The Search for Knowledge: New Beginnings

The Search for Knowledge - Chapter 28

(Author's Note: Alright guys! Polls are in, the majority wants me to save up the final chapters and publish them all at once so that you all can binge the end of the book. Climax and ending all at once. So that's what we'll do^^ Keep an eye on the book every week on the usual release day for SOME kind of update though! Maybe teasers, maybe Q&A announcement, maybe Q&A aftermath, all the way up until the full release! Be sure to join the discord server and follow The Search for Knowledge's twitter to ask questions for Q&A's and such! See you all around soon <3)

"I believe it would be wise to let me handle the rest of the rooms while you follow behind," Rox said after Feera and Sheeron calmed down. His tone was serious; it was clear that he thought they would only be in his way. "I can't fight the things in this dungeon while also protecting you all." He said the latter while glancing at both Kara and Toley.

"Absolutely not," Kara said, unwavering. "We are not children that need your protection. Whether you like it or not, we are part of the same team. We will go together, for better or worse." She looked at the rest of the party, receiving nods of confirmation from them all. "Maybe this dungeon has stronger creatures than I anticipated, which is my failure as a leader, but none of us are willing to back down. We will not sit back and let you fight our battles for us."

"You will die, Kara! All of you will!" Rox raised his voice at her out of concern.

"Have some faith, huh, Rox? Do you really think I'm that weak?" Feera fired back, "We might have only been in a few fights together, but you've seen me hold my own in them. Besides, how am I supposed to get stronger if you refuse to let me fight? You're not even our leader, Kara is, so stop acting so high-and-mighty!"

"Yeah, the girl's right. You're not my employer, you don't get to decide when I fight." Sheeron said in his usual, spiteful, tone. "I didn't even want to be here in the first place, but I'll be damned if I let some purple, pompous elf decide what I fight."

"I wanna go, too. I need to get stronger." Stated Toley simply.

Rox was silent in thought as he looked at his party. They were right, it was not his decision whether they keep going with him or not. In fact, he was not the one who could decide whether they continued in the first place. Even still, he did not want any of them to die. Sure, they had not known each other long and they were not exactly friends yet, but at the very least he didn't dislike any of them. Not enough to want them dead. Plus, it was in his nature to preserve life.

"Rox, this is part of the contract you and I made. We can't fulfill both of our ends if you stand in the way." She said, reminding him of what he bid her to do in order to get what she wanted. She phrased it in such a way that the others would think she was referring to their original contract regarding the research.

After a few more minutes he nodded, accepting their demands with mixed feelings. "I can't protect any of you, but none of you are allowed to die. I think after this, I'd like to go on some more adventures with you all. Get to know you all more." He said, giving them his usual charming smile. "Except for you, Sheeron. You're allowed to die." His smile soured as he jokingly spoke the final lines.

"You're the worst. I don't want to be protected by someone like you, anyway." He said in exasperation, before smirking.

"How cute!" Feera said, hugging onto Rox excitedly, "You two have a little romance thing going on now! My friend, Roma, would be all over this. After this is all over you two should meet her!"

"Remind me to never meet her." Rox and Sheeron said in sync, before looking at each other with disgust.

Kara clapped loudly to get everyone's attention, while speaking like a mother gathering her children, "Alright, that's enough playing around. Let's clear one more room, then make camp. I'm fairly certain that we're going to have our work cut out for us tomorrow."