"No!" Gram shouted, jumping up and down.
"I haven't even asked you yet!" I complained.
We had all shared the two steaks and mushrooms, slicing them thin and making sandwiches with them. I was offering the last one to Gram and he was having no part of my ploy. Somehow the old fart knew what I was going to ask, but I wasn't beat yet!
"Fine, I want you to come as a rearguard to protect the Mana users."
"No, I don't have a ribbon and you're too low of a Rank," Gram said in a matter-of-fact tone while snatching the sandwich from my hand, making it disappear under the hair faster than I could even react.
That made sense, even if we could the monsters would be too strong for us. Well, four was Okay, but…
"Are you looking for a tag-along? The nice and friendly roguish backdrop?"
I turned to see Blade Guy walking in with a full bag of something. He walked over to the table and poured out claws, horns, eyes, a hide, and a good number of purple gems. This guy was a monster! What Rank was he?
"I'm the same as you, but I have been doing things all my life. The only difference is the monsters are real and not human. I worked doing things for special people, so when this all came around, wow, yeah I was excited. Plus, this thing makes me feel like a god!" Blade Guy said shaking his ribbon.
"Gram will get you paid up and then it would be great if you came along. I know you're a soloist, but can you work as a team? I can see that your strong, or a remarkably good thief, I don't need a person that can't work as a team."
"Yes, Ma'am! I am at your disposal, I will follow commands, but I will also offer suggestions."
"Good, girls, are you ready to go? Corbit?" I asked, but then I heard my father calling for me to wait.
"K, wait! Take this!" Father said as he jogged over with a tower shield.
The thing was about my height, but it was just as wide as me.
"Dad...how do I carry it? It's as big as I am!"
"Watch! All you have to do is..."
My father did something where he was holding it and the whole thing shrunk to almost half of its size. I was stunned, I had never seen anything like that, and I had seen no cracks. It was an incredible piece of work!
"How did you make it? That's wonderful! Thank you so much!"
I was about to give him a hug, but he cleared his throat and I stopped. He was right without even speaking, that would not be good for my image. I took the shrunk shield, and it was very light, and the handle was comfortable, this was good work.
"I got it from a man who wants to meet you, this was a gift for you from him. He has many more crazy inventions that could help everyone. His name is Karem Sparks, and I asked him to come by tomorrow if that's okay? I figured that you would want to at least talk to him yourself."
"Thank you, James, I will meet with him tomorrow, but we all need to get going."
Our Group all headed out of town, making it through the city without anyone stopping us or succulent smells to distract me. The walk was quiet as well, I had really thought that Tim was going to say something, but it wasn't until we got into the dungeon that he finally spoke up.
"So, K, is that alright if I call you that?" Tim asked.
"Sure, but I will be calling you Tim. The Blade Guy doesn't sound very combat friendly," I said with a smile.
"Ick, if you must, fine, but traps? Do you need…ahhh! Dammit, blob! You almost got a blade!"
"Would I get to keep it? K, can I have a knife?" Gobby asked, turning to me.
"Your mouth is filled with knives, you don't need more. Gobby is my trap finder, you will see. I take the lead and collect aggro while you hit when you have the chance."
"Sound plan, I use a lot of ranged attacks so I can provide support, but I will make sure I don't steal your aggro and I will protect Miss Mei. Corbit will surprise us, and you might have to rank him up after this trip. Must have had something pretty spectacular happen to feel you so strong now. I saw you the other day wandering around town, and you aren't that same boy," Tim said, looking Corbit up and down.
"See K! I told you! I am gonna be a legend! The goddess Healia kissed me! AND I SURVIVED!" Corbit roared while jumping into the air.
"Get outta town?! You got a kiss from yours truly, our great Guilds Goddess?" Tim asked with an impressed tone.
"You bet your life! Put me in bed for a day! Now I'm ready to try something new, so if we get a room full of small mobs, let me take care of them!" Corbit spoke proudly while puffing out his chest.
"I'd give all the treasure I had her in this bag for a chance like that! In fact, I would give a week's worth of pay just for one kiss! You are gonna be one hell of a mana person or whatever you are called! Really, a kiss from that one eh, talk about luck!" Jim mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Are you two boys done yet? We have to do some work before it gets too dark, weirdos come out around the dungeon at night."
"I am ready when you are, everyone just needs to hold hands so someone doesn't get lost," Jim said.
Everyone grabbed a hand and we started to file inside. Time to take another trip into the dungeon!