“Hi, my name’s Cole”
Cole looked around at the five adventurers, who had all turned their faces to look at him. They all stared at him, their confusion evident. Maybe people didn’t mingle much around here?
The one furthest from Cole, a red-headed woman with a pale complexion, waved her hand at him.
“Hi Cole, I’m Malena”
Cole was struck with a huge wave of déjà vu, although he wasn’t exactly sure why.
The rest of the group introduced themselves in turn. There was Stannis, a huge man who was like the bald version of Argyle. Tao, a short, scholarly man with glasses. Bellisaire, a tall woman with long, flowing black hair, and Tamika, who had blond hair pulled back into a tight bun.
“Sooo…. are you guys like a group or something..?” Cole asked, internally smashing his head into the table ‘What’s wrong with me? Why am I so awkward?’
Malena chuckled, and took the lead once more, “You could say that. Officially we’re called Strike Force Talos. We’ve been contracted out from the Adventurer’s Guild Headquarters in the Artesian Region. Before the monster wave we adventured together, but we didn’t really have an official name, although most people just called us Malena’s Band.
For now, we call Venture home, but once this monster wave is done we’ll head back out on the road once more!”
The redhead threw her hands in the air with excitement, a gleeful expression on her face. The rest of the group looked embarrassed, shaking their heads or looking away. Cole noticed that all of them had the same grin on their face however. It was nice to see their camaraderie.
“Are you guys… your Strike Force, helping with the defences at the palisade?” asked Cole, eager to know more.
“We do when we haven’t been given a specific task, but the main purpose of an Adventurer’s Guild Strike Force is to scout out particularly worrisome Gates in the area, and nullify whatever threat comes out of them before it can make it to the village,” Stannis, the huge bald guy was the one speaking now, a serious expression on his face.
“That’s because putting down those types of monsters often causes a whole lot of collateral damage, which we can’t afford to risk if we fought them near the town.”
“What’s the biggest class of monster you’ve fought, maybe a Dragon class monster?” said Cole excitedly
Malena’s group looked puzzled.
Tao spoke with a soft voice ‘The Adventurer’s Guild did away with the old monster classification system soon after the monster wave crisis began, in order to better categorise monster threats. Rather than using words that loosely defined the strength of the monster, scholar from the Headquarters thought it far better to use a 7 stage ranking system.”
Cole listened, eager to learn more,
“The highest rank is S, reserved for monsters that threaten the world as we know it. If these types of monsters were left unchecked, it would spell doom for humanity.”
“Next is A, which are monsters who have the strength to lay waste to entire countries. Following that is B, monsters who have the power to destroy large cities or sections of countries.”
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“C rank monsters threaten cities, D rank monsters can threaten towns on their own. The difference between and E and and F rank monster is quite blurry, but a lone F rank monster would fall to a human who didn’t even have a combat class. There’s three levels of division between the ranks as well. A B1 monster is close to the level of an A3 ranked monster.”
Cole took this in. The old system was really cool when used in an MMO setting, especially when a Titan level monster was called in, a message would flash across the HUD of all the players to inform them. But he guessed that this new system made more sense in a world where death was real, and there was an ongoing crisis.
“Of course, rank becomes less relevant when there’s huge numbers, and there you have the problem with monster waves,” interjected Bellisaire. “It hardly matters to your average farmer whether the kobolds that are overrunning his homestead are E rank or F rank, especially when one is ripping off his face and another is gnawing on his toes.”
Tao spoke once more, “So our role as a Strike Force kills two birds with one stone. We bring down the heavy hitters far away from the village, which minimises collateral damage, and also ensure that the guards back here can focus on wiping out the lower ranked waves.”
Tamika piped up, “Unfortunately we can’t be everywhere at once in a zone that’s as large as is around Venture, which is why we’re grateful that the town has got some strong people who remain on guard like Thesta and Argyle. Those two especially have got some crazy strong classes.”
Cole brightened at the mention of Argyle. It was nice to know that his first friend in this new world was a strong warrior. He hadn’t heard of Thesta until then however, maybe they were responsible for the blue flashes that he’d seen the night before?
“Oh ok, thanks for the explanation…”
Tao looked at Cole through his glasses, eyes narrowed. It wasn’t a mean expression, more the one of someone who was incredibly curious, and trying to figure something out.
“It’s funny though, Cole, how did you know about the old ranking system but not the new one? I’d say it might be because it’s so isolated out here… but come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen you around this town before today either….”
Cole blanched. Just his luck to run into some guy who had 900 IQ! Was his status as someone from Earth meant to be a secret? He called on some of his lore knowledge, praying to whatever god that oversaw this realm that this information wasn’t outdated.
“I’m from Shoi Cal, but my parents and grandparents were originally from Vestria, back when it was still a Republic. That’s why I might look Vestrian, and why my knowledge is a little outdated…”
Cole patted himself on the back internally. To pull that out of nowhere was pretty impressive. Shoi Cal was on the other side of the ocean, so it was plausible that he wouldn’t know anything about what had happened here in Vestria.
He just had to hope it was actually a plausible lie.
Tamika looked saddened “You shouldn’t joke about stuff like that Cole….”
What? What had he done now?!
Malena looked disappointed in him. “Cole, Tamika’s family is from what’s left of Shoi Cal. Unless you’re an A class monster in disguise, or you look about one hundred years younger than you actually are, there’s no way you’re from Shoi Cal.”
Uh oh.
What had happened to Shoi Cal?
Tao had narrowed his eyes even further, “Where are you really from Cole?”
Cole deflated. He didn’t want to lie to them like that again, especially since he’d already made Tamika sad.
“I’m from Earth.”
The whole group froze. Cole continued talking.
“I arrived in this world only a few days ago. That’s why I don’t know anything that recently happened…” He struggled to think of how to explain his video game lore knowledge of their world “…All I had to go off was a history book, it must have been more than a hundred years old, which is why I didn’t know anything about the monster waves.”
Cole looked at Tamika, then the rest of the party.
“I’m sorry for lying. I just panicked. I didn’t know whether I should tell you guys after I heard about what had happened in the Vestrian capital…”
Malena’s Band gave him a solemn look.
Tamika spoke up. “It’s okay, Cole. I was already prepared to forgive you just based on how young you were, but after hearing that I can completely understand why you felt like you needed to lie.”
The rest of the group nodded.
“Don’t worry. We’re not Empire scum” Stannis spat on the ground, awfully close to Bellisaire’s boot, causing the black haired woman to glare balefully at him. “We’re not going to sell you out.”
He leaned forward and spoke in a hushed tone. “But you need to be careful. Normally Venture would be safe, but the Vestrian Emperor has used the monster waves to try and creep his domain forward. Venture wasn’t originally at the edge of the Artesian Merchant Republic’s territory, but now we’re here. The natural border of the river has helped slow the takeover, but it seems like Empire rears its ugly head with less and less shame these days.”
Malena spoke again, “Your secret is safe with us, as well most of the adventurers from Venture and Artesia, but be careful. While I’m sure you’re not stupid enough to tell the uniformed Imperial troops that are around the village, Imperial spies could be anywhere. You don’t want to blab to the wrong person and get yourself spirited over the river and into Vestrian territory.”
Cole felt sick to his stomach. When Argyle had first told him about the threat of the Empire, it had been easy to dismiss, as it had felt so far away.
But upon being told that that danger was here, in the village, where he was basically trapped until the end of the monster wave, Cole couldn’t help but be terrified. He felt himself slipping into his old mindset. Would he have to barricade himself in his room? Every day he spent in public was a day that risked being kidnapped by Imperial spies. He couldn’t even run away, couldn’t even leave the village.
But what if he had a way to leave Venture? Even during a monster wave?