Chapter 26

I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. Today we will be heading back to the Capital. I gathered all of my gear and made my way back downstairs. Only a few of the adventurers were hanging out in the dining area. Sora was among them so I made my way over to her. She saw me coming and said. “You can put your bag outside in one of the carriages. It seems we won’t have to walk all of the way back to the Capital.” That was a surprise to me but a welcome one. I’d never been in a carriage before so this would be a nice experience for me. I walked outside and just as she had said there were two carriages waiting for us outside. I saw a few of the other adventurers putting the bags on the carriage so I did the same. With my gear safely stowed away I made my way back inside. I found Sora inside eating breakfast so I joined her. The maid brought me out a plate of bacon and eggs. I ate heartily. Veronica made her way downstairs and told everyone to head outside and start getting in the carriages. With no reason to delay we got up and headed outside. We made our way over to the carriage we had stored our bags in and then climbed aboard. We were the first ones in the carriage. Soon a group of adventurers climbed into the carriage and joined us. The first one was a man with blond hair and blue eyes. He carried a longsword on his hip and had chain and plate armor. Following behind him was an elf woman with a bow and quiver wearing leather armor the color of the forest. She had silver hair and bright green eyes. Behind her was another woman with black hair and brown eyes. She was carrying a wooden staff and was wearing flowing blue robes. Lastly was a man with brown skin and a humongous frame. The entire carriage tilted when he stepped in. We had a giant sword swung across his back.

As they got seated the first man looked at us and while smiling held out his hand. “I’m Devin. That’s Morigan.” He pointed at the woman in robes who also smiled and nodded at us. He then pointed at the elf woman and said. “This is Charlotte.” She also seemed pleased to meet us as well and smiled and waved at us. “Last but certainly not least this is Adrian.” That was the big man who had entered the carriage last. He grinned and with a booming voice to match his frame said. “Hello, it’s a pleasure to meet some new adventurers for a change. Our work usually takes us to far off places so we never get to meet the newbies.” The woman named Morigan swatted his arm and said. “Don’t mind him. The way we heard it, you two handled yourself rather well against the vampires. Not many bronze rankers could have done half as well as you managed.” Her words dampened some of the feelings I had had about my inadequacy. Devin said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both. We will be traveling together for a few days so it’s best we get acquainted now.” I was a little nervous but asked anyway. “Why did adventurers of your rank come to deal with these vampires?” “Oh, that's simple Veronica asked us to and if you know anything about her you never say no. Plus we never turn down a bit of adventure. We also heard there were some new adventurers that needed our help. We never pass up on an opportunity to look heroic.” He smiled broadly when he said that last part.

I said. “My name is Alex. I became an adventurer not long ago and want to thank all of you for coming to my aid down in the tunnels.” He replied. “Think nothing of it. We were doing our job down there. There have been moments in all of our careers that we needed help and it took someone stronger to come in and help us out. You were doing a great job taking care of things. We just gave you the assistance you should have had to begin with. You uncovered the mystery of the vampires that were taking the villagers. While also managing to track them down and uncover their plot to summon a vampire lord. While also managing to free some prisoners that were able to then get in contact with the adventurers guild. My friend you did more than anyone could have expected you to.” The others were all nodding. Including the usually withdrawn Sora. “Well thanks anyways. By the way, this is Sora. We’ve been traveling together for a while. We met on our way to the Capital to join the guild and since then we’ve been working together.” He winked at me like he knew something that I had been leaving out and said. “That’s a similar story to ours. We all met under various circumstances and just decided to join up with one another. We’ve been adventuring together for seven years now I think. Until recently we were on a contract far away and just got back to the Capital a few weeks ago. We were enjoying some time away from adventuring for a while. Don’t get me wrong we all love adventuring, but even the most die hard adventurers need a break. That was when I went to the guild and Veronica asked if we wanted to come on a job to slay some vampires and possibly help out some new adventures. We quickly agreed. After that it was a simple matter of her finding a few more to come with us. We then boarded these carriages. Once we got to the town here we met with the local guards. Who then gave us all of the information they had. We then made our way into the tunnels, took out all of the vampires, and rescued everyone that needed rescuing. That brings us to right now.”

With the story of what had happened told we settled in for a pretty long ride. I didn’t know exactly how long it would take but I figured it would be two or three days before we made it back to the Capital. The inside of the carriage was nice. Cushions and pillows lined the benches to make the ride more comfortable. There was plenty of room for the six of us to sit inside comfortably. As we rode along inside the carriage we all shared stories of our adventures. Of course our stories were not as exciting or interesting as the ones told by the more experienced adventurers but they listened and cheered just the same. They told of different monsters they had fought and all of the places they had seen. From beautiful forests filled with trees and flowers to the depths of a mountain where the only source of light was a torch or a spell. They told stories of monsters I had never heard of and lands I had never been to. Their travels had taken them through all of the different kingdoms and even beyond into the lands of the monsters. After telling stories for a while we fell into a companionable silence. Most people decided to take a nap or to look out the window and watch the landscape pass by. At midday we stopped. It was time for the horses to stop and be fed and watered. While the drivers tended to the horses we got out of the carriage and started making up sandwiches for lunch. After the break for the horses to rest we got back in the carriage and continued on our journey.

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We continued throughout the afternoon much as we had in the morning. Passing the time by telling stories and little bits of information about ourselves. Not too much information mind you. Adventurers were pretty secretive as a rule. They didn’t want too much information about them to be circulated. I was much the same way. I told them about being an orphan and about how Sora and I had met but nothing beyond that. I didn’t know these people well enough to tell them such sensitive information. No one pressed me too hard about my past. It just wasn’t done in adventuring circles. People were allowed to keep their secrets. Sora kept all of the information very vague. It got to the point that they just stopped asking her for any more information. In the short time we had been around each other we had become more comfortable in the group. This was our first time traveling in a large group like this. It took a while to get used to so many people being nice and showing genuine interest in us and how adventuring had been going for us. I told them about how we wanted to start training when we got back to the Capital.

We wanted to learn sword fighting, survival techniques, magic, herb gathering, and so much more that I couldn’t think of. That was when something I hadn’t thought of happened. Devin said. “Well if you guys want you can learn from us. We’d be happy to have a couple of new faces around for a while. We can teach you how to stay alive out in the wilds and once we teach you the basics we can start teaching you magic and sword play. As a group of silver rank adventurers we feel more than qualified to help train you guys.” I said. “You don’t have to go out of your way to help us. We wouldn’t want to be a burden on you guys. I’m sure you've got contracts you'd rather be working on. You surely don’t want to be teaching a couple of newly minted bronze rankers.” He replied. “Oh sure we do. There's not much that's more important to the guild than making sure promising new adventurers survive. We’ve got so few people joining that when we do get fresh adventurers it’s best to first send them out on easy contracts to see if they can hack it. After they’ve proven they have what it takes we promote them to bronze. Once an adventurer becomes bronze ranked, higher ranked adventures are compelled to help them. So we don’t mind at all teaching you guys. It’s our duty to the guild to help you out. We won’t make you if you don’t want to. Though I would suggest screening any other adventuring groups that may come to you with promises to teach you. Not all adventurers want to be helpful. Some are only out for themselves. You can take your time thinking this over. We’ve got a couple of days before we make it back to the Capital. If you decide to come with us we will grab a contract and head out for a long trip. Real world experience is always the best way to learn. We won’t be easy on you but we will be fair and teach you as much as we can.”

I had wanted to just say yes right then. Though after a second of thought I decided it needed more consideration. It would take us a while to become silver ranked and some real world training with a group of veteran adventurers could really help us become better adventurers. I also had to consider what Sora wanted to do. She had said she also wanted some more training but I don't know how she would feel about traveling in a larger group. I would talk with her when we stopped for the night. We traveled for a few more hours. When the sun was soon to go down we stopped. Once again the drivers took care of the horses. All of the adventures set about the many tasks of setting up camp and getting a fire going. Once everything was set up one of the other adventurers I didn’t know set about cooking dinner for the group. After we ate we sat around the fire and swapped more stories and then it was time to sleep. A guard detail was set up but Sora and I weren’t put in the rotation. We were told it wasn’t because they didn’t trust us but I didn't know for sure. Before climbing into the tent Sora and I walked a little away from the fire to discuss what we wanted to do in the future.

Sora said. “I am willing to take them up on their offer. They seem like they genuinely want to help us. It’s hard to find people in this world that actually want to help others. We really need the training that they are offering. Some in the field training with adventures that have seen and done a lot is something we can’t afford to pass up on. So if you want my vote I’d say yes. Though if you feel differently about it we can always say no and find someone else to train us. I was surprised that much of what she said was what I had been thinking. So I told her. “I agree with you. We can’t pass up on this opportunity. We really need the training and I think they are a good group of people that can help us. They have good team chemistry and we can learn a lot from all of them. Since you also agree I’ll find Devin and tell him we want to take them up on his offer.” I left her so that she could get in the tent to sleep while I walked back over to the fire where Devin was sitting. I sat down next to him. Without looking at me he said. “So what have the two of you decided?” I said. “We have decided to join you. We realize that we are lacking in skill and need help learning more about adventuring and fighting. We don’t want to be a burden on your team and will strive to do our part.” He turned to me and said. “I expect nothing less. In the beginning we will keep things simple for you. Though after we know what level you're at things will get harder and we won't take it easy on you. You’ll be expected to pull your own wait on the contracts we take. We won’t expect you to do things you haven’t learned but we will expect you to step up and contribute while we are traveling. We take turns with the camp chores and we all contribute to the cost of food and other supplies.” I said “That’s not a problem. We do that with each other as it is. So helping you guys won't be any trouble.” With that I got up and headed for my tent. I need to get to sleep. We only had a couple of days before we would be out on another contract. I climbed into my tent and went to sleep. More adventure awaited in the days to come and I couldn’t wait to get started.