Summer Break

Chapter 18

Author's Notes:
So for those of you that are unaware, a few weeks ago I broke my foot. That is why there wasn't an update last week, and why I will now be updating every other Wednesday, until I'm healed and can get out of the house, and away from all these distractions. Thank you for understanding.

Arthur was leaned up against a tree looking over at Tess as she meditated while he was lost in his own thoughts. In a short while they were all going to be going into their second dungeon, Frozen Hell, and while everyone else but him and Elijah were focused on gathering their strength, he was focused on Pasta Bloom's parting words to him from just a few days ago.

He was confident about how she felt about Tess, but the part of him that was still Grey would still tell him this was wrong. However those thoughts now were met with a new argument, Pasta's story. Arthur couldn't help but think about what he would do if he ever lost Tess, but thoughts of making the whole world burn felt to fit the feeling. At the same time Arthur did have one comforting thought that differed from Pasta's story, his parents seemed to support the idea of him and Tess dating.

"Hello, Dicathen to Arthur, anyone there?" Elijah said as he waved his hand in front of Arthur's face, breaking him from his thoughts.

"I'm sorry what?" Arthur replied as he shook his head quickly then looked over at his friend.

"I just finished securing the carts and mana beasts. Are you ok? I called out to you a few times but you didn't answer," Elijah replied as he looked to Arthur with a concerned expression.

"Sorry, I'm fine. Just lost in thought," Arthur replied dismissively.

"Are you sure? Because I've noticed this happening a lot over the last few days. If you were anyone else I'd think you were worried about going into this dungeon," Elijah asked, digging for answers in hopes of helping.

"Yeah I'm fine. That old lance at the tavern had told me something, and I just can't stop thinking about it," Arthur replied and started walking to the group.

"You know you can talk to me, friends help each other with their problems you know," Elijah said as he followed behind.

Arthur stopped. "I know. He gave me some advice when we spoke, I'm just trying to decide what to do with it. Part of me says I should take it because he's right, while part of me says to ignore him, that I've got plenty of time."

"I see," Elijah commented as he looked deep in thought. "Well, we are about to go into a dungeon, but we'll probably all make it out just fine." Elijah then sighed and a troubled expression formed on his face. "But on the other hand, I still can't help but remember Dire Tombs. Too much unexpected stuff happened down there, so I can't say with confidence we will have plenty of time. I'm sorry for being pessimistic right now, but these thoughts I feel keep me level headed and at just that right level of cautious."

"You know that actually helped. I guess I needed someone else's perspective," Arthur replied with a smile as he patted Elijah's back.

"Really?" Elijah replied sounding surprised.

"Yup, because even though we might have time, we really don't know what will happen next," Arthur relied and continued back to the others.

Elijah joined the others and began meditating to absorb some more mana before they got started. Arthur on the other hand, thanks to his mana rotation technique, was already full of mana and ready to go. However Arthur didn't want to feel like he was rushing everyone else, so he decided to sit down beside Tess and worked on refining his core instead.

After a few minutes however Arthur heard movement. When he looked he saw Feyrith digging through his bag, and pulled out what looked Iike a textbook.