"Sir Reginald! There seems to be people up ahead in front of a lit cave!"
"There shouldn't be any caves around here, Mister Briggs! How many people do you see up ahead?"
"Four Sir! Four ahead!"
As they were growing closer to the location of the players, their shouting was becoming more evident and clear to the party.
Jack's eyes narrowed on the three horses making their way towards them. One of the riders carried an oil lantern. He was quick to take note of the red tunics they wore, with a singular three-pronged star shape printed in white on the abdomen and lower chest area.
Two of the people seemed to be men, based on their voices alone, and soon their rigorous as matured knightley looks. Hardly did they look charismatic, but they appeared with visible scars on their faces.
The third one however, lagging behind the two, was not a man.
A woman dressed in tan vested pastel pink healer's robes with a wooden tree staff in her hand, was shifting her body side to side attempting to see ahead of the men.
"Sephir, what do we do? We don't know how strong these people are..." Ritorureddo tugged at her hood until it was over her head with one hand, watching the approaching strangers.
"Hm.." Jack eyes traced over the shapes which were coming closer to them. He already knew the men while they looked weathered from their experiences in their lives, they were nothing compared to them.
From the standard he was seeing, it wasn't like the game.
Jack cast the spell known as『Character Appraisal』, his eyes flashing green for a second before returning to their ice blue hues. Names, levels, they were floating over the heads of the strangers.
Two level twenties and a level Fifteen. They were lower than the newbie beings he was escorting.
Why did strong seasoned warriors seem so weak?
Clicking his tongue against the back of his teeth in disappointment, Jack airily drew a spear from his inventory.
The weapon looked to be made out of a bluish-grey metallic alloy with a silver accent, the blade had a blackened surface with a glowing sky blue hue surrounding Enochian glyphs which were engraved into it. The body of the spear itself was wrapped in a dark woven turquoise material.
If one looked it over quickly, one could notice that the spear had a much smaller blade at the bottom of the weapon. There was even a magical jewel which seemed to be implanted right over where it was attached. The weapon itself gave off a holy aura, illuminating a radius of a mere few inches.
"They're around the level of yourselves," Jack informed before the strangers were within earshot. "So if things get rough, I can only assume you'll all be able to handle yourselves."
While he was saying this, he knew that he'd step in if he had to, his sense of responsibility definitely kicked in. His cold eyes remained on the oncoming trio.
The newbs practically let out sighs of relief, but that didn't take Little Red away from his side. She seemed to have attached herself to his leg, peering around him from his lower back.
As the three horses came towards them, they stopped about ten meters away and formed a semi-circle in front of the party.
"Who goes there!?" The one known as Briggs shouted, though he clearly wasn't the one in charge.
Sir Reginald caressed his chin, he was wearing an open face iron helmet with a brown leather band around it. It somewhat reminded Jack of the a typical European helmet, along with the red tunic and white triple edged star.
"It's only fair should you introduce yourselves first, before asking another's names, is it not?" Jack inquired politely with a hand raised. Yet he had no real expression on his face, unimpressed with the new company they were having.
Briggs scowled, balling his fist, ready to rush him only to hear the other horseman speak.
"My name is Sir Reginald Hellington," said the fellow wearing the iron helm.
"I am Sully Briggs," he said arrogantly, tilting his head up with an 'I am far superior than thou are' attitude all over his face.
"This is Niria Hamlet, she spotted a bright light in this area while transversing home through her village." The man who seemed to be in charge of the small group informed, gesturing towards the healer which was in the center of the two.
Reginald's eyes rested on Jack's spear, before looking back towards Niria, the woman he had pointed towards mere seconds ago.
Niria seemed to nod to him, as if knowing exactly what he was thinking. The light was similar to the glow of the spear. It had been this man here, or something he had done, which made the light appear.
Jack raised a brow, "And this village is in the forest?"
"...Yes, it is..." Niria finally spoke up, clearly introverted and having a hard time keeping the form of words together.
Sounded defensible and hidden, rather unlikely to be found by someone who wasn't looking.
"What brings you to these parts?" Reginald inquired in an inquisitive manner, patting the mane of the horse before sliding off the side of his saddle. One foot on the ground at a time, he'd look over the odd group of mix matched beings. What seems to be a giant with a small elf clinging to them, a High Human with a sword and an unknown dressed in brown leather layered robes, were there in front of them.
Reginald's eyes squinted at the being, they were hiding every little bit of themselves, their identity, within those robes. "And may you identify yourselves?"
"My name is..." Jack flexed his eyelids as he was thinking of using his real name. These guys, they didn't seem to be or act like NPCs. They had minds of their own, they weren't necessarily programmed. "This isn't Sekai no Kyū, right?"
"Sek.. What? No, this is the Kingdom of Greyhorn."
Jack and the other members of his party exchanged glances before their eyes back on the Knight. No one had heard of such a Kingdom in the game. Perhaps, this wasn't the game.
They couldn't log out. They couldn't use the hub, and definitely, they couldn't message anyone.
"My name is Jack Graham," the Angel proclaimed with a monotonous and stoic voice before he took in a long inhale, liking the smell of the pine trees which stretched for miles upon miles. It was as if his sense of smell covered as far as the eye could see, if not farther beyond.
Little Red immediately looked up at him from his side, staring, her lips parted.
Most of the people here heard of the guy from a viral interview that aired on the web. They had no idea Jack was who he just said he was, and it shocked all three of the other players.
Turning her head to look at the taller humans in front of their group, "My name is Runa Masuda..." She briefly pitched her head down in a light bow, before raising her head.
"Take Nakajima," the Swordsman rolled their eyes and looked towards the robed man, a sweat drop appearing on the side of their head. Could the skeleton even talk to these people?
With the use of『Mass Connection』the skeleton was telepathically connected with the party, as well as the new arrivals almost instantly. "Hello, weary travelers!" The Skeleton was starting to sound like a cliché barkeep at a tavern, or some old weathered man-witch leading adventurer's to their doom. "My name is Kokei Handa, it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance.
Reginald and the two other strangers just stared at the brown robed individual, "Can he not… Speak regularly?" HIs eyes shifted towards the largest being of the group, assuming he was the leader or at least the strongest of the bunch.
"No, he doesn't have a voice box." Jack brought two fingers to his throat and tapped at his adams apple.
"Ah… Pity that one," letting out a sigh Reginald gave a once over to the other two humans, then back to the party in front of him. "It's dangerous after dark, monsters roam these forests. Perhaps you'd like to stay the night at the village?"
Jack brought his two fingers to his lips in a thoughtful gesture, "Sounds like a plan. We'll be needing information to continue our travels."
The Knight nodded understandingly. This was the middle of nowhere, the frontier so to speak. "Just keep your elven slave close to yourself, would you? Their kind have been causing problems lately, we'd hardly want her getting mixed up in any mishaps."
The one now known as Runa twitched at the words that proclaimed her Jack's slave.
Jack hardly responded to this with any change in his expressions and simply nodded, as if agreeing. "Of course. She is my responsibility, so know this. Should anyone touch my companions, they will surely regret it."
Reginald and Sully gazed through the man for a brief minute, before nodding, whether or not they took him seriously has yet to be seen.