Chapter 50 Discussion in Darkness

In the pitch-blackness of the third level, Rydel and the party were currently sitting and resting. They were still tied together, apart from the unconscious Jack on Rydel's back.

"We'll rest here, this should be far enough," said Rydel, coming to a stop. He sat down and laid Jack on the cave floor.

"But what if they find us?" asked Brunar. If anyone could see Brunar's face at that moment, they would notice the first real hint of fear in his eyes as his right shoulder was being healed by Slivia.

"If they find us now, then chalk it up to bad luck. Just sit and rest. We need Jack awake to move further with the plan. Besides, there are some things we need to discuss," answered Rydel.

Maynard was the next to sit and speak, "The goblins are far stronger than we had anticipated. Those two goblin captains were both at lv. 30 and I have no clue why. Imagine how strong the goblin king might be."

Everyone started to better understand how far off their expectations were from reality. The goblins would be more troublesome, plus they failed to sneak into the third level and were easily discovered. Now the goblins know that there's a threat to them and would be able to prepare or track them if necessary. Their original plans might still be possible, but the odds of success had plummeted.

"I knew this was too good to be true," whispered Slivia, letting the darkness hide the tear rolling down her cheek.

"Hey, don't ya dare give up hope," said Maynard.

"Why not? My last party was wiped or captured before we could even come up with a plan, and our plan won't work after what just happened," Slivia explained her depressed reasoning.

"I had no clue the third level would have changed so drastically," mentioned Rydel. "I've traversed these three levels many times in my life, but the third level was always lit by the abundant azure. To find the entire level in darkness means that all the azure has been mined and transported in a short amount of time. It wasn't like this during your last journey here, right Slivia?"

"No…" she shook her head and let her voice fade out quietly.

"Hmm. If that's so, then the goblins must've done this on purpose," said Rydel.

"But if the goblins were the cause of this, why would they need the azure? They've rarely harvested it before, so why now?" asked Brunar.

"It might have something to do with the Royal Court." Maynard's comment grabbed everyone's attention. Currently, Maynard had retrieved one of the short swords he had collected from a goblin corpse. Running his fingers along the flat side of the blade and the hilt, Maynard found the Royal Crest pressed and imprinted at the base of the blade.

Frowning deeply, Maynard expressed his thoughts, "To think the Royal Court is really behind all of this. I'm guessing they cut the goblins a deal to retrieve all the azure here. And I'm sure they're the ones behind the sudden rise in the goblin's strength, only I don't know how they could do this. If they were able to raise the goblins' strength so much, why not do so for themselves first?"

That thought was slowly digested by everyone, each taking their guess to the reasons behind the Royal Court's objective.

Rydel broke the silence, "I have no clue, but there has to be some higher purpose if the Royal Court is really behind this. Also, remember that this information is classified and can't be shared with anyone besides your superiors within the association. Is that clear?"

Everyone nodded, accepting the terms. Deep down, they hoped that they were wrong because no one wanted to make enemies of a superpower like the Royal Court.

"So, what now?" asked Brunar, who was slowly returning to his usual outspoken self.

"For now, we wait. Once Jack wakes up, we'll discuss things further and determine what we do next," answered Rydel.

"You mean we're still going to attack the goblin city?" Troni's question and doubt pierced everyone's ears. "If that was only a couple squadrons from the outposts, how strong is the goblin city? How strong is the supposed goblin king? How does our small party have a chance to take the goblins head-on?"

"Do you not believe in your master's strength?"

Troni turned toward where he guessed Maynard was sitting and answered, "No, it's obvious that you're the strongest one of the entire group. It's just that you alone can't guarantee our safety when we'll be facing so many high leveled goblins. Am I wrong?"

Maynard shrugged his shoulders, accepting his disciple's logic but not admitting if it were true or not.

"I say we get out of here and get reinforcements to sweep through this place," continued Troni.

"Impossible," said Rydel. "Sure, they know we're here and vastly outnumber us. But if they've made so many changes since Slivia last entered this place, can you guess what the goblins may be like by the time we return with reinforcements? Their growth is unfathomable and unpredictable. The best time to strike is still now. You know exactly what the azure is used for, so why would we give time to the goblins who have so much of it?"

Swallowing some saliva, Troni and the other two young adventurers remembered the effects of azure. If the goblins were given time, doesn't that mean they'd have time to start blowing through the azure and strengthen themselves even more?

"That's why we must succeed now, got it?" No one dared to rebut their captain. "Good, now we wait for our hero to wake up."

In the silence, the young adventurers pondered over Rydel's and Maynard's favoritism towards Jack. They understood that he was a summoned hero, but why does that give him reason enough to have their two leaders await his opinion and command?

"Before he gets up, I demand you tell us more about your relationship with this guy?" Brunar was the first of the three to blatantly ask what they were all wondering.

Rydel sighed, "He may be low leveled, but he's different. Jack knows a lot more about Kartonia then you would ever guess. To be honest, he might know more about Kartonia then Maynard and me combined."

"Ya don't need to be jealous of him, he's got his own trials and hardships waiting for him," added Maynard.

Troni asked, "And what's up with his leveling? I don't know his current level, but I saw him cycling through different weapons and even using a lv. 10 gladius. Wasn't he reported as a lv. 1 according to stat gem at the association? Shouldn't such growth be impossible?"

The two veterans could sense the jealousy in Troni's voice. Rydel was quickly able to better understand why Brunar was selected as the first disciple and why Troni was the second.

Strength wasn't the most important thing to Maynard, he'd rather have an average disciple that was willing to work harder than anyone else and take challenges head on over some pampered, talented youth.

This was the biggest difference between the ronin's two top disciples. Brunar was outspoken and had no filter to his thoughts, but his personality and work ethic were both extremely consistent. Maynard liked this consistency and admired Brunar's chase for strength despite coming from the slums of the capital.

Rydel didn't know it, but Troni hailed from a noble family. Though it wasn't the strongest noble family by any means, Troni still had his arrogance. Troni learned to hide his pride around his master, however, there were times that it would become more evident upon provocation. He was always keeping his thoughts to himself and quietly obeying his master's orders, while occasionally enjoying the privileges of the nobles during his leisure time.

Both students worked hard, but Maynard understood them both too well to let Troni become his top disciple. Knowing what the top disciple might earn in the future, Troni would always try to scheme his way there under Brunar's nose.

Wearing his emotions on his sleeve, Brunar was easy for Troni to manipulate, given time. And now they were like best friends, constantly traveling together. Troni could accept Brunar's insane work ethic but seeing a supposed lv. 1 adventurer almost immediately reach lv. 10 was way too much for him to keep his cool.

"Yeah, what's up with that? That kid's crazy!" Brunar commented with a big grin. Before, he was hesitant of accepting Jack's claim to fame as a lv. 1 newbie but seeing Jack reach lv. 10 so easily proved that Jack was worth the fame.

In the back of Brunar's mind, he was giddy to see Jack's sudden rise in power. Through hard work, Brunar had surpassed peers and fellow disciples alike. Seeing Jack's insane leveling lit a fire in his belly that had long been dormant, the feeling of a challenge. After a long time, Brunar was happy to find someone that could reignite the competitive fire within him.

Maynard sighed, "If ya want to know that much, you'll have to ask Jack personally."

The three young adventurers came up with their theories behind Jack's rise in achievements while Rydel and Maynard eagerly took out a couple of elixirs. After forcing the two mana-restoring elixirs down Jack's throat, they saw Jack's face twitch.