Chapter 20 – Switching Parties

Third person POV

Later, as they are emerging out of the dungeon, Adrian repeated his line from last time. "I know," replied Russell back, "I knew that would happen." Adrian was a bit stunned to hear that.

 "We saw that, too," John added.

Then, when they are at the forest, they all stopped walking, and Adrian asked them if they would allow him to join their party.

 "Of course," Russell positively responded back, "Welcome to our party."

Azalea and John welcomed Adrian, too, before introducing themselves to him.

Happy that he was now a part of Russell's team, Adrian bowed his head deeply for a few seconds. "Thank you so much. Nice to meet you, too. My name is Adrian Paulton. I'll do my best to be useful to you guys."

 "Don't sweat it." smiled Russell back, "you're also a part of the family now."

Adrian was even happier when he heard that, but he hid something from them, something that would surprise them.

So, all of them resumed walking towards Russell's bus.

Arriving there, Adrian and John were amazed to see it.

 "Woah…" John commented.

 "Yup, that's a bus for you," responded Adrian to him.

John then looked at him. "Bus? What is that?"

With that Russell explained to John about it in detail.

A few minutes later, John now gets it and commented, "Oh…okay. That was quite fascinating and advanced."

Russell then smiled at that compliment.

 And then, Russell pulled out his ignition key and opened the bus door with it. "Let's go. We have to inform the guild at Leafmight about this." The others agreed, and all of them hopped in. Inside the bus, Russell and Azalea took off their armor and equipment and put them away in an open space in the front. Azalea and John then took a row of seats just behind the driver's seat while Russell sat on the driver's seat. And then, Adrian took a seat in the middle. "Okay, are you all ready?" Russell asked them as he used the key to start the engine. They then said yes. So, with that, Russell shifted the gear to Reverse to reverse his bus to the left so he could drive out of the forest, before shifting it to Drive and forward and driving out of the forest and back to Leafmight.

On that short drive, Adrian and John were amazed to see a nice view from the bus windows and on how comfortable the seats were. Azalea confirmed it with her own experience as well.

 Later, at 11:23 a.m., the bus arrived at Leafmight, and Russell headed straight to the Emerald Guild to inform the guild of the Elai party's actions towards Adrian, and so Adrian could get permission to switch parties. There Russell parked his bus at the same secluded spot as before and opened the door. He had decided to let the engine run because it would be a quick visit to the guild.

 "We're here," he said to his party, "let's go."

And so, all of them stood up and got off, with John being carried by Azalea in her arms.

They then walked towards the guild and entered in.

 In the lobby, the May party went up to Denali, who was busy arranging and rearranging some papers at her receptionist's desk. "Hi there," Russell greeted nicely.

Hearing that, Denali interrupted her work and looked at him and his party. "Oh, you guys are back?"

 "Yup!" Azalea happily replied back.

 "Wow, that was fast."

But then, Denali noticed that Adrian was with them instead of his former party. "Huh? Adrian-kun?"

 "Um…" Adrian was a bit uncomfortable with what he was doing now, "…it's hard for me to explain why I am with them, but I'll tell you why."

He then told Denali what his former party did to him back at the dungeon.

 A few minutes later, Denali was shocked to the core to hear that. Russell and the others backed Adrian's account and testimony with theirs. Because of that, Denali felt ashamed because of the Elai party for their actions toward the D-ranked adventurer. "I'm so sorry for what they did to you, Adrian-kun." she bowed her head deeply for a few seconds.

 "Uh…it's okay," Adrian frantically replied back, trying to calm her down.

 "Yeah, it wasn't your fault," Russell added in assurance.

Azalea and John nodded to support Russell's assurance.

 Just as Denali was about to raise her head from her apologetic bow, the guild master, a middle-aged man named Eloni Wallken, walked into the lobby asking, "What is going on here?" Russell and the others then looked at him.

 "Eloni-san!" Adrian was surprised to see him.

 "Father!" Denali said to her father, before raising her head finally.

Russell and John were surprised to see that the man was Denali's father, but Azalea explained to them about it, including Eloni's position as the guild master of this guild.

Russell and John got it fast.

 "Why are you apologizing about, Denali?" Eloni asked his daughter.

 "It's because…" answered Denali back slowly, "…the Elai party had betrayed Adrian at a dungeon."

Her father was shocked to hear that, and the May party confirmed Denali's statement.

Because of that, like his own daughter, Eloni felt ashamed of the Elai party and apologized to Adrian and his new party with a deep bow.

 "I-It's okay, sir," Adrian frantically responded back. "It wasn't your fault."

 "Yes, it's okay," Azalea added.

Now both the father and daughter felt being forgiven by them, and Eloni rose his head from bowing.

 "Thank you," he said to them positively.

 "No problem, sir," Russell happily replied back.

To compensate for this, the guild master offered compensation to Adrian, but Adrian declined that offer since he didn't want anything from the guild.

Because of that, Eloni instead promised that he would give the Elai party repercussions and some penalty for their actions towards Adrian.

 "Okay, that'll be good," Russell replied with agreement on Adrian's behalf.

Adrian then nodded in agreement.

 "Thank you," Eloni responded back.

After that, Denali asked Adrian and the May party about their quest at the dungeon north of the town.

 "It's now almost done," answered Russell back.

 "Only 2 are left uncleared," Azalea added.

But Adrian revealed to them that he and his former party had already cleared out the last 2 rooms in that dungeon an hour ago.

Denali, Eloni, and the May party were surprised to hear that.

 "Woah, what?"

 "Are you sure?"

Adrian nodded. "Yes."

 Because of that, Denali decided that the May party did the majority of the work and gave them their reward: a small bag of gold coins and a few gemstones. The May party was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of money she gave them, and Russell decided to be a bit generous towards the Elai party by giving them some reward for clearing out the last 2 rooms in the dungeon. The reason why is that he already had a lot of money at his disposal. So, he said to Denali, "Can you give the Elai party some of the reward? I am not into the money, to be honest, and I want to give them that amount as a form of farewell gift for them."

 "Huh? Are you sure about that?" Denali asked him back.

Russell then nodded. "Yes, just do it."

Adrian was stunned to see how generous his party leader was, but he accepted it quickly.

And so, Denali said yes, and got some money from the small bag, before separating them on the desk for the Elai party.

With that the May party accepted the slightly reduced reward for their hard work at the dungeon.

Eloni was happy for them as well.

 After that, Adrian expressed to Denali and Eloni that he wanted to switch parties to the May party. The father and daughter, because of what the Elai party did to him, accepted it, and Denali pulled out a Party Transfer Form. "Here, fill this one." Adrian did so, getting a quill pen and filling out the form as his new party watches nearby. Shortly thereafter, he finished filling out the form and gave it and the quill pen back to Denali. "Here, it's done."

Receiving both of them, Denali put them away. "Okay, you're now officially a part of the May party."

Adrian is now happy to hear that and felt that he was now in a better group than his previous one.

Russell and the others were happy for him as well.

 "Welcome again."

 "Yes, thanks, you guys," Adrian replied back.

 After all that, Denali and Eloni noticed that John, a Dark wolf, was in Azalea's arms. "Oh, is that a baby Dark wolf?" Eloni asked.

 "Yes, I am a Dark wolf," replied John back. "My name is John. They named me that way."

 "Okay, did they adopt you or something?" Denali asked back.

 "Yes," Russell replied on John's behalf, "because he wanted to make up for what his parents had tried to do to me and Azalea-chan."

Azalea then confirmed his statement as well.

Now, Denali and Eloni got it and understood that.

 "I see."

 "Alright then. That counts John as a member, technically."

 "Yes, I am now a party of this family," John responded back positively.

And then, Denali revealed to her father about Russell being a free adventurer and the reasons why he was like that. In response to that, Eloni decided to let that slide as a loophole to his guild's rules, much to the May party's relief. From that day on, Adrian is now officially a part of the May party.