The Achievement Junkie

Waiting their turn for inspection, Jack was not happy. Night had already passed and the morning sun was rising before they had their chance to be inspected.

The inspection was very thorough, two dozen guards inspected each caravan one at a time rather than one guard per inspection like what usually happened. Though it was extremely time consuming, Jack's party passed the inspection without too much trouble.

By the time they had crossed the border, six and a half days had passed since Slivia'a passing. It would normally take a day and a half to go from the Zuran-Reinolt border to Reinolt with on Ayden. Not taking time to sleep would save a few hours, but would that let them reach the capital in time?

After reaching the Reinolt Kingdom, Jack's party said goodbye to the merchant. Well, Rydel and Keela said goodbye as Jack stared into the distance endlessly.

The last time Jack spoke or looked someone in the eye was when he relayed the information about the line for border inspection. Since then, Jack's eyes sank deeper into his skull and all emotion disappeared from his being.

No matter what they said, neither Rydel nor Keela could get him to react in any way. Whenever Keela asked Rydel about what was wrong, Rydel would only shake his head and sigh. He told her that she would know in time and that he wasn't one to say anything.

Once they were done saying goodbyes, Rydel led them into the woods to meet with Ayden.

Rydel's fears had come true. He had guessed that the hawks could at most keep up with Ayden and try to maneuver to contain her, but he was scared of that. What he feared was the man in charge of Zuran's sky navy. With a merciless and cruel reputation, the sky navy commander controlled a Thunderbird and could at least match the young roc, if not catch her.

After Ayden had dropped off the others, she was able to avoid the dozens of giant hawks that chased her, but they had bought enough time for the high-level Thunderbird to arrive. After that, Ayden was only able to escape with an injured talon and a damaged wing.

There was no way Ayden would be able to fly at her top speed for an entire day, let alone fly to Reinolt City without resting.

They took off with some struggle but the ride smoothed out after the young roc started gliding through the clouds.

Within an hour, the party noticed someone approaching them from below on a Thundercat. The cat was starting to look tired and ragged, but the man riding it smiled when it saw the roc flying overhead.

The roc didn't stop. Rydel glanced at Maynard and mentally told him to not say a thing. Jack kept staring ahead as if he was already imagining himself running through the streets of the capital toward the association building.

Keela was behind Jack, hugging him from behind the entire time even though he never realized it. She didn't know Jack that well, but she knew he was extraordinary from his reputation and his demeanor in the catacomb. When she first saw Jack's face, she became determined to become some part of his life. Even if she wasn't his first wife or was a concubine, she wouldn't care.

Having been betrothed her entire life to someone who was known as a perverse man with many women since he was young, the prospect of being the concubine to a strong, passionate hero like Jack was like a dream come true.

Seeing Jack like this, Keela was clueless about what she could do to help. Without even knowing the cause of all this, all she could do at the moment was try and be there when he finally speaks again.

Night came and they were forced to make camp. Ayden laid down, resting while Rydel caught some beasts as food for Ayden.

As expected, Jack said nothing and did nothing. He didn't eat or play with Bowzer, nor did he stay too close to the campfire.

Late in the night, Maynard had caught up and saw Rydel stoking coals. The samurai talked telepathically in order to not wake Keela or disturb Jack by accident. 'How is he?'

'He's… getting through it,' answered Rydel. 'He's out in the woods right now. My guess is that he's thinking of her.'

'Today was the seventh day, right? Ya know, this will hit him hard. The kid only bounced back fast last time cause he had a chance to bring her back. But now…' Maynard sighed, 'now he'll have to face the truth again, with no way out.'

Shaking hid head, Rydel looked Maynard in the eye. 'We both know that the kid needs to grow up. This will be good for him."

'Yeah, but do ya know how long it'll take for him to get over it? Will he still want to leave for the Polt Federation or go to Trodar? Will he still want to help us?' asked Maynard, just speaking his mind.

'I don't.' Rydel shrugged. 'I have no clue. He'll have to get over this some way or another. If not, then the kid isn't the hero that I thought he was.'

They talked for some time as Rydel informed him about the earlier parts of their trip and what Jack had done in Ponlinne.

When Maynard heard that Jack had taken a lv. 85 staff that was hidden in the city's statue, his eyes twinkled. Every time Jack went somewhere new, he always managed to find treasures that no one knew existed.

Maynard and Rydel each took a night watch shift and morning eventually came. As they packed everything up and stored it away, Jack emerged from the woods. He was the as before, but it was evident that he hadn't slept and the bags under his eyes made his sunken expression look miserable.

While Maynard and his Thundercat had left early to try and arrive at the capital around the same time, Ayden took off through the skies.

She flew a little faster after a good night's rest, but it still took her the rest of the day to reach Reinolt.

Not bothering with the city gates, the party flew directly to the association building. But before they had fully landed, Jack was already on the ground and running into the building.

As he rushed through the halls, many adventurers tried to say, "hi," but Jack them no attention. Bolting up the stairs and into the conference room, Jack's finally stopped. His breath was heavy and he looked terrible.

Zariff, who was waiting inside the room, bowed his head and quietly left. Rydel and Maynard had already told him how Jack was acting. Even Bowzer had been staying with Keela since the night before, so why would Zariff be able to get anything out of Jack?

Once the door was shut, Jack locked it and used the stone on the wall to cast silence. Slowly, he stepped toward the conference table.

On top was a soft bedspread, turning the table's center into a comfortable place to lay down and sleep. Slivia's body was laying atop that bedspread, looking the same as when Jack last saw her.

Besides the bedspread, the only difference in the room were the many etching and symbols that had been carved into the table.

The Magic Corps had sent their most powerful cleric to enchant the table as a means to preserve Slivia's body and internal organs. Her corpse wasn't even cold yet thanks to the table's new magical properties.

Sadly, the cleric didn't have a high enough level to do anything else. Body preservation spells that could be cast without enchantments were only possible for people over lv. 50.

A small, sky-blue gem appeared in Jack's hand. Clenching it tightly, Jack looked at her as she lay there with that same smile on her face.

"Why…" Jack stammered, no longer able to contain his emotions. "Why…"

Pushing the life spring gem toward her, Jack was hesitant. Deep down, Jack knew that it was impossible to bring her back with the liquid-filled crystal, but he also wanted to try it anyway.

Fighting with himself, tears were streaming down his face. Veins were bulging as his fists clenched tighter and tighter. Movements were shaky, heavily affected by Jack's broken will.

"He knew this would happen… and he still let me go… Why?!"

"She gave up her life for me, and I can't even save hers on my second chance?"

"What… What am I supposed to do with this now? How can I…"

Jack would blurt out different lines randomly, sometimes in anger, other times in doubt. There were also moments of pure sorrow and emptiness.

"Sliv… I'm sorry…"

The moment he was told about the inspection pile-up, Jack knew that he wouldn't make it. The reason he said nothing the rest of the trip, was because he spent the entire time trying to think of what he could say to Slivia. Unfortunately, he was still speechless and couldn't imagine a single thing that could ease his heart.