Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Torturous waiting

Jean was laying with his head in Leander's lap, since it was the softest pillow alternative.

"You have to leave the barrier on the entrance in place. Go to the boss room through the secret entrance below the sarcophagus," Jean commanded, and Alektos went to move the lid of the sarcophagus. There was another barrier stone there, sealing it shut. Shadows were trying to break through, but the barrier held them back.

"Jean, you don't happen to have a barrier negate, do you?" Alektos rubbed the back of his head. Of all the things he had packed, a barrier negate was not one of them.

"Alektos, I am disappointed. Honestly, where do you even go without all the standard gear?" Jean finished with a snort and then rummaged in his bottomless bag. He took out a rod and threw it at Alektos.

"Thanks, Jean," Alektos negated the barrier and handed the barrier negate to Leander.

"I don't have another barrier stone," Jean informed them as they began to get in the sarcophagus and down the stair. Leander too tried to stand up, but Jean gripped his arm.

"Where do you think you are going, lemon cake? You are a healer, that is a boss fight. You will end up dead. Unless, you have a couple of quick heal spells?" Leander did not like the smirk on Jean's face. Considering that the archer needed rescuing, he shouldn't be feeling so superior.

"Jean, my arrow barrages can help. Let go already," Alektos poked his head out of the sarcophagus and sighed.

"He is right, Leander. Maybe he could have worded it better, but there is no place for a healer during a boss fight if he can't quick heal. And healers at the guild learn the guild's quick heal spells only at rank A," Leander wilted at that and Jean barked a laugh, making himself more comfortable on Leander's soft lap.

"We will be back before you know it," Morris's voice came from below, and Leander closed his eyes. If something happened to the platoon members, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

Alektos sprinted down the stairs, and Leander heard a grate opening and then silence.

"Relax, lemon cake. They will be fine. What with five tanks and all," Leander, without meaning to, gripped Jean's shoulder for support.

"I bet you were never made to wait during boss fights," Leander replied snidely. What rank had Jean been when he started? Surely, a B. Just like Morris.

"You'd be surprised. There was this one time, my first dungeon, in fact, when Borik and Andors benched me and took out the slime boss by themselves because my arm was all banged up," Leander's eyebrows furrowed. What was a B rank adventurer doing in the slime dungeon? Maybe it was because of Borik and Andors?

"What rank were you when you started? I mean, if it is not too personal a question?" Jean chuckled at that.

"F, like you. I almost didn't make the cut. I was deemed too skinny. Not only that, but I had anorexia back then. But, Borik and I were from the same village, and he was B rank. So, he took a quest, partied with Andors, and took me along. The guild master chewed him somewhat awful for it, but let me in the guild," Leander's eyes widened. Jean had been just rank F, once? How was that possible? Jean Firebolt was the stuff of legends. With a career of only three years, but already an S rank, going for SS.

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"I know what you are thinking," Jean began, a bit more serious. "How did he rise through the ranks like that? Well, just like you. I worked my ass off. Taking the easy F and E quests by myself and waiting for Borik to invite me to the harder quests. We didn't have a healer, so, at first, the most he invited me to were C rank quests. Then, I learned the Behemoth Arrow Barrage, and we stopped needing a healer."

Leander nodded, dazed. He felt arms wrap around him and noticed that Jean had moved so that he was now lying as he was facing Leander's stomach.

"Uhm, Jean. Do you think you are well enough to get off me?" Jean got a mischievous look on his face. Not that Leander could see it, seeing as it was hidden from sight by Jean's long red hair.

"Hm, what sort of healer are you, lemon cake? Your patient needs comfort, and you are ready to let him use dust as a pillow? Or, worse, stone? Stay still," Leander sighed. Jean must know that Leander felt uncomfortable. So, he was being insufferable about it.

"Tell me about one of your quests?" Leander asked, curious.

"There is nothing much to say. We go in, kill the mobs, bag what there is to be bagged, and leave. The same as you," Jean hugged Leander tighter, and the healer's cheeks colored a slight rosy color.

"There must be something off the beaten path. Like this dungeon," Leander tried again. If he had to keep playing a pillow in silence, he was going to die of embarrassment.

"Well, there was that time we went for a griffin nest. But, do you know what we found there?" Leander shook his head, then, he figured that Jean couldn't see him, so he spoke.

"I don't know. Broken eggs?" He suggested, and Jean barked a laugh.

"No, leprechaun squatters," Leander blinked. A what now?

"You are joking. They will never brave a Griffin's nest," Jean pinched one of Leander's hips and Leander tried to slap his hand, but Jean pulled it away too quickly.

"Not only did they brave the nest, they domesticated the griffins. Once you see leprechauns coming at you with their sticks for spear on the back of a griffin, you know you have seen it all," Leander chuckled, imagining the picture. Then, he began to straight out laugh.

"Do you know what the worst part was?" Jean almost whined, and Leander laughed harder. "We got our asses handed to us. Got tied up, and then we had to send a distress call. The guild master came personally. More to ask the leprechauns about their griffin taming secret than to get us, mind you."

Leander was clutching his sides as he laughed. So, this was how the guild had started to tame griffins as pack animals. He had always wondered. 

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