Chapter 14 - Birth of the party 'Survivors” part three

A pitiful voice echoed throughout ‘New Beads’.

“Please save me Wilma.”

“Save me…? You’re just doing paperwork to set up a new party aren’t you?”

The receptionist Wilma let out an exasperated sigh as she went to help the new receptionist, Lily.

“B-But look at this line-up.”

“Eh… Let’s see… Ah, the one that was kicked out of ‘All Martial Arts’ is the leader…”

“…If only that was all.”

The next name was a human female, Tianna.

Job, sorcerer.

Dragon race female, Karan.

Job, warrior.

Human male, Sem.

Job, healer.

“Hmm, it’s a party with a nice balance isn’t it? It’s nothing like All Martial Arts, where they’re all vanguard meat-heads.”

“But, how should I put this, there’s a dangerous air around them.”

Lily glanced at the room in the back, where the new party was waiting.

“Ahh… No kidding.”

Generally speaking adventurers were ruffians, and it was expected of guild receptionists to be able to deal with them. Proper guild receptionists could stay calm and composed even when dealing with more troublesome adventurers, and Wilma sighed as she wondered when Lily was going to reach that stage.

There were exceptions of course, and the guild would sometimes be visited by people that would put the average employee in a bind.

Wilma was an adventurer before she became a receptionist, and she was strong. Sometimes criminals that would possibly threaten the peace of the city would disguise themselves as adventurers, and that was when Wilma came in.

She looked old, but she wouldn’t be outdone by young adventurers. Not a lot of people were strong enough to protect a guild like her, and she was New Bead’s trouble solver for a long time.

“Oh alright, just this once.”

“I’m sorry Wilma…”

Wilma entered the room where Lily pointed, and there was…

“Hn?”

“You’re Nick aren’t you? Formerly fromAll Martial Arts.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Nick’s tone showed he did not like that, but Wilma looked at the other members in order without getting upset.

“I see…”

They didn’t look scary, but there was certainly an air of danger around them.

The sorcerer was clearly a noble, but the way she acted and the air around her were too high class for her to be one of those poor ‘in name only’ nobles.

The dragon warrior was the ‘survivor’ that people had been talking about.

She was left behind in the ‘Jar of the hermit snake’, and made her way back on her own. Both her appearance and name check out.

Wilma didn’t know the man that appeared to be a priest, but his equipment was odd, he was wearing a cassock but had no cross.

In his form, he wrote healer as his job and not priest, so he was probably excommunicated  from some temple somewhere.

He had a calm demeanor, but his eyes were piercing.

They definitely seemed more dangerous than the average ruffian, and were either going to cause trouble or get roped into trouble.

Lily, the new receptionist, was right when she smelled danger, but adventurers included these kinds of people.

“…Hmph, alright. So tell me survivors, what are you going to name your party?”

“Survivors? What’s that?”

“According to the rumors, that girl was tricked and left behind in the pot of the hermit snake but made it back on her own.”

“…What?”

Karan glared at Wilma.

“Well, it looks like a lot happened, but rather than who’s strong and who’s weak, making it back alive is the most important quality for adventurers. It’s a good memory for you isn’t it? I’m impressed.”

“Impressed… Yes, we’re really proud.”

Nick laughed sarcastically.

“Am I supposed to thank you for thinking ‘wow she survived that’s amazing’? If you have time to hang around thinking about that sort of stuff, how about you try to catch those idiots using fake names and pretending to be adventurers? There’s a lot of people going around breaking the guild’s rules and stealing you know?

“…You don’t hold back do you?”

“I can say it as many times as you want. Is your job to sniff around for rumors or register our party?”

The situation became very volatile.

Tianna and Sem were glaring at Wilma just like Nick. They all felt that if they were in Karan’s place, they would flip out.”

But it was Karan herself who broke that atmosphere.

“Nick, stop.”

“But…”

“Survivors sounds nice. We’re tough.”

Karan smiled broadly

Nick thought she was probably just putting on a brave face, but it still relaxed Nick’s irritated heart.

“…You’re right.”

Wilma felt ashamed of herself as she watched adventurers displaying anger for their partner, and decided to stop treating them like they were trouble.

“…You’re right, the guild’s negligence is the reason why all these people are free to prey on adventurers.

We haven’t tracked down that man using the fake name Karios, but we do know what he looks like. That dragon orb is too famous for him to be able to easily sell as well, so he’ll show himself eventually.”

“I’m counting on it.”

“Yes… So, what are you going to name your party?”

“…We haven’t thought about that at all.”

“Come on…”

Wilma shrugged, but Karan interjected.

“Survivors is nice. Isn’t it?”

“Eh… I don’t think…”

Nick hesitated, but Karan looked happy.

“I like it. It’s important to be tough.”

“Ahh… What do you two think?”

“If Karan likes it then it’s fine with me.”

“Yes, it’s not a bad name.”

“…Then let’s go with that. From now on we’re “Survivors”.

“Yes, got it. Now, stay true to your name and make sure you always make it back from your adventures.”

“Of course.”

It began that day.

The tale of the ones that kept struggling and survived.