Sometime after they discussed their plan with the knights, the group entered the forest. The carriages were sent back to the city so as to not leave a sign nearby that something was going on. They were to meet again in the morning, the time the operation should be done.

Tina looked through the gap of the tree leaves, the world was slightly darkening. It was late in the afternoon. She sighed, walking through forests was not exactly a smooth and easy endeavor. Thankfully, it was not that big of an issue for her, as an adventurer, and a battle priestess. But she would still prefer a proper path above all paths.

Moments passed, and they arrived at a small clearing. The group stopped and looked around.

The knight, Roseneveria, stepped forward and peered at the surroundings. “This is the place. Rest and make sure you have your full strength for later tonight.”

Without waiting for anyone else, the royal knights, in their full armor, removed and lowered their helms and weapons, sitting down to rest. Tina, so eager to relax, immediately walked towards a tree and sat down on one of its protruding roots.

Finally…

With her training, she shouldn’t be too tired. But to rest her legs was something to be relieved about. She patted her trousers to remove the dirt, when at the same time, Anita stood next to her.

“Ugh, long walks.” She frowned in frustration. As a mage, one could say Anita was not used to too many physical activities. And she hated walking long distances. She may not collapse walking so far, but she still hates getting so tired and sweating a lot.

Tina didn’t mind it much. But the smell of sweat was troubling.

“Rest, Anita.” Tina suggested.

“Yeah.” Heaving a sigh, Anita slowly rested on the grass.

Tina then looked at the rest of her party coming along to join.

“Hey babe, tired? Want some water?” Derin offered with a wide smile on her face.

Anita pouted. “I want biscuits and water.”

“Alright, sure.” Derin quickly handed out what she requested.

Iruyu folded his arms. “Do not eat too much, Anita. You need to exercise even more so and improve your stamina.”

Anita stuck out her tongue. “Bleeeh, bite me.”

Iruyu snorted. “Get lazy, and you’ll get a belly.”

“No I’m not gonna!”

Iruyu continued. “Look, Tina is managing way better than you.”

“Yeah, Tina surprisingly performs quite well physically.” Dune remarked, looking at Tina.

Tina awkwardly chuckled. “N-Not really.”

“Thinking back, I don’t think I have seen her struggle so much.” Derin added, looking up, pondering.

Before they read too deeply into it, Tina quickly shook her hands and refuted. “I just don’t like to complain and show it, t-that’s all!”

“Huh. Guess so.”

Iruyu glanced towards the other adventurers. “Dune, shouldn’t we try to get along better with them before the mission actually starts?”

“Well, a couple of them are friendly… But you’re right.”

They were about to work together, and adventurers were not exactly as coordinated with strangers like trained men as the knights. And others’ attitude would not always be reassuring, basically skilled but undisciplined in some aspects.

Tina had heard cases where quests fail because another group wanted all the heat and wanted to finish it themselves, or others were impatient, unable to wait for the others, or actually follow the plan. One might think that adventurers understood this quest was from the palace that they would do their job better, but sometimes they just won’t.

One of the things that they could do was get to know these new teammates a little and earn their trust.

“Bertos is another story, though.” Tina said.

The troublemaker.

“Yeah, but we have no choice but to let him in.”

“Don’t know about you, but if he starts being an asshole, I’ll punch him in the face.” Derin slammed his fist into his palm.

Dune shook his head. “Don’t do that. We don’t want any conflict within the group. And the knights won’t let that stand. That Roseneveria woman looks pretty mean already.”

Tina glanced at Roseneveria, and indeed, she looked pretty strict. Even the knights were careful with their every action.

Dune continued, “Let’s keep it civil.”

“Whatever, man. For the sake of the mission.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Dune left and one by one called the other parties to gather with them. Unsurprisingly, no one objected and went along — well, except for one. Bertos scoffed at the idea. But Dune was insistent, and in the end, Bertos agreed and joined everyone else.

“Hmph.” Bertos crossed his arms with a severe look on his face. Unlike the others who were already sitting down on the grass, he remained standing. Towering over everyone.

Anita looked like she wanted to chide the stubborn man, but immediately looked away, going against the thought. Might end up getting more trouble than it's worth.

Once everyone settled in, Dune started properly introducing himself and everyone. “So I am Dune, I’m the leader of my party, right here. That one there is Derin,” he pointed at each one he introduced. “Anita, Iruyu, and Tina.”

Tina lifted a wide and friendly smile toward the adventurers. Thankfully, they all smiled back at her.

“You guys have a priestess, awesome! I heard it's good luck to have a holy person in the party.” This one was a man in his early twenties. In his arsenal were bow and arrows. “But it’s not easy to find a priest of any kind to join. Would have taken you in when we met in the past.”

“Really?” Tina’s smile widened. Well, they never met, so this person must not have been there when she was searching for teammates.

I wouldn’t have struggled begging people to let me join.

But in the end it all went well — she met her current friends with that struggle after all. Otherwise, she would have ended up with a totally different story. And she loved her current friends deeply, she was satisfied.

“Yup.”

“How come we never met?”

“I’m not originally from here. Name’s Wiscal, by the way.” Then he proceeded to introduce the rest of his party. One knight, a dual wielder, and two mages. Wiscal explained that the other mage mainly supports the group by healing and distracting the enemy if necessary. “I’m actually from the small city of Selova, to the east.”

“Why’d you move?” Dune asked.

“Just wanna check out the big city. Then I met them,” he glanced at his party with a happy smile. “I’ll say things ended up great for me.”

“I’ve heard the empire has been pretty rough on the border.”

“I’ve heard too. But it’s been a very long time since I heard some news about my home city. Don’t really have anything left there.”

“Family’s gone?”

“Yeah, killed while being robbed.” he forced a smile. “Who would’ve thought something like that would happen?” he shrugged while others gave him a sympathetic look. “But it’s been years, it ain’t that painful anymore. Enough about me, let’s hear from these guys.”

Tina felt puzzled by how casual this man was with talking about his family. Could people really be relieved from the pain of loss after a long time? Tina could not be truly sure, for she had lost fellow priests just recently.

And it was so painful and heavy. Her heart burned and throbbed just thinking about it. Indeed, they were her family. And they died in battle.

And here she was, outside, doing everything she leisured, while others carried their duty to heart and remained in the church to serve. To carry their oath, to do their purpose. To protect. No matter what desire they may have.

My sister, Astine…

Like Astine, she remained loyal to the place that took care of them ever since they were young. When they had no parents to speak of. Tina resisted the urge to sigh.

Was it right to indulge herself like this? Why was she having doubts now?

What’s so bad about this?

Was it because of guilt? After what happened to her fellow priests? After seeing how hard they work and take their job seriously? After seeing how much danger Wisteria could be in?

But she also wanted to be with her friends, to do something other than the church. Something different. Something more special. With that thought in mind, Tina recalled her sister’s face when she left to become an adventure once again. Astine was both disappointed… and upset.

The next party’s leader was in his late twenties. “Oh yes, hello. So, my name’s Hew.” He was without a weapon except for the dagger hanging from his waist, and he wore a brown robe-like outfit. He then introduced his team. There was an archer, one carrying a greatsword, one with a shield and sword, and another with a spear. “I mainly supervise and shout commands at the rear, as I could have a clear sight of the battlefield. Although it would be rough if an enemy got close to me.”

There was one thing Tina noticed. Everyone here was young — not young in the sense that they were below twenties. It was just that no one else in anyone’s team was in the mid thirties or further that. Iruyu may be a bit older than everyone in the party, but he just hit thirty.

“Support?”

“Yes. Still, I know plenty of attack spells. But everyone needs my support the most.”

“I see.”

Everyone’s eyes then shifted to the last one, hesitant.

The man immediately responded. “Heh, you already know me, don’t you?”

“Yeah, we do.” Dune said.

“Good. Then my introduction would be pointless. But, I remember you. When was the last time we met face to face? Ah, the weapons shop.”

“Wow, I’m surprised a simpleton like you remembered that,” Anita said with no hesitation.

“You damn bitch.”

“That’s it!” Derin got up and was about to grab his weapon.

However, Anita and the others held him down.

Anita gripped his arm tightly. “Stop it! There’s no need!”

“But —”

“It’s alright. It’s alright.”

“Let’s be civil,” said Iruyu. “Although I dislike it, no fighting right now.”

Bertos chuckled. “You guys really are something, huh? You don’t scare me.”

“I’ll kill you.” Derin glared.

“Can you? Can you even put a scratch on me?”

No one responded immediately, but a few seconds later, Dune answered. “Your arrogance really is so unnerving.”

“And you can’t do anything about it.”

“Don’t think you’re invincible.”

Bertos narrowed his eyes. “... I know that. Even I could bleed, only not by the likes of you. But, there is someone that almost got me.... How could I forget her?”

“Woah, who could threaten the life of the famous Bertos?” Wiscal asked with a grin, leaning forward with interest.

“Don’t know her. But we met at the weapons shop.”

“You mean that cloaked woman?” Dune asked.

Tina remembered it, too. It was a surprising occurrence, to think even Bertos backed down.

“Yeah. Whoever she is, I wanna meet her again. Then beat her to a pulp.”

“Dude, she almost killed you,” Derin mockingly said. “Consider yourself lucky she spared you.”

Berto stomped his foot into the ground, leaving a small crater after impact. “Lucky?! Me?” his hands curled into fists. “No, she got lucky, that’s all. Next time, I won’t be so unguarded.”

Irritation and anger were evident on Bertos’s face. He continued. “I’ll win when we have a proper fight. Do you know where she is?”

“Don’t know. Why did you even ask us that?” Dune said. “We don’t even know her.”

“She could be a traveler.” Iruyu added.

“Hmmm.”

Bertos closed his eyes, as if thinking.

Tina looked up, it was getting darker. Her eyes then shifted towards the knights, Roseneveria was looking at her again. She had been doing so most of the time. Even Anita had also been beginning to notice.

Tina returned her gaze to her group, and everyone began mingling with each other. Talking, chuckling, leaving Bertos to his own world. Perhaps that was for the best.

Tina stood up. “Excuse me, I need to get to the trees.”

“Why?” Anita asked.

“D-Do I really need to say it in front of everybody?” Tina quietly said, looking a little embarrassed.

“... Ooooh, okay. I get it. I’ll come alo—”

“Please no. It’s embarrassing already. I can do it alone.”

“.... Oh, alright.”

Tina walked into the forest. She glanced back and saw Roseneveria also walking in her direction.