I open the door to the Dueling Dragons tavern and the scent of alcohol, smoke, and perfume assaults my nostrils. It's dark inside and rather claustrophobic - so much so I nearly run back outside from sheer disgust.

How anyone could drink in here without throwing up immediately afterwards is beyond me.

Which...

I guess is odd.

I don't remember much caring about the smell in my house.

I guess I just don't like the smell of smoke. Or maybe it's the perfume.

Several sets of eyes turn my way, curious and intrigued, but I ignore all of them. I don't know who the hell I'm even looking for. Just 'three people' who are looking for a fourth for their party.

Probably they'll make themselves obvious.

Lo and behold, there's three people sulking at the bar, a red haired woman with hair just long enough to try to look cute, leans one hand on a table. She's dressed pretty typically for some kind of adventurer. Leather armor, fashionable clothes that aren't too brightly colored. Slim figure.

She glares at a dark haired man with a short ponytail who sits across from her, holding a drink and grimacing and dressed similarly to her except that he's got a dagger at his side instead of a short sword.

A third man with blonde hair and softer features sits between them, staring down at the ground, wearing loose fitting robes.

Basically...

They're the most stereotypical trio of adventurer types I can see here.

Fantastic.

The woman grumbles and shakes her head, tossing her hair back as she takes a long draught from her tankard. "Look, that girl was so suspicious! I couldn't even tell what she even meant by 'You'll regret it'. What kind of warning is that?"

The one with black hair responds by muttering bitterly into his mead, "Usually means we'll regret doing something..."

"I DON'T KNOW THE MEANING OF REGRET!" She insists, way too passionately, pounding her fist on the table.

"You sure?" The man squints at her. "You don't regret that big bet you made that we'd absolutely succeed on that B rank mission...?"

"Th-that's..." Her cheeks flare pink and she shrinks back a little. "A...different. Sort of. Thing....!" She laughs lightly, then coughs awkwardly and pointedly turns away. "A-Anyway, there's no reason why we should get a bad feeling about it..."

The blonde man sighs then, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter. If we can't find a fourth person then we can't even try."

"And which of us decided to gamble us so deep in debt nobody is willing to work with us...?" The dark haired man spoke, eyes glaring daggers into the girl.

"W-we...! We can do it! Unofficially!" She spins back with an impressively fast recovery to humiliation. "If we just go ourselves and do it they'll be forced to pay us when we return!"

"Elara..." The man puts down his mug, slamming it down hard on the wooden counter. "Are you mad?! They won't honor a contract that wasn't registered. And besides...what if there really is something more than what it's worth in the ruins? Going without backup is literally suicide! Forget the quest rewards... we'll never see our families again if we try."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The young woman stands up, abruptly, her chair clattering backwards as it falls onto the ground. "No!! I refuse to give up like that! I'll go! I can go myself-!"

Alright, enough racket.

I get it.

They're a hapless group of side characters looking for a leader.

I still don't like it, but I get it.

I clear my throat, walking over to them. "Excuse me. The lady at the guild said you all might be interested in adding another to your party for some ruin exploration. I'm Ryo, a recent transplant, and I'm just looking to make a living while getting my feet wet."

There.

There's some normal human interaction.

I've never been the best at talking to people, but I've had a stream for long enough that I can fake it for a while.

The sooner I get through all these intro dialog sequences, the sooner I figure out how fighting works here and how quickly I can start working on relevant skills.

The woman freezes and stares at me.

Like she'd forgotten she was in public at all.

Slowly, she closes her mouth.

"...Yes. That is, uhm." She nods quickly, her cheeks flushing again. "Uh, we...did, and you're. Perfect, we could use. An extra member. Because, ahem, the minimum is...four, and."

The blond one sighs, bowing his head. "What Elara's trying to say is that we'd love to have you. My name is Arin. The other one here is Kael."

Kael doesn't speak or even look at me.

He just looks away and goes back to drinking his mead.

He's not very polite, but whatever.

I have to do this anyway.

I can respect someone wanting to do it as little as me.

I make the barest effort to acknowledge each one. "Nice to meet you."

Arin clears his throat then and gets up, waving me over. "Why don't you sit down, and we'll tell you a little more about what the mission details are before we all go off to prepare."

The girl - Elara - quickly picks up her chair and sinks back into it, shooting me a grin that I don't even understand the meaning behind.

She's just grinning at me.

Why?

"Because-"

'Quiet.'

I don't need the exposition from the narrator.

"The Dancing Goddess Ruins are home to ancient rituals involving a-"

"Ruins?" I squint at them. "Which quest is that one? The one the adventurer's guild lady talked about was a cave."

Kael turned his gaze to Elara and leaned his cheek on his hand pointedly. "Yeah. Elara. Why don't you tell him what quest that was...?"

I raise an eyebrow as Elara fidgets. "S-shut up, Kael! I just got mixed up...! Anyway! Since it's near there, I'm sure that ruins is good enough as a secondary place for loot too! We can double up the loot and the noteriety!"

Arin frowns. "Once again if we don't have a contract-"

"It'll be fine!! We have one! Because of...this guy! So we can do both!"

My better judgment says this is going to be a problem.

But they're my only ticket to starting quests right now, and it's not the first time I've done a group of quests right off the bat.

If anything, it's preferable to having to go on pointless fetch quests.

I exhale, and put a hand on the table to indicate I'll play along. "Look, I don't care, but if it's something simple I'm all in. I'm trying to-..."

How should I put this...? Getting used to this new world without just announcing it, since apparently that's no-go here?

That annoying voice in my head chirps up and drones on and I.

Ignore her.

"To get my feet wet as an adventurer." That'll work. "Whatever gets me established."

Kael squints at me, lips quirking up a little. "That green, huh."

"Mhm." I fold my hands, noncommittal.

It doesn't matter, anyway.

"Ryo..." Elara repeats my name.

It sounds weird on her tongue.

I don't think I like it.

"Y...yes. Yeah. Hey! You know what, since you're new I have a great idea!" She straightens suddenly.

I already know it's not a good idea just from how she says it.

"What's that." I deadpan, leaning my cheek against my hand.

"How about, once you finish your first adventure with us, if it works out, you can stick with us! We need four adventurers until we prove ourselves enough, so it's worth it, right?"

Oh.

I really hate the idea.

But as much as I'm chomping at the bit to get to the challenging bit, I do need to understand this world still.

I sigh.

"...I'll think about it."

Her enthusiasm isn't dampened.

She sticks her hand out. "Welcome to the Three Squirrels!!"

Squirrels.

"U-uh. Four. Four Squirrels."

It does not sound better as four.

Great.

"I said I'd think about it..."

I still take her hand after a minute.

I really don't like tutorial levels.