Kotori and Amelie stayed at the inn for a while. Apparently, since they were "adventurers" the kingdom was subsidizing their stay so they could lounge around all they wanted.
Despite this free lodging, their mood was overall very low. Amelie still had the slave collar on her and Kotori had been unable to figure out how it works. Attempts to take it off would cause Amelie to screech in pain. Kotori herself was still unsure of how it works. It didn't seem to do anything. All it seemed to be was a slender metal collar with a blueish jewel embedded in it. Kotori knew that Yooma had told her the collar would kill Amelie if she tried to rebel but she didn't even know the method by which it could kill in the first place. She could deduce that the jewel was some form of magic crystal found in a dungeon but she didn't know how magic crystals worked at all.
In the doom and gloom, Kotori was able to at least gain a parcel of hope that she would be able to figure out the mystery of the collar. They had been given their first assignment which was to help the local adventures clear out a cave-type dungeon nearby. The message which this assignment came with also had two metallic cards.
These were meant to be their passes. Which they could use to sell goods. But since Kotori and Amelie were technically being "punished" Their drops were going to be confiscated by the kingdom and they wouldn't be able to sell anything. As a result, they would have to survive off the meager salary that all hired adventurers got.
It wasn't much and basically amounted to *****
*Kotori does not come from earth but in dollars, it would be around 500$ a month per person.
Adventurers were supposed to supplement their income by selling monsters drops and thus their salaries were quite low. Even though, free adventurers could sell their spoils from the dungeon the kingdom still took a commission on it, so they could still profit.
Kotori's impressions of the kingdom were already bad but learning this piece of information from Yooma made her impression of the kingdom even worse, it seemed the royalty of the kingdom were exceedingly greedy.
As for Giorgio, the person who had hired them to smuggle in the first place he was nowhere to be found. She and Amelie went back to the adventurers guild and were unable to find him. Kotori mentally put him on the list of people who would get the [Reincarnator Harassment punishment]
Kotori and her spirit were now walking towards the dungeon with Amelie in tow where they were going to be grouping with their "party"
Apparently, The kingdom would decide your adventuring party. It would change quite frequently and although the stated reason was to help adventurers foster a "sense of community among a wider range of adventurers" she couldn't help but feel that it was meant to keep the adventurers from getting to know each other too well.
The dungeon itself looked like a simple cave. Which was very normal, as Kotori already learned in the wood elf village. She had spent their small break learning about dungeons at the adventurer's guilds. She already knew that dungeons were simply areas where mana accumulated particularly fast. But she also learned that in areas like a dungeon, they would be littered with Mana crystals and monsters to be killed and farmed. The monsters found in the dungeons would vary according to location and no one quite understood why it was like that. Kotori realized that people here didn't realize that Mana would accumulate in elements. Umi was created from her repeatedly expelling mana near a pool. If monsters were just spirits with unstable mana then it was obvious they would be created in relation to the environment as well.
As they approach the dungeon Kotori saw several men loitering around near the entrance. She had been told that they would be the only party in the dungeon and thus she assumed that this was her and Amelie's assigned "party". The men who had noticed Kotori and Amelie's waved them over.
There were three men there. One wore heavy metal armor and leaned on a great shield. He seemed to be quite muscular based on the size of his armor; He looked like he was once very handsome but now he looked like a crackly-skinned man with grey light stubble, He held a very lax expression as if he was half asleep.
Another wore robes and seemed to be a magical caster type. His face was slightly hidden by his robes but he had quite a sharp expression and angular feature. The last was a lightly armored rogue-like man with a mousy face that had a knowing look.
[Aren't they quite… old?] Kotori thought.
As she got a closer look at them she realized that all the men here looked to be quite old. If she had to guess they would be around 50-60 years old. Apparently, her deduction that adventurers were aging out of service was right.
"Oi Oi the newbies are here," the old man said that despite his appearance his voice still sound quite boisterous and full of energy.
"Hello, My name is Kotori and this is Amelie," She said, doing a slight respectful bow.
"We will be in your care"
"Ohoho, Quite a polite one I see." He eyed Amelie
"And a pretty one"
Amelie gave him a glare and he quickly laughed
"Mou Jou-chan*, I'm too old to be chasing girls anymore. I can barely get it up anymore!" He said laughing at his own crass joke.
*Translation "Cmon princess" Jou-chan is a less formal way of saying princess, meant to be slightly ironic
He stuck out his gloved hand for a handshake, but Amelie didn't take it
The man didn't seem to mind and refocused his attention on Kotori.
"I had heard that you would be young but aren't you still too young"
"I can fight and that is all" Kotori said.
"Good response! I like the confidence" he said
"Name's Gavin," He said introducing himself
"The guys in robes over there is Delvin and that mousy-looking rogue over there is Norbert."
Both men nodded in agreement.
"We'll be your party for today," Gavin said
"Usually we go as a group of 3 but Yooma asked a favor of us and now we're working with you" Gavin said
"We mostly play it slowly so you all can sit in the back or something. Frankly, we don't really need help."
"Great, I didn't want to work with you anyway" Kotori internally retorted