I was thinking about the chasm I saw in the dungeon while Chelsey worked silently as she cleaned my wounds and deftly wrapped them up without restraining them too much. Not much time passes by before she finishes with my bandages “Okay, all done.” she says as she pats my shoulders gently.

After I put both my tunic and cloak back on I then got up and went over to my sword to fix it on my back once more. With my back turned to Chelsey she asked me “So have you gone to the guild yet?”.

Once I finished fixing myself up, I turned to her and opened up one of the bags on my waist. While pulling out the guild card I nodded while saying “They gave me my guild card.” and handed her the card.

Chelsey examines the card and shortly after she brings a finger to her lips “With this, you are now a certified adventurer.”. With a gentle smile she turns to me, handing it back “Congratulations Crim! Hopefully this will help aid you with getting your memories back.”. As I take the card back Chelsey then questions “Do you know what you are going to do now?”.

“I was thinking about going back to the guild and seeing if they could set me up a meeting with Serval Grue.” I answered her while I put away the card.

“Hmm… that may work.” Chelsey then looks out the window “We leave for the capital tomorrow.”. She then turns to me with a worried expression “Will you come with us?”.

I sigh, shaking my head “I’m sorry but I need to meet him as soon as possible.”.

Chelsey closes her eyes and lets out a soft sigh “I thought so.”. She opens her eyes again and looks out the window “This reminds me of the first day we met, you rejected me as well when I asked then.”. Chelsey then turns to me with a gentle smile “Even though it was short, I enjoyed your company, Crim.”.

I looked out the window and said, “It wasn’t bad being around you guys.”.

Chelsey then gets up out of the bed “If you want, before I leave I can patch up the few holes your cloak has gotten now.” she says, changing the subject. Not really knowing why it matters to fix it up but I agree with her and proceed to take off the cloak and hand it to her. “I’ll have it looking brand new by the morning for you.” she claims with a smile.

After asking her if there was anything else she needed to say, I then started to make my way to the exit. Before I was out the door Chelsey mentions one last thing “If you don’t mind, could you have dinner with us tonight.”. While peering over my shoulder, I nod to her and take my leave.

Not knowing what to do until dinner, I decided to head out behind the inn to do some more sword practice. Once I was outside and made my way along the side of the building, I found Vaero practicing his swordsmanship already. When he saw me he stopped swinging his sword. “It’s hard to say I’m not surprised about you being back already after seeing you fight several times now.” Vaero claims while turning to me. “Let’s spar once more before I leave tomorrow.” he then tells me.

With nothing but time, I agree with him and get ready to spar with him.

Several hours passed by with us going multiple rounds against each other, the score was fourteen to sixteen in favor of me. We would have gone on for a lot longer until a voice from the side shouted out “Hey guys! It’s getting late! Lets get dinner already since we need to leave early tomorrow!”.

We both look to the source to see Chelsey standing beside the building. “I’m sorry Chelsey, since it’s the last day before we leave, I wanted to get as much sparring in with Crim.” Vaero says while he sheaths his blade.

After Vaero gave an apology to Chelsey, she then turned around and started heading back before us. “I understand how you feel but I’m pretty sure all of us are hungry now so let's go eat!” she says while she goes on ahead of us.

Vaero turns to me and says while I was fixing my sword to go on my back “You still lack form but your swordsmanship has been getting better against another sword.”. He pauses for a moment before continuing “This has been helping me too so I guess thanks for sparring with me for the past few days.”. Right after he finishes talking, he hastley walks towards the front of the inn.

Before I head back inn as well I think back to the fight with the goblins and then to the one run in with that bandit. The short fight I had with the bandit was difficult and even against the goblin with the sword and shield, it had such a small wooden shield but still used it to completely stop an attack from me. I look up to the sky for a brief moment before I head back towards the inn.

Once I was inside the inn, I quickly found Vaero and Chelsey in the tavern area. While I was taking a seat Chelsey asked “Is there anything in particular that you want to eat Crim?”. Not really sure about what other kinds of dishes there were, I shook my head. “Hmm… if that's the case then… Oh I know!” Chelsey mumbles before she calls over the wench.

After Chelsey has several words with her, she sends her off and turns to me and asks “So, how was being inside the dungeon?”.

I thought for a moment before giving my response “It was small I think, it only had two rooms but there was something weird about that place.”. They both looked at me with curious faces before I spoke on what it was “There was this huge hole that had no end.”. After saying that, I think back to when I was staring down the black abyss that accompanied the hole.

“Hmm, that’s weird. From the stories I heard about from adventurers, dungeons aren’t usually that small.” Chelsey claims while she rests a finger upon her lower lip. Shen then turns to Vaero “Do you have any idea, Vaero?”.

Vaero shakes his head “I don’t know about those things, his best bet would be asking the guild about it.”.

With what Vaero said, it did make sense so I made a mental note to ask when I visit the guild tomorrow after seeing these two off.

After that, Chelsey asked me about the fight with the goblins so I started to tell her about the fight.

Near the end of the story, the wench started to bring out our food and lay it out in front of us. What I saw on the plate was some tender looking meat and potatoes. I felt like I built up an appetite after starting with Vaero because I could almost feel the drool seeping from my lips.

When I took the first bite of the meat, all I could feel was a tender meat that felt like it was melting in my mouth. Before I knew it the food on the plate was already gone.

Both Vaero and I devoured our plates with Chelsey only half way through hers before pushing the plate back. “Wow, I’ve never heard of goblins fighting together so well.” Chelsey says after she claimed to be done with her food.

While nodding to her, I also added “What took me by surprise at first was the goblin that was on watch, when it spotted me, it seemed to use any means to keep me away while it waited for backup.”.

Vaero had a vexed expression upon his face “That does seem weird, I’ve had a couple run-ins with them before but they never coordinated the way the ones you fought before.”. He then quickly adds after a moment of silence “Maybe they were there for a reason since they had their camp set up near the hole… but that’s just a stab in the dark.”.

As I thought more about the hole, the more questions that popped up in my mind. Before I got stuck in an endless loop of thoughts, I looked towards Chelsey and changed the subject “Are you guys all ready to leave tomorrow?”.

With a bittersweet smile Chelsey lightly answers “Yeah, we are ready to leave first break of dawn.”. She then looks towards me with a finger pressed against her lip “At least you don’t sleep so it’ll be easy to say goodbye before we leave.”.

Before the air got heavy, Vaero mentions “We should wrap it up here, Chelsey. I’ll be heading off right away so I’m fully rested to drive tomorrow.”. Once he finished speaking, Vaero got up and started to head toward the stairs to the rooms after telling us good night

After calling over the wench and getting our food all paid up, Chelsey then got up as well “It is getting late, I’ll be heading back as well. I’d like to finish fixing your cloak by a reasonable time.”. Before she turned around and followed suit she mentioned “Have a good night, Crim. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”. With a nod of my head, she then takes off to the stairs to the rooms as well.

Once both were gone, I left the area too but instead I went and headed outside to the back of the inn again. Since I was still worried about trying to meditate, I decided to practice my swordsmanship for the night.

At first while I was swinging away, I was getting lost in thought about everything that had been happening but it didn’t take too long before I started to get lost in the rhythm of my sword.

When the area around me started to get brighter, I then took that as a time to stop. I began wiping away the sweat on my forehead before placing my sword once more on my back. Once my breath was settled and the beads of sweat stopped sliding down my skin, I headed towards the front of the inn.

What I found once in front was Vaero packing a few boxes covered with cloth. After getting closer, I called out to him asking where Chelsey was and he pointed up to the window that was from her room. After figuring out where she was, I started heading straight for her room.

I was in front of her door and was just about to begin knocking on it when it suddenly opened up. What I saw was a surprised Chelsey holding onto a crimson cloak “O-oh you caught me by surprise, I was just about to head back and give you your cloak.” after mentioning it, she began handing the cloak over to me. “It’s all patched up like new, you wouldn’t even know there were holes in it!” Chelsey claims with a bright smile on her face.

I take the cloak from her hands and begin fixing it back on myself while asking “Are you guys all good to go or do you need any help?”.

Chelsey shakes her head “If you want, I had a few things left in my room to bring to the carriage that you could help me carry.”.

I nod to her and she then turns sideways, letting me into the room. When I was inside the room, it looked a lot like the one I had, mainly empty except for a couple of wooden boxes near her bed. “I usually like to keep the more valuable products with me, it gives me peace of mind.” Chelsey mentions as she walks over to them.

I follow suit behind her and before she could attempt to grab them, I gently push her to the side and pick up both of them “I got them, you can get the rest of the stuff in here.”. With a gentle smile upon her lips, she nods to me and begins grabbing the last few things scattered in her room.

Chelsey looked over the room a few more times before she was certain she wasn’t forgetting anything. “Okay, I believe this should be everything. Let's head to Vaero now.” After she finished talking, we exited the inn in silence.

Once I finished placing the boxes I was carrying into the carriage, I waited in front of the carriage for the two to finish up on their end. When they were done, Chelsey and Vaero were in front of the carriage looking towards me.

Chelsey had a bittersweet smile on her face “ It was short lived but Vaero and I really enjoyed your company, Crim. I hope you will be able to get the answers you need when you meet Lord Grue.”. When she mentioned Vaero’s name, he looked slightly embarrassed.

“I may have not trusted you at first and I still don’t fully trust you but I can say I did enjoy sparring with you, Crim. When you get your memories back, I hope Chelsey is right and you are a good person.” After Vaero said his piece, he began heading to the front of the carriage after giving his own goodbye.

“I hope you stay safe and I wish you the best of luck.” Chelsey tells me before turning around and heading to the back of the carriage. Before she gets inside she turns to me once more, placing a finger upon her lower lip “Until we meet again, Crim. Goodbye!”.

With that, she got into the carriage and a few minutes after they were both inside, the horses started moving. I watched the carriage slowly leave my vision before I started heading towards the guild. While heading towards the guild I thought about the short amount of time I was with those two.