ALL NOVEL Chapter 14: The Hero
Meanwhile, the southern city of Astrea is a city filled with adventurers, old and new, learning their trade and aiming to become heroes.
A huge fountain with the statue of the human goddess of light stands at the very centre of the city, surrounded by the adventurers' guild, a mercenary guild and various weapon and armour shops.
In fact, Astrea was a very convenient place for the adventurers to meet as they travelled toward the new dungeon or questing area.
A group of four youths rushed into the guild, their armour a little dirty but with bright faces, nonetheless—a blond priestess, a fiery redheaded berserker and a shy female mage with a witch hat followed behind a lean youth with a short sword and black hair.
This boy was named Kaito, rumoured to be a hero from a land to the east.
"Kaito, can't we shower first?!" The priestess complained, her hands raised as if to bring her dirty robe to attention. Meanwhile, the berserker rushed to the bar, her skimpy outfit exposing her tanned abs and muscles as she ordered a beer.
"A cold one, old man!" The female carried the blood of a dragon—in fact, she wasn't human but a powerful dragonoid.
"Asuka... you shouldn't be drinking—what about the quest..." A soft, shy voice, almost a whisper from the blue-haired mage with a long princess-styled haircut.
A witch from the magic tower was sent to gather information on the dungeons and monsters from her master for her coming-of-age quest.
"Sylvie is right, Asuka..." Kaito's body was shorter than the dragonoid, and despite his special powers, he was weaker than her... with a slightly perverted gaze. He peeked at her abdomen and heavy, swaying chest, avoiding notice as Asuka enjoyed the cold beer.
This party somehow formed as if guided by fate; now, they aimed to travel together and become true heroes.
However, right now, they were still an insignificant D-Rank party.
"Welcome to the Astrea city adventurer's guild!" A cute receptionist smiled, tilting her head to the party of three—Asuka seemed to be at a table arm wrestling for some gold.
"We're here to complete our quest, Miss Chloe!" Erina, the priestess, stopped complaining and took the monster cores from her item pouch; the dark blue stones were C-Rank and D-Rank at best, but they were worth a decent sum.
"Oh my, you managed to defeat the wild orcs in the eastern villages?" Chloe was a talented and skilled guild worker and never made many mistakes, but because of her elven blood, she received countless unwanted invitations and looks from the males.
Thus, she liked to speak with the young ladies from this D-Rank party and sometimes gossip.
"There weren't many powerful enemies..." The shy witch whispered, trying her best to socialise with Chloe.
"Thank you, Sylvie. I apologise for that, but how was your journey overall?" The elf woman held up the mana stone to a magical lamp as it changed from blue to orange and finally flickered with light.
"Mmm I see, two low class C cores... and ten D cores, a total of 30 silver."
A silver coin was enough for a family of four to live on for a day, so their earnings were quite good for a week-long adventure.
"Then the listing fee, and costs... let me see your cards to update them all." Chloe's hands fluttered with magical light as the four cards were edited, and the quest that they just finished vanished with a green tick.
"Isn't Miss Chloe amazing?" Erina turned to Sylvie, who whispered while giving a bitter smile and nodding. As Chloe worked behind the desk, however, she felt uneasy and stopped, turning to see if anything was wrong.
"Chloe! There's been an emergency D-Rank quest issued... regarding the north, it seems a mercenary group was almost completely wiped out, with a single survivor."
"Eh?" Chloe's blue eyes opened wide before she nodded, turning to the party once again. "Forgive me, your total earnings are 50 silver coins and ten copper. With the quest reward and cores added together."
"A new quest...?" Erina whispered while looking at Kaito, who stood away from them due to once making Chloe upset. He seemed to have a strange skill that worked only on women, but when it failed, they would suddenly hate him.
『Thanks to my blessing, it didn't work... or would I become like those foolish girls?!』
"Kaito, should we take a look at the new quest?" Erina's bright voice echoed, almost dulled out by the heavy laughs and clanking of glasses from the bar—even the shouts from the people betting on arm wrestling seemed louder than usual. 'Asuka... don't lose all your money again!'
"If you want to know about the quest, it will be posted on the board soon, although it's a D-Rank the level is an emergency... so please think about joining another party first, Erina."
"Mm, I will. Thank you as always, Chloe." Erina thanked the beautiful elf while taking their silver and copper coins.
Finished with their tasks, the group walked towards the board.
A few newbies and low-rankings seemed to come to check out the sudden extra quest. As Erina and Sylvie looked interested, a heavy hand slapped both their shoulders.
"Ack..."
"Ahh...!"
"What're ya lookin' at?" Asuka's breath smelt like honey and ale as she looked slightly flushed. "Oh? A dangerous quest?"
The quest board looked like a magical tool.
It comprised a digital blackboard and various bright images and posters created with vibrant lights and colours, including images of monsters, pictures of bandits and maps for the herbal quests.
——
[Warning - Emergency Quest]
[D-Rank Quest]
∟ A sudden goblin settlement appeared in the northern reaches of the kingdom.
∟ The village of Arlet requested reinforcements after the Crimson Hawks mercenary group was annihilated with one surviving member.
∟ The settlement is estimated to be in the northeastern reaches of the Great Forest of Luris.
∟ Reward: 10 silver, 50 copper
∟ Bonus: 10 copper per goblin
A small map and a rough design of the forest were drawn in pencil on a map. Though the art looked high-level, it wasn't up to the standards of the vibrantly printed maps for other quests.
——
"Woah... the reward is so small."
Asuka sipped her ale and burped before shrugging her shoulders and showing a cheeky smile.
"Shall we go?"
Erina and Sylvie looked at each other with bitter expressions.
They wanted to help the people, and both of them suffered in the past from monsters killing their loved ones, but Kaito always seemed more interested in money and women.
"Isn't the reward a little low for such a distant travel? At least the orcs were worth one silver each, and the big guys were ten silver!" Kaito finally spoke, no longer embarrassed to face Chloe, who rejected him, as she left for the back office.
In reality, Erina expected this... most of the humans and adventurers were selfish, and the reward wasn't worth their lives.
"I'll pass." Kaito shrugged, holding his hand out to Erina. Give me the money. I think I'll take a break since the last quest was annoying."
"K-Kaito... the people at the village..."
Erina wavered as he shook his head and pulled her coin pouch towards himself. It had become common for Erina to manage all the money at the party, as she could calculate quickly and had basic magic skills in creating food and purification.
However, seeing his face, she knew it was pointless to speak further. Kaito didn't care about anything but his crotch and having fun.
"How much do you want? Your share is—"
"What are you saying, I am the one that killed the two big ones... so give me the money for their cores."
Kaito always acted like this.
He would sometimes speak about strange things or refer to the world with strange terms, like "it's just a game" or "I am the Party leader, so it's all mine." Thus, Erina gave him the 20 silver, leaving only 30 silver to split between her and the other two girls.
Once he got the money, he left the building with a dirty smile...
"That little boy—is he going to the brothel again?" Asuka didn't have the tact of Erina and asked bluntly. Instead, she patted Erina's shoulder and shook her head.
"Do you remember when that guy called you a saintess and treated you like a princess?"
"Asuka... that's already past, he even used to call you mommy... and tried to get you drunk that time we first quested together."
Erina realised through questing together that Kaito seemed like a brilliant gentleman at first...
Was, in fact, a lustful wretch!
『At first, he seemed like the perfect gentleman... Until I refused to sleep with him!』
"Heh... shall we join another party without him and earn some coin?" Asuka chuckled, her fiery eyes looking at the quest as if amused. "My instinct tells me there will be a powerful guy there... maybe he is the one I am searching for."
The Dragonoid were a rare group of people who carried dragon's blood in their veins, becoming stronger, selfish and quite whimsical creatures. Asuka, as the tribe's princess, left their land to find her groom, a common practice where the strong female Dragonoids would leave and capture a mate from other races.
Erina and Asuka seemed ready to join the quest since a raid would be formed.
——
[Raid]
∟ A guild representative would observe the Raid to confirm completion.
∟ When two or more adventuring parties are given the same quest and cooperate to complete the task together.
∟ All receive the reward, and the guild increases the reward to make it more appealing.
∟ The party performing the best would earn a bonus.
——
『It seems the guild wants to train more fresh adventures using this quest...』
Erina's eyes flicked towards a new group of rookies who wore cheap armour and used low-level weapons, and she wondered to herself if they would survive. She knew a key factor in this job, and that was to NEVER underestimate goblins or orcs.
"Are you in Sylvie?"
"Hueh?!" The lovely blue-haired witch, with large pointed ears, gasped. "But... will Kaito be okay alone?"
"He can protect himself... and get help from random people", Erina sighed softly. 'So far, I've been lucky to ignore his skill... maybe the goddesses protection.'
Sylvie nodded. She wanted to save people from the monsters, but she didn't want these two to go alone.
"Oh? Then let me buy the drinks this time as I gambled away my last five silvers... I won 15 back!"
Thus, the three women of Kaito's party signed up for the quest without him knowing.
Nobody knew the future that awaited them all.