Getting out the guild had never been so stressful before for Taryn. The simple act of leaving through the side door should never be so strenuous on his nerves.

Making sure Monica could not spot him and call him over when he was heading to the “Big inn” was something that should never happen too.

Yet both the former and latter, in some odd twist of fate, happened.

Now, roughly two hours after all of that, Taryn was back in their room trying to pack while recalling some of the events prior.

He was walking out of the guild, content that he has managed to find a solution.

The haze of joy even managed to abate some of the self doubt from before. It would tell him that he did not even have to leave to get results. Monica might just realise his importance if he just announced the trip. But the high never lasted.

His heart had dropped when he saw her walking back in the direction of the guild, with the arms of someone else.

After the strenuous exit from the guild, he had came round again after an hour just to be sure Monica was out of there.

He had to deliver the slime cores he managed to collect and hand in the request failure fee for tomorrow.

In the process, Lanna actually told him about what Monica was doing later with the blonde, Daniel, when Taryn was back and also gave him directions for the meeting later tonight.

Thinking back on it now, Taryn could only laugh hollowly.

He got his answers for most of the questions that have been bugging him the whole noon. Monica would not say yes.

Things would have never been the same if he took that idiotic step.

He even got a reasoning for why she would do that. The old sense of inadequacy was back. He saw the blonde hair, white handsome face of the guy. He knew she wanted those types of princes from the book.

The cherry on top was that he was a noble too, if Taryn recalled correctly. So pitting himself against that sort of package and asking Monica to choose, he could already see what a landslide that would be.

Letting out a long and suffering sigh, Taryn focused back onto the packing and powered through the dull pain within his chest cavity.

The pity party wound down slowly as Taryn finally finished gathering his things into a sack. Looking back down onto Lucky, he started debating whether to take the cat along or not.

On one hand, having the cat to occupy himself might be good for his emotional state.

On the other, carrying around the cat might not be the best idea, especially with all of the travelling. He managed to get away with it this whole time due to the rather constant environment of Central Aurora. The whole trip would bring too many variables.

Finally convinced of the difficulty of carrying around the feline, Taryn then gave Lucky a small toy to play with while he walked slowly out of the room and locked the door. Outside, he suddenly remembered something and pulled the spirit squirrel that has been resting on his nape the whole day. Cracking the door a little bit, Taryn squeezed the squirrel inside and finally left.

Once down into the main lobby and not seeing Monica anywhere, Taryn put on his coat, exited the inn and began to make his way out towards the meeting place Lanna has told him for the advance party.

On his trek towards the southern gates, Taryn took a few looks around himself.

The nights in Central Aurora were very well lit. Clear illumination naturally The source of magic crystal right on its doorsteps ensured that lighting crystals were never lacking.

With clear illumination, the city’s night time activity naturally bloomed within the commercial district and the food center. Even from his position heading down towards the southern gate, Taryn could still see the people getting out of houses for a trip down town.

Taryn was privy to a few nights like that with Agatha and Monica after certain well-paying jobs. He still remembered what they had for last time and even the request that led to it. If pushed, he could even remember the great smile she had back then.

A smile he would probably want to see again.

A pang of sadness rose at that and Taryn had to shake himself free of the unwanted melancholy.

With the current thoughts shoved down, he now kinda regret not taking Lucky with him to the walk. The finicky feline would have done well to distract him.

As reality stands, Taryn was feeling just a tad bit colder, lonelier and in more need of a hug.

Pulling the coat closer to his body, he simply push through and made his way southwards.

The previously interesting nighttime ambience was now viewed with a much gloomier outlook. The clean blue light lighting his way on poles now looked more sterile and cold than professional and well-kept. Letting out a long breath, Taryn soldiered on.

Half an hour later marked the wolfman’s arrival at the rendezvous point. The overall set up was a bit smaller than Taryn expected.

The whole thing was just a few carriages lined up in a circle around a central tent.

On further reflection, he realised that the advance party is not exactly something that warranted a large amount of personnel.

Even further and more optimistic thinking yielded the silly assumption that since there is less quantity, there will be more quality.

Hyping himself up for the talented and experienced people he might meet soon, Taryn walked into camp.

And became increasingly aware of how optimistic his earlier estimation was.

The few people around his age within the carriages were people he knew already. And if he knew them, he had also spent some time working with them and left them because they were not up to standard compared to him or Monica.

Keeping his hopes up from the more professional looking adults around, Taryn entered the central tent to officially register his name again.

Looking around, Taryn found that the interior reflected the exterior quite well.

The simple looking tent housed a simple looking table with a large, yet simple, log book and two men, in simple robes, going over their notes. Behind them all were some simple supplies and other miscellaneous items

Hearing the opening of the tent flap, the two turned their eyes towards Taryn. The one that had a combover, a fairly overweight body and finer clothes, as Taryn looked closely, called out.

“Are you here for the escort request?”

“Yes, I am to do the registration here right?”

“That’s right. Just show me your guild card, write your name and sign in the log book.”

Taryn nodded and moved over to the table and log book.

Once both his name and signature has been placed on the book, Taryn pulled out his guild card for his employer to examine.

After a once over of the card, the man gave it to the larger man behind him to inspect further.

The larger man studied the picture on the front a bit and turned over to Taryn to confirm the appearance.

He flipped it over and looked at the quest log on the back. Eyes going down the difficulty levels and numbers next to them, the man fixed his eyes back on Taryn and spoke up.

“You qualify kid. A bit too much for your age if you ask me. When did you even start working?”

At the prompting, Taryn turned towards the larger man and looked up.

He was roughly a head taller than Taryn and had a fairly square face with hard features. Unlike the fatter man who wanted to cover up his balding, he embraced it and simply shaved everything, adding a glint as the lighting crystal in the middle of the tent shined down on him.

A hand then suddenly slapped onto the shiny forehead as the man exclaimed.

“Oh right, it’s right here on the card. Twelve huh?” he walked over to Taryn and continued, “Well, you seem pretty good from what I can get from the card. Got some adult level quests in too. So I think I can ask if you want to switch the arrangements a bit.”

“Huh? There are different arrangements?”

“Yeah, most of the teens signing up for this are assigned miscellaneous work like hunting for some extra food, making fires, carrying things, standing guard or killing a few weak monsters. The manual work gets them a free and safe ride.”

Getting a nod of understanding from the boy, the man continued.

“The adults have to go clear the way of both monster and bandits, so they get paid. Not much though, since payment is negotiated through effort and this route is too well established and safe.”

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“Ok. I think I get it. I can sign up for the fighting and get paid a bit with my qualifications right?”

“Yup. There’s going to be more like you with the main convoy and probably one more guy in this advance party. Anything else you want to ask?”

“No, not really.”

“Good. Go get yourself comfortable in the carriages. We’re heading out at daybreak. Try and sleep if you can.”

Saying thus, the man waved the teen out. Before completely out of the tent, Taryn heard someone yell from behind him.

“Oh, and the name is Adam. Ask for me if you have any problems on the trip.”

Yelling back a quick “sure”, Taryn moved over to one of the more empty carriages and sat down.

Once seated, Taryn opened his sack to make sure he had the supplies he needed and did not forget anything in his emotional haze back at the inn. Rummaging through the sack, he listed off the things he needed on the trip.

Potions. Check. Bandages. Check. Small grind stone for scimitar. Check. The oil lubricant for the grindstone. Check. Compass. Check. Salted meat. Check. Extra set of clothes. Check. Hunting knife. Check. Magic stones. Check. Some money. Check. Flints. Check. Hmm. what am I missing.

As he slowly laid down a tried to sleep, Taryn realised what he was missing

A sleeping bag. A duh.

Out of the carriage in a few seconds, Taryn looked up to the moon. Its height told him that he had enough time to run back to the adventurer supply center.

Assurance received, Taryn picked up his pace as he made his way back towards the “Big inn”.

Once near his old place of residence, Taryn made a right and walked pass both the inn and adventurer’s guild.

Arriving at a rugged storefront that displayed various equipment needed for outdoor exploration and combat, Taryn quickly walked inside.

The interior of the store was organized into eight different categories with separate shelves for each with name tags on top.

Quickly moving towards the sign for camping equipment, Taryn finally reached the area for sleeping bag. After a few minutes of browsing, he picked out a simple and sturdy model with a relatively economic price.

As he made his way back towards the counter to finish his purchase, Taryn almost ran into a guy who was packing a little too much. He was carrying almost everything that Taryn has already packed into his bag. There was even more things Taryn did not know within the pile the guy was carrying.

Seeing that the poor man was about to lose his balance, Taryn reached out and removed the heavy sleeping bag from the top while putting his other hand on balancing the whole pile. Ever slowly, he helped removed some more items before the guy spoke out,

“Thanks man.”

“No problem. Why are you carrying so much?”

“Oh. I was a bit late. Had to rush things. Didn’t have time to pack so I just bought everything.”

“Ok. I’ll stop asking if you’re in a rush. I’ll just carry your stuff over the counter. Good.”

“Yeah.”

The quick exchange over, the two made their way back towards the counter. Items then left then left the two guys’ hands and slowly got stack back up until the item at the bottom, a large pack was finally put forth.

Each paid for, the items then made their way into the large pack before the whole package was returned to the, now not blocked by a pile of supply, short and skinny looking teen.

Noticing that the load might not be something the rather dimmuniative teen could handle, Taryn was about to lend a hand before a snake golem of some sort materialized, grabbed the pack and carried it outside.

Shrugging at the interesting display of magic, the wolfkin continued with his purchase and put the sleeping bag under his arm once he had paid for it.

As he came out of the store, and began walking briskly back towards the southern gates, he spotted a familiar figure. Rush guy was walking next to a serpentine shape that was carrying his luggage.

Deciding that the guy was probably heading towards the same place that he was, Taryn quickened his steps.

Steps by steps, Taryn used his height advantage to slowly close in on the magician. Once in range, he called out.

“Hey.”

His bid for attention was successful as the target turned around and reciprocated with a “hey” of his own. Satisfied that he had the other’s attention, Taryn slowed down until he was keeping pace with his conversation partner before he continued.

“You’re going to the escort quest down south. The advance party meeting, right?”

“Yeah. How did you know?”

“I’m in it too. I finished the registration about an hour ago.”

“Cool. How many people were there already?”

“Not that much. Carriages were just half full. Why do you ask?”

“Oh. Just to make sure I was not too late. I am late a lot of times.”

“Why is that anyways?”

“I just really lose track of time when I do research for my magic.”

“Speaking of that, what kind of magic are you using for the snake golem thing?”

“That? It’s a bit of earth magic to make the body sturdy, enchantment for the thing to move and a couple of magic crystals were thrown in there to power it all. My first work and I have been upgrading it ever since.”

“Nice. What else can it do besides physical things like that?” Taryn gestured towards the snake doing the heavy lifting.

“It can expand too if I want to. I just need some material to attach to it, make a few adjustments to enlarge the whole enchantment system and space the magic crystals out again to make something we can ride.”

“Wow. You’re really good at this stuff. How do you even do it?”

“I did a lot of research. Reason why I was late all the time. Can’t prioritize anything over research until it’s too late like this.”

“Seems worth it for something cool like that. I know I work too much on swords and fighting too. Anything else that you can do?”

“Actually…”

And so, the back and forth continued between the two, each sharing story about their dedication to their craft. After roughly half an hour of walking, both of them arrived at the camp and Taryn led his friend into the tent. Stopping outside, Taryn waited for…

A sudden realisation hit Taryn as he quickly swung his right hand up from its resting position and bent his head down to receive it. Face in palm, he mumbled to himself.

“I actually forgot to ask for his name.”

Sighing heavily, Taryn began the wait for his new acquaintance, because Taryn could not call him a friend if he did not even know his name, to emerge from the tent.

Eventually, the familiar short and skinny figure left the tent and Taryn could get the awkward question resolved.

“Yo.”

“Yes?”

“Soo. Really awkward question here. But what’s your name?”

“Huh?” was the response, before things clicked, “Right. Wow. I actually forgot that too.”

“And?”

“Oh, right. It’s Henry. What’s yours?”

Satisfied that a name was pinned to the person, Taryn replied to Henry’s own query.

“It’s Taryn. And you already know what I can do and me you. So let’s just head over there. We’re kinda blocking the tent.”

Looking around, Henry agreed with a quick “yeah” and the two moved over to one of the carriages to settle down.

Once there, Taryn asked something that came to him now that he remembered where Henry just exited from.

“Hey. Did the big guy mention any teen that was taking the adult arrangement?”

“Huh. He talked about some guy named Taryn, who I guess is you, and how he had that like me.”

“Oh. So you’re the other guy huh. Cool. I knew you were good. Mind showing me the things you talked about while we were walking now that you’re not late.”

“Sure. give me a second.”

And so the night wound on.

At the same time, Monica finally returned after her escapades with Daniel in the commercial district. Idly feeling the little trinket she has bought for Taryn, Monica steadily made her way up the stair.

Yet the extra thought on her friend brought up some peculiar details of the day.

She did not see Taryn at all for the whole day.

The experience was very odd in her opinion. They always saw each other at least once during dinner, something of a tradition now that she thought on it.

This brought up a rather unpleasant conclusion. She forgot to tell Taryn about her whole night out with the new guy.

Mind running in that direction, Monica started to plan for an apology to accompany the gift she, so fortunately, got on a whim.

To lessen her guilt, Monica hastened her pace to not be any later than she already was.

Stopping in front of the door, Monica braced herself for the judging look Taryn would undoubtedly give her.

Ready with he best sheepish smile to appease the quietly judging figure that was waiting for her on the other side of the door, Monica put her hand on the handle.

As she did so, she also remembered that mom would be there too and her judgement would bolster Taryn’s even more. Letting out a breath and adding even more sheepishness to her prepared smile, Monica pulled the door open.

Only to see no Taryn waiting at the table in the center of the room. Turning to her left, Monica can see her mother already sleeping on the bed next to Monica’s.

Closing the door slowly, she walked over to Taryn’s bed on the right of the room to check if he was sleeping too. No noticeable bulge in the blanket showed that Taryn was not there either.

A bit confused as to where her friend was, Monica made her way back towards her own bed and sat down to think of where he might be. Taryn was not known to leave the inn at this time of night.

Still, keeping on the positive, Monica assumed that he was just out for a bathroom break. Without a point in waiting, Monica went into the bottom left corner of the room, pulled the installed curtains there to make a temporary changing room and got herself into her sleeping wear.

Back on the bed again, Monica made herself comfortable and prepared the presentation of her apology again for when Taryn came back.

After about a quarter of an hour in and with no sign of Taryn, Monica was a bit more worried.

Rationalizing that her mother might know something, Monica walked over to the bed next to hers and gently shook her mother awake.

“Urrr. What is it Monica?”

“Hey, mom. Where is Taryn?”

“He went on some escort request to travel. Lanna told me that when I returned.”

“He what? Why didn’t he tell me?”

“I don’t know. But it’s nice for him to do something without you. Kid is good enough to take care of himself.”

“Hmm. But I kinda want to join. Could you help me track him down?”

“I don’t think so. Lanna said something about making it just a trip for him. And you still have that new party contract right. You can’t leave like that.”

“Heh. Right. I still have that.”

“Good. I’m going back to sleep now. Good night, Monica.”

“Good night, mom.”

Her question answered, Monica settled down into her bed to think things over.

Her quiet brother figure was gone now.

For how long she did not know.

She felt rather sad that Taryn would just up and leave like that without her. Then she thought back on what she did today and smiled at her own hypocrisy.

She smiled a bit more when she thought of how Taryn was already doing the things she wanted to do and travelling around. Yet through all the smiling, Monica was still a bit sad that Taryn was missing.

Their daily routine of Taryn waking her up and then talking shop a bit at breakfast was going to be no more. She won’t even get to do the more dangerous requests because she lacked the talented melee fighter. She won’t have anyone to complain about her tastes in books again. No one to remind her not to read up too long. No one to taste…

A small meow by her bedside roused Monica from her melancholy as Lucky pawed at her hair.

Looking over at the feline, Monica smiled a little as there was still something left of Taryn around.

After a bit of petting and getting no purr, she now had a bit of a goal before Taryn returned. Lucky will like her more than Taryn, so sworn Monica on this fine eve.