Day 1

Journeys at the beginning seem to be the easiest for many.

The day was still Saturday, and the time was before noon.

The sun dangled in the sky through the tall pine trees. The relative lack of foliage on the forest floor made walking relatively easy. Sounds of life made the forest lively.

The party members followed behind George, carrying their huge backpacks full of essential supplies. Due to their attributes higher than the average person, most did not mind the weight.

Well...

*pant * *pant *

Hester's face was already red with sweat as his breathing became heavy.

Hester has been fed with a golden spoon all his life and is relatively well off compared to most in terms of wealth. This does not correlate with a good fitness level for him.

It also explains why he is C-rank compared to the rest of the party members. A lot of what determines a person's rank is not wealth, status, and influence, but combat ability and/or how well they excel in their class.

Abe, Emma, and Bernice have had their fair share of combat experience and training. They have fought against monsters before from dungeons and have even hunted for their own food.

A lot of this is required in academies for specific magics.

Hester, however, avoided most of these using wealth and connections. He has always half-assed even when required during sword training. He never cared too much about effort and does things the lazy way.

Hester never cared about the way people perceived his scores and rankings. He has always thought that wealth and influence matter the most. A lot of his reputation is centered around that.

Even if people mocked him for his low scores and lazy performance, he would mock them by saying wealth matters more. That is his belief.

It also applies to how he interacts with people.

Hester rarely interacts with poor and middle class people, thinking of it as below his status. This applies to weak adventurers as well. Being an adventurer was something his parents pressured him into doing, which is why he had to apply to Swords Academy. Otherwise he would have applied to a normal prestigious university wealthy people attended.

As for this quest, he would not have done it even if the award was quadruple.

There is no way he would get off his lazy butt and do some high risk task that will take over a year to complete when others could do it for him. Why risk dying in the mountains over some wealth when he has plenty?

Of course, his parents thought differently.

They made it explicitly clear that he is too soft for this world and needs to experience hardships. When this quest appeared, they did not hesitate to sign him up against his will. They even used some of their connections to ensure he was chosen out of the others who volunteered.

Hester bitterly complained and tried to get out, but they did not even budge an inch.

That is how he got here.

Meeting George seemed to be a part of the trouble. He had been humiliated by a poor commoner in front of others. It would have been different if George had been a wealthy guide, but no.

He wanted revenge for the humiliation, but causing any more troubles would make the party members hate him even more. The Flintblaze family would not appreciate him getting involved with the police as it would give the others impressions that their family has a troublesome son.

If that happened, their reputation would be lowered and cause endless troubles!

Ever since Roastberry, his frustration and pent up anger has been building up.

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Two more hours passed and it was noon. Everyone was starting to feel hungry.

"Let's take a 30-minute break then." George paused in his tracks and looked back at the party. He did not seem tired or even sweaty.

"Finally..." Hester nearly collapsed as he sat down, taking his backpack off.

Everyone did the same and rubbed their tired shoulders.

"I can't imagine doing this for over a year. How did you do this several times?" Bernice looked over at the indifferent George who seemed to not be tired at all.

Abe, Hester, and Emma wondered this as well.

In terms of attributes, George should be the weakest of them all; even weaker than Hester.

Yet he seemed completely unfazed. His breathing and footwork the entire time seemed steady.

"Your body and mind gets used to it so long as you have a firm willpower." George answered with a simple truth while grabbing some food out of his bag.

"I still think that's impressive." Abe could not help but give some praise, "I don't think I've heard of anybody who repeatedly traverses into the depths of the Northern Mountains."

George merely nodded to the praise.

"Oh I forgot! What do you think of the book?"

Emma stared at George as her and Bernice conversed, becoming lost in thought.

An invisible passive aura of dismal emptiness, coldness, and distance surrounds him at all times. He always seems to be at a distance even during conversations, only talking when necessary. If it were not for his [Aura], she would not have noticed.

George reminds her of those ancient statues that would guard entrances and would come to life when someone approached them, only asking for a password to enter. Nothing else. Cold like stone and unchanging even as the world changes.

'Perhaps my superior is right to maintain a distance from him.'

Although Emma thought that, she actually hoped he would be more friendly to them the more they interacted. A group functions better and morale becomes good when everyone gets along. Considering the mystery surrounding him, she hoped he could open up a little.

"Are you going to eat?" Abe noticed she was lost in thought and spoke out.

"Eh? Oh, sorry." Emma snapped out of her thoughts and quickly opened her backpack.

Everyone ate into their lunch meal while the sounds of nature filled the background. Civilization was behind them, and it would be gone for a very long time.