Immediately, people start forming groups. I turn to Matt and Alcon.
"We need to find Natalia. She's a healer and every party needs a healer. It's the basics."
"Screw you losers, I'm gonna find a group of super strong people and we'll be the ultimate team!"
I watch as Alcon shoves his way into the crowd, shouting about his strength and how any party would be lucky to have him.
I roll my eyes and turn back to Matt.
"He can do his own thing. Do you see her in the crowd?"
I let him and his few extra inches look around.
"Let me see. It looks like someone is pushing through the crowd away from us."
"That's out best bet! Take us in that direction."
We push into the crowd of people looking for their friends and the strongest looking people.
I get a few invitations, but completely ignore them. I've got a one track mind to find Natalia.
"We are coming up on it!"
"Natalia! Where are you?!"
I feel a tug on my sleeve.
"Right here dummy. Why do you gotta be so loud?"
I almost melt in relief.
I kneel down to her height and shoot her a lopsided smile.
"How's it going Natalia? Will you join my party?"
She 'thinks' about it for a little bit, then nods.
"Why not. It seems like you're pretty reliable."
My smile grows wider as I stand up.
Matt is looking around us with a hint of worry on his face.
"It's great that we found Natalia, but now we need three more people. Do you two have any ideas?"
I calmly place my hand on his shoulder.
"Well, we should be getting Alcon any minute now. Other than that, we wait."
***
In the end Alcon came sulking back to us.
Everyone instantly turned him down, which I painfully expected.
We also managed to find a Scout named Ian. He stands a little shorter than me and is much leaner.
I recognize him from the group of guys that were messing around in the forest. If I remember correctly, he was one of the more quiet ones.
I'm still not sure why he wanted to join our party, especially since he seemed to have all those friends.
He keeps stealing peeks at Natalia and looking away quickly when she looks in his general direction. While I don't know for sure what it's about, I can't help but feel a little annoyed.
'Just ignore it for now.'
We also found a female Berserker named Bernadette. Unlike Alcon, she doesn't talk much, which lead to her not getting picked.
I didn't particularly care if she talked a lot or not, so we let her join the party.
She has a sort of natural pretty look, with her braided brown hair and forest green eyes, that makes it hard to not look at her.
She's tall for a woman, about 5 foot 8 inches.
This seems to make Alcon self conscious since, every few seconds, he straightens his posture in an effort to make himself look as tall as possible.
Unfortunately, he's roughly the same height as her, so his efforts are pointless.
Right now we're on the grass plains to the south of Differentia.
Each party has made their own temporary base out of supplies given by the guild. Large tents serve as a storage shed for weapons, armor, and other equipment.
Each party should be going over the battle plan and formations they'll be using.
As for my group, Matt and Alcon are getting over an argument right now. I think that in this one they were arguing if sandals were shoes or not.
It was so pointless and stupid, I lost brain cells listening to it, mostly because of Alcon.
In the lull of their constant bickering, I jump in and grab everyone's attention.
"What's the plan guys? What is our formation going to be, what's our goal for this battle, so on and so forth. We need to figure this all out before the goblins arrive."
"I'm just gonna slaughter all of them by myself. You idiots won't have to do anything. So I'd better get all the reward money!"
Alcon follows this with a boisterous laugh.
In my time with Burch, I had learned some of his facial expressions.
So in response, I muster my best 'are you an idiot or something' face possible and aim it directly at him.
He seems to be resistant to the facial expression, and doesn't get the hint. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I take a moment to calm myself.
With a deep breath, my emotions are under control. I glance at everyone in turn, and then finally finish on Alcon.
"We need to do this as a team. I know you want to prove how strong you are, so do that as a tank. Protect the rest of us from the goblins and we'll support you. Bernadette, you'll also be on the front lines as a tank. I'm sure you already know that since you're a Berserker."
She gives a small nod of understanding. A determined light shines in her eyes.
"Ian and I will be on the sides to support those two and serve as a second line of defense for Natalia, who will be in the middle supporting all of us with healing magic. Matt will be supporting us in the back. I hope that's okay with everyone?"
They all respond at the same time, creating a jumble of voices and words. I think I heard Alcon say her would follow it until someone else messes up. Bernadette just noded again.
'She really doesn't talk much.'
"Hey, should we do a cheer for victory or something?"
The idea is introduced by Ian.
After thinking about it for a bit, we all stand up and put our hand in the middle of a circle.
"So who's gonna start it?"
"May I recommend Kairo? He is the one that came up with our formation."
"Really? Are you guys sure?"
"Yes, why not?! It seems appropriate."
Everyone agrees with Matt except for Alcon, who grumbles a bit but doesn't make a big deal about it.
Smiling, I shout the first thing that comes to mind.
"We've got this guys! Victory!"
"""""Victory!!!"""""
Even Bernadette joins in. We get a few odd looks, but no one cares.
It starts to feel like we're an actual party.
Our happiness lasts only for a second. Soon after our cheer, a horn goes off in the distance.
A scout sprints from the woods, stopping a short distance from the front of our encampment.
After a few seconds of breathless gasps, he finally finds his voice and shouts at the top of his lungs.
"THE GOBLINS ARE HERE!"