The adventurer’s guild was a place where screwups and good-for-nothings tended to gather. Among the newbies, though, you’d occasionally find someone who still had their head on straight. But decent ones like that ended up getting themselves into trouble, making mistakes the screwups never would, and letting those failures weigh on them.
It was a pattern I’d seen often enough. The two new girls fit that mold pretty well.
“They ended up formin’ a party with him?” I asked.
It was still early morning, and most of the adventurers hadn’t shown up yet. Two young girls walked in through the front doors and spotted the kid having breakfast alone at a table. They gave him a quick greeting and slid into seats across from him. This shaky new trio of rookie adventurers had become a familiar sight. But back when they had brought down the goblins, I had assumed I would never see them together again.
“Yep, that’s right. Kinda surprising, huh?” The red-haired halfling grinned. “I never thought they’d pick tiny. You see that coming, Barque?”
Playin’ innocent even though she had a hand in it, I thought.
“A lopsided party,” muttered the mage with the pointed hat.
If that’s what you really think, you shoulda told ’em to disband instead of bein’ their part-time counselor.
“Well, it’ll probably work out,” said the warrior. “You never know until you try, right?”
Shut up, idiot. I sighed. These people always had to complicate things.
A mage and a healer were valuable magic users. What kind of party members should they have picked? Vanguards, obviously. But they went with a kid who specialized in gathering herbs. I was stunned.
Their party was strange, lopsided, and hard to understand. Sure, they had a decent spread of skills with a field scout and two magic users. But they were lacking when it came to combat, the most crucial part of any adventuring party. At the same time, they had a healer even though they weren’t cut out for fighting.
Most parties looked for members with skills that fit the kinds of requests they wanted to take. Those three clearly didn’t go through that process, and that was why their party composition was off-balance.
Damn it... Gotta quit doin’ that. My role as guild leader forced me to see everything from an administrator’s perspective. But party structure was their business, not mine. Even if it wasn’t efficient, or even if it seemed like total nonsense, I couldn’t just shuffle them around like game pieces.
“So, Barque,” Chikka said, turning to me with a sly smile. “Don’t you have something for tiny?”
Sheya followed up calmly. “Defeating goblins should earn him Rank E.”
“We basically did everything for him last time, so that didn’t count.” Waine grinned as he leaned against the reception counter. “This time, he took down three of them by himself. Looks like the little guy’s finally earned his license.”
So that was why these three had shown up first thing in the morning, even though they weren’t here for a request. They were always sticking their noses into things that were none of their business, and that wasn’t because they were sincere, upstanding types who would say, “Let’s celebrate with the kid! This is a big deal!” The only reason they would gather together like this was because they were idiots with crappy personalities.
“He abandoned his team, acted selfish, and nearly got the whole party wiped out. I don’t see how any of that proves he can complete a goblin extermination request. I’m not givin’ him the license yet,” I said.
“Aww, so stingy!” Chikka threw her hands in the air.
“Abuse of power,” Sheya muttered, her voice as dry as ever.
“Huh? Come on, it’s just a rank license. What’s the harm in handing it over?” Waine asked with a crooked grin.
Each of them were trying to act like they were taking the kid’s side, but I knew they just wanted to mess with him.
“Morning!” someone called out. “What are you all talking about?”
The voice was high-pitched and still unbroken. I looked over and saw the boy in question, who had finished his breakfast, standing nearby. He wore a halfling’s leather armor, a battered browplate across his forehead, and a spear along with a basket for herb gathering strapped to his back. This was the rookie adventurer Old Badger had taken a shine to.
Flanking the boy were the two others everyone had been talking about: the cleric who looked like a bit of an airhead and the sharp-eyed, strong-willed mage.
“Good morning! You all seem so lively today!”
“My, so chipper this early. If this isn’t a work-related conversation, do you mind letting us use the front desk first?”
Izus and Magnan... One came from a long line of clergy, and the other was the granddaughter of the man who ran the sea salt guild.
“Morning, tiny! Get this. Barque over here...”
“He’s stingy. Tight as a clam’s ass.”
“You’ve got every right to be pissed, kiddo. He’s just being lazy and doesn’t want to do the paperwork.”
Of course, the trio of idiots was still here. Having this many weirdos around was enough to make my head spin. If we were talking weirdos, though, the biggest one was probably Old Badger. Maybe being surrounded by weirdos really was just fate.
“A pointless conversation,” I said, brushing the others aside. “Ignore these fools. You off to gather herbs again today?”
The boy nodded with a bright, cheerful smile. “Yup. We’re heading out!”
His face was so open and honest, it practically gleamed.