Preparing

Returning from the food court, Melissa said to Gerald,

'Gerald, he's yours to deal with. I give up.'

Gerald looked lost and said,

'Lady, how do you want me to deal with that?'

As soon as they arrived, Wind sat down and closed his eyes.

'That's your responsibility as my guard captain.'

'Lady, that isn't fair—No, come on!'

Melissa started to walk away, waving her hand behind her back.

Gerald sighed. He looked at Wind and said,

'So, what did you eat with the lady? And how was your first day in the food court?'

'We ate food, and the court has food... a bit too much food.'

'Was food scarce where you trained?'

'Had to hunt for it.'

'Oh, that's interesting. Can you tell me more about your hunts? We're supposed to go on a task soon. The lady actually went to Mervin to finalize the setup we need to start with.'

'I see,' Wind said with closed eyes...

'What about your hunts? Aren't you going to share?'

'I hunt for food, cook it, then eat it. Is there more to it?'

Gerald relaxed on his back on the bed and said,

'Nope, nothing more to it.'

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After three days of Gerald trying to open up to Wind, he found out the following:

The dude will try to skip any conversation if he can.

The dude is always trying to sleep as if staying awake is a curse.

The dude is hard to read, and his expressions are always stale.

He always looks at the ceiling if his eyes are open...

Gerald reported these findings to Melissa as they were loading the merchandise into the carriages.

'As if I needed to stay with him for three days to find that out. I found out most of it after the first meeting. Have you seen him use Roh after the first time he knocked you out? Or train? Or do anything other than sleep or stare at the ceiling?'

'Lady, you gave up on the task knowing it would be hard. Nope, not at all. Other than that, he did nothing—even when the old one tried talking to him, she couldn't crack him.'

'Even Shayla couldn't? Well, maybe during our travel, he'll warm up to you guys as he relies more on the team. My instructor said the best way to trust someone is to face hardships together. And I really want him to stay with us so I can piss Mervin off,'

she said while chuckling for a bit, then straightened up.

'Anyhow, get ready. We'll need to leave by tomorrow morning. We'll be joined by Jaron, Ora, and May.'

'Lady, I can agree on the first and last, but can we leave Ora out of it? He creeps me out.'

'Right? That's why I picked him. Maybe he can force the sorcerer to have a good reaction.'

'You're willing to sabotage your first convoy as the leader by bringing a creepy guy and a sleep-deprived sorcerer? Doesn't sound like fun to me, lady.'

They kept arguing about that for the morning, and by noon, they finished loading the carriages.

Melissa gathered the party members to get acquainted with each other in the food court.

Six people were sitting at the table—three on each side—all wearing armor with the family insignia. Even Melissa was wearing one now.

There were two people Wind hadn't seen before:

Ora was a large guy with long red hair reaching his back. He was holding a small book in his hands and had an axe tied to his waist in place of where a sword would have been.

May was a tall girl with brown hair reaching her neck. Her movements were graceful and quiet, making it seem like she was a scout, despite her height.

Melissa and Gerald started eating in silence. Jaron and May were talking while eating. Lastly, Ora sat in front of Wind, eating while reading from his small book, while Wind ate while looking at the ceiling.