Orthus was proud of his party. They were all young, new adventurers with talent and skill. They even had two magic users in their group, something practically unheard of. There weren't many magic casters in the Kingdom of La'gun, maybe only a couple hundred in total, and two of them were in his party.
It was really just the luck of the draw. They had all started together and were all around the same age. Most other adventurers were older and had already formed their own parties. In a town like Enrain, it wasn't as if there was a plethora of adventurers around. The Guild in Enrain would only acquire a handful of new adventurers a year, and it was even more rare for those who could use magic to join.
Adventuring was dangerous, after all. Those who studied magic usually preferred safer professions, like becoming court wizards or independent scholars. Still, the rewards for adventurers were great if successful, and that was enough to entice some mages into the profession. Most adventurers, however, were warriors or various types of ranged fighters. People like Orthus were a dime a dozen. Even so, warriors and other types of fighters were a necessity for mages.
Orthus and Arin had worked together to make sure the two new young mages would join them. They made sure to befriend them and treated them with care. It had paid off, because they were able to form a party, and so their adventures began.
"Aessa, make sure you stay behind me. I'll be the vanguard and Arin will guard the rear. Idren, your job is to support us by slowing the goblins' movements," Orthus said, appointing himself the leader of the party.
Both Aessa and Idren nodded their understanding, and Arin smirked slightly. He didn't particularly like following Orthus' orders, but they took turns leading, and this time it was Orthus' turn.
"Do I really have to be rearguard?" Arin complained. He wanted to be at the front of the battle, it was much more exciting than guarding the rear.
"You were vanguard last time! It's my turn," Orthus shot back, not about to give up his chance to lead the charge.
They were all still young, and there was a bit of a rivalry between the two warriors ever since one had defeated the other during training. Orthus was still stinging from that defeat.
Their group was facing off against a dozen goblins. Goblins were relatively weak creatures but could be dangerous in numbers. They were still young adventurers, and this was the safest place for them to grow stronger. The Iendal Hills were goblin breeding grounds, and countless goblins lived there. Most resided underground in caves that stretched deep into the earth, but overpopulation often drove many of them aboveground. These surface goblins were usually weaker, and so many beginner adventurers would come to train here.
"We don't have time to argue about this, they're coming!" Idren snapped, irritated by their bickering. His words brought the two warriors back to their senses. Spreading out his arms, Idren cast a root spell, vines burst from the ground and wrapped themselves around several goblins. The goblins who hadn't been trapped tried to circle around and surround the young adventurers.
Orthus and Arin, shaken out of their squabble, leapt into action, striking out at the approaching goblins from the front and rear. Aessa stayed focused, chanting continuously as she fired Wind Blades from her hands, cutting into the goblins. Her magic was still developing, so her spells weren't strong enough to kill a goblin in one shot, but they were enough to disrupt the enemy's advance. It was through this constant pressure that they managed to control the flow of the battle.
Despite their earlier bickering, they worked well together. They had trained extensively for moments like this. Even though they were still young, they had spent much of their lives preparing for adventuring. In their world, teamwork was the only way to survive. Without it, they would not last long.
Idren, acting as their druid support, continued to root enemies as needed. The two warriors handled any goblins who broke free or tried to get too close. Aessa's job was to kill or disrupt as many as she could before the goblins closed the distance. Each of them understood their role, and before long, they stood victorious, all of the goblins either dead or dying.
The work wasn't over, though. After the monsters were slain, they needed to harvest the bodies for parts to sell in town. Goblin ears, nail clippings, and teeth were all valuable for various purposes. While goblin parts weren't worth much, they were bottom of the barrel monsters, it was enough for young adventurers to survive until they grew stronger.
The strange thing was that the bodies of the monsters would eventually dissolve, but the parts that were harvested remained without issue, something that could not be explained by any scholars or adventurers.
Regardless, harvesting was dangerous work. There were plenty of stories about adventurers being ambushed while distracted cutting up corpses. Many had exhausted themselves fighting, only to be attacked again while their guard was down. It was essential to fight only monsters you could handle, preserving your strength for the unexpected. This was one of the main reasons dungeon diving was so terrifying.
"Idren, Aessa, why don't you two keep watch while we harvest these?" Orthus suggested. He figured it would be faster, and safer, since the mages were weaker than the warriors.
"Good idea. I can use magic to detect movement through the grass. If anything comes near, I'll know," Idren said confidently.
Aessa, shy as always, just nodded and gave a quiet, "Okay."
The two warriors got to work. Harvesting monster parts was a dirty job. They had to slice off ears, nails, and teeth carefully. The type of materials they collected depended entirely on the monster. Some creatures had valuable hearts or other organs, but thankfully, goblins didn't require cutting open the bodies. Still, it was bloody, messy work.
As they worked, Arin broke the silence. "Orthus, do you remember that guy Peter?"
"You mean that guy who had those weird black flames? That's the only thing he had going for him. Otherwise, he had no skills. I really didn't like that guy," Orthus replied scornfully, digging his knife beneath a goblin's nail to pop it off.
"Ha! You're just jealous, aren't you? Those black flames were strong. I wonder what he's been up to," Arin said, more to pass the time than out of real curiosity. Harvesting was tedious, and any conversation helped.
Orthus made a dismissive gesture. "Hopefully dead by now."
"Don't you guys pay attention to anything?" Their conversation was interrupted by Idren, who had clearly been eavesdropping.
Orthus and Arin were slightly annoyed by the interruption but curious enough to ask, "What do you mean?"
"Peter's going by the name of Fayde now. He's the one everyone's been talking about after the monster invasion. How do you two not know this?" Idren sounded genuinely shocked by their ignorance.
The two warriors stared at him, stunned. "That Fayde everyone's talking about is Peter?" they blurted out.
"Yeah. He's a silver medallion now, and his party has a gold medallion adventurer too," Idren said, clearly enjoying their expressions.
"I can't believe it. We all started at the same time, and he was so old..." Orthus trailed off, struggling to process it.
"Damn! If we had just been allowed to fight in the battle, maybe we'd be silver medallions too!" Arin added, venting his frustration.
They hadn't been permitted to participate in the town's defense. Orban had decided they weren't ready yet, and both Arin and Orthus had complained about it ever since.
Orthus nodded, agreeing. "Yeah, we could have done just as well as that 'Fayde.'"
Idren shrugged. "I doubt it. You know he's participating in the dungeon expedition the Guild's organizing, right? Orban wouldn't let him go if he didn't think he was strong enough."
At those words, the two warriors practically fell off the rocks they were sitting on. If a monster had attacked just then, they would have been completely caught off guard.
"What!?" they shouted in unison.
"Keep your voices down!" Idren hissed. "Look, it might be hard for you guys to believe, but I don't think either of you are a match for Fayde. Orban didn't even hesitate to pick him for the expedition."
Aessa, who usually said very little, nodded in agreement, which surprised them even more.
The two warriors looked at each other in disbelief. Orthus finally said, "How could he have gotten that strong so quickly? Sure, his flames weren't bad, but he could only use them a couple of times. Other than that, he wasn't even that skilled."
Idren shrugged again. "Aessa saw him recently too. She said she could feel the power radiating from him."
They turned to look at Aessa, who gave a firm nod.
Orthus and Arin exchanged determined looks.
"I'm going to challenge him to a duel!" they both said at the same time.
"I'm going first!" Orthus shouted.
"No, it'll be me!" Arin shot back.
They bickered like that for a while, until Idren yelled at them to hurry up and finish harvesting the goblins.
Reluctantly, they went back to work. But both Orthus and Arin now held a new, burning conviction in their hearts.
They weren't about to let Fayde leave them behind.
Tch. I kind of like his new name, they both thought privately.