Garm hands out the weapons to us summoned heroes, and gives each group a sheet of paper before speaking, "Now, each of your groups should be prepared to take on your first tasks. Don't worry, none of them are anything too dangerous. On your sheet of paper you should see information on your task. If you have extra questions ask a receptionist. As an extra note, in case you didn't discuss this with each other, each of you should be level 1 currently, so you should all aim to grow stronger together."
We look at our sheet of paper. Giant Rat slaying in the sewers. On the paper, it shows us where we can enter the sewers, as well as how to harvest proof of killing the rats, and how many to kill. We're expected to kill 20 Giant Rats over the next 4 days.
Varris looks over to me, "Giant Rats are monsters that look a lot like rats, although they're much more round, and are about three feet long. They're solitary creatures, and as such if their population gets too big, sometimes they'll find their way out of the sewers and into the city. They're considered a very easy monster to deal with, as they aren't very smart, but could be dangerous for an unprepared citizen."
"Thanks, that sort of info is real useful." I reply.
We get our things together and set out towards the sewers.
"Oh man, the smell is really repulsive." Calliope says.
"Well, it is a sewer after all." Varris replies as we begin moving through the sewers.
Its only a few minutes after we begin our search that we come across the first giant rat. It lets out a hiss and charges at us.
"Stand behind me." Varris says as he steps forward. There isn't a lot of room to maneuver in the sewers, but there is enough space to move past each other. Calliope takes up position just behind Varris and begins stabbing at the rat as Varris uses his wooden shield to keep it pinned as it tries to attack him. Unfortunately Elys and I can't get any ranged attacks in given the close quarters. So I take to being vigilant of our environment instead. It doesn't take long for the rat to die.
Varris cuts off its tail, and puts it into a leather drawbag, the proof of our kill for the guild..
"If we get the opportunity in future fights, I think it would be good for Elys or myself try to get some shots in early before we break out into melee." I say, "I think its important for us to get used to fighting as a full team. Unfortunately down here, its not the best for fighting as a full group."
"Alright, if we spot any without them spotting us, we'll give you and Elys a chance to get some arrows out first." Varris responds.
A little later, we find another giant rat, and this time Elys and I get some surprise arrows in before Varris and Calliope take it down. The next few hours are filled with the same general pattern of searching through the sewers, finding a giant rat, and taking it down. The rats are a very simple beast and will just continue to run into Varris's shield until they die, so its a relatively safe, if smelly, endeavor. After taking down our sixth rat, all of us pause simultaneously. It seems like everyone has gotten the same sort of update as I did. I've reached level 2. It doesn't come with any particular bonuses outside of some stats, of which I gain 1 point in all the stats except intelligence, which I gain two points in.
We decide to call it a day at this point, since its evening, we're hungry, we all leveled, and we have 3 more days the kill the remaining 14 giant rats. We make our way out of the sewer, and go to the adventurer's guild. Once there, we turn in the 6 giant rat tails we have so far, and the receptionist informs us that there is a place behind the guild to wash off, and advised us to do so, since we came out of the sewers.
After we all clean off, Varris and Calliope inform us that they'll be heading home for the night. Since they grew up here in the Capitol, they actually have their own places to sleep. Elys apparently has a room here in the adventurer's guild, being paid for by the royal family, as they said they would. I make a mental note to find out if Varris and Calliope are still getting money, or if its an expenses paid sort of situation. We agree to meet up tomorrow morning to continue with our rat hunting.
I say my goodbyes and head up to my room to take my armor off, and change into some less dirty clothes. Thinking of that, I should figure out how people clean their clothes in this world. After changing I head down to grab some food to eat. I decide to eat down in the lobby rather than in my room.
As I sit down, Elys comes down and gets her food as well. We make eye contact, and I wave her over to sit with me.
"Thanks for the invite. I haven't made any friends yet in the Capitol, so I was thinking I'd be eating alone." She says in a cheery tone.
"Sure, I'm in a similar boat, I mean, I don't really know anyone from this world, and the people from my world I don't know either, really, other than that they were from the same country as I was." I reply.
"That must be hard. I mean, I came here of my own volition, and I know that I could go see my family if I wanted, but you're sort of trapped here, in a lot of ways, you're worse off than I am." She responds.
"I'm at least a little thankful that the royal family is providing us some support, even if the situation is their fault. Its also nice to be kept busy. Some of the summoned heroes aren't particularly strong, so I imagine life for them is going to be much harder, even if I'm fighting monsters and they aren't, mentally, its got to be much worse." I say.
Elys makes a complicated expression, and I realize I might have brought the mood down a bit much, so for the rest of the meal we make small talk about our adventuring for the day and what we think might be useful in the future. After we finish dinner, we head to our rooms, and sleep easily takes me.