The Sarol glared hatefully at the enemy that stepped before it. It could do nothing but glare at the monster, because at its current strength, it couldn’t even scratch the entity. The Sarol wasn’t sure if it could do it even at full strength. Despair, hate, was all that existed in the mind of the Sarol.

A few weeks ago, the Sarol’s leg was cut off by some adventurer party. The Sarol was ready to die, but the adventurer party quickly retreated since they were also badly wounded. Thankful that it survived, the Sarol laid low and hunted the delicious meat from the small villages.

And then, one fine day, this hateful man appeared.

The man who the Sarol could do nothing against.

The man who called the Sarol ’20 silvers’.

I whistled happily as I left the guild, tossing the 20 silver coins in my hand. Haah~ Being rich feels so good!

Today was a good day. Luckily, I found a slime den on the way to the highway to Alsain village, and after finishing it off, I earned a net total of 10 silvers, killing about a 100 slimes there. After that, the Curas, which was, for some reason, immensely scared when I came, got me another 10 silvers. And the 20 silvers from subjugating that monster.

All in all, a good day.

I also got some good news, that the party that cheated me into getting a large amount of treasure got overwhelmed by monsters and they retreated, failing the quest, about a week ago, when I returned to Ravenblack. I already erased my blackmark by completing two higher ranked quests. If I complete 4 more silver ranked quests, I can easily become a Silver ranked adventurer.

I plan on leaving Ravenblack once I become a Silver rank. Of course, I have no idea where to head to, but I’m sure Mili sama will know. Because after all, Mili sama knows everything there is to know!

“Oii! You there! Eyepatch kun!”

Someone calls out to me, I think. I turn around, and I see a young man, about my age, in flashy silver armour, with his red spiky hair, waving at me.

I head to him, while I check out his equipment.

My estimation… Gold Rank?

“Yo! The name’s Zwert”

Zwert extends his hand towards me.

“Yuuya”

We shake hands, and then the lady ki- Zwert starts speaking.

“I heard your party beat an evolved rabbitman?”

“Haha Nothing of the sort”

“Trying to lay low?”

“Might be so. What might your business be?”

“An invite. To become temporary members of our gold ranked party, Air walkers. How about it?”

That was abrupt. He didn’t even sugarcoat his words. This guy, he’s surprisingly honest, contrary to his looks.

A party huh?

“Why do you want to form a party?”

“We’re gonna do an advancement quest, of platinum rank, and we only need one more person for it. A magician is preferable though”

“A magician? I’m not one you know?”

“Ah that’s fine. You can just bring people you know as well”

Ah! I sniffed out his true intention. He doesn’t really want me, he wants Mili. But since Mili is an elf, they assumed she’s a great magician, and she’s helping me out. But Mili won’t join them if they just ask her. They decided for a package deal, huh? Fine. I’ll play along.

“Is that so? When are you gonna do the quest?”

Zwert looks happy, since it seems I accepted. I hope he’s not thinking something like ‘What an easy guy. Truly a leech’ or something.

“Today, in an hour, near the Alsain highway. Can you come?”

“Ah. Got it”

I nod and leave the place. I head to the inn, since Mili was waiting there.

When I reach the door, I can hear faint voices of chanting going on. I see. Mili is practicing magic huh.

I open the door and go in. Mili greets me, and then quickly begins reading the books.

“Mili, I’ll be gone for a while okay? I’ll leave some food for you too. Remember, don’t leave the inn. Understood?”

I advise her, like a parent, as I organize my stuff and rearrange everything.

“Un! “

Feeling relieved, I head out, to the meeting place.

“Eh? What the? The elf chan is not here?”

That explains everything. Everyone was disappointed that Mili didn’t come. Well, I just came here for party play though. There’s a chance they might kick me out too. We carried out the introductions, as  a social nicety.

Zwert’s party consisted of a warrior which was him, with the silver armor he had before. A longsword was at his hip, with gold inscriptions on it. Most probably a magic sword, no doubt. His silver armor was covered with a red mantle.

There was a magician, called Aura. She was obviously a demihuman, with her slit like pupils, and a long forked tongue that snaked out when she talked. She wore a full length robe, with golden stars on its dark blue cloth. A… childish image. She had a cute wand with a star at its end as her weapon, and I could faintly see the outline of a dagger near her legs. There were scales on places of her body, and her black hair fluttered around quite freely. What if it got caught in a fire magic?

Another member, called Kai. A huge muscular man, who wore sleeveless thick armor. His bulged hands quite frequently kept checking the giant hammer on his back. He had spiky yellow hair, with a scar near his jaw.

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The last member of Air walker was someone I knew. I didn’t wait for her to introduce herself, and walked right up to her. Without a hint of hesitation, I bowed and apologized.

“Maria san, I’m very sorry for what I said that day. You saved me from those people and I was quite rude to you. I offer my deepest gratitude, and my apologies”

In a quite noble like manner, I offered polite lines to her, with a bow. Maybe they’ll confirm their mistaken suspicions about me being a noble who just wanted to play adventurer. Of course, my gratitude was not false, neither was my apology. She was quite cute, and it would be unjust for me to name her as unladylike even after she saved me.

She looked flustered at my words, and started stuttering her words.

“N-no it’s al-alright. I ju-ju-just did what I ha-had to d-do, afte-after all”

She nervously eyes her teammates, avoiding eye contact. Weird. The person who came to the guild exuded confidence, since she even beat up a total stranger. The other teammates were ignoring this, presumably because of me. This party, it’s quite strange.

We’ve already started the hunt, heading into the forest of the Lost. A cliché name, but it was quite true. Without a map, it was quite easy to get lost in this natural maze.

We’re in Curas territory right now, heading deeper in. I asked Zwert whether it was a good idea, and he laughed it off, saying ambushes were easy for them. Maria still avoids me, and walks off a distance from the main party. They don’t even pay attention to her, and keep heading in. I think it’s natural though. An archer is a long range fighter after all. But, isn’t that a little bit too far? As I thought, this party was bursting with strangeness.

“Yuuya, you don’t need to fight alright? If we really need your help, we’ll call for you, so till then, just stay back, alright? We need our members to have reserve strength after all.”

This guy, Kai, wasn’t he too much of a nice guy? He’s plainly hiding the fact that I’m weak, and tries to encourage me by saying stuff like ‘ You’re our trump card’ and all. I was almost about to smirk, but I played along, nodding my head.

We keep heading in, with no signs of an ambush.  Now, the party members raise their guard, since the lack of an ambush in Curas territory is just strange. I’m sure they won’t attack for a while though. Huehuehue.

A while later, some nostalgic faces walk out of the woods.

His red plume is still fresh in my mind. I do owe him a gift card after all.

Right, the party that tricked me, just crossed us. Seeing us, they waved their arms and walked to us. Those lucky bastards. If only I weren’t with these guys, I would already be carving your gift cards!

But for now, I quickly retreat to the back, and walk off to a thicket, under the guise of checking the curious and interesting flowers that were growing. Maria glances at me, full of suspicion, but she just lets it pass, since like me, even she was retreating.

“Air walkers huh? Zwert, you’re planning on doing the advancement quest?”

“Lux huh? Yup. It’s odd to see a silver ranked in these parts. Or did you forget that the death claw was a bane for silver ranks?”

“Hahaha~ You don’t get it do you? These parts are no longer gold platinum ranked. The Curas were exterminated by us a few days ago after all. Why do you think we failed our quest?”

That bastard! He’s stealing my credit?! He extends his hands towards Zwert.

“Leader of gold ranked party, Wolf dragons, the bane of Curas”

Th-they got promoted to gold rank? By stealing MY credit?!

“Go-gold ranked? You exterminated the Curas? Don’t kid me Lux! You’re not even capable of taking down a caterpillar alone!”

Yeah! Give it to him Zwert! That bastard.

The bastard smiles back at Zwert, and walks off.

“Enjoy the death claw. It’s the easiest area for us after all”

You think you can act cool just by stealing what someone else did? I’ll remember this, you thief.

“All right guys. Although it’s unbelievable that those Wolf dragons could wipe out the Curas, but either way, it’s a great thing for us. We can head directly to our destination, the lair of Dortohs.”

Dortohs huh. I remember reading about those boars.

“So, let’s just quickly finish this subjugation and become platinum ranked!”

“”“Ou!”””

Everyone yells out with fighting spirit, except Maria. She looks depressed for some reason. I wonder why?

We walked into a newer area, which was less denser than the death claw, and more sky could be seen. The Dortohs lived on plains deep inside the forest. And it was quite a trip to get there.

*Rustle!*

Suddenly, some ‘things’ jump out of the branches.

“ Careful, those are Nores! “

The Nores, like Zwert called them, looked like kids. With brown skin, their legs were covered by stuff like beehives. They had a long nose, and a wig made of leaves.

Everybody rushed into battle, and I just stood back to observe, in order to learn more about party play. I took up the offer that Kai so graciously offered to me, and waited.

As to the strangeness about the party and Maria’s odd behavior, it was immediately clear in this fight.