Arc 2 - Chapter 13: Establishment of the New Party (1/3)

He wanted to talk to Lucia about it when he returned to the inn. Lucia was the owner of one of the two adventurers' guilds in the capital and was likely to know about it.

By meeting Lucia here, he would be able to ask his questions sooner.

"Did you say Sony? He's the son of the headmaster of the Wizarding Academy, isn't he?"

"Yes," he nodded.

"There's a mission that was placed months ago, and so far there have been people looking for it, but none of them have found it, and some of them never came back. Fewer people tried to take it, so last month the reward was raised considerably. Is that why you went to the Wizarding Academy?"

"No, that's not why we went, but something happened and now we need to find Sony and take him to the Wizarding Academy."

He wasn't going to explain why they were going there or why they needed to take Sony. He didn't intend to involve anyone else in detective matters, nor did he think that talking about Rie in Yurine's presence would make her feel better.

"Are there any developments on the Sony mission? What is known about it? I want to know things like that."

"I'm sorry," Lucia said as she took another tiny bite of her cookie. "I don't know the details either. There are a few people interested with that mission, but I don't think they're going to share updates. After all, whoever finds the guy gets the money."

What Yu was after, at least for the Sony mission, was not money. But he couldn't convince the people.

"Actually," Raul interjected, drawing attention to himself, and Sivina kept talking.

"We were thinking of taking that mission."

"Yes. Satoshi mentioned it and the whole group agreed," Ana said.

"The reward for the mission is sixty gold pieces. Fifteen gold coins each, we can live lazily for a while with this money."

"Why are you like this? Even if you have a lot of money, you can't live lazily." When Satoshi pursed his lips and looked at Sivina in self-pity, Sivina sighed and added, "Maybe a short vacation."

"Is he trying to be sympathetic?" Satoshi's ugly and sad face made Yu feel cringe again.

"Can we cooperate if we are interested in the same mission?"

He didn't know if Satoshi would do any good, but those two girls and Raul at least looked like they could fight if necessary.

Redchapel was the center of their research, and there lived a popular and dangerous killer. Finding missing people requires brains rather than brawn, but for safety's sake it would be good to have people who know how to fight with them.

Otherwise they could be used as bait and sacrificed in dangerous situations. It was not something he would not do for himself or Yurine, even though he knew it was bad to think that way about people he had just met.

"How about working together for this mission?" Yu asked.

"When there are five of us-"

"Six," Yu corrected Raul. He wanted Yurine to be counted too.

"When there are six of us, the reward is divided into six. Ten gold pieces each is not worth the effort."

The first objection came from Raul and they could have solved it. Normally he didn't think he would get paid for this mission, and now that Sony had been caught he would be happy if he got paid, but if sharing the bounty would prevent the formation of a group, he could have waived bounty.

As much as he wanted money, even Yu would do it from time to time. In return, of course, he would expect them to risk their lives for him and Yurine.

"Hmph, as if I was interested in cooperating with them. Besides we already have Lylphia, no need to take more idiots with us."

The second objection came from Yurine, who reacted to Raul from an unexpected place.

"The faster we find him, the better. We have limited time and I think we can find him faster if we have more people to help us. It's also good to have fighters with us because I don't have combat strength."

They could not continue to stay in Rolderhelm after the final match. They had to be quick and find Sony before the final match was played, take him to the Wizarding Academy and interrogate Salery. They also had to do the research they wanted in the library and decide their next move.

Sony had to be found at least a week before the final match, problems had to be solved quickly, and the more people there were, the faster they would be.

"How about I say; we don't want share in the prize? All the money can be yours."

"Aren't you getting an award? Why not?" Lucie asked.

Yu was about to forget that she was standing next to them because she had been silent for a while.

"We're not interested in money," he said, leaning his elbow on the table. "I mean, I'm interested in money in general, but not in the reward for this mission."

"Are you sure? Maybe your other friend Lylphia thinks differently?" Sivina asked.

"She was given the assignment by the Wizarding Academy, she's not doing it for the reward. She's more of a sidekick for Yurine and me."

The reason Maron Martin put Lylphia with Yu was to help him. As far as Yu knew, Lylphia had no designs on the Sony top prize, and if she did, she wouldn't have any now.

"But if you don't want money even though you're going to work, we'll feel bad if we get the whole reward for ourselves," Ana said.

"Not at all, I don't feel a bit bad!" Satoshi folded his arms across his chest, trying to give Ana the impression of a bad boy. At least that's how Yu interpreted it.

"You don't want money, so there's something more important than money at the end of this. You're going to use us and get something more valuable than we're going to get, so why should we find Sony and hand it to you on a golden platter instead of us getting it?" Raul was serious for the first time since they met. "What's in it for you?"

"Raul!" Sivina reacted, thinking Raul had gone too far.

"What? I don't want to be used."

Yu agreed with Raul, he would have thought so too.

"Our interest is information. We have our own issues and that's what we're after. We received our mission not from Salery von Bishory, but from Maron Martin, the second headmaster of the Wizarding Academy. The deal we made is that Sony must be taken to the Wizarding Academy. Once Sony steps inside that academy, I will fulfill my side of the deal and get the information I need from Maron. You get your reward of sixty gold pieces for Sony meeting his father, and then we each go our separate ways."

"What information is that?"

"What do you care?" He agreed with Raul, but he wasn't going to let it go any further. "One way or another, it looks like both sides will be after this mission. Instead of turning this into a rivalry, I suggest we unite."

It was time to ask the question once and for all.

"Do you accept my offer?"

Raul was reluctant, Satoshi tapped his fingers on the table and spoke. "I can't say I like this guy, but he coming from where I come from, I think he can accomplish something."

"I'm used to men not liking me," Yu smiled. "It's usually girls who like me."

"Tch..." Raul and Satoshi clicked their tongues at the same time. Yu was delighted that he had set them both up.

"Yes? I still haven't heard your answer."

Sivina and Ana looked at each other for a while and then accepted Yu's proposal. Since the boys also wanted to follow the girls, they dragged after Yu, even if they didn't want to.

***

As the rain subsided, Lucia and Yu were the only ones left at the table. Yurine had gone to the restroom to clean her clothes after spilling juice on herself, her new teammates had left for the market, and Lucie had had a minor jealousy attack as she left the inn, leaving her sister and Yu alone.

"You warmed up to each other very quickly." There were still cookies on the table and Lucia was still eating. "I didn't see you eat any, have some."

Lucia dragged the tray of cookies in front of Yu. Yu took one and bit into it, even though he knew he couldn't taste it.

There were hard particles in the cookie, next to the main ingredient, but Yu couldn't tell what the cookie was made of because he couldn't taste it.

"I don't want to eat much because these things make me thirsty."

"But it tastes good, doesn't it? It's my favorite."

"Yes, good."

A simple lie would not have hurt anybody. He couldn't call it good because he couldn't taste it, and even if he could, he wouldn't call it good because he didn't like dry food like cookies in general.

"What are my new teammates like?"

"Those four?"

"So... Since I just teamed up with them..."

It might have been too small a matter to be worth mentioning, but Yu was always annoyed when his question was answered with another question, even if he did the same thing every now and then.

"Sivina was the one who brought the group together, she is a knight from Elhaven. I don't know if you know, but the El is famous for its knights." The El Island was an island in the South Sea, with Elhaven and several small countries. "There are not many girls who pick up a sword and fight, and probably not many who become knights, I have never seen her fight, but I think she must be strong if she became a knight."

"Do girls usually turn to mage when they have to fight?"

"Magic is not for everyone. It may be common in Rolderhelm or among the nobility of other countries, but in the wider world magic is a rare..." she paused to consider how to continue the sentence, while put her index finger to her lower lip in an alluring pose. "I don't know if I should call it a gift or a concept... Something like that, but yes, female adventurers generally use magic more than swords."

Yu's mind was still on the pose Lucia had just struck. He had looked at the elven hentais for a long time and now that he was alone with an elf, all sorts of thoughts were running through his mind. 

"Ana is Sivina's best friend, she doesn't talk much but she is a kind girl. She can do wind magic."

"Just like Yurine."

Lucia nodded in agreement. If Ana was a better mage than Yurine, he might want Yurine to learn from her, if he wasn't afraid that Yurine might love Ana or someone else more than she loved himself.

"Ana was also from İlonya, if I remember correctly. Before she met Sivina, she was adventuring with another group, but one of them died and her group disbanded. Then they met Sivina and started going on missions together. A few months later Satoshi and Raul showed up."

"Those two can't seem to share the girls in the band."

"Haha, yes indeed." Lucia laughed lightly and brought her hand to her lips again. "I was here when those two signed up for the guild, I don't know how they met, but they signed up together and they were fighting all the time. As soon as they registered, they met Sivina and Ana and formed a party with them."

"What exactly do Satoshi and Raul do? I mean, Raul had knives, but is Satoshi a mage or something?"

Maybe he could have been leading the group by making plans during the mission, but looking at him, he couldn't see such a capacity in him.

"Raul is a ranger, he tracks through forests or dungeons."

"How's his fighting skills?"

Sivina was a knight, so her fighting skills must have been far beyond Yu's. Ana was mage and carried a sword at her waist, so she could also be useful in fighting.

If Raul could fight, he could help track Sony and also be useful in times of danger.

"I don't know, I don't test the fighting skills of those who come to the guild."

"And finally, Satoshi? I really wonder what he's doing."

"He has healing magic too. I remember he is not a high-level mage, but his healing magic makes him special."

Yu didn't have a core, so he couldn't cast spells. The reason he did not have a core was that he was not reincarnated or summoned in this world. Yu had only crossed over from his world to this world and could only obtain a soul.

"That soul must be black now."

If Satoshi could cast spells, he had a core, which meant that he came to the Second World in a different way than Yu. Satoshi was either reincarnated or summoned.

"If he came into this world like me, he should have gotten his core later. I must ask him and find out, or this curiosity will not stop."

Yu thought it was more likely that Satoshi had been reincarnated or summoned, but if he was like him and had acquired a core, he had to learn how he did it so he could use magic.