Today Sam was walking to the guild alone. Mia made it it clear that the last quest was too much work for her and that she would like to take a few days off. As usual the guild was teeming with adventurers, some talking about quest, others were just straight up drinking and eating. Founding the place rowdy as usual Sam, he rubbed his nose and made a beeline to the quest board.
He was standing in front if the board and looking for suitable quest when he heard someone's voice. "Never seen you before. Are you a new here?", there he was standing, clad in fancy golden armour, with a long sword on his waist, Arnold Berger an A rank adventurer and the star of the guild. Sam looked and immediately knew why he was called a star. His face, his speech and his actions made him look like a celebrity.
"I am Sam, I have recently registered myself as an adventurer. Nice to meet you", Sam greeted Arnold with a smile. "Hmm, I am Arnold Berger, an A rank adventurer. Nice to meet you too Sam", Arnold and Sam did a handshake and talked a little. Sam found Arnold's personality very likeable, Arnold treated him to some sandwich and even told him on how to level up faster.
"See you later Sam", Arnold was waiting for his party members and joined them after saying goodbye to Sam.
'What a nice person', Sam thought. Nobody could tell but a man hiding his identity in khaki colored clothe was sitting in one corner and watching Sam with a mysterious smile on his face.
Sam picked a job from the board and went to the registration counter only to find Tia had gone outside the town on some work. In place of her Thelene was working. "So you want to join the caravan protecting party", Thelene told Sam everything he needed to know about the quest and registered him. Sam would be acting as a back support for a caravan that would be going to the next city in two days. Since caravans carry many goods they were always looking for adventurers to protect the goods.
The caravan was travelling to Magnolia, a port town where there was going to be a big festival. Sam decided to buy necessary things in these two days and pack his stuff before leaving. He went to the market not knowing that someone was watching over him. For two days Sam bought whatever he needed and packed his luggage. He told Mia about his job and left her with Rose who was also staying there.
{ Have a safe trip }, Rose gave Sam a small protection charm. Sam went to the meeting place that was located in the city square. He found many carriages lined up there and many adventurers and merchants surrounding it. "Whoa, there are so many carriages here. Looks like this caravan is quite big", Sam found a soldier registering adventurers and he showed the soldier his job papers. "You are responsible for carriage twelve", the soldier gave Sam a paper and told him to meet Eiritz party. Eiritz and his team members were responsible for the protection of carriage twelve.
"one, two, three... there twelve", Sam found the carriage and went to it. A blonde man wearing a medium defense armour was standing and talking to a lady holding a staff. "Hello, My name is Sam and I have been assigned carriage twelve".
"We have been waiting for you. I am Eiritz and this Lucy", the blonde man introduced himself and the lady. He took Sam and introduces other members, "This is Helck-brawler, Toby-healer, Maria-archer and Kirin-shadow", Eiritz party was quite a balanced party as far as Sam could tell from his literature knowledge. "Nice to meet you everyone".
All in all the caravan was guarded by soldiers and adventurers. Most of the soldiers were using horses and Sam could sense animosity between the soldiers and adventurers. "Quite the security this caravan is packing but I can sense something odd with the soldiers", Sam spoke up his thoughts. "You are right. The soldiers usually think they are above us that is why they act all haughty", Eiritz told Sam knowing what was going on his mind.
The caravan set on its journey at noon and they also started moving with it. For three days the caravan continued moving until it reached a small village. There they all rested for one day while stocking on basic supplies and continued going to Hauter, a small town that lied at five days distance from Magnolia.
Hauter would be their last stop before they reached Magnolia and they had decided to leave Hauter within two days. But once they reached their they were forced to stay there because of bad weather. Intense rain and wind caused them to hold the carriages and their goods. "This sucks", they were stuck in their tents with the wind pulling the tent hard making it look like it will fly away any minute.
The rain and wind continued for two days and they all were very tired trying to mend the tents and looking after the goods during the bad weather. "I wish I could lay on a bed", Sam's eyes were filled with sleep and he had dark circles under his eyes. "I am going to look for a place to sleep", Sam slipped to get some rest after informing Lucy. He was moving through the streets when someone came for him from behind and hit him hard in the head after which he fainted.
"Uugh, my head hurts", Sam opened his eyes and found himself tied to a tree. "What happened? Where am I?", Sam struggled to free himself but the ropes were tightly binded and he couldn't do anything.
Just then a man came in front of him. He was wearing a white long jacket and had a scythe wrapped in clothes on his back. His sharp eyes and face gave Sam chills and he immediately knew this man was bad news for him. "You can't free yourself from my bindings no matter how much you struggle", laughing while saying this the man came in front of Sam and touched his cheeks. "I am a bad omen".
Sam turned his face away and asked, "What do you want from me?". The man retracted his hand and took out a paper from his pocket. "You have something that belongs to us, I am here to collect it and your soul", the man told Sam. Was he talking about Mia, his cryptic talks didn't help Sam with anything.
"I have taken nothing from you", Sam refuted his claims and struggled more to free himself. "Haha Look at you looking all innocent, but the verdict has been passed long ago", the man slowly took out his scythe out and flaunted it at Sam. 'Is he going to kill me with that', Sam was getting nervous with every passing minute.