The next day, the morning sun rays poked through the wooden window of the modest inn where Reinhard and Felt were staying.
Reinhard was already awake. To be honest, he hadn't really slept that much during the night. In reality, he didn't even need to sleep because of one of his many Blessings.
Or, more accurately, to name one is Divine Protection of Minimal Rest, a very short rest was all he needed to fully recover his stamina and mental acuity.
He walked over and pushed open the wooden shutters, letting the warm sun rays enter the inn room. He stood there for a moment, watching the outside scenery of this new world. Even this early in the morning, people were walking on the streets, going their way to work or whatever else occupied their daily lives in E-Rantel.
He smiled gently as he looked at the people going about their way. Even though life here seemed hard, there was a certain peace to it.
He turned his gaze from the window to the side of his bed. The Dragon Sword Reid was resting there against the wall. He went over and sat on the edge of the bed, taking the sheathed sword in his hand and looking at it contemplatively.
His blue eyes then drifted to the other bed in the room where his master was sleeping. Felt was sprawled out across the mattress, snoring softly, a small pool of drool forming on her pillow. She looked less like a Royal Candidate for the throne of Lugnica and more like a cat that had finally found a warm, safe place to rest.
Reinhard's smile deepened as he looked at her face, so carefree, relaxed, and happy. There wasn't really any hurry for them today, nor were there urgent things to do.
So, he decided to let her sleep as much as she wanted for now. He stood up straight, fastened the Dragon Sword Reid to his hip, and quietly left the room to get food for Felt when she woke.
….
After Felt finally woke up, she and Reinhard had a hearty breakfast in the morning.
After that, they decided to get some fruits and do some clothes shopping for Felt, as her current clothes were dirty from days of travel and sleeping on the streets.
Since she only had one pair, they decided it was necessary to go shopping for her.
And, Felt insisted, for Reinhard as well. Even though Reinhard's clothes were straight-up white and never seemed to gather even a speck of dust, he couldn't just wear one pair all day and night for days on end.
So, it turned into a clothes shopping trip for both of them.
After they were done with the shopping and had consumed some more food and fruit from the stalls in the city, the afternoon arrived. They decided to go and do some quests, as there was nothing immediate for them to handle.
Reinhard and Felt entered the Guild building. Unlike the first time, aka yesterday, the mocking murmurs and rude talks from anyone were completely absent. Adventurers respect strength above all else, and it doesn't matter if it comes from a fifteen-year-old girl or a nineteen-year-old noble.
Everyone had heard by now, if they had ears and called themselves an adventurer, as to how fast these two had jumped ranks. Not to mention, their strength had been recognized by the Guild Master himself in person.
Of course, even then, there were some people who didn't want to believe that hard, factual truth.
Felt was fully wide awake, well-fed, and brimming with full energy. The previous day's success and her reunion with Reinhard had given her a massive confidence boost and hope.
The talks, though hushed, still reached their ears.
"That's them?!" one adventurer whispered.
"The Ogre Slayer?!" another one hissed.
Another one beside them added in a low tone, "They are a Silver Rank party already. It took us months to reach that, and not to mention so many dangerous quests. It is the fastest I have ever seen someone go from Copper Plates to Silver Plates, and that too in just a few hours."
Felt walked with her head held high, enjoying the talks and the respect that was not there yesterday. Reinhard simply walked behind her, fully content to let her shine.
Felt and Reinhard both walked straight away to the quest board. This time, they didn't exactly have to look for Copper Plate requests at the bottom.
"Let's see," Felt muttered. She scanned the quests placed on the Silver section of the quest board. Then, remembering that she couldn't read the language at all, she elbowed Reinhard in the ribs. "Yo, look at them."
Reinhard chuckled a little, realizing Felt had momentarily forgotten that she couldn't read those quests. "Yes. Of course."
Felt picked up on his amusement instantly. "What the hell are you laughing at?!"
"You are imagining things, My Lady," Reinhard said smoothly.
"The heck I am! You are not even hiding it; you are still smiling!"
"My Lady, I am always like that," he replied with perfect innocence.
Felt grimaced at him, knowing she couldn't win even at verbal cues. "Damn you... just read."
Reinhard nodded and turned his attention to the board. "There are many quests we can take now, Lady Felt. There is one where we have to escort a merchant to his destination... one hunting monsters... hunting Goblins that attack the ongoing merchants..."
Reinhard read to her whatever quests were available. While they were just doing that, a group approached them from behind.
"Hello!" one of them called out.
Reinhard and Felt turned around from the quest board to see an adventurer group standing there.
There were four of them. A young warrior with a sword, a ranger, a cleric, and a little kid, supposedly the age of Felt, who appeared to be a magic caster or healer. They didn't look like they were here to cause trouble or pick a fight.
On the contrary, they looked polite and somewhat nervous when they looked at the duo.
The supposed leader stepped forward. "Excuse me. Sorry for approaching you two like this. And please, we are not here for any trouble."
"We didn't say you were," Reinhard replied calmly.
The man smiled, relieved. "I know, I just wanted to be straightforward. Sorry about that."
"There is nothing for you to be apologizing for," Reinhard assured him. "Exactly what do you want from us?"
"Yeah, what do you want?" Felt added bluntly.
The man straightened up somewhat as he said, "First of all, let me introduce myself. I'm the leader of the adventurer party 'Swords of Darkness'. I'm Peter Mauk."
Then he pointed to the blonde-haired man. "He is Lukrut Volve."
Then he pointed to the little figure in robes. "He is Ninya."
And finally to the big man. "And this big man is Dyne Woodwonder."
After the introductions, he came to the point. "Just to confirm. You are the party that brought in a horde of Ogres yesterday, right?!"
"Yeah, that's right," Felt said, crossing her arms. "And your point?"
"Not really anything," Peter said quickly. "We are just amazed at how strong you guys are, to be able to jump three ranks at once and that too in just a few hours. I'd say it is an all-time record. I mean, strength isn't all one needs to achieve something like this. And I mean you are strong too, dragging fifteen Ogres like it is nothing, not to mention their weight..."
It seemed that the two of them had gotten their first admirers in the New World. As Felt and Reinhard looked at them, they realized the group was genuine.
Reinhard smiled at the overly enthusiastic man and said, "Thank you for your words. And to introduce ourselves... I'm Reinhard van Astrea... and this is my Lady... Lady Felt."
Felt, who was done with all this small talk and suspected they wanted to ask something specific, cut in. "Can you just get straight to the point? Exactly what do you want?"
Reinhard looked at Felt with a slight frown. "Lady Felt, you shouldn't be rude to people... it isn't very ladylike."
"Shut up," Felt snapped back. "Don't tell me what is ladylike or not. Or what to do or not to do..."
Peter raised his hands placatingly. "Please, don't fight over us. We were just wondering... you know we are a Silver Rank party too. So maybe, if you would like to do some missions with us? We just got a big quest of hunting down a Goblin nest which are attacking nearby merchants and even villages with Ogres."
"Why should we?!" Felt asked immediately.
Of course, that was the main point. If they joined and did the quest together, they would have to share the reward, which would be way less than what they could get through doing another quest with just the two of them.
"Shouldn't we consider this, Lady Felt?" Reinhard suggested, looking at Felt.
"There is no reason to do so if there is no benefit for us in that," Felt argued. "And wouldn't sharing the reward just get you less money?"
"I know," Peter Mauk admitted. "But this is a pretty big one just for us. And as for the reward, it is not a fixed reward just for taking care of the Goblin nest. There is info that there could be more monsters. And if you like, we could just do it in a way that the reward for the quest and the monster extermination goes to whoever contributes whatever. So, contribution based reward."
Felt paused. "If you are going this far, this must be a dangerous quest."
"That it is," Peter confirmed solemnly.
"Well, there is no..." Felt began to say, likely about to refuse or haggle further.
But before she could say anything further, someone else came up behind the Swords of Darkness.
It was none other than Momon and his partner Nabe.
Peter Mauk and his party looked behind them as they saw a hulking figure wearing black armor towering over them. Peter and his party quickly separated into two groups, giving the newcomer space.
Felt wasn't particularly happy with seeing the man and the lady behind him again. Reinhard's expressions remained neutral.
Felt, not scared by his mounting figure and intimidating aura, said, "Now what do you want?!"
He spoke, his deep voice resonating from the helmet. "It seems... we got on the wrong foot yesterday. I came again to see if there are no problems between us. We are adventurers and we shouldn't have feuds between us when we will be seeing each other more often."
"What..." Felt started to say, about to snap something sharp, but then she looked at Reinhard and just decided not to. She continued, "Well, it wasn't that big of a deal. So it is no problem."
"I'm glad to hear that," the man spoke. "I heard that you are going on a Goblin quest... in a combined party."
He then turned his helmet toward Peter Mauk. "If it is no problem... we would like to join too. Of course, if you have no problem with it."
Reinhard looked at him and then at Felt. "We don't. If Sir Peter and his party don't have any problem with it, we don't have any reasons to be."
Peter looked at them, blinked, and sighed first in disbelief at his luck. "Of course I don't have any problem! But as you know, it will be a contribution-based reward. If you are okay wi…"
Before he could finish saying more, the big man, Momon, interrupted.
"We don't mind. Actually, it is quite a good method. I don't have any problem with it. And not to mention... even if we don't get a reward for this, it will be no problem as we will be clearing Goblins that are attacking nearby villages... so there is no downside for us if we don't get anything."
Reinhard looked at him, his eyes widening slightly as he smiled. He said, "I'm impressed, Sir Momon. That is a very noble thing to say..."
Momon looked at him. "Please just call me Momon... and this is Nabe, my partner. There is no need for any formalities with us."
"So when are we going?!" Felt asked, cutting to the chase.
Momon and Reinhard's heads moved to Peter upon the question.
Peter looked at them, calculating the time. "In... an... hour. If that is no problem."
"I think it is good," Felt said.
"No problem at all," Reinhard agreed.
"We too don't have any," Momon concluded.
….
A/N: Don't forget to comment and power stones…