The day after we accepted the quest, the fifteenth day of the tenth month, we went to the guild to meet the other party we are supposed to go with for the quest.
We're sitting in one of tables in the guild when a party of three approached us.
"Yo! You guys must be the Lumiere party," greeted the man with a red bandana on his head.
"That's right. I'm Greo Astral, the leader of Lumiere," I reached out my hand to offer a handshake.
"Pfft. You? You don't look that amazing. You look weak in fact," he scoffed, slapping my hand.
"And… there it is," sighed the female mage, clearly exhausted.
"Boss!?"
"Huh…"
Of course. We already expected this kind of reaction, that's why none of my party members reacted too much.
Except Aelee. The glass she's holding, looks like it's about to break.
In any case, I already told them that I'll handle things like this.
"Tell me. What's you class?" He asked.
"Summoner."
"Ahahahaha! This guy…! Are you serious? Haaah… I haven't laughed that much in a while. Alright, enough with this. Who's the actual leader?"
Aelee. Jiuru, and Zelentriya all pointed at me at the same time.
He looks agitated by their response. Guess I'll just suggest that.
"How about this? Let's do a sparring match. The winner can order around the other party during the quest."
"Tsk. Do I really need to waste my time for this?"
"I mean, if you're scared of losing that's fine too."
He gritted his teeth in anger. "Such big words! Fine, then! I'll make you eat those words!"
Jeez, young adventurers are really easy to get worked up.
"That's the spirit. Miss Bel, can you be our referee and witness?"
"Sure thing. You're free to use the training ground at the back of the guild."
"Thanks."
Accompanied by our parties and curious adventurers alike, Miss Bel led us to the back of the guild.
It is a pretty spacious place where different adventurers are training.
The guild is also offering training lessons to newbie or veteran adventurers alike. They have different trainers for different classes. Of course, you'll have to pay it. They also use this place to assess adventurers who applied for skip-rank test.
"Summoner boy."
"What is it?"
"Don't rough him up too much since we still need him for the quest tomorrow."
"Don't worry. He looks pretty strong, he'll be fine."
*****
After we arrived, the onlookers stood at the side of the training ground to watch and the two of us, along with Miss Bel, went in the middle.
"Well, then. There are few rules I need to place before we start. First; no killing. Second; no using of unique skills, and magic that are tier three or higher. Self-buffs are allowed. Lastly; I have the right to stop the match."
No killing is pretty much a common sense, but from time to time, there are adventurers who kills other adventurers in a sparring match and gloss it off as an 'accident'. The second rule is both for safety of the building and the audience as tier three to tier ten of magic can leave pretty serious damage to surroundings. Lastly, if the referee deems that one of them cannot continue any longer, they will have to stop the match to prevent any further damage.
"Hah! You'll need that last rule once I mess you up real good," he declared, pointing a wooden sword at me.
The guild also provides practice weapons like wooden sword, and wooden daggers that I'm using. That being said, they still hurt quite a lot when you get hit.
"Are you both ready?"
"Yes."
"Just start it already."
Miss Bel lifted a feather over her head.
"The match will start once this feather touches the ground. Get ready."
Miss Bel then started a countdown.
Three.
Two.
One.
The feather slowly fell onto the ground.
At that very moment, I kicked the ground and quickly closed gap between us.
"Wha—!?"
The surprised look on his face was pretty funny. He probably didn't expect that this will happen.
He has a pretty good reaction time as he was able to swing his sword at me. Although I easily avoided his attack simply by crouching.
Using the pommel of the wooden dagger on my right hand, I went in and struck his chin.
"Gah!"
This sent him up a few inches into the air.
Without wasting any time, I raised my left foot over my head and delivered a kick on his face that knocked him a few meters back. Before his body reached the ground, I casted an earth wall to catch it. And once it hit the wall with a loud thud, I sent a small water ball with stone bullet inside.
"Gahak!!"
With that last attack, he was not able to stand back up and lost consciousness on the spot.
"That's the match!" Announced Miss Bel.
"Phew…," I exhaled. "Let this be a lesson to you. Underestimating your opponent is one of the foolish thing you can do in a battle. Be cautious and be aware of your surroundings… But I guess you can't hear this huh."
"OHHH!!! Did you see what just happened!? That summoner beat the living hell out of that guy!" Exclaimed by one of the watching adventurers.
"No wonder they can quickly climb on the rankings. So this is how strong their leader, huh," complimented the fighter.
I'm pretty sure I'm only stronger than Jiuru, the rest are out of my reach… Well, they already know that.
Everyone who was watching was either surprised or amazed.
When I looked at the place where my members are watching, I found both Jiuru and Aelee with their arms crossed, grinning from ear to ear. Meanwhile, Zelentriya has her hand on her face.
Ah! Was that too much!? Hiie!
She just glared at me.
I'll ask Aelee to heal him later.
Avoiding her glare, I looked at Randal's members. The female mage only looks exhausted while the male fighter has his mouth wide open.
Miss Bel came over to me and raised my hand. "Winner. Greo Astral!" After letting go of my hand, she whispered, "Congratulations, Greo."
"Thank you."
After announcing my victory, Aelee, Jiuru, and Zelentriya also went by my side to congratulate me.
"That was amazing, brother Greo! You defeated him in an instant!"
"Good job, Greo. You did well."
"Thank you, Aelee, Jiuru."
"You did not have to add a stone bullet on that last attack." Asked Zelentriya.
"Uh… well…"
"Well, whatever. At least he's not that injured."
"That's right. Can you heal him, Aelee?"
"Sure. Only because you asked."
We then approached Randal who's surrounded by his members.
"Boss! Boss! Wake up!"
"This is why I keep telling him to stop acting like this… Haaaa…"
That's a long sigh.
"I'm sorry about that, uh…"
"Gretta. And that loud one is Balka."
"Gretta. Can you please let our healer heal him?"
"I was about to do it, but sure. She's an Arch Priest, right?"
So she's also their healer.
"Yes."
"Then, please do."
Aelee approached Randal. His head is being supported by Balka's hands as he tries to make him sit up. Aelee extended her hand and casted a healing spell. His wounds closed up and his bruises disappeared. After a while, Randal slowly opens his eyes.
"What… just happened…?"
"You lost. That's what happened," said Gretta.
"I see…," he slowly stood up. And while holding his stomach, he said, "I guess, we'll be fine on this quest then."
Somehow, he sounds so different. It's like the hotheadedness and rude conduct was nothing but an act.
"For now, why don't we go find a sit inside the guild?" I suggested.
*****
"So you're saying… He always does this whenever you team up with another party?"
We went inside the guild and found a table big enough to accommodate all seven of us.
"Yeah. Well, that's probably gonna end today. Look at the state he's in."
A bandage wrapped on his face except his mouth, eyes, and nose. And another bandage wrapped on his stomach.
"Right…"
I feel like I just did something bad.
"He may not look like it but he's a level five Platinum-III adventurer. He's pretty strong if I say so myself. And yet… You defeated him just like that."
"Well, it was just a sparring match…"
How do I answer this? Should I just say it's because I trained for twenty years or should I just say I have more experience?
"You said you're a summoner, right? What's your rank and level?"
"Ah, right. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Greo Astral. Level six, rank Silver-I."
Gretta also did the same. She introduced herself.
"Gretta Jikovia. Level three, rank Gold-I. Mage."
And so did Balka.
"Balka Sumel! Level five, my rank is the same as Gretta! Fighter!"
He really has a loud voice.
"Uh… I'll introduce our leader," said Gretta. "He's Randal Fulma. Like I told you earlier, he's a level five, Platinum-III adventurer. He's a swordsman."
Oh? One of the advanced classes of fighter.
Jiuru then introduced his self.
"My name is Jiuru Trelio. Level four, Platinum-I. Mage."
"Eh? Y-your rank is higher than Greo?"
"Yes?"
"No, nothing."
Aelee went next.
"Aelee. Level twenty-three, Gold-I. Arch Priest."
Both Gretta and Balka spat their drink.
"Twenty-three you say!?"
"Are you serious!?"
"T-then what's the little girl's level?" Gretta pointed to Zelentriya.
"Who are you calling little!?" She protested.
"Now, now. Calm down."
"Whatever. Zelentriya, Level forty-five, Platinum-I. Arch Mage."
"Ha…haha… Her level is higher than the king…," Gretta muttered.
She's broken.
"Aren't you guys like… pretty stacked? And like, most of you are on mage-line class. You ain't have any front line."
I slowly raised my hand. "I uh… go as the front line most of the time."
Gretta laughed. "Ahahaha! What a strange party you have."
Now that she mentioned it, it is pretty weird. We don't have any vanguard. Well, it's working so I guess I don't have to worry about it for now.
"We're getting sidetracked," I pointed out. "Let's discuss the quest."
"Right."
"As we agreed. We will be the leading party on this quest. Is that clear?"
"I understand."
"Well, let's ignore that."
"Eh?"
"I heard from Miss Bel. Escort quests are your party's specialty."
"Well, yes, but…"
"This is our party's first time doing an escort quest, you see. That's why I thought we should leave it to the pros and learn a thing or two."
That would explain their reactions earlier. They didn't know anything about our party nor who are the members in it.
They're also outside of the town doing an escort quest. Their last quest was from this town to Anemos Kingdom. It's a six months' worth of travel back and forth. After getting back last month, they went on to take a vacation to a nearby town for two weeks and returned to this town last week.
"I… see," she turned to her left. "That alright with you, Randal?"
Randal nodded.
Wait, can he not talk?
"Alright. We will come up with a plan today and explain it to you guys tomorrow once we meet the client. For now… we will just let Randal rest. Don't worry, this guy heals pretty fast. As long as he shut his mouth tight."
Randal gave a thumbs up.
So that's the reason he's not talking!?