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[indent][indent][indent][color=gray][sub][right][color=#98A9B1][b]Location:[/b][/color] The Laughing Worg Tavern-- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria[/right][/sub][/color]
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[color=98A9B1]“Easy everyone,”[/color] Benkei said, trying to cool the air. [i]It must have been bad with the angry twerp of all people trying to play peacemaker.[/i] [color=98A9B1]“Everything you’re saying Graves, it’s stuff I’ve taken into account. Well, stuff we’ve been trying to take into account, anyways. And with your completion of the dungeon, as well as the fact that it was inside the city, we can bring that evidence to the queen here at least.”[/color] 

[color=98A9B1]“I know everyone is tired of hearing this, but we can’t keep treating this world and it’s people like a game now. I’m still not sure exactly [i]what[/i] this place really is, but the denizens of this world are going to stand up for themselves now. And we don’t have the luxury of numbers of power to do anything about that.”[/color] Benkei looked over to Seigfried now. [color=98A9B1]“Many of us have useful crafting skills like your blacksmithing. And I’m considering learning some new skills, even if it means I have to actually physically learn them. I know fishing won’t really help us as much as something like mining or leatherworking will. But I’ll do my part to help.”[/color] 

That had been what he’d spent the other part of his morning doing; asking around town for those who would [i]actually[/i] talk to him about work. Even apprenticing with skilled workers or simply doing common labor, whatever he could do to help bring in extra income or materials to the others, it was something he realized he had to do. 

When he’d played the game earlier, before the glitch, fishing was just a fun hobby to screw around with while he waited on other players or content. It wasn’t something he’d put as much effort into like Rael’s herbalism, Graves’ hunting, or Alja and Seigfried’s blacksmithing. Even Kazuki had spent time learning various skills beyond his musical playing. Before he’d looked down on the profession system, he’d thought it was a waste of time. 

But as he and Sif were putting together a list of everyone’s viable skills, their knowledge, and connections, as well as their own property they could leverage, Benkei noticed the common denominator amidst it all: compared to everyone else in the group, he was worth the least. He owned the least amount of property, he had the least amount of useful skills for crafting and gathering. Benkei had gone through his own internal horror whilst the others faced the physical horrors of rats and sewer stink. 

That gnawing, endless feeling of not being good enough had sunk its claws into him, and he’d obsessively thrown himself into his work. He had to make himself valuable to others. Because if he couldn’t…what purpose did he have living when those better than him died? 

[color=98A9B1]”There’s one thing you said that I hadn’t really considered. But I think it’d be best if you, Rael, and Seele did the work for that: doing our part to at least open communication with the other guilds in the city. I doubt everyone will want to work together for the greater good here, but there’s safety in numbers now. And if we have to prove ourselves to the people of this world, I’m afraid there’s only one thing that we can really do: deal with the dungeons.”[/color] It was an awful thought to bring up after all the death and despair they’d experienced; and even more for those that just returned from the sewers. But it was the one trump card they held: they could take on the dungeons. And if they didn’t, there may not be any safe place left for them to go. 

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