As Guests of the Palace

(Robin's POV):

A new day has passed and we're still staying as guests of the palace. There doesn't seem to be much trouble when I woke up except that there's already noise outside the palace.

I went outside to immediately check for the time being and apparently. It's Jay's entire group clashing around. I don't know why they would do this immediately but I guess it's training.

"Yo, morning everyone."

Most of them had completely stopped and greeted me one by one. Even though most of us are just guests in this place. They said that playing around like this is actually pretty normal. Except when I look at Lester and Jay who are actually trying to kill each other.

"Enough you two."

"Wha!" - Jay

"Whoa!" - Lester

I fired a laser in between to separate both of them in this instance. This seems to be an intended murder so I had to completely interfere against their thing.

"I swear to criminy I'll shoot both of you down if you guys don't behave."

"A-alright..." - Jay

"Okay..." - Lester

Both of them are only getting worse and worse so I had everyone carry on. Jay however stayed at my spot and asked me a few questions.

"Since when did you get the paladin's sword?" - Jay

"Eh? I got this from Denzel yesterday, it was unfortunate that I couldn't use this on an enemy that has the Virgo zodiac because the attacks can get through barriers."

"I see... Then, I guess you're pretty much set?" - Jay

"Somewhat but not really... I still need that one weapon where Denzel told me to collect those four types of ores."

"I see... I guess we're going on a straining adventure?" - Jay

"Yep, there's going to be a huge amount of things to explore in this world so I hope you guys are ready for it."

"Well, I am ready. Any adventure you'll do, I'll join you of course. We can't have the person who helped us out die off." - Jay

That's the spirit.

I gave Jay a tap on the shoulder before I went back inside the palace to check around. When I asked for the other residents where everyone is I was told that they're still either sleeping or making breakfast.

"Well, I guess I should monitor them then..."

I went back outside to check on them and apparently, they're already resting by laying down on the snow.

"Guess you guys had a lot of combat practice huh?"

When I checked around, Grace had already fully recovered which is pretty relieving because she had a hard time in the arcana gauntlet.

"Yeah, thanks for bringing us back together Robin... We owe you a lot..." - Grace

"Hey, nobody is owing anyone here alright. I pretty much understand the situation because it's already a year since you guys last saw each other so I had to bring in my leads."

"I see, we still thank you anyway. Now we can all play together happily." - Grace

That's great then, I hope everyone gets to be happy at this point in time. I don't want Denzel getting mad at me right after recovering so you guys have to separate for a little bit more... It's just one mission so there isn't practically anything to worry about...

Gayle seems to have read my mind and she looked down and somewhat dejected. I ignored it but Jay asked her in regards to it.

"Well, I think we're all gonna gather later in the central area of the palace in the ground floor. We have to show Denzel our faces so I guess he would know that who are visiting at the very least. He's not exactly in a responsive state though..."

"Eh? What happened to him?" - Grace

Grace doesn't seem to have any idea about what happened but the rest looked a little bit off. Lester, Terrence, and Gayle were thinking deeply while Jay, Ridley, and Rylle were wondering if he's going to be alright or not. Don't worry guys, he'll be fine after a while...

I brought everyone back inside to grab some breakfast but I had taken my seat next to May once again.

"So, how is he right now?"

"Still unresponsive... He's clearly going to take a while so there might be troubles with your current schedule." - May

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I remember that Seymour had mentioned about something in the main dungeon that has a guardian. It is able to one shot an enemy in a high speed so you have to go there at night and face it." - May

"I see... So Denzel might end up dying if we brought him to the dungeon raid like that? Well pretty sure Seymour would pull the schedule back considering he wants everyone in top condition when going for a raid. And this raid will be an extreme level threat as of the moment so we really have to be careful with the enemies we face."

"I see... Be careful alright Robin?" - May

"I know I know, Everyone will be fine with Seymour around."

"Oh yeah, who is joining the raid by the way?" - May

I haven't remembered the exact group that we're bringing but we're going to bring Karl, Julius, Mitch, Chesca, and Denzel for sure... Michael would join later since we left a note in his room in the castle...

"I guess with a bunch of members. We're bringing in the higher up batch so I guess it's going to be a party raid. I'll have Jay, Grace, Ridley, and Rylle to keep watch and notify us if someone else has entered the dungeon. So we have to be completely mindful with what's going to happen."

"I see... What are you gonna do after breakfast?" - May

"Dunno, maybe train. I'll bring everyone along so..."

"Alright, be careful again alright?" - May

"Aight."

After breakfast, I urged everyone to join me in a little training time. We sat down outside the palace in an entirely different area. We stayed around the snowy plains and had everyone stay down for the time being.

"Since you guys just ate, pretty sure you will need to rest for a while. So I'll train alone for the time being."

"Eh? You're going to show us how you train?" - Jay

"Eh? Is there a problem with that?"

"N-no, please show us how you train hard." - Jay

Jay seems a little nervous while clinging to his twin sister. He still kept his attention towards me which is pretty much something I'm clearly surprised. I brought out my revolver and Paladin's Sword for this training and concentrated a huge amount of mana.

"Fuhh... Arch Paladin, Searing Blades."

There is one distinct thing when I ended up using the weapon skill, it is the fact that I gain a white mask covering most of my face excluding my eyes. My sight wasn't hindered so I wasn't able to notice it the first time I used it.

Five searing blades formed behind me so I brought those out and tried to make a few swings with the searing blades following up after my Paladin's Sword. This will allow me to land multiple hits easily. Jay was extremely fascinated by the skills I possess and fired multiple shots with extreme timing. When I fired a bullet, the searing blades surround a position and converge pretty quickly. Jay was staring in awe while the others are showing actual impression with the combat style I own.

I then finally stopped after performing various kinds of combo follow-ups which got everyone pretty impressed.

"Well, you guys should learn some more things when it comes to fighting against an enemy, a pair, and a group. So line up, I'll give you all a lot of tips."

Everyone lined up so I started giving them various tips which lasted for quite a while. We had returned to the palace to have lunch and finally have them meet the broken Denzel.

"Lilith, is it okay to enter?"

"Ah, he's not going to respond that much though..." - Lilith

"Should be fine, I should at least show my face before I head out."

Everyone entered Denzel's room in the sky floor after me so I was pretty much thinking about various things.

"Yo, Denzel... How are you? You're already familiar with three of them but these four are actually my team. We'll be heading out for the volcano soon to collect the magma ore. I'll be sure to keep everyone safe for this trip alright?"

I simply stood in front of him and looked in his eyes which are half closed and dulled out. He looks completely emotionless but he responded by nodding a little bit slowly. Before I noticed, Gayle also moved in front of Denzel and looked in his eyes. She then tried to say something but somewhat pretty shyly... While she was at it, she was reading what was in his mind so I'll ask her later through Jay.

"H-hey, dunno if you can hear me but... I know that look all too well so... Not sure if this could help but you really matter alright? Everyone is worried because they care about you... So, cheer up soon, alright?" - Gayle

I was pretty surprised since this girl looks extremely shy despite everyone watching her. Jay and Lester narrowed their eyes in unison so I should make them behave.

"You two... TPO..."

"G-got it..." - Jay

"A-alright..." - Lester

After that, we had left the room immediately. Jay immediately asked her for her reason so everyone listened in while walking.

"To the one who made the weapon I treasure dearly and the one who helped me rescue my lover and friends... This is the least I could do for him..." - Gayle

"Jay, come over here a little bit."

"Eh? What is it Robin?" - Jay

I told Jay that I have a little question for Gayle but she would have trouble if I ask her.

"Mind asking what she read on Denzel's mind?"

"Ah, sure." - Jay

Jay immediately went to ask Gayle about what she saw and everyone had already gone to their rooms to rest up for the day.