Ignorance is Bliss

"Ah-haha-Alright I think I'm good." Josh wiped his tears, still smiling.

Ana had also finished laughing, she was taking heavy breaths trying not to laugh again.

"Ahem, Sorry." Josh coughed and apologized, but he couldn't help laughing, the question was too funny.

"You don't need to worry, the 'Secrets of the Universe' that we are telling you won't make you go insane." Josh chuckled a bit and his smile widened.

"Hehe, I should tell him this when I get back." Josh mumbled.

Caron and Alex were still silent, and while Alex was just in shock that a person could laugh for that long, Caron was embarrassed.

'Agh! I should have said anything! As expected, good looking people can't be good!' Caron thought.

"Once we get you guys to safety, we'll tell you as much as we can."

Ana nodded in agreement and sat up, her back kind of hurt from rolling on the ground laughing.

"We should leave soon Josh, we can't stall for any longer. Remember? We have a job to do." Ana stood up and made her way to the entrance.

Alex also stood up, but was stopped by Ana, "Where are you going?" She looked ad her confused.

"With you, of course." Alex said, also making her way to the entrance.

Ana put her hand out, stopping Alex. "Hell no! You're just a kid, we can't put you in danger right after we just got you out of it!"

"But I also want to know what's going on! And I can help you guys! I can carry things, and cook, i'm old enough to care for myself, just take me!"

"We said we'll tell you once you're safe."

"But I am safe!" Alex exclaimed.

"You might be 14, but your still just a kid! Did you not learn when you were almost killed? Taking you means that we'll also have to protect you, and where we're going isn't safe. We can't babysit you." Ana said, huffing.

"She's right Alex…"

"Caron?" Alex looked at Caron, betrayed.

"You hurt you're ankle, and both of us could have died! We shouldn't drag them down."

Alex looked at Caron, she felt hurt but… She knew he was right, she couldn't protect herself. She shouldn't take advantage of Ana and Josh's patience, they also had their own lives ot take care of.

She didn't have a reason on why she wanted to go, maybe she didn't want them to get hurt? They were super strong though… Maybe it was because she liked the nice feelings when with them, it reminded her of the times when her family would all eat together at the table. Usually everyone was busy with their own things, her father had work, her mother too. Her brother would be with her, but most of the times he was with his friends or at school.

She had friends herself, she missed her friends a lot… But sometimes, when everyone had time, they would all come to eat. So she would talk to her mother and father about her week, and would play with her brother.

She missed those times, she took it all for granted. Well, it wasn't her fault, how was she supposed to know that the apocalypse would come? That a gate would open?

"…" Alex went silent. She couldn't think of any reason they should bring her along, she wasn't useful in anyway that would benefit them.

"We should bring them." Josh broke the tension with his own opinion.

Ana wiped her head to Josh, and looked at him in confusion. "Didn't you say before that you had no interest in rescue or anything?"

"No, I said that it wasn't in the contract, I never said I wasn't going to do it." Josh shook his head, clicking his tongue.

"Ms. Ana, last night while everyone was sleeping, I used 'that' thing, and…"

"And what?" Ana sneered.

"The monsters mana is fluctuating for some reason, and that might be signs of a rampage."

"Rampage?" Her original anger turned into confusion and worry. She had never heard or seen and rampage from the monsters before. But she knew what a rampage was…

Josh glanced at Alex and stood up as well.

"They're going to completely trample this area to ashes, leaving them here is the same as killing them ourselves." He grabbed the blankets and put them on his shoulder.

"The safest place for them right now would be with us." He looked at Ana, waiting for a response.

Ana bit her lip, she didn't want these kids to die, she liked them quite a lot. But if they brought them, they'd be in just as much danger.

As if sensing her thoughts, Josh said "It's better for them to be in danger next to us, then in danger away from us. At the very least we'll have the means to protect them."

Ana sighed, she couldn't leave them here.

"Alright, then let's bring them." She said with her head turned, as she exited the hideout.

Alex smiled.

"Thanks." She said to Josh.

"I'm helping you because you'll die if I don't, not because I'm kind." He said as he also exited the hideout.

Alex smiled at the remark, and whispered to herself. "That's what a kind person would say."

And so, with the convincing words of Josh, and a hesitant approval of Ana, they set off in search of the open gate.

Alex was carrying the backpack, it was heavy but bearable.

Josh an Ana were upfront, and were discussing the plan of attacking the dungeon.

"From my knowledge, even after a dungeon break, some monsters still remain inside."

Ana nodded, showing that she understood, and Josh continued. "The good news is that most of them are low-level."

"Bad news is that there are probably a lot of them still in there, so me might run out of stamina before even finding out the cause of this anomaly."

"Even worse news is that whatever is keeping that gate open is probably not just your average low leveled monster."

Ana bit her lip, "You didn't need to say it like that, making it sound worse than it is."

"No but this is just as worse as it is! Even the government has been unable to find a stable way to keep gates open, and the guys from the other side won't even speak about it."

Josh shook his head and sighed, "We're basically going into this blindfolded, and there's a high chance we'll die." He brushed his hair back.

Ana elbowed his ribs, causing him to grab his side in pain.

"This is just abuse, ugh." He groaned in pain.

"Don't say those kinds of things in front of them." She said in a low voice, pointing at Alex and Caron who were behind them.

Alex tilted her head, wondering if they were talking about her.

Caron just snorted, he didn't hate them, but he was still suspicious of them. Why do they know so much? And why has the government not said anything about this?

Maybe they opened this gate on purpose for an experiment, and they were just the lucky test subjects that survived.

What if they sacrifice them when things get dangerous? And then they reincarnate into another world to get revenge, and gain super cool powers-

Ok, maybe Caron wasn't as mature as he though he was, everything that was happening to them was so unbelievable. It could also be that he's read too much manga, and watched too many shows.

Ignorance is bliss I guess?