My group this time consisted of around six men and two women, including myself as well.
I don't know how, maybe they were actually a party, or perhaps they were already acquaintances, but they had been chatting nonstop from earlier, making the atmosphere never truly calm.
Even though I wasn't part of their conversation, I could still understand what they were talking about.
Yeah, I was just standing among all of them. And I was the only one who hadn't talked to anyone at all since earlier.
To be honest, being in the middle of a crowd without speaking like this felt like being a loner who didn't want to socialize with anyone.
——
What Yukito said was indeed true, but even so, he wouldn't have expected what would happen next.
The people in Yukito's group eventually realized that although there were eight of them, it felt like something was missing.
Yes, what they felt that way because there was someone they hadn't talked to, causing that sensation.
——
What's going on? All of a sudden, every time they finished talking, they glanced at me briefly before looking forward again.
Why were they suddenly trying to look at me? Did they feel that I wouldn't actually be useful in their group?
Before we even reached the forest, one of the women in this group suddenly slowed her pace and walked beside me.
As far as I remembered, this girl had been at the very front the whole time, and now she was walking more slowly beside me.
The others in front of us also immediately glanced our way, curious about why their female friend chose to walk beside me.
"Who are you?" the girl walking next to me asked.
She looked at me with a curious gaze, which made me confused about why she suddenly did this.
What should I say to her… If I told her my name was Yukito, she might know about me causing trouble in Necvalion.
Ah right, I had an alias.
"A-ah, Kid. Just call me Kid," I said to the girl.
At first, I thought she was older than me, or maybe around my age, but it turned out my assumption was wrong.
Her face looked younger than Hime's, and her voice also sounded lighter than that of an adult woman.
Based on my guess, she was probably around fifteen, or maybe even younger.
Even though her height was about the same as my shoulder, I was fairly sure my guess was right.
"Kid-san, huh? Then, why are you interested in this mission?" the girl asked.
What kind of problem did this girl have, asking me questions nonstop?
"Nothing special. I just didn't have anything to do, so I came along," I replied.
"By the way, you're an adventurer too, right?" she asked again.
"Huh?" I asked, confused by what she said.
"I thought you were just a normal person who came along, but you're actually an adventurer, huh? Sorry, sorry~" she said.
Honestly, if I had the chance to be alone with her, I'd want to clench my fist and punch her hard.
She had just looked down on me, hadn't she? Seriously, why do I always run into annoying people like this?
I had hoped this girl would be gentler like Hime, or indifferent and teasing like Yuu-chan.
If I'd known it would be like this… I should've just ignored her. Who cares if she thinks I'm cold and don't care about what's going on around me.
"So I really look that much like an ordinary person, huh? It's fine though, a lot of people think that about me," I said.
"By the way, are all of you acquainted with each other?" I asked.
"Yeah! We've all known each other for a long time~" she replied cheerfully.
Then, one of the men who had been in front of us started walking beside me on my other side.
Uwah, it looked like this guy was going to do the same thing as the annoying girl beside me.
"What's with this guy, Coko-chan?" the man asked while looking at the girl next to me.
I kept saying "beside me" over and over again, and honestly, I was already getting tired of using that phrase.
Well, at least this guy let me know the girl's name. Coko, huh? Maybe I'd call her "-san." I didn't want to get too involved with them.
"Tomi! The guy beside us is pretty interesting, you know~" Coko-san said.
"Is that so?" the guy asked while looking at me.
"I'm Tomi. What about you?" he asked as he held out his hand toward me.
If he was offering his hand, then there was only one thing I could do.
I extended my hand as well and shook his in greeting.
"Kid." That was the only word I said to him.
"Nice to meet you, Kid!" he said.
——
Hah… Thank goodness all the groups had finally arrived at the front of the forest, and Lancer-san was standing before all of us who had lined up.
It seemed he was going to give us instructions again. Good, as a leader, he was responsible.
"All right, I'll be giving each group a piece of cloth in different colors. With that, I'll be able to give further instructions," he said.
He then approached each group and handed out a colored cloth to everyone present.
Our group received red cloths. Well, it didn't have any particular meaning anyway.
Without thinking much, I immediately put the cloth into the pocket of my robe.
"Everyone got theirs? Good. All right! For the group that received the red cloth, I'll send the area map to each of your status screens," Lancer-san said.
——
He repeated the same explanation until all groups now knew where they needed to patrol and keep watch. The same went for me.
From what I could see, the area our group had to cover wasn't very long, but it was fairly wide on the map displayed on my screen.
I didn't know how Lancer-san did it, but maybe it was one of the skills he possessed.
He was a Guildmaster, just like Van-san. So they must have several skills that were extremely rare among most people.
"I'll be going with the group holding the purple cloth myself, since the area they need to cover is deeper in the forest and much wider," Lancer-san said again.
"All right, shall we begin?" Tomi asked while looking at all the members of our group.
"Let's go~" Coko-san said as she clenched her fist and raised it into the air.
She was very energetic, even though we didn't know what we would encounter inside.
Still, it did make the atmosphere better. With someone so full of energy in the group, our mental state would probably stay in good shape.
With a single positive mindset, the people around would surely start thinking the same way as well.