Encounter

Walking around the black market I had recently found, I noticed items and armaments of much higher quality. "So this is where all the good stuff is." I picked out a thin solid breastplate and some arm guards, as well as some generic clothes that had been enchanted to be far more durable than regular clothes. 

"Back the the dungeons I go..." I spoke sounding deflated and bored. I walked out of the market in search of another dungeon to explore. "Should I try A-class this time? I think I'm ready." Steeling myself for the challenge ahead, I searched my map for the closest A-class Dungeon. The closest was almost a two-day travel away, so I walked over to a carriage for hire just outside the back entrance of the market. "Hello. How much is the travel from here to here?" I pointed out our location and the location I wanted to go on the map for him to look at. 

"That far? 2 gold."

Is this old bat trying to scam me because I look like a little kid? Whatever, I have lots anyway. "Sure, whatever." I handed him the two gold pieces and climbed into the back of the closed-top carriage. 

"Next leaving time is in just under an hour. Enjoy the wait."

I closed my eyes and rested my head against the wooden walls of the carriage, waiting until the scheduled departing time came around. During this time, four other adventurers boarded the carriage. A man, roughly 30, with a long spear and simple clothes. He was probably a low-class adventurer. Two women, both quite short, with one wearing nothing but almost skin-tight black leather with mesh cutouts to show her various tattoos. I saw a snake slithering up a vine on her right thigh and a sword on the top of her breast, as well as many others I couldn't make out. She had very dark black hair cut into a bob, black eyeliner and lipstick, and black nails. The other girl looked no older than me with rich blue hair tied in a short ponytail and simple elven battle robes even though she was a human child. The final passenger to board was a boy, roughly 12 or 13, with white hair and a black undercut wearing simple adventurer clothes and light leather armour on his chest and arms. He had many piercings, one simple small silver ring on his right bottom lip, a couple of silver gems in the cartilage of his right ear, and a simple white gem hanging from his left ear. Maybe that gem is his dimension 'ring'. After all, the dimension ring is just the gem, not the whole ring. The three of them had coloured rings, each on a different finger, matching their aesthetic. The girl had a blue ring on her right index finger, the woman had a black ring on her right pinky finger, and the boy had a white ring on his left middle finger.

After a long, rough and bumpy ride, we reached the outpost closest to my destination and I got out of the carriage. The spearman stayed on, and the other three got off with me. As it was getting dark, I entered the inn and purchased a nice room.

.....

I woke up comfortably and took a shower, preparing for the day ahead. After showering and brushing my teeth, I exited the room with my belongings and entered the main hall of the outpost. I went up the a bulletin board and ripped a piece of paper from the wall. A contracted mission... Should I do this instead? I brought the mission contract to the front desk and asked if I could accept it. "Sure thing, but you will need to provide your adventurer's ID card with your rank, seeing as this is a B-rank mission." Ah, sh*t. How did I forget adventurers are supposed to have a rank ID card! How do I get one? "Uhh, I seem to have lost it recently in my last B-class dungeon dive. No chance you could just waive this one for me?" 

"Sorry kid, that's against like half of the rules. No card no mission." He stated matter-of-factly.

"He's with us. I can vouch for him." As I was walking away from the desk, a feminine voice called out from behind me. She and her two companions approached the man at the desk with confidence. "M-Madam Mamba! O-of course. If he's with you that's fine. Hahah..." The man at the desk sputtered and chuckled awkwardly. She didn't even need to show her rank ID, the man just saw her and immediately recognised her. Who is this woman? 

The trio turned around and began to leave, and the short girl with blue hair turned to face me and snapped, "You coming or not? Hurry up."

"Ah, r-right.."

The four of us walked around the outpost to a small open-roofed carriage waiting there. "You Mr. Waltz?" The woman in black asked. "Yes! That's me! Pleasure to be working with you." He stuck out his hand and she shook it. She then turned to me and debriefed me on the mission. "We are to protect Mr.Waltz and his wares until he reaches a nearby town where another group will take over. This part of the Glades is relatively out of the way of bandits since it's so deep within, but there's still a chance. The minimum a guard and escort mission can be listed as is B, so this is a nice way to earn some easy gold."

"If something this easy is a B, what's a C-rank mission like?" I questioned.

"C-ranks are usually things like 'go help this old woman who got lost along her way' or 'help this farmer shepherd his livestock to the next town over.' Things like that. For reference, a D-class is hella simple stuff like 'help farmer plant crops' or 'babysit annoying noble child and teach him some tricks if he behaves. Almost no one does them because the pay is awful and they are boring as hell." The white-haired boy replied. "Now then, are we all ready to leave?" He asked us all and we departed.

As we escorted the carriage, I conversed with the boy who walked alongside me. I didn't catch his name, but he seemed nice enough. I did, however, learn that he was an A-rank adventurer. I asked him where he took his rank examination and he told me that rank examinations can only be done at the 'Xyrus main Adventurers Guild Hall'. The outposts are apparently just branches scattered around the Beast Glades for easy access to a place to sleep, eat and sell items you've acquired during your travels. I also talked with the blue-haired girl, and we bonded over the fact we were both the same age, but other than that she seemed to not like me all that much. She probably thinks I'm some greenhorn adventurer weakling who shouldn't be on a B-rank mission. As if we aren't the same age! "So, what kind of things do you like doing?" I asked her, trying to break the ice. "Mmm, I like adventurering."

"That's rather broad. Anything specific?.."

"Dungeons. I like killing mana beasts and turning them into gold coins."

Hah hah... This chick is crazy! Well, it's not like I don't like dungeons either. They are fun, it's just that they're the only thing I do... "Yeah, me too," I responded dryly. The conversation wasn't going anywhere. I would try talking to the woman up the front, but she scares me. Her snake keeps staring daggers at me too. How terrifying... The snake wrapped itself around the woman's waist and stayed there, looking out for any movement.

.....

"Oh, I see bandits." The woman in black stated calmly. "What!?" I shouted back. Why is she so calm? They're gonna try to kill us!  I ran to the other side of the carriage and prepared to engage, but the girl behind me spoke, "Don't bother. She can do it."

"Mm, she owes me anyway." The boy added with a yawn. How are these two so calm!? I turned back around to watch the woman fight. A tall man with a messy beard and very short brown hair lifted his sword into the sky. "Charge!" He roared and his men darted for the carriage. The woman walked forward slowly, her hands clasped behind her back. I watched her closely, hoping to see what she would do. She took one soft step forward and vanished. What the-!?

She reappeared right in front of the leader, who now had the same reaction as I did, and raised her hand. She leaned forward, her hand going straight through the man's chest and came out the other side with his still beating heart between her fingers. She ripped her hand from the man's chest and her snake slithered up her waist and onto her arm and began to eat the heart.

"W-what the f*ckk.." She just ripped out a man's heart with no effort! And her speed! I thought I was fast, but I couldn't even see her move! I guess I was right to be scared...

The other bandits turned their attention to her, stopping in their tracks with terrified expressions on their faces. "C-charge!" One of them screamed, lacking any sign of confidence. All of them, 10 or so, charged her down and two conjurers readied spells. The bandits closing in on her were met by a massive black snake that bit through them like butter. Her snake grew! It's huge! The snake cocked back its head, coiled up its body, and shot out like a spring from the woman's hand, devouring the remaining bandits and aiming for the conjurers. They dropped their staffs and tried to run away, but the massive snake lunged after them and bit them both in one bite. After swallowing its prey, the massive black serpent shrunk back into a much smaller - though still not cute - little snake and she gave it a little kiss on the top of its head before it slithered up her arm and wrapped around her neck.

She walked back to the carriage leisurely and asked, "Enjoy the show?~" 

"U-uh, yeah." Just how strong is this woman?

"Excellent work Madam Mamba! I knew I would be safe with you protecting me." The round merchant spoke gleefully. This guy isn't scared after seeing that? What a strange fellow. 

The rest of the mission was easy. Nothing tried to rob us or stand in our way, and after a couple of hours, we reached our destination. I collected my share of the reward - 12 gold - and walked into the bushes outside of the town. I sat down on a rock and thought about what I just witnessed. According to the book, that snake should be an earth Death Serpent, An AA-class mana beast that can change its size anywhere from as little as 5cm long to 15 meters long. They are infamous for shrinking their size, burrowing into the ground, and emerging from underneath adventurers much larger with open jaws. They are one of the most feared AA-class beasts, and that crazy lady is just keeping one as a pet! The other two who were travelling with her shouldn't be weak either...

As I was about to leave, four silhouettes with dark cloaks and wide-brimmed hats appeared between the trees.

"Hello, Solis. Can we have a chat?" The voice constantly changed pitch and bounced around the small forest. Sound magic. It changed the pitch so I can't tell who said it or what gender they are... "Depends. What do you want to talk about?" I dared to ask back.

The four figures emerged from the bush line and revealed themselves. The four all had the same long black cloak with fractured moons dotted on it and wide-brimmed straw hats that looked like shallow up-turned cones. Sh*t. The New Dawn!  "Judging by the expression on your face, you know who we are." Their hats were all slightly tilted down so I couldn't make out their faces or even see their mouth move. "You're a bunch of criminals, that's what!"

"How rude. We are more than just pretty thieves. If you would sit down and let us talk, we could explain." Their voice hurt my head to listen to. The sound magic made their voice sound like both a playful child and nails on a chalkboard. They walked closer to me and I conjured a sword of flames and 5 ravens of light, ready for an attack. "Such impressive magic. And those birds are so pretty." The four New Dawn members stopped roughly 3 meters from me and sat down on conjured earthen thrones. An earth conjurer. "Speak. I will listen." I told them.

"We are the New Dawn. An organisation of powerful mages of all three races who have come together to achieve a unified goal. That goal is to destroy the Alacryans and protect our continent. You probably do not know who these 'Alacryans' are, but I'm assuming you do know who the Basilisks of the Vritra race are? Judging by your beautiful magic, that is."

Basilisks. "Tell me more about the Basilisks. And who are these 'Alacyrans'? Are they from God Valley too?"

"God Valley? Ah, yes. I know what you mean. No, they are not. Though many of them are half-breeds of the Vritra. The Basilisks have been the archenemy of the Lightseekers and the Phoenix since the dawn of time due to their conflicting beliefs and magic. The Lightseekers and Phoenix harness the power of light and healing from the Sun and Basilisks harness the power of shadows and corruption from the Moon. Alacryans are the people of the other continent, not too far from Dicathen. According to our organisation's main informant, spies from Alacyra have been here for decades, at least. This is all I will tell you unless you join us and help us achieve our goal. With the boy who inherited the magic of the last of the Lightseeker race, you are invaluable to our cause." Three of them took off their hats and showed their faces. The first three were the girl, boy and woman from the escort mission and the last tilted his hat up with a red gemmed ring on his right pinky finger. It was a man, roughly in his late thirties, with a bandage covering his eyes wrapping around his head. He had a dark brown messy stubble beard and a horizontal scar on his cheek. Does this guy even know where he's going? How can he see what's in front of him?

"My name is Ilya, but I don't mind if you call me by my adventurer name, Mamba. I'm an S-class by the way." She pointed to the people next to her in turns. "This is Ada, she's 8 - same age as you, I believe. Be sure to get along well. She's an A-class adventurer. This is Jack, also an A-class. He's currently 12 and in his first year at Xyrus Academy. And lastly, this is Rindo, one of my fellow S-class adventurers and the best swordsman on the continent."

Best swordsman? This guy's blind! I noticed a long, slightly curved sheath with a sword hilt tied to his cloak by a thin black robe around his waist. "What do you mean 'get along', I haven't agreed to anything yet. And why should I believe anything you say? You're criminals!"

"You're right. We aren't the most upstanding citizens, but most of our 'crimes' are just gossip spread by drunk adventurers. We aren't all that bad. We operate on the basis of a necessary evil. We do some bad things that most wouldn't understand for the greater good of everyone on this continent. Come with us, we will explain everything. All of your questions will be answered."

.....