Chapter 17 – First Quest

Third person POV

 "Yes, it was," Denali replied back, "but your occupation is quite new and strange."

She then looked at Azalea. "If you want to be with him as your party leader, then I'll let that slide."

While Azalea was happy and enthusiastic, Russell wasn't sure about that loophole, so he asked Denali, "Um…are you sure about that? What does the guild master would say about that?"

 "Don't worry," replied Denali with a smile, "I'll make sure he will understand that."

Because of her guarantee, Russell became positive. "Okay then."

 With that Denali pulled out a piece of document and grabbed one of the quill pens, giving them to Russell and Azalea. "Here, register your party in this form." Russell did so on Azalea's behalf, filling out the form while understanding how it works. The filling of the party registration form was quick and smooth, and after that, Russell gave the document and quill pen back to the guild receptionist. "Here you go."

Receiving the document and quill pen back, Denali read it.

The party's name written in the registration document is the May Party, and Russell wrote that he is the leader of it.

So, she said to him and Azalea positively, "Okay, you two are now officially a party, even though one of you is not an official member of this guild."

This excites Russell and Azalea a lot.

Azalea then bowed deeply towards Denali for a few seconds. "Thank you so much."

 "I'll do my best to manage this small party," Russell added strongly with a promise.

 "Okay then." Denali was happy for them.

 She then pulled out a piece of paper, which contained a quest with a good reward in the form of gold coins and a few gemstones, and gave it to them. "Here, your first quest." Azalea then grabbed it and read it. The quest is about clearing a simple and uncomplicated dungeon north of the town, and it was ranked as an E-ranked one. Russell then peeked at it, and he was as excited as last time to do the quest with Azalea. "Wow, that sounds cool."

 "Yes, it was," replied Azalea back as she folds the paper and tucked it away in her pocket.

She then looked at Denali. "We'll do our best to do it."

 "Okay, I wished good luck for the both of you," Denali said to them with happy good luck for them.

 With that, Russell and Azalea turned around, left the guild, and went back to the bus. Arriving there, they hopped in, and Russell got his loot from the three deceased hijackers from two days ago and sorted them out. He decided to use their metal body armor and weapons for himself and Azalea, his first party member. So, he grabbed one metal body armor and one sword and gave them to Azalea. "Here, use these for your self-protection and self-defense."

Seeing the free equipment, Azalea was surprised. "Huh? For me?"

Russell then nodded. "Yes, I looted them from the dead hijackers from two days ago."

Remembering what Russell had told her yesterday, Azalea eventually agreed, saying, "Okay then, thanks for the free stuff, but I don't need a sword. I'm a mage, so I had this."

She brought out her magic staff.

 "Oh, okay, right," Russell replied back in getting it, "you have ice magic. I get it."

Azalea only took the metal body armor and did not want the sword.

Azalea then grabbed her free equipment and sat on a seat in the front.

She then placed her equipment next to her and gave Russell the paper of their quest since it contained a map of the dungeon, as well as another map of the dungeon itself.

Receiving it, Russell replied, "Thanks."

After that, he sat on the driver's seat and started the engine with his ignition key, before closing the door and shifting the gear to Drive. He then turned his steering wheel around to get his bus out of the secluded space and towards their quest north of the town.

 The drive took 7 minutes, and they arrived at the place of their quest, which is a dungeon hidden in the thick forest. There Russell pulled over and opened the door. Believing that he had followed the map to the site of their first quest, Russell turned towards Azalea and said, "I think we are here, Azalea-chan." Hearing that, Azalea looked around. "We're here already?"

 "Yup, I think I had followed the map," replied Russell back.

Then, Azalea thinks that he did it right, so she replies back, "Okay, let's do the quest then."

With that Russell has turned off the engine. After that, he grabbed his gear, and he and Azalea geared up with their metal body armor and equipped their swords. Russell decided to use his knowledge of sword fighting from his previous life in order to fight just in case any threat would come their way. But then, Russell got an idea and immediately got off his bus and went to the baggage compartments, before opening one of their doors and pulling it out.

Azalea saw that and was confused about what he was doing. "What are you doing?"

 "I need a shield or something…" Russell replied while keeping on pulling the metal door.

He managed to do so, and luckily, all of the doors of his bus's baggage compartments were detachable and could be reattached again.

So, Azalea got off the bus, and she and Russell started walking through the forest towards the site of the dungeon.

 The walk was nice, and the way towards the dungeon was clear of any obstacle. Russell followed the map as a navigation tool towards it. The sun was shining nice and beautifully, too. As they walked together, Azalea was positive that they would get to their destination in no time. At the same time, Russell embraced the nature of their surroundings as he followed the map.

 A bit later, they arrived at the entrance of the dungeon. "This is it?" Russell asked, before looking at his map for reference. The map was right, and they had arrived at the site of their first quest.

Because of that, Russell looked at Azalea. "So, are you ready for our first quest together?"

Azalea then looked at him back and nodded with positive determination and confidence. "Yes, let's do this."

And so, both of them entered the dungeon together, and Russell grabbed a fire torch along the way.