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When Felicia met Arthur and Billy at the village entrance, she still tried to persuade Arthur to give up on the expedition and return to the village for the sake of his safety. She would apologize on his behalf to Ol' Smith and they would surrender the accepted quest.

Billy was the first to deny it, citing it would be a wonderful learning experience for Arthur and bringing up the penalty they would face should they surrender the quest. It might pull down his progress and even disqualify him from the upcoming level C advancement test. Billy was adamantly against this idea.

However, Felicia did not ask for his opinion. Her focus was on Arthur. "Arthur, I know you want to be an adventurer and I believe your time will come but I don't want you to lose your head... literally by rushing into things."

"Felicia, I appreciate your concern but..." Now that he was within company of his peers, Arthur felt more free to voice his thought, "I have to do this. Do you know how it feel to have your junior pass the entry exam that you've failed year after year?

"I have to do this!" There was a fire burning in Arthur's eyes. "If I successfully complete this mission, perhaps the instruction might change their mind and finally give me the adventurer's license."

Sensing the fire within Arthur, Felicia relented. "Alright, you can follow along but make sure to keep yourself out of harm's way and don't try to do anything stupid."

"Felicia, you worry about the little man too much! He's a man, not a babe. I'm sure he can take care of himself just fine." Billy grumbled as he waved for them to move forward. He seemed even more abrasive than usual, Arthur noticed. Arthur suspected it had to do with the extra attention Felicia had been paying towards him.

The group of three checked their inventory to make sure everything was packed before leaving the village of Armana to head to their quest destination, a cave nearby for a little spelunking. The person who supplied the petition said they heard some curious voices coming from inside the cave. Since the cave was home to some low-leveled zombies, the adventurer's guild branch that was stationed at Armana believed the request befitted a level E quest. This was because the mission technically only required the adventurers to clean out a small cave that was probably infested with the living dead. To be honest, it was nothing more than menial work.

The small party of three did not notice the group of shady looking individuals tailing them. They wore dark capes and seemed to be led by a man who held a glinting dagger in his palm.

...

Billy bludgeoned a walker with the edge of his steel shield, smashing the poor creature's head in. After the zombie fell, Billy used his sword to chop the creature's head off, ending its suffering once and for all. He then wiped the sweat from his forehead, telling Felicia who was hiding among the trees with her bow and arrow, "That's the last one."

Felicia materialized from the forest with Arthur trailing behind her. "Job well done." Acting as an observer, Arthur had to admit the two make quite a pairing, Billy charged ahead as the scout and warrior to clear the path while Felicia covered him from the safety of the location where she decided to take refuge.

They were at the mouth of the cave and Felicia as well as Billy just took care of a horde of zombies that swamped the entrance when they arrived. Arthur was pulled along by Felicia into the forest when the fight broke out. Naturally, Arthur was not as agile as Felicia who learned to camouflage herself among the trees but he might manage to pick up some tips and tricks, like how the light and shadows could be played to one's advantage as well as the type of undergrowth that one had to be watchful for because they caused too loud of a crunch when stepped on.

Now that the fight had ended, he was allowed to step out into the open. Arthur heard Felicia mumble beside him as they moved to join Billy who stood in the middle of zombie carcasses, "Why are the zombies outside the cave? Shouldn't they be inside? This doesn't match the description of the quest."

Billy, who heard Felicia, replied, "Does it really matter? The point is we've done a quick work of them. Perhaps they've wondered out of the cave on their own, who knows what these walkers are thinking?"

He then turned to Arthur and said, "Hey, little man. So how was did you find your first battle? Wasn't it exciting? I hope you didn't wet your pants running away from those zombies."

Arthur really had no idea whether the man meant it as a humorous jab or he was trying to insult him but he decided to ignore him. He joined Felicia who was squatting before one of the zombies. She took out a dagger that was tied to her waist and spliced the creature's head open. She told Arthur, "The brain matter of a zombie can be valuable ingredients to alchemist so they sell for quite a good sum of gold."

She tutted and sighed, "If only Billy didn't smash their head in, we probably would have ended up with quite a good haul."

"I only did what I was taught. The only effective way to kill a zombie is to crack their skull."

"Be that as it may, you could have just chopped the head off, there's no need to smash the head into mush." Then Felicia turned to Arthur and whispered, "This is why I hate working with blockheads from the Warrior's Institution."

Arthur couldn't help but chuckle.

Billy who sensed they were making fun of him, moved ahead into the cave to end the party. However, this only proved Felicia's point that these warrior-type only think with their sword but not their brain.

"Come on, we better catch up to him before he gets lost in there." Felicia said as she stood up.

The party did not notice the vapors forming around the zombies. They coagulated into spectral forms before moving to follow the group of three.