Nick gets betrayed by the one person he trusted, then spends the entire show proving that cynicism works better than faith ever did. This isn't a redemption arc or a "believe in friendship" story. This is four broken people who stopped waiting for the world to be fair and started winning anyway. The party that nobody wanted becomes the one nobody can stop.
Nick gets betrayed by the adventuring party he's bled for, accused of theft he didn't commit and cast aside by the leader he trusted most. Broke and bitter, he's ready to give up on the whole adventure game until he stumbles across other adventurers just as burned out as he is. These aren't bright-eyed heroes seeking glory: they're jaded survivors who've learned the hard way that trusting people gets you destroyed. Together, they form something different. No naive idealism, no pretense of camaraderie. Just competent people who understand that the world doesn't reward kindness, so they might as well work together because the alternative is worse. What starts as a band of cynical misfits becomes an increasingly effective force, taking on jobs the respectable parties won't touch and solving problems no one else can handle. It's fantasy adventuring stripped of its rose-tinted glasses. These characters believe in exactly nothing except each other's usefulness, and somehow that's exactly what the world needs.