Chapter Eight

"Hey what do you guys think about this one?" Priscilla places a piece of paper on the table as she glances at each member of her party seated around. "Says here they've got a monster infestation. Location, far up north. A place called Ridgeron." She waits patiently for her teammates input, fiddling with her staff in the meantime.

"Wait." Thorn snaps. " Far up north? How far are we talking?" He questions Priscilla who drops her gaze from her staff.

"My guess is, it's probably close to the salt lands." Priscilla answers after a moment spent thinking.

A spark of understanding dawn on the party.

"Just some damn goblins." Rollo spits out in annoyance.

"True, but if they lived long enough to bother this 'Ridgeron' despite the obvious risks. Then that means." Thorn reasons as he lights a cigarette in his mouth.

"It's a big tribe, one led by a unique monster." Silvari, the only red head in the entire guild hall yawns in boredom. "Not worth it." She gets up, giving a stink eye to Thorn who nervously takes a shaky puff of his cigar.

"Huh? What do you mean? The pay is 230 gold coins. That sounds very 'worth it' to me." Priscilla is confused and she asks, trying to stop Silvari from leaving.

"No, she's right." Rollo waves Priscilla and Silvari down.

"Brother?" Priscilla looks surprised as she takes her seat along side a frowning Silvari.

"The salt lands is quite the distance. We just got back from a long distance quest. I think it's best if we find one that's not so far away." Rollo folds his arms while frowning at Thorn who justs decides to quench his cigarette. Priscilla moves to speak but Rollo cuts her off. "Even if we decide to go, our party's just not big enough for a raid." He concludes."And Silvari, we're still not finished here yet."

Silvari's frown deepens. "Yeah, whatever." She says.

"I guess that's a no on the goblin slaying." Priscilla droops as she picks up the quest paper and replaces with another one. "How about this one?"

Rollo scans through the quest. "Undead? At Riverra? When did that happen?" Rollo is surprised to say the least as even Thorn and Silvari perk up at the quest.

"Did it say what kind?" Thorn asks.

"Locals believe it's a lich, there are multiple low level undead and a sighting of undead mages." Priscilla explains.

"That sounds like a lich alright. Newly born too, though I wonder why a lich was born there in the first place." Thorn says. "What do you say, team leader." He asks Rollo.

"Hmmm, seems ok." Rollo smiles. "Alright we should prepare, get any gear you think we might -" Rollo notices Silvari stare behind him so he turns to where she's staring.

"Now that we're adventurers, we should try to find a quest." Maple says as she hops down the stairs.

"No, what we should do is find a place to stay Maple." Chrome smiles walking behind her.

"But we're adventurers now. Yui what do you want to do?" Maple whines, then turns to Yui.

"I wanna do a lot of things." Yui answers with a cheer.

"See Chrome, she wants to do a quest too." Maple practically leaps in excitement.

"Calm down Maple, alright why don't you and the twins try to look around the city. You guys wanted to do that before remember, since It's called the city of magic. You guys are strong enough to take care of yourselves, just don't take things too far. I'll find an inn for us to stay." Chrome decides to compromise.

"Alright, that sounds like fun." Maple has stars in her eyes at the suggestion. "Yes, really fun." Yui cheers alongside maple. "Are you going to be ok alone Chrome?" Mai asks with a little concern in her voice.

"Don't worry Mai, you guys go look around. I'll send a message through the chat when I find us a place to stay." Chrome chuckles as he pats Mai's head.

"Come on girls let's go." Maple drags Mai while Yui runs after them.

Chrome sighs, before walking up to guild clerk. "Good day again miss Corey." He greets her.

"Uhm yes, Sir Chrome. Are you sure you should leave them unsupervised?" Corey asks worriedly.

"There's no issue, trust me. Is there an inn you can recommend me to?" He sits on one of the chairs opposite the guild clerk.

"Depends on how long you plan on staying, adventurers are rarely around for days on end. So most inns only rent rooms short term to adventurers. There are a few though that aren't really affected. I can direct you to them." Corey sits as she explains to him.

"Thanks, I would really appreciate that. And one more thing, where can I sell monster parts. Is that a thing that's done here?" Chrome asks as he gets up to leave.

"Of course." Corey answers. "The guild is happy to buy monster materials, although if you're looking to make more profit I suggest you head to the Merchant Guild."

"Thanks again, I'll do just that." Chrome says he finally leaves the guild.

"Are you kidding me?" Corey turns to see Rollo heading towards her.

"What's the big idea here? Letting them as adventurers." Rollo sits opposite her. "Gimme two cups of the usual."

"Sure thing. I'm not sure what to tell you though, the guild master Dagon approved of them for some reason." Corey places two cups under the spirit pourers (apparently these were used to dispense alcohol in barrels.) "Maybe we're over thinking things, the knight is strong, so who knows." She hands Rollo the two mugs filled with ale.

"Even then." Rollo takes a drink from one of the mugs.

"Just let it go brother." Priscilla walks up to them, her staff in hand.

"Yeah, leave the new guys alone. They'll learn what's it like to be adventurers. The knight can't protect them forever. Who knows they might be stronger than they look." Thorn laughs behind Priscilla.

"Hmmm?" Rollo looks around. " Where's Silvari?"

"Huh? Silvari? She was right behind us." Priscilla looks around the guild hall, searching for her fellow female teammate's iconic red hair. "Guess not."

////

Maple and twins burst into the street, head swiveling this way and that as all the new sights and sounds fought for her attention.

Maple and Yui unanimously nodded and ducked into a nearby shop.This proved to be a shop filled with weird furniture and glowing goods and seated at the back was a bearded man-the shop's owner.

Inside, there were old vases, hanging scrolls, and low tables as far as the eye could see.

"Are these magic items? Look at these, they're glowing. That's definitely Magic." Maple says confidently with her hands on her hips. "Hmm hmm." Yui nods attentively as Mai chuckles.

Maple and the twins spent a few more minutes looking over the wares, but lacking an eye for magic items (that's Iz's job) they soon gave up and turned to go.

"Hey." Maple turned to see the bearded man as he called out to them.

"Yes?" She answers.

"You're not gonna buy anything? You've been here for almost an hour." He gruffs, a little bit annoyed with their loitering around.

"Hehehehe." Maple scratches her head nervously. "We don't have any money."

The man eyes twitch. "Then get outta my shop!" He yells.

Maple and the twins run out of the shop laughing. "Let's split up, we'll cover more ground, Yui, Mai you two go right. I'll go straight ahead, Guild Master's order." Maple laughs.

""Yes Ma'am."" Mai and Yui salute before running off. Leaving Maple alone in the middle of the street.

"Alright let's go, it's time for an adventure for the one and only Maple the adventurer." Maple muses out loud as she walks towards a gathering of vendors.

Up on a roof top, watching Maple while crouched. Silvari slowly follows after the black armored girl running through street.

"What exactly are you?"