Burdens were a heavy thing to carry, whether it be physically or mentally. For Soren, it was a little bit of both he had to deal with. Being a supporter, he was always at the bottom of the adventurer’s food chain, with the well-known adventurers at the top and barely known supporters at the bottom. Still, he tried to grin and bear it as he went through the day carrying things for everyone. It had become his way of living, carrying people’s supplies, equipment, and soul stones. So much so that he was adventuring more often than working as a waiter at Sugar and Spice café. It was a shame he had to let Briareus and his father down like that, but money was what his family needed at the moment and adventuring brought the money in, despite him being given a smaller cut from the pile of valis as a whole. He was used to going in with his shoulders slumped and his back slightly bended from carrying too much. But there was nothing he could do about it, other than stand up straighter when the thought came for him to do so. He didn’t seem to notice, though, just as he didn’t seem to notice the change in his personality. He was quieter now, more polite. He had grown a stutter in the presence of people he was unfamiliar with and he kept his pain inside most of the time without saying a word. His father had noticed the change and he worried for his son, his one and only joy within his life still alive. He tried to get his son to open up to him, to tell him of his experiences, but it just brought a flood of bad memories that he tried hard to suppress. So he kept quiet, not telling his father how much pain he was in. It wasn’t like he hated his job. He didn’t, despite the hardship it was giving him. He just grew used to the fact that he would always be used and ill treated by the people around him, having seen the darker side of the world. It was hard to keep up hope during these times, but he tried his best to persevere under the strain. Still, he couldn’t help but feel like he was working himself to death in some way, he didn’t know why though. It’s not like he’ll get himself killed while his father would wait forever for his son to come home. He wasn’t going to do that, he loved his family too much to leave him. Still, the feeling nagged at him when he was in the Dungeon supporting people and he didn’t know why. He was stressed alright, stressed from taking the abuse, stressed from working so hard to support himself and his father, stressed from living. But he’ll stay, no matter what. He’ll continue to act like a pack mule to other adventurers until it killed him.
