Pūshkinskaya could best be described as a dead city.

The buildings were but gray husks and charred rubble, the streets were all but gravel and trodden mud, and the inhabitants themselves blended in with the deathly pale town. The sky above was also gray, and the sun was nowhere to be seen. Most all the trees in the city were leave less, either because of the coming snow, or the fact the they were malnourished.

Alisson didn’t know why people would still live here, and the honest answer was was that they had nowhere to go. The land surrounding Pūshkinskaya was flooded with Breaches, hives, beasts, bandits, and whatever else. They weren’t going anywhere. The city had to be self-sufficient because of the hard roads that led to little to no trade; And that went for the whole of northern cities. Instead of a single city that was dedicated to mining such as in the Caliphate, Pūshkinskaya had surrounding mining camps protected by the guardsmen that fueled the city with its metal. Northern cities didn’t produce much, what they made they consumed, and as such there was hardly ever a surplus to allow for trade. Most were too scared to leave the city’s perimeter, only the grizzled guardsmen, big guys with their spears and shields, patrolling the surrounding lands, were brave enough to venture out.

There were also the adventurers. Most of them weren’t from the north, the majority of them came from across the continent, either out of a sense of morality to help the struggling people of the north, or to make a fortune from being on commission with the Guild. The odd prospect was, instead of coming and making a quick buck before leaving after seeing the horrid situation, most adventurers actually stayed their whole careers in the north. It was understandable, the lands were ripe with Breaches and beasts to kill, and in most senses the north was the frontier of humanity, as opposed to the relatively safe borders of the Caliphate and Principality. There, in those protected lands of those huge nations, where they could afford the manpower of huge militias and armies to defend cities, beast attacks were only a possibility, and not a guarantee; such as it was in Pūshkinskaya.

Pūshkinskaya was unique among most northern settlements. The thing that drew adventurers to Pūshkinskaya specifically, was the Freigat Jungle. It was a luscious, heavily flora filled, and massive area north of Pūshkinskaya. It was like Menton in its amount of creatures and plants, though they were hardly as friendly. Shy of being underground in the tunnels, Freigat was one of the most dangerous places in the world, and subsequently, it was one of the least explored. Its vast arrays of towering trees, although not as large as the harpy forest’s trees, obstructed vision heavily with their mass amount of falling vines and moss. It was known as the single most highly concentrated area of beasts on the continent, and not just the odd Roamer – In fact, you’d be lucky if you only ran up against such a weak beast.

The other oddity of Pūshkinskaya, was their leaders. The city didn’t have a council, or a lord, and although the Taraki King owned the city, Alisson would be hard pressed to find anyone that actually swore by the King. Instead, the only ruling body in the city, was the Guild. It had once been just a local adventurer’s Guild office, but Guild master after Guild master stepped up, and transformed it into what it was today in recent years. It was the shining beacon of Pūshkinskaya, the Guild was one of the largest reasons Pūshkinskaya still existed. It was all because of the Guild’s numerous adventurers.

If the guardsmen were the shield of Pūshkinskaya, then the adventurers were the sword, surging out of the city in their large expeditions, destroying multiple hives and breaches within the same outing. On occasion however, teams and expeditions would step foot in Freigat. Only when the city was not under threat would the adventurers be able to poke their heads into the Jungle. Numerous ruins had come up in the Freigat Jungle, it was these that were the so-called treasures of Freigat. Any number of things could be found there, most, nobody had a clue about. For the time being, the adventurers mostly documented where these sites were. They either sent larger expeditions afterward to clear them out, or simply let them be. It was universally known that once the north had been stabilized, either because of the adventurer’s efforts, or because of the help of one of the stronger nations with their armies, then the Freigat Jungle would eventually be ripped apart when nations such as the Caliphate or Andestine unleashed their vast swaths of manpower and resources on the exploration of the Jungle.

It was one of these adventurer teams that Alisson hoped to join up with.

Going into Freigat was no small thing and the Guild wouldn’t let a nobody like Alisson in. Even if Alisson were to slip past the Guild, and venture into the Jungle itself with just himself and Celis…As much as he hated to admit it, there was no way they’d survive. Having a team of adventurers at their disposal would not only mean more manpower, but a great variety of tools and powers to survive in the Jungle.

Alisson had gotten to the center of the city, which was the best intact. The richer residents lived here yes, but mostly, it was the smiths and imbuement masters that supported the adventurers that were at the heart of the city. In the very center, was a large tower. It could first be mistaken as the citadel of Pūshkinskaya, but, as Alisson knew, there was no regional authority over the city, which mean the large, fortress-like building, had to be the Guild’s hub.

Ignoring the Guild for now, Alisson scoured the streets and shops, looking for a smith to fix their armor, or, if the smith deemed necessary, scrap it and rebuild it. Him and Celis couldn’t very well travel into Freigat with broken protection. Although Lavjoure’s upgrade to their gambesons was very sturdy, it still wasn’t as a good as Alisson and Celis’s coif and steel armor combined with it.

Eventually, he’d found a reliable looking shop very nearby to the Guild’s fortress, and there were a few other teams of adventurers there, so it seemed accredited. The shop itself was a nice change of pace from the destroyed rubble of the rest of the city, as it’s magic lights bathed the shop brightly with light and dust didn’t litter every square inch of space. The shelfs of arranged armaments were all polished and sanded. There were multiple smiths in the shop, either because they banded together, or because there weren’t enough buildings for all of them to have their own smithies.

Alisson walked up to one of the smiths at their counter. He dropped the heavy bag of armor on the counter. The smith, after looking over the contents, was quizzical, but Alisson explained, in a lie, that he was just on an errand for the rest of his team, and that they’d just come back from an expedition outside of the city.

The smith had waved a few other blacksmiths to all form their opinions of the broken armor, and, to Alisson’s detriment, they unanimously concluded that it’d be easier to melt the armor down and re-forge it due to how bad of a state the pieces were in. It wasn’t a complete rebuild, but most of the armor was going to be broken down.

Alisson didn’t want to go through the back and forth time consuming process of creating a completely new set for him and Celis, so he agreed with the smiths; and handed over, as usual, an exorbitantly larger amount than the asking price, much to the wide eyed stares of the surrounding smiths and adventurers. He made sure to drill it into the smith’s heads that mobility was valued over protection, and that if they couldn’t replicate the craft that so excellently allowed for both mobility and protection, then to just stick to lighter protection for agility’s sake.

As Alisson walked out of the shop, the adventurers, both veteran and novice, giddily whispered about him, and the smiths scratched their heads, confused both by the excellent craft of Alisson’s armor, and by the amount that Alisson had given up to fix it. So, Alisson set his sights on the largest building on the city, while the posy of smiths were scrambling to get Alisson’s job done, not wanting to annoy such a rich adventurer with such high-quality armor.

…

Jeez this towns a crap hole.

Is all I think when I walk the streets of the slums of Pūshkinskaya, leading our two horses. The first thing I noticed when I entered Pūshkinskaya was the immediate stench of human excrement slamming into my nose all at once. The city wasn’t clean, and neither were most of its people. The destroyed slums hugging the outer wall of the city pointed clearly that beasts had breached the walls on more than a few occasions. The numerous amounts of what looked to be orphans and destitute widows supported that.

There weren’t only humans who lived here, a large portion of the residents were subhumans: animal hybrids, elves, I even saw a harpy. What exactly they were doing all the way up in the north, the continent’s distance away from their homeland, I’m not confident I can say.

I even saw a Garm, the rare species that apparently had traits similar to Nekomata, their large tails can apparently spew flames, and they were one of the rare subhumans to have animal hands and feet in the form of their massive paws.

Seeing elves look so poor is really a first. They’re usually all high and mighty. There were even those black skinned humans, like the smith me and Alisson saw in Daigoro. The diversity was a little mind boggling to me, I thought Daigoro was a handful, but here it’s like every person is another friggin’ species.

I was traveling through a particularly quiet and empty road in the slums when I felt that two people had suddenly started walking behind me. In this quite part of the town, I know it’s not a coincidence, and I can hear their footsteps loud and clear on the muddy gravel below. They were closing the distance, and when I peeked over my shoulder to glance at them, I saw them reaching out for me. They were probably trying to rob me, seeing as I have two fully kitted horses…Sorry, but…contrary to my appearance, I’ve been through plenty worse than some street muggers. I let go of the lead of the two horses, and mentally sigh.

I turn and lash out with a hand, pushing away the persons’ reaching arms. I glared at them with a scowl as I eyed them up.

The two men who’d been following me were covered in brown burlaps, and had unshaven, dirt ridden faces. Due to how unkempt they were, I couldn’t make out their ages. All I could see immediately were the crazed glints in their eyes and their rows of yellow teeth through their smiling vulgar faces.

“What gives assholes?”

I say in Firdu, keeping the men in my sight, and making sure that he doesn’t try to yoink anything from me or the horses. I’m also wary that this is a setup to distract me, so I keep my ears and eyes on a swivel.

“Oh Firdu…You must be from down south…That explains why you’re such a pretty little lady…You don’t look like you know how things work around here.”

One of the men spoke with a greedy lick of his lips. He didn’t sound proficient in Firdu, as was the case for most of the north, as there were so many languages. Even already in the town, I’ve heard about four different languages, and I can’t say that I can speak them all. The two unifying languages though, are Phrengari and Firdu, and everybody at least knows how to speak a little bit of one or the other.

“Trying to slap a girl on her ass in broad daylight doesn’t leave a good impression on me you know? You’d do well to run off before I put hole the size of my fist in your skulls. Or is robbing me really worth that?”

I say, frowning.

“Oh-ho, she really doesn’t know a thing – With that kind of gear – She looks like a noble who strayed too far from home!”

The other man crooned, his eyes greedily splashing over every inch of me.

“She’ll be worth a hell of a lot if that’s the case…Assuming we don’t fuck her so hard she breaks beforehand.” The first man’s reply leaves me in a daze.

My mouth drops open blankly. So, he wasn’t trying to pickpocket me…he really was going to…That means that they…want to…me?

I swallow hard.

My impaired state is interrupted when the men make a break for me. I break out of my confusion immediately, and my body moves on its own. When the two men lunged for me, it became apparent in my mind at just how much of an advantage I was at. They were slow, way too slow. I easily bobbed to side of one of the men, slamming a hammer fist right into his gut and knocking the wind out of him. The man doubled over, stumbling back, and completely surprised. I set my sights on the next man, who was already lunging toward me, again, apparently he hadn’t noticed the state of his companion. I grabbed onto the man’s wrist, and pulled him around and past me, sending him away with a roundhouse kick into his side, which sent him stumbling into a pile of rubble that had once been a building. He landed with a crash, and a cloud of dust was kicked up, but he remained unmoving for a second. In that time, the man who I’d first struck had regained his senses, and was punching at me in anger. I uppercut him right in the gut, again, and then horse kicked him right onto his friend on the collapsed building. The two scrambled over each other to get to their feet, and gave scared glances at me, before fleeing away down the road and into one of the alleys.

After staring at where I last saw them, I heave a sigh.

All that just because I look so defenseless…I can’t believe I was so flustered too, that was naivety on my part…I should be able to kick the ass of anybody in this town, even if they assume I’m some weak little girl.

But before I can think any further, I have to deal with another issue.

I turn toward the horses with a frown, to see a bunny-kin orphan boy staring at me in disbelief. His body turned toward my mare; it was clear that he was trying to rob me in the confusion of the other guys trying to…have their way with me.

Instantly, the bunny-kin boy broke into a sprint away from me. But, I of course was far faster than him, and I wasn’t going to let him get away. I grabbed onto his two bunny ears with a hand and lifted him off his feet, halting his escape within seconds.

“Have anything that doesn’t belong to you?”

I growl, bringing the orphan closer to my face. He shook his head with a look of terror. I knew he was lying, and I gave a tight clench at his ears, and shook his body around.

“Owow! O-okay!”

Down on the ground fell a coin pouch from the orphan. It was the only thing he’d taken, so, with a sigh, I tossed him to the side of the road. He scrambled away, terrified.

Thinking on my toes, I glare to the dozen or so people that were poking out of the surrounding buildings, staring at me with wide eyes. I think I have a pretty good way to make sure I don’t have to go through this hassle again.

“That’s what happens when you mess with Ferris Euwald! You hear!? I’ll kick your asses!”

I raise my fist with a scowl toward the people in rags watching me. Man am I glad that I can be so brazen, even if it’s just acting. I then hurry to snatch up the pouch and continue down the road, and off the scene with the horses.

Man. Those guys were going to…in broad daylight, and then probably kidnap and rob me. All while a little thief was taking the opportunity of a lifetime. And nobody was even going to help me. Oh well…I guess it’s expected in a town like this, when I look so…defenseless. Little do they know the little girl they were trying to kidnap is actually a Nekomata of Sidonia, and an apprentice of the third best fighter of a nation. Yeah, try robbing me, I dare you. Stupid bunny-kin.

Well, even if he succeeded, me and Alisson have four pouches chock full of coin. Alisson took one pouch to go settle the due with whatever smith he’ll wrangle up, and if that bunny bastard took one too, then we’d still have two full pouches; enough for someone to modestly live in human territory for the rest of their life.

Eventually I made it out of the slums and into a more intact part of the city, that I hoped would have a market or bazaar. What caught my sight immediately was the large fortress in the center of the city. If I’m not mistaken, the influx of adventurers and guild insignias around the building points toward that place being the Guild’s HQ; So when I’m done restocking, I’ll go there to meet up with Alisson.

“Hi there, are you new here?” A female voice spoke out to me in Phrengari.

I got a sense of déjà vu when I again heard someone walking up behind me. They weren’t trailing me like before though, and instead they came up to my side, and looked over to me, apparently wanting to talk, so I didn’t stop them.

She looked like an adventurer, a magician with her light sleeveless top and large witch-looking hat. Her clothing was grey, with purple accents, that matched her light purple hair and eyes. She was about as tall as me, but her large hat made her taller were one to take that into account. Although she wore a sleeveless top, she had long gloves that went up to her elbows, leaving only her shoulders bare. On one of her gloves, there were five silver bars, like an insignia, and I recognized them as the Guild’s ranking system.

“Y-yeah. Why do you ask?”

I say. Talking to random people on the street, who don’t seem like they want to stab me, is not my forte.

“You look like an adventurer to me, am I wrong?”

I shook my head no.

“Ah, so then your new here. It must have been annoying dealing with those ruffians back there huh?”

So she saw me? She either wasn’t going to help me or was just about to before I beat the crap out of them.

“N-not really…I’ve been up against far worse…”

I quickly murmur.

“Mm.” The magician adventurer hummed, intrigued. “That’s exactly how it was for me when I first got here, everyone thought I was some defenseless girl just because I was a noble. But, it’s not too bad once word spreads that you’re not someone to be messed with.”

I look up to her, a bit surprised.

“You’re a noble?”

Her hair and eye color was a bit exotic, and she looked pretty compared to others, so I’d believe it, but what’s a noble doing here as an adventurer?”

“I was,” She nodded, “But…to tell you the truth, the only reason I’m talking to you now…you’re nobility too, right?”

I nodded.

“Ah, I knew it. It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me why you’re here. We all have our own reasons.”

She’s way too nice…

I frowned with a reddening face, embarrassed of being treated so nicely by someone who’s so friendly and not Alisson.

“But,” She eyed up me and the horses I was leading. “You look like you’re on an errand for your team, I can give some pointers on the shops around here if you want.”

I look up to her, surprised.

“It’s okay, I’m not asking for anything. Us nobility have to stick together right?” She smiled cheerfully. “That and, well, there’s way too many rookies around here that get scammed, I’d hate to see that happen to a new face.”

I smile despite myself, but I was desperately trying not to, so my smile looked really creepy.

“That’d be, much appreciated.”

I say quickly, looking away with embarrassment.

…

“That should be enough…”

“Mm. I need to go meet up with my team at the Guild. I’ll see you around!”

“Y-yeah. Right!”

I say awkwardly as the magician adventurer waves at me as they leave toward the Guild building.

I heave a sigh of relief. I can’t be around someone for so long like that…She was so talkative and friendly, she spoke so much more than Alisson does was asking so many questions and sounded like she really cared about me, while being some random stranger.

It’s a little fishy to me, but when I see her guileless face I can’t be suspicious.

Well, I’ve bought plenty of supplies that should last us our time in Pūskinskaya, at least in the logistics sense. The adventurer recommended I see one of the many imbuement masters when she saw how much coin I had, and said that those were the places to get scrolls or weapons imbued with spells by someone who was able to perform imbuement magic.

For now, it’s off to the Guild building to rendezvous with Alisson. So, I heave a large sigh and take my first step up the hill of stairs in front of the entrance of the fortress-like Guild hub. There were many adventurers, full teams, passing in and out of the hub at any given moment, so I weaved through them and desperately tried avoiding eye contact.

The reason being was that most everyone around me was eyeing me and whispering about me. Apparently word spreads fast in this town, especially new arrivals, since Pūshkinskaya is so isolated. It also doesn’t help that my encounter with those thugs earlier in the day, and declaring my name so brazenly. I knew that this was the reason because it was all the adventurers were talking about.

Thankfully, the Guild has its own private stables reserved for the adventurers or anyone who had business at the hub. Being that it was owned by the Guild, the leading and sole organized authority in Pūshkinskaya, I think it’s safe to assume the horses be safe there, since all the other adventurers keep their mounts there. So, I said was had business with the Guild and I was allowed to store the mare and the stallion in the stables for the time being.

I soon enter, past the numerous layers of defensive walls and portcullis, the main hub of the Guild, the metaphorical center of Pūshkinskaya. It was a large, dome-like room, like Sidonia’s personal room but much larger, more lit, and most importantly, far more populated with activity. The floor wasn’t just a flat plane, but had many elevations and depressions connected with small stairways, adding depth to the large room and making it seem much smaller than it actually was. There were numerous tables where scores of adventurers either stood or sat around, chatting or planning. The air was filled with the drone of talk, it was the first time I’d heard so many people talking since I left Daigoro.

The Guild’s HQ was far different from the rest of the city in both its bright colors of magic lights, it’s cleanliness, and well-kept walls and flooring. There were numerous small vendors within the hub, and some adventurers were even having their lunches in the massive room too at the same time that other adventurers were accepting contracts at one of the many kiosks throughout the hub.

For being such a large and foreign room, it’s surprisingly homey.

I scanned the large room, and picked out Alisson immediately. I know his cloak and hair like the back of my hand. I hurry to weave through the streams of passing teams and outgoing expeditionary groups to take his side. He looked to be talking to someone, so I stayed quiet.

…

“So you’re saying you and your one teammate outclass a Five-Striped adventurer team?”

The armored man before Alisson asked, raising his eyebrow in suspicion.

“Yes, I stand by my words. I am no charlatan.”

Alisson said. The man gave another look over Alisson’s cloaked body, sizing him up. He then looked to his two teammates, who shrugged and shook their heads respectively. The man looked back to Alisson, and, his arms crossed, was still in thorough suspicion of Alisson’s ability.

“Yeah, sorry, but no dice. We’re not gonna take the word of some stranger to heart, and you make some pretty sketchy claims, seeing as though your teammate is just a little girl.”

Alisson frowned, he didn’t appreciate being called sketchy, and neither did he appreciate not noticing when Celis had taken his side. He glanced to his left and sure enough Celis was right by him, it was almost scary how quiet and how little a presence she gave off, like she was meant to be there.

The adventurer team of three walked off, thoroughly in distrust of Alisson, and so Alisson sighed, defeated for a third time in trying to find a team.

He looked to Celis to clear his head for a moment.

“Have any trouble?”

She shook her head.

“No. But I did have to drop my name publicly and I exchanged details with a purple haired adventurer girl.”

Celis reported. No real person would inform someone of the fact they’d told their name or call espousing themselves as ‘exchanging details’; But of course, Alavier and Ferris Euwald were not real people.

“Mm. Understood. Our gear is all taken care of, it should be done sometime tomorrow or the day afterward.”

Celis nodded.

Alisson had come to the Guild’s Hub expecting to find a team willing to take him and Celis within the drop of a hat thanks to his and his apprentice’s prowess. Though it seemed that adventurers were a far more jaded and careful crowd than Alisson had thought. He’d talked to one of the Guild’s staffers, saying that him and one other were in the business of being temporarily contracted to a team. But, since him and Celis hadn’t gotten their ‘Stripes’, the official ranking of adventurers, it was hard for anybody to take him seriously when he said to their faces that he could beat their entire team by himself.

Him and Celis found an empty sofa and table in one of the many depressions in the hub.

Alisson sighed as he slumped onto the sofa.

“The way things are going, we’ll have to register with the Guild.” He concluded, annoyed, as Celis took a seat perhaps a little too closely to him.

Getting officially registered with the Guild and getting one’s stripes was a time-consuming process that required them giving up a great deal of autonomy and privacy.

“The Guild stables, where I stored the horses for now, is reserved for adventurers, so we can only use it for the day unless we got registered with the Guild.”

Celis reported, and Alisson nodded.

“Mm. I also heard some of the adventurers use the Guild’s HQ as their housing, this place apparently has the residency and barracks for its members; and I’m sure the Guild has far better arrangements than the destroyed rubble for inns out in the city.” Alisson again sighed. “…From the way it sounds, there’s certainly a lot of good in being registered…”

Him and Celis sat there for a long few minutes. While he sat, he was glad to have his apprentice next to him in this room chock full of adventurers. Alisson was hard pressed to say that he felt comfortable in such a place after murdering an adventurer with his own hands at Menton.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

He still remembered his immediate regret after seeing that surprised, gurgling, and pleading face of that ranger.

Alisson shook his head. He was surprised to remember the ranger’s face so vividly, even though he hadn’t thought of it for a while.

“Excuse me? Am I wrong in assuming you’re Alavier and Ferris Euwald?”

A lady had walked over. Dressed in Guild clothing and looking more like a librarian than a Guild advisor. She had a large bishop-like hat with a single feather in it and wore a large pair of glasses.

“No, you’re right.”

Alisson bobbed his head. He was slightly suspicious, when he’d talked to the Guild staffer, he’d only given his name, not Celis’s, so whoever this was must’ve picked up Celis’s name from the public exposure that she was talking about.

“Ah, I’m the advisor for Team Crimson. You can call me Presír. Perhaps you’ve heard of us?”

Alisson shook his head no. He hadn’t been in the city long enough to formulate a list of all the adventurer teams.

“Mm. So you’re new here as they say. Well, Team Crimson is a Five-Stripe team looking for some fill-ins.” She eyed up him and Celis for a second. “I see the rumors going around are true.”

Alisson wryly smiled.

“I hope they’re not saying anything bad about us?”

The advisor smiled in return.

“Oh, some things are bad, but the rest is just interesting. Unfortunately for us both, I’m not scared of a few rumors.”

“So you’re pouncing on us prematurely?”

Alisson asked wryly.

“Why you’re exactly right. Mm, look there, you can see for yourself all the other teams that were doting on snatching you two up.”

She flicked her eyes to the sides of the room, and sure enough, when Alisson looked, there were plenty of people eyeing the three of them with askance. Alisson didn’t know what kind of reputation he and Celis had already amassed, but apparently word had spread fast of the two of them.

“Well then, follow me, I’ll bring you to the rest of Team Crimson, ultimately whether or not they want you is up to them.” She leaned in a little with a smile, “But if it were just me, I’d swipe you right up.” She winked, holding the rim of her glasses with one hand.

When Alisson stood to follow the advisor, he saw Celis pouting at him from out of the corner of his eye.

…

The advisor girl led us down the halls of the Guild’s HQ and out of the hub proper to some private meeting area. Presír opened the door to a dark room, where the only light came in through a large window. Thanks to the grey sky, the light was minimal, but I could still see all five of the people within the room just fine. The room was quite small, and hosted two sofas and a small round table The two sofas were on the left and right sides of the room, and the table in the middle was right in the middle, with the aforementioned window taking up the far wall of the room.

The five people in the room were all unique in both their appearances and armaments, obviously they were all adventurers. Out of all of them, I saw a familiar face, it was that purple haired magician from earlier in the day. Amidst all the strangers, she gave me a small wave with the tilt of her head, and I nervously returned the gesture. Alisson saw this, and gave a suspicious glance at the both of us.

In the center of the room, seated at the table was an armored bear-kin man. He looked to be the most armored of the bunch, and from his position in the room, he was probably the leader. At his hip, he had a long one-handed mace. He was older than Alisson physically, if only slightly, and he looked much more manly, obviously. But, he didn’t give an imposing presence, he was smiling merrily at me.

Then there was someone slouched across the sofa on the left, taking up the entire space. She had what looked to be dull pink, or maybe faded purple, short hair, I couldn’t tell the color exactly. She had a sword at her hip, and seemed slightly less armored than the bear-kin. Her blue eyes bore a hole through me with an unfaltering and suspicious stare.

Then on the right sofa, was that same purple haired adventurer, with the same clothing as before. Sitting next to her was a slender guy, who looked to be Alisson’s age and was just as androgynous. He was smiling right at me, but I could tell he was nervous of me and Alisson. He was lightly armored, and looked to be a ranger or maybe some sort of support element, judging from the fact that he only had a dagger. His large puppy dog like eyes and soft hair really reminded me of Alisson, minus any seriousness or discipline; However, he still sat the straightest out of the group.

The last person wasn’t wearing much of anything, and seemed to be the rogue of the team. She wore a jacket and short pants which left her midriff and legs bare. She had a long red scarf on, trailing behind her back. She had short sandy hair and I could make out a singular dull red eye splashing against me. That’s because she had the other closed, and ahead her arms crossed, up against the far end of the room. Like the girl lazing on the couch, she was also frowning, leaving them to be the only ones not smiling. At the top of her head, were two wolf ears, which shared the same sandy color as her head.

I quickly realized that all eyes were on me for whatever reason, and my body stiffened immediately.

The adventurers all had small arms, and the magician didn’t have her staff, so they obviously weren’t fully kitted. They all had five silver bars on their shoulders, meaning that they were all Five-Striped, the highest rank as I’d found out today.

“So here we have the devilishly handsome and rich guy with amazing armor, and the cutesy who took out two grown men with her fists all without breaking a sweat.”

Man, what a title Alisson has: Just some guy who looks good and is loaded. What a man.

The bear-kin man in the middle spoke in Phrengari. After eyeing up the both of us for moment, he continued.

“The towns been talking about the both of you, your rumors precede you. I’ve heard that the both of you speak multiple languages, but know that we’re a Phrengari-based team.”

Alisson nodded.

“We speak the tongue just fine.”

Alisson spoke for me. Dane crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair.

“So, if you’re in the business of getting into a team, you’ve come to the right place. Team Crimson has been needing some extra manpower ever since Presír over there retired from adventuring. But anyways, I’m Dane, the leader of Crimson. Rei here is my second in command,” He flicked his head to the girl with dull pink hair on the sofa. “…and over there are Patsel and Berein.” He flicked his head to the other side of the room, toward the meek ranger and the magician from earlier. “Patsel’s our healer and ranger, and Berein’s got our firepower. And that there is Amelathet.” He said, motioned to the angsty rogue in the corner. “She’s our scout.”

Dane tilted his head at us.

“So, tell me about yourselves, who are you to be so brazen as to advertise yourself as being above Five-Stripes?”

Obviously, they weren’t going to recruit new teammates without first affirming their trust in us. Alisson spoke for me, even though everyone was painfully more interested in me than Alisson.

“We’re travelers from Halaruth. I’m Alavier, and this is my sister Ferris. We have little experience being adventurers, but I can assure you that the both of us are well vetted in combat. We were nobles, but me and my sister…” Alisson paused for a moment, acting. “…Have, renounced, our titles and claims…We only know how to fight…and we’re looking to get down south on a ship.”

Dane nodded thoughtfully.

“Well, you two look to be nobles, but I won’t judge. But south, yeah, those ship captains charge a hell of a price on a ticket out of this hole for a region. Looking to restart your lives then? Well adventuring is certainly one way to make some money to do it.”

Dane said, easily buying our story. It’s considered rude for adventurers to pry into other adventurers’ personal lives, so that’s a huge win for us. But, Alisson, with his skills, was able to perfectly make us blend in. He gave info, which he didn’t have to, because obviously a noble would espouse that they’re a noble and all; It’s less suspicious that we give some info, and not anything at all.

“Well then, let’s see your gear.”

Alisson nodded, but rose a finger in forewarning.

“Our armor is currently being redone if you haven’t heard already, so we're not at peak armament.”

Alisson and I parted our cloaks. Everyone looked to me first.

“Wrist mounted blades? You don’t see that often.”

Amelathet, the moody rouge in the corner retorted. I drew my stilettos at the back of my hip so that they could make them out.

“Hmph, and stilettos too, an interesting style. Can you use any magic?”

I can’t very well say that I can use attack magic, and then be forced to show that it’s the Pict spell, and then have somebody recognize the spell.

“I-I can use second tier healing…”

I mumble, still thoroughly nervous from everyone setting their sights on me.

“Healing, that’s always useful.”

Dane noted, and set his gaze on Alisson. He scoffed.

“A rapier? Guess you’re really a noble…can you really kill beasts with that?”

Alisson frowned.

“Yes, it works fine for me. I also have magic imbued throwing knives. As I said before, me and my sister are comparable to you Five-Stripes in skill.”

The adventurers looked to be skeptical. On paper, I’m the only one with any credible skill. Alisson just looks like a rich noble who spent all his money on gear.

“Hmm…Well I guess we’ll find out for sure in the coming days whether you’ve got any mettle. But, we’re a Five-Striped team I hope you know, that means you’ll be expected to be the best of the best. Well then, would you kindly leave the room for a moment? I’d like to have a team meeting.”

“I understand.”

Alisson bobbed his head, and we followed Presír out of the room to wait in the hallway.

After about five minutes, I heard a knock on the door, and Presír led us back in.

“So, have you all decided?”

Presír asked. Dane shook his head.

“We all agreed that Alavier and Ferris need to show us what their made of before we make any definite deals. There’s still time in the day, I hope you’d agree to come out to the field with us?”

Dane tilted his head, an eyebrow piqued

…

Alisson stared down the leader of Team Crimson, Dane. He was armed with a long mace, and had recently equipped a shield. Out in the training field, the grey sky over head said that rain was coming, but that didn’t stop a crowd from gathering when word spread that Alisson and Celis would be fighting a Five-Striped adventurer.

Alisson, Enhérejär over his elbow, was waiting for Dane’s mark. He intended to at some point tell the adventurers of Enhérejär’s power, because in the Jungle, he’d most certainly be forced to use it. If he was a part of their team, then the adventurers would probably keep the secret for him.

Beside them, the members of Team Crimson were watching on, along with Celis. Obviously, Alisson was going first, it looked like the adventurers held a much lower opinion of Alisson than her. He didn’t exactly mind, but if he’d beaten up some people on the street, then perhaps him and Celis wouldn’t have to go through all this to prove themselves. But ultimately it was understandable. No one believes two strangers claiming top-tier ability, and no top-tier team would recruit said strangers. Most people in the crowd believed they were about to watch Dane, one of the strongest adventurers, ravage some pretty boy who’d found himself in the wrong city.

“Mark! Show me what you’ve got!”

Alisson surged forward, at the fastest he could manage without his Opensen.

The thought of being weak, pulsed through Alisson, and he was eager to prove himself wrong.

Dane rose his shield to meet Enhérejär.

Alisson decided to be as flashy as possible, and fight as elegantly and skilled as he could, to truly show these adventurers that he could easily beat them.

Alisson leapt, and twirled through the air, landing behind Dane within seconds, and thrusting his rapier right at the back of Dane’s neck.

“One.”

Alisson said. He then disengaged, avoiding a shield bash from Dane as he turned. Alisson thrust under Danes shield, and once again held Enhérejär an inch short.

“Two.”

Alisson pulled back and sidestepped, evading Dane’s mace and slipping behind him easily. Alisson jabbed at Danes exposed kidney mid-sidestep.

“Three.”

Finished with his sidestep, Alisson stabbed at Dane’s neck, once again stopping short for a fourth time.

“Four.”

Dane spun around, now clearly knowing that Alisson was far more skilled than he’d been expecting. His mace came much quicker, and Alisson retreated, his blade disengaging around the mace. Alisson thrust, and stopped short in front of Dane’s neck once more.

“Five.”

He disengaged as Dane’s mace tried to swat Enhérejär away, and Alisson simply thrust a second time, now on the other side of the mace.

“Six.”

This went on for a few times, as Dane swiped his mace back and forth, trying with his being to catch and parry Alisson, but Alisson was far too fast, and saw every attack coming from a mile away, and was easily able to negate them with his decades of muscle memory. He didn’t really even have to think, even when Dane tried to counter attack and advance on Alisson; Alisson would simply retreat with perfect form, keeping up the pressure. Dane attempted to use his shield, but as Alisson had done before, he closed the distance and grabbed onto the shield, and yanked it to the side, sending Dane stumbling on his feet backwards.

“Nine, ten.”

Alisson thrusted twice before Dane managed to recover. It was less a fight and more a public humiliation.

But, it was trivial to see why.

Adventurers were monster killing mercenaries, not antipersonnel experts like Alisson, born and bred in Sidonia to be a killing machine.

“…eleven…twelve-”

“Okay okay!”

Dane backed off, breathing heavily, and beaming a smile.

“You win! Boy would I be glad to have you – Welcome to the team!”

He said in between his breaths of fatigue.

One might of saw it rude of Dane to accept Alisson without consolidating his team; However, this doubt was easily abated when one looked to the rest of Team Crimson. They were all in awe, mouths a gape and eyes sparkling. It seemed like Alisson’s display of swordsmanship, of how he managed to make Dane look like a fool, cornering him with absolutely no blade contact, was able to stun everyone. The crowd surrounding them was a mixed bag. Some cheered for Alisson for whatever reason, others had their arms crossed with frowns and others were simply amazed.

“Alright, I doubt it’s necessary, but Ferris is next.”

Dane said, motioning for Celis to come.

“Let me try, Dane.”

Amelathet said, walking into the circle, smiling brazenly. It seemed that she as a user of a weapon similar to Celis’s, had something to prove. Dane shrugged.

“Knock yourself out.”

So, Dane and Alisson backed off, and their places were taken by Amelathet and Celis. They both sunk into preparedness about ten meters away from each other. Amelathet had a hand resting on the falchion on the back of her hip, waiting with a smirk for the moment to draw it, her wolf ears twitching.

“Mark!”

Dane signaled, and the both of them blurred toward each other. Alisson was expectant of Celis. Although no one in the crowd knew it, Celis was his apprentice, if she made just as much as a splash, then that meant that Alisson was doing a good job of training her. He was honestly surprised of how well she’d come along, mostly due to the fact he wasn’t sparring and drilling with her every day. Though perhaps, her proficiency came from the plethora of experience and life or death battles she’d gone through leading up to this moment. From how it was looking, he really was going to be able to bring her along into Freigat. Alisson had originally thought that he alone would be going into the jungle, but Celis’s power had earned her a spot.

Celis drew her baselards a split second before they were but a meter away. Their blades clashed with a loud shriek of steel. Sparks flew, but both parties disengaged immediately, and the blades clashed again. Celis attempted to keep one blade holding down Amelathet’s falchion whilst the other surged for Amelathet’s gut, but Amelathet retreated, and blocked Celis.

The two continued in a fierce back and forth, blades clashed every second. The fight was very hard to follow for a normal person, the weapons simply moved too fast, and the fighters were too erratic. It was evident that the Amelathet character most likely had more experience than Dane in fighting people, she was putting up a hell of a fight. The fight was a stalemate for a long while, even after Celis used some fancy aerial maneuvers and evasions, which made the crowd go wild. Eventually, Celis did break through, and she kept that breakthrough advantage, just as she was taught. First it was one baselard held short of Amelathet’s shoulder, then it was a punch, and then a kick that passed Amelathet’s face by a centimeter – A very deliberate miss, it made everyone surrounding Alisson cringe in anticipation. The distance was closed, and Celis was much more a brawler than Alisson, she used kicks and punches that came literally out of nowhere and that were always but a paper’s width away from Amelathet’s body. Her defense had completely broken down, and the only thing she could do was stumble backwards in a panic.

Amelathet eventually fell backwards right onto her butt, rubbing her head with a wry smile. Her wolf ears were flat against her head.

“You won…”

She said in good sport as the crowd was cheering. Alisson noted that Celis was cheered for much more than him, and for whatever reason he was irked about that.

…

“Ha-ha-ha! That’s right – These are the newest members of Crimson! The one and only, Alavier and Ferris!”

Dane shouted in a stupor to the rest of the bar, wrapping an arm around Alisson’s shoulder tightly, and lifting a mug with the other.

P-please stop touching me…

After proving themselves, Crimson had decided to go to a bar to celebrate the added manpower to the team. Dane was either advertising the fact Crimson had successfully poached Alisson and Celis, or he was caving them into familiarity with the rest of the team. Probably both. A team needed to have a thorough bond of trust between members, and even if him and Celis were only temporarily being contracted to Crimson, it was important that everyone felt comfortable around them. So Alisson was also doing his best to try to be friendly and open, but being manhandled left and right did little to make him feel able to.

By sunset, word had spread of the fights of Alisson and Celis with the Five-Striped adventurers, and the entire town was in a good mood. The reason being was obvious, for Pūshkinskaya had just gotten two powerful fighters out of the blue to be adventurers, and thus act as protection to the town. In a normal settlement, such a worry of protection wouldn’t be thought of, and him and Celis would probably derive their fame more from being a simple oddity rather than being looked up to for having immense skill.

But still, the fact the entire town knew them was a little disheartening. He didn’t like being in the limelight, and it may cause complications in the future. Apparently the treatment was common of all Five-Striped adventurers, they were all like heroes to the people of Pūshkinskaya. When they left Pūshkinskaya, Alisson decided it’d be best if him and Celis used different names than the ones they’d used so far, already the names had enough notoriety.

Dane finally let go of Alisson after having held him up like a trophy to the entire bar. Alisson was quick to go and sit back down next to his apprentice, almost taking a certain peace in mind at her presence. Next to them were Patsel, the supposed ranger and healer of Crimson, and Berein, the mage of Crimson. The two of them were far more mellow than the rest of Crimson and already it had seemed that him and Celis had joined a clique within the team. Amelathet, Rei and Dane were all on the other side of the booth, being rowdy to the rest of the bar and drinking far more than the others in the team. Patsel was a quiet boy about Alisson’s age, and hadn’t said much; He had only ever been nervously smiling.

Berein had been talking to Celis a lot in the bar, which surprised Alisson. Apparently the two had met earlier in the day. Celis of course was on the receiving end of the conversation as she was awkwardly answering Berein; and Celis was always shifting nearer to Alisson, like trying to stray away from the interaction.

It had only been a half an hour, and Dane and Amelathet had downed numerous mugs, their faces were red with drunkenness. Rei much less, she seemed to be keeping the other two in order and was far more stoic, though she was still quite bombastic as the other two.

Him and Celis on the contrary hadn’t even touched the mugs that were before them, and Berein and Patsel had a few sips at most.

“Are they always like this?”

Alisson asked, watching Dane and Amelathet’s antics.

“We did just get back from a rough contract, it’s not all the time they can let loose like this.”

Berein answered him.

“But, yeah…at bars, this is the way it usually goes…”

Berein sighed with a smile, shaking her head.

“We’re going out another expedition tomorrow, so they’re winding down for it.”

Alisson’s eyes piqued.

“I was meaning to ask about that – What’s our objective in the next contract?”

“It’s nothing too hard for your first mission, don’t worry. We’re only heading out to destroy a hive with two other teams, it shouldn’t be too big a hassle. Recently though, a Breach was sighted in the area, so we’ll be taking that out too on the way.”

Berein stretched her back.

“Just means extra pay for us…Anyway, you said you ran into a succubus before Ferris?”

“U-uh…yeah. Me and Alavier were super surprised…”

Berein went back to chatting with Celis, a few people from other tables were listening to Celis’s recollections with wide eyes, not able to match the stories to the face. They occasionally looked to Alisson, gawking whenever Celis brought him up.

“So, can you really kill beasts with a rapier?”

Patsel asked Alisson, and at first Alisson didn’t know where the question had come from, because Patsel hadn’t spoken before.

“Yes, but that’s only part of it. I’ll spill my secrets to Crimson when we’re in a more private setting.”

“Ah, right.” Patsel smiled.

He reminded Alisson of Sidonian material, if any infiltrators were in Pūshkinskaya – Which Alisson knew for a fact there weren’t – He’d call on them to work their social magic with Patsel.

“What about you then, surely you can’t only have a dagger?”

Alisson asked back to Patsel, to which he replied scratching the back of his head, embarrassed.

“I use a bow…that’s really all…”

“Hm! You’re selling yourself short Patsel!”

Amelathet suddenly broke into the conversation, leaning in across the table.

“This guy can use third tier healing! Don’t listen to him when he says he’s weak!”

Amelathet smiled, before recoiling and resuming an argument with Dane and a few other adventurers. Alisson looked to Patsel, smiling.

“Is that true?”

Patsel nodded, for some reason guiltily.

“Hmph. Maybe you can help out my sister then, being that she only knows second tier healing.”

“R-right!”

For whatever reason, Patsel seemed to be instilled with a second wind of determination; Like he had to make something up to Alisson.

As the argument happening across the booth from them escalated, and the adventurers distanced themselves more and more from the rest of the team, Alisson decided to finally inquire on Freigat. He didn’t want to go finding a team solely marketing himself as someone who wanted to go in Freigat – That’d be far too suspicious.

“So, does Crimson make any expeditions into the jungle?”

Alisson asked Berein, as she was the nearest by also sitting side by side to Celis. She was looking to be the most intelligent of the group, followed by Patsel. The two of them were magic focused, so it made sense.

“Yeah, we make some trips periodically into Freigat…but you should’ve known that when you signed up to a Five-Striped team.”

Alisson was quick to nod.

“Yes, don’t worry I’m not discouraged by that fact. How often do teams get sent there then?”

Berein pondered for a moment.

“Well about every month or so, a large expedition of a dozen or so teams get sent in, that’s really the bulk of Freigat activity. What teams are on the expedition get cycled out every month. Right now, Crimson and a couple other Five-Stripe teams are on reserve. We stay back to protect the city in case of an emergency, and to act as retrieval teams once the main expedition gets back.”

It was starting to make sense to Alisson.

“So then when is this current expedition supposed to return?”

Alisson tilted his head.

“In about a week,” Berein replied. “I can guarantee you we’ll probably be sent into Freigat with retrieval duty when they do get back.”

Alisson desperately repressed a smile. Things were looking to be going exactly as he’d hoped they would. Though Alisson continued the conversation, not wanting to appear suspicious.

“Are Five-Stripe teams forced to go into Freigat?”

Berein shook her head.

“No, it’s an opt-in thing, just like retrieval missions, if they’re necessary. Teams get a heck of a cash bonus though, so some teams do climb the ranks up to Five-Stripes just to be able to go into Freigat.”

Alisson eyed the five silver bars on Berein’s shoulder.

“I was meaning to ask about that, is it really okay that me and my sister are joining you? We aren’t registered after all.”

“Mm. Don’t worry about that. In the eyes of the Guild, you’re Five-Striped adventurers if you’re in Crimson. Realistically, it’s like you’re mercenaries working for us, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have the benefits that the Guild can offer.” Berein shrugged. “Heck, the Guild will probably just make you Five-Striped if you stay in Crimson long enough, it’s much easier for them instead of making special cases for record keeping.”

Alisson didn’t know how exactly adventurers climbed the ranks in the Guild. Did they simply show their skill and get assigned a rank? Or did they have to have a certain number of contracts completed? The former seemed like the case if Celis and him could just sign on with a team of the highest rank so casually.

Some time passed in relative peace after that, were one to count the brawling adventurers as a normal sight. Celis was eyeing the mug in front of her intensely now that Berein was off helping Rei try to wrangle back Amelathet and Dane from the other adventurers.

“Are you going to drink anything, Alavier?”

Celis asked him.

“No, I’m afraid one sip will probably knock me out.” He smiled wryly to his apprentice. She swallowed nervously and looked back to the mug before her.

“I’ve never had alcohol in front of me like this…”

She must of felt some sort of invisible pressure to drink with everyone else around.

“If your so curious, one sip won’t hurt, you can try it if you want.”

Alisson said, smirking.

Celis looked to Alisson and then back to the mug, in thought. He wasn’t expecting her to, but she never did take even a sip of the alcohol. It seemed that Celis didn’t drink anything, simply because Alisson didn’t.

…

Eventually, our team called it quits for the night, pretty early compared to other patrons of the bar, but I was glad to have the extra sleep. It looks like everyone in Team Crimson has their own residency, so we parted ways for the night after leaving the bar. Thankfully, Berein was nice enough to help me and Alisson get a room in the Guild, because she herself also stayed in the Guild-owned dorm.

“Are you sure you want a room with only one bed in it?”

Berein asked, furrowing her brow at me. I nodded my head in response, suppressing a smile.

“Well then it’s yours for your time on Crimson, I’ll be just a few rooms down so don’t hesitate to holler if you need me.”

Berein smiled at me for a moment. My cheeks felt hot as she walked away. After a few minutes, Alisson entered our room, and shut the door behind him quietly.

“Alright, we’re officially contracted to Crimson.”

Alisson had gotten us sorted with the Guild while I was out choosing a room with Berein.

“And, I’ve also gone and gotten these…”

Alisson unslung the steel tube that had been hung over one of his shoulders. It was the canister that held the maps from Lavjoure. Alisson took out the maps and spread them across the desk in the room, and the both of us looked over them.

“Here. You can see clearly Freigat as this bundle of dark green in the north.”

Alisson fingered the center of the dark green mass. He spoke quietly, not wanting anyone to hear our business, even though we were in a private room.

“Our objective is somewhere centered within Freigat, and it may be above, or below ground. It’ll have a special mark on it.”

Alisson brought forth the map that had all the blue dots on it, that apparently was a mapping of mana throughout the world.

“The way these four bundles of mana are positioned, it’s similar to the mark that our Lady showed me beforehand. I don’t know if that’s a coincidence or not, but we’re not here to ascertain the function of the structure. Our Lady probably already knows what it does, our job is to find it, and find a way inside, for future teams to secure the area.”

It’s got me thinking, why does a bunch of mana gather at Freigat, according to this map, but then also it gathers at Daigoro, the Deadzone, and the Halaruth capital, but in smaller amounts. Then there’s the array of blue dots that run down the continent, they’re much more orderly than the masses of concentric blue circles that outline those four distinct areas.

“For now,” Alisson wrapped up the maps. “We stick with Crimson. They have one contract, the one tomorrow that will apparently take a few days to complete. By the time we get back, the official adventurer expedition into Freigat should be returning as well. Let’s cross our fingers that they need adventurers to go back in to retrieve gear and corpses and the like; Else, we’ll have to wait a month until another expedition is sent, and hope that we’re apart of it.”

I nod. Everything is going to plan so far. I can’t say that I’m scared of going into Freigat, the thought is similar to the dread before going to the dentist as a child.

“But, Celis…Remember,” Alisson turned to me with a stern expression. “Team Crimson are not our friends. They are tools that we’ll use to push our way into Freigat with. Do you understand?”

I nod sternly. He sighed, and then looked to the one bed in the room and then back to me.

“Is there a reason we only have one bed?”

His eyes narrowed suspiciously at me. I wasn’t expecting the reaction from Alisson, and I quickly got incredibly nervous.

“I…I just thought we could…sleep together…”

I mumble, averting my eyes in embarrassment as my stomach tightened in pressure. Alisson sighed, but when I looked back to him, he had the small smiling expression of ‘It can’t be helped’.

“I suppose you don’t feel comfortable being all the way up here in northern lands away from the homeland in a foreign place?”

It wasn’t true, but I took the reasoning and ran with it.

I nodded slowly.

“It’s okay, I understand. I’m here by your side, Celis. I can’t be expected to not help you too.”

My face melted and my eyes fell droopy just hearing those words.

…

Well, contrary to my fantasies, Alisson wasn’t cuddling with me. He really was only just on one side of the bed and me the other. Well, this is the first time that he’s actually sleeping with me on his own consent. The other times I either snuck into his sheets or I had woken up after sleep walking there.

Now, I’m left with my thoughts about all the different people I met today.

Dane, the hardy bear-kin leader of Crimson. Although he seems a little stupid, I’m pretty sure that’s an act. He’s much smarter than he seems, that and his attitude are probably why he’s the leader of Crimson. Well, time will tell how he leads when we go out into real battle with him. With his heavy armor and shield, along with his long mace, it looks like he’s the anchor that Crimson fights around. He’ll be me and Alisson’s defensive perimeter and commander heading forward.

Rei, the second in command. According to Berein, she’s like Alisson in that she uses a sword and buckler along with spells. Her bright blue eyes and dull pink hair impart a sort of uniqueness in her. She gives me the creeps. It’s like she’s always dissecting me with her eyes, even though she’s very approachable and friendly, like a Venus fly trap.

Amelathet, the wolf-kin scout of Team Crimson. She wears like nothing, and only uses a falchion. She’s really good with it, but apparently her specialty is being ahead of Crimson, performing recon or acting as a canary with her amazing agility. She’s a bit on the loose end, it’s evident she’s from the slums in her street experience and her absence of shyness.

Patsel, the shy healer and ranger. It’s weird that he’s a healer, whilst also being a bowman, but he’s apparently pretty fearless in combat from what Berein tells me. He’s the medic of Crimson, and a good one at that. When he isn’t healing, he’s supporting the frontline with his arrow fire, but his priority is still his healing of the team.

Then there’s Berein. She wouldn’t stop talking to me, and she was really nice and gave me lots of space. She’s apparently a noble, but I didn’t dig any further than that. Being a magician, she brings the firepower to the team. The spells she uses are apparently quite unique, being that their a familial sort of thing. She can also use first tier healing, meaning that Crimson has three people that are healing-capable counting me, so not much should be able to stop Crimson in attrition.

It’s been a while, and so I finally turn to Alisson’s side, to see him sleeping. It was much easier to fall asleep that night than others.

…

“Man your positions! Three team departure; flight of twenty; Hold for clearance!”

A few bells rang loudly as guardsmen flocked around the city gate, anxious that beasts would seize the opportunity of the open gate to attack, even with the rings of defenses around the city. They all sat in formation, spears at the ready, pointed toward the slowly opening gate. Right before the gate, were twenty mounted adventurers.

Thankfully, their armor had arrived early in the morning, hand delivered by one of the smiths. Alisson wasn’t expecting such treatment, but apparently the smiths were intent on keeping Alisson in good faith. The armor pieces they’d re-furbished were, admittingly, of lower quality than the original pieces. Though Alisson was pleased to see that they hadn’t degraded too much in quality, and, as he’d instructed, the agility of the previous pieces was retained, at the expense of some protection. But taking into account their reinforced gambesons, Alisson and Celis were still at a better position defense-wise.

After getting their armor settled, they met up with Berein, and then with the rest of Team Crimson. Dane was dubious when Alisson said he didn’t need any consumable items, but was almost instilled by the fact; Wanting to see how his two newest members performed without needing magic-imbued scrolls or mixtures as crutches.

The truth was, Alisson didn’t want to hemorrhage money on items when he could just use Enhérejär, or his fists. That was the Sidonian mindset; Sidonia’s military was not built with consumable items or magic in mind, and as a result, Alisson barely thought of them. He’d save the items granted to him by Sidonia for the real threat, the Freigat Jungle.

For now, a Breach and a Hive were not something he couldn’t deal with. Alone, he’d most definitely have trouble. With Celis, it was possible. But with eighteen Five-Striped adventurers at their back? It’d be a cinch.

“Flight of twenty approved! Teams Mystic, Auburn, and Crimson, departure granted!”

The lead guardsman hollered, and all twenty horses of the three-team expedition broke into a gallop out of Pūshkinskaya. It reminded Alisson of when him and a company of his 51st left Eldera, all those months ago. This time though, it was the morning, and not the dead of night.

The city’s gate quickly thundered to a close behind them, and already he heard numerous beasts roaring, clearly alerted by the large number of horses’ hooves beating the road. The sky was bright and gray, and the trees were shriveled, and the ground was covered in dead leaves and sticks.

“Alright Crimson! Let’s give em’ hell!”

““Right!””

Celis and him were the only ones to not partake in the rousing shout. There was an invisible barrier between them and the adventurers that only him and Celis could see. It wasn’t only the fact that they were the only ones with cloaks, not that they were really Nekomata from Sidonia in disguise no; it wasn’t even the fact that Alisson’s stallion and Celis’s mare were far more veteran than the adventurer’s steeds. The adventurers knew that the possibility of dying was very real for them. But for Alisson and Celis? No. It was non-existent. Even if they couldn’t handle the beasts, they had eighteen shields to use at their disposal.

***