Chapter 24: Wild Rose

The Wild Rose was an adventuring party that consisted of four people.

Sheryl awakened before dawn to make preparations for the escort mission her party had undertaken. In the bathroom, she washed her face, causing her muddled mind to awaken.

In the mirror, there was a fox girl with pink hair, ears, and tail. Her facial features were delicate and slightly childlike and she looked adorable when her pink ears twitched from the cold.

She then went over to wear the traditional attire of beastkins, a red kimono with large flower patterns. The red color of the kimono matched perfectly with her crimson eyes. When she walked, her wooden sandals would leave large, satisfying click sound. She was a Grand Adept, Sheryl, the leader of the Wild Rose.

After getting her morning stretch, she knocked onto the room of her party members one by one.

"Wake up! We have a job today!"

Tired groans could be heard from inside the rooms. Sheryl assumed they had stayed up to gamble and drink again. The first to leave their room was Paula, a beautiful elf with fair skin, blond hair and blue eyes.

As she walked out of the inn, she stretched her arms over her head and said, "Good morning, leader. It's the two of us first as usual, huh?"

Sheryl shook her head. "What a troublesome bunch! I told them we had an escort mission today and they still stayed up late!"

"Escort mission huh? They're always one of the more fun ones, aren't they." Paula tilted her head.

"Yes, it's always a great feeling to safely escort travellers into my homeland." Sheryl nodded smugly.

When Paula and Sheryl were standing side by side, one could see an obvious difference in height. Even while Paula was slouching slightly, Sheryl's head only managed to reach her chest...

A cold breeze of morning wind passed by, and the morning dew which were collected on the trees fell. Paula's long, elven ears and Sheryl's pink fox ears twitched from the cold, and the last two members of their party arrived.

In front, was Alexia. She was your typical dark elf with pointed ears and dark skin with black hair. Because of her role as a scout, she wore a layer of fishnet under her shorts and vest, which accentuated her tight figure.

After her was Brenda, a short, stocky, muscular dwarven female. She carried a big axe that was almost twice the size of her body and her height only reached up to Paula's waist.

"Sure took your time, huh?" Sheryl said in an irritated tone.

"W-w-we're sorry leader!" Alexia and Brenda said at the same time. "It's all Brenda's fault for making us all drink last night!"

"Hmph! Ungrateful! This is dwarven wine we're talking about!"

Bonk!

Sheryl smacked both their heads at the same time. "We're setting off!"

As they made their way over to their client, Sheryl briefed them on the details of their mission. "We'll be escorting a pair of mother and son into the Beast Kingdom and stopping at Dai, a city by the coast."

"That far..?" Alexia, the dark elf groaned.

"And just a pair of mother and son? What are they thinking?" Brenda followed up with her deep, dwarven voice.

These two pairs of dwarf and dark elf appeared to be the main troublemakers of this party.

"What about the rest of the details of the mission?" Paula chimed in.

Sheryl ignored Alexia and Brenda, only answering Paula. "This is all the information they gave us."

"Huh?"

"Isn't it interesting..? I have a feeling that it will be." Sheryl said with a smile, her pink fox tail wagging slightly.

When the Wild Rose arrived at the agreed-on meeting spot, the first thing they saw was a beautiful, white carriage emitted the charm of luxury, and minimalism. It had gold highlights on the outside that swirled around into a simple pattern. The carriage was attached to two armored horse golems that had the same gold pattern as the carriage.

"Woah... So pretty!" They all exclaimed.

"Must be some nobles we're escorting. Aren't they worried about attracting bandits with this fancy of a carriage at all?" Brenda pointed.

"Now, now, isn't it our job as escorts to protect them?" Paula said.

Once they started talking, the door to the carriage opened and a beautiful woman walked out. Her skin was fair, and her hair was a perfect black, flowing down her shoulders. Her eyes were a mysterious purple and there was a small mole at the bottom corner of her right eye. She was wearing a button up white dress and there was a slight smile on her face.

After her, came her son. He was the most adorable boy with his mother's black hair and purple eyes. There was a cute smile on his face and he wore the standard noble attire of a white buttom up shirt with a blue ribbon bow tie, and a pair of brown shorts.

"You guys must be the Wild Rose." The woman said.

"Correct." Sheryl, the pink fox nodded seriously. However, it was rather difficult to take her seriously with her only reaching chest height of Ari. At the corner of her eyes, Sheryl could see the little boy giggling to himself. She tried her best to stay serious and said, "You must be Madam Roth?"

"Right." Ari nodded and scanned her eyes over to the rest of the Wild Rose's members, sending goosebumps down their spine. "Shall we leave right away?"

"R-right." Sheryl nodded cutely.