Zero300

Sorry for the late update, was busy with work and the Metus Contest. I've an announcement to make. I've decided to continue Part 2 of the main story after I finish this third Side Story. Thank you for your patience thus far and look forward to it!

“There’s a big quest posted up today! Come on, let’s go check it out!” A man exclaimed as he dragged his party towards the adventurer’s guild.

Many adventurers have heard about this quest posted by the king himself. Apparently, somewhere to the southeast, dragons have appeared and invaded several villages and cities. In retaliation, the king sent out his main army to battle against the threat. However, His Majesty also offered a handsome reward to the guild to sign up as many C-rankers and above to join the war.

Greedy for the rewards, a lot of adventurers have already signed up. And there was still a long line waiting to be registered. Meanwhile, Moss and his party of Knee Busters had just arrived into town after a week of training in the mountains. When Moss overheard the man talking about a big quest, curiosity got the better of him.

“Hey there! What big quest are you talking about?” Moss stopped the man and his party.

“Oh hey Knee Busters, how was training? Haha, we heard there was a big quest today. The king wants as many adventurers as he can get to join the war against a dragon lord.” The man exclaimed when he recognized Moss. “Of course, only C-rankers and above.”

“Oh? What happened?” Moss asked.

The man looked around to make sure the coast was clear before leaning in. “You didn’t hear it from me…but I heard that the king’s favorite child was murdered by a red dragon.”

“Favorite child? That silkpants?” Moss whispered back.

“Yea, but remember, you didn’t hear it from me.” The man shushed before straightening back up. “Now, what say you? Interested in signing up or what?”

Moss paused and turned to his teammates for opinions. But one look and he could tell that it was unanimous. Everyone wanted a piece of the pie. Moss smiled and glanced back at the fellow adventurer.

“Count us in!” Moss thumped his chest with reassurance.

“Alright! Follow us!” The man nodded as he gestured for the young party to follow.

The two parties headed inside the guild building and shortly arrived at the guild hall. By the receptionist counter, there were five long lines, each with a respective receptionist. One look at the adventurers in the lines and Moss could tell that these people were all registering for the king’s quest.

“Come on, let’s join that line.” The friend pointed at the shortest of the five lines.

The two parties quickly formed up and waited. Moss and his party waited and waited until about an hour later, it was finally their turn. The receptionist greeting them was someone they knew. It was the receptionist who showed them registered them on their first day.

“Oh? Knee Kickers? No, Knee Busters right? This may be late, but congratulations on reaching C-rank. You guys here for the king’s quest as well?” The receptionist smiled.

“Yea.” As the leader of the party, Moss could represent everyone’s intentions.

“Alright!” The receptionist noted down the Knee Busters’ participation and handed Moss and his party a badge each.

“What’s this for?” Clayton asked as he examined the wooden badge with a symbol of ‘fire’ engraved on one side.

“So, the registered parties will be divided into four different groups, each with a different main objective. The four categories are Offensive, Defensive, Support, and Recon. They are respectively represented by Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind.”

“So, this means we’re part of the Offensive group?” Clayton inquired.

“That’s correct.” The receptionist confirmed.

Moss propped his arms over the counter and asked. “Okay, so what do we do next?”

“You wait. In a while, the king’s chief-in-command will arrive and assign each group to a general. For now, you can go meet and get acquainted to others in your group.” The receptionist replied as she gestured towards the many cliques lounging about in the main hall, some were already merging together with their respective allocations.

Moss looked over towards his companions and received nods of agreement from them. After bidding the receptionist farewell, the party headed over to a large group of adventurers with ‘Fire’ badges.

“Are you ‘Fire’?” Moss asked a nearby adventurer as he held up his badge.

“That’s correct. Who are you? Which party do you hail from?” The muscular man affirmed.

“My name is Moss. This is my party. We are the *ahem* Knee Busters *ahem*, C-rankers.” Moss still couldn’t get used to introducing his party’s name despite the number of times he had done so. “This is Clayton, Adara, Hale, and Thea.”

“Haha, Knee Busters eh? Hahaha. It’s nice to meet you.” A robed woman chuckled as she slung her arm over the muscular man. “We are Dragon’s Horn – A-rankers. This muscle-for-brains is our party leader – Jack. I’m Clarissa and those two over there are Hubio and Fiona.”

Moss looked over at the two bickering archers and gave them a brief greeting. “So, what’s the situation? Do you know how many are in our group?”

“Currently, our ‘Fire’ group is the second largest group with over eighty members present. There are three A-rank parties, six B-rank parties, and eleven C-rank parties.” Jack explained before pointing at a group of three. “We’ve already acknowledged those three as our group leader. They are from the A-rank party Titans. They’re the strongest party in our group, not to mention, the leader of the party is a small noble.”

“Oh? Okay. Do you know when we will be leaving? My party and I just got back from a mission. We might need to restock some items.” Moss asked.

“Ah, no worries. It’s understandable. I think the chief-in-command will arrive sometime mid-afternoon. Don’t worry about buying food though, it will be provided.” Clarissa replied.

“Okay, thanks. We’ll see you later then.” Moss thanked.

“See you later.” Jack retorted.

After ending the short conversation, Moss led his party out of the guild building. Hale asked if they should forgo buying provisions, but Moss shook his head. He explained that a large-scale mission like the king’s quest would have quite a few mishaps, especially when the groups were organized quite hastily. It was better safe than sorry to prepare some food in case of shortages or terrible rationings later on.

Once the Knee Busters prepared as much as they could, the party arrived back at the guild just in time to see everyone bustling about. From the fragments of conversation Moss was able to pick up, the chief-in-command had arrived and ordered the groups to assemble and set out. The Knee Busters quickly found the ‘Fire’ group and followed them out the city gates.

Moss squeezed through the crowd until he found Jack and Clarissa. “Hey, what’s happening? We kind of arrived late and missed the announcements. Can you brief me on the details?”

“Moss, hey, welcome back. You didn’t miss much. Let me tell you, the chief-in-command came with a huge procession of elite warriors and mages and told everyone to meet up with different sections of the main army. The adventurers of the ‘Wind’ group had already left with the scouts of the main army. They were immediately assigned to conduct reconnaissance.” Clarissa explained. “Once we arrive at the main army, we will be grouped up with members of the ‘Earth’ and ‘Water’ groups to form mixed regiments of twenty each.”

“I see. Will we be fighting with the main army?” Moss asked.

“I don’t know, but I don’t believe so.” Clarissa retorted. “I think we will be a separate army, maybe the first line of defense so to speak.”

“Alright.” Moss thanked the woman for the information before he headed back to his party to tell them what he had just learned.

About half an hour later, the ‘Fire’ group had arrived near a clearing where the main army had set up camp. The commanding officer immediately divided the ‘Fire’ group as well as the ‘Earth’ and ‘Water’ groups. Afterwards, he merged the three divided groups into regiments of about twenty each.

Moss and his party looked towards the fifteen strangers who had been grouped with them. There were one other ‘Fire’ party, one ‘Earth’ party, and one ‘Water’ party. Each party had five members.

Sensing the awkward situation, Moss decided to break the silence with some introductions. “Hello, we are the Knee Busters party. My name is Moss and I’m a healer. This here is Clayton, our main tank. Adara and Hale are our long-ranged attackers. And Thea, here, is our supporter.”

After introducing himself and his party, Moss hinted towards the nearest adventurer, hoping for her to respond likewise. Luckily, the girl understood Moss’s intentions and introduced herself and her party.

“Hi there, I’m Bri. I’m a priestess. You could say I’m the supporter and healer of my party. My party is called the Burning Light. This is Nair, our main supporter, and these three sword users are the Sloane siblings – Janet, Kevin, and Daniel.” The girl replied while twirling her golden hair. “We’re also part of the ‘Fire’ group.”

A tanned young man stepped up next to introduce himself and his party – Turmoil Lands. “My party and I are from the same village. We were all born from farming families. We’re part of the ‘Earth’ group. I’m Bartholomew but you can call me Bart. I’m a pretty good fighter and I can use some plant magic. They’re Jon, Harold, Gavin, and Lily. Jon and Gavin are experienced pig farmers and have decent grappling skills. They also know how to use maces. Harold and Lily are hunters and can use bows and traps.”

“We are from Tranquil Shades.” A middle-aged man wearing steel-plated armor step up and briefly introduced his and his party’s names. “I’m Steven, that’s Joseph, Carolyn, Henry, and Vivian. We’re B-rankers. We’re from the ‘Water’ group.”

There was a slight haughtiness in Steven’s voice when he introduced his party as B-rankers. Compared to Knee Busters, Turmoil Lands, and Burning Light who were all C-ranking parties, the members of Tranquil Shades didn’t put them in their eyes.

“It’s nice to meet you all.” Moss greeted once more.