At this time, there were over a dozen or so people scattered around this corner of the field.
Of those dozen or so, one group were knights, while the others were adventurers. One side wore uniform armors and swords, while the other side were equipped all kinds of things in a mixed and matched style. It was very obvious just from a look.
They were gathered around several carriages. At the center of those carriages, one carriage was a cage like carriage equipped with iron bars. It was obvious from just looking that that was the carriage that was prepared for the prisoner transport.
When Shien arrived, Vivian’s party has also already assembled. Aside from Vivian, who was talking to another party’s leader and several knights, Diere was coldly leaning on a carriage while crossing her arms. Lumia and Melika were quietly chatting next to Diere. The two of them seemed very cautious.
That was because the adventurers and knights there would nearly all end up glancing over toward them every so often. Even the patrolling knights and soldiers around would peak at them occasionally, so they were probably quite nervous, right?
“After all, this is a bunch of men who spend the entirety of their days sweating under the sun as they trained and worked. If we suddenly tossed a bunch of sweat looking girls into their midst, if the atmosphere was a bit less wholesome, it might end up a scene found in doujins within moments.”
Shien couldn’t help but mutter a bit to himself before moving forward and joining them.
Of course, Shien wasn’t joining those aforementioned men, but rather the gathered adventuring parties and knights. This instantly drew the attentions of a number of people.
“You’re here huh?”
Vivian who was talking with other people noticed Shien and showed him a smile.
It wasn’t just Vivian. Diere, Lumia, and Melika all reacted to Shien’s arrival. Although one just raised her head and looked toward him, and the other two hesitated as if they didn’t know if they should come closer, it was already enough to tell everyone else that Shien was being treated differently from the other people around them.
“Sorry, was I late?”
Shien came before Vivian and apologized as he scratched his head.
“No, you’re actually still early. Right now, only one other party besides ours has arrived. There’s still one party who hasn’t reported in yet. The knights are also still preparing on their side.”
Vivian gently explained to Shien. That warm and approachable attitude made all the men around her feel as if they were being healed, and they all once more glanced over with an admiring gaze.
Naturally though, Shien who received Vivian’s gentle smile instead ended up taking everyone’s clear killing intent.
If it was before, Shien would end up shooting back a comment or two, but he had already gotten used to this kind of situation, so he didn’t care to react anymore.
In such a situation, Vivian moved slightly over and revealed the figure of the adventurer she was just talking to.
“Allow me to introduce you.” Vivian spoke to Shien, “This is the leader of one of the other parties that will be taking this escort quest along with us today, Alrith.”
Vivian pointed to a middle aged man in his 40s who, much like herself, was wearing a heavy full plate along with a sword at his waist. He just didn’t have a shield.
“You’re the newbie whose news have been going around the guild right?’ Alrith showed Shien a refreshing smile like a sunny adult, “I didn’t think that you’d be coming too. I though that given how overprotective Vivian is, she wouldn’t have brought you along on this dangerous and important quest.”
It wasn’t just Alrith who thought that. The rest of the people also thought the same, right?
At the very least, a distance from them, the adventurers who seemed to be from Alrith’s party were quite stunned after they saw Shien. They even started chattering among themselves in surprise. It was obvious what they were discussing.
Shien didn’t particularly think much of it.
“This time it’s my own request.” Shien spoke humbly, “After all, it’s just a rare important quest. Even if I were to be fortunate enough to pass the probation and become a true adventurer, given my levels, who knows how long it might be before I can encounter a quest like this again. Thus, given such a rare opportunity, I kind of used Vivian’s gentleness to have her bring me along to get some experience and broaden my horizons.”
That was an excuse that Shien had long since thought of.
The reason is simple. For a high leveled quest like this, it was obvious that if someone too low leveled were to join in, they would not only be unable to help, but rather, they’d probably just end up dragging other people down.
Shien didn’t really want to do something like counterattacking using feigned weaknesses, but nor did he care to shout to the world just how overpowered he was. Given that, there would likely be many people who would be suspicious of his inclusion.
In that case, Shien felt that it would be better to take all the responsibilities for this onto himself. Otherwise, it would be one thing if people questioned him, but if they ended up questioning Vivian’s judgment, that would be what’s really troublesome.
It was quite obvious just thinking about it. For a party leader who was getting ready to undertake an important quest, if Vivian were to bring along a complete noob in that situation, Shien could think of a bunch of resulting scenarios just off the top of his head. For example, people looking down on Vivian, or being dissatisfied with Vivian’s actions and having a lowered opinion of her capabilities as a party leader.
When that happens, Shien was completely confident that he would instantly send all those guys flying. There’s no way that he’d do the old cliché of hiding his abilities and only showing off to flip their worldviews later on.
Thus, no matter what, it’s best to first take on all the blame.
Hmm, he had gotten quite experienced in tossing the blame, so now he could even drop it onto himself. Could this be the highest level of that particular skill?
As Shien was thinking nonsense, Alrith started laughing out loud.
“So that’s how it is. Broaden your horizons huh?” Alrith slapped Shien’s shoulder and spoke familiarly, “This is indeed a good chance. However, I personally don’t believe that the one everyone’s calling a devil would be just coming along to broaden his horizons. Never mind the fact that there’s no way that the Vivian I know would just randomly bring along a newbie to take on such a dangerous quest. You wouldn’t happen to have some powerful hidden cards up your sleeves would you?”
With that, Shien raised his respect for Alrith up a few notches.
(As expected of the leader of a high leveled adventuring party. He looks like he’s just friendly, but his mind is quite sharp.)
Shien thought so.
“Alright Alrith, stop bullying Shien already.” Vivian pushed off the hand Alrith had set on Shien and spoke with an annoyed air, “Shien might be a newbiew right now, but his potential is limitless. Even Leili didn’t object to him joining this quest. So you should be helping him out with what you can as his senior rather than acting so careless.”
It looks like Vivian and Alrith actually had a pretty good relationship. Their conversation were pretty lacking in formalities.
“Wow, so strict.” Alrith gave a laugh at that and spoke, “Mah, since it’s a junior with great potential, of course I will also be doing what I can. Well then, allow me to look forward to your development in the future.”
“Thank you.” Shien showed his appreciations.
