3 Life Goes on and First Enemy Encounter

Two days have passed after I joined the Twelve Claws. I managed to live off of my small wage, but I still couldn't afford to sleep with a full stomach or even rent out a room.

But today we're finally leaving. Arnold, the leader of the band, managed to get a well-paid job so I was preparing for the last two days. Well…even though I say I was preparing, I didn't have a teacher and only swung my sword as practice.

With each encounter I more and more started believing that Arnold is either a muscle head or a battle maniac. Every time I ask him for advice he responds with "it's natural once you're in a life-death scenario, just wait until the upcoming battle and learn from it".

Though I did manage to get some of my band members to examine my skills. My sword skills are apparently average, if not worse. They did say that I have a talent with a bow, but I only got to shoot it a few times so I hardly believe them. Even then, the cheapest bow costs about 5 gold coins so I can't afford it right now.

I woke up before the morning bell and started training. Its kind off become a routine, though it's only me swinging my sword and doing muscle workouts. Since I barely have any skill with a sword, not to mention that I know zero techniques, all I can do is get as strong as I can. Strength is the only thing someone can rely on when they have no skill. It's funny how a possibility of dying can motivate people.

Apart from my training I did some information gathering, but it's not much. All I managed to find out are some local laws and the information about the entities called monsters.

As far as laws go, I know that outside of the city there are none. You'll still be arrested if a soldier sees you doing a crime outside, but if no one sees then its fair game. The laws are mostly common sense: don't steal, don't kill…or don't cause uprisings or be part of them.

As for the monsters there's a lot. Even though to join the Adventurer Guild you need identification papers, you're free to go in and ask around for information about monsters.

First of all the monsters are considered anything that does not resemble humans in any way. Bandits, slaves, or prisoners, except nobles, are also considered monsters and you can do anything with them. Monsters are usually classified by their difficulty rating, from F to S.

Here are some examples of these monsters:

A black bear is usually an E rank, unless it's a special type.

A single goblin is an F rank, a group of them is E rank, and a hoard of them is D rank. There are also rumors of goblin armies, but their ranks are not specified.

I'm not too sure why they count a whole group or an army as a single entity, but that's how it is.

An Arachne would be a C rank. I was honestly surprised that I was saved from their cave. I've heard a lot of nasty things about them, such as the poison they secrete…or that they lay eggs inside human bodies, which then start eating you from the inside… I shudder at the thought of them crawling about, too many legs you know...?

Finally, the S rank, strongest of all the entities, as one would expect, a dragon. Though there might be stronger types of dragons than a simple dragon, so the rankings of S class monsters might not be accurate at all.

All you need to know about S ranks is that if you meet one of them, run. Humans rarely fight these beings, but about 500 years ago an army of 10000 was wiped out by a single dragon. That's how dangerous they are and you should run if you meet one.

Just as I was about to finish my training routine, the morning bell rang, and soon after we went out of the city gates. Apparently our job is to join up with the Duke Edwards private army and join the siege of castle Burgen, but before it, we might take out a few bandit camps on the way because there were rumors of bandits along the road. In the time of war banditry is very popular, since there are plenty of caravans to rob.

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We are currently marching along a non-paved road with two wagons full of supplies. Thankfully provisions and equipment are provided by our leader so I won't starve. But when it comes to equipment I didn't get much. All I got was the sword, a wooden shield and poor leather armor from the first day on the band.

It's the 2nd month of spring but it's rather chilly outside. Probably because of the poor roads, which were made naturally by humans repeatedly using them, we were moving very slowly. The two wagons were pulled by two donkeys each.

The mercenary band Twelve Claws currently has 45 members. It's almost double than it was before. I am a bit worried because of lack of equipment, it sometimes makes me wonder if Arnold is not providing us with it so that we would die easier and he wouldn't have to pay everyone.

As I had these thoughts a scout loudly said.

"There's a river nearby, we should replenish our water."

Arnold nodded and sent four people to gather it, I was among them.

The wagons stopped and we went to the right of the road. The river went through the small forest that surrounded us.

As I was walking with other three people I was wondering whether I'll meet a goblin in this forest, since they're one of the weakest monsters out there it could be good training for a newbie like me.

The other people were newbie's just like me though, but they had more experience. You could guess who they were from their equipment: an archer, a warrior and a scout.

Well…I say an archer but she was just a hunter in her village, while the Mr. Warrior was an old retired soldier. Only the scout was somewhat reliable. He's an actual adventurer, but since it doesn't pay enough due to his low rank he joined the mercenary band as a part-time job.

Yes, adventurers have ranks. Apparently they're ranked the same as monsters from F to S, but only accordingly to their achievements and strength. Reliability has some say in ranking, but strength matters the most. A strong adventurer lives longer and in turn slowly racks up achievements.

Our scout is D rank. Theoretically he could fight a Goblin King 1v1, but I have a hard time believing that, because he might be this rank only due to his achievements as a scout and not a fighter.

After a few more moments we finally reached the river. In my past I've seen rivers occasionally, and even bigger ones than this, but this one managed to surprise me.

The water was crystal clear, and not dark and muddy like in my memories. It was probably due to the world I lived in before. It was a highly technological world, where pollution was everywhere, but people lived very comfortable lives.

I smiled wryly as I remembered my life. I feel that I'd rather live in this beautiful unspoiled world, than come back to that highly polluted wasteland…

But I didn't have time to calmly enjoy the scenery. With a swoooosh sound something flew through the sky and hit our scout in the chest. It was an arrow.