Black Blades

Once we made it back to Rikarisu, we submitted our completed job form to the guild and were officially promoted to rank 'B'. Blaze threw us a huge party at the tavern, and several other adventurers from the guild congratulated us on our promotion. We've become quite popular among the adventurers here.

We gave our farewells to everyone at the party, because the next morning we're going to be leaving Rikarisu to start the long journey south across the demon continent.

Over the next couple months, we made quick progress southward. By now, Eris could handle herself against all of the 'C' ranked monsters and below, and could fight against 'B' ranked monsters with Ruijerd and I supporting her from behind.

We stopped to rest for the night at each city along the way, but never stayed long. Typically we'd continue our journey south the next morning, staying only occasionally if the town had an adventurer's guild within and there were some good jobs posted.

One day, a particularly intriguing job caught my eye in the city of Kirshna. It was an 'A' ranked job to collect the scales of Fire Drakes. Evidently they had a nest in a nearby mountain. I reached out and grabbed the job posting off the wall, but as soon as I did, someone beside me reached out and grabbed my wrist.

"We're taking that one", he said.

"I believe these jobs are first come, first served", I said as I looked up towards the man.

The man was very tall; nearly seven feet. He had the head of a panther and had short jet-black fur across his whole body.

"We've already accepted a job to exterminate the Drakes. If you take this one you'll just be in our way."

"I'll try to keep my distance from you then", I said as I yanked my arm out from his grip.

He did a low growl at me, then turned and walked back to a small group on the other side of the room. I continued browsing the job listings until I found another job, suitable for Eris. I made my way to the clerk and accepted the 'A' rank job for myself, and then walked back to our Inn, where Ruijerd and Eris were waiting for me.

"Did you find any good jobs?", Eris asked expectantly.

"Yes, I found you a job to slay a pack of Pax Coyotes spotted east of town."

"You're not coming with?", she asked.

"No, you and Ruijerd should be able to handle them yourself. I have something else I want to take care of."

"Oh. Is that so?" Eris accepted readily enough. Ruijerd just smiled and told me not to do anything too dangerous by myself.

"It's getting pretty late. Why don't we call it a night and you can do your slaying job tomorrow", I suggested.

The next morning, Eris and Ruijerd left to complete their slaying job. After they left, I said a quick prayer to the holy relic and then went downstairs to buy some food supplies before heading out. As I was ordering my food, a lizard-like woman tapped me on the shoulder from behind.

"Can I help you?", I asked.

"Um.. I just.. wanted to give you some advice."

"Some advice?"

"I saw you get into that argument with Stefan yesterday."

"Stefan?", I thought for a moment. "Do you mean that tall fellow from the adventurers guild?"

"Yes, he's a member of the Black Blades. You don't want to mess with him."

"The Black Blades? Never heard of them", I said uncaringly.

"They're an 'S' ranked adventuring party and they don't take kindly to lower ranks who try to loot their prey. The last time someone took a harvesting job that overlapped with the monsters they were slaying, I heard they lured a hoard of monsters onto the lower ranked party and got them wiped."

"I appreciate your concern, but I can take care of myself."

"I've seen kids like you before, they never last long. You're overconfident just because you learned a little magic and ranked up quickly. Pass on this job. Your pride will mean nothing when you lose your life."

I packed away my food and left the Inn, ignoring her warnings.

I made my way westward towards the mountain where the fire drakes were said to nest. It was a three hour hike to the base of the mountain, and once I arrived, I saw a small group talking outside a cave entrance.

I immediately recognized the Panther demon, Stefan, and he was with five other adventurers. Stefan was adorned in loose fitting leather armor and carried a thin, black sword on his waist that reminded me of a katana. Beside him stood a warrior dwarf in heavy armor. There were two more swordsmen in light armor, all wielding black blades. In addition, their were two mages in expensive looking robes, one woman and one man. I recognized the woman as the same who tried to warn me to give up on this job back at the Inn.

"Ha, so you're a member of Stefan's party as well", I smirked. "That's rather deceitful of you to try and trick me into abandoning this job."

Stefan laughed at me. "She's not a member of MY party, that is Seren, the S-ranked leader of the Black Blades."

Seren scowled. "I'll allow you to pick up stray scales you find out here, but don't set foot in the cavern."

I looked around and saw the occasional Fire Drake scale scattered about outside the cave. "I'm afraid that won't do. I'll be heading into the cave myself. You can follow me or hide out here, I don't really care."

Stefan and the rest of the Black Blades burst out laughing when I said that. Only Seren remained silent and continued to scowl at me.

"You're going in their yourself? Are you serious?", the dwarven warrior laughed.

"Just let him go, it will make it all the easier for us to kill the Drakes while they're distracted feasting on his body."

"I've never seen someone so eager to die!"

"Enough!", Seren yelled out, quieting the rest of her party.

"Kid, I can't let you do that, it's far too dangerous. I understand that you're just trying to collect the scales, but if the Fire Drakes spot you, there's no way a B-rank like you will make it out alive."

Seren seemed genuinely concerned about me. Perhaps I had misjudged her. I stood there for a moment, thinking of what to do.

"Hmm... It seems we got off on the wrong foot, Seren. Truth be told, I'm really not interested in stealing your loot."

Seren raised an eyebrow at this.

"I mainly came here to get some Fire Drake meat. I was only planning on bringing back a small sack of scales to complete the mission on the side."

"What!? You came intending to fight them alone!? Are you insane?"

"I'm stronger than I look. Also, I'm so tired of eating nothing but insects and Great Tortoise meat. Their meat is so pungent I can't stand to go another day eating it."

They all looked at me like I was crazy.

"Anyway, why don't you just let me tag along with you guys? I promise not to get in the way, and you can keep all the scales from the Fire Drakes we kill. I'll just fill up my sack with some of the old ones laying on the ground out here to turn in."

"I'm sorry, but we can't afford to babysit you in there. A horde of Fire Drakes is an S-ranked threat", Seren said sternly.

"You don't have to worry about me. Forget I'm even there, I don't need your protection. Even if you don't agree, I'll just go in myself anyway."

"Ugh..." Seren rolled her eyes. "Fine, you can tag along. Just be quiet and stay out of our way. Make sure to hide if things get dangerous."

I just smiled and walked forwards towards the cave.