Let This Grieving Soul Retire Volume 1/Summary

## Arc 1

Krai Andrey reminisced his past with his friends five years ago. He stated how his life had changed after he realized how untalented he was.

Krai Andrey mentioned how the [First Steps] was founded and its function in society. Then three years after its founding, he invited all of his clan members to have a 'clan retreat'. Unfortunately, it went into disaster when the Prism Garden was born. At that time, everyone went terrified of how sadistic their clan master was.

In the current timeline, Krai bumped into a beautiful big-chest amber haired girl named Rhuda Runebeck during the 5th Recruitment Drive of First Steps. Next, Greg interjected and introduced himself. Then, later on Gilbert Bush was introduced after making a scene in the bar.

Gilbert Bush dared to call for the attention of Grieving Souls. However, Tino Shade confronted him to stop making a fuss. The two exchanged a hot discussion that led for Krai Andrey to drag away Rhuda with him. He didn't want to be swallowed in the tension between the two troublemakers. However, Tino Shade sensed his presence, and she unintentionally interrupted him to exit the building.

The lousy Krai met up with Ark Rodin who was escorted by Isabella Melnes. The two exchanged a few greetings before they went into deep discussion. Ark Rodin was expecting him to make a recommendation, so Krai obliged to accept it.

Krai recommended Gilbert Bush, but he declared in the public that whoever beat him up and stole his [Shot Ring] would receive a reward: a recommendation to join the Ark Brave. The whole crowd was bewildered when Tino Shade made a move and knocked down Gilbert in one kick. The whole bar was wrecked afterward.

In the next morning, Eva Renfied entered the clan master office elegantly. She showed off the headlines of the newspaper that contained the incident at the bar. The two exchanged a few words before Eva told him that he was summoned in the Associations. Despite his refusal, Krai surrendered and headed his way for the place.

Later on, he safely entered the building of the Explorers Association Imperial Branch, and he was greeted by Chloe Welter. She's a cute and adorable receptionists. Krai Andrey went for the office and quickly used his ultimate move (dogeza) in front of Gark Welter and Kaina Noss. He genuflected and asked for forgiveness.

Feeling such an incident was an usual errand, Krai Andrey simply teased Gark and Kaina to make a good decision. Thus, he aggressively requested to give him a [penalty game].

Krai, who believed it was the easiest, took the level 3 quest without a question, and he jokingly mentioned he would do the corpse retrieval. Gark retorted it, but he resigned to scold him any further.

Gark and Kaina simply smiled when he took the 'most difficult quest' after Krai left the office without realizing his grave mistake.

Krai went for the clan lobby, looking for the present of Ark Rodin. However, he was absent. Thankfully, he found Tino Shade. His self-proclaimed disciple ran away when she read the contents, but she was caught easily by her master's chain dog relic.

Krai proposed she should form a party of 4 hunters. Tino Shade felt hopeless and accepted his orders.

In the next morning, Tino Shade looked helpless when the members of her party accepted her master's request.

Gilbert Bush, Rhuda Runebeck, Greg were invited in the lobby, but Tino Shade blatantly told them to resign if they didn't want to.

Meanwhile, Krai Andrey and Eva Renfied had a short discussion about it. Eva reminded her superior that Tino was still young to lead a party, but Krai corrected her that it was for her own growth. Besides, Krai firmly trusted her abilities because she was trained by his childhood friend.

A loud slam opened the door. Crying Tino went ahead and hit her head on Krai's stomach. She grumbled how awful the situation was. Eva scolded Tino that clan members except the deputy was not permitted to enter the clan office, but the crying lady ignored it.

Eventually, Krai went along and came with Tino down to the lobby. From there, he met vis-a-vis with her slapped party.

Gilbert hit him with a complaint aloud, but Krai feigned no mind. Greg was surprised to realize that Krai Andrey was the young level 8 certified hunter. He mentioned his position as the party leader of Grievers and the founding clan master of the First Steps.

Rhuda was shocked too, but Gilbert made it a butt of joke. Believing Krai was just a clown who used his clan members experience to earn the level.

To his surprise, Krai didn't deny it since he was really receiving it due to metric system. Since Gilbert kept complaining, Krai made a decision to ask him to leave. With this kind of rejection, Gilbert implored for a duel between him and Krai. But Krai dodged the bullet by passing to Tino since she would lead them for the exploration. A few minutes later, Tino and Gilbert prepared for the duel. Tino asked for an ice cream as a reward, and Krai permitted it once she won.

The duel started and ended quickly. Tino stood victorious against Little Gilbert. But he didn't surrendered and stood on his ground. Trying to savor his dignity as a treasure hunter, Gilbert denied to use his Purgatory Sword.

Krai Andrey stepped in and told him a short speech. Gilbert was astounded when Krai activated and unleashed the full power of his relic without touching its handle. He commented later that Krai Andrey was a monster.

Later that moment, Eva and her clanmaster have exchanged a few words after that event. Eva assumed Krai reformed him, but Krai denied it. In the lobby, Tinoa Shade told the whole group to write their last will. Rhuda slammed the table in shock.

Soon the team ventured into the specified location: the White Wolf's Den.

Greg suggested to withdraw. Rhuda seconded it. But Tino adamantly declined. Because they were facing a 'thousand trials'. Therefore, they must proceed at all cost because it was part of their training to grow stronger than before and overcame their weaknesses.

Tino Shade and the slapped party was amidst of discussion when the modified wolf phantom with a human body jumped down and attacked them in surprise.

Tino was overwhelmed and dismayed when she saw it with her own two eyes. Asking the reason for her beloved master why she needed to the trial was a bit unreasonable.

A few minutes later, the slapped team succeeded to enter the place without losing a member. Tino's leadership managed to pull it off. She retrieved a short black sword relic, and she temporarily used it as her primarily weapon.

Gilbert Bush realized that his Purgatorial Sword had run out of mana. This increased their leader's anxiety.

Once they arrived the boss room, they planned it once. Tino revealed the reason to everyone that they were selected accordingly. Everyone was blessed with the trial of fire. Therefore, they must finish the quest even it would cause them to die.

Inside the boss room, the battle didn't go well, but they managed to pull it off. Greg lose his sword, and his death was coming for him. Thankfully, Rhuda saved him before the so-called boss hit him with its large sword.

Tino went behind on the boss, but she received a mild injury on her right thighs before she stabbed its back neck with her relic sword.

Everyone finally heaved a sigh of relief afterward.

At that moment, Krai discovered that the penalty game was dangerous quest when he asked a favor to a clan member to charge his dog relic. He was petrified and almost hurled when he heard a bad news. Level 5 hunter and his team were their targets to rescue. Krai told them it was part of his apprentice that made his clan members commented it was a terrible fit for a clanmaster. A man who supervised and trained the Grieving Soul to a trial of fire.

With this predicament, Krai who felt guilty decided to follow them. He equipped himself with several 'defective' relics. Eva caught him on sight, and she was surprised to find out that he was carrying a dangerous capsule: Sitri's slime. But Krai denied it before he went to venture alone in the night.

But as the slapped party begun to search for the targets, four huge humanoid phantom wolves appeared. They were assumed as the real boss of the whole Den.

Everyone were overwhelmed with fear. Gilbert and the rest of the team implored Tino Shade to evacuate immediately. But Tino insisted to stay because she was their party leader.

As they were hopelessly bewildered, a small human rocket missile hit the two phantoms. He knocked down both of them in a blink of an eye.

Who was the missile? It was none other than Krai Andrey. He used the phantoms as a cushion to make an emergency landing.

Tino Shade and her party members were surprised to his sudden entrance. Krai singlehandedly held off the four bosses and instructed Tino Shade to exit the place. In the last moment, Krai Andrey threw away the capsule to buy them a time.

They hailed from the boss room and ran as far as they could. As Krai Andrey stopped moving, everyone followed. Krai used a [Healing Hope], a medical relic to heal Tino Shade's right thigh. Gilbert Bush commented Krai only used a relic for healing which made Krai admitted angrily inside his head that he really used it. Krai was supposed to be in the back, but the slapped party followed him from behind. The job should be on the thief hunters, but since he was a high-leveled treasure hunter, the slapped party made him take the lead.

As they approached the two-way tunnel, Krai Andrey planned to cross the first one, and he would take a U-turn. However, he eventually led them to the current location of the exhausted party of the level 5 treasure hunter 'Rudolph Davout' and his 'missing party' in the quest. Everyone were overwhelmed in surprise, especially Greg who couldn't believe it. Greg was impressed in hopeless bewilderment when Krai used a high-level thief ability without doing anything.

The group packed up and headed off for the escape route, but they halted their advances when Tino Shade sensed a powerful forces coming closer in their distance. Everyone was alerted and equipped their weapons.

Krai Andrey stepped forward because he had still a pride of a treasure hunter. All of them except Krai were frightened when two mask humanoid people appeared out of the tunnel. Tino Shade turned into a scaredy-cat when she recognized the female one. Everyone except Tino heaved a sigh of relief when Krai Andrey recognized the person on the laughing bonehead mask.

Liz Smart appeared in an instant in front of Krai Andrey. The missing people and the slapped party except Tino Shade were bewildered when she unmasked herself. Liz was disappointed when they failed to recognized the most powerful members of the Grieving Souls.

Liz Smart was embarrassed to see Tino Shade. She felt humiliated because her disciple was saved by Krai Andrey, and she couldn't even cleared the trial that her master bestowed to her. Thankfully, her anxiety and rage were ease down when Krai Andrey interjected to calm her down.

Liz Smart saved the day when she beat down the boss whilst she's lecturing her disciple of how to finish them off easily.

In the next morning, Eva reported to Krai and she congratulated him, but Krai ignored it because Tino should do the reporting. Krai wanted to retire, but Liz Smart told him that the Grievers would retire too. Therefore, Krai Andrey had to hold it off and resumed his duties as the clan master and their party leader.