After I've sealed off the entrance to that cave, leading to that labybrinth. I travelled on foot down the road, after two days of walking I could not find a single person. The distance between kingdom to a nearby village is a lot far than I had thought.
I took a rest for a while to replenish my thrist, the sun consumes a lot of water inside the body, leading to dehydration and headaches.
After a while, I sensed footsteps of a horse pulling a carriage. With the assumption of people coming, I waited so that I can ask them a question. The moment they saw me they became hostile, stopping just a few meters away from me.
After stopping, the person who was controlling the horse talked to a person inside the carriage. Since the carriage has a tent like thingy, and a curtain that seperated the driver and the passenger, I could not see who the driver was talking to.
Soon after, a girl wearing a full set of armor and a person carrying a bow stepped outside the carriage. Since they were beyond the range of the system, I could not read their information.
The girl wearing armor approached me, with a sword on her hand. Her name is Klea, an adventurer who goes by the name "moonblade" as her adventurer alias. She is a trained swordsman who has countless battles, and a skilled one at that. She stopped just a few feet away from me, pointing a sword towards me.
"Name yourself"
She yelled, startling me for sec.
"Have you ever thought that something like yelling can startle someone?"
"I am not here to make small talk, if you don't identify yourself then I'll have my marksman shoot you on the head"
"Okay, okay. I am just lost, I was a student from the academy of Erend but due to not meeting the standard, they kicked me out and leaving me with no other choice but to leave the kingdom"
She stood there not saying anything, its as if she is processing what I said is true or not. After a few second, she raised her hand signaling her fellow adventurer to stand down. Then placing the sword she was holding back to its sheath.
"I apologized for the behavior we showed just now, we just recently got attacked by bandits recently, so we were skeptical whether you are a friend or foe"
"No, its okay. Its completely fine"
"Where are you going? Do you plan on walking there by yourself?"
"About that...yeah, I was planning to, but based on the situation that I am in, I may not be able to survive the night"
"Perhaps you are right, if you want, you can ride with us, so that you can get to the place you want to go safely"
She pointed at the carriage. With no other things to do, I wanted to see where this will take me.
"Really? If you insist, then I'll take on your invitation"
She nodded then walked back towards the carriage, I followed her and the person who was holding a bow, stared at me with suspicion. He raised his right arm, blocking the path towards the carriage.
"Are you sure we can trust this person?"
"Yeah, even if he pose a threat towards us, we can just dispose of him"
He looked at me, clearly indicating that he is examining the mana that is inside my body.
"I guess you are right, I apologized for my rude behavior, get in quickly because we are in a hurry"
He withdraw, and then got inside the carriage. Since it was already cramped inside the carriage, Klea suggested that I will sit next to the driver. Which he welcomed me, and offered me a sit beside him.
His name is Hos, a warrior that once serve the kingdom Erend as a first frontline combatant, basically an infantry soldier if compared to the modern time. The guy who was wary of me, is Lucio, a skilled adventurer who is skilled with any projectile weapons.
It seems that all of them are both skilled and experienced.
After introductions and interacting with all of the adventurers inside the carriage, I did not realize that they were an A-class group of adventueres called the "Axis Warriors" until we've arrived at the guild.
They were being praised and idolized by other adventurers inside the guild, well that explains why all of them emit a strong and powerful aura. Apparently, they were on a journey to retrieve an artifact that was hidden in a dungeon, which the guild personally requested them to do so.
After handing the artifact to the guild, they went to the pub to celebrate their return. They invited me over, and I did not have any choice but to join them.
After a toast and a couple of beers later, they finished at night close to midnight. Almost all of them are drunk, except for Klea and Nav. Because they do not like drinking, on the other hand the remaining three were wasted and ended up sleeping inside the pub.
After paying for the bill, Klea ordered me to help them get Hos, Lucio and Jou out of the pub. I agreed, and then carried Hos back to the carriage. After that, I was able to take a breather and finally catch some sleep. Suddenly, Nav approached me and asked me something.
"Are you perhaps associated with dark magic?"
"No, why do you ask?"
She pointed her finger on my shoulder, I looked and it was miasma from the labybrinth.
"It seems that you are, tell me, what is your real identity? Are you a demon? Or a dark magician?"
She grabbed her wand that was on her waist belt, and pointed it towards me.
"Aren't all of that assumptions? How come a low level magician like himself be associated with dark magic?"
I replied, but she did not believe me.
"There are people that can conceal their mana, appearing as if that they are just a weak normal person, judging from your reaction it seems that what you are saying is the opposite"
'Damn, how come that all of the people that I've encountered are able to know that I am concealing my mana?'
I thought to myself, judging from her expression it seems that she will not hesitate to attack. Since she is a four star mage, I am confident that I can block all of her attacks. But, a rating is just a rough estimation of a persons abilities, and not an accurate measurement, I did not want to gamble.
Raising my hand, I admitted to her that I purposely concealed my mana, so that the people who see me think that I am just a weakling.
"Why do you do that? Pride is important in the world of adventurers, by displaying your mana and aura publicly it will boost your reputation, and will help you create network with other people smoothly"
"I am not an adventurer, but a normal citizen"
She clicked her tounge, thinking that saying that can fool her.
"You are the opposite of a normal citizen, more like a demon hiding its true form"
"What is your obsession with demons? Did I not told you before, I am not a demon"
"I choose to believe what I want to believe, even though you say that, the possibility of you being a demon is not zero"
She really is stubborn and detest demons, she automatically thinks that a person that has miasma on their body, is either a demon or a dark magician, that is either reasonable thinking or a flawed way of thinking.
"How can I prove to you that I am not a demon?"
"If you reveal your true mana, then I will judge for myself whether you are a human or a demon"
I sighed, and did not want to do something troublesome as that. Well, I have no other choice. As a precaution, I casted a undetectable magic barrier around us, so that the aura that I emit will not leak from the outside.
After revealing her my true mana, she changed her mind and apologized for the trouble she gave. Then proceeded to walk out of the vicinity, heading to a place I do not where. After that night, they began to embark on a another adventure quest. Taking on a another personal request from the guild, they were given a task of subjugating a small bandit base up north.
They carefully thought of the quest, since it was risky and might end up costing their life upon taking the quest. After some thinking, all of them agreed to take on the quest after hearing the reward.
It was five pouches containing 10 gold each, with that much money they will not have to worry about financial struggle again. But Klea was still skeptical
about the quest, since they are being awarded with that much money, it was obvious that this is going to be a dangerous and risky quest.
Due to the reward, she agreed to do it anyway. Money is every adventurer's weakness, since they can buy all of the equipments they want, that they can use with their adventure. It was an opportunity they did not want to lose.
After that, they began to embark on a journey on subjucating a bandit's base.
"Are we able to complete this quest unharmed, Klea?"
"I am not sure, fighting a monster is not that difficult, but humans are unpredictable and are able to think, if we attack right away I am certain that we will lose our lives"
"Woah, don't say scary stuff like that. But yeah, but this is not the first time we've accepted a quest like this"
"I agree, if we just carefully plan out a strategy, maybe that will decrease out chance of losing our life"
"Do you have an idea, Lucio?"
It seems that Lucio is the group's brain, if you think about it marksmen are the backline of an operation, kinda like scouts. It makes sense that they rely on Lucio on formulating the plan, that explains his cautious nature.
"It is difficult to form a plan, without a closer look on the base, maybe after scouting the base I can formulate a plan"
They agreed to his statement, after they spent the whole day talking and sharing stories. We stopped moving forward, because it was beginning to become dark.
They were looking for a place to stay for the night, after looking they made a bonfire then cooked dinner so that we can eat. I helped out chopping some vegetables and distribute the food evenly.
Despite their serious look, they are pretty chill and relaxed. Maybe because they are confident with their skills?
"What are you planning to do, Ryu? Are you gonna come with us kill some bandits?"
"I am not sure, with the current power I have, maybe its best if I don't come with your quest"
"Seems so, anyway for the time being, why don't you learn some skills while you are accompanying us? It might help draw out your potential"
"Yeah, Jou is right. After all, all of us once was in your situation, but after practicing and training our skills, we've reach our current level"
They are good people, offering to help a "weak" person achieve a name for himself.
"Yeah, it might not be a bad idea"
Hos smiled with enthusiasm, he slapped my back and told me.
"Its good to see youth with the desire of becoming stronger, I'll help you train tomorrow, so look forward to it, understood?"
After agreeing to him, they went and share stories from their younger days, and how frustrating it was to be weak. Mainly the it was only Hos and Jou that were the ones talking. Nov, Klea and Lucio just minded their own business while treating their equipments.
"Don't worry about them, they are just embarrassed on telling their story, especially Klea"
Klea, their captain. Did not want Jou telling her story, so she threw a small pebble at him in retaliation.
"It was a long time ago, don't mention it to him"
"Come on, it was not that bad"
I did not know what they were talking about, and Hos clearly saw it on the expression on my face. So he decided to whisper something on my ear, while Jou and Klea were fighting.
"You see Klea once tripped on her sword while training, and cried after"
Klea heared Hos whispering the embarrassing story she did not want me to know about. Well, at first glance you would think of Klea as someone that is competent and not careless. It makes sense that she is embarrassed of that story.
"It was the first time I held a sword, I was ten at the time so it does not count"
You could see that Klea is flustered, she turned her back so that we cannot see the expression on her face.
To think at first that they are a serious group, but once you get to know them at a certain point. You could see that they are still human that have feelings, despite having a serious aura surrounding them.