Chapter 10

After another day passed hunting wyverns and listening to rumors, it was finally the day of departure for [Ostwald City]

Finishing their breakfast, Renya and Little White went out to the eastern entrance early in the morning in the hopes to get familiar with the client.

Unfortunately after reaching the gates he discovered that the client has yet to arrive even though the carriages were already there being guarded by a few town guards. He did not realize that Gina forgot to tell him that the client would come around noon, forcing him to sit and wait around the area the whole morning for nothing.

Around an hour before noon a few hunters had already gathered. The people who came mostly wore either light leather armor, robes or heavy plate mail. The equipment they wore wasn’t bad as Renya could tell they were better than what a majority of the hunters he passed by in town wore.

As he was waited under the shade of a nearby tree with Little White rested on a nearby branch, most of the glances landed on him making him the topic of conversation as they wait. A few moments later a party of hunters walked forward to greet him.

“Hi!”(???)

The boy with light brown hair wearing plate armor greeted energetically.

“Hello.”(Renya)

“I’m Chris, I’m the current leader of this party.”(Chris)

He said looking at the girls behind him.

“Renya, pleasure to meet you.”(Renya)

He greeted him after standing up.

“Are you by chance participating in the escort mission?”(Chris)

“Yes, I assume you’re part of it as well?”(Renya)

Hearing his words Chris nodded before speaking.

“You're an archer right? We happen to be missing someone who can deal with enemies at a long range and we could always use an extra hand.”(Chris)

After pondering for a moment and considering the fact that hunting wyverns alone every day or hunting alone in general, would get severely boring. He spoke.

“Sure, it’s better than hunting alone anyways.”(Renya)

Hearing his words Chris and his companion revealed a relieved expression.

“Many thanks! To be honest, my party and I are nervous about this escort mission.”(Chris)

“Is it because of the bandit activities increasing?”(Renya)

“Not just that, I've heard rumors about demonic activities being on the rise all around the continent. There supposedly was a Nether Rift opening up in the western region.”(Chris)

“Oh? Western region?”(Renya)

“You don’t know? Well it’s the western most region where both countries have yet to expand upon, its often called a Dark Sector.”(Chris)

“I see.”(Renya)

“Ah! By the way this is Nana, She’s a level 28 [Thief Apprentice],”(Chris)

He said pointing at the short haired girl wearing thief like equipment,

“Jennifer, a level 32 [Magic Swordsman] as well as [Swordsman Apprentice],”(Chris)

Pointing over to the tall red haired woman with slightly dark skin wearing light armor with a sword attached to her waist,

“and my sister Maria, a level 27 [Priest Apprentice].”(Chris)

and lastly pointing at the girl with light brown hair wearing a clean robe.

“Also I’m, a level 30 [Knight Apprentice] and all of us are in [Rank: C].”(Chris)

“Instantly revealing information about yourselves, aren’t you worried that I’m a bad person? Or if I’m some evil necromancer that will get you killed later on? I also want to know why you’d invite a stranger like me to your group actually.”(Renya)

“No it’s fine, you seem like a good guy and as I’ve said, we’re lacking an archer in our group. Plus my intuition never failed me when it comes to judging people, telling you this much I can earn your trust better this way.”(Chris)

He said finishing his words with a bright smile. Hearing his somewhat ridiculous statement, Renya wore a wry smile, taking off the cloth that covers half his face to show them his face.

“Alright you’ve got me convinced, I’m a level 67 [Elite Arcane Archer] as well as a [Thief Apprentice] like Nana, hope to get along with all of you.”(Renya)

Their faces froze the moment those words left his mouth. The calm looking Jennifer was the first to retort.

“You’re lying right?”(Jennifer)

“Actually no.”(Renya)

He said showing them his guild card after pulling up the cloth mask. After seeing the card for themselves their shock grew even further.

“Are you sure about joining us? I mean we can understand if you want to leave, since your level is twice ours and all.”(Jennifer)

“She’s right! You do realize that it’s actually disadvantageous for you if you join us you know? And you’ve heard us mention our levels, why still join us?”(Nana)

“But I thou- Ah!!!.”(Chris)

As he was about to finish his sentence, Maria pinched his arm causing it to turn red.

“It’s fine, I’ve wanted to join a party and I don’t really mind the level gap.”(Renya)

“Are really you sure?”(Jennifer)

“It’s fine really.”(Renya)

“Then it’s settled! Welcome to the party!”(Chris)

After a few more minutes of introductions the client finally arrived.

“*Ehem, I am Charles Barrius, the one who hired all of you to guard my carriages. I’ll be in your care for the duration of the trip. Also the food can be provided by us unless you’ve bought your own.

Charles appeared to be a tall slim man wearing robes and a pair of glasses, he was somewhat handsome with long well-kept blonde hair. Although he doesn’t seem all that bad, he reminded Renya of Orloth in a way.

“Please gather, I would like to confirm all the hunters who are part of the escort mission.”(???)

Said a man beside Charles. Not long after he started mentioning names to see if the hunters were present or not as well as see if there are any stowaways beforehand. In a short while, everyone had been called, including Renya and his newly joined party.

Their numbers amounted to 31, with there being a total of four carriages that are to be protected. Their group finally set off after arranging the positioning, with Renya’s party was placed in the rear carriage.

As their group followed the road, which was on an open plain, to [Ostwald City]. Along the road Renya had Little White make rounds around their vicinity every hour or so to make sure that they get a proper grasp on their surroundings. Not only that but he’d also ask about a few things that he’s unfamiliar with every now and then.

Fortunately the number of monster they’ve encountered thus far was only a small amount making the amount of injuries almost nonexistent. After traveling for a good while, the group finally came to a stop in a forest as it was already too dark to see much of the road.

Renya and his party set up a temporary camp along with most of the hunters near the carriages. Their camp consisted of two simple tents and a camp fire. Renya forgot to bring a tent of his own since he usually logs off every time he rests while traveling long distances in [Alt Online], making him rather embarassed.

“You didn’t bring a tent?”(Chris)

“Yes....”(Renya)

“Well you can sleep with me in mine if you want. I mean we are party members after all.”(Chris)

“N,no. I need to do something later on so it’d be pretty inconvenient to sleep in a tent.”(Renya)

“Alright?”(Chris)

As they settled down to have their dinner that was cooked by Maria, Renya would occasionally feed Little White a bit of rations from his bag.

“So what’s his name?”(Nana)

“It’s a she, and its Little White.”(Renya)

“Oh. Then what kind of owl is she?”(Nana)

“A White Frost Owl.”(Renya)

“White Frost Owl?”(Jennifer)

“Let’s just say she’s an owl that born in an ice filled land.”(Renya)

He said giving them a vague answer. Understanding his intentions Jennifer did not question further, but Nana begs to differ.

“Then how did you two meet?”(Nana)

“how did we meet?”(Renya)

He said caressing the white owls back who was on his left shoulder while slightly reminiscing.

“Well, it was quite the event. It happened a long time ago and my memory of it is pretty vague. But I still do remember bits of it.”(Renya)

“Would you mind telling us?”(Chris)

“No, not really. Then let’s see, it started while I was traveling around a snow mountain range. My level wasn’t this high at the time so I was having quite the hard time traversing the area there. After that I fell in some ravine or something, but I managed to fall onto one of the ledges I discovered her unhatched egg that was just about to hatch, of course when she did I had to face off a couple hundred monsters that she attracted with her cries.”(Renya)

Although his story wasn’t the most touching, it was close to what happened. Naturally the mountains he was in weren’t normal snowy mountains, but extremely dangerous mountains that have temperatures below 0° and are filled with monsters that are level 60+. Her cries when she hatched weren’t normal ones as it was enough to break his in-game eardrums making the situation all the more ridiculous.

After telling his story he finished his meal and decided to go out for a walk together with Little White.

Reaching a far distance away from their camp, he reached out for a stone the size of a toddlers fist in his bag before applying mana to it. Not long after he heard a woman’s voice answer.

“”(???)

“Yes, it’s me Charlotte.”(Renya)

“”(Charlotte)

“No, well yes but I wanted to ask a few questions concerning the two countries, as well as the current activities of Amitiel, Orloth and [Titan City] in general.”(Renya)

“”(Charlotte)

“Well I want to know about the two countries situation, assuming Amitiel gave you all a brief summary after I left.”(Renya)

“”(Charlotte)

From what Charlotte explained, the two countries [Notus Empire] and [Aelynn Empire], are both countries that are heavily populated by humans. Not only that but the country [Notus Empire] is a country that specializes in steel and industry, while [Aelynn Empire] is a country of magic.

As to why they are holding an alliance in the hopes of possibly merging the two countries together is because of the threats they are receiving from the western region, or the Dark Sector. This Dark Sector is apparently not a place that the two countries have yet to expand into, but an area they don’t dare touch as the amounts of powerful monsters are numerous there. And for the engagement itself, it was to be held a few weeks from now as the banquet is taking place in [Ostwald City].

“And the reason why Amitiel didn’t include this information in the report he gave me?”(Renya)

“”(Charlotte)

Continuing her words, the activities of bandits in the border of the two countries seem to be the cause of the constant attacks they received when they were still in the western region as well as the supposed Nether Rift, forcing them out to the borders. When asked about it, Charlotte simply replied that Amitiel has yet to find information about the supposed Nether Rift.

“Where did he get this information?”(Renya)

“”(Charlotte)

“Then how’s [Titan City]?”(Renya)

“”(Charlotte)

“I see, any more noteworthy changes?”(Renya)

“”(Charlotte)

“Congratulate him for me. Well I asked all that I wanted to know. I think I should head back to camp.”(Renya)

“”(Charlotte)

“Yeah, found myself a small party as well.”(Renya)

“”(Charlotte)

“...”(Renya)

“”(Charlotte)

“.......”(Renya)

Even without seeing her face, Renya could tell that she was having a lot of fun teasing him. Deciding that he should return he ended the call with a few words of goodbye before heading back into their camp.

Discovering that a majority of them were already asleep, he went up the nearest tree and found a decent branch before sleeping on it with Little White resting on the branch above.

Author Note 2: I think I should Replace the synopsis....... Yeah I think I should. Suggestions are well accepted so don't be shy to post your synopsis of the story below!