NOVEL NEXT Chapter 48 - Not Alone
“Sam… I am not letting you pay for our meals. We’ve been here for hours.” Gio said.
“Ditto. At least let me pay. I’ve got a full-time job.” Hatra quipped.
“No can do. Call it a former-employee discount. We’ve been doing well since the challenge… the shrine feature that the prosperity spirit sponsored has been unexpectedly good for business.” Sam replied.
“Even still… you’ve been supplying us with bubble tea and gyoza all day,” Gio argued.
“I think you meant to say that you’ve been testing my new menu items with feedback from your newly advanced palette. Say that thing you said again.” Sam begged.
“Your udon was on par with Marie’s, but her tempura beats yours without contest,” Gio repeated.
“To think… the Marie Bain! I can’t believe she’s been in the Ringed City this whole time! You know she’s an international legend in the chef community, right? I am fairly certain that knowledge of her whereabouts might literally be worth money to the right buyers. Not that I would ever risk offending her. Anyways, that praise will cover your tab for today. I’ll be riding that high for the rest of the month.” Sam said, bubbling with glee.
“Well… thank you, Sam.” Gio said.
After Sam walked away, Hatra cleared away the dirty dishes, and Gio used [Cleanse] to ensure that no food debris would soil the papers splayed about on the table.
“I can’t believe after all these years, we’re back to pouring over your grandfather's notes again. I’m giddy with excitement to finally learn what some of this says!” Hatra bubbled.
“It’s surprisingly in-depth for someone who was supposedly uneducated. Take a look at this log right here.” Gio said, offering Hatra a couple of pages.
Hatra read over the pages, trying to make heads or tails of the content.
“I remember this one. He’s talking about a curse here, right? Something bad happens if you take metal from the dungeon.” She said.
“Yep. He’s lacking a lot of the terminology that we’ve been learning… but he’s arrived at a lot of conclusions correctly from basically just brute-forcing it. After only a few months at school, I’m not going to pretend like I am a vaunted dungeoneering expert, but I’d like to think that I’ve learned a bit. This page outlines a thief’s bane curse, basically a charm that prevents unauthorized parties from taking things from a dungeon. It’s surprisingly uncommon for what it is- most dungeons prefer to just kill intruders rather than go through the trouble to curse them. For whatever reason, it seems like the metal that the dungeon creatures in [Telchine’s Garden] produce isn’t supposed to leave the dungeon. He reports a bit later that he was able to take other dungeon loot from the ruins without issue.” Gio explained.
“Weird. So we shouldn’t take the metal is what I’m hearing.” Hatra said.
“We? Who is we?” Gio asked.
“Dummy, I’m coming with. You're not alone. We’ve been reading about this dungeon since we were kids! Quinn is gonna be mad that he missed the chance to come.” Hatra replied.
“Hattie… I appreciate you, I really do. But this is going to be dangerous, And I feel bad enough that I am going to be asking my school friends to come along. Do you even have any combat abilities?” Gio asked.
Hatra giggled at Gio’s expense. She summoned a sphere of sickly green fire, allowing it to curl into menacing snake-like shapes and swim through the air.
“Silly boy. I may not be a true mage, but I use system magic. This is [Alchemist Fire], it burns the very essence of whatever I throw it at. I can also make bombs out of waste reagents. We’re gonna need a source of healing potions though, I can’t afford those reagents yet.” She said.
“Huh. Well, I guess I can’t really refute that. If you’re willing to risk life and limb for me… I’d be more than happy to have you.” Gio replied.
“Great! When I get back to work tomorrow, I’m gonna volunteer for sludge duty for the next few weeks in preparation for the big day. It’ll be nice to get some extra levels in, and maybe pick up some reagents. You said you wanted to go three weeks from now?” Hatra asked.
“Yes. I think three weeks of preparation should be sufficient to gather everything needed to at least try making it through the dungeon. If we’re going to do this… we’re gonna do it safely.” Gio said, firming his resolve.
“Sounds good to me. So, Captain Gio. what do we need to get to prepare ourselves sufficiently for this delve?” Hatra asked.
“I’ve been thinking about that. I’ve got it down to a few key details, but I’m sure I’ll think of more in the coming days. The biggest worry I have right now is that we need a boat. Grandpa had some sort of magic boat from his class, but I think we could probably get by with something less dramatic. In addition to that, we’re gonna need rations for a few days, a first-aid kit, appropriate clothing, and some more mundane stuff like rope and chalk.” Gio said.
“Seems mostly doable. The boat might be tough, especially since we’d have to transport it to the entrance somehow. I’ll look around on my end. Well, Gio, I’ve seen enough of these notes for today. I’ll catch you later!” Hatra said.
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Gio planned to spend the little remainder of his time left at home with his family. He made sure to play with the twins as much as possible, having heard from his mother that they didn’t take it so well the night after he left the first time.
Gio’s relationship with his younger siblings was one he tried to make as idyllic as possible. Growing up in the Copper Ring, Gio was amply aware that there weren’t necessarily enough resources in the family to provide a luxurious lifestyle. So when it came time to go back to school shopping or to decide what extracurricular activities the kids would be doing, Gio made sure that his parents knew it was okay to prioritize the twins before him. Gio felt blessed to have the loving family that he had, and he wanted to make sure that his younger siblings got to enjoy their childhood for as long as possible before they had to start dealing with the struggles of the working-class education-to-career pipeline.
Gio’s recent struggles had put a lot of things into perspective for him. Emma wanted to become an archaeologist when she grew up, and little Sam wanted to be a doctor like Uncle Heath. Gio knew that both of those careers wouldn’t be easy to accomplish, especially if they needed to try and get scholarships like he had. He looked down to the sleeping forms of his siblings, one on each side as they lounged on the couch in the living room. He had a complex expression on his face,as he covered them with blankets.
I don’t know exactly what school would be like for an archaeologist, but I know that medical school was difficult for Uncle to get into… I hope that we can provide for them when the time comes.
Gio caught sight of his reflection in the window to his right.
“They will be fine. You’re worried about providing for them… but we need to focus on providing for ourselves first.” Rio signed.
“That may be true… but I can’t help it. Family is the only thing we have. Mom and Dad work so hard to provide for us. It makes me want to try harder for all of our sakes.” Gio replied.
“I agree… but that’s not a today problem. Right now, we can focus on what we’ve got in front of us… and what we have in front of us is an opportunity. I think we’re making the right call inviting Jean and Rika to come with us… but we need to make sure that we’re as prepared as possible. I know that this is going to sound insane and counterproductive, but in order to make this delve as safe as possible… I think we’re going to have to bend a few rules, and maybe take some risks.” Rio signed.
“Take a risk to be safe… Interesting philosophy.“ Gio replied.