We ran as quickly as possible to Litherger Merchant District, east of Adventurer Guild. Along the way, we slipped the through the crowd but unfortunately Robert hit a lady that brought a lot of fruit with her. So we need to help her a bit. After that, we quickly ran east and from afar, we saw a glimpse of a young man that has been waiting for something. But we also saw two knights approached him and asked him. The young man sweetly smiled at two knights and then they flustered. They bowed their head many times and then left.
"Father! I'm sorry that we forgot about you!" I talked while catching my breath.
"Haru-chan, Robert-chan…you two is so meanie…leaving me waiting for you alone…"
"Gomenasai (I'm sorry) Father, we are discussing something with our friends and we forgot you have waited here and with our carriage."
"Heiki-heiki (Don't Worry), your amazing father has prepared everything for his beloved sons!"
"Were those knights mistook you as a lost child, Father?"
"Ahahahaha…you got me there, Robert-chan." Father scratched his left cheek with his left index finger.
My father whose full name is Alexander Azilvanir von Alexandria is a hero of [The First Rain of Chaos] War. He was bestowed the title "Hero" from Queen Anne even though he isn't a full-fledged swordsman or knight, he is a merchant by trade. During the war, he brought thousands of [Savior's Tear] Potion to the army encampment and successfully saved the lives of thousand, or even hundred thousand people there. He also received a nobility as a [Duke] from Queen Anne for his heroic action on that time, dedication and loyalty towards the kingdom for thousands of years.
Normally, a merchant with high influence has a nobility rank of [Baron] or [Viscount] in the kingdom, but since he saved the lives of Kings and Queens from Sylph, Ignish and Holy Elf, they decided to bestow him the rank of [Duke]. After [The First Rain of Chaos] ended, father temporary retired from The Wardens Army and chose to manage his land and business. Of course, he still kept his promise to marry mother after the war ended.
Father himself can't be called as "Father" because he is very young! Yes indeed! He is like our little brother! He is always calling us "Haru-chan" or "Robert-chan" in front of other people so easily! Sometimes, he even used "cute and sweet" tone when talking with his children or even the Queen herself.
On daily life, he is a very doting parent. One time, I wanted to get rid of him (because he was always rubbing his cheek on me) by saying that my head is hurt. A few moments after that, he brought all doctors, healers and pharmacists from the entire kingdom to mansion. He even brought Royal Family Pharmacist without the Queen's permission. I remember it became quite chaotic at that time until mother was very angry and beat him into pulp. Poor him…until now, I still remember his face on that time after beaten up by mother.
I still remember the ruckus he created on my official engagement with Ayumi. He jumped on me and rubbed his cheek on me. It gets worse when he started crying like a baby while saying:
"Waaa!!! Haru-chan! Don't leave your beloved father behind! You said you wanted to take mother from me! You also said you wanted to marry Otou-chan!" Ayumi's parents, The Queen and The Prime Minister looked me with bewildered expression while the other guests looking me while giggling.
"FATHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!" I screamed with all my might at that time.
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"Haru-chan, Robert-chan…let father accompany you in this quest!" Father's sudden question awoken me from my thought. What the hell with that question?! Are we a toddler in front of your eyes?!
"No." we instantly replied with cold tone.
"Aww…" he sulks, and now he shows his cute sulking expression. I often wonder whether this man is my father or my little brother.
We escorted father back to his office and said our goodbye to him. Well, we need an extra effort to separate him from our body because he jumped and locked my left leg with his little body. Then, we left him into our Head Butler's hand and we went back to guild office. When we reached the office, everyone is still preparing his or her own carriages and necessities.
Rania checked the carriage's wheel and she glimpsed me, "Kaichou, where did you go? You left your beloved fiancée there…How cruel."
"Ehmm…I picked our carriages from my father and escorted him back to his office. After that, I bought few of our necessities in the market. That's all, did something—"
"EVERYONE WHO IS PART OF THE SUBJUGATION QUEST PLEASE COMES TO TRAINING GROUND!"
(Oh, that was Anya-san's voice…is it the time to depart already?) I checked my watch.
"Let's go, Kaichou." Rania pulled my left hand.
Rania walks with me to the training ground, on the way my other party members joined in and we walk together to the training ground. On the same time, other adventurers staring us with disbelieve and amazed gaze.
"Hey…it's the [White Falcon Party]…" Many people are looking and whispering about us.
"You mean THE [WHITE FALCON PARTY] that rumored as one of the strongest parties in Northlandia?"
"Of course! Did you know each party members are A-ranked?"
"Oh, really? I had no idea!" The girl covers her mouth, expressing her surprise.
"I know-I know! Can't you imagine it? Normally, one or two people in a party are the high-ranker member while the others only acted as complementary. It's very hard to raise every member in the party into High-Rank Adventurer. I'm sure their leader is a hard worker."
"Inaaa, watashi mo hoshii (How Lucky, I'm so Jealous), some of my party members are just bunch of freeloaders and slackers. Oh my…Our party's leader always has a hard time forcing them to raise their rank."
We often hear this sort of conversation every time we participate in large-scale or dangerous quest. I catch a glimpse of Rania and Thomas giggling and chuckling. I also saw Robert shows an "annoyed" expression.
[Heveinoirre Falconia] or [White Falcon] is our party name. Right now, we are one of the strongest adventurer parties in Northlandia, or even in the entire Holy Elf Kingdoms. At the beginning of our party creation, we were only a group of herb collectors. At that time, our party only consists of Robert, Rebecca, Roderick, Charlotte, Ayumi, Arianna, Gary, Elessa, Thomas, Rania, Anya, Yuna and me. We faced many problems together as party and became stronger little by little, as our influence grows so does our party members. We always keep a good track in our party, we never take an impossible quest if one or two of our party members were still weak.
Except that one time, we took a quest to subjugate demonic boar and we screwed up because our selfishness. After that, we learned something important from our failure. We learned that cooperation between party members is very important, so we started covering each other's weakness. They also starting to trust and follow the leader's orders. We have been using that tactic since then and now we have grown into a large and dependable party.
On our journey, we have met with many talented and experienced adventurers. We have been recruiting many members. As the leader of the party, I never neglected my party members, if they have a problem, I will help them as best as I can. I adopted this policy to other party members to build our trust and deepen our friendship with each other. Thankfully, most of them followed my advice even though a few of them are still competing with each other. But honestly, I don't mind a good competition since it can make them grow stronger. I also told them "Please don't let jealously blind you and respect your fellow adventurers because it'll cost you everything and it won't bring anything good."
"A wikliviash ago, our Guild Master, Pallero Thiserus received a direct order from Her Majesty, Anne Petroskyvia Reina to eradicate the remaining Blood Monsters and "them" in Raklera Valley. Those creatures have destroyed many villages around the forest and killed dozens of villagers. We have received reports that a few villagers have transformed into one of "them" and a few of these creatures have been spotted near the lake."
"That is bad, if they have reached the lake. They can poison other villages and turn them into their ranks."
"I agree, Robert." I nod in agreement.
"All parties will cooperate with each other and hunt the targets, as well as eradicating the targets that have been mentioned before. All participating party is allowed to take any part of Raklera Valley as their base of operation until the mission is over and the people from the Guilds will act as last resort. Lastly, we also have prepared the [Savior's Tear] Potions and without further delay, RETURN TO YOUR OWN CARRIAGES NOW!"
"YES SIR!"
"ALL ADVENTURERS WHO ARE PART OF THE RESERVE UNIT PLEASE RETURN TO GUILD CARRIAGES NOW!" The Guild Leader and Anya disbanded the gathering.
We proceeded to our carriages. Our party members who have [Knight] Class will drive the horses and carriages, Rogues will act as forward scouts, Warriors will be the vanguard and the Mages will take care of the tired horses and managing the supplies.
"How's your horse Robert?"
Robert rubs his horse's mane, "I think Albec is in good condition."
Albec replied it by licking Robert's cheek, "Oh shit!" That made Robert surprised.
"Leader, we are ready to go." Jack came to me while riding his horse.
"WHITE FALCON, IS EVERYONE READY? IF YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING, NOW'S YOUR LAST CHANCE!" I used [Loud Voice] Magic so everyone can hear my voice. A few moment later, I received a reply that everything is packed and we are ready to go.
"WHITE FALCON DEPARTS!" At my command, we started marching following the advance party.
At the gate, I showed my [Guild Card] and [Mission Paper] to the guards to authorize our departure. Then, we left Northlandia's North Gate.
Long after that, finally we passed "Raitharivia", The Holy Elf Kingdoms' Protection Barrier. I remember the distance from Northlandia to the rendezvous point is quite far. The Guild Master told us that we need four daesh in Northlandia Territory and almost a wikliviash in the wilderness to reach the valley. We need to reach our destination as fast as possible for this mission to minimize the causalities, but on other hand, we can't keep galloping all day without exhausting our horses.
"Jack, I think we have been galloping long enough, when will we reach the checkpoint?"
"We still need 2 heverra and 45 minerval to reach the first checkpoint. Did your butt hurts?"
"You saw through me. Is there any problem?"
"Luckily not, we are safe and there is no damage to the carriages either."
"Are any of our members have a motion sickness?"
"No, we are good. But if we keep galloping, I'm sure they would get sick, especially the ladies."
"Oh, by the way, [Riding] ability paired with any other useful travel skills and abilities will sure come to handy right now, don't you think so?"
"Surely, it will be nice to have them right now."