Chapter 42: Leaving For The First Time

"Why do we have to leave?" Tim asked when everyone had gathered.

"Because I have already touched the Core, the dungeon has frozen for everyone in the party until we can beat the current boss. I don't think there is a chance of it right now, but if we go to Dyster we can train in that dungeon where no one has touched the Core."

"What about the guild? What is everyone else going to do? And what are we going to do in a new city without our guild and our Crests?" Corbit asked, looking around at my brothers and the other two soloists, Keedo, and Shatter Strike.

"Gram and Healia will be staying here while we travel, along with my parents. Things will run as normal while we are gonna and we will be able to upgrade the Guild while we are gone. We will have to get it up to three levels and collect an artifact so we can create a Waystone. After that, Healia says we can come back here in the blink of an eye."

This was something that would be necessary since it was already going to take us two and a half weeks just to get to Dyster. Then we had to get stronger and make friends with a local Guild. There was also the part about even getting there in one piece.

I had never had reason to travel outside of town, but the stories were less than encouraging. The biggest problem was people that didn't want to go in dungeons or had been kicked out of Guilds. They prayed on travelers and acted worse than the monsters in the dungeons; stories of rape and murder were not uncommon. Even merchants traveled with armed escorts, and that was the task I had got us to earn extra money on the trip along with buying our own wagon.

Everyone looked concerned, but I wasn't that worried. We had a strong group, and if the bandits were strong enough, they would go and farm the dungeons like everyone else. No, we would just have to watch out for traps and other things of that nature. I felt bad for having to drag everyone along, but they all signed up for this when they joined the Guild.

"Ah, this won't be so bad! Think of it as a holiday! Dyster is a port city, so there will be lots of exports from the floating cities! K, You ever had the smoked fish they bring in? That's the stuff right there! Smoked fish chunks!" Tim said, drifting off into dreams of the food.

I wasn't sure what he was talking about for the smoked fish, but I did know about the floating cities. They were a massive number of green hollow wood floating platforms that stretched to cover a huge area where people lived in small huts scattered across them. There were fifteen of them that were known, but being from inland and surrounded by mountains my entire life, it was hard to say.

There could be other lands, and I could have the chance to get closer and hear stories about it. The thought was exciting, and the fact that I would get to share all these things with Lesha made it just that much better. I looked over to her and she smiled back, having her with me to get through this was really good. I was feeling the crushing weight bore of responsibility for having to drag everyone along, but now I was trying to think of it more in the way Tim was, as an adventure.

"Say your goodbye and get going, Gastbo isn't going to like waiting. I talked to him, so please be nice to him, we will need his business in the future. I will be able to make specialty items, but he is going to buy some of the dungeon supplies," My father said, rushing me out the door.

"How can I say them with you pushing me out the door!" I complied as my father literally pushed me out of my Guild.

Everyone along with Gastbo and two other men, Mark and Kevin, both known and trusted Ruby Ranked Adventures Gastbo had hired for the round trip. He could hire more to replace us in Dyster, but it was good to have a few that you knew for the entire trip, or you could get robbed on your way back by the one that was supposed to protect you. A sad place where you always had to plan for betrayal, but this was the world we were born into.

"Are you finally ready to go? It's going to be launched soon and we haven't even left the city! We will be lucky if we reach the foot of the mountains today!" Gastbo complained, but Tim spoke up.

"And that is a good thing, besides humans lurking around, there are things in the wild just as bad as the monsters in the dungeon. It would be good if we camped well before the mountains, and then got an early start. Getting through the mountains in a single day is impossible but we can make it up to the highest part of the trail, and there should be a cabin where we can stay if it's not occupied."

Gastbo nodded with a knowing look and then nodded to his driver. After that, he turned back to my father and gave him a nod, then turned back and got into his carriage with his two guards. The girls were getting into our carriage, but Tim and Corbit had asked to sit with the driver, and he was more than fine to have company.

I turned back and gave my father a hug, this was my first time really being away from him for my entire life. I was twenty-two, but it still felt like I was a kid leaving home for the first time, but I held myself together and said my goodbye.

"Go get them, K! Come back twice as strong! We will all be waiting!"

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