A FEW HOURS LATER
ALEXANDER
A few hours later, the healer’s room sohow beca even louder. Mostly because everyone was preparing for the Crystal Cavern mission at the sa ti. Scarlet was organizing supplies with terrifying saint level efficiency. Noa was checking weapon durability while silently judging everyone around her, Rosalia sat beside , cleaning her gun while occasionally staring at my hand again. The sword kept offering "combat probability assessnts" nobody asked for, and Isabella had apparently decided she lived here now.
"These are mana recovery fruits!"She proudly held up an entire basket. "And this one boosts light affinity temporarily!"
"Why did you buy enough food to feed a village?"I stared.
"Preparation!"Isabella explained loudly.
"That is financial violence."I sighed.
Michael stood near the doorway, watching the chaos with the exhausted expression of a man slowly realizing he had allowed a disaster party to form inside his guild.
Then he snapped his fingers toward a few adventurers standing nearby, quietly, but unfortunately for him, Rosalia noticed imdiately. Her crimson eyes shifted toward the corner of the room.
"Three hidden observers."Rosalia said instantly.
Michael froze and one adventurer imdiately looked away suspiciously, another pretended to inspect a wall. The third outright left the guild. I pointed dramatically.
"MICHAEL."I said, annoyed.
"They’re not spies."He answered way too fast.
"They were literally hiding behind furniture."I said.
"They are safety support."Michael tried to explain it.
"THAT IS JUST MILITARY WORDING."I said.
"Kid, you are carrying forbidden shards, unstable summons, and sohow recruited the Crimson Ghost."Michael sighed heavily.
"I was summoned fairly."Rosalia quietly raised one hand.
"THAT DOES NOT HELP YOUR CASE."Michael shouted. The guild master crossed his arms.
"So yes. I assigned hidden guild guards to monitor the mission from a distance."
"Monitoring or containnt?"Noa narrowed her eyes instantly.
Michael didn’t answer fast enough, Scarlet’s holy aura flickered slightly. Rosalia calmly loaded another bullet into her gun.
"I dislike the second possibility."Rosalia said.
"I KNEW IT."I pointed aggressively.
"You are not being hunted."Michael groaned.
"That was not a denial."I said, annoyed.
"Trust levels decreasing."The sword humd softly.
"EVERYONE STOP MAKING THIS WORSE."I groaned loudly.
Eventually Michael shoved a heavy pouch into my hands.
"Mission advance paynt."He said.
I blinked, then imdiately checked inside. Gold, actual gold. It was like for a few missions.
"I forgive several cris."My soul briefly ascended in happiness. This is amazing!
"Use it for supplies."Michael ordered.
"I was considering emotional recovery." I sighed.
Michael ignored completely, a little later we entered the market district and imdiately beca the center of attention. People stared openly at Scarlet’s glowing aura, then at Noa’s dark elf features, then at Rosalia, that part caused active panic. One rchant saw her and physically ducked behind his counter.
"Why does everyone react like she personally taxes them?"I whispered.
"Past experiences."Rosalia answered calmly.
"Oh! We should buy winter cloaks too!"Isabella walked beside cheerfully carrying way too many bags.
"We are going to a crystal cave, not invading a mountain kingdom."I said annoyed.
"Preparing matters!"Isabella said.
"Why are you still here?"Noa glanced sideways at Isabella.
"Because I’m part of the squad now."Isabella blinked innocently.
Silence, complete silence, Scarlet slowly turned.
"What?"She asked.
Rosalia’s eyes narrowed slightly, Noa looked spiritually offended. I froze mid step.
"Nobody agreed to that."I said and sighed.
"I did!"Isabella smiled proudly.
"THAT IS NOT HOW TEAM FORMATION WORKS."I said, annoyed.
"You need mana support." Isabella pointed at imdiately. Fair point, then she pointed toward Scarlet. "You need healing support balance." Another fair point, then she pointed Noa. "You need ranged coordination."Isabella continued.
Noa looked annoyed that the logic was solid. Finally, Isabella pointed dramatically at Rosalia.
"And sobody here needs emotional supervision."Isbaella added.
"Rude."Rosalia blinked slowly.
"Accurate though."The sword whispered.
"I DIDN’T ASK THE SWORD."I groaned.
"Master already has enough summons."Scarlet stepped closer protectively beside .
"I am not a summon!"Isabella protested instantly.
"Current evidence suggests otherwise."Noa crossed her arms.
"I AM A REAL PERSON."Isabella gasped in disbelief.
"She touches the summoner often."Rosalia quietly moved closer to my other side.
"I HUGGED HIM ONE TI."Isabella said.
"Twice."The sword corrected.
"WHY ARE YOU TRACKING THAT?"I asked.
The argunt escalated imdiately. anwhile, fifty feet behind us three disguised guild guards followed nervously through the market.
"Why does this feel less like escort duty and more like observing a natural disaster?"One of them whispered.
The second guard stared at Rosalia loading bullets while Isabella argued with Scarlet.
"Because it is."Another one added.
The market trip sohow beca even more chaotic after Isabella unofficially declared herself part of the team. People were staring, again. One old rchant saw her crimson eyes, dropped an apple crate, and whispered sothing about "the return of the apocalypse" before hiding behind his stand.
"I still think that reaction is excessive."Rosalia said quietly.
"You once ended a war in three days."Noa replied.
"Technically four."Rosalia corrected.
"THAT DOES NOT HELP."I said.
I rubbed my face tiredly while the system suddenly flickered in front of .
"DING."The system screen appeared yet again.
"I HAVE NOT KNOWN PEACE SINCE YOU ENTERED MY LIFE." I physically pointed at the air.
A small blue window appeared.
"Daily task received: prepare properly for crystal cavern expedition. Objective: purchase one useful survival item. Reward: minor mana recover, 150 experience."The system explained.
"That is surprisingly reasonable."I stared at the screen.
"Rare system behavior detected."The sword humd.
"I KNOW."I said.
"What did the system say, Master?"Scarlet looked curious.
"It wants to behave responsibly."I sighed dramatically.
"That is clearly a trap."Noa imdiately looked suspicious.
"Agreed."Rosalia nodded once.
"Actually yeah, that does sound suspicious."Even Isabella looked uncertain.
I ignored all of them and reached into the heavy gold pouch Michael gave . The weight alone nearly healed my emotional damage. Then I pulled out several gold coins.
"Alright."I handed one to Scarlet first. "Buy healing supplies or saint things or whatever."
"I will use it wisely, Master."Scarlet blinked in surprise before smiling softly.
"For arrows, knives, dark elf intimidation equipnt, I don’t know."Then I handed another to Noa.
"I appreciate the trust."Noa accepted it calmly.
Rosalia watched quietly from beside . Her eyes drifted between and the last gold coin in my hand.
"You too."I sighed.
I handed it to her carefully. Rosalia froze slightly.
"For ammunition?"She asked quietly.
"And maybe food."I added.
She stared at the coin for several seconds like I had handed her emotional validation itself.
"Reward received."She whispered.
Scarlet imdiately looked jealous, Noa looked tired.
"Summon happiness levels increasing."The sword humd softly.
Then Isabella stepped directly in front of and held out both hands expectantly.
"What are you doing?"I asked.
"I am also squad mber now."She smiled brightly.
"You self assigned yourself five minutes ago."I sighed.
"Correct."She nodded.
I sighed and handed her a coin too.
"This feels financially irresponsible."I said.
"It is emotionally responsible."Isabella nodded seriously.
"That sentence scared ."I sighed.
The girls split off through the market while I wandered toward the equipnt district alone.
I stopped in front of a small travel gear shop packed with ropes, lanterns, boots, backpacks, climbing hooks, and survival tools. Finally, normal things.
"You look exhausted."An old shopkeeper looked up from the counter.
"That is because I am."I said.
He nodded slowly like he understood spiritually. Then my eyes landed on sothing hanging near the back wall. A small crystal lantern, faint blue light glowed inside it.
"Crystal cavern explorers use those."The shopkeeper explained. "Normal torches stop working deeper inside."
That imdiately got my attention.
"Useful survival item detected."The system chid softly.
"Oh thank god."I sighed.
I grabbed the lantern instantly before the system could decide usefulness ant emotional trauma again. At the sa mont, far behind , the shard fragnts inside my bag pulsed once. Almost like sothing had noticed the Crystal caverns too, I absolutely pretended not to notice because denial was currently my strongest survival skill.
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