Chapter 17: Party

Tobias looked up. There was a young man who looked slightly older than he was, standing in front of him. There was a sheathed sword – a saber – by his side. The man seemed to stare at him, as if he was studying Tobias. His hair was mid length golden blonde, and his eyes bore a deep, blue color which reminded him of the ocean, or the skies when clouds weren’t blocking them.

“Are you... the one they call Druid Marcus?” The man asked.

Tobias subtly flinched when the name was mentioned, and he regretted placing Marcus’ name instead of his own. It was supposed to be for a noble purpose, but now it’s just biting him in his back. How did his name get stained like this...? He gave a forlorn sigh at himself.

“... Druid?” He said hesitantly. “Why?”

“They say you’re capable of finding any animal.” The man replied. Then when his eyes widened, as if realizing something, then he shook his head. “Ah, where are my manners. I am Jacques, Iron-ranked Swordsman.”

“Mhm.” Tobias let out a small nod to acknowledge his self-introduction. “I have been promoted to Iron-rank recently. I am not a Druid, though; I am a Soldier.”

“Soldier? That’s a Class?” Jacques asked, and Tobias gave a shrug, then a nod. “Anyways... I heard you cleaned up the entire missing pets quests in three days. They said you used some animal magic or something.” He laughed to himself, while Tobias tilted his head quizzically.

Three days? That was a great exaggeration. It took him at least five. And animal magic? That existed? He shook his head to clear away those thoughts.

“So then, what do you need from this Soldier who happened to be good at finding pets?” Tobias asked.

And he realized that the way he spoke – it reminded him of that one crippled, former adventurer. He idly wondered if accidentally adopting the way he spoke would also lead him to suffer the same fate. Hopefully not.

“Ah right, as I was saying, people said that you are capable of finding any animal. So my party’s quest right now is to find an elusive wolf pack that’s been terrorizing the forest lately.” Jacques replied.

Tobias hummed. Then he nodded. “Alright.”

“If you join, we will offer you – excuse me, what?” Jacques blinked slowly at his words, as if not believing what he said.

“I have nothing else to do.” He replied, shrugging. “I might as well do something else right now.” Then he stood up from the chair he had been sitting on. Now that they were both standing, Tobias realized that the older man was just very slightly taller than he was. “Where is the rest of your party?”

“There they are.” Jacques said, pointing in a direction. But Tobias didn’t know where to look until two people around his age waved back at him. “Come on guys, Marcus wants to meet you.”

Then they walked up to them. Including Jacques, they were a party of three; two boys, and one girl.

“Hello!” The girl said, waving. Her eyes sparkled blue, as she seemed to stare at him with excitement. “I am Clara, Copper Ranked Archer! Pleased to meet you, Marcus.” She said, and as she bowed, her somewhat wavy brown hair fell beside her.

Tobias thought that her dress which only reached to her knees was too green, until his gaze focused on the bow and quiver of arrows on her back, and his eyes widened with realization.

Ah yes, a Hunter must Hunt. Somehow, the way Alex phrased it was simply too... literal.

“Very nice. Pleased to meet you, too.” Tobias replied, bowing his head in turn. Then he fixed his gaze on the other boy.

“Hmm...” The boy hummed, as he adjusted his glasses by pushing it upwards with one finger. The spectacles revealed pale crimson eyes beneath, studying him with a particular intent. “I am named as Bastille. I am the party’s Iron Ranked Sorcerer.”

Tobias noted that he looked like the studious type, with his whole getup; his dark gray scholarly robes and the ominous, seemingly glowing red grimoire by his side. His red hair was very vibrant, and attention catching though...

“Looks about right.” Tobias nodded his head again, giving a brief thumbs up. A quick glance sidewards revealed that Jacques was mild amused. “I am To – Marcus, Iron-ranked Soldier. Now, let us go find those wolves.”

“Wait – that’s it?” Clara asked. Tobias turned to her, tilting his head very slightly at her question. “Don’t we need to prepare at least?”

“I do not know.” Tobias said, shrugging. “I have never done any other quest than pet finding, and that is about as simple as quests could get, correct?”

“I see...” Bastille hummed, nodding. “For starters, then how about we stock up on some healing potions? We don’t exactly have a healer with us.”

Tobias hummed. Then he nodded. “Great idea. Let us go.” Then he walked over towards the door, expertly weaving through the different adventurers standing and talking about.

Bastille turned to Jacques, and Clara looked at the boy with a confused gaze. “Is he always like that?” He asked.

“I honestly don’t know.” Jacques sighed, shrugging. “But then again, he doesn’t seem bad. Like, he doesn’t seem evil or greedy. He didn’t even ask how we should divide the quest rewards with him.”

“I see...” Clara hummed. Then her expression relaxed, and she let out a beaming smile. “Well, he’s dedicated for sure! Let’s go follow him before he disappears.”

“I don’t really like him...” Bastille winced when the blonde-haired Swordsman glared at his words. “But then again, maybe I’m being too judgmental.”

“Now that’s the spirit.” Jacques said, flashing a grin.

And... where did he go?

***

Tobias had purchased a belt, filled with eight hoop-like functions. He had quickly figured out that these could be connected to pouches, or something with a hook or loop could be hung on it. Well, it didn’t matter. He had bought the accompanying leather pouches as well. Four of them, really.

Each pouch big enough to store a variety of things – he could probably store his money in one of those as well. And one was big enough to fit... a lot of things, really. Maybe it could fit about fifteen healing potions?

Speaking of healing potions, those vials of glass contained translucent red liquid which looked like cranberry extract. Each one was about as long and as thick as the average person’s index finger.

He gave one a small shake – the liquid inside just sloshed about, but didn’t quite bubble. It must have been air tight, or the liquid really was just weird. With a sigh, he placed it back on his pouch. His three health potions seemed to silently clinked as he moved about. Each potion costed about fifty copper coins each. In comparison, his leather belt with the four pouches only costed sixty copper in total.

Only the first preparation, and he already brought out something worth around two silver coins...

Then again, he had saved up quite of a bit of money. Missing pet quests might have not paid well, but they were easily done for him, and the speed at which he completed them only gave him a quick, easy source of money.

And not to mention, he got paid by Alex the Hunter from back then, and he received a silver coin from that retired Adventurer. So money wasn’t really too much of a concern for him right now.

“Well, you look more like a proper adventurer now.” It was Jacques who spoke, as he gave a thumbs up. Something about the action seemed to be his signature move. “No offense, but I’m surprised you can actually afford that.” He pointed at the leather belt, along with the pouches.

“I have a bit of money stored up, I think.” Tobias admitted, before he shrugged.

He really didn’t need to mention the crippled adventurer who gave him the silver coin, and the rewards he attained from the quests he’s been doing recently.

His sword was sheathed by his side. He remembered Magnus, and he remembered that this was the correct direction he took. He idly wondered if Magnus would approve of him using his own son’s name, before letting out a small apology just in case. Sorry, Mentor.

“Well then, to adventure!” Clara announced, as she walked towards a direction – probably the city gates.

“Aye, aye.” Bastille echoed weakly, giving a slow, unenthusiastic raise of his hand. “You guys keep up, alright?”

“Ho.” Jacques intoned, before he gave a single, sharp laugh. “Look at the Sorcerer talking. We should be telling you that.”

Bastille gave a shrug, then his lips curved into an amused grin. “Whatever you say.”

Tobias just followed along, content to just listen to their bickering. Well, to be fair, Clara did ask him questions, and as long as they weren’t too personal, then he would oblige and answer. Soon enough, Jacques joined in asking him questions.

Things like what food he liked, or where he came from – those harmless things which helped them to relate to him. He even idly told them about how annoying it was to have younger siblings, and Clara agreed with him and started to rant about her younger brother... or three of them, really. Because she was apparently the eldest sister in their family.

How strangely familiar...

And after the idle talk, their conversation managed to shift towards the nature of their quest.

As it turned out, their quest was located on the forestry just around the city – which meant that they didn’t quite pass through the gates with the bridge. Instead, there was another gate behind the city, which was... just as big as the other gate, really.

Tobias eyed the gates, before he let out a small disappointed sigh.

Maybe it was the lack of gigantic arching metal bridges, but the other exit was... underwhelming in comparison.

Then Tobias’ gaze fell towards the trees which he identified as fruit trees. They grew in droves and fields, protected and surrounded by spike-wired fences. He could even see a vineyard here and there.

“Huh...” Tobias hummed, thinking to himself. “I have never tasted grapes.” He idly commented, and everyone turned to look at the grape vines.

“Oh?” Jacques asked. He looked around, and found the vineyard Tobias was staring at. “Ah yes, the grape vineyards. You know, we can always sneak in and steal a piece or two.”

“If you are going to sneak in, you might as well steal a whole bunch.” Tobias offered, his voice kept monotone – with just the slightest tinge of sarcasm. The Sorcerer – Bastille, gave a small chuckle at his words.

“I didn’t know you were capable of being naughty.” He said. “No offense, but you kinda act like you have a stick up your ass.”

“Language!” Clara snapped, and everyone else broke into a bout of laughter; even Tobias gave a wry grin. In response, she only pouted and gave a small glare. “What’s so funny?”

“No, nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Jacques responded, waving his hand as if to dispel her annoyance.

“Not wrong.” Tobias admitted. “I somewhat avoided people my age back in my village, so I know I am not exactly the best at knowing what to say, sometimes.”

“Are you sure it’s not you who’s been ignored?” Bastille asked.

Tobias briefly thought about it, but shook his head. “No. I just ignore them when they want to play with me.”

“Hmm, hmm.” Clara hummed. “You sound lonely, but judging from what you said... why didn’t you ignore us when Jacques invited you?”

“Not just ‘sound’ lonely, but you also looked lonely earlier.” Bastille japed. But everyone else just stared at him with unamused expressions. He slowly blinked. “Oh, my bad. Not the time then?”

“Nope. Bad timing.” Jacques replied, shrugging. “We’re kinda serious right now.”

“Why I did not ignore you...” Tobias hummed to himself, as he assumed a literal thinking pose. “Honestly, I was kind of getting tired with missing pet quests... Secondly, you sounded like you needed my help especially. You had the correct idea to come to me when it comes to anything hunting-related.”

“Oh. Is that so?” Clara asked, her fingers twitching for some reason.

Tobias wondered if Clara the Archer used to be Clara the Hunter. Or was it the other way around? Was she was an Archer first, before a Hunter? Well, it didn’t matter –

Why was Jacques shaking his head fervently? Why is Bastille crossing his arms into an ‘x’?

Tobias ignored them as he gave a small nod to her question. It was rude to not answer to a harmless question, wasn’t it? “I suppose.”

Then she narrowed her eyes. “Let’s see about that.” She huffed. “You against me, who can hunt more wolves.”

Was that a challenge? He nodded, while the boys around him sighed in exasperation, and some minor disappointment.

But Tobias ignored them. He was, after all, confident in his wolf slaying skills if nothing else.

“Good luck, Marcus.” Jacques said, patting his back softly.

“We will remember your valiant dignity, old friend.” Bastille added, patting his shoulder.

“What is going on?” Tobias asked, his head turning to look at both of them with visible confusion.

“You’ll see.” Both of them shrugged. And over the distance, he could feel someone’s sense of pride and dignity about to be shattered.

He let out a sigh. He stepped on a land mine, didn’t he?

Why can’t his social skills be like his tile-stepping skills?