Chapter 10 - Preparation

Pandora hesitated for a bit, but after a few seconds of being stared at by everyone, she finally decided and walked to where Loki and Leo sat.

Loki smiled; his desire to enter a Dungeon was strong; thus, creating a party was his priority. Although Pandora didn't seem that reliable, the fact that she survived a two-party wipe was a hint that she had excellent survival skills.

Upon Pandora's arrival, Loki immediately pointed to a free chair beside him and invited her. "Please sit down with us; we would like to discuss something with you."

Pandora's body shook while she hugged the almost broken wooden staff in her hands. She seemed undecided on what to do.

Loki could already grasp some of the girl's personalities within the short span of their meeting: timid, indecisive, and maybe cowardly. Undesirable personalities as a Crawler. Nevertheless, he still wanted to ask her to join them.

"I know my invitation is sudden, and it's understandable that you are having a second thought. But please, we would appreciate it if you could at least listen to what we offer," Loki reassured.

"Y-yeah, please sit down," Leo added.

Pandora appeared to see their sincerity and timidly sat beside Loki.

The murmuring around them was concerning. Loki would be lying if he said he didn't care what other Crawlers thought of them. But he had no time to worry about them. One problem at a time.

"You're Pandora, right?" Loki smilingly asked.

Now that Pandora was close, Loki could properly examine her unique appearance. Her dark skin stood out the most, complimenting her jet-black eyes and hair. Her face was small, and her nose was tall. Her dried lips were shaped like a heart, which truly made her one of the cutest people Loki had ever seen.

Pandora nodded her head without uttering a word.

Is she not going to speak?

Loki stretched his hand to Pandora and introduced himself. "I'm Loki; nice to meet you."

Pandora hesitated, but, in the end, she accepted Loki's introduction with her trembling hand.

Seeing them shaking, Leo also extended his arm and said, "I-I'm Leo; I hope we get along."

Pandora shook Leo's hand and nodded her head as a gesture.

"Anyway, now that we're done introducing ourselves, let's proceed to our preposition. First of all, me and Leo already know what happened to your previous parties. But I would like to say this first. I don't believe you're cursed. I believe you are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. People might see you as cursed, but I'm different. We're different. And I will promise you this. I'm a very loyal person, and I will do anything for my people. That's why I would like to ask you… please join us and become our third member!"

After witnessing Loki's determination, Leo's uncertainty vanished from his face and he joined Loki. "Please accept us!"

Pandora finally let out a sound due to her bewilderment. But the sound that came out of her mouth was unexpected. Her voice didn't match her body size. It sounded like wood grating onto a wall.

Did she injure her throat?

"D-do you understand what it means to become my party member?" Pandora asked.

Loki lingered, still fazed by Pandora's voice.

"Yeah," Leo said, preceding Loki when he saw him just staring at the girl.

Hearing this, Loki realized he was being rude to Pandora. "I'm sorry for staring. But yes, we understand. We will be the target of scrutiny and mockery. This might be unfavorable for us, but all we have to do is prove them wrong, and I'm sure everyone will shut their mouths. If you're thinking we're being impulsive, you're probably right. However, our instructor taught us that being indecisive isn't good as a Crawler. We need you; that's why we ask you, simple as that."

"B-but why did you choose me as a member? There's a lot of Crawler out there that is far better than I am, so why?" Pandora stuttered, but still, she delivered her words with will.

Loki and Leo glanced at each other and lingered for a few seconds.

"To tell you the truth, you aren't our first pick. You see, we are a new Crawler who just passed the test yesterday. As a result, none of the Crawlers want anything to do with us relating to a Dungeon. I admit that we lack experience and probably aren't going to be very useful inside a Dungeon. But in time, I assure you that Leo and I will become a party member that you will be proud of having."

"Y-you might die," Pandora warned.

Loki smiled. "We might not."

"A-are you sure about this?"

Loki turned to Leo and asked. "Are we sure about this?"

"Yes, we are sure." Leo nodded with firmness.

"You heard him."

"O-okay, please take care of me."

"Yes!" Loki stood and screamed in joy. "Let's register now!"

"Yeah, let's go!" Leo added.

Pandora could only slowly stand, as she seemed shy about screaming.

Upon finishing their attention-grabbing action, the trio went to Cassandra, intending to register their party.

Cassandra shook her head. "Are you boys sure about this?"

"Thank you for your concern, but we're sure," Loki firmly said.

"If you say so," Cassandra said, taking something below the receptionist's table. It was some kind of crystal ball. After placing it on top of the table, she looked at them with seriousness. "This is your last chance. Once the party is formed, you will not be able to disband it for a year. So, let me ask you one last time. Are you sure about this?"

Loki, Leo, and Pandora looked at one another and nodded.

"Yes, we are."

"Please place your CC on the crystal."

The trio followed the instructions and placed their cards on the ball.

Cassandra did something, and the crystal emitted a weak light that soon dissipated.

"Congratulations! You three are now at a party. You can now enter a 1-star Dungeon. But before you do, I recommend accepting a quest on our Quest Board. Due to your newly formed party, I suggest accepting a lower-risk quest to familiarize yourself and gain experience in the process," Cassandra explained in her business tone.

Loki was caught off guard. This was his first time seeing the red-headed woman talk like a professional. For some reason, she always liked to tease them.

"So, are we okay to enter a Dungeon now?" Leo asked excitedly.

"Yes, but you should discuss it first. I advise you to listen to Ms. Pandora; she has more experience, after all."

"We understand; thank you for your advice." Loki bowed to Cassandra for the very first time.

After that, the new party of three went back to where they sat, ignoring all the gazes from around them.

"So, Pandora, what do we need to do before we enter a Dungeon?" Loki inquired.

"W-we need to prepare miscellaneous things like healing herbs, water, foods, camping tools, and more."

"What? I didn't know we needed so many things!" Leo exclaimed. "How can we even afford that?"

"I-I have camping tools, but I don't have any money to buy other things," Pandora said.

"How much do you think it will cost us to gather all we need?" Loki touched his chin. He was wondering if the remaining coins he had were enough.

Currently, I still have 3 silver and 65 copper coins. I hope that's enough.

"I-in my experience, my last party expended around 5 silver coins. But because I still have camping tools, it will probably only cost us 4 silver coins."

"That's a lot of coins. I only have 20 copper coins, and I earn that by doing all sorts of menial tasks. How long will it take before we can gather that much?" Leo touched his head in stress.

"Wait, I have 3 silver and 65 copper coins; adding Leo's 20 copper, we will have 3 silver and 85 copper coins. Do you think that's enough?" Loki looked at Pandora with anticipation.

Pandora lingered for a few seconds and spoke. "I-if we budget, that will probably be enough. But that isn't recommendable. We need all the things that can help us inside. If an accident occurs and we're missing an item that can save us, we can only regret it. Please trust me, I learned that in a hard way."

"I understand; we will follow your words."

"What should we do?" Leo interjected.

"What can we do but earn coins?"

"If that's the case, I know just a place to do that. Though the salary is 5 copper a day, that's enough for the three of us to earn 15," Leo suggested.

"5 copper? What kind of job earns that little?" Loki exclaimed in bewilderment.

"What do you mean, 5 copper is enough to survive for a day? I think that's good enough."

Loki just shook his head. Leo had been taken advantage of by his employer, but he was too ignorant to see it. Well, if not for Father Laryatt teaching him how the world works, he would perhaps be as ignorant as Leo. However, now that Leo had met him, he wouldn't let anyone exploit his friend.

"Fine, we just need to work for a day, and we're good."

After deciding what to do, Leo escorted Loki and Pandora to the place where he had been working.

They stopped before a two-story building near the north entrance of the city. The first floor was made of white bricks with a large window displaying all sorts of things. The material used on the second floor was almost entirely wood; even the windows were made of wood.

"Come on, the owner of this shop is very kind. I'm sure he will give us a job." Leo walked into the shop.

Very kind? Let's see.

Loki and Pandora followed Leo.

Inside the shop.

Loki's eyes wandered as a lot of things garnered his attention. For example, all the weapons that were displayed on the wall. There were swords, hammers, daggers, and more. This was his first time seeing so many weapons. Yes, he had seen one back on the training ground, but all of them were made of wood. They weren't counted as real weapons.

"Oh, I thought you were busy with your Crawler test?" The voice of a man spoke, garnering their attention.

Loki's eyebrows rose when he saw who it was. It was someone familiar to him as he traveled across the wasteland together with the man. It was the fat man who scammed him with the clothes—he didn't really get scammed, but he felt he did.

The merchant still wore a loose robe—with the only difference being that it was a red color—and a brown hat that obscured mostly his hair.

"Oh, look who is here; I didn't expect to meet you so soon," the fat man said in surprise when he saw Loki.

"I didn't know you owned a shop here. Why even bother going to my small town then?" Loki asked.

"Why? Of course, to earn more coins."

"Ah, yes, of course." Loki rolled his eyes.

"What? You know Mr. Goodwill?" Leo asked Loki excitedly.

"Goodwill?" Loki almost burst into laughter when he heard the name of the fat man. "Yeah, we met when I was coming here."

"So what brought you to my lovely shop? Are you here to buy something?" Mr. Goodwill interjected.

"No, we are hoping you have a job for the three of us; we really need coins to start our first Dungeon Crawl," Leo explained.

"Wow, did you pass the test?"

"Yes, we did yesterday."

"Why didn't you say so? To celebrate, I will give you a good suggestion. How about instead of working, I will lend you coins and you pay me back when you finish a Quest?"

"Really? You would do that for us!" Leo's face brimmed with joy.

Loki stepped forward. "Wait a minute, what is the catch? I don't believe you would do something like that for the goodness of your heart, Mr. Goodwill."

The fat man grinned. "Oh, smart as always. Of course, I will lend you coins with a small interest."

"How much?"

"20% of what I lend. And of course, if you fail to pay me, it will increase in time."

"In time?"

"Hohoho, yes. Every week, it will increase by 20%."

Pandora pulled Loki's shirt when she heard the merchant.

Loki knew what she wanted to say; thus, he looked at her and smiled, reassuring the worried girl.

"How gracious of you to offer us a wonderful deal. How about we just give you everything we will earn in the Dungeon so that we will not be wasting our time calculating how much the interest will increase?" Loki said sarcastically.

The fat man's smile twitched when he heard Loki. "I hate that tone of yours, even when we're traveling together. If you don't like my offer, then leave. I don't have a job for any of you."

Leo panicked when he heard that, but before he could utter a word, Loki preceded him.

"Oh, don't be too hasty, Mr. Goodwill. How about this? You will lend us coins for 10% interest, and it will increase every month if we fail to pay it."

"Do you think I'm stupid? Why would I agree with that? I don't even know if you will survive."

"I'm not done yet. We both know that the guild always buys the materials from the Crawlers the moment they return. But what if we made you the priority of the things we will bring back from the Dungeon?"

The fat man's eyebrows rose. "Why do you think the guild will let you do that? And why do you think I will believe you?"

"Firstly, the guild has no right to force a Crawler to sell their materials to them. Yes, it was in their rule to have a priority when it comes to rare things. But that isn't the case for the common ones. I believe you understand the value of those materials even if they are just common. Secondly, the guild has no ability to know what kind of items the Crawler brings back with them. So how will they know if no one told them? Lastly, we might sell you rare materials from time to time. Of course, don't expect. I can't promise you that, but having a possibility is a good thing, don't you think?"

Mr. Goodwill lingered, walking back and forth as he contemplated. After a few seconds, he stopped and turned to Loki. "Fine, how much do you need?"

"Now that I think about it, we don't need coins. Our goal is to buy the necessary things for our first Crawl. How about we give all the coins we have to you and give us all the things we require?"

"I feel like I'm being scammed here. Fine, take what you need, but let me remind you. All the things you take from my shop will be listed. Don't even think that you can get anything free from me."

"Yeah, yeah." Loki ignored the merchant and looked at his party member. "Come on guys, take all the things we need."

"Are you sure about this, Loki?" Leo hesitantly asked.

"Yes, you don't have to worry; all we need to do is make sure to finish a Quest and bring all kinds of materials. We're Crawlers now, and I'm sure we can earn a lot of coins," Loki reassured.

After that, the trio began their shopping spree, taking all sorts of items from the shop.

A few minutes had passed when Loki, Leo, and Pandora stopped. The bag behind Loki and Leo was full to the brim. However, that wasn't all. Loki took a leather armor, Leo a chainmail, and Pandora a new wooden staff that could amplify her skills. The party of three purchased a total of 19 silver coins, including the coins they had.