Chapter 323

A few hours passed by and it was now nighttime.

The sound of the skeletons rising could be heard all around them.

But the teens didn’t care as they created a small bonfire and sat around the crackling flames which reflected on their faces.

Nobody kept watch at the entrance, and nobody slept.

After Ray and Van’s story, they had all spent the day sleeping and resting, all except Ray who didn’t need it.

And now, they were fully refreshed as they stared at the crackling flames.

With no food to chew on, the silence stretched.

"Man... I’m bored outta my mind," Chloe groaned loudly as she lifted her head to gaze at the bone ceiling.

"If you are that bored, there are a bunch of skeletal creatures outside to keep you company," Trish bluntly answered.

Chloe glared at her with a deep frown on her face.

"Yay! What a good thing to say to your friend."

Trisha lifted a brow. "We aren’t friends. None of us are."

"...."

"Hm?" Kai lifted a brow in confusion as he stared at Trisha, then at Chloe, whose face fell at the other girl’s words.

"Oh," Chloe uttered and then went completely silent.

"Er... I’m not the morality police, but that wasn’t a nice thing to say," said Ray as he looked at the girl in front of him.

Trisha cocked a brow again.

"Do you consider the rest of us, apart from Van and Kai, your friends?"

"Of course not..."

Van gave him a sharp side-eye.

"... Uh, I mean uh... I don’t even know what I mean," Ray gave up with a tired sigh.

"As I thought," Trisha uttered, then rose from the bonfire and looked toward the entrance.

"I’m not one to mince words to please anybody or guard their feelings. I say things as they are. None of you are my friends. You are just my comrades and nothing more."

With that, she turned away and walked toward the entrance of the cave, which was a few meters away from the others, and sat down alone.

"...."

"I really want to know what her problem is," Kai scowled in anger.

Chloe remained silent before finally uttering,

"She isn’t wrong though. Aside from you boys, the rest of us aren’t officially friends with one another.

The situation forced us to be sitting together at the moment, and when we find a way out of here and return to the Corps," she paused, as if unwilling to finish her words, but at the end of the day, she managed to say it.

"Everybody will head their separate ways."

The entire cave fell oddly silent, and for the first time in days, Chloe didn’t try to fill the void as she let it hang in the air for several minutes.

’I mean, she’s not wrong though. I’m not friends with the girls. I’m just cooperating for the meantime till we escape this place. I need their strength,’ Ray mused inwardly with a shrug.

Van shook his head and then rose up with a deep frown on his face.

"Ohoy~!" he shouted loudly while clapping, trying to draw everybody’s attention toward him.

It worked for those before him, but Trisha refused to acknowledge this and instead maintained her cold posture while looking straight ahead.

"That includes you, Trisha! Look over here!"

Trish didn’t reply nor did she turn around.

Van sighed, then waved his hand dismissed.

"Nevermind. You can at least listen, so listen."

Glaring at everybody in the room, Van sucked in a deep breath before shouting,

"You all are fools! All of you. Every single one of you."

Eyebrows flared in confusion at the boy’s unexpected words.

"Yes, I said that. Because tell me something; what do you call a friend? What is your own definition of being a friend?"

Finally, an emotion flickered in Trisha’s eyes as she slowly turned her neck to the side.

"..."

There was no answer from the others, hence the boy just replied to his own question.

"A friend is someone with whom you can share all your secrets. A friend is someone you can confide in, in your darkest days.

Someone who can comfort you when things go wrong. Someone you can comfortably eat with.

Share laughter, share sorrows, share pain, and make memories together.

Someone you can count on to cover your back whenever there’s an issue. Someone you can trust with your whole life even when it’s not convenient, yeah?"

"...."

"... So tell me, Trisha. Does Chloe not fit that criteria? Ray? Do the others not fit that criteria?"

He paused for a beat and then continued.

"We all ate beast meat together, shared memories, shared our pasts with one another; laughed and cried together. We fought and bickered with one another like long-time partners.

Fought beasts together while trusting the others with our lives to cover our backs in battle. Yes, we were not that close back in the Corps. But haven’t we gone through life-and-death situations together?"

Van looked around the cave with a deep frown on his face.

"We were new in the Corps when we were sent to clear a tier-1 gate where we encountered an Aberrant. We were almost killed, but we all prevailed.... together as one.

We went on an expedition as a squad, encountered a Minotaur, and prevailed as one.

Now we are stuck in these Forgotten Lands, battling as one and refusing to give up, and we will surely prevail as one."

Sucking in a sharp breath, Van glared in Trisha’s direction.

"If that isn’t what a friend is, then you all are selfish dumbasses who just want to use one another for your own benefit. As for me, I consider everybody here who has had my back in tough times as a friend. Goodnight."

He said, and then kicked the bonfire, extinguishing the bright flames before walking over to a quiet spot to rest his head.

The others were all left in the darkness and silence to reflect upon his words and actions.

Trisha hesitated for a few seconds, then slowly turned her head back to the front in deep silence as several flickers of emotion crossed her eyes.

’Hmph.’