Lobo? It was the guy from the sword group guarding the caravan. The Defending Tip. They were unexpectedly here at the same place and time as Bang and Ligi. What a weird coincidence.
"Ban? Bang? Oh Bang!"
Bang and Ligi both had a confused face staring at Lobo. Bang was thinking to himself the chances of them meeting again. He thought maybe this was the work of the system. Ligi on the other hand only looked at Lobo with a cautious eye. They may have been following them the entire time and set up a trap. It was his job to know these kinds of things and the dangers it possesses.
"Lobo? What are you also doing here?"
Lobo looked at his comrades and assed what he could say. He also looked in the direction of the valley and went back to Bang.
"Oh you know, just some stuff."
Yeah, just some stuff. It's not like they were on the precipice of entering the Dreaded Valley. No big deal.
"Yeah, us too....just looking around."
At that remark, some of Lobo's crew mates started snickering. They looked at Bang and could not decide if he was joking or not. Lobo then turned around and gave them a sharp look as if saying to shut up.
"Sorry about that, are you sure you're just looking around?"
Lobo gave a squint as he said that. Bang didn't understand the subtle actions of Lobo and just answered honestly.
"Yeah, is there something wrong with that?"
Lobo just stayed silent at Bang's answer. He then decided something without the approval of his crew mates.
"Why don't you just join us for now? It's dangerous out here alone. Let me introduce you to our leader."
This immediately warranted some reactions at Lobo's side. He ignored them and just stared at Bang waiting for his answer. Bang thought about the pros and cons of the proposal.
'Our job is just to survey the valley, having numbers will definitely lower the danger. I see no cons here, the system's staying silent too.'
"Yeah, sure. Why not."
At the confirmation, Lobo smiled. It seemed like Lobo did a good thing by recruiting Bang, which is the opposite of what his fellow crew members thought. But they never saw the power Ligi had.
Bang and Ligi followed Lobo back to the main group of the Defending Tip. They all wore leather vests with leather shoulder guards. In their waists were bottles of liquid that had different colors. Bang guessed that these were what they oiled their swords with.
The main group was not a small group. They had at least 50 people just standing by and caressing their swords. They all looked at Bang and Ligi curiously and looked at their leader for instructions.
Lobo walked past people and directly went into the center of the group. Their leader was a middle aged man with short hair that was neither messy nor orderly. You could see he had some years behind him but he had a clean shaven chin. As soon as Bang and Ligi was noticed, the man looked at them as if studying them intensely.
"Leader, these were the two I was talking about before."
Bang looked curiously at the leader of the Defending Tip. They looked at each other and neither party spoke. Feeling it was awkward, Lobo decided to introduce them to each other.
"Leader, this is Bang and Ligi. Bang, this is Gotang."
After the introduction, Gotang finally spoke. It was like he was waiting who would make the first move.
"Hello, nice to meet you."
"Hello to you too."
Bang reciprocated the formal greeting. He would be depending on them for his safety so being polite was probably the best bet.
After greeting Bang, Gotang turned to Ligi and greeted him with the same manner and respect.
"Hello, nice to meet you."
"........"
Ligi just stayed silent. There was something about this that Ligi did not like. He was wary of any movements they would make because being surrounded like this brought some memories to him. He could only defend Bang on one side. In his head, he was already thinking of an escape plan.
Gotang noticed the behavior of Ligi. He wasn't mad that his greeting wasn't reciprocated but instead was interested in it. In Gotang's eyes was a sense of familiarity. He saw something in Ligi that he saw from himself, and another close friend he had. He could even see his former self in Ligi. The caution, the perception, and reservedness was all the characteristics he had when he was younger. Of course, nobody knew this except for him.
Bang was kind of nervous to what kind of reaction Gotang would take because of Ligi's silence. His heart was beating loudly but the anger did not come. He was thankful that nothing happened.
The tension in the space was suddenly broken when a tree suddenly fell. The sound surprised everyone and they all instinctively took out their swords and went into position. They positioned themselves in a circle protecting Gotang with layers and layers of people. Ligi went near Bang and took out his shield.
They all looked at the direction where the tree fell and there was a figure there. For Bang and Ligi, this was an unknown person but for the Defending Tip, it was a sight for sore eyes.
The teen wore the same outfit and armor as the Defending Tip but it was deliberately cut in pieces allowing more freedom. In turn, this looked like it wouldn't work to protect from attacks as expected.
As soon as Bang saw him, a notification popped up.
'Potential crew member found. Advancing main quest.'
+++++++++++++++
QUEST
-Main Quest
•Self defense
*Travel to the Dreaded Valley
•Fighter crew member
*Follow the Defending Tip in the Dreaded Valley
-Side Quest
+++++++++++++++
'WHAT?!?!'
Bang stared at the teen who looked the same age as him and had curvy and flowy hair. The system told him this was another potential crew member. He couldn't judge the situation because he heard Lobo speak in a hushed voice.
"Resi, what are you doing!!!!!"
Lobo marched down into where Resi was standing with fumes coming out of his ear.
"Oops! Hehe."
The teen named Resi only gave a small chuckle as he escaped from Lobo's clutches. He smiled as if he liked messing with Lobo on a regular basis. And judging from the crew member's reaction, Bang would guess it was pretty often.
"I'm sorry about that. He's Resi, our resident trouble maker."
Looks like Bang's next member would be a troublesome one. Bang didn't know what to think of that. Then, Bang heard a deep and commanding tone from Gotang.
"Resi, come back here."
Resi reluctantly came running back to the center with a frown on his face.
"What did I tell you about behaving here in the Dreaded Valley?"
"......"
Resi only stayed quiet. He just turned away from Gotang and skulked. What's weird was that even though Resi was clearly unhappy, he still followed Gotang's words.
Feeling helpless, Gotang just sighed and thought to himself how to best remedy the behavior of Resi. Even though he loved Resi like his son, he wished sometimes Resi would be like himself.
'Maybe like Ligi. No, no.'
Gotang quickly corrected his thoughts. That would just bring up a whole lot of trouble. Then, a thought came up to his mind. He planned in his head wordlessly.
"So, are you guys ready to go to the Dreaded Valley?"
Bang heard Gotang speak to him and Ligi. There was certainly nothing more he could prepare. He just needs to get his mind in the game and just go for it.
Bang just gave a nod in affirmation. The members of the group all took out their swords and rubbed some liquid from their waists as preparation. Bang noticed that Gotang just used his hands and wiped his sword with it. Gotang's sword gleamed as if there was some kind of liquid surrounding it.
Bang didn't know what kind of powers they had but since they had a leader in this group, then it must be strong.
"Split according to your groups. Lobo come here."
"Yes, leader."
"I want you to form a group with Bang, Ligi, and Resi."
"What?!?!?!......Gota—Leader, are you sure?"
"Yes."
"I couldn't handle Resi alone, how could you add another wild card to that? Can't you put another member here?"
"No."
Gotang seemed adamant about his decision. Even though Lobo didn't like the idea, he would never disobey his leader. If his leader thought he could handle it, then he probably could, right?
"Resi, you hear that?"
Resi just turned away from Gotang as if he wasn't listening. He still skulked for some unknown reason.
"Are you guys okay with that?"
"Yeah, sure."
Looks like Gotang was helping Bang get another member. This trip is all in all beneficial for Bang so he wouldn't refuse the idea. Even though Resi looked hard to deal with, this gives him more time to know more about his future crew member. This is good, right?