The next day the three of them woke up early and headed downtown. From there they split up and searched for people who were willing to take on the dungeon quest.

Bold strolled along the marketplace listening to what people had to advertise. But his stamina quickly ran out and soon he was walking as if he had bandy legs. Just as he was about to run out of juice he heard a man’s voice. 

“Hey, hey. Brave boys, girls, men, women and even elders. If you want a good team who can take care of the animas and take on the dungeon. Look no further. We’re recruiting anyone who has the guts to give it all. Together with me and my sister, you will get rich in no time”

Bold couldn’t believe what he heard was true or just a hopeful imagination. But he briskly observed his surroundings and realized it wasn’t just his mind projecting.

The source of the voice was a man about the same age as Bold who was standing on a crate and spoke charismatically to the crowd. Bold raised his arms and hopped on his feet a few times to become visible. The man’s eyes finally focused on him.

“Ahh, the guy over there. You wanna join our great adventure?”

Bold nodded and gave a thumbs up and tried to slide through the crowd and after a tedious struggle he finally reached in front of the crate. The man beamed at him with his crystal blue eyes.

“What’s your name, pal?”

“Bold”

“The name is Vlad. Nice to have you on our team”

Bold looked around and saw a silver-haired woman standing next to the crate.

“Ahh, she is my big sister. Natalia”.

The woman robotically waved her hand and looked into the distance.

“So, the team. It’s only you two as of now?” asked Bold.

“The two who previously joined are looking for more members” said Vlad. 

“Okay, and the two friends I have, want to take on this challenge too”

“Really? That is brilliant. We need a few more and we’re good to go. The dungeon we’re taking. The maximum number of people who can enter it at a time is 10”.

“I see”

Bold opened up his menu and messaged to the group chat about his findings. After only what seemed to be twenty or so minutes Diego rushed out of the crowd and joined them.

“You one of Bold’s friends?” inquired Vlad.

“Yeah. Sort of”

Bold gave him a mean look to remind him that the latter part was unnecessary. Together they waited for Mikhail and another twenty or so minutes passed. Then they saw him emerging out from the crowd with another man by his side. A tall man with a brush like mustache, wearing a fancy pirate hat that looked almost twice as big as his head.

“Took you long enough” said Diego irritatedly.

“Sorry, was hard to navigate through all those streets and crowds. But I brought a companion” said Mikhail.

The man took off his pirate hat and bowed to them with sincerity.

“The ferocious swordsman with unwavering bravery. The one who has come to aid you in battle is none other than Thompson Watson.”

“That’s quite the introduction…Tom. Can I call you Tom?” asked Vlad.

However, the man frowned at that statement.

“I prefer Thompson. It sounds better…Far better.”

Vlad gave a kind smile as an apology and scanned his surroundings. Then his eyes lit up and he yelled.

“Mei, Emma! Over here!”

Four people emerged from the crowd. Three women and one man. The man wore a mask that covered his forehead down to his nose. And one of the three girls, possibly the youngest one with blond hair, hopped on her feet and spoke.

“You guys are our companions, right? Sis and I just encountered these two who would like to join the raid as well.”

The girl grabbed the woman with ginger hair around her neck and winced. By that suggestion, Bold concluded that the woman with ginger hair must be her older sister.

“New members, please state your names” said Vlad.   

"It’s Kenji” said the mysterious masked man. 

“Amanda” said a woman with brown hair who seemed to be 20 or so years old.            

“So, we now have 10 members, is that correct?” asked Natalia.

“Yeah. That’s exactly the number that we need” said Vlad and jumped off the crate.

He gave them all a kind smile followed with a tired groan.  

“Phew, yelling at the top of my lung for hours proved to be a tough job. Who could have guessed”

“Haha, already tired huh? I thought we were supposed to train before we got to the dungeon” said the ginger-haired lady.

“Yeah, yeah. Training. There will be enough time for that nonsense later on. But more importantly, I’m starving. Let’s get something to eat” said Vlad.

The blonde girl raised her hand and gave a big “whoo” and the ten of them followed one another across the busy citizens of the town.

                 They walked along the stony slope and found a neat little inn where they could sit and talk. Everyone ordered their meals and they all sat down around a long table, Vlad got up and spoke:

“First thing is first. Let’s introduce ourselves. And not just your names. What you've been up to after you were kidnapped into this game. And your hobbies, perhaps” said Vlad enthusiastically.

The ginger-haired woman got up to her feet and spoke: 

“My name is Mei. Me and my little sister Emma were kidnapped by some strange men with black clothes. It’s been about three months since we arrived in this place. We were trying to find safe ways to gain gold all this time. But I guess things aren’t so simple”.

“Hiyo. I’m Emma. Her sister…if that wasn’t clear. My hobby is watching tv and hanging out with friends” said the blonde girl with delight.

And now it was the masked man’s turn.

“My name is Kenji Satoshi. Pleased to meet you all”

Without saying anything more, the man sat down. And the brown-haired woman stood up.

“Amanda”

She sat down. But Vlad was not having that.

“Hey now. What’s with all the secretiveness. If we can’t make good group chemistry how will we work together?”

“Yeah. Sis and I spilled at least a dozen things. Where is the consistency?” huffed Emma.

“It would be equally bad for your so-called chemistry if you force us to be extroverts” hissed Amanda.

Vlad tried to reply to her negativity with a smile but a shadow of grimness still remained on his face. Kenji quickly got up to his feet and started speaking. 

“I-It hasn’t been long since I was kidnapped into this world. About a month now. I’ve been trying to get in contact with my girlfriend, Rumiko, who was also kidnapped and brought here according to the game master. But even if I searched and searched I couldn’t find her. I like reading books. And my master trained me in the art of wielding the sai from a young age. So, I am confident I could become a worthy asset in the team. How was that for a more detailed introduction?”

The masked man’s expressions were not so visible but his eyes had become much more welcoming than before.

“That was more than an excellent introduction. Thank you, Kenji. But ahh, not to bother you but could you take off your mask? If it’s just for shows” asked Vlad.

Kenji looked a bit puzzled but soon he regained his composure.

“I…can’t. I have a pretty bad burn scar on my face”

“I don’t mind seeing. Does anyone else? I’m just curious!” said Emma with a grin on her face.

“No, I don’t want to” said Kenji and sat down.

“I think that’s as much as we’re going to get out of you. I-it’s fine tho. That was more than excellent” said Vlad happily.    

His eyes now targeted Amanda who was as indifferent as before. But regardless of her expression she sighed and got up from the chair and spoke:

“I used to work at my father’s shop. But for the last few years, I was running my own business. I was kidnapped into this place about a month ago. Tried and tried to find ways to get out or gain a lot of money with the least amount of loss. But alas, something as easy as that does not exist. So, I’m here”

“You said you run a business, right?” asked Mei.

“Yeah”

“That’s pretty impressive. How old are you exactly?”

“20”

“Wow, at that age, huh? I’m 27 and all I did was keep studying and studying until I got kidnapped here” said Mei.

“My sister is a prime example of how studying is a life killer. So, I suck at my school on purpose” boasted Emma.     

Amanda glared at Vlad as if to ask “Is that enough?”. Vlad nodded with satisfaction and turned to the person sitting next to her. It was Mikhail. Unlike the person previous to him, his face showed that he was more willing to share.
 
“Thanks for the opportunity. I would first like to say that I am very grateful for all of the people who have gathered here. Bold, Diego, the three of us have an urgent need to take on a dungeon and gain gold. Would have never expected that assembling ten companions would be so fast and easy.

I used to lead a group back in Russia so I know how hard it is to gather people and unite them under one goal. As for my hobbies I just like hanging out with my friends. And when I’m not doing that I just like to lay down. That’s about it. I was kidnapped into this game two months ago”. 

“Oh, you used to lead a group?” asked Mei delightfully.

“Yeah”

“What type of group? I too am quite interested” said Vlad.

“The, umm… A bunch of our friends gathered around and lived together. That type of group. We hung around the streets and drank…a lot” said Mikhail with a bit of embarrassment 

“Doesn’t seem like a professional group. Weren’t your parents mad at you for wasting so much time with your friends?” asked Vlad.

“Oh, my mother. She left me and my father when I was just little. And my father…he doesn’t care”

Mikhail looked a bit grim when he uttered the last sentence.  

“Rough parental figures, huh?” said Vlad

“Yeah. But my life was perfectly fine tho. My friends were more than enough of a family to me”

Mikhail slouched back into his chair.