While Aug and Vera were having dinner that night, Vera got a phone call. From what Aug could hear, it was from her mother, asking where she was. Her smile disappeared, turning into a sadness that only a family member could inflict.
Vera excused herself and went to her room to finish taking the call. Aug sat at the table and waited for her. First, he looked at his phone for a bit. Then, he sold some of the items he had looted earlier that day on the market. Until finally, he couldn't wait any longer and just finished eating without her.
An hour later she emerged from her room, her face red from crying and suitcases in hand.
"I have to leave," she said, a depression in her voice, showing that this is not what she wanted.
"Alright, I understand," Aug replied, not wanting to meddle in other families' affairs.
They had exchanged phone numbers so he could speak to her if he needed to. Thankfully, it wasn't likely that it would be the last time they spoke.
"Goodbye, Augustus," she said, as a horn from a car outside sounded.
"Please call me Aug. See you later."
"Alright, Aug," she said, letting out a faint smile. "But I doubt we will see one another again."
Aug looked shocked and paused for a moment to compute what she had said. By the time he caught up, she had already gone. They had only spent half a day together, but Aug had enjoyed having company once more. He had other friends, but none of them lived in this city. Until now he had coped, but this broke him.
A new day dawned, and Aug had not gotten a lot of sleep. A lot of emotion came flooding back from his past. He had only been an adult for two weeks, and it was already taking its toll. Being a grown-up is hard.
By the time he got up, it was already past noon. He still had no replies for another job, and he was forced to give up his only opportunity.
Aug resolved to stop feeling sorry for himself, so he visited his local guild branch. There, he checked the notice board for any notices that weren't also listed on the forums. But there were no jobs he fit the criteria for. Either he was too low level or didn't have the combat ability desired for a group.
Most groups, since the party member count was capped at five for E and F rank dungeons, wanted to go with five capable fighters. This excluded him in ninety percent of cases; the remaining ten percent were looking for guides, which he most certainly wasn't.
Apparently, he had lucked out with his previous group, and they probably only went with him because he was dirt cheap. Maybe the lack of interest was because he had raised his prices slightly?
Aug sighed, as he had one option left, and it was not something he wished to do, as it cost money. His last option was to pay the guild to find him a group. This did not come cheap, at 5 bronze coins, the entirety of his fortune. Thankfully, it covered him looking for a party for a month.
The problem was that if he waited, it would be too late, as he would have spent it on food later that night. So it was now or never.
He went up to the counter and spoke to the woman behind it. She told him she currently had a low level party waiting for a fifth member, if he was interested. Thankfully, it didn't require him to have any sort of combat ability, as they were only tackling an F rank dungeon. His job would be purely support, with the guild needing someone to map a section of the first floor.
It was the dungeon that had been all over the news, a brand-new dungeon just outside town, called [Deep Rock]. Currently, only guild approved parties could enter, and the city's scouting party had to stop from a lack of resources at the twelfth floor.
As this dungeon had yet to be conquered, it was considered a wild dungeon, meaning there were no safety measures. So, no teleports, looting rules, or administration to stop events from spawning. Lastly, and most importantly, because the dungeon was not instanced, two groups might run into one another inside, leading to potential conflict.
It was the purest form of adventuring: stepping into the unknown, unsure of what you would face. It was exhilarating, but also scary, as your chances of facing your mortality were much higher.
Aug agreed to the party because if he could map the section they wanted, he would earn what he had paid, in return, with interest.
The group had a strategy meeting scheduled for that evening. So a few hours later Aug found himself sitting around a table at a tavern with four strangers.
A short man, who had introduced himself as Duke, was wearing full plate armour, minus the helm, and had taken the lead in speaking. He had long, blonde hair, and a scar across one of his eyes that he was using makeup to conceal.
"Tomorrow morning we shall meet at the [Deep Rock] dungeon at seven AM," he began, not even asking for the rest of the group's opinions on the time.
"Really," replied an elf woman, who looked to have a ranged class of some sort, as she was wearing a rangefinder on her eye. The woman had a green hood on and refused to take it off. Her long brunette hair kept falling out from under the hood, and every time it did, she quickly pushed it back under and looked around. Aug assumed she was trying to hide that she was an elf. Unfortunately for her, it wasn't working, because you could see the points of her ears poking into the fabric.
"Yes, really," replied Duke, looking annoyed that someone had questioned him. "We need enough time to complete our mission."
"Yeah, I will be there at eight," replied the elf, rebellion in her voice.
Duke and the elf then argued back and forth regarding the time. Finally, after about ten minutes, they agreed to the very specific time of 7:35 AM.
"Alright, now that we have finally agreed on the time, can we discuss our roles?" said a young man, who looked to be a minor. He wore a cape, and his hair and clothes were impeccably kept. It didn't look like he had done a second of work in his life, and as if he loathed any sort of dirt.
"I will take the front line, and you and the elf will stay back and attack at range," said Duke.
He then pointed to the fourth person at the table, a woman whose eyes never pointed in the same direction at the same time. She had shaved her head and was wearing a tattered off-white set of clothes that looked more suited for office work than adventuring.
"She and the big guy over here," he said, meaning Aug. "Will stay completely out of range and heal and, uh, map."
"Yes, I can heal," laughed the crazy-eyed woman. She laughed for at least a minute before stopping, halting the meeting while she did so.
"Hey big guy. Are you cool with that?" asked Duke, looking at Aug.
"Yes, I can loot for the team too," Aug said, taking a moment to smile at each person around the table.
The rest of the table laughed for an excessively long time.
"Amazing joke, big guy," laughed Duke. "This is a wild dungeon, meaning looting is free for all. Otherwise, you could leave with everything."
Aug groaned, as there was no trust at all. This was going to be an interesting experience.