Chapter 1

Close your eyes. Well, don't literally close your eyes since you have to read this, but let's imagine a giant continent with two kingdoms residing in it. This land is called the Northern Wasteland. This land has been plagued for years with war, demons, and monsters. It's also the only land in this world to have any hybrids in it. There are two kingdoms, The Demon Kingdom and the Royal Alliance. They have been at war for as long as history has been documented. The Demon Kingdom is in the West, and the Royal Alliance is in the East. Right now, there is a peaceful period in this land as both kingdoms seem to be trying to keep their distance. At least, that's what everyone thought before towns started getting attacked again. The villages in the kingdom are usually only in danger of monsters, but it seems that demons have been making their move as of late so another war is imminent.

The numerous towns being attacked means that once again the Kingdom has to call upon the Royal Knights to protect the main cities and find adventurers to help out the townsfolk. How it works is that the adventurers are split up into groups called parties and the party leader gets to choose which missions the party goes on. Missions vary in difficulty, ranging from an F-rank mission for just a few slimes and an S-rank mission for something bigger, like a demon raid. The roles of the party are chosen based on a test of affinity that the kingdom provides each adventurer with when they register, but this can be changed at an Adventurer's Guild in any town. Because so many villages have made distress calls, the parties now have to move from town to town to deal with them. Right now, there's a party heading into Camerville, a good-sized town in the northern part of the Royal Alliance's kingdom. Their party consists of a healer named Tina, an assassin named Hanna, an archer named Lucy, a tank named Carlos, and a party leader named Joana. Let's see how well they're fairing in some of the coldest weather that they've ever had to endure.

"Oh god, I can't feel my torso anymore. I think I'm dying." Lucy said, shivering a troubling amount as she hiked with her party members to the frosty town of Camerville. "I can still get the fleece blanket we found in the dungeon from the wagon, y'know," Carlos said, pointing to the wagon beside them. "Carlos, you know that thing isn't suitable for anyone to wear it. Plus, you have two coats on already, just let her borrow one." Joana said, dragging Carlos from Lucy. "Hey, I think there's a monster ahead of us, stop the carriage Hanna," Tina said as she used a light spell to reveal an orc standing in their path. Thanks for telling me, Tina. I'll deal with this one, guys." Hanna said, hopping off of the horse and preceding to run towards the orc. "There she goes again. I'll go help and Carlos, you can get on the horse and keep going, we'll meet you there later!" Joana said as she jogged off to help Hanna with the orc.

After a little while, the party arrived in the village and now they're in a tavern warming up and trying to find out what monsters have been attacking the village. "Hey there, miss. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions regarding the monsters that have been attacking this town?" Joana said as she sat down next to a young, brown-haired lady. The lady nodded and Joana was about to ask her a question before she got interrupted. "Yooo, Joanaaa, you gotta try this stuff! It's sooo good!" Tina said, her incoherent words slurring together on account of the numerous amount of shots she's had. "Oh my gosh, Tina! You're such a lightweight! C'mon, we've got to try their specialty!" Hanna said, laughing as she dragged Tina away. "Hold on a second, ma'am. I'll buy you a drink as an apology after this, okay?" Joana said to the lady as she got up from her chair, a cold expression on her face. "Carlos, get these two to their rooms right now before I flip my shit," Joana said, trying her best to not raise her voice.

"Y-Yes ma'am!" Carlos said as he grabbed the both of them and ran off to their rooms. "Anyway, where were we?" Joana said, smiling as she sat back down. "U-Um, you were gonna ask me some questions?" The lady said, a little uncomfortable. "Oh, right. I'm very sorry for what happened earlier. What kind of drink do you want?" Joana said, pulling out her wallet. "U-Um, it's fine, really." The lady said, quietly. "Are you sure? I think I'll get a specialty, so I'd be glad to buy you one as well." Joana said, pulling out some money. "...Then I'll have their specialty, please." The lady said, smiling faintly. "Okay. Excuse me, waiter? Could you get us two specialty drinks?" Joana said, handing the waiter the money. "Yes ma'am." The waiter said, rushing off to make the drink. "Now onto the questions. When was the last time this town was attacked?" Joana asked, pulling out a notebook and a pen to jot down notes. She leaned forward a bit, her calm posture overshadowed by her serious tone and facial expression. "It was four days ago." The lady said. "Okay, and what type of monsters were they?" Joana asked, writing notes. "There were goblins and orcs, but it was like an army attack. The orcs were directing the goblins and they were listening to every word." The lady said, sinking back into her seat as she recalled the experience. "That's new. Could you tell how strong they were?" Joana said, writing furiously.

"Um, I think they were probably all at least E-rank. That would have been bad for us, but one of the orcs could speak English. She came here before the others and told us that they had an army coming in advance and to just give them a lot of gold so that no one gets hurt. We did that and the orcs left with the gold without hurting anyone." The lady said. "Hm… What did this orc look like?" Joana asked. "Um, it looked like a hybrid, but I doubt there would be one here." The lady said. "Okay, thank you for all the great info. I'll be going now, have a nice night." Joana said, leaving. "Wait- what about your drink? The waiter's about to get here." The woman said, gesturing to the waiter. "Sorry, I don't like to drink. You can have mine if you'd like!" Joana said, going to her room. She mapped out their course of action for the next day and how they'll deal with the orcs and goblins. She then went to sleep.

The next morning, she woke everyone up and they went into town. They were all suited up and ready to go, so they started their journey to the goblin cave. "Ugh, I feel like my head's going to explode. How much did I drink last night?" Tina said, rubbing her temples. "Well, let's just say that you're lucky you didn't get alcohol poisoning from how much you drank!" Hanna said, dying laughing. "How about both of you drink some water before I turn both of you into cripples," Joana said, studying the map and trying to keep her temper to a minimum still. Everyone kept quiet as they all shuffled along behind him. "...Well, here's the plan. The goblins and orcs in there have organized themselves into a militia so we'll have to silently take down the orcs first. Hanna, Carlos, and I will be the ones killing the orcs as Lucy looks out for trouble and Tina heals us. There's a hybrid in there, so keep your eyes peeled. One of those guys can wipe out a whole town with no remorse. We'll enter through the side and kill whichever orc we run into first, got it?" Joana said as they were getting closer to the cave. "Got it." Everyone else said in unison as they started going to the side of the cave, ready to kill some monsters.