Chapter 453: Derek’s Story III (Final)
“How did I end up here?” Derek asked back with a laugh. “That’s actually a funny story,” he said.
“How so?” Alanah asked.
“Well, as you know now, I stuck to myself, and rarely every interacted with anybody,” he started. “There were a few teams of people who pushed hard enough, and through those years, I joined up with them for some things—like fighting hordes of monsters trying to overtake an outpost and things like that.”
“I can understand that,” Alanah said. “You have to protect those hubs, I would assume?”
“Exactly,” Derek answered. “But a couple of the teams were pretty extroverted and outgoing, and I ended up seeing them more often than I would have liked. I mean, I did actively try to avoid them, but they tried to speak with me enough for me to say that I was at least on friendly terms with them as acquaintances—though I didn’t exactly consider them friends. I hadn’t even bothered to learn all of their names.”
Alanah nodded along, waiting for Derek to continue.
“So, I was coming back from a bar, and the leader of one of the teams was running around frantically. It was none of my business, so I just tried to blend into the surroundings and sneak by, but she ended up seeing me and rushing over,” Derek explained with a sigh. “Still to this day, I don’t know why I allowed myself to be talked into helping her.”
“What did she need?” Alanah asked.
“Well, her whole team was ambushed, I guess—fighting for their lives. She had run back to search for some help because of it, then she saw me and basically dragged me along with her to save them,” Derek replied. “Honestly, I could have turned around or said no at any point, and it wasn’t like she—or anyone else around the area, for that matter—would have been able to stop me.”