory with him as a child. Every moment was just pure fun and enjoyment." Trestina says giving a smile.
"We grew up together talking about what each of us wanted to become, at first I didn't really care as long as I stayed with him was what I thought, While he had an ambition of his own, He wanted to become a great magician that would make a name for himself. He would talk about it ever since he was a child and with the way I was thinking all I could do was support him with everything I could." Trestina smile slowly disappeared as she continued.
"By the time we had reached the age of 12-11 Latryu had become obsessed with idea of becoming a great magician to the point where he started day-dreaming. He Learnt magic at a young age but still didn't help with how weak he was genetically, all his family members were normal people who lead normal lives yet he wished to break that cycle and do something great, but sadly for him dedication and ambition alone aren't enough especially where he was trying to go, but we both fount that out terribly late." Trestina says
"One day he came to me with a huge smile on his face talking about he had learned magic and that this is where his adventure starts. He quickly signed up to the adventurer's guild and came back with a smile as he showed me his wood carving. I was worried for him, but I wanted to support him no matter what so I didn't say anything, But his parents didn't share the same way of thinking as me and quickly shut him down and told him to knock it out before he ends up killing himself. He thought that their treatment was unfair and decided to escape his home, and that's where it all went downhill."
"He told me about his escape plan and Told me that I should join him now before he becomes a big shot. Without thinking much about it I agreed and we had planned to leave the town we used to live in the week after. I had barely ever left the town, but I thought that as long as we were together we could make it work. I stole a decent amount of money while parents were sleeping and so did Latryu and we made our escape. We first ran towards the forest where we followed the road until we found the dock closest to the village where we asked for a ride To somewhere quite far. There we again followed the path until we found another town, Gladly there was an adventurer's guild there so we decided to stay there for a bit. We had rented a room for the both of us where we would spend the night there while Latryu would try adventuring in the day."
"On the first night when he came back all he brought back was despair. He had 2 coins worth barely anything after a full day. He said that with the amount he was able to contribute alongside the party he was with even that was more than enough. His magic was beyond weak, it was pitiful. That day he almost cried himself to sleep, but I comforted him saying this is only his first day and that he shouldn't expect much from it anyway, that he will slowly grow and slowly reach his dream. His face then lit up again and agreed with me."
"The next day was the same, and the one after that, and the one after the one after that. It was just a repeat cycle, We would spend almost 5 times the amount he was making and we slowly watched our "savings" disappear. We then decided to move hoping for a place with cheaper living costs, But sadly the cycle kept repeating itself. We both slowly fell into despair and poverty as the days went by. At some point I started doing part-time jobs while Latryu adventured and started becoming our main source of income. While Latryu barely made any Progress I worked hard to pay the bills hoping that one day something will change. He would always come back looking down while I tried to cheer him up over and over and over. God knows how much longer later We finally found ourselves In the kingdom we are at now. There is where I finally broke. I finally had enough of his bullshit, He had been scammed of all of his gear selling it for 3 times less than it is worth, and when he came back looking for pity all I could was scream and shout. For how much Longer does he plan to keep this cycle going? For how much longer does he plan to waste his life? For how much longer will he chase a nonexistent dream? That day I screamed more than I have ever before and at the end of it all I left. After all we've been through I just got up and left. I decided to just settle down here Since my home town was very far, and while desperately looking for a full-time job Even though I Tried to avoid it so that I don't run into him I ended up joining the adventurer's guild as a receptionist." Trestina says with a slightly mad look.
Lena didn't know how to respond and just sat there silent.
Trestina teared up a bit then turned to Lena.
"A-anyway enough of me what about you lena?" Trestina asked.
"Me? what would you like to know? Lena asked.
"Hmmm... What about your parents?" Trestina asked.
"My parents... My father died trying to save me and my mother before my birth, and my mother took her own life after my birth." Lena said with a straight face.
Trestina was left speechless by the straight delivery.
"I-i-i-I'm Sorry...." Trestina fumbled over her words
"That was long ago don't worry about it." Lena said.
"Then what about you? What were you doing before adventuring?" Trestina said trying to change the topic.
"Well apparently, one of my father's friends took care of me as a child before dying in a dungeon, and after that I followed Someone around for 6 years as he thought me most of my survival skills." Lena said.
"A-and what happened to that someone?" Trestina tried salvaging something good out of her story.
"He went through a tough time and Is now out there doing something." Lena said looking away.
"...." Trestina didn't know how to take that last line.
"A-anyway Let's just go to sleep we for now it's pretty late hahaha..." Trestina said with an awkward laugh as she crawled into the bed.
"Sure." Lena said as she copied her.
"G-good night!" Trestina said.
"It's still 4pm..." lena said closing her eyes.
Trestina gave another awkward laugh.
when they woke up it was around 7 so decided to see what The ships crew had made as their daily meal.
There as they were going over the food Lena had pumped her back into someone.
As she turned around to apologize she could hear that someone complain, so with an annoyed face she turns around and looks down at the man looking up to her and click her tongue.
The man immediately shook his ground as a person who felt twice his size with one eye patched up and a huge gauntlet clicked their tongue at them.
"Haha... Sorry Mister forgive my rudeness." the man said while he rubbed the back of his head and slightly bowed.
Lena turned around without saying anything.
Later on that day while they walked over the ship a group of guys tried to hit on Lena and Trestina only to get stared down on and escape from lena.
"You're looks are quite useful..." Trestina said as she looked at the group of guys almost running away.
"Oh shut up." Lena said not taking it as a compliment.