Val and Balrick returned to the others once they were finished organizing Val's order. When they arrived the others were happily chatting.
With Val having completed his order, he, along with Lizzy and Bindy left the blacksmith. Bobby and Dobby remained behind as it was their home.
The twins lived atop the building, along with the rest of their family. Although they visited the Brown Bear Inn often, they lived at their family home.
Poppy was sad to see them leave but she was still on duty as the shop clerk of the blacksmithy so she could not go with them.
The girls, Val and Leo headed back to the Black Bear Inn to have dinner and go to bed.
During their trip back to the inn the girls were acting differently than before. Val could notice the change in behavior but was unsure of the cause.
Val liked to be straightforward, and decided to ask,
"Why are you guys acting strange, did something happen?"
The two girls looked at each other nervously, and then Lizzy spoke up,
"Ahh... It's kind of embarrassing, but we were wondering if you would like to join our party. You are talented and smart and we enjoy your company, so we thought you would be a good addition to the team. What do you think?"
When Val heard Lizzy's question he paused for a second, from the few hours they had been together, he did enjoy their company but he had secrets that he did not want others to know. He was also already prepared to adventure solo, he struggled to trust others, and although Jim was a bad person, he did terrible things and deserved what happened to him, he was still their teammate who they abandon at the first optimal chance.
Val took a moment to think about the offer. Lizzy and Bindy waited patiently for Val to make his choice. They were unsure of what Val would decide so they were nervous whilst waiting.
After 2 minutes of contemplation, Val gave an answer,
"For now I don't think joining your party will be best for me, but maybe in the future it may be possible, when I know and trust you guys more."
Lizzy was disappointed, Val was very talented in her eyes, and he also had Leo alongside him which was very honorable for her clan. Bindy was a bit different, she had a slightly sadistic and manipulative side, which had yet to develop fully as she was still young. She was not opposed to manipulating or blackmailing others to get what she wanted.
When she had heard Val's rejection she decided to use her trump card, the knowledge of his dragon familiar. He had already drawn the attention of many people and if it was known he had a dragon, it would cause a lot of issues for him.
With her plan set, she spoke up,
"Do you not want to join us because of your dragon familiar?"
Both Lizzy and Val were shocked but for different reasons, Lizzy was unaware that Val had a Dragon as a familiar, which was an incredible feat. Dragons were known to never willingly submit to people, and it meant that if Val and his dragon grew up to adulthood, Val was basically guaranteed to become an S-Rank adventurer. Val was shocked that Bindy knew about Larz, he was sure that Larz had hidden before their party got close enough to see.
Val did not respond immediately to Bindy, he stood there staring intently at Bindy waiting for her next move.
Bindy knew she had gained the upper hand and did not want to lose the momentum she had just gained so she added,
"Or maybe it's because you don't want us to know you have a Spatial Talent?"
Val's left eyebrow twitched. He was very uncomfortable with how Bindy was able to identify two of his biggest secrets. He was unsure how she knew but assumed she had to somehow have been able to see Val when he was in the forest before he had noticed them approaching, it was also possible that she had been able to discern that the movement skill he used against Jim was a Spatial Skill. For many younger and weaker adventurers, it is hard to discern which Talent a powerful movement skill belongs to. Thus Val thought that the party would not be able to tell and might assume it was a skill from Wind Talent or some other Talent.
Val still did not answer, he did not want to confirm anything in front of Lizzy because Bindy had provided no evidence to support her claims.
Bindy smiled at being able to throw Val out of his comfort zone, she had taken him off guard and decided to take this opportunity to complete her plan.
"It could be very dangerous for you if people found out about your secrets, but luckily for you, we would never share our fellow party member's secrets..."
As Bindy was concluding her subtle blackmail, she felt immense danger from behind her. Val had used [Port], disappearing from in front of her and reappearing behind her with his black short sword drawn and the blade a millimeter from her neck. Val moved his head close to Bindy's ear, so close she could feel his breath, each word he spoke sent a shiver through her body,
"I don't know how you figured all that out, but I would be very careful about who I threaten if I was you. Some people would rather get rid of any threat than allow themselves to be manipulated."
Lizzy was even more shocked at the scene, she was unsure of what to do. She had been listening to Bindy and was somewhat aware of her true nature, but did not mind because they were friends and she had never acted that way to her before. But she was seeing it backfire firsthand, but there was no way for her to help. Val was far stronger than them and could kill Bindy at any time in his current position. He also had connections that would make it hard to have him punished if he did choose to kill Bindy right now. The sigil with a noble crest on it was a means to prove his trustworthiness, so it was not guaranteed he would be punished for his actions if he chose to slice Bindy's neck.
Bindy, on the other hand, was more scared than she had ever been, she did not expect Val to react this way and thought that she had caught him in her plan, but in just a second he had turned everything around and now her life was at risk. She had sweat sliding down her forehead and face and she was in silent fear, unable to move or speak.
Val deliberately took his time before continuing to speak, allowing Bindy to wallow in fear for a bit longer. Val pulled his head back a bit, slacking his grip on his sword as he moved it further away from Bindy's neck and said,
"I will let you off this one time, however, be very careful in never threatening or attempting to manipulate me again. I do not want to have to do anything to a cute girl like yourself, but I must and will always protect myself. As for teaming up, so that you keep my secrets I will agree to sometimes come with you guys to the dungeon or in requests, but I will not be a permanent party member but more like a mercenary that will help you guys when you need me."
Bindy was going through too much mental and emotional turmoil to respond. So Lizzy took the lead and agreed to Val's proposal.
"We agree, we will sometimes team up with you, and we will never tell anyone about your secrets."
Val nodded and sheathed his sword. He moved away from Bindy, who had finally been able to breathe easy but the fear and embarrassment in her mind were still very present.
It was very lucky and convenient that no one had been around or on the street they were currently walking down.
The group decided to head back to the inn instead of grabbing a bite to eat. The atmosphere was far too awkward and no one wanted to make conversation.
They quickly arrived back at the inn where Val separated from the girls, he was tired and did not want to be stuck in the awkward atmosphere anymore. Val went up to Michelle who was walking around completing some menial tasks and asked if he could have dinner delivered to his room. Michelle said it was possible, but informed Val about the cafeteria where most people ate and drank. It apparently becomes quite rowdy at night when everyone enjoyed their food and drink together.
Val was not in the mood for that and decided to just have 3 small meals delivered to his room for dinner. He still had a fair bit of leftover food from the food stalls. He just ordered three servings of beef stew and headed to his room.
When he arrived in his room, he let out Larz who he thought would be annoyed at being kept inside another dimension for hours. However, Larz did not mind, he apparently just napped most of the time, which he informed Val was something Dragons often did. They really liked to sleep and could sleep for a very long time if they wanted.
It did not take too long for food to come, and the 3 of them ate in peace and then got a fairly early night. Val planned to head to the adventurers guild tomorrow morning to gather a bit of information on the dungeon and then enter the dungeon after he knew a bit about it.