Chapter 9: The Bean Brigade
The Bean Brigade consists of the following members:
>Member Name: Skrill
>Rank: Amber
>Class: Berserker
>Stats: [Strength: High-Tier, Vitality: Mid-Tier, Agility: Low-Tier, Intellect: Mid-Tier]
>Magic Affinities: [Fire+Ground+Undetermined]
>Member Name: Symphony
>Rank: Opal
>Class: Swordsman
>Stats: [Strength: Mid-Tier, Vitality: Mid-Tier, Agility: High-Tier, Intellect: Mid-Tier]
>Magic Affinities: [Light+Healing]
>Member Name: Griz
>Rank: Amethyst
>Class: Paladin
>Stats: [Strength: High-Tier, Vitality: High-Tier, Agility: Low-Tier, Intellect: Low-Tier]
>Magic Affinities: [Healing]
>Member Name: K
>Rank: Amber
>Class: Mage
>Stats: [Strength: Low-Tier, Vitality: Mid-Tier, Agility: Mid-Tier, Intellect: High-Tier]
>Magic Affinities: [Water+Healing]
After having officially registered the party we all decided to share our guild cards with one another, starting with Cynthia, then Griz, K, and lastly myself.
Upon seeing all of theirs I realize there was not much of anything that I did not already hear in the introductions, other than seeing their stats. Given that, I came to the conclusion that the main reason for this was for the three of them to see my card.
I hand my card to Cynthia, who has Griz and K peering over each of her shoulders to see as well.
...All three of them cannot stop their eyes from widening to the maximum extent possible, with Cynthia’s jaw literally dropping as well.
“T-three affinities? You just registered and you’re a triple affinity adventurer? How is that even possible?” Says Cynthia in utter disbelief.
“I’m going to be honest, although there are stories of people having three off the bat I kind of thought it was impossible. You're really a new adventurer who has never trained under someone?” Griz asks in turn, to which I nod my head affirmatively.
Cynthia speaks up again, “Wait, how old are you?”
“Uh, 18 I’m pretty sure.”
“What do you mean you are pretty sure, how dont you know?”
“Well a lot of things happened I suppose, but I think 18 is safe to say.”
I noticed that K had an extremely dissatisfied look across her face, “What, is that bad?”
“This whole time you've spoken to me like you were older than me, and you're only 18, you're just a baby.” K says condescendingly.
“Wait you're older than me, but youre so short, how old are you then?”
“19.”
“...”I can't help but paint a straight face after realizing she really just called me a baby for being a year younger than her...bruh.
“Who cares about age, are you guys not in awe at the fact he is a triple affinity?” Cynthia’s shock has yet to subside. “Do all orcs have triple affinities when they awaken or something?”
“I don't really have the answer to that, but part of me is telling me that's not the case.” (The part of me that requested to be proficient in magic when reincarnating anyway.)
She lets an exasperated sigh escape before she continues, “So what did the guild receptionist say about this?”
“She said that I was the second triple affinity to register here in the last seven years I think, or at least that she has seen.”
“This is huge, once people find out you're going to get so many requests to join other parties, or even guilds, you're going to be famous.”
“Not to mention the fact that you're an orc is only going to make you more mysterious, maybe even more sought after.” Griz adds.
“Well that may be true, but I told her that I didn't want to reveal that I'm a triple affinity so they'll be keeping my identity hidden when the news comes out.”
“Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!” Again the three of them show disbelief, yet only Cynthia is vocal about it.
“I won't say that it's wrong, but are you sure you don't want people to know?” K asks.
“Wel-”
“Of course it's wrong, if you told people you could be set up for years, what point is there in hiding it?” Cynthia negates K and I before giving me a chance to answer.
“To be fair I still barely know anything about this country, let alone being an adventurer, despite whatever offers I got I'm sure people would be impatient with me. Despite being a triple affinity or whatever I doubt I’ll really be that useful to whichever party I’m in immediately. Not to mention there probably isn't a party I'd rather join than this one, you guys are really cool people.”
“Well, when you put it that way I guess it makes some sense.” Cynthia says as she turns away, ever so slightly allowing a light blush be seen from the side.
“No, there's still one thing wrong about that.” K states.
“Uh, what would that be?” I ask.
“Not cool ‘people’, cool friends.”
After K says that Griz bursts out into a hearty laughter, “I was not expecting K to say something like that.”
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“Neither did I,'' Cynthia adds as she contributes to the laughter as well. “But she isn't wrong, I think it's fair to say we’re friends now.”
K nods her head in agreement, despite the fact she is also slightly blushing after having been called out.
I know I just said that I wouldn't want to be in any other party, but scenes like this really reinforce that feeling.
“So,” Cynthia begins to say as she's wiping tears from her eyes after laughing so hard, “You really want to stay and lead this party with us Mister Soon-To-Be Legend?”
“Please don't call me that ever again, and yeah I'm sure.”
“Well I won't complain and I'll stop questioning your decisions then, what's important isn't the decision you made but instead that you're the one who made it.”
“Good.”
“Well now that we are in a new party maybe we should grab a job to do together, the first mission of The Bean Brigade.” Cynthia said with enthusiasm.
“Already, isn’t that a little too soon?” I replied.
“I never said we were going to go do the mission today, but we should at least accept one now and maybe go tomorrow.”
“Ah, that's reasonable I guess.”
“Of course it is, it was my suggestion after all.” She says smugly yet again, making me regret that I affirmed her prior statement. “Then let’s not delay and get a move on, the legend of The Bean Brigade begins now!” She exclaims.
“I’m not too sure if ‘legend’ is appropriate, but sure.”
“A party led by a triple-affinity orc, whether bad or good, the fact we’ll be legendary is a given.”
“Ehhhhh, I don't know.”
“Don't be so pessimistic, that's no way for a party leader to act, you have to lead us with confidence and passion.”
“You can say that, but it's a little hard to surpass you in either of those categories if I'm being honest.”
After I say that she once again resorts to turning away while blushing, a reaction from her I've basically become accustomed to at this point.
“Well in any case let's go upstairs and check out the job posting board and find something that suits us.” She says trying to deflect her embarrassment, provoking K to chuckle slightly.
In no time at all we reach the second floor, which is not nearly as oppressed by swarms of people or riddled with counters and tables galore.
"What we are looking for is right over there." Says Cynthia as she points to a board surrounded by a handful of other adventures.
Upon peering around I notice a handful of boards with similar gatherings spread throughout the room, above each hangs a sign draping from the ceiling.
[AMBER/OPAL], [AMETHYST/EMERALD], [RUBY/SAPPHIRE]
"I assume the signs relate to the rank or difficulty of the jobs on the boards?" I ask Cynthia, more so generally to anyone, as we make our way to the Amber/Opal board that Cynthia is leading us towards.
"Yup, since our party consists of more members opal and below than it does amethyst and above this is all we would be allowed to accept." She replies.
"In some rare cases you can pick up a job in a higher set than your or your party's average, but that's usually only in urgent guild matters or when sponsors can sign off on them." Griz adds for clarification.
"Ah, I see. But if I'm not mistaken, wasn't there a diamond rank as well? Are there no diamond jobs or are they special cases?" I ask out of curiosity, knowing full-well how unlikely it is I'd even consider let alone accept a job like that even in the future.
"Yeah they are special cases, the only cases of diamond rank jobs I'm aware of are offered to parties or guilds of extremely high status, and even then they are typically offered by the country itself, not by guilds." This time K is the one to offer her wisdom.
"Oh wow, that's actually cool, I mean it sounds intense and intimidating, but cool nonetheless." I replied.
"It'll be even cooler when we are the ones getting contacted for them." Cynthia says with a smirk, to which I can only reply with a nervous laugh. She continues, "Okay leader, take your pick."
I approach the board and browse the options for a couple minutes before narrowing our options down to four:
>Job Suggested Rank: Amber
>Job Type: Slay
>Job Details: Not too far South of the South-East city gate there is reported to be a group of Maned Jackals, the request is that they are slain and their manes brought as proof.
>Employer: Embright Guild/ The City of Embright
>Job Suggested Rank: Amber
>Job Type: Collection/Retrieval
>Job Details: The employer is in need of at least two dozen fresh vigil mushrooms preferably from Embright Forest. For full payment they are to be delivered in prime condition.
>Employer: Sarvad's Apothecary
>Job Suggested Rank: Opal
>Job Type: Defense/Potential Combat
>Job Details: There is a tavern just North outside of Embright City being harassed by rogue adventurers. The owner of the tavern has requested a party to deal with them, use of force may prove to be necessary.
>Employer: The Brolic Bursa Tavern
>Job Suggested Rank: Opal
>Job Type: Escort/ Potential Combat
>Job Details: A caravan will soon be leaving the city to head to a nearby village, they are transporting valuables that they feel they may be targeted or attacked for. Escort the caravan to its destination while preventing harm or loss.
>Employer: Dart Sohe
"Hmmmmmm", is all one can hear while Cynthia mulls over the options.
"I tried to pick ones that didn't sound too boring, while also avoiding the absurd amount of slime slaying quests. Are these no good?" I say while trying to defend my options, even though they weren't really attacked to begin with.
"I wouldn't say they're no good, but there are definitely gaps in difficulty." She replies
"Heck, I don't have an issue with them, though the mushroom one sounds a bit slow to me." Chimed Griz, offering his thoughts.
I then look to K who has yet to give any feedback.
"I don't particularly have a preference, what you guys decide I'll go along with." She says while exuding body language of non-chalantness.
"Well I get that you gave us options with our considerations in mind, but which are you most interested in taking on? After all it's your first job, you shouldn't pick something that you don't want to do." Cynthia asks to end the deliberations.
"To be honest I'm more interested in the escort one than the others, even though there isn't guaranteed to be anything thrilling. But it will let me get to know some areas outside the city and help give me a sense of what a long trip feels like, especially with a party." I reply, hoping that it does not sound too boring to the already seasoned adventurers that make up my party.
"Then that settles it, the escort mission it is!" Cynthia retorts enthusiastically.
"You sure? You're not just compromising for my sake right?" I ask out of concern.
"Nope, I would have tolerated any quest on the board, but you actually picked out a few interesting ones. That paired with the fact our newbie leader hand-picked this one as what he wanted makes it even more worth it. It's a shame I had to basically hold your hand into choosing for yourself but so be it." Cynthia wears a smug look to accompany her slight laugh.
"Like I said I'm here for anything, so long as we get paid I'm all for it." Griz says as he starts to stretch.
"Same for me." K adds as she too stands and dusts herself off from the bench she was sitting on."
"Perfect! Then let's go officially accept this job, find out where and when we have to be, and set out." Cynthia says while essentially jumping from excitement.
"Sounds like a pla-" I have to stop my words short as Cynthia appears directly in front of my face seemingly out of nowhere.
"Sounds like one, but isn't one." She says, while patting my shoulder and shaking her head in a condescending way. "If only it were that simple little Robert." This time her condescending words are almost contradicted by the fact she was just standing on her tip-toes to barely pat me on the shoulder. "We must first go and prepare things for traveling, such as food and water and camping supplies. Seeing as how we won't know exactly how long the escort is until we speak to the person we're escorting." She explains.
"Fair." Despite the way she is saying it she is making a good point.
"Not to mention it says possible combat, sure you have high-tierl strength but were you planning on raw-fisting it? You'll need a weapon, what type of slayer berserker would you be without one?"
"This is also true." I admit. "So we accept the job, get supplies and gear up, then get something to eat before we leave?" I ask
"See now that, that is a much better plan Skrill-boi." She says, which almost makes me feel as though she has a high-tier annoyance trait.
"Then enough standing around here and let's get to it, I'm not getting any younger." Griz interrupts.
"Agreed, not to mention I'd like to try and think of some quick spells that you might be able to use with your affinities before we depart." K adds whilst trying to sound like a teacher but looking more like a student."
With zero regard for the people around us Cynthia steps up onto a bench, "Well now that we are all on the same page lets get out of here and start our preparations!" She says with fever before quickly jumping back down.
As we all start to head towards the job acceptance desk I utter one last question, more like a request, aimed at Cynthia. "Cynthia, can I ask one more thing?"
"Fire away."
"For legal reasons, can I ask you to never say 'raw-fisting' again?"
"What?"
"What?"