Breakdown

The streets were packed with people. Adventurers, fighters, and salesmen alike were all there for the opportunities that would arise. The same goes for Yotsuya. "Arthur, I'll be going to look for some things. My equipment could need an upgrade, and there are so many shops here anyway." Arthur turned back to look at him, with only the two of them walking together.

"Don't do anything unnecessary. I know that we have known each other for quite some while, and that we both have our own secrets, but don't let it affect you. Have you looked at your face for the last couple of days? You have massive bags under your eyes, and you look more tired than usual. Sleep shouldn't even affect you that much either. Whatever it is, just know that I am here for you if you need anything." Arthur's voice was as soft and empathetic as ever. He truly did care for the well-being of Velios.

"Three fruits, please." Yotsuya had been going around for quite some time now, watching and admiring the giant city and all the people to the best of his ability. "Here's the money." Yotsuya had quite a large budget thanks to his strength as an adventurer. Materials from monsters were sold for much money, and commissions were also a great way to earn money considering some could be repeated. Yotsuya kept on walking around the dry and crowded city, not necessarily looking for anything specific. He didn't even know himself why he wanted to be alone now, out of all times. Yotsuya had no idea of the events that would follow either.

The streets were wide yet fully covered in people from edge to edge. Yotsuya would most likely not be able to remember a single individual out of all the people he's had to walk past or seen in general. That which he thought would be just an average walk between the city turned out to be something much more important when he spotted something so awfully familiar that it caused him to drop everything he was holding. In the middle of the street was someone's hair so familiar that Yotsuya thought he was dreaming, that it all wasn't real. The shock from just seeing the strands of hair of the person passing by made his body completely stiff, unable to move.

His body started moving on its own, pushing away every other person necessary to walk in a straight path through the crowd. As he approached closer and closer, he couldn't help but stop. He didn't know why he stopped; he was just about to tap Velios on the shoulder; he was just about to finally get the answer to the question he had been seeking an answer to. Was Velios dead, or was he actually still alive somewhere? After a while of having stood there, the individual which he had almost run after was now gone, far out of sight, somewhere amidst the crowd. Yotsuya felt hope fill up inside of him to realize that he was still alive but also frustrated that he let some emotions control him and his way of thinking.

Yotsuya didn't want to give up no matter what. He had missed Velios far more than he had missed anybody else. Velios had saved his life multiple times, and Yotsuya blamed himself for being so weak that Velios had to sacrifice himself for Yotsuya to even stand a chance in the dungeon of demise, a little over five months ago. He felt excited and, above all, happy. He rushed the same way as he saw the individual head, pushing through any people necessary to get to his goal. All he wanted was for him to meet Velios, for him to be alive. Little did he know that his happiness would be crushed just after he had caught up to the adventurer he had been looking for.

"Who are you? Do I know you?" The black-haired person was confused, but he also talked completely differently. To Yotsuya's bad luck, the adventurer that he actually found was some random guy he had never met in his life, only with similar hair and body style. At a closer look, Yotsuya realized all of the big and small differences between the two of them. This made him speechless and sad deep inside. He thought that there was finally some hope that Velios was alive, which proved not to be the case. "S-Sorry, I must have got the wrong person, excuse me." Yotsuya couldn't even feel the embarrassment he would normally feel in a similar situation. All he could feel was the sadness and guilt from having been the reason for Velios dying. He truly thought that there might be hope every day, but that hope was almost completely crushed after having gotten his hopes up just to immediately sink down into the bottom.

Yotsuya didn't even walk away. He had just stood there for tens of minutes, completely still. No adventurer knew what he was doing, standing completely still in the middle of the street. That was until Arthur had come back. "Yotsuya! Yotsuya! There you are! Do you know how worried I've been? You said you would only be gone for a while, and I find you standing in the middle of the street-" Arthur had seen Yotsuya's face as soon as he had come in close range of him. Even he had never seen Yotsuya in that state ever before. There had only been one singular time, and that was the first day they had met. After trying to get Yotsuya to snap back, he tried talking to him which didn't work. Instead, Yotsuya was talking quietly to himself. Down on his knees, holding his head by his hands, staring directly down onto the ground.

"You know what? He might be alive, yeah! Just maybe, yeah. He might be alive. Only because I didn't find him here doesn't mean he's not alive. I'll just have to get stronger so that I can find him, that's it! He's probably just out somewhere in the world fighting powerful monsters and training like he always does, yeah! That must be it! That must be it. That must be it..." Yotsuya had finally seemed to have lost it. Not even Arthur knew how bad Yotsuya had suffered mentally from what he went through. After all, they were all normal humans living in a normal and peaceful world, brought in and were now stuck in the game. "Yotsuya! Snap out of it!" Arthur's voice was no longer soft but serious, angry with a small hint of worry.

As Yotsuya finally came to, he turned his head slightly upwards to watch Arthur, the soft, happy, and gentle guy he had always been being genuinely angry and worried for his friend. "A-Arthur... I'm sorry. It's just..." Yotsuya couldn't talk properly. He tried to stop himself from crying to no avail. A crowd of adventurers had seemed to naturally gather around them for different reasons. The crowd, ignorant and unknowing of what was actually happening, started to laugh seeing an adventurer cry. Most of them thought that a weak adventurer had fallen to the pressure from the tournament or that they no longer wanted to be an adventurer. The kind of world they had was that the weak die first and are looked down upon while it is the opposite for the strong adventurers. A big group of the adventurers that had naturally come were starting to make fun of him, laughing at him and making jokes. The only quiet ones were the ones who knew exactly who the two of them were.

They immediately shut up as soon as they heard how angry Arthur was. His words were loud and filled with anger and fury. They were all shocked, none of them even dared to laugh or make fun of them any longer, afraid of what would happen to them if they did. Instead, most of them ran away. They didn't need to know who either of them were to know how powerful they were. The aura surrounding Arthur was enough to scare anyone off. In comparison, they would most likely die from a single hit, especially if it was infused with mana. They were so insignificant, yet they dared laugh at the two of them, some of the most dedicated individuals in the entire world, keeping everyone safe having saved hundreds of lives in the process. Arthur felt truly disrespected. Normally, he wouldn't bother, but having seen how vulnerable Yotsuya could be, he couldn't help but want to help him more than anything. Out of all the things in the world, the thing that Arthur hated the most was other people, the ignorant and the scum of the world, looking down or laughing at any of his comrades or friends.