"Are you really sure about this? Teaming up with another person after what happened?" Frowned Rosary with a conflicted look on her face.

"Yeah, he’s pretty powerful, and more importantly, he knows that I’m a Heretic and doesn’t have a problem with it. There’s no reason not to team up with him. And besides, there’s a big difference between this time and last time," I replied dryly.

"You mean how this time you don’t have to hide the full range of your powers?" Guessed Prysm in response.

"Well, yeah, that certainly helps, but it’s not what I meant. What I meant was that, this time, it’s a decision I’ve freely made on my own. Unlike last time, when I was pretty much forced into it," I pointed out with a frown, earning a guilty look from Rosary.

Yeah, maybe I should stop guilt tripping her about it, don’t want to end up souring our relationship beyond repair. I haven’t just been making her feel bad about it out of pettiness, just so we’re clear...sure, a large part of it is definitely me being petty, but there’s another reason, a more significant one.

It’s to ensure that, if I’m ever put in a situation like that again, she’ll definitely help me get out of it, to avoid a repeat of how disastrously this ended.

I then sat up as I heard a knock on the door, before getting onto my feet. Rosary and Prysm went over to the next room, I’d told them to do so when he gets here, so as not to overwhelm him by introducing him to two new people out of the blue.

See? I can be considerate if I want to. Anyway, I only told him what time to get here and which room I was staying in...he seemed a little confused about why we were meeting here instead of somewhere outside, but he didn’t question it.

He’s probably gonna be pretty awkward around the two of them, hope he gets used to them before too long. I then walked over towards the door, before I unlocked and opened it.

"Uh...hey," He greeted me, as I stepped aside to let him in.

"Appreciate your punctuality, you’re a couple of minute early," I replied with a nod of approval.

"Oh, well, you said not to be late, so...yeah," He responded as he entered and I shut the door.

Hm, he seems a bit more awkward than the last time we spoke...maybe the few days of no contact was enough to make him feel less comfortable around me?

Man, that’s gotta be rough, his social anxiety is pretty severe, huh?

"I’m sure you’re wondering why I asked you to come here instead of meeting up somewhere outside, right? Sorry to spring this on you, but it won’t just be the two of us, we’ll be having a couple of others with us too," I informed him.

"H-huh? Oh, uh...are you sure that’s a good idea? What if they find out that you have both Attributes?" He pointed out anxiously.

"Oh, don’t worry about that, these two already know about me. In fact, one of them possesses the Light Attribute," I remarked, before heading for the door connecting to the other room and knocking on it.

The door opened from the other side, before Rosary and Prysm stepped out, both looking pretty curious.

"Hi, there, nice to meet you. I’m Rosary Farndrey," Rosary introduced herself with a friendly smile.

"Y-yeah, I know who you are, y-you’re a Diamond rank...I-I’m Ilex Sarralot, n-nice to meet you t-too," He stuttered as his gaze darted about.

Heh, I haven’t told them about how he goes all maniacal when he really gets into a fight, boy are they in for a surprise later on.

"I’m Prysm Duralles, hi! Wow, you’re even more fidgety than Larrk led me to believe," Chimed in Prysm in fascination.

"O-oh, uh...I see," He muttered nervously.

"We can’t afford to let this brat be seen in public since she has the Light Attribute, that’s why I asked you to meet us here. She can teleport us right into the Labyrinth, anywhere upto the middle floors," I explained, as I lightly smacked my palm onto the top of her head.

"O-okay, that makes sense...," He nodded awkwardly.

"Are we going now?" She asked me, as she shook my hand off her head.

"Yeah, let’s start off at the twentieth floor and-...," I began to suggest.

"U-um, actually...m-maybe it’ll be better if we first go to the Guild and take on a Labyrinth quest? I-I mean...you said you wanted to make it seem like you were returning to action after a few days off to mourn, so that it seems like you aren’t wasting the sacrifice of those three? Y-you know, for the cover story you came up with? I-if we teleport from here, the Guild won’t know, which means they’ll assume that we’re still holed and mourning, r-right?" Ilex pointed out.

"Hey, that’s a pretty good point...alright, then, sounds good. Let’s first head to the Guild, take on a quest after I give a determined speech about how I’m going to make sure that their sacrifices weren’t in vain, and declare that I’ll get stronger and carry on their will or whatever. Nice thinking, man," I grinned with a thumbs up.

"O-oh, uh...thanks."

"Alright, then...Prysm, get in," I remarked as I opened up my Pocket Dimension, before adding, "Let’s head out to the Labyrinth after we’re done at the Guild, and once we make sure that the coast is clear, we’ll teleport down to the middle floors."

"Fine, I guess that makes sense. But don’t leave me in there for too long," She sighed reluctantly, before heading into the portal.

"Hey, here’s a thought...why don’t the three of us register as an official party? We’ll be able to take on higher paying quests that way," Suggested Rosary, as I shut the portal.

"A-are you sure? I-I’ve never officially been a part of a party before...," Ilex informed her.

"Well, if you’re against it, we don’t have to. But it would be mutually beneficial, if you ask me, so it’s your call," I shrugged in response.

"N-no, I’m not against it or anything. If the both of you have no problem with being in a party with me, then I’ll gladly accept," He nodded nervously.

"Wow...no offense, but with such low self-confidence, how exactly have you gotten all the way to Platinum rank?" Inquired Rosary in bemusement.

"I’m guessing you didn’t take the ranking exams, did you? You took the longer route, ranking up by completing quests instead?" I surmised with a raised eyebrow.

"Y-yeah, that’s right...I try not to fight people unless there’s no choice...," He muttered as he averted his gaze.

Hm...that kinda implies that he has fought people before. Well, it’s none of my business, so I won’t press him for details. I doubt he wants to talk about it anyway.

"Alright, let’s head out to the Guild now, shall we? Don’t want to get started in the Labyrinth too late," I remarked, as I began heading for the door.

"Before we get to the Guild, there’s something important we need to decide...a party name," Responded Rosary, as she and Ilex followed after me.

"Does it really matter?" I sighed in exasperation.

"Come on, we’ll have to write down something when registering as a party, so we might as well come up with something that’s nice and memorable," She pointed out.

"U-um, what if we go with Deatrio and say we’re using their name as a tribute or something?" Suggested Ilex timidly.

"Hm...nah, that might come off as insensitive, some people might see it as us taking advantage of their party name to raise our own fame, it could lead to unwanted trouble later on. Plus, Rosary didn’t have much of any connection to them, so it’s probably not the best idea...let’s just combine our names or something, it really doesn’t matter, if you ask me," I responded indifferently.

"Come on, combining the names of the members is just about the most boring way to go about it, and more often than not, it just sounds dum-...oh, wait. How about Roarex? The ’Ro’ from the start of my name, the ’ar’ from the middle of your name, and the ’ex’ from the end of Ilex? That sounds pretty cool, if you ask me, it’s like ’roar’, and then the ’ex’ at the end adds to it nicely!" She suddenly suggested as her eyes lit up.

Yeah, when it comes to this stuff, she’s got the naming sense of a nerdy thirteen year old boy. I mean, she used to disguise herself in all black, called herself Rose Thorn-...or was it Thorn Rose, I can’t be bothered to remember...-and spoke all dramatic and edgy and stuff.

Well, whatever, I honestly couldn’t care less what our party name is. So long as it doesn’t cause any problems, anything is fine with me.

"Sure, let’s go with that," I replied, as we headed down the elevator.

"Great! What about you, are you okay with this name?" She asked Ilex, who flinched slightly as she met his gaze. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"U-uh, sure...I don’t have a problem with it."

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