Levi followed Alex to the planning room, the room he had met David and Kelly in before. They were there now too, as well as Agatha who he had met but barely talked to and someone else he didn’t know. They were all seated around the table and as soon as Levi walked in he could feel the serious atmosphere pressing down on him. Alex gestured for Levi to take a seat before sitting himself, bringing the people present at the table up to six.

Levi was waiting for someone to start talking, but the silence persisted, giving him time to observe everyone. Alex and Kelly were the only people close to his own age. If he had to guess, he would put Alex in his mid-20s and Kelly a few years older, although he was terrible about guessing women’s ages. Alex was by far the person he felt closest to, although it wasn’t just because he and Alex had sparred and talked a lot. Alex just had this approachable aura about him. Perhaps it was his affable air combined with the ridiculous clothes everyone had to wear along with his stubble and short, dark kinky hair. Honestly he looked a bit goofy, although Levi didn’t want to think about his own appearance. It was more impressive that other people managed to look refined while wearing handmade leather clothes.

Kelly was unabashedly staring as him, and as Levi swept his gaze around the table he tried not to meet her eyes. He believed her that she used to be in the circus. She had that presence about her that performers had. If she wasn’t so over the top Levi would have been a little intimidated. Her fiery red hair and sharp features were a bit overwhelming. She was the kind of person Levi would have been tongue tied trying to talk to back on Earth. He was bad at talking to people that swept you along with their pace.

David appeared exactly as he had before, somehow exuding a dignity that didn’t fit the situation. Levi would have pictured him in a board meeting for some fortune 500 company, as even with his clothes and his slightly unkempt light brown hair he just had the aura of someone who was used to telling people what to do. He really meshed well with Agatha, who was sitting beside him. If David managed to pull off his unique presence with just his aura, Agatha managed to do so while combining with a flawless appearance that Levi suspected must be the work of some skill. She had the ageless look that only older people of Asian descent had, and while Levi suspected she was the oldest one here and in her 50s, she could have passed for 40 easily but he also wouldn’t have been surprised if she was actually in her 60s.

The final person at the table, the one Levi hadn’t met yet, was someone else with an unflappable aura. He had an aura similar to David, although his large frame gave him a more intimidating appearance. Unlike Alex who had complained to Levi he couldn’t be bothered to keep his head shaved, this person had both his head and face smooth-shaven. His skin was a bit darker than Alex’s, and while the clothes Alex was wearing made him look like was attending a renaissance fair, this person managed to somehow pull the look off, only falling behind Agatha for style. Even David had his unique aura detracted by the clothes, but Levi felt like this person could attend a fashion show and people would politely ask him which designer made his clothes. His appearance was rather impressive, even more so considering Levi thought he couldn’t have been older than his low 30s. Levi really wasn’t sure where all these people came from, but perhaps it was precisely because they were all so amazing that the outpost was even able to exist in the first place.

After a short silence David spoke up.

“Levi, I had wanted to give you more time to decide on whether or not you wanted to join our group but events outside my control conspired change that. While you were out with Kelly we received word that our original group was destroyed. They were overrun by a monsters horde, and by overrun I mean literally overrun by armored bison-like monsters. The person who delivered the news died of his wounds shortly after arriving, and as far as we know he might have been the last survivor.”

David paused for a brief moment, giving Levi a chance to digest the news.

“Because of that,” David said, “we have decided we need to change locations. We are just too exposed. The current plan is to salvage what we can from our current settlement and move towards the mountains, ideally finding a new place to settle that has both defensible terrain as well as sufficient resources. You are a powerful combatant and we would be grateful if you would join us, but that isn’t the main thing we would like your help with. We have realized that, as strong as we are, we are not nearly strong enough. And you mentioned there is a way to get stronger quickly.”

“The dungeon,” Levi said, realizing where David was going.

David nodded. “That’s right. We would like it if you could accompany some of the members of our group into the dungeon, and of course afterwards we hope you will join us a permanent member. Kelly is powerful, but it is unlikely she could singlehandedly fight such a large group of monsters. She is also just one person. Were something untoward to happen to her we would be facing a serious crisis. If we want to survive we need to diversify our assets, not invest in only one person.”

Kelly jumped in. “If it wasn’t clear, I won’t be coming with you into the dungeon. I’m needed here to protect everyone else. We are planning to leave here as soon as we can, likely within a week. Once you guys get out of the dungeon you’ll have to catch up to us. We’ll make sure to leave a clear trail to follow.”

“Exactly,” David said. “We might go ahead with sending people into the dungeon regardless of what you choose, but having someone with some experience with dungeons would make me feel much better about sending a group in rather than them entering blind. I’m aware that you haven’t had that much time to get to know us, but we really need your answer by tomorrow at the latest.”

David stopped speaking, letting Levi mull over everything. It was a lot to take in, but nothing David said really surprised him. If powerful monsters could exist inside the dungeon, there was nothing stopping them from existing outside of it. And while he did think their current location had a lot going for it, creating a town on a plain with known monster hordes was a recipe for disaster should they ever face anything they couldn’t easily fight off.

Levi took another look at the people sitting around him. His gut told him to trust them. So far they had asked very little of him while providing him with food, clothing, and shelter essentially for free. It was possible they could have some evil master plan or there were a few bad apples, but he was inclined to trust everything he had seen so far, and all the evidence said that he would be a fool for walking away.

And besides, did he even want to walk away? He had never been the most social person, but having other people around made him relax in a way he hadn’t been able to while he was alone. There was something comforting about having people around. And if he had a hard time describing his feelings towards interacting with people he had no trouble describing how he felt about the things they could provide for him. He would never underrate sleeping on a bed and wearing real clothes ever again.

But still Levi hesitated. After everything he had been through it was just too hard to commit so easily. He knew he was bad at reading people. Would he even know if Alex was actually a conniving backstabber? Just because he thought Alex was a swell guy didn’t mean he actually was. The same for the rest of them. But as Levi sat there thinking it over he realized walking away wasn’t something he could stomach. It felt like the weak move. If something was going to happen, he would fight it head on. And besides, he could always leave later. There wasn’t actually anything forcing him to stay, not matter what he told everyone else. And there was still the dungeon.

Levi had been doing hist best to distract himself from the dungeon he knew was across the river. It was actually easier to tune it out after he got his new skill, but he still knew it was there, and if he was truly committed to becoming stronger, entering it was likely his best option. Having other people come with him would be a huge help, as he had a feeling dungeons weren’t made to be conquered alone, hence his soloing achievement. The darker part of his mind also chimed in about how if he got into a sticky situation he no longer had to outrun the monsters, only his teammates.

“I’ll do it,” Levi said. “I’ll join the outpost.”

“Are you sure?” David asked. “You can take some more time to think if you need it.”

Levi shook his head. “There’s nothing to think over. People aren’t meant to live on their own. And I want to go into the dungeon too, and going with other people is much better than going alone.”

“Great!” Kelly said. “Let’s all give a round of applause for our new comrade!”

Kelly started clapping enthusiastically, with Alex joining in immediately and everyone else soon after.

“I’m glad you’ve decided to join us,” David said. “We’ll be discussing more about the dungeon tomorrow, although for now it looks like the party will be you, Alex, Duane, and Mia and Sam, who I don’t think you’ve met.”

From David’s gesture, Levi guessed that Duane was the person at the table whose name he hadn’t known.

“As of right now,” David continued, “we are going to continue our discussion about what needs to be done to relocate. You are welcome to stay, but don’t feel pressured to if you would rather be doing other things.”

Levi wasn’t too invested in the outpost yet and sticking around for a boring meeting didn’t interest him so he politely excused himself, instead making his way to the dining area for some food. There was still a lot for him to think over and he planned to turn in early after eating. Tomorrow would likely be a big day.