Currently, I was at the Kuni forest, fighting against a group of bandits...well it was a group of bandits, but now it's just two guys.
"Kou!! You bastard!! You said he's an easy target!!"
One of them, a bald guy with an eye patch, shouted as he dashed forward with his daggers. He successfully slashed my right arm but in return, his face meets edge of my blade.
*Slash* after losing upper half of his head, blood splattered as his lifeless body falls to the ground joining all the others.
"Now it's just one left-"
Before I finish my sentence, the leader of these weak bandits, kou stabbed me in the back.
"....ack!"
I grunted as I rotated my sword clockwise till the point got in contact with his chest and then I immediately thrust the blade in his chest.
"Huk!!"
Finally, all the bandits were gone....these fuckers, I heard from the guild hall about how they destroyed many small villages, killing innocents and in the end they died like worms.
My focus then shifted to myself. My body was covered with several wounds, normally I would've defended myself and evaded those attacks from earlier but what happened at the founder's mountain was still stuck in my mind.
I kept remembering what Celine said to me back then..
* * *
(At the Founder's Mountain)
"It's not the party members you care about, but the party's name. Did you ever check up on the other members after any battle, do you know how many times Borris got injured after all of our battles, did you know how many times Ru almost got exhausted due to excessive use of mana because you asked him, you want me to continue?"
* * *
After soaking the whole area with blood of these bastards, I thought to myself...if what she was saying was true?... I want to confirm this but I'm too afraid to be proven wrong.
" Was I ever a good leader?"
I questioned myself, when suddenly a familiar voice interrupted my train of thoughts.
"Jason?"
The owner of that voice was none other than my old companion...
"Leon.."
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(Leon's Pov)
After being kicked out from the party by Jason, there's was only one regret on my mind...
".... I wasn't helpful.."
I kept saying to myself that....
"If I had been helpful enough.... Jason wouldn't have kicked me out...He was nice enough to give me several chances but it was I that wasn't good....what about Celine? she must also be thinking that I'm worthless part of dragonfall.."
Atleast that's what I thought about myself, until I met Evelyne...
I was on a solo quest about collecting herbs when I found her, a beautiful girl with crimson hair, but when I looked closer, I realised something, this wasn't just any ordinary girl, the two small horns on her head and scales on her arms gave away that she was a dragon in her human form,....but she was injured, from the looks of it, she must have been poisoned as well.
After she woke up, she was wary of me at first, but when I healed her, she calmed down and slowly she warmed up to me, after a while, she finally introduced herself.
Evelyne was the daughter of the Crimson dragon King, but she ran away from home due to some personal reasons, after running for some weeks, she found refuge with some people, but they turned out to be hunters, and when they learned that she's a dragon born they decided to capture her and sell her to the slave trade association but they underestimated her.
After destroying their entire gang, she finally escaped but not unscathed, they were able to poison her...and that's how she met me.
I still remember her cute face, when she expressed her gratitude to me.
"Thank you, Leon ~"
There were times when she quietly followed me around but as time passed, our talks became more and more frequent.
Then we went to the Founder's Mountain because of a quest, according to the information guild, there was some dangerous entity that was spotted there, but we couldn't find anything dangerous, what we did found was a young girl with hair as white as snow.
She looked sick, so both me and Evelyne helped her, later she introduced herself as Lumi, an ice mage from foreign lands, according to her, she was searching for her mentor who disappeared three years ago.
At first, we were just aquaintances but as the time went by, we became closer as a team and that's how I got a party of my own.
Being with them made me realise that I was wrong, I'm not worthless. Each time I healed them, I learned more about my healing ability. And recently, we got a third member for our party. Albeit, she acts a bit tough but she's really kind to all of us.
The four of us did many quests together, and today we got an escort quest for Duke Rubert's daughter.
And as I was walking around to look for any threats, I came across someone I never thought I'll get to see again, the man who kicked me out of his party.
The man standing over several mutilated corpses, there was no mistake, it was him...at first I thought about leaving him alone but when I noticed that his body was covered with several wounds, I just couldn't leave him. I know it is stupid of me to heal him and even though this man kicked me out, he was someone whom I respect and....owe him a lot.
I took a deep breath and finally called out his name.
"Jason?"
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(Jason's POV)
'Why did it have to be him of all people??'
I thought to myself, as my former party member Leon came closer to me. As I tried to leave, he once again call after me.
"Jason wait!!"
'Damn it!!! He's definitely gonna laugh at my miserable sight!'
Well, atleast that's what I thought was gonna happen but the first thing he did after walking upto me was-
"Heal!!"
-to heal me and in mere seconds, all my wounds were healed.
(After a long awkward silence)
"So.... how's everyone?"
He asked me, I could tell from his voice that this guy is trying his best to not make this situation more awkward as it is.
"They're good."
I decided to catch up since he did healed me just now, even though he didn't really had to. Soon, I told him everything, from how everyone left the dragonfall party, to how I'm doing these days...at first, I thought that he will make fun of me and laugh at my miserable state. Instead... he showed me empathy and then he started sharing how he's doing better at improving himself and how he met new friends and formed his party.
After catching up, we both decided to go out separate ways but before he left, I thought if I should ask him what was in my life.
"Um... Leon?"
As Leon turned around to look at me, he got confused, well anyone would be since all he could see was me kneeling down on the ground in a begging position...
"CAN I JOIN YOUR PARTY!?"
I know this is too shameless to ask from him since I was the one who kicked him out but I can't access better quests without a party.
I was half expecting him to refuse and tell me he's not comfortable with me being in his party but the answer he gave was truly unexpected.
"Sure!"
He said with the charming smile that he always used to show in the darkest times of our former expenditures.
I couldn't help but cry out of joy, while apologising to him profusely. About how I treated him so badly and how I shouldn't have kicked him out.
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After our talk ended, Leon informed me that he and his party members are currently in an escort mission and since the sun has already set, they are camping in this area.
As we reached the camp site, I noticed both the crimson haired dragon girl, Evelyne and the mage girl, lumi. He did told me about his party members but I was lost in my own thoughts, happy that I could finally join party quests that I didn't really focused on his words.
From the looks of it, they were accompanying a really pretty looking girl who is probably the young noble lady they were escorting.
All of them got a radiant smile on their face when they saw Leon coming.
"Leon you're back~"
Evelyne jumped with joy.
"We were worried about you!! What took you so long?"
Lumi chimed in.
"Leon, Who is this gentleman accompanying you?"
The noble lady who was with them seemed to notice my presence.
"This is Jason! My previous party's leader!!"
Leon introduced me with excitement in his voice but his enthusiasm wasn't shared among his allies, except the noble lady, were looking at me with hostility.
"Huh? so this is 'that' Jason, huh?"
Evelyne said in a chilling tone.
Leon must have told them about the time when I kicked him out from my party..
As the atmosphere looked tense, Leon announced.
"Alright everyone, Jason is gonna be a part of our party from today. I hope you all get along."
Leon gave me a reassuring smile as he announced it but his party members looked skeptical and lumi even questioned his decision.
"Leon...you're really a kind person but I don't think you should let this guy join our party...what if he's just taking advantage of your kindness.."
Both the Evelyne and lumi started staring daggers at me...
I guess, I'll have to endure all this, but this is just a small price to pay for getting better quests.
I thought this was a chance for my new beginning....but what happened next, I guess it changed everything.
A girl...no it was a demi human girl, who came out from one of the tents.
"What's with the fuss-"
But as soon as she saw me, her pupils dilated.
She immediately crouched down hugging her legs and screamed.
"EEEEKKKKK!!!!"
As for me, I lunged at her with my sword, screaming one word.
" TRAITOR!!!"
-to be continued ~