Despite tackling a monster that was much more stronger than what they should be able to handle, Gil's party came back unharmed and well. With that, Gil was finally recognized by the guild and got promoted as their party's leader.
It looks like the battle with the wyvern from before has given Gil the motivation to get even more stronger. He trained more than usual and he got stronger in return. He was talented already, so all he needed was to train a bit more to find success.
After the ordeal of promotion, their party had a bit of celebration, and a party was held at the guild. There, Gil announced that they will be leaving the city, to have more experience as adventurers and to spread their names in the country.
Most people encouraged them, but there were some who were reluctant to let them go. Of course, most of them were the women who idolized Gil.
After his rank-up, it seems he got ahead of himself and asked me to become his bride again. Obviously, I refused. Gil seemed to be dissapointed, but he nevertheless respected and accepted my decision.
"I'm sure you cannot say the same thing again after I become the strongest, so I'll just wait until then."
Or so he says with such determined look on his face. After that, he simply left, together with everyone.
Even when they're gone, I continued my work as an adventurer as usual. It looks like their presence in the guild helped on guarding me from other adventurers. When they left, a number of parties tried to recruit me and take advantage of the opportunity.
I'm not a member of Gil's party, but it seems like our relationship made the others cautious of targeting me. Now that they're gone, I'm vulnerable to people's interests.
It was a pain how so many adventurers persistently try to recruit me again and again. I didn't want to join anyone, since most of them were selfish and perverted assholes who were only interested in me because of my appearance. I was so distressed by their persistence that I almost quit being an adventurer all together.
Thankfully, Julian was there to lend me his thoughts.
"Why not make your own party? That way, they'll stop trying to recruit you."
It was a good suggestion, but... I didn't have anyone to team up with.
"H-hey!"
Just when I was about to give up on looking for a member, someone aggressively tackled me from behind. I was caught off guard, so I stumbled on the ground and fell.
"What is this about...?" I complained while scratching the pain on my head.
"He-hey, miss! Catch that girl! She's a thief!"
"Huh...?"
That was when I met her, a small child named Soap. She wore rugged clothes and she was dirty. Her age appear to be that of an early middle-schooler, but her physical attributes was high enough to knock me back afar. I realized later that she was a demon child.
When I saved her from those merchants she stole from, she got attached to me and stalked me everyday. It did not take long for us to get familiar with each other.
Soap was my first party member.
With the intention of helping me, Julian offered me a beastkin slave. Standing about two meters tall with a hunched back, he was a werewolf. They were usually a horrifying and aggressive race, but the magic-induced collar on his neck makes him tame.
I was against owning a slave, so I refused Julian's offer. However, when I realized how that beastkin will be treated if I didn't take him, I couldn't help but take pity. In the end, I took him with me too.
The wolfkin's name was difficult to pronounce in common language, so Julian suggested on giving him another one. I named him Van, after a popular monster hunter in my previous world.
Van's sharp teeth and dog-shaped head gather much attention. He wasn't anything like Riget or the other beastkin I've seen so far.
He was terrifying just by his appearance alone, but another aspect of him that makes him even more scary was his strength. Physically, he's stronger than Julian and I.
Despite my hesitation to take him in, Van was the second member of my party.
Somehow, I felt like I suddenly had two children to take care of. A demon child and a monstrous beastkin...
Like a proper parent and teacher, I taught them basic knowledge. Both of them learned how to read and write, and they also learned etiquette and mathematics in a short time.
Van was physically stronger than me, but he only uses his claws as weapons. To make him even more stronger than he already was, I taught him how to use swords.
Soap has great physical attributes as well, but magic is were she truly shines. I thought her magic, so she became even more powerful.
As a party, Van served as the frontline, while Soap filled our backline. My role was to switch in between.
So time pass with us working together as a party.