Gary was a man of many talents, but one he was especially skilled at was fucking himself over. He had been made aware of that fact plenty of times, but he had never felt so strongly about it before.
The death glares he was receiving from everyone made his mistake especially clear.
'Tsk, me and my mouth,' He thought, his brain running at its highest speed to find a way out of this.
"You would have never believed me if I told you that there was a book that contained knowledge over every subject known to mankind and that I had stumbled across it, right?" He asked with his hands thrown up in the air. "It still sounds ridiculous to me, and I'm the one who found the damn thing."
Despite his counterargument, Brandus continued to stare daggers at him to the point he started sweating from the pressure.
"I would sooner believe that think you came here for Merlin's staff," Brandus replied. His calm tone would have been a relief if he wasn't tapping his fingers against his longsword.
"And I'm sure you could have convinced us about its existence with those documents you dug up," Shasa added.
"You were rather keen on showing us proof of the staff being here, but you didn't even bring up the Devil's Compendium. You know, the thing worth more than the entire kingdom we live in."
They had formed a semicircle around Gary, pressing on with murderous intentions. After ten years, they thought they knew just how despicable he was when it came to gold; however, it seemed like he had hit an even greater low.
He couldn't help but gulp in fear. He had already been beaten half to death today, and it was looking like history was going to repeat itself if he did not do something.
"Ok, I may have thought about keeping it a little secret, but that was before I knew what type of hell I was dragging all of you into!" He declared.
"I say we forgive and forget. We are all in this together now, right? Remember all the gold we are gonna get? Those martial manuals? They are ours so long as we stick together and just get out of here alive. As a team, as the 'Gold Guards'!"
As much as he attempted to call upon their comradery, they were having none of it. Especially Brandus.
"We were a team before, goddamnit!" Brandus's fist slammed against the nearest pillar, his voice booming. "We were a team for ten years, does that mean nothing to you? Is it so hard to not hoard every single copper away from us?!?"
He continued to punch the pillar, each punch creating a new crack until it could no longer hold out and collapsed with a mighty and thunderous boom.
Even then, his anger was not quelled. His shoulders heaved with every breath as he stared blankly into the empty halls. He refused to even look at his former leader.
Gathering himself, Brandus turned back to face Gary. His mouth moved, trying to speak, but he couldn't even find the words to say. Not right now, not when he had been disappointed time and time again by the same man he had called his leader.
Eventually, he let out a resigned sigh, "Hah... I won't speak of the matter any further. Just know that the only reason you still live is that you had the decency to tell the truth to us, even if we had to place you at death's door for it. Honesty won't kill you, Gary, but I will if I hear a single lie come out of your mouth again."
Gary pursed his lips together as he saw the team revert to giving him the cold shoulder. They had just been laughing together side by side, just like when they first began their career together. It had been going so well after he showed them the Compendium, but he just had to ruin the moment by revealing he planned on keeping the book for himself.
Brandus approached the rest of the team, his brows knit together with worry. He had put aside Gary and his antics and focused on the matter at hand.
"Right now, we need a plan. It took us six months to reach this palace, and that was with full gear and supplies."
The atmosphere grew tense with that statement. They had run out of both health and mana potions two weeks ago, and their equipment was far from pristine. The chipped swords and dented armor attested to the kind of hell they had gone through.
Ideas were shot around, but none stood out. Avoiding the demons would be ideal, but their numbers and sense of smell had proven to be a great hindrance. The range of their olfactory senses rivaled sharks, making any type of stealth pointless. They had coated themselves in every manner of substance out of desperation during the expedition, but it had been futile.
Thankfully, they were in the clear at the moment. The palace entrance had succumbed to decay and had crumbled on top of itself, leaving only a small, well-hidden opening for one to squeeze through. The demons also appeared reluctant to approach it, so being attacked seemed unlikely. They had found a safe haven for now, but that could change at any moment.
As much as they danced around the topic, they knew it would come down to fighting their way out while surrounded by enemies.
It was a less-than-ideal situation, and the current outlook was grim for the 'Gold Guards'.
Gary sat nearby listening to the discussion. While he was near the rest of the team, there was an invisible barrier between him and the others.
It was a strange experience for him, as he used to be the one who led the strategy discussions. Now, all he could do was silently listen and awkwardly shift around, wishing for the chance to join.
His hands tightly gripped against his scalp as he did his best to think of any solution.
'Come on, all I need is one solid idea. I just need to find a way out of here! There has to be something that can get us out of this hell hole...'
If he could save their asses, who knows? maybe this whole thing will be water under the bridge. Plus, if he died, he would never get his hands on all that sweet gold!
Funnily enough, it was the thought of dying without the chance of seeing his precious golden coins that got him inspired. Mind racing, Gary suddenly experienced a flash of inspiration, and his signature sly smile slowly returned to his face as he confidently looked toward his team.