"You're late again, elf." Kyros scolded Amethyst as she joined us in the guild closer to noon than morning.
"Hmm, you look a little sick, Kyros? Maybe a cold?" She chuckled in response, taunting the unfrozen assassin. She wasn't wrong; he must have been frozen out there for hours.
"Again… sorry about that."
He scoffed in response and decided not to allow Amethyst's teasing to get to him. He sulked back into the shadows with a vial of poison between his fingers.
By now, we had already gone through the process of officially accepting Tia into our party. It didn't take long at all. We just had to speak to the guild recruiter and sign a few papers.
After that was done, we sat at the usual table waiting for our mage to arrive. It was a little awkward, if I'm being honest. Kyros waited in silence as always, and Tia and I spent way too much time stealing glances at each other while trying to avoid direct eye contact. We didn't speak much either, just the usual small talk to make the whole situation seem, well, less awkward.
It's not like I didn't want to talk to him; I did, of course, I wanted to know everything about him, but his shy demeanor kept me reserved. I didn't want to seem overbearing or creepy to this boy I couldn't seem to stop thinking about.
This is just a normal adventurer party.
"Hey, Draven?" Amethyst asks as she takes a seat on the other side of Tia.
"Hm?"
"Did you find a quest for us yet?"
"We were waiting for you to get started." I scowled, looking her dead in the eye.
"Ohhhh… my bad."
She was trying to play dumb.
"Well, now that we are all here, let's think of what to do. We need a relatively easy quest so Tia can get some more training."
Kyros sat in the shadows, unmoving as if he didn't hear me, and Amethyst tilted her head in thought, staring blankly at the ceiling. God, they were no help at all.
Just then, Tia slowly raised his hand as if he thought he wasn't allowed to speak. A smile snuck onto my face as I watched him, everything he did was just so cute.
"You don't need to raise your hand. You're one of us now; we're all equals in this party." I chuckled, which made him blush as he slowly lowered his hand before he opened his pink lips to speak.
"W-what about a d-dungeon?"
A dungeon?? Really?!
Clearing a dungeon wasn't exactly an easy quest, especially for a beginner. They were usually in caves or labyrinths and filled with dozens or even hundreds of monsters and always contained a dungeon boss. Without a boss, it wasn't even considered a dungeon by guild standards, and that's why they paid extremely well.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Tia."
He puffed out his cheeks and stared up at me.
"W-why not!"
"Well, a dun-" I started before Amethyst cut me off.
"That's a great idea, Tia!! Let's go look for one!"
She jumped up and grabbed Tia by the arm, pulling him away towards the quest board before he had a chance to react.
At this point, I just accepted it; there's no controlling her. A dungeon might actually not be a bad idea, anyway. Depending on the boss, Kyros, Amethyst, and I could probably even clear an entire dungeon by ourselves. Tia wouldn't really be in much danger at all while still being able to practice his healing.
I exchanged glances with Kyros, who seemed to be apathetic about the decision, before making my way to the quest boards where the rest of the party was searching for dungeon quests.
"Here's one!" Tia called out in joy, pointing to a yellowed paper nailed to the board.
Quest
Slay Dungeon Boss: Ancient Lightning Dragon
Location: Summit of Draecthar Mountain
Reward: 5000 gold coins
Warning! Extremely Dangerous!
Yeah… I don't think so.
I shook my head no in response, and Tia looked at me with disappointment.
We continued our search through all the quests that were posted, looking for the perfect one.
Slay Dungeon Boss: Elder Minotaur
Nope.
Slay Dungeon Boss: Mutated Wolfpack
Definitely not.
Slay Dungeon Boss: Empyrean Lord of Heavenly Warfare
…
I was starting to think that a dungeon might not be possible right now, or at least not a good idea with Tia still being a new adventurer, when I noticed a small page posted near the bottom of the quest board. I bent down to retrieve it before reading the quest description.
Quest
Slay Dungeon Boss: Goblin King
Reward: 600 gold coins
Location: Cave 12 km west of Castellum
It was perfect! A Goblin King might sound intimidating at first, but it really just meant he was bigger and fatter than the average goblin, just as easy to slay. Even a party full of inexperienced adventurers could clear a dungeon full of measly goblins. It was nearby, too, close enough to where we could clear the dungeon by nightfall and still make it home tonight.
I showed the page to Tia, and he grabbed it tightly as he read. His eyes glittered in excitement as he imagined the possibility of clearing his first dungeon.
"If we leave now, we can make it there before lunch."
Somehow, Tia's eyes lit up even more, almost popping out of his head from all the excitement. It made me happy. I don't know why, but even just seeing him smile made me feel emotions I've never felt before, more than just joy or satisfaction; it felt like he was the only reason my heart was even beating right now.
"I'm ready!" Tia announced proudly.
"Isn't he adorable?" Amethyst teased quietly as I walked past her to accept the quest at the front desk officially. Of course, he was, but I didn't respond. It felt like she could read my mind anyway, and I still wasn't exactly sure what her devious, or maybe lewd, plan was.
I had no problem accepting the quest because not many adventurers would even want to clear such an easy dungeon, even if the pay was good. I returned to Tia, who was still bubbly, and Amethyst, who was still staring me down with a grin. I called for Kyros to join us, and in one shadowy instant, he was by my side.
"This will be our first quest as a new party, let's go slay a Goblin King!"