"Hi, I am Max Steelarm, and I will be your team leader." He introduced himself right after entering the tent. A new, blue hood adorned his shoulders. A characteristic symbol of team leaders, which in Adam;s opinion will quickly be forgotten by its owner.

Without further ado, Max went to the point. "Commander gave us our first mission, we will start it tomorrow. Any questions?"

"I have one." Said Adam. "Should we get some kind of training before going on a mission?" He asked.

"We already went through the training." Watt answered instead of Max.

"Huh? When?" Questioned Adam in bewilderment.

"While you were selling your uncle's house. We didn't quite hurry up while coming here." Said Max.

"Ahhh, sorry..." Adam felt ashamed.

"About the task, young master, do you know any details?" Asked Kyll. He seemed to be acquainted with Max, not a weird thing considering that he worked at his household in the capital. Even if Max lived all the time in Ferston, there was no way he never visited his mother and younger siblings there.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I have some information. But not much is needed anyway." Max sat on one of the beds and continued. "Our mission is of extermination type. We are to hunt all monsters in the vicinity around Viscount Jarder's mansion. The area is located deep in the woods, so though our mission states 'exterminate' it focuses more on scouting if there are any powerful monsters nearby. We have to kill all monsters we find and can take on. No daring fights."

"Why is monster extermination needed? And are we enough to take the beasts on?" Asked Iler, and most people's eyes darted between him and Max. They also wanted to ask this question.

"Viscount Jared is organizing a party for his son's twentieth birthday. There will be a lot of activities in the woods, so he has sent a request to the military. As for if we are enough, we should. The area is near the capital so nothing too powerful should be there, and if there is something we can't take on, we can ask for reinforcements."

"Assuming it doesn't eat us first." Adam added.

"Yeah..." Answered the team leader.

"We shouldn't have such a problem, beast around the capital are generally afraid of humans, and don't attack if not threatened." Explained Marta, as a local, she knew some things about the forest that Max, didn't.

"Oh, that's good to know." Said Max.

No one spoke for a few moments.

"Can someone just hire the army to do their chores? Isn't that what the adventurers guild is for?" Asked Adam, breaking the silence.

"With proper payment, yes. We live in quite peaceful times, so the army isn't needed that much. Aside from the beast tides." Answered Max.

"Seriously? That sounds more like mercenaries than an army." Commented Adam.

"Well, you've got a point." Max agreed with him." But it doesn't matter to us, as long as the king is the highest authority for the army.

Back to the topic, we will gather tomorrow just after dawn in front of the camp, in full gear and ready to kill some beasts." Max ended his speech with a fist raised high in the air.

Watt, Iler, Kyll and Berta raided their arms too, in some kind of act of solidarity. No one smiled, they probably thought when to go to sleep. Waking up before dawn wasn't anyone's dream.

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Adam finished petting the cat, said goodbye to Uncle Derek and left the Inn.

Outside, Max sat on a bench beside the inn's wall. "How's the cat?" He asked while standing up.

"Good, she gets along with uncle quite well. By the way, is there any animal physician around here? Or do I need to go to the outskirts?" There had to be some, as there were massive amounts of animals on farms outside the city.

"Yes, there is one specialising in cats and dogs, not even hunting ones. They are surprisingly popular inside most of the cities." Said Max, watching as a Lady walked her dog around the square. He had a slight frown on his face As if he imagined walking into the shit left alone by the pet's owner.

They turned westward, towards the army camp.

On their way there, they passed by a caravan, filled to the brim with soldiers.

"Where do you think they are going?" Asked Adam.

"Do you see the crest? That's the Malmond family's crest. They are probably Cesar's escorts, Malmond city is far away, much further than Ferston, so I wouldn't be surprised if they needed this many people to get there safely, and on time."

The caravan passed by, unobstructed by the boys who started moving again after the column left.

After a while, they arrived by the gates of the camp. Few people stood there, waiting.

"Hi!" Adam greeted his teammates.

"Hello!" They answered, with Berta being the loudest.

By the gate, stood the whole Max's team and a few members of other teams.

There were about six people apart from Adam's teammates.

"Hello, I am Adam, do you also have your first mission today?" He asked them. Experienced teams would have their meeting place, not meet before the gates, like some hooligans.

"Hi, we are 'Shadow Swords' and no, we had our firstie like a week or so ago." One of the strangers answered him, but he didn't seem eager to talk any more than that. He also seemed to be a little embarrassed about their name.

Adam didn't mind his reluctance, as he found a new thing to focus on.

"Max, what is our team's name?" He asked him.

Max looked at Adam and said flatly. "We don't have one."

"Then we have to create one!" Adam said with sparkling eyes.

A moment of silence.

"What about 'Metallic Freezers', it would refer to you two's affinities!" Berta was the first one to think about one.

Adam finally turned towards his team members to see Berta talking.

Berta wore medium armour. It was made from hard leather, with metal plating in a few unmovable places and chainmail coating in highly movable and important ones, such as the waist and armpits. She had also iron pauldrons and a helmet. On her back, hung her huge sword, and she had a knife by her side.

Next to Berta stood Watt. He was wearing full-body, heavy armour. It must have been a gift from Steelarms, like probably most of the team's gear. The armour was coated in some cloth, making it shine less. He was leaning on a gigantic shield. It was rectangular, with a slight bend on two sides and it reached his waist in height. Shield's front was decorated with Steelarm's crest. At his waist, hung a short sword and a dagger.

Behind them, Iler sat on the grass. His sword lay beside him, together with his helmet and a medium-sized kite shield. He was wearing medium armour, the same one as Berta, but in his size. What differentiated him from her was his helmet, While hers was a standard one, with defences for ears and nose, his one covered practically the whole face, leaving only eyes visible. It had a raised mask that helped with that.

Kyll stood somewhat at the sidelines, sitting against a tree. He wore armour that was something between Watt's one and Berta's armours. It was quite heavy, but also way more flexible than the heavy armour the defender wore. At his lap, lay his spear, which he was currently fiddling with His kite shield lay at the side.

The last one, The red-haired Monica was sitting quite close to Adam's current position. She was weaving something from the grass. Her bow rested by her side, together with two quivers full of arrows and a knife. Her attire was the lightest in the group, aside from Adam's. She wore leather armour that was enhanced with chainmail. On top of that, she wore a cloak, coloured in different shades of green. She also had a deep hood, probably to hide her fiery hair, which would be very eye-catching in a snowy forest.

Back to the conversation.

"'Metallic Freezers'? I don't think it slides from the tongue smooth enough." Replied Adam.

"How about 'Refrigerators', I heard rich people have cellars made from metal, with runes cooling the inside. Just like Berta's proposal, it would refer to the main elements of two mages in our team." Suggested Iler, while talking he sketched in the dirt. He drew a rectangular device with a door on one side. He had a dreamy face while talking.

"That's right, the device is very good at keeping the food fresh. It's a good idea." Said Max before Adam could interject something.

"Do anyone have any other Ideas?" Followed up the team leader.

"Maybe Iro-"

"No? Then 'Refrigerators' it is." Max interrupted Adam with a slight smirk on his face.

That's how Refrigerators came to be. to Max's amusement and Adam's anger.