Chapter 22: The wolf is not alone, it’s always in company.

Passing through the adventurer guild’s doors, he saw that the atmosphere there was as lively as ever. Since he’s always been somewhat of a loner, the thought of joining a party bought a certain amount of anxiety to him, but the liveliness of the place ended up soothing his emotions a little bit. Taking a deep breath, he slowly walked through the conversation and laughter riddled tables of the dinning room and headed for the second floor. Since he didn’t know how one goes about joining a party, the information desk felt like his best hope. After reaching the second floor, he let out a sigh of relief when he noticed that behind the desk was the woman guild employee who has helped him before and approached her.

“Hello, how may I help you?” she asked with a smile as soon as she saw Edward taking a seat in front of her desk.

“Hi, I wanted to head to the dungeon and increase my level, but I don’t have a party and wanted to know if the guild provides a way of joining one.”

The woman nodded before saying: “Give me a moment.”, and going towards a room in the back. Edward waited patiently and the woman eventually returned carrying what looked like a small booklet.

Placing the booklet on the table, she opened at one of the pages before turning it around towards Edward.

“This is a list of all the parties looking for a new member before heading into the dungeon. Take your time to look through then before picking one and letting me know.”

Edward looked at the ledger and read through one of the first requests.

<Four men party, average level 4, looking for front line fighter, preferably sword and shield.>

Seeing that it was a bust, he kept looking through more of the requests and it took him a few minutes and pages until he managed to find one that he fit the requirements for.

<Four man party of average level 2 looking for a mage class member for hunting the first two floors of the dungeon.>

Since it wasn’t like there was much difference between the requests, he turned the book around and pointed at the request with one of his fingers before saying: “I’d like to meet with the party who placed this request.”. There was a trace of excitement combined with anxiousness in his voice, making him remember his first job interview in his past life.

The woman took a look before saying with clear worry in her voice: “Are you sure you don’t want to look some more? I’m familiar with the party who placed this request and all of them are beginners with little to no experience in going inside the dungeon.”

“I’m also a beginner so I think it’s a good fit..” Replied Edward, confused about why the fact that all of them were beginners will pose a problem.

“That’s not it. The dungeon is a really treacherous place and it would be better to have at least one more experienced person in the party.”

If she happened to voice her concern before all his recent encounters, with both the wolf and the arsonist mage, he would have probably just ignored her advice, but now he had a better idea about how dangerous this world really was. His recent brushes with death woke him up to the reality of the situation. ‘A magical world is not all rainbows and sunshine.’

As he nodded to show he understood her concerns and was about to look through the booklet some more, a young man came from from his back and said towards the woman at the counter.

“Excuse me, miss Lara, I just wanted to know if someone registered to join our party. It’s been already two days and everyone is getting anxious that we’ll never get another member to apply.”

The woman, who apparently was called Lara, made a troubled look and turned towards Edward before saying: “The young man is the leader of the party request you were asking about just now.”

Edward understood her intention and turned around to take a good look at the young man. He was quite tall with short blond hair and a heroic look in his eyes. The round shield strapped to his back paired with the short sword at his waist gave him his a main character vibe, but there was still an trace of childishness on his face.

The young man also analyzed Edward before saying in a voice filled with eagerness: “So, do you want to join us? If you are at least level 2 and a magician we will welcome you.”

“I don’t mind joining you, but since we’re all beginners I’m not sure it will be a good idea…” replied Edward, still getting mixed feeling about joining the young man’s party.

“Oh don’t worry, I’ve hunted on the first floor of the dungeon before. All the monsters there are level 1 and quite easy to deal with. You’ll see that there is nothing to worry about.”

Edward frowned at his words before replying: “But I won’t increase my level killing level 1 monsters…”

The young man nodded with a smile before saying: “That’s why we plan on heading for the second floor, but our cleric is still level one so we’ll have to also hunt on the first floor for a bit to increase her level. This will also give you a feeling for how dangerous the place is and, if at that point you don’t want to continue, we can easily retreat. How about it?”

Edward pondered for a moment before looking at the mark on his arm. Feeling it heating up slightly, he took it as a sign of Fenrir encouraging him to do it. After pondering for a moment, he decided that the young man’s words made sense, he could always retreat after the first floor if he felt that it was too dangerous. He was also anxious that, since he himself had no experience, he might not get a better chance.

‘At least he looks reliable… sort of.’, thought Edward before nodding towards the young man saying with a sigh: “Fine, I agree to join your party, but if things are not going well I might decide to not follow you to the second floor.”

“Great. That’s no problem.” Replied the young man in excitement. “Don’t worry, our party is quite good. You’ll see.”

Edward sighed and they both thanked Lara before heading downstairs. On the stairs down, the young man said: “I’m Aidan, class guardian level two. What about you? What kind of mage are you?”

“I’m Edward and I’m a water mage. My level is also two.”

“Nice to meet you Edward and thank you for agreeing. We were starting to think no one will agree to join us.”

“Likewise. Can you tell me a bit about the other members?” said Edward, curious about what the others were like. They were after all, his new party members.

“They are waiting just outside the guild and you’ll meet them soon. Do you mind if we head for the dungeon right now? Everyone is quite excite to finally head there.”

Edward nodded and said: “I don’t mind it. How long will it take us to reach the dungeon?”

“Half a day of walking north. It’s not far.”

Edward nodded once more and they soon reached just outside the adventurer guild. There, two men and a petite girl immediately turned towards them as soon as they stepped outside.

“Look guys, we finally found a mage.” Said Aidan out loud as he pointed towards Edward, his voice attracting a mocking look from all the adventurers entering and exiting the adventurer guild.

The girl just nodded and didn’t say anything, but one of the guys said: “Aidan, are you sure you didn’t hit your head on the door frame or something? Don’t you see his clothes? There’s no way a mage will dress like that.”

The other guy elbowed the one who spoke and said: “Bran, don’t be rude.”

Bran snorted and said: “I’m just telling the truth, Steve. Have you ever seen a mage wearing low quality clothes like this? He doesn’t even have a set of armor..”

“That’s enough.” Said Aidan with a displeased look before continuing: “He is indeed a mage and Miss Lara confirmed it. You know how long we’ve been waiting for a mage to join our party so stop making a scene.”

“I want to see his status board.” Said Bran, apparently still not convinced.

“You know that a status board….” Aidan was about to decline when Edward took out his status board and said: “If you show me yours as well I have no problem with it.”. Circe told him that his status was supposed to be a secret, but since this was going to be his party, he felt that a certain amount of trust should be set from the start.

Bran took out his as well and they each took a look at the other’s.

<Name: Brendan>
<Class: Beginner Swordsman>
<Stamina: 113/113>
<Strength: 3.2>
<Level: 2>
<Level Life Force: 1/100>
<Skills: Horizontal Slash, Cost 5>

Edward was a bit surprised seeing that the guy had stamina instead of mana represented on his status tablet, but figured it must be a class thing and didn’t say anything about it. He also didn’t want to look like an idiot and just made his status board disappear with a nod towards Brendan.

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“Fuck me silly, he’s really a mage.”, exclaimed Brendan with surprise.

“I guess there aren’t any more problems Bran, are there?” asked Aidan seeing that both of them put their status tablets away. There was a trace of displeasure in his voice.

“I guess he’s all right.” Replied Bran ignoring the displeasure in Aidan’s voice before continuing: “Shall we go now?”

“Wait, let’s take care of introductions first.” Said Aidan with a sigh.

Steve was the first one to comply and say: “I’m Steven, halberdier level 2. I’m also Bran’s brother.”

Edward nodded and took a look at the huge halberd strapped to his back. ‘It must take a lot of strength to swing that thing. I would probably not even be able to lift it.

“You’ve already seen my status.” Said Bran right after.

Since he already knew about Aidan, Edward turned towards the girl who hasn’t said a single word until now. Her petite appearance and shy face made him worry slightly, but since she should be the healer of the party he figure it was not a big deal.

“Mya Greer, level 1 cleric.” Said the girl in a quiet voice.

Edward nodded and said towards the group: “My name is Edward Black and I’m a level 2 water mage. Nice to meet you all.”

‘At least they all look quite friendly and humble. That Brendan can be a dick, but you can’t have it all.’ Thought Edward as he let out a sigh once all the introductions were done.

“Now that the introductions are over, we should hurry so we can reach the dungeon before nightfall. We can then take a break there and head into the dungeon tomorrow at first light.” Said Aidan and everyone nodded in agreement before they started making their way towards the city’s northern gate. Edward and Aidan walked first, making casual conversation, followed by the two brothers Steven and Brendan and the last in the group being the quiet and shy Mya.

Once they passed the gate and exited the city, an idea came to Edward and he said: “I have an idea about how to reach the dungeon faster, but I don’t know if you guys will agree…”

“What is it?” asked Aidan with a curious look.

“I actually have a tamed magic beast, it’s just that I haven’t registered her with the beast tamer guild yet. If you guys agree, she can give us a ride there.”

“What kind of magic beast?” asked Aidan.

“It’s a wolf. She saved my life once and has been following me ever since.”

Brendan looked like he wanted to say something but his brother stopped him and Aidan nodded in answer: “Sure, but I want to see it first. I’m still responsible for everyone’s safety.”

Edward nodded and led the group towards the place he left Minx at. It took them around 30 minutes to reach the place since it was closer to the southern gate. Once in the general area of Minx’s hiding spot, Edward yelled out loud: “Minx. Come here, girl!”

It didn’t take long and a small wolf appeared running from a thick bush. Minx appeared quite excited at first, but tensed up as soon as she saw so many new faces and fixed her eyes on Edward before letting out a small whimper, apparently cautious of approaching.

“It’s fine Minx, they’re friends. Come here.” Said Edward as he crouched down. He also felt a bit more at ease if he could have Minx traveling with them.

Minx didn’t seem completely at ease but still walked up to Edward when he called for her. Once she reached next to him, she relaxed slightly and started rubbing her head against his.

“So what do you guys…” Edward was about to ask their opinion as he turned around only to see a wide range of emotions on everyone’s faces. Aidan looked quite intrigued, Brendan reluctant, Steven indifferent, but the most unexpected reaction came from Mya, whose eyes were basically shinning as she stared at Minx.

“C-C-Can I pet her?” asked Mya after working out her courage, but Brendan immediately took her hand to stop her from heading forwards and shouted at her: “Mya are you crazy? That’s a moon walking wolf.”

Mya quickly shrank back from the yell, but her eyes were still fixed on Minx.

“Moon walking wolf? What is that?” Edward asked, not familiar with the term himself.

“You don’t know?” asked Aidan and, seeing Edward shake his head, he continued: “There are a species of magic beasts that are known for drawing their power from the full moon. Yours is still young, but with adult ones, as long as there’s a full moon outside, their fighting capabilities will increase at least threefold. They are known for being quite feral and aggressive, most so when their territory is invaded...”

‘Minx? Feral and aggressive?’ Thought Edward as he looked down at his companion. He couldn’t really see any of those characteristics in Minx.

“I don’t know about other moon walking wolves, but Minx is not that strong. She also listens to me and has never behaved in any feral or aggressive way. Mya, if you want to, you can pet her. I guarantee nothing will happen.”

Mya turned to look at Aidan and, seeing him nod, quickly skipped towards Minx. Moving her white gown upwards so it won’t get dirty, she bent her lean, exposed legs and knelt in front of Minx. She then brought her slim, slightly trembling hand towards Minx’s head. Minx looked up at Edward and seeing him nod, brought her head closer to the girl’s hand before rubbing in against the hand.

A happy smile crossed Mya’s face as soon as her hand came into contact with Minx’s head, a smile akin to the blooming of a flower. She happily started petting Minx and, seeing that the wolf also appeared to be enjoying it, she brought the wolf into a tight hug and started rubbing her face against it’s soft fur.

Edward ignored the two and turned towards Aidan: “What do you think? I can guarantee that Minx won’t cause any trouble. She’s really not the type you described her to be…”

“I have no problem with it, but…” said Aidan as he turned to look at Brendan, the only one who seem to have a problem with it. Brendan also turned to look at how Mya was happily playing with the wolf before reluctantly nodding as well.

Aidan smiled and said: “That’s settled then. Can we go? If we got your wolf’s help we might be able to enter the dungeon today as well.”

“All right.” Replied Edward before turning towards the cuddling party and saying: “Mya, move a bit backwards please.”

Mya complied reluctantly and Edward said: “Minx, large.”. As Edward’s ended, the wolf grew from a normal sized one to one the size of a small house.

Seeing the size of the wolf, everyone’s mouth hang open, but the most exaggerated reaction still came from Brendan, who fell backwards on his behind.

“I’ve heard of moon walking wolves being able to change their size, but I never expected them to grow that big…” said Aidan, being the first to recover from his stupor.

After everyone calmed down slightly, they all used Minx’s tail to climb onto her back, with only Edward and Mya, who volunteered herself, sitting on her head. Once everyone was ready, Edward asked Aidan for directions and Minx followed them without the need for Edward to say anything.

As the wolf rushed through the road, everyone started getting used to the wolf, even Brendan relaxing slightly. It took a while for the party to get used to the wind and jumping motion, the only one having an issue appearing to be Steven, his entire face turning greener and greener by the minute. After half an hour, Edward noticed that he was about to throw up and quickly stopped Minx.

“Steven, go down and calm down a bit.”

“Thank..” Steven wanted to thank Edward, but he was too sick and as soon as he opened his mouth, to the disgust of everyone, he started puking.

After using a water spell and cleaning the puke from Minx’s back, they waited around ten minutes for Steven to calm down and resumed their journey. It took them three more hours and two breaks until they reached a small cavern in the side of a mountain with a few parties of adventurers waiting in front of it. There was also a large plaque placed right above the entrance.

<The White Scale Burrows>

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