Another Party

'What a quick change of heart.' Richard thought while hiding his surprise. He was also wondering why this barehanded D rank guy was asking instead of Lady Brathadh but he brushed it off and answered :

"I've been informed that you will be raiding a corrupted village and try to find out where do there heretics come from. If you want to have more information you'll have to ask the church unfortunately."

"This doesn't tell me how we should prepare ourselves in the slightest." Jack said coldly as he was currently trying hard to suppress his boiling anger.

"Well you can expect magical attacks I guess..." Richard's hands seemed to have tensed up for an instant and both the immortal and his elven student noticed it. "... And probably forks, arrows and such stuffs. If those are all your questions you may leave."

"Alright, thank you." The three adventurers said before leaving the seemingly tired guild master. Falling in his seat as they left his office, Richard wiped off his sweat with a pocket handkerchief. 'Those guys aren't normal adventurers at all... I don't know why but I get a weird vibe from that butler and it seems that he's highly esteemed by miss Brathadh. I hope that you left that place too Keela, troubles are coming...'

"Are you sure about that choice teacher?" Laena asked while they were in the empty corridor.

"Yeah, it will give us an occasion to strike or at least gauge the power of the knights. It will be quite hard on me though, if you see that I loose control over myself don't hesitate to intervene." He said in a cold voice while noticing that he still had the quest's paper in hand. Sighing, he made his way through a bunch of glaring adventurers and pinned it on the wall again.

Pushing his way to the exit, he noticed that the knight and his friends which had helped them earlier were waiting outside for them.

"Hey. Are you guys free for a drink?" Andrew asked as he walked toward the immortal and his students.

"Why?" Jack said bluntly. 'These guys aren't newbies like the others. What do they want?' He thought worriedly as he expected a retaliation for his previous murder.

"Well, you were also called to participate in the upcoming group quest no?"

"Yep."

"Then we'll probably be in the same team. We should talk over an ale and get to know each other if we want to survive don't you think so?"

"You got a point, lead the way."

The whole exchange had been closely watched by the other party members and they all wanted to hit their companion for his weird behavior. Andrew had an edgy smile on the corner of his mouth which seemed quite creepy while Jack had a blank look on his face and spoke with less energy than an undead.

"Sooo... Let's start with our names ! I'm Andrew Lionhart as you've heard earlier at the guild. Nice to meet you all !" He said with a nicer smile while they were walking on the streets.

"Jack, nice to meet you." The immortal grunted while sighing. 'This is going to be a long day...' His annoyance and frustration brought by this whole holy situation made him completely forget his act about Laena but the other party didn't notice it.

"Moringar, happy to meet ya all." The old man said while introducing himself. His grin didn't fool Jack nor Laena as they both noticed how devoid of emotion the blue eyes of the archer were. His tattered cloak and his rugged leather armor showed how much time he had been wearing them and the sewed holes the wounds he had endured.

"And I'm Zoe, it's good to see some other girls in our working line." The mage in white robe with yellow runes written on it explained. She had beautiful chestnut eyes which only made her colorful purple hairs brighter.

"Indeed." Laena smiled before taking an inspiration and putting a hand on her small chest : "I am Laena Brathadh, third daughter of the Brathadh household. It is a pleasure to get to know you and to be able to work with A rank adventurers this soon."

"My, my. What a flattering introduction." Zoe said while covering her mouth with her hand to hide her charming smile. "And who are you, young girl?" She asked while bending over, showing the depth of her neckline to Evelyn who remained unfazed but noticed the difference in size between her and Laena. One was comparable to tomatoes while the other seemed to be closer to some oranges.

"I am Evelyn, nice to meet you all." The small girl said with an innocent and childish smile. They would have thought that she wasn't an adventurer like them if they hadn't noticed the faded bloodstains on her white robe, the dagger at her side and the emptiness of her deep blue eyes. There was no mirth in those, only the cold determination that a warrior had before fighting.

Noticing it gave shivers to Zoe and Andrew while Moringar simply looked even colder. 'Such a small kid... This is why we have to fight those monsters, to protect their future !' The knight thought while the mage wondered what had she lived to become an adventurer.

However,she kept her curiosity in check and they did some pep talk while walking toward a pub. Jack had mainly been silent because he analysed the magical composition of his talkative newfound companions. As he had seen earlier, the woman with fancy colored hair was a quite competent thunder magician. Thanks to her mana's purity and density he could guess that she was quite a bit weaker than him in magic casting but had more mana reserve.

Surprisingly, the knight' steel tower shield was a magical item which had a lighter weight and a harder material than usual steel. His muscular structure was top notch and his equipment well maintained. 'The fact that he keeps his armor even in town means that he's ready to fight at any moment... Either he has many enemies or he's a veteran who has kept some old habits. He seems like he had his share of battle but this old man is the worst one I've seen since I've been freed.'

Moringar looked like a grumpy old man if you simply saw him but if you dared to lock you eyes with him you would see how deep the abyss inside of him is. His black irises simply amplified the feeling of dread you would get by gazing at those pearls of darkness. 'This is the gaze of someone who is fed up with life... But then, why is he an adventurer if he's this broken?' Jack wondered before shrugging the matter off. He had noticed something way more interesting.

'This bow has lived quite a lot of things alongside its user.' He thought while being amazed by the rarity of this item. 'The third form of enchantment... The Tezukumo... It's truly impressive to see it alongside a human on top of that.' This type of magical item was created when an object spent enough time with its user to become an extension of his body. As such, the user's mana and the item's one slowly fused together to form a weird type of enchantment.

In this case, the bow wasn't even "magical" to properly speak since it wouldn't have any effect in someone else's hands than its linked user. However, when Moringar used it the bow would probably be stronger, tougher and instinctive to use. Even if he wasn't a magician this kind of magic acted unconsciously and naturally. For mages, this was one of the most mystical and beautiful event because it truly meant that you had a bond with this item.

Seeing it with his mana vision, Jack had understood how it work but felt amazed nonetheless. It appeared that the wind and wood mana accumulated alongside the years inside the bow had slowly seeped into the man's body while his very Life mana which was something rare and hard to detect had crept inside the weapon. 'It literally becomes a part of your life... This is marvelous, I understand why everyone back then felt so happy when they found one.'

His nostalgic moment was stopped when the party finally stepped in an inn which served beers during the day. Sitting around a large table quite loudly thanks to Andrew's armor, they made a hand sign to call the waiter while they looked at the menu. Jack took a pint of their strongest ale while Laena and Zoe settled for a glass of mead. Andrew followed him and took the same. This made Moringar laugh dryly as he said :

"You two aren't real men uh? A glass of their strongest spirit, that's the good stuff."

"I-I will take a glass of mead to-" Evelyn tried to order but Jack cut and grunted :

"No. Alcohol isn't for kids. Don't you have some milk?" Since the waiter nodded, he ordered that for the young girl and ignored her pouting.

"Why are you this strict with her? Are you her father?" The old man asked in a mocking tone.

"You could say so. I guess you never had children if you can't even worry about this kind of things." Jack attacked back with a vicious grin.

In the abyss which occupied the archer's eyes appeared two fires of fury and madness. Seeing this reaction brought an even greater smile on the immortal's lips as he thought : 'He's like me, perfect. Someone driven by vengeance is worth my trust since as long as I help him he will do whatever I want.'

"I am sorry for my displaced remark." He apologized out of the blue while the archer was about to insult him.

"Wh-What ?" Moringar asked while looking at the immortal's serious face. Even Laena and Evelyn seemed quite chocked and were gazing at their teacher agape.

"I just reminded myself that honesty and gentleness was the best thing in a group and I thought that I should correct my attitude." Jack said with a serious tone while his gaze and body language said the opposite. He was staring at the old archer and let out a bit of his killing intent, reminding the old man the feelings he got when he faced crazed peasants who got their women raped by men of his unit.

'Who the hell is that guy.' Was the only sentence that crossed his mind before the oppressive aura disappeared and Andrew's laugh rang in the inn.

"Well said Jack, such petty fights are truly useless between future teammates."

"What do you mean by teammates? How are you sure that we will be working together?" Laena asked as she felt puzzled by this information.

"You've been called by the guild master no?" The old man explained while frowning because he felt that the more he looked at the opposite party the more it seemed weird. 'A child, an elf and a terrifying butler... What the hell are you teaming us with Richard ?' He wondered internally while Laena nodded.

"We have guessed what the Church's plans were after having asked a few things to the guild master thanks to some... favors." Zoe continued with a tempting smile. "It seems that the most promising members are taken apart while the others are in another unit... I think that they will be used as meat shields for the main force in order to gauge the enemy and see what they have."

"That's horrible !" Laena said with surprised eyes. She never thought that the Church would commit such petty acts.

"How can they do this... Are you sure of your theory?" Evelyn asked with hope dancing in her irises.

Jack didn't even bother reacting and simply shrugged, making the other party confirm their guesses. 'This guy is the real danger.' The three thought at the same time while Zoe continued her explanation :

"Well... Unfortunately we guess that we are right because that's how we would do it... No need to pay them if they are dead, do you see what I mean?"

The downcast look on the girl's face quickly disappeared as their drinks arrived and they made their troubles disappear in the depth of their glasses.

"So, let's talk about our fighting capabilities in order to survive and get paid shall we?" Andrew said with a smile while wiping away the beer foam hanging on his mouth's corners.