Chapter 28: A wolf’s stroll through the city

After a night of letting the wolf roam free through the surrounding forest, Edward repeated his morning routine and let Brendan’s longsword there with Minx before he started heading towards the city. Passing through the city gate, he figured that there were probably not many party requests posted throughout the night and started heading towards the inn, planning to spend some time there and head to the guild a bit later.

Entering through the inn’s doors, he saw Violet occupied with dusting off the place. He didn’t want to bother her so he just took a seat at one of the free tables. It took a few minutes until Violet finally finished dusting off and turned around while wiping the sweat off her forehead with a clean cloth.

She appeared quite tired but, as soon as her eyes landed on Edward who was just casually sitting at one of the tables, a smile blossomed on her tired face as she walked over.

Seeing her approach, Edward also smiled back and said: “Morning, Violet. Do you always take care of this entire place on you own? Why don’t you hire someone to help?”

Violet finally arrived at this table and replied: “Morning, Edward. It’s a bit hard at times, but I can’t hire anyone since I’m barely making enough for myself. This inn was left to me by my father and I have to take care of it, plus I like it here. Do you want me to bring you something to eat or drink?”

Edward nodded and said: “Something to drink please. What do you have without any alcohol?”

“Water or milk. Which one would you want?”

‘This would could use some juice…’ thought Edward as he let out a sigh and said: “Water please.”

Violet quickly nodded and started walking towards the back with her tail dangling happily behind her back.

Edward stared at her back as she was heading towards the counter to bring his water with a glazed look in his eyes.

As Violet came back and placed a cup with water in front of him, Edward didn’t even react at all, being completely lost in his thoughts.

“Are you all right, Edward?” asked Violet with a trace of worry on her face.

Her voice brought Edward to his senses and he fixed his eyes on her and asked: “What? Sorry, I kind of zoned out there for a moment.”

“Nothing, I just asked you if you were all right.”

“I’m fine.” Replied Edward before motioning for the chair across him and asking: “Do you mind keeping me some company or are you busy?”

Violet blushed slightly and sat down across from Edward before saying: “There is still some time before I have to serve breakfast…”

Edward nodded and rested his head on the palm of hid hand while fixing his eyes on Violet: “You said that your father left you this inn. Where is he?”

Violet’s blushing but happy expression turned a bit sour and there was a trace of hesitation in her eyes, prompting Edward to say: “If you don’t want to speak about it you don’t have….”

“It’s fine.” Interrupted Violet before continuing: “There is really not that much to tell.. I’ve never met my mother and my father was always the one who took care of me since I was young.”

Violet took a break, apparently also lost as her thoughts traveled back the memory lane. Eventually, her sense came back and she continued in“He used to be an adventurer, but gave up on that life and opened this inn here in the demi-human district once I born. At least that’s what he told me, but only a few months after I turned 13…. he passed away…”

“I’ve been taking care of the inn ever since. The people here in the demi-human district are quite nice and have been helping me a lot.”

“Sigh.. What about your mother?”

Violet shook her head before saying: “I don’t know. Father was a human so mother must have been a demi-human, but he never really spoke about her… I tried asking about it, but seeing the pain in his eyes every time I brought it up, made me eventually give up on asking. After a while, I just figured she must be dead so I stopped mentioning her at all, not wishing to bring him more pain…”

“I see. I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“It’s fine… it’s been a long time since then.” Replied Violet with a sad look before asking: “What about you? Where are you from? What about your parents?”

“Me? Well, my story is all kinds of complicated…”said Edward, a trace of sorrow also present in his voice.

“Do… do you mind telling me about it?”

Edward nodded and said: “I can’t really tell you much. My parents also died while I was still young so I didn’t really get the chance to know them that well.”. Violet could tell by Edward’s expression that there was something he was hiding, but she abstained from asking more about it.

As the atmosphere became a bit awkward between the two of them, Violet finally said: “It’s time I go serve breakfast. Do you want anything as well?”

“No, thank you. Go.” Replied Edward while shaking his head.

As Violet got up and started walking towards the back room to prepare the food, Edward kept following her with his eyes.

[Edward, even I could tell you were lying just earlier and I’m not even able to see your face…]

“Yeah… I just wanted to spend some time with her but fucked it up..” As his words ended, he sighed, down the cup of water before standing up and walking out of the inn.

Once she was done making food, Violet walked outside carrying a tray with a happy expression on her face, only for that expression to became a little downcast once she noticed that Edward had left.

“I should have never asked about it….” Murmured Violet before plastering a forced smile and walking towards the waiting customers.

Edward, having left the inn, was now walking aimlessly through the city, wasting some time so that maybe more party members requests will appear at the guild. Since the thought of the pleasure district was making his stomach turn and he didn’t really feel like going to see Circe either, he headed towards the market district.

Because it was still quite early in the morning, not even the market had that many people and he could move freely around while checking out the different stalls. He kept roaming around, not really buying anything and only being lost in his own thoughts for quite a few hours. The constant dangers of this world, the loss of three members in his party, memories of his old life, the little slave girl in the pleasure district and even the awkward interactions he had with Violet during these days kept coming back to him. For the first time since joining this world, he felt lost and alone.

As the sound all around started getting louder with more and more people appearing to browse through the market, Edward let out a sigh and started heading towards the adventurer guild with a heavy heart.

“Maybe in the end, I’m destined to remain alone…” muttered Edward as he stretched loudly in the middle of the street and decided to place all these thoughts in the back of his head. “Whatever happens, happens…”

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He then started walking towards the adventurer guild since it was already pretty close to noon. As he reached the guild, he skipped past the always crowded first floor and headed for the information desk on the second one, where Lara appeared to be working today. Ignoring his feelings of anxiousness and reluctance, he walked up and took a seat at her table.

Seeing that Edward sat down in front of her desk and was not really saying anything, Lara said: “Hello Edward. Why are you back so soon? Did anything happen?”

Edward sighed and replied: “Actually, I came back since yesterday…”

Seeing his downcast look and hearing he was back since yesterday, Lara quickly realized that something bad must have happened in the dungeon. With a sigh, she asked: “Dead?How many?”

“Only two got killed in combat, Aidan and Steven. Brendan just chose to join his brother right after…”

Both of them spent a moment in silence before Lara eventually said: “I see… at least some of you managed to make it back… do you want to look for another party?”

“I do… whatever happened, the fact that I have to increase my level has not changed.”

Lara nodded and took a look through the book with registered parties looking for members before frowning and closing it.

“I just remembered something. Can you wait here for a moment?”

Seeing Edward nod, Lara got up from behind the counter and started heading towards a room in the back. Edward had to wait for around five minutes until she came back together with an old man waring a funny looking hat that was covering a large part of his head.

Lara, together with the old man, came up to Edward and Lara introduced him: “This is adventurer guild leader Alvis. Leader, this is the boy I was telling you about.”

Her introductions apparently fell on deaf ears as both Alvis and Edward just kept staring at one another like they were in a trance.

As soon as he laid his eyes on the old man, Edward’s bite mark started burning up and he was doing his best to ignore the pain coming from it, while the old man also seemed to be thinking about something.

“Do you two know each other?” asked Lara after seeing the two’s weird behavior, prompting Alvis to smile slightly while saying: “Hello, young man. Lara kept telling me she found someone with great potential. Nice to finally get to meet you.”

Edward was surprised to notice that the bite mark calmed down after the man spoke and was dying to ask Fenrir what was going on, but since that was not possible right now, he nodded toward Alvis and said in a stiff but polite manner: “A pleasure to meet you too, guild leader.”

“I heard that you are looking for a party to go increase your level in the dungeon with?” asked the old man, going straight to the main point.

“Yes, sir.”

Alvis nodded while scanning Edward’s body once more before turning towards Lara: “You have my approval. If any of those brats says anything, tell them it is my decision. Now I have something to do, so I’ll have to take my leave.”

“Yes, guild leader.” Replied Lara and both she and Edward watched Alvis turn around and go back inside the room in the back he came from.

Edward let out a small sigh of relief as soon as the old man was gone and turned towards Lara with a questioning look in his eyes.

“I think you will like this..” Said Lara as she moved behind the counter and took a small token and a piece of paper before presenting them to Edward.

<Arrow head party - recruitment>
<Looking for two members, one of magician main class and the other cleric main class, to join our dungeon exploration party. The magician must be at least level 3 and have good combat experience while also possessing a good amount of both defensive and offensive spells.>

The writing on the piece of paper did nothing to clear Edward’s confusion, prompting Lara to explain: “The Arrow Head is a party created by the guild leader’s son and daughter. They’ve been recruiting for quite a while, but are usually very strict in the process and have not really been successful. They have three members in the party for the moment and only need a mage and a healer.”

“But it says level 3 or higher required, not to mention they seem to have a requirement for the amount of spells once must have learned…”

“It will be fine. The guild leader has been pressing them to pick someone and head to the dungeon for quite a while and now that you have his recommendation, they will probably not say much and just agree..”

“It still doesn’t feel right…” said Edward, feeling a bit reluctant. He didn’t really like the idea of forcing his way into a party through the back door.

Lara covered her mouth with her right hand and let out a small laughter before saying: “Don’t worry, they are all only level 3 and, while they are stronger than you are, it’s not by much. Since they kept declining anyone who wanted to join their party for one reason or another, they didn’t get the chance to hunt into the dungeon either. The guild leader has bought live beasts and let them kill the beasts for life force, that’s the source of their level increase.”

“But, doesn’t that mean that they have no experience either? Won’t that just be a repeat of the last time?”

“The leader’s children have been training with the best teachers since young so, while their experience is definitely lacking, the amount of knowledge and training they had is leagues above your last party. You also don’t have to doubt their combat experience since, while not really gaining any inside the dungeon, they have been killing those beasts bought by the leader on their own. What do you say, do you want to give it a try?”

“Doesn’t the party still need a healer?”

“That won’t be a problem either. They are mostly hung up because they didn’t have a mage class. They would have been able to hunt in the dungeon without any other members, but the leader prohibited them from going with less than four people in the party.”

Edward pondered seriously for a moment before nodding and saying: “Fine, it’s not like I have a better choice and since they came with the adventurer guild leader’s recommendation... Anyway, where do I find them?”

Lara quickly took out a map and pointed towards a part of the residential district before saying: “Try searching for them at home. Since they are not here at the guild, that is the most likely place you’ll find them. It’s the largest house in this area and it’s built around a giant tree. There’s no way you will miss it.”

“And I just go to their house like this?” asked Edward, feeling a bit awkward.

“I’ll give you a letter to explain things.” Replied Lara with a nod before picking up a piece of blank paper and writing a few words on it. After that, she stamped the paper and sealed it with wax seal before passing it to Edward. “Hand this to them when you get there. I explained everything inside.”

Edward nodded absentmindedly as he took the recruitment notice, the token and the letter before thanking Lara and heading outside.

Once Edward was out of out of the second floor, Lara let out a sigh and murmured: “Now it’s up to you kid. If they take you in…”

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