Morning sunlight carries Vitamin D — good for bones, good for the mind. Jhed needed it badly. His mental state wasn't well. He hadn't slept all night, just lying there on the bed. In his old world, being locked in a room like this would have been fine — he'd have had his Linux 3D Pro, his phone, his PC. Things that kept him occupied, kept him afloat. Here, none of that existed.
Real happiness lives inside a person. If Jhed could learn to be at peace with himself, he'd always have it.
Shine and Nain were already on their way back to town.
Despite searching all night, no one had found Silia. They'd checked every house in the town. It was possible she'd slipped outside the walls. If she had, finding her in a world this large would be nearly impossible.
But she couldn't have gone far. Every city and town was under the control of the Demon King's generals and adventurers. The news of the stolen teleportation card had spread through the entire town. Everyone was helping — these people knew how to stand together.
All the adventurers had gathered back at the guild. Daichi stood above them.
"We searched the whole town. She's nowhere," Maruls said. The young man from the earlier argument stood beside him. They glanced at each other and looked away.
"Same for us — nothing," the other parties said.
Daichi listened.
"Maybe she slipped outside the walls," the young man said.
"Could be — she might have run," someone from the crowd said.
"If she did, she wouldn't have gotten far. We can still find her," Metye said.
Everyone was discussing, theorizing — if she went outside, where would she have gone?
"Our guest must be so worried. I need to find this quickly. Master Ro-Ro — I'm not the person you are yet. If you were here, you'd have found her long ago." Daichi thought to himself. Perhaps he had been Ro-Ro's student.
"Thank you — all of you — for everything you're doing." Daichi bowed to them.
Everyone was taken aback. A short silence fell.
"What are you saying. You're the reason this town is still standing. Without you, this place would have fallen apart long ago," Maruls said.
"That's right. You find us quests, you keep us working. You're our master. Helping you is our duty," the young man said. Turns out he could say decent things too.
"Then friends — let's not stop until we find her." He said it loudly, and with that, every adventurer erupted in agreement and poured out of the guild, spreading out beyond the town walls to search.
Inside, Jhed had gotten out of bed. He'd heard the shouting. He looked out the window. The sound had carried through the whole town.
"What was that?" Jhed said.
He stepped out of his room.
"I should help them too." After an entire night of thinking, he'd finally made a decision. This courage had taken a lot of convincing himself. He put his sword in its sheath.
And walked to the front door. Slowly, he opened it.
And stepped outside.