"Dad?!" Marjorie shot up from her chair.
"Branch Master Cyrus?" People began to murmur amongst themselves.
Marjorie ran out from her seat and aggressively shook the man. "Where's my dad?! What happened?"
No response.
She raised her hand and slapped him across the face with no regard for the man. Still, he remained unconscious. Panicking, Marjorie grabbed the nearest pint of ale and poured it down on his face.
His eyes' twitched, slowly opening them. He then began to cough, struggling to stay awake as drowsiness weighed him down.
"Near the valley of remembrance." He managed to get out. "Too many… couldn't…" He murmured before he succumbed to fatigue.
Tears peaking at the corner of her eyes, Marjorie raised her hand, ready to deliver another sharp slap only for a rugged looking adventurer with a huge gash on his face, to stop her.
"That's enough." He commanded, his soft yet deep voice booming throughout the hall.
"He's out cold. One more and you'll kill him."
Marjorie tried to yank her arm back, thrashing around wildly to no avail.
"Let go of me!" She hissed with venom. "I need to go out there and… and…"
"And do what?" He began. "You'll die if you go out there."
Sensing that Marjorie had no more fight in her, the adventurer released his grip, letting go of her arm as it fell lifeless to her side. Marjorie, cupped her face with the other trying to stifle her sobs.
She then glanced up, tears uncontrollably rolling down her face.
"Please… help me. Hans." She pleaded, her voice quivering as she struggled to keep it together.
The Adventurer acknowledged with a simple nod and turned to face the others.
"I'm going to rescue the Branch Master. Anyone who wishes to join me, raise your hands."
The people began to mutter amongst themselves.
"Valley of Remembrance? That's dangerous…"
"Right? I'm not going to risk my life."
"I've got a commission… sorry…"
Veins visibly popped on his forehead and his jaws clenched tight.
"Why you spineless cowards." He fumed through his teeth. "This is why everyone looks down on us. None of you have any honour as a warrior."
"Who gives a crap about honour?" One guy added.
"Only you have the freakish obsession with being a warrior." Another joined.
Soon, the hall was filled with protests and jeers as everyone banded together. Chanting any and every insult imaginable.
This was what the game never showed. Players only ever see the romanticized aspects of what an adventurer was, when in truth, they were nothing but a collective of outcasts who didn't fit in with society.
John knew this side of humanity very well. The selfish nature of mankind. But even if he knew it, he couldn't fault them. He was no different. He himself could have volunteered anytime during the speech yet he remained silent through the whole ordeal. He wasn't the hero of the story. He was just a normal guy barely adapting to the sudden change he never wanted in the first place. He had no plans in getting involved in people's business.
That's what kept him from getting hurt. Especially back on Earth. It was just better to stay out of the way. It's safer that way. He'd live longer.
"I'll go!" A voice arose in the midst of everything.
The voice didn't belong to the strongest meanest looking one in the hall. No, it belonged to a scrawny guy with an oversized backpack, squeaky clean adventurers' clothing, and the plainest face imaginable.
"Are you crazy kid? Sit back down before you get yourself hurt." A grumpy old drunkard started.
"Why should I? I believe we should always lend a helping hand to those in need." He stated as if it's the most obvious answer.
"Plus, Branch Master Cyrus always told me that Adventurers look out for one another. That we are one big family."
To which the crowd erupted in laughter.
"This is too good."
"This guy is still a kid."
"Stop, my ribs hurt."
John scratched his head. Damn it, is he really going to do this? It went against everything he believed. Was he really going to play hero?
Going against his better judgement. John raised his hand.
"I'll go too." He said, regretting even opening his mouth.
Damn it, why do these wannabe heroes have this effect on him. The hopeful attitude, the childish logic… the scrawny guy was just like Edith. Where do they get this endless source of hope? How can they be so sure of themselves that everything will work out in the end?
***
"That was something else back there. You really had me going. Both of you are either really brave or really stupid."
A man with a laidback attitude who looked like a carbon copy of Hans began with a idiotic grin plastered on his face.
"I'm sorry… but who are you?" The scrawny asked with a straight face.
"What? You mean you haven't figured it out by now? I mean we practically look the same." He insisted. "Sure I'm more handsome than my bro but still… it's very obvious."
"You're the twins right?" John joined in.
"Bingo. I'm Ban and the mean mugged brother of mine is Hans. We're THE twins of Mondstadt's adventurer guild. I'm surprised and frankly hurt you'd even need to ask." He teased with a hand over his mouth, pretending to be offended.
"Enough Ban." Hans ordered.
"What? I didn't even do anything." Ban crossed his arms, pouting with his cheeks puffed. "You're seriously a killjoy bro."
Without turning back, the big burly Hans asked.
"You with the short hair. What's your name?"
"Henry, sir." He replied candidly, clutching the straps to his backpack.
"And you with the long hair."
"John… John Doe."
Hans acknowledged with a simple nod.
"I take it both of you are new?"
Both John and Henry exchanged glances and answered.
"Yes."
"Yes, sir." At the same time.
There was a long awkward pause on the way to Springvale. Trees lined the beaten path but it didn't have the same strong earthy smell as the Whispering Woods. The city of Mondstadt was still visible, despite how small it was compared to other nations, it looked beautiful, heck it looked something straight out of a renaissance painting, especially the way the light reflected off the waters surrounding the city.
The Valley of Remembrance. To John's knowledge, it was a domain to farm artifacts but he did recall the hillichurl camp near it had a wooden ladder people on social media made thirst trap videos on.
'2020 lockdown was peak Genshin Era.' John smiled, reminiscing about good ole times.
"W-Why are you smiling like that? You're thinking about something perverted aren't you?" Henry asked, his face cringed in disgust.
"Wait no, I can explain." John fumbled over his words.
Crap, he must have looked like a weirdo. How come characters in anime and books were never called out for it? Why did it have to happen to him?!
"What's this? My~ I didn't know you were that kind of person… John~" Ban joined in, slinging his arm around Henry.
"I thought you looked like a respectable person." Henry continued. "I never would have guessed you'd be a degenerate."
"Wait, no, I wasn't, I didn't." He panicked.
"Who was it? The smoking hot librarian, Lisa? No, wait, the Grand Master Jean? Oh you dirty dog." Ban teased, adding fuel to the fire.
"Please refrain from having any lewd thoughts about Lady Lisa and Grand Master Jean." Henry warned, widening the distance between him and John.
"No, you don't understand… I wasn't even-"
"I bet it's the red haired girl you came in with. What's her name?" Ban paused, pretending to stroke his non-existence beard. "Right, her name's Edith~"
At the mention of Edith, John's face flushed red.
"W-What? I-I… don't…"
"Hah, right on the money." Ban laughed.
"I would never…" Henry began, changing his ascent to something akin to British. "You sick pervert… You think of your team mates in such a way?"
No, he didn't think of Edith like that? Right? She's just his friend. She's too loud to be his type. He liked quiet and shy girls… John tried to convince himself.
"Enough, all of you." Hans commanded.
'Thank God.' He thought. 'It's finally over.'
"He's still young and it's normal for boys his age to think about such things." Hans added.
'Oh for god's sake.'
Ban broke out into laughter, clutching his stomach and muttering to himself about how his ribs hurt while Henry distanced himself an earshot of John.
And to top it all off, John couldn't stop his beet red face from blushing from embarrassment.
"I hate you all." He muttered.
A smile tugged at the stern Han's face, glad that everyone was able to laugh and smile… because he knew how rare these moments were.
A calm before the storm.