Garden Of The Abyss

[Hollow Foundation, Floor Twenty-Six, "Marketplace", Four Hours After The Conversation With Ren]

Despite being in the habit of flowing money, and the trade of goods, he didn't plan to buy anything–at least, not what the vendors were selling.

Strolling through the vast space, inhabited by dozens of pop-up shops run by merchants coming from across the world, he kept his eye on the customers, rather than the sellers.

Let's see, the marketplace is usually flooded with adventurers in need of new equipment. Usually, higher end guilds tend to have this sort of thing sorted by commission, so the adventurers here are usually solo–without a guild, Akshay thought.

He scoped the floor, scanning the array of established vendors as he watched the bustling marketplace while adventurers of all sorts shopped around: humans, elves, dwarves, demi-humans--all were plentiful within the Hollow Foundation.

It's my best bet while I wait for the letters I sent out to reach "them". If those letters fail, this is my backup, he thought.

Continuing to stroll for some time, what caught his eye was a youthful, burgundy-haired adventurer who was holding a new sword in his hands, being haggled by the tubby merchant.

"I don't know…five crowns is kind of steep," the inexperienced adventurer muttered, looking at the blade.

The merchant quickly dissuaded his words, "No, no–you see, this is a special sword–enchanted by mages of Audracia! Don't you see those ruby gemstones? Those can only be found in a single mine, tucked away on the Otherside!"

Watching the inexperienced adventurer, wearing nothing but light, leather armor over his beige garments, Akshay moved over, grabbing the sword for himself as he inspected it.

"Hey–!" The merchant gasped in protest.

"Let's see…" Akshay smiled, running the fingertips of his sable gloves over the inscribed silver steel, "there's no traces of dormant magic in this."

As the merchant gasped at Akshay's words, the young, bright-eyed adventurer seemed confused, "What's that mean?"

"This hunk of junk isn't enchanted, that's what," Akshay told him, setting the sword back down on the mat filled with other weapons.

The offended merchant huffed out, moving his jewelry-wearing hands in the air in protest, "Who the hell are you anyway, runt?! What makes you an authority on my merchandise?!"

Akshay answered, raising his left glove, "This. A real enchanted item."

After being promptly shut down, the two left from the exposed merchant's shop, though the youthful adventurer seemed curious about the identity of the man who saved him from getting scammed.

"Thanks for that," the youthful, messy-haired young man said, rubbing his own head, "I'm Ajax, by the way!"

Akshay accepted the hand extended to him, "Akshay. And no problem; those types of guys are a real plague on the Hollow Foundation. They think just because they're the only merchants within the region, they can take advantage of us. Serves them, huh?"

"Right…" Ajax chuckled wryly, "If you don't mind me asking, what rank are you?"

They both stopped as Akshay stared at him for a moment–the silence made the youthful man quickly wave his hands in the air as if rejecting his own words.

"It's alright if you don't want to answer! Just curious, is all…you seem pretty knowledgeable," Ajax assured.

Akshay smiled, "I don't mind. I'm silver, second class."

"Woah, silver? That's pretty amazing, isn't it? I just started last week, so I'm bronze, first class," Ajax nervously ruffled his hair as he chuckled.

"It's not much," Akshay brushed his compliment off, changing the subject, "why're you looking for a sword around here, anyway? You'd be better off buying a used blade from an adventurer."

Ajax averted his gaze a bit, scratching his cheek nervously as he chuckled, "Well, you see…a slime sorta ate the sword I had. I didn't realize hitting it with a normal blade would have no effect–so I was looking for a special sword to handle slimes."

A small sigh escaped his lips as he listened to the newbie adventurer's story before laughing a bit, in which Ajax shared with a laugh of his own.

"A slime? Give me a break," Akshay smiled.

"Hey, don't underestimate those fiends! They're a real threat," Ajax defended himself.

Akshay sighed, "Anyway, I'm off. Don't let yourself get tricked by those greasy merchants, alright?"

The youthful adventurer nodded with a bright smile, "Sure thing!"

Good grief, is this what I'm working with around here today? He sighed to himself, continuing to explore the marketplace.

What his eyes were scanning for were visible insignias; it was the most efficient way of sifting candidates for the guild. Though in the marketplace, and due to the nature of the ranking system, it was difficult to find anyone above even gold, at least those who bore their insignia openly.

…At those rates, those letters might be my only hope, he thought, I already have the specialists figured out, but I'd like to find more combat experts.

–As quick as that thought came, it vanished as he laid eyes on a familiar figure, though not one he knew personally.

A man dressed in standard, somewhat worn, silver armor, decorated with tattered, dulled scarves of crimson fabric.

Archard, "The Knight of Black Wool", they call him. It's not an epithet earned by glory or strength, but rather a besmirched title used by other adventurers as a sort of warning to others–a warning to keep him out of your guild, or parties, for that matter, he thought, apparently it started a couple decades ago after his entire guild was wiped out on a phantasm-rank quest. Then, again. And, again. Eventually, those tragic occurrences became assumed to be a pattern of his presence.

Akshay watched as the silver-clad adventurer, completely obscured his appearance beneath the metallic plating, as he seemed to be stocking up on items to clean and sharpen his blades, as well as fix his armor.

I don't believe in bullshit like that, though. I saw his records before–he's a gold first class, but that's only because he's held back by the system in place. As per his title, he's a black sheep.

Experience like that? Let alone his fighting capabilities and knowledge–he'll be an invaluable member, he thought.

Letting fate decide his decision, he flipped his lucky, gold coin, allowing it to land on the back of his black glove before revealing the result to his eyes.

He smiled to himself.

Looks like Gladiolus is going to stir up a storm of its own, he thought.

"Archard, right?" Akshay said, approaching the man dressed in abundant armor.

The armor-clad man turned to him, not speaking as he only nodded silently as the many joints of his armor clinked.

"I'm–"

"I know who you are," Archard told him, paying for the minuscule gemstones he held as he handed the coins to the merchant.

"Then you know why I'm here then, right?" Akshay asked.

Archard peered at him through the shadows of the minimal space of the visor in his helm, "I do. And, I'm not interested."

He stood there for a moment, taken aback by the abrupt, almost abrasive rejection of his unspoken offer by the man he assumed would be ecstatic at the opportunity.

Archard had already begun marching off to another vendor, stuffing his pouch of coins onto his belt as he caught up to him.

"Hold on–you didn't let me explain," Akshay walked alongside him.

"Don't need to. I know what you want," Archard promptly responded, his voice altered by the acoustics of his helm.

"Then…you don't want to join a guild?" Akshay asked.

Being mentioned outwardly now, Archard came to a pause at those words, though he seemed to ponder this, it was impossible for him to gather any inclinations from the armor-dressed man as his expressions were hidden by steel.

They came to a stop at the backend of the market, away from the bustling array of adventurers–though the constant air of the many voices was impossible to hide from.

"You've heard the tales of me?"

"The rumors, yeah," Akshay replied.

"No, they're true–what they say about me," Archard told him with a somber, muffled voice, "what other explanation could there be for why I am alone here today? Why should an old fool like me outlive young, aspiring adventurers, with entire lives and dreams ahead of them? Such abnormalities have an explanation: I am cursed."

The words spilling from Archard's lips seemed to come out in a tremble towards the end as the man clenched his gauntlets shut, quenching the steel in his palms.

After a moment, Akshay let out a sigh, "If you're worried that being in this guild will lead it to ruin, you don't have to worry about that."

Archard turned to him, "What makes you so sure of that?"

"Well, this guild happens to be chock full of crazy strong people. Three Outlanders, to be exact. One of them being Sirius Federov, the "Uncrowned Celestial", himself. The leader himself is an interesting guy–I did some research on him, myself. He–and the co-founder, his wife, actually–overcame Purgatory," Akshay told him with a smile, recounting the information as he waved his finger through the air.

The veteran adventurer was left speechless, "...Sirius Federov, and two who surmounted Purgatory?"

"See what I mean? A little curse isn't going to do in a band of folk like this," Akshay assured him, "the only problem is, they need people with experience, expertise, and wisdom. Archard, I think that can be you. What do you say?"

The steel-clad, experienced adventurer, who towered over him, pondered for a moment in silence as his crimson scarf hung down to his waist.

"I can't let any others die because of my own existence," Archard forced out from his lips, "I'm sorry, but…I cannot."

Just as the weathered adventurer turned around, he was stopped by an utterance from the black-and-white haired recruiter.

"...I understand how you feel."

"How could you?" Archard asked, facing away from him.

"I might not look it, but I've been alive a whole lot longer than you," Akshay told him, "I'm weak. I can't use magic. I can't even properly swing a blade without falling face-first into the mud. Due to that, I was helpless. All I could do was watch as they slaughtered my guildmates. I wasn't even strong enough to look away–they didn't allow me even that respite.

Archard slowly turned to face him, "...Why're you telling me this?"

A smile so small, inhabiting such melancholy took form on his lips as all he could do was shrug his shoulders.

"I guess I just want to help a kindred spirit out is all," Akshay answered, running his fingers through his mix-colored hair, "I know how painful a path of loneliness can be–and not just loneliness, but solitude forged by the fear of others. If I can free somebody from that path, well, I'll be happy with just that."

"..." Archard remained silent.

Akshay flipped his coin between his fingers before letting out a small breath, turning around, "It's fine if you don't want to join. It was worth a shot, anyway."

"Hold."

"Mm?" Akshay stopped, looking back at the veteran knight.

Archard remained still for a passing moment before speaking out, "...I suppose if you trust this guild that much, I can believe in that trust."

A smile perched across his lips, "Is that so?"

"Just tell me," Archard asked, "what is the name of this guild that's so special to you?"

"Gladiolus."