A party!

"This mountain is quite big; I should've bought more of those meat pies." Arthur thought to himself as he continued walking up the trail; as he got even slightly closer to the peak, he could feel himself get colder. "Maybe I should set up a camp."

Just then he could see smoke in the sky, coming from somewhere just a bit away up the mountain."I should go and check it out." Arthur hiked and then hid behind some bushes. Being careful and stealthy.

He saw a party of adventurers gathered around a campfire. It consisted of a man, he had had a large frame. He had a simple greatsword on his back.

A boy, looking younger than Arthur. He was sitting on a log, eating some meat on a stick.

Finally, a woman leaned against a staff; she wore a black pointed hat. They all were chatting with one another. Arthur then went out of the bush to introduce himself.

"Hello fellow adventurers, what brings you out on the mountain tonight?" Arthur awkwardly questioned; he felt immediate embarrassment. He then waved his hands weirdly. Nerves had gotten to him.

"PFTTTT!! HAHA! The big, broad man had slapped his knee laughing, and with the other hand, he held a drink of ale. "What a funny kid!"

The kid had shown a little smirk on his face. "I noticed you hiding, if you hadn't gotten out of that bush and introduced yourself, I would've thought you were a threat. Your introduction could use a little work."

However, the woman had been clutched onto her staff, sensing Arthur's magical energy. Instead of being welcoming she was on edge. "Who are you?" she asked warily.

"Me? My name is Arthur. A pleasure to meet you! I'm here to slay the S-Class monster!" He gave a big smile.

"The S-Class Direwolf. Same as us then. By the way, my name is Baro." He had a muscular physique. He had a welcoming aura around him, akin to that of the barbarians Arthur befriended at his guild. His arm wrapped around Arthur's neck, dragging him close. "Welcome aboard!" he was a little bit drunk.

"My name is Craft. I specialise in stealth and support. Sorry about him, he can be a bit overbearing." Craft was younger than Arthur, by four years. He wielded two dagger, and a bow on his back. His physique was built around being agile. He reached his hand out, giving a handshake to Arthur. "It would be nice to have another member at our party."

"My name is Rosianne. What would you say in joining our crew, brown-haired boy~?" She stared at Arthur licking her lips. She was a little taller than Arthur. Arthur had exuded a great magical presence; she had sensed that; also, his eyes had shown experience in hunting, and she recognised that as well.

"I don't really know...why not? You all look really dependable and friendly!" He replied, thinking it was best to hunt an S-class with a group. "I'll set up a tent here; it's getting quite late. Better to travel in the day." Arthur went inside his tent.

"Good call." Craft had put out the campfire and climbed a tree, on the watch for anything.

Baro had gone back to his tent. Rosianne had gone back to her tent as well. They both slept for a bit until-

"-AWOOOOOOOOO!!!!" A bunch of howls had been heard from a great distance, but even so, it was loud, waking up all the adventurers.

Arthur had immediately run out of his tent. He was then met by both Baro and Rosianne.

"Craft! Is it the S-Class How many Direwolves are out there?" Barro asked.

Barro and Rosianne were stanced to fight.

"Don't worry, they won't come down the mountain. There is still a great distance away. Anyways, look at the moon. It's full. That's what they were howling at.

Arthur was relieved. Even more so about how the other party members reacted. All of them have experience he thought to himself.

The night had passed without interruption. They all woke up and got ready to walk up the mountain.

"Let's hunt a Direwolf!" Barro lifted his fist in the air. He had been at the front of the group. Followed by Rosianne and Arthur was last. Craft had been jumping from tree to tree. Scouting around the group. He never strayed too far, always keeping the party in his vision. Makintheirre way up the mountain.

"Arthur! Tell us a bit about yourself, like how you became an adventurer." Barro attempted to conversate with Arthur, knowing they could be walking for quite a while.

"Well, it's not an interesting story. It's a mix of admiration and wanting to get stronger." Arthur smiled.

"I see. Who inspired you?"

"Ah! Sedah my ma-"

"-The hero right? Yeah, his adventures are awesome. Lots of adventurers want to be like him. Haha!" Baro interrupted Arthur before he could finish speaking.

" ..right," Arthur replied quietly, forgetting that Sedah was a legendary hero. It would cause too many problems for both Arthur and Sedah if he had been revealed to be his master. "Better keep it to myself." Arthur thought to himself.

"Arthur, do you have a master by any chance?" Rosianne asked.

Arthur went pale, frightened he had already been caught. "W-what do you m-mean like master S-seda- I mean, no I don't!" He shook his head vigorously, stumbling over his words. Arthur was bad at lying and keeping stuff to himself.

Rosianne turned to Arthur confused. "...so you don't have a master then?" She tilted her head a little perplexed at Arthur's unusual response.

"Ahem!" Arthur had tried to compose himself. "Yeah, I don't have a hero master or anything of the sort; why do you ask?"

"...hero master, what? Anyways, it's because I sense a great magical presence from you so I just thought you had a teacher."

"Nope! No teacher. Just hard work and talent, haha." Arthur had scratched the back of his head giving an uneasy grin.

"Baro!" Craft had called out. "There's a cave up ahead if everyone wants, we can rest up there for a bit."

Some time had passed, Rosiannes legs were quickly tiring and Craft had been on constant alert. Baro and Arthur still could go on, but they both thought it was best to rest a little bit as well.

"Lead the way Craft!" Baro had replied.

"Ok, follow me!"

Craft had led the party off the trail, but not too far out. The cave was quite big.

"There's also a waterfall just down there." Craft pointed towards the right of the cave. The waterfall wasn't visible. "It's behind all the bushes and trees, it'll take only a few minutes to get there.

"I see. Good find Craft!" Baro had patted Craft, messing his hair up.

"No problem." Craft had walked to the cave and sat against the wall.

"The caves are quite dark; Rosianne. Can you make it brighter, please?" Craft had asked.

"Sure! No problem." She then pointed her staff forward.

「Просветить」

Rosianne had spoken an incantation.

Just then, the tip of her staff shone, and the cave had become dimly lit. Enough to see, but not bright enough to risk any unwanted attention from monsters.

Arthur looked at Rosianne with admiration in his eyes. "How did you do that?? What was with those words that came out of your mouth?!" That was soo cool!"

"You've never heard of a chant?! You can use magic...right?" Rosianne was in disbelief.