I arrived in front of the adventurer's guild at daybreak, meeting up with Ronda and a somewhat haughty Sylphie. Upon gathering, we shook hands and began introductions.
"As you probably know, my name is Ronda Beluvich and this is my partner, Sylphie Hurst. We are both E ranked adventurers. Nice to meetcha." [Ronda]
"I'm Dmitriy Vellin. I ranked adventurer so please take care of me this week." [Dmitriy]
"Of course. Let's talk in the guild before leaving though, there are some trivialities you need to know beforehand." [Ronda]
Ronda proceeds to lead us into the guild hall. Glancing at Sylphie, I notice that she is actively avoiding my gaze.
'Well its fine as long as she works with me before the danger begins.' [Dmitriy]
After sitting down, the meeting began. Ronda pulls out a map and begins explaining our direction of travel and the location we will be exploring. For this quest, Ronda explained that we would be heading due west along a forest trail until the Milvech Mountain Range. Once we reach the mountains, we will then begin to traverse through a small pass until we find the abandoned mine. The mineshaft is what we will be exploring and the quest says that we are to exterminate any and all monster nests along with determining if mining operations should continue. The pay was five yuran or 5 small silver coins.
After we agreed to Ronda's plan, I decided to ask Ronda about magic since she still has not told me anything.
"Ronda." [Dmitriy]
"What is it Dmitriy. Any questions?" [Ronda]
"Yeah, I have a few. First, can you tell me about magic now?" [Dmitriy]
Ronda gave me a cheeky smile and chuckled a bit.
"Well… Now that you are part of our party, I guess I could tell you. Are you ready to listen?" [Ronda]
I nod, prompting Ronda to continue.
"Remember when I told you that magic was created by the gods within the 7th Orthodox?" [Ronda]
I nod again, prompting Ronda to continue.
"At the time, I only told you what each god's element was; however, each element is more akin to a gift than a god's dominion. Simply put, all you have to do is visit the church, pray, and, if you're lucky, you will be blessed by a god. These people who awaken their first element can awaken other elements if they gain the favor of another god, but this is rare due to personality preference and this and that so people usually visit the church twice to confirm. You have any other questions?" [Ronda]
I sat silently. To me, the simplicity of the whole system was rather… disappointing. More specifically, I was disappointed in myself for never piecing together that simply visiting a church would, at least, hint at how to acquire magic from magic gods with their own religion.
Groaning, I looked down at the table. At that moment, I realized why everyone in the guild started laughing at me for asking about magic. It wasn't because of the randomness of the question, but because of how stupid it made me seem.
Automatically, my mouth drew a thin line across my face. I then resolved to leave the country as soon as humanly possible.
"Quite simple isn't it? I guess you are still a child in some regards, that depressed face is cu~te." [Ronda]
Looking back up, I see Ronda grinning at me and I immediately assume a stoic expression once again. Ronda's teasing continues, but ignoring Ronda's incessant comments, I barge through with a second question.
"One more question, what types of monsters do you expect to find in the mine?" [Dmitriy]
"Now that's a good one so here's your answer. Personally, I would venture that goblins built a small village within the cave. They may have a caster goblin and some orcs. There will maybe be slimes, bat species, possibly giant rats and, most likely, some arachnids and insects. That is..." [Ronda]
Ronda's eyes turned distant.
"That is if there are no creatures within the cave that... Nevermind, the likelihood of that is nonexistent. Like I said, prepare for goblins, bugs, bats, and rodents." [Ronda]
Following Ronda's request and brushing away the unspoken improbability, I found that, surprisingly, I recognized the name of most of the creatures or could associate them to something from my old world. However, I immediately placed a damper upon my surprise as I remembered the giant insects from my world's Permian era. After all, Ronda did say we would be fighting giant rats, which were fairly easy to picture, but giant arachnids.
I shivered involuntarily.
"Is that all you wanted to ask?" [Ronda]
"Yeah that's all I wanted to ask for now." [Dmitriy]
"Great! Then let's rent some horses and get going." [Ronda]
Concluding the party's discussion, we all stood up and walked out of the guild hall towards the stables behind it. There, we rented three swift horses along with provisions and tack for the animals. We then walked through the city and quickly left through the western gate.
Our journey westward lasted 14 hours. Nothing of import occurred while traveling and we even managed refrained from stopping for lunch and dinner. If we ignored Sylphie's plaintive cries of despair, then the journey was rather pleasant compared to my expectations
I mean, we didn't even encounter a slime or wild beast to hold us up. The only stops we took were to give the horses water from an occasional stream, but these rests didn't last long.
Upon arriving at the mines, I began to set up camp, although the only tasks I had to complete were creating a cookfire and making us a belated dinner. Ronda also asked me why I hadn't set up a tent so I told her my plan.
Though Ronda appeared confused once she found out I would be tying myself to a tree limb for the night. Suffice to say, she wandered off sporting a complicated expression upon her face. That night, we ate a quiet dinner of makeshift stew and promptly retired to our beds or tree, depending on the person.
The next day, Ronda and Sylphie awoke early. In fact, I could smell the cookfire making breakfast before I even opened my eyes.
Silently, I untied myself from my sleeping limb and hopped off of the tree, tucking into a roll to avoid botching the landing.
"I see you're awake Dmitriy." [Ronda]
I silently nod, noticing Ronda nudging Sylphie, who sat beside her.
"Good morning..." [Sylphie]
Her words were quiet and had little emotion behind them, but they still surprised me. After all, I wasn't expecting her to even look at me after our dispute in the guildhall.
"Good morning Sylphie, Ronda." [Dmitriy]
This time, I reply and sit down across from the two.
Looking over the cookfire, I notice that this morning's breakfast consists of crispy bacon and some mysterious leaf-like vegetable that is cooked like a pancake. Coincidentally, the leaf inflates like one too, but it doesn't bubble. Perhaps feeling my gaze, Ronda decides to break the icy atmosphere.
"Bacon and yoruk. True, it's simple, but I hope that you find it to your liking unlike a certain someone here." [Ronda]
Sylphie's head jerks up and swivels towards Ronda. Pouting, she narrows her eyes to dangerous slits. Ronda splendidly ignores her and bravely barges forward.
"You see, Sylphie doesn't really like yoruk that much because she is a picky eater." [Ronda]
"Hey! I'm not a picky eater! I eat everything presented before me without complaint! How can I possibly be a picky eater?" [Sylphie]
"Well, let's see. I guess that picking out the mushrooms from your quiche is not being picky and separating the onions and yoruk from your fried vegetables is simply because they taste better after they ferment in the trash for weeks. Oh! And..." [Ronda]
Sylphie's cheeks are dyed red to her ears at this point and I can picture steam blowing out from her ears.
"I'm not a picky eater!!" [Sylphie]
At this point, I couldn't contain my laughter further. The comical scene before me is just too much, even for an abnormal teenage boy such as myself.
Ronda glances at me and bursts into laughter as well.
Sylphie, however, plops back down and pouts, but the infectious laughter eventually cracks through her anger, prompting her to join. Like this, the ice that existed finally thawed and the airheaded Sylphie permanently forgot why she hated me.
Once our laughter subsided into giddy chuckles, or embarrassed depending on the person, Ronda began serving breakfast and steered our conversation to our current objective.
"Now that we can actually talk to each other, I'd like to review what we know about our quest. First off, we are subjugating monsters that are living within the mines. As I said yesterday, we can expect goblins, slimes, bats, and other giant critters, but be prepared for anything. Our second objective is to determine if the mine is still rich in resources. From what I found out, this mine mainly exported silver and cadmium. Any questions you two?" [Ronda]
Sylphie shook her head, but I decided to speak up.
"What does raw cadmium look like?" [Dmitriy]
In actuality, I had no idea what cadmium was, much less what it looked like; however, I didn't need to know what it was, just how to identify it like when it was encased with stone.
"Cadmium is a shiny orangish-brown ore. It reflects light quite well so you should have no trouble finding it. A good way to identify it is to think of rust if it was shiny and polished. Got it?" [Ronda]
"Yeah, please continue." [Dmitriy]
I nod in affirmation towards Ronda, signaling for her to continue.
"Good, now take time to prepare your belongings and only bring what you need." [Ronda]
Although short, the briefing ended there and we quickly finished our meal.
Sylphie, as Ronda predicted, didn't eat her yoruk. Personally, I thought it tasted tangy and sweet. Come to think of it, it was slightly reminiscent to ranch and fries, but alas, it was just a lightly charred leaf that tasted very good.
We then gathered necessary supplies that could be carried on our person : food, water, lanterns, etc. Finally, I felt I was ready to officially begin my first quest for the adventurer's guild.