For The Greater Good-World 1: A Corrupted Cove || World//Zero ||

13. The "Crabby Crusade"

Alec clenched his teeth in a forced, weak smile, and Sean did the same, though looked a little more convincing as he pulled away his pen from the sign-up sheet. He cleared his throat before greeting Cal in the best way possible.

"Callahan!" he exclaimed, expecting his arms out. "What a surprise! I didn't think you'd come back early."

"So you could sign up my apprentice for a dungeon?" Cal asked darkly.

Sean tapped his fingers together, trying to work something out in his brain. "Not by himself—"

"You and Alec were going to go into the dungeon? Without my permission?" Cal's eyes narrowed. "Do you realize how much trouble you'll get into? That you'll get all of us into?"

"No, no! I was simply doing you two a favor! Alec and you were going to go on the sign-up sheet."

"That doesn't explain why you decided to go through with this without telling me."

An argument was fueling, and Alec knew it. He had to do something! Taking a step forward, he quickly butted into the conversation.

"Wait!" he said. "It was my idea."

The older boys stared down at the smaller boy. Sean's eyes widened with his brows furrowed, mouthing the word no, but Alec didn't listen. Instead, Alec explained everything to Cal. How he felt left out from his peers, and how he felt like he wasn't getting anything done because of his training. How he'd rather focus on his quests first and do his training later or in between events.

"Don't get me wrong, I appreciate you spending your time training me," he added. "But I just really wish that we could get started on my quests."

Cal stayed silent for a while, making Alec worried. Had what he said offended his mentor? He remembered Cal saying that he wasn't to go into a dungeon until he beat him in a duel, but as Sean mentioned before, that seemed almost impossible. He hoped that he wouldn't have to go through that and that Cal would cooperate with him.

Suddenly, Cal let out a heavy sigh. Walking towards the board, he snatched Sean's pen out of his grasp, and after locating the sign-up sheet, signed his name next to Alec's.

The day had finally come. Alec woke up early in the morning and immediately got into his gear. Once he strapped himself up, he grabbed his sword and stumbled out of the dormitories and towards the bulletin board with the dungeons, where Cal was waiting for him. To his surprise, Sean was there, too, holding a bag in front of him. When he got nearer, Sean waved him over as he presented the bag in front of him. It looked like Sean's—an adventurer's bag.

"Now you don't have to carry so many things around," he said. "Just in case."

Alec nodded to him before slinging it over his shoulder. "Thanks."

"Ready to go?" Cal asked. He hasn't really talked to Alec since the confrontation the other day.

Alec nodded again. "Yep."

At taking one look at the boy, Cal knelt to his level and tightened his straps before leading him off the platform and seemingly towards the first dungeon entrance. Before they left, Sean wished Alec good luck.

"So," Alec started. "Where are we going?"

"To your first dungeon," Cal said in a tone that told Alec that it was a stupid question. "To get to it, we have to cross through a portal. Because our names are on the sheet, it will know which dungeon we want to go to and transport us there. That way we don't have to go through all of the trouble of walking there."

Alec didn't quite understand, but as soon as he spotted a golden-framed mirror-like object with a purple aura circulating within it, he quickly guessed that it was the portal Cal mentioned. However, there was a line of people waiting to get in, so Cal and Alec took their place and waited until it was their turn. Fortunately, the line moved quickly, as all the adventurers had to do was step into the portal.