Chapter 23: 23: Rachel’s Courage

An air of tenseness permeated through Dexter’s office, weighing down everyone in the room as Kaitlyn wrapped up her report to the Guild master. The room, although luxurious as always, decorated with rugs, couches, among other fine furniture, seemed cramped and cluttered. Although part of the reason for this would be Dexter’s catastrophic organizing skills, the main contributor would be the amount of people in the room. 

In the small office, as Kaitlyn wrapped up her report, was Dexter, the guildmaster, Marie, Dexter’s second-in-command, Kaitlyn, the A.C.A, a member sent from the lab of monster experts, a messenger from the royal family, along with a messenger from the knights order. 

Tapping her chin with her eyebrows furrowed, Marie hummed, a determined light shining in her eyes, “This needs to be taken care of immediately, it seems the situation is stable for now, but we don’t know how long that will last. How soon can we send a dispatch party to take care of it?”

“I mean... We could just do me, the ancient man over there at the desk, Jayce, and Sasha...” Kaitlyn suggested, still a little awkward in front of all the people around, “Though, I feel like Dexter, Jayce, and Sasha are all quite busy... unlike me...”

Laughing, at the awkward expressions in the room, seeing everyone else but him, Marie, and Kaitlyn afraid to speak, Dexter slapped the desk, sending another pile of papers onto the ground, “No, no, I’m sure we can all make some time! We can also call over some other well-established S-Ranked Adventurers! I’m sure they can hurry over and be here for when Jayce, Sasha, and my schedules all open up!”

His cheery tone dispelling some of the heavy atmosphere, the discussion carried on: planning out their potential attack plan, sending out the messengers, analyzing the monster flesh, along with turning in the massive amounts of ogre ears they had collected. 

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Later on, after the meeting had concluded...

Walking back to their inn, the afternoon sky began to be dyed in pink and gold as the sun started its daily descent. The otherworders, minus one, made some idle conversation as their footsteps rang out against the paved road. 

Nodding as a merchant passed by them going the opposite direction, Oliver murmured, “That really was... unexpected.”

“Yeah... but it's a dungeon!” Damien exclaimed, the adventurer spirit inside of him being ignited, “And it's abnormal too! Seems like someone took it over and is using it as a base!”

Agreeing with Damien’s excitement over the dungeon, they were both former nerds after all, Josephine couldn’t help but sigh, a little glumness creeping into her voice, “I don’t think we’ll be able to go though... not even as spectators...”

His spirit quenched by Josephine’s realistic words, Damien now a little slumped over, groaned, “At least let me dreammmmm, Josephine... You’re right though...” 

Seeing that an awkward silence had fallen between the two, Oliver, seeing that they had neared their inn, interrupted, “Are we just not going to talk about Rachel? Like... out of all of us... how is she the one getting action? Have you met her?”

Perking back up with an unreasonable amount of energy, Damien, who had just seemed like he had lost every worldly possession he owned, now barked, “YEAH, HOW IS SHE THE ONE? She’s so awkward and like is the physical embodiment of gay panic.. I’m totally surprised she managed to muster up the courage to ask.” 

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“W-Well...” Josephine reasoned, trying to find some ground as they entered the first floor of the inn, the dining area, “She did just say that she wanted to do some training and asked Kaitlyn for a spar and some tips...”

With Oliver and Damien halting in their tracks to stare at her with judging eyes, Josephine shrank back, murmuring, “yeah... nevermind... who am I kidding... something’s definitely going to happen.”

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Meanwhile, where things were currently happening, Rachel was on the ground, panting and out of breath. 

“Come on, you can go for another round can’t you?” Kaitlyn asked, walking over and standing over Rachel, offering her a hand to help her up, “I can see improvement don’t worry, you’re learning fast.”

With a groan, Rachel pushed herself up without any help, grabbing her thrown aside katana as she got back onto her feet. Taking a moment to catch her breath, Rachel let out one long exhale before refocusing and getting back into fighting position. 

Holding her two swords, Kaitlyn decided to sheath one, waving for Rachel to relax seeing her worn out complexion, “Let me give you some pointers first actually, some stuff to improve on, why don’t you come over here and I can show you?”

“Let me pretend I’m you, right?” Kaitlyn began, readjusting her posture to hold her sword similar to Rachel, “So usually since you, along with the rest of the ... ass clap associates... are quite advanced, you can do stuff like this.” 

Suppressing her laughter at Kaitlyn's slight embarrassment saying their team name, Rachel watched as Kaitlyn channeled mana through her sword, releasing it as a mana blade that shot into the ground, carving a small crevice. 

“So that’s quite advanced,” Kaitlyn praised, nodding in approval, “that's a pretty important milestone of weaponry, with that alone you can be a low A-Rank Adventurer. Of course, given that you have a decent grasp of mana and can control how much mana you put into it blah blah which would determine its strength. Agree?”

“Yeah, it took us a fair amount of time to get to that,” Rachel surmised, confessing,” probably the better part of 11 months?” 

“That’s still very impressive,” Kaitlyn commended, patting Rachel on the back, “the average person might not ever get there in life, so 11 months is very impressive. Even most adventurers take many years, I’ve talked to a few who mention ranges from 5 to even 20 years.”

Neglecting to mention that she herself could do it from age 7, Kaitlyn then kept on with her explanation, “So from here, further improvement would be being able to control the mana blades themselves on a more precise level. This is another milestone as being able to do this proficiently also is a sign of a more advanced, comprehensive knowledge over how to use your weapon.” 

“Therefore... let me demonstrate.”