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Chapter 24 - The First Journey on a Strange Continent (4)

Arzen stood firmly in front of the mission board.

A group of hulking adventurers with heavy weapons shot him a look, signaling him to move aside.

"I\'m a healer. Currently looking for a party. I’ll join the first group that comes, but you’ll have to take care of this request."

One of the bulky men scowled.

"What\'s your rank?"

"Steel."

"Any high-rank subjugation accomplishments?"

"None."

"Get lost."

"I\'m a healer, though?"

"I have no interest in babysitting a Steel-ranked healer. At best, you’ll only be useful for treating mosquito bites."

The adventurers burst into laughter.

Arzen silently decided to kill that muscle-bound oaf later when they crossed paths somewhere less crowded.

He suddenly felt drained.

After a moment of sitting at the table, fidgeting his legs, he headed back to the mission board.

\'What on earth am I supposed to do with idiots like these?\'

Revenge filled his heart...

\'Dammit, those pathetic goblins are probably laughing at me right now…!\'

-"Keek, we captured a future Diamond-rank adventurer!"

- "Adventurers aren\'t that special, keek!"

To put it simply, this wasn\'t just Arzen\'s problem anymore. It was a matter that affected the dignity of all adventurers, and how was he supposed to explain that to these fools?

\'Besides, I need to take on high-level missions to find the monster that can transform the key into a master key...\'

Just then, someone suddenly spoke to him.

It was an older dwarf with a massive gun strapped to his back.

"Are you the healer who uses divine power?"

"Yeah."

"Got any official credentials?"

"Nope. Does that matter?"

If he had a problem with that, he could shove off.

But strangely, the dwarf burst into a hearty laugh instead.

"Unlicensed, huh? Even better."

"...?"

"Licenses are for the weak who lack confidence in their skills. A real man proves his worth through his abilities."

Arzen immediately understood.

This dwarf was crazy.

And he liked him a lot for it.

"My name\'s Jerome. As you can probably tell from my distinguished look, I’m a Dwarf Gunslinger. Our party\'s been in need of a healer. Interested?"

Something felt off.

Why did his voice sound familiar?

Before Arzen could even respond, Jerome gestured to his companions sitting at a nearby table.

"This here is Kitan, a Pathfinder. A bit of an idiot, but he\'s great at finding routes and traps. He’s also a Bronze rank like me."

The approaching kid had two daggers strapped to his waist. He also carried a box on his back, filled with lockpicking tools and various equipment for finding paths.

“Hi! How old are you?”

That voice sounded familiar too.

“How old are you?”

“Maybe fifteen? Not sure of my exact age. You\'re fifteen too, right? Let\'s be friends, hehe.”

Arzen’s expression turned serious.

“I’m sixteen.”

“?”

“So, call me ‘big brother’.”

In truth, he was probably the same age as Kitan, fifteen. But after all the beatings he’d endured in the Divine Guillotine, he might have lost a year somewhere along the way.

Kitan stared at Arzen for a moment, then looked at Jerome, and they both burst into laughter.

Kitan, who was roughly the same height as the relatively short Arzen, smiled brightly and extended his hand.

“Maybe I’m sixteen too. Let’s just be friends.”

Was this guy an idiot?

‘Well…’

At least he didn’t seem like a bad guy.

There’s no such thing as a bad idiot, right?

Jerome pointed to another person.

“And that moody woman over there is Sia. She’s our party leader and in charge of anger. She gets mad whenever she’s bored. Being a Silver-ranked adventurer, she crushes us with violence and authority.”

“What’s this ‘in charge of anger’ nonsense? Half of what this short old man says is nonsense, so just ignore it.”

Arzen blinked in disbelief.

Sia was incredibly beautiful—easily the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

‘Wait, is she even real?’

Despite her strong build, she still had a distinctly feminine figure.

But there was one drawback: she was very tall.

Arzen, on the other hand, was quite short.

Her short hair revealed sharp facial features, and there was an X-shaped scar across her face. Even if you tried, it’d be hard to look that cool on purpose.

‘Her whole appearance just screams the scent of blood.’

She had a suspicious aura, with bandages wrapping her entire right arm and a massive executioner’s sword strapped to her back—a clear sign of her formidable prowess.

‘It’s obvious that being a Silver rank means she’s on a whole different level... She has the same intimidating presence as the guys from Divine Guillotine. You can just tell she’s a professional in battle.’

While Arzen observed Sia, she too scanned him from head to toe with her crimson eyes.

“What’s your rank?”

“Diamond-tier Steel.”

“Steel?”

Though his actual rank was Steel, his skills were at least Gold, if not higher.

That’s why he called himself Diamond-tier.

It wasn’t his lack of skill that had kept him in Steel rank until now—it was his former teammates who had been the problem.

“So what if you’re Steel? A healer adventurer is incredibly valuable. If you\'re joining us, we should be grateful.”

"They didn\'t seem like a Steel-ranked rookie, that\'s why I asked. What miracles can you use?"

Since most people don’t recognize miracles just by their names, Arzen mixed in a few hand gestures to explain.

"I can make a shield, heal, bind, stab with a spear—things like that. I’ve got a lot in my toolkit. Impressed?"

Kitan whistled in amazement.

“Wow! What the heck? You can do all that? You’re insane, that’s awesome!”

Jerome and Sia exchanged puzzled glances.

"How can someone with access to that many miracles still be Steel-ranked?"

Did some promising member of the church run off because they wanted to become an adventurer?

‘Even if it’s hard to believe... if all that’s true, they’re a Steel with the skills of gold,’ Sia thought, finishing her mental calculations. She extended her unbandaged left hand.

“You know that vanguards and healers are paired, right? For this request, I’m counting on you.”

But Arzen didn’t take her hand.

Was it because of the dazzling smile from such a beautiful woman?

‘No, that’s not it. She’s not even my type, if I’m being honest.’

The issue was much more straightforward than that.

“What kind of request is this?”

There was a brief silence. Outside, a rooster crowed.

Sia blinked in confusion, then glared at Jerome.

“Hey, short old man! Did you seriously not tell him what the request was?”

“Of course not.”

“And you invited him to join the party?”

“Of course I did.”

“So why the hell are we all here? After all that chatting, now we just look like fools, damn it!”

“I figured we\'d just get him swept up in the moment and have him agree to join the party.”

“?”

“What if he bolted the moment he heard the details?”

“???”

“Having a healer is too valuable to lose, so it was a reasonable decision. Humans often lack rational thinking.”

“You insane bastard, that’s not rational thinking, that’s deception!”

As Sia grabbed Jerome by the collar and began shaking him furiously, Kitan jumped in with a simple explanation of the request.

“There’s been a massive goblin outbreak in Mine #6. The numbers are crazy, so we’ve got to go clean them out. It’s a 9th-tier mission.”

“Wait, Mine #6? And it’s ranked 9th tier?”

“No clue. We were surprised too. There’s probably something fishy going on, but you in? Goblin extermination missions usually don’t pay much, but this one’s got a high rank, so the reward is massive. And we split the loot evenly.”

Mine #6 was the same one Arzen had been planning to take care of himself.

"Why did the rank go up?"

Suddenly, a voice from a staff member chimed in.

“It’s because a bunch of stupid adventurers thought they could handle it alone and ended up running away. The locals raised the difficulty rating. Apparently, one adventurer claimed to be really strong but failed miserably.”

Arzen smirked and turned to the staff.

“And what if this was all part of my plan?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Could this be any easier?

‘This revenge mission is practically falling into my lap!’

The increase in rank meant higher rewards and contribution points, and now, Arzen had found the perfect pawns to use as stepping stones for his rise to power.

“So, shall we do this?” he asked.

“Let’s,” came the immediate reply.

“Beg for it.”

But things wouldn’t go so smoothly.

‘A healer is like a noble! We have pride!’

These damage dealers were nothing more than the lowest of the low—commoners that could easily be discarded. But healers? They were rare and precious.

‘If I join too easily, it will undermine the dignity of noble adventurers…’

While these sly thoughts crossed his mind, Kitan, clearly misinterpreting the situation, shouted enthusiastically, “Arzen’s in!”

Jerome, still being vigorously shaken by the collar, grabbed Sia’s wrist and pointed at Arzen.

“Look! It’s just as I planned.”

“No, this doesn’t feel right… If we go along with this, I’ll feel guilty…”

“What’s the harm? A conscience doesn’t feed you. In this line of work, it’s all about who’s better at making the best of a bad deal.”

Kitan shook his head vigorously. “No, no! Arzen’s no pushover! He says Sia has to get on her knees and beg him to join. Go on, Sia, beg him!”

“?”

“???”

Recalling how this woman had intimidated burly men not too long ago, Arzen immediately reconsidered.

“No, I didn’t say that.”

“Oh, you didn’t? My bad! Anyway, he’s joining us!”

Arzen shot a furious glare at Kitan. ‘Wow, this scumbag…’

At first glance, he seemed like an idiot, but maybe he was actually quite cunning. Arzen decided to keep an eye on him.

“Well, let’s get the party registration form filled out then, shall we? Just to make sure no one backs out later,” Jerome said, quickly taking Arzen to the reception desk.

The party registration form contained the following fields:

1. Have you fully understood the mission details? Yes / No.

2. Is the profit-sharing ratio in line with the guild’s recommended guidelines? Yes / No.

In the past, scams in party formation were rampant, so the guild introduced this rule, requiring personal attendance and the signing of an official document to prevent future disputes.

After quickly marking all the “Yes” boxes, Arzen submitted the form, heart pounding.

“Well, we’re all in the same boat now. I’m counting on you. You’ll be dealing with all of Sia’s tantrums on our behalf, so best of luck.”

“Shut it, unless you want me to beat you senseless,” Sia retorted.

All three of them seemed like utter lunatics, which, strangely enough, made Arzen like them—just a little.

‘Not that I trust them. I’ll never fully trust adventurers I’ve just met. Not ever.’

He couldn\'t deny, though, that there was a bit of excitement about this new partnership. But that was a feeling he knew he had to suppress.

Adventurers were, more often than not, liars and scoundrels. Giving away your trust too easily would lead to regret.

Half of his excitement came from forming the party he had longed for.

The other half was rooted in the fear of old memories—memories of being cursed and beaten for the smallest mistakes.

"The supplies for the expedition will be prepared on our end. Meet here tomorrow morning."

Although they wanted to continue the conversation, it seemed everyone had things to do.

The guild temporarily engraves a unique emblem on the identification tags of party members.

After receiving the emblem, Arzen went back to the counter and, almost as if making excuses.

"I purposely had the mission raised to a 9th-grade task so I could clear it. What do you think, sister? Pretty impressive, right?"

The guild receptionist just gave him a disdainful look, not even bothering to respond.

"For tomorrow, I need a good rest, so could you give me a private room?"