Jack's POV

  "I'm a liar and a thief."

  I woke up to find myself by a flame and covered in herbal weeds. There was no strength in me to sit up just yet, and a part of my face was completely covered. So I looked around with my left eye, and found him.

  Jensen was sitting at a distance with a bonfire in front of him.

  "You said something?" I asked out, with events of me ending up in a place like that being a bit fuzzy.

  Weren't we just entering the boss room? I asked myself, trying to recall the past events.

  Jensen used a stick to rekindle the flames in front of him and kept quiet for a long minute.

  "I want to confess something," he said.

  "Confess?" I asked, feeling numb all over.

  "I lied," he said, not meeting my eyes.

  "About?"

  "About everything," he said, and looked my way. "I knew Benzo's information wasn't accurate, and despite that, I risked your life for my gains."

  "Benzo?" My chest felt heavy, and my throat tightened. In an instant, everything came back rushing at me, and my body tensed. "Is he really…"

  "It's kill or be killed in this world," he said to me. "If you hadn't killed him. He would have killed us both."

  I looked up at the ceiling while a silent tear rolled down the side of my face.

  "How do you feel—"

  "Like a murderer," I said. "I have no idea what came over me," I admitted. "I just got so angry—"

  "That was my doing," he said, and my eye snapped at him. "The flower that we had collected after killing the floor boss. It has an effect."

  "What sort of an effect?" I asked.

  "Rage," he said. "I can cast a rage buff on anyone without having that spell as long as I have those flowers in my inventory. It costs me about a flower to cast such a spell."

  "And you have a hundred and twenty four more of those," I said.

  "Yes," he said.

  "You didn't pay me the fair market value on those, did you?" I asked.

  "Yes," he admitted.

  But who was I to complain? He had killed every goblin on that floor for us to reach those flowers. And if he really wanted, he could have taken those flowers for himself without needing me to pick them for him. If anything, I had to be thankful.

  "Where are we?" I asked him as the deafening silence was eerie to say the least.

  "On floor one," he said. "Once you can get up and move around, I will drop you back at floor two—"

  "How did I survive?" I asked him. "I saw the burns on my hand, and I know half of my face was—"

  "System store," he said. "I bought a healing potion—"

  "How much did it cost?"

  He eyed me.

  "How much?" I asked again.

  "You saved my life when Benzo attacked us," he said. "How about we call it even?"

  I didn't answer him. I had questions. So many questions. But I couldn't ask him any of those, as the system would flag me again. Just two years ago. A floor wide announcement was made by the system to identify me. Some people showed interest, and parties were formed. But Mr. and Mrs. Tuma were the party leaders and had led everyone astray.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  The weight of everyone's sacrifice came back to gnaw at my soul. Came back to tell me just how worthless I was, and in that moment as I had fought Benzo. More than anything else, all I wanted to do was to make sure that Benzo could never hurt them.

  "How much longer before I can move?" I asked Jensen.

  "Twelve hours," he said. "It will coincide with midnight when the lower floors open, and I will take you to the safe zone below…"

  Silence followed.

  "And then?" I asked out.

  "You go your way, and I go mine," he said.

  "So that's it?" I asked.

  "You almost died, Jack," he said. "There is no way I'm letting you tag along with me as I go down. It's too dangerous for you."

  "But—"

  "No, but…" He got on his feet and turned his back to me. "Rest up," he said. "We will leave as soon as you can walk."

  *****

  Fighting off the goblins was easier than this, I thought, as I stood in front of Mr.Tuma's inn after nearly forty eight hours since I had left the safe zone with Jensen.

  True to his word, Jensen left me here and went on his way. He did hand me my broken device and apologized for breaking it. But I was so numb that I couldn't even be mad about it. It had something to do with the healing portion he gave me when I was knocked out. But I also think that it had something to do with me taking a life.

  I watched Jensen go, while I stood in front of that inn wearing the store bought pair of new trousers and shirt. Unlike my old pair. These were much cleaner and were brown in color. I don't think these would look as dirty as my old pair.

  A part of me knew I was stalling. I didn't want to step in there and face the questions that would be thrown my way. But once Jensen was gone. And I knew in my heart that this was it. That the adventure I had was now over.

  I took in a breath and marched right in with bandages all over my forearms and face.

  Mr. Tuma, who was cleaning the tables. Froze upon seeing me. He called out to his wife, who came rushing out while wiping her hands in her apron. Suffice to say, that even she froze up when she saw my sorry state.

  I was hugged by Mrs. Tuma first, and then yelled and reprimanded in the same breath by her. What followed was my mom, dad, and Kara rushing down from our room. All looking worried sick and sleep deprived.

  My mother tied up her black hair in a bun and began healing me, while demanding to know who had done this to me. While my dad made me sit on a chair, and was trying to talk to me. Kara, who now looked taller than I last remembered her to be, was helping Mrs. Tuma bring me something to eat from the kitchen, while Mr. Tuma hung the closed sign outside the shop in a hurry.

  How badly had I wanted this? No, not being treated by my crying mom, while my dad yelled at me. But for all of us to be together under one roof. And now that I had it. I wanted nothing more than to protect this from people like Benzo out there.

  It could have been my mom or my sister in any one of his many traps which we called as dungeon surprises. Or it could have been Mr. and Mrs. Tuma for that matter if they were still active. But I was too weak to protect even one of them.

  Hell, I was too weak to even protect myself.

  That single thought moved me to tears. I was trying to hold back. And the moment I broke down, silently. Everyone went quiet. My mother hugged me, and asked everyone to back off. It was embarrassing to say the least. But there was just so much going on inside my head that those tears just came out.

  "You are safe now," she said, while kneeling in front of me.

  "Just tell me who did this to you?" asked my father while kneeling right next to her, still unshaven.

  I shook my head, and that's all they got from my end.

  Jensen may have lied. But he had saved my life, too. So as long as he wasn't done doing what he was here to do. I was going to keep quiet about it. A lot of people in this dungeon still believed that clearing a dungeon, makes it go away. They wouldn't understand even if I tried to explain.

  "Should I access the system store?" asked my dad to my mother. "We have some credits left."

  "Wait…" I snapped out of my thoughts and held each of their hand in mine. "You don't have to do that," I said. "The healing portions are too expensive in the system store," I said, having understood that much from Jensen's expression when I had asked him about it.

  My parents stared at me. More like stared at something over my head.

  "What happened?" I asked them letting go of their hands. "Did it flag me again?" I asked, refusing to even mention the word system.

  "No," said my mom.

  "It actually…" said my dad, and pulled my mom's hand away from my lap.

  "Actually, what?" I asked, as they not only got up but backtracked.

  Was it over my head that I had murdered someone? I asked myself, as my heart picked up a pace.

  I got on my feet, hoping that if I just explained myself, then they would understand.

  "Mom…" I looked at her, and my dad arched his arm in front of her.

  Kara, who had just entered the dining area with a bowl of hot soup in her hands with worried sick creases over her forehead. Stopped in her tracks while looking at me.

  "I can explain…" I said to her.

  She dropped the soup and pulled out the wand that was on her waist.

  "What's that above his head?" she asked out. "It wasn't there a second ago."

  "I can explain," I said to them.

  "Who are you?" she asked me, while charging up the wand.

  "I'm your brother…" I said, placating my hands.

  "Then why…" she stammered.

  "Why what?" I asked.

  "Then why is the System calling you that?" she asked out.

  "Calling me what?" I asked.

  "Lord of the dungeon…" she said.

  "Lord of what?" I asked.

  "Lord of the dungeon," she yelled back, ready to burn me alive with her magic.

  "The Lord of the dungeon?" I asked out loud.

  Ping!

  *****