Getting Seduced into a Party (I think)
One of the caretakers in the orphanage informed me that was already an adult and thus did not live there anymore. However, She told me he did decide to be a full-time adventurer.
I thought he would be either at the guild or on a quest so I would see him again later.
On the way to pick up a quest from the guild, I checked my adventurers' ID. Not very different from when I first got it but I haven't gone for levels since I should have some level thanks to the kobolts.
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Name: Nouzen Entei
Class: Warrior
Age: 16
Level: 47
Rank: E
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When I entered the guild hall, I took the time to look around the place. The walls were wooden, with stairs on the left side leading to the second floor. Four tables were scattered around the lobby, a main desk in an L shape by the stairs with guild women working behind those desks. A door stood behind the desk for them to exit to another room in another room, and finally, a board with requests and extermination quests on it.
I walked over to it and took an extermination quest, the same as before killing kobolts.
The woman with the prodigious chest at the main desk smiled at me as I got closer." Hello, are you taking on a quest? Lemme see, are you alone?"
"Yes, I'm taking this quest, and yes just me." I looked around, all the people around me were adventurers or guild employees. Adventurers had all kinds of weapons but among the weapons I did not see were Katanas.
I think my parents said katanas were rare even in Lorel Union. I hope Makoto knows how to craft katanas cuz I sure as hell don't, all I know is you have to fold steel and hammer its imperfections out.
The travel to the adventurer base in the wasteland was a boring trip, with no one to talk to, no caravans were traveling there so I couldn't tag along with anyone. Not to mention walking under this heat. Everywhere I looked was just gray spikes coming out of the gray, lifeless stone beneath me. Not a soul crossed my path on the road to my destination.
Bet mother is gonna be so mad when she finds out I'm gone hehe. But well what I'm doing could be considered a form of training anyway.
In the distance, I could see the wooden walls of the base, and some figures on the walls whom I figured were guards. Adventurers leave the place to either a quest, back to Tsige, or maybe something else.
Being close to the base I decided to go around it and see if I could finish my quest without entering a safe place and saving time.
Almost an hour later I found a group of them, mostly loitering around a fire. Some had clubs in their hands and others were better equipped with rusty swords and crude leather armor. Most of them looked like bold dogs walking on their hind legs, with excessive skin on their faces making it look like bulldogs or pugs' faces.
The lines around the fire, even in this heat were sharpening their weapons. A few were perched in the highest point of spikes and mounds around the area, on the lookout for adventurers to kill.
Before going into the fight I checked the surroundings, making my peace about anything that could happen in combat.
I took a stance focused my strength on my legs and shot towards the kobolts. My first slayer hit one's neck, at first it produced a cracking noise. The head snapped sideways for a moment then, the blade tore the flesh before fully going through.
Despite looking like it would take a lot of effort to do this it was extremely easy. The following fight proved to be the same, I had to use one of their rusty swords to be able to cut their ears since mine was extremely blunt.
The base or town since it was big enough to be a town, was mostly the same as 2 years ago. The guild building did look bigger than before. But the reward for the ears was the same, good thing I took as many as I could carry.
Since there is nothing but wasteland around here I assumed all the food and construction items were shipped here from Tsige or somewhere else that's close.
With the money I got, I looked around for a smith or a weapons shop to buy a sword, one that wasn't blunt. The one I have might be sturdy enough but a sharp one would do a better job, plus a just in case I lose one scenario.
After getting myself one of the most commonly used blades food followed, I planned on doing one of those training arks in anime. What better way than a wasteland full of monsters and levels to show my actual progress?
Getting the hand of magic enhancement sounds like the way to go if I am going to mostly focus on the sword.
A huge backpack filled with food now hung on my left shoulder and on my right the new sword like Clive from FFXVI.
With those two extra things, I set out again.
I went to the guild hall to take another extermination quest and also check out other, higher-rank quests. Extermination quests that require proof of a kill, like killing hell dogs and taking a tooth or the full head as proof of kill.
The road leading to the exit was a dirt road framed by stores and restaurants with high prices. Adventurers walk by, usually to and from the guild building to one of the exits. They were groups of 3 or more adventurers, all of them had a healer among them, or at least what looked like a mage that I assumed was a healer.
"Hey I noticed you're alone, we got a free spot for another warrior" I was invited by some guy who was with his party at the exit of the town.
He had spiky hair with the sides of his head and back shaved, a red bandana on his forehead, his chin sporting a goatee, a green shirt with leather armor covering most of his torso, and metal gauntlets that ran up to his shoulders. His arm was holding a shield and a longsword rested at his hip.
"Cmon let me introduce you to the party after you can decide to join." He started walking to where his party was waiting for him.
"Took you long enough, people will think we are just here to pose by now!" One of his party members complained as we approached, a brown-haired beauty in a blue leotard and brown pants that left some of her hips exposed. "Oh, new party member?"
"Prospective he hasn't decided to join us yet. I'm doing my sales pitch right now." He placed his right index finger on his lips, telling her to be quiet. "Here we have the whole team, I am a level 54 warrior, Jessie here is a level 49 archer, and Tifa there is a pugilist level 51. By the way, my name is Briggs As you can see we don't have a dedicated healer or mage, we are not going far to train so we might not need them for now."
The final member was in a league of her own in terms of beauty... or I was just into how she looked. Black glossy hair like a black pearl, dark crimson eyes, cute nose with full pink lips, and to wrap it all up pale skin making the other features stand out. She wore a tight white crop tank top over a black sports bra, a black skirt with two shoulder straps to hold it in place, red boots that went up to her shins with shin guards, black stockings going up her thigh attached to 2 straps leading up to what I presume was a garter belt and her right hand had a red gauntlet covering only her fist while her left a similar one that ran up to her elbow.
"So what do you say? Just a couple of quests, till we get our feet on the ground. Plus these two are quite the beauties right, a bit of eye candy in a dreadful landscape like this ain't so bad right?" He placed a hand on my shoulder and whispered the last part to him.
"HI," Tifa said "Will you join us? Just for a bit."
It could help with training, In case my sword breaks or something unexpected happens I would have a backup. The more I think about help and joining a party the more tempting it sounds in my mind. Even if I know it is an excuse to chase skirts.
"Yeah, I will join you." She smiled at me.
"Great let's go then. Oh by the way we are going to hunt some fire dogs, they are usually an hour west of here. We are planning on camping out here by the way so I hope you brought some more supplies, just in case. We all have a backpack full of supplies for each of us, we probably have enough for one more but just in case, you know?"
"Yeah, I got enough for myself in my backpack," I replied.
He gave me a small nod, turned to the exit, and started walking west.
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Word count 1559
If there are any grammatical errors let me with a comment on the paragraph.
Thank you guys. I appreciate your reading so far.