"We have decided to stay for a while here. We look forward to having cordial relations with you, Grul."
"Same here."
"Likewise."
"If it's possible, I'd like to have a drink with you! Kahahaha!"
I looked at them, mouth open like a gorilla, in a daze.
These are my new neighbors?
Huh?
Wha?
Let me take a few steps back and explain what happened after the feast, or rather, the day after.
After I realized the true identity of Doc, I excused myself from the feast and went to bed.
I thought long and hard about why such an important character in the game was already here, when she was supposed to still be at the kingdom.
Before I knew about her true identity, I was a bit confused as to what the Serana Kingdom was, but now I remember it.
It was a nation of Humans ruled by Elves who masqueraded as Humans.
There was a reason why the Elves hid their bloodline and stuff, but I didn't pay attention all that much to the story.
Even more so about the Serana Kingdom since it was only relevant in the late-game, when I was mainly focused on the mid-game and early-game content.
All I knew was that Doc was supposed to be a character that had an entire arc around her finally deciding to escape and becoming the beak-mask doctor, being able to be brought along by the player as an OP support.
But, at the very start of the game, she had already left?!
It took a bit for me to swallow this information, and when I did, I simply gave up and decided to rest.
'S not like I can do anything about it, lol.
And the day after the feast, most of the people I rescued had already left.
Either by foot or by carriage, they all left.
From what I got from Silver, the reason they were ever in Quietus forest was because they were suddenly teleported or transferred there.
And it didn't seem to have any conditions as to why or how they got there.
While they were picking berries, travelling, and other things, they were taken away.
Anyway, although questions still linger, these people had other things to do in their life, so they all left, with some even thanking me for rescuing them, despite their appearance of sheer terror from before.
I think I also got a few reputation points because of that.
Anyway, as I said, everyone left, either quietly or thanking me first, returning to where they were originally at or were supposed to go.
…Except for this party.
Who were actually in Quietus Forest of their own accord, and also decided to rent the empty house next to me and visited me in the early morning, stating they were going to stay here and wanting good relations with me for whatever reason.
"You, stay. Why?"
They were a bit surprised when I asked that question, but fortunately, they didn't gape in shock like last time and did answer in a timely manner.
"Well, it's because we have a quest here in Quietus Forest: We were assigned by the duke of Yarlto to investigate the deeper part of Quietus Forest and find something of value. It seemed simple enough, so we took it as our first ever official A-rank quest."
"Are you stupid?"
"What?"
"Zug."
"D-did you say something just now?"
"Zug?"
I acted clueless to ward them off from what I said earlier.
A slip of the tongue; to say the least.
But seriously, what kind of party would do that?
I am just…stupefied at how naive they are.
'Simple', my ass.
This forest—the deeper part—was where I almost got turned into shadow dust by an elk with an attitude problem.
It's a place of abnormals: fungal spores that melted armor and gave you some weird poison effect, creatures that could one-shot you without ever so much as a glance, jagged terrain that leaves you feeling queasy, an environment that was unequivocally hostile to you, and every other horrid thing it had inside that chasm.
And these pathetic humies—a party of four that couldn't even handle some pumpkin monsters—thought it was 'simple'?
It was such a naive and dumb mentality, I felt my Intelligence regress the more I thought about it.
I wanted to yell at them so badly.
I wanted to scare them and make them shriek and run away from here and retire from adventuring ever again.
But I slowly glanced at the two little brats, Farida and Khovor, who were standing a distance away from us, doing some menial chores around the house.
Those little ones needed power.
Power to defend themselves.
And the party here—well, they don't have the power to train them.
But they have the potential to.
There was something I learned after acquiring Inspect, and that was—
+====================================+
// Khovor - STATUS SCREEN //
+====================================+
|RACE: Human
|CLASS: Silent Phantom (EPIC)
|AFFILIATION: N/A
|LEVEL: [Locked]
|GENDER: ♂
+====================================+
+====================================+
// Farida - STATUS SCREEN //
+====================================+
|RACE: Human
|CLASS: Voice of Magic (EPIC)
|AFFILIATION: N/A
|LEVEL: [Locked]
|GENDER: ♀
+====================================+
—they already had classes; great classes.
Something you wouldn't normally see on children.
I always knew they were meant for greatness!
And from what I can tell, their classes were compatible with the party in front of me.
At least somewhat.
What matters is that I, or even Kael, would not be compatible with the kids' needs.
No, to help the kids out, I needed them to have actually good guides.
The best I could teach them is not even half of what they could be taught by the two in front of me; the mage and the ranger.
Speaking of, what are their classes, anyway?
Let me check—
+====================================+
// Ayleen Belen - STATUS SCREEN //
+====================================+
|RACE: Human
|CLASS: Wind Ranger (SPECIAL/UNCOMMON)
|AFFILIATION: Neuling Village
|LEVEL: [Locked]
|GENDER: ♀
+====================================+
+====================================+
// Melophone Ludovis - STATUS SCREEN //
+====================================+
|RACE: Human
|CLASS: Ever-seeking Wizard (SPECIAL/UNCOMMON)
|AFFILIATION: Central Mage Tower
|LEVEL: [Locked]
|GENDER: ♀
+====================================+
+====================================+
// Tyler McCormick - STATUS SCREEN //
+====================================+
|RACE: Human
|CLASS: Wanderlust Adventurer (SPECIAL/RARE)
|AFFILIATION: Neuling Village
|LEVEL: [Locked]
|GENDER: ♂
+====================================+
+====================================+
// Bundo - STATUS SCREEN //
+====================================+
|RACE: Human
|CLASS: Berserker (RARE)
|AFFILIATION: Tribe of the North Loch
|LEVEL: [Locked]
|GENDER: ♂
+====================================+
—seems like they have quite the classes as well.
Still, the class doesn't matter if their brains are just slobs of meat to them.
Back to the topic at hand, I needed this party to owe me one, so I can use them to train up my brats.
And in order to do that, I needed them alive.
But with how they're acting right now, they'd barely survive a day in the deeper Quietus, and I'd probably be stuck with the troublesome task of retrieving their mangled corpses after they dilly-dallied their lives away trying to get where they wanted to.
No. I couldn't allow it.
It's both troublesome and a hassle to do that, as well as it being difficult to try and find another set of helpers for the two kids.
The system might have forgotten to give me a quest this time, but I was about to give one to myself:
Babysit the Adventurer Party Until They Are Worth Something.
I squared my shoulders, adopting the most serious posture I could manage with my massive physique.
Time to finesse these fools.
"I live inside Quietus Forest."
I said, pointing to myself, trying to ensure my voice came out clear while carrying a hint of a darker undertone.
I then pointed to the general direction of the forest.
"Deep part. Dangerous."
They noticeably grew tense as I said my piece.
At least they knew when to heed warnings.
They looked at each other, unease and hesitation evident in their faces; it looked like most of them weren't willing to go now that I said what I said.
But just as all hope seemed lost to them, I stepped in.
"I…Grul…Guide you."
Tyler's face—a face that you could say was idol-like in beauty—lit up at my proposal, but then I held up a finger before he could speak.
"But! First, test. You all, fight, me. Together. Now. Sparring field."
The mage of the party blinked her eyes as if what I said was utterly preposterous.
"Fight you? All of us? …I don't mean to be rude, but wouldn't that be…unfair to you?"
Unfair?
To me?
Girl, not even 30 of you would be enough to break a sweat off me.
"Go. Now."
I then practically pushed them out of my house and walked with them all the way to the training field.
Now at the dueling site, I casually brushed some dirt off of Natasha and looked at my opponents.
Ayleen Belen, the Archer, nervously nocked an arrow, while Bundo, the Barbarian, just gave a hearty laugh and started pounding his chest.
Melophone, the mage, was sifting through pages of her book, probably trying to find what kind of species I am and what weaknesses I have, while Tyler, their leader, was taking deep breaths for some reason.
They were all so eager to die.
They're all so casual it's not even funny.
Once they were ready, they formed a semicircle opposing me.
This is going to be sheerly disappointing, I thought, my entire body groaning in protest at the notion that I'd be dealing with a bunch of unready weaklings.
The fight began with a predictable opening.
Tyler, true to his headfirst personality, charged, brandishing a gleaming longsword that looked too heavy for him.
He was fast, I'll give him that.
But he was also a damn open book.
I met his charge with a simple parry.
The sword rebounded harmlessly off my axe, and before he could even bring his sword back to meet me, I used the pommel of Natascha to tap him lightly on the chin.
This caused him to drop like a sack of potatoes with a surprised squeak.
1 down, 3 left.
Next were the pesky ranged two.
The mage was chanting something while the ranger shot arrows at me.
I sighed, witnessing the simple, mindless shooting these two were doing.
Their attacks were like mosquito bites.
Worse yet—there was no strategy to any of it.
I pulled out some ground and hurled it at the two, who were standing beside each other—big mistake.
The thrown debris hit both, collapsing them down with a 'Thud!', rendering them combat ineffective.
3 down, 1 left.
Surprisingly, the last one still standing was the barbarian, Bundo.
He was roaring, his eyes completely white as he charged straight at me.
Then, he began swinging his battle mace in wide arcs.
The Orc in me wanted to meet the blow head-on, and see who was stronger.
But I kept my cool and went for the fastest takedown.
Using the simplest move Kael taught me, I waited for Bundo to get closer and closer, until eventually he was right in front of me.
He continued charging, trying to swing his mace at me.
But as he sprinted towards me, I simply sidestepped and stepped my foot out onto his projected path.
Bundo, lost in sheer fury, had no time to stop or perhaps didn't even notice my foot.
He stumbled, his body crashing down onto the dirt.
The fight was over just like that.
4 down, 0 left.
Light work, no reaction.
With this fight, I knew: they weren't just underprepared—they were suicidal.
No sense of strategy or team coordination, armor is too weak, attacks are too simple, their durability was flimsy, cocksure attitude, yeah, it's all coming together.
The guy who sent them here sent them on a suicide mission, and they gladly accepted, thinking it's a surefire way to reach higher heights.
I walked over to the whimpering pile of aspiring adventurers, who were now struggling to get up.
"You weak."
I stated to them plainly.
"You continue, you die."
They all hung their heads low at what I said, knowing the implications.
Whether they continued on to Quietus Forest or gave up and tried to find some other quest to do, If this continued, they would probably end up dead, disbanded, or scarred regardless.
It seems they know that, with how heavy the atmosphere was.
Luckily, they had me.
"I mentor you."
Tyler rubbed his sore jaw, staring up at me with newfound respect(and terror.)
"Y-you mean it? You'd train us?"
"Yes. But listen and follow. Always."
I looked at them—like, really looked at them, making sure that they knew that what I was saying right now meant business.
"You, train. My way. Or you die. Your choice."
"Got it. We'll follow your every word, mentor!"
"Start, tomorrow. First, rest."
This is going to be a long month.
I thought as I walked toward Farida and Khovor, who were chilling in the sidelines barely paying attention to the pathetic display of a fight, leaving the defeated adventurers in the dirt to deal with themselves.