Aldoun led the other magic knights to give me a surprise. A welcome party that made me smile happily. Even though it's just a game, this is the first time I've gotten something like this.
"Thank you very much everyone. It's very kind of you to welcome me with this lively party."
Sitting in the bar table, a senior magic knight with Mohawk hairstyle sipped a glass of beer then said as he stomped his glass.
"Of course we have to welcome you with a festive party. Since you already make an oath, you have become part of our family. You're old enough to drink, right? Bartender, give this kid a glass of beer as welcoming gift!"
Not too far from the mohawk-haired senior, a smooth-haired senior make a comments while playing with his mustache.
"You told him to drink but you treated him like a kid. Do you still have a grudge against being treated like a kid when you first became a magic knight. Jenner?"
Showing an annoyed look, Jenner said back, "Shut up! Just because you're growing a mustache doesn't mean you're older than me, Herling."
Seeing the two seniors in front of me fighting each other, the bartender who was also a magic knight handed me a glass of beer while saying, "Don't mind them, Jenner and Herling are magic knights from the same generation. It's just when they first joined, a senior always treated Jenner like a kid and Herling took the opportunity to continue taunting him. Even though they often fought, in a real battle they always looked after each other."
"Thank you, senior." I answered while taking the glass of beer from his hand.
"My name is Jonathan. I am a magic knight who spends more time in the dormitory than patrolling or doing quest outside the city."
"Why so?"
"I was assigned to look after and maintain the equipment so that it was always in the best condition. Besides that, every time they came home from work I was always asked to serves them drinks. Even though it's not official, they now consider me as bartender more than a magic knight."
"It must be hard for you." I said not knowing what to say.
Jonathan just laughed and answered, "Don't worry, I like what I'm doing. We are all family so you don't need to worry. Apart from that, if an act of bullying occurs, the first person who will respond strongly is Captain Aldoun."
Enjoying talking to Jonathan, Jenner approached me and asked, "Hey, why are you still not drinking that beer? If you're a man then drink it all the way down."
Jenner's loud voice made all the magic knights who were partying look at me and smile. I don't know who started it but they started shouting, "drink!" repeatedly.
Even though I am 17 years old already, I have never drunk any alcohol before. Who would have thought my first experience was not in the real world but in the game world. Not wanting to disappoint them, I brought the glass in my hand closer to my mouth. Unfortunately before I had time to drink a sip of beer, the dorm door opened loudly revealing a magic knight with a panicked expression.
"Captain, there's an emergency!"
Hearing the magic knight's words, Aldoun said, "Calm down and control yourself then explain what emergency situation is occurring."
After drinking a glass of water from Jonathan, the magic knight began to explain everything.
Today when he had just returned from carrying out a mission in another city, this magic knight walked past a village located in the border area of the Arcanium Kingdom and the Inzerno Kingdom. Just about 10 kilometers from Blight City.
This magic knight saw several people with suspicious appearances enter and create chaos in the village. There quite a lot of them and because he was alone, this magic knight decided to immediately report to Aldoun rather than help the villagers.
"I'm sorry captain. I had broken my oath by ignoring the villagers who were in dire need of help. You can punish me."
I saw the magic knight prostrate himself in front of Aldoun while crying but Aldoun didn't punish him and just said, "You are wise enough not to fight them all alone. I know this is a heavy blow but right now there are things we need to do."
"Anyone who is not drunk, get ready immediately because we will move to save the residents and arrest the unknown intruders."
Aldoun then turned to me and said, "Crimson Clover. You still haven't received training so it's very risky for you to take part in this quest. It's better for you to stay in the city and guard this city as a reserve force."
Such beautiful words to say that I am just a burden to them. I can't accept his decision so looking at Aldoun seriously, I said, "Captain, even though I have never taken formal training, I am still a magic knight who has taken an oath to protect this kingdom from all threats. I am not even drunk. I beg you to let me join because the best experience comes from actual combat."
All the magic knights looking at me with different eyes. If previously the thought of me as an ordinary recruit, my fieary words amazed them with my courage. Not many newly recruited magic knights dared to take on a dangerous, life-risking mission as their first quest.
Unfortunately, Aldoun' decision was final. Patting my shoulder, Aldoun said, "You have the pure soul of a magic knight and I like your spirit, but that's why I forbid you because I want you to have the qualities to take care of yourself before taking on a dangerous mission like this. Sorry, but I can't accept your request."
"What are you waiting for? Herling use your summoning magic and take us all to that village quickly!"
Receiving the captain orders, Herling immediately ran out of the dormitory and began to cast magic spells.
"O sky-dwelling serpent, obey the contract between us and appear before me. Summoning magic – Two-headed sky serpent!"
A huge magic circle appeared right above the sky of the magic knight dormitory. Opening the dimensional gate, a white two-headed snake came out and moved closer to Herling. It's size is five times of a school bus.
Stretching out the six wings on its back, all the magic knights including Aldoun immediately jumped up and they left with a two-headed white snake flying into the sky.
Now in the dorm is only me and a group of drunks magic knights who already unconscious. Jonathan also stayed behind to take care all of them.
I clenched my fist because I felt dissatisfied with Aldoun's decision but I can't do much. If the NPC doesn't want to give a quest to me then I won't get it even I beg like before.
My initial intention to log out disappeared and to vent my frustration, I chose to walk towards the players who were still gathered in the city. I've never talked to them and I think this is a good time to do so.
The players who saw me walking towards them started to stop talking and looked at me with various expressions.
"Umm, is there anything you need?" ask one of them to me.
I smiled and said, "You don't need to be tense. I just wanted to say hello because even though we play in the same city, we never talk freely like players in general. So I thought I'd say hello to you and get to know each other."
After I said that, one of them who had a bowl-like hair style came up to me and said, "It's an honor for us to know you, senior. Thanks to you we become better playing this game."
"Oh yeah? What did I do thou?"
"You're too modest. You've given us an example of acting to gain the NPCs trust so they're willing to give us some quests. Even though we still haven't gotten the chance to learn magic, at least some of us got money, equipment, and jobs in this city."
"You guys praise me too much besides there's no need to call me senior. My name in this game is Crimson Clover. Just call me with my game name."
Getting a friend requests, it turned out the name of the player I was talking to right now was Gentle Cock. Such funny name he used.
"Gentle Cock …" wanted to say something, Gentle Cock had interrupted me.
"Please call me GC. If you keep calling me Gentle Cock, it will feel strange."
"Then why you named yourself like that?" I asked confused.
"That's because previously I thought this name was cute. But the female NPCs actually looked at me with disgust when I introduced my name. So I ask people to just call me GC from now."
Meanwhile, while I was talking with the players to get to know them better, Aldoun and the other magic knights arrived above the village which had now become ruins with bloody corpses lying around.