That evening, Yamamoto returned to his assigned room to find it occupied.
A man sat on the left bed, carefully wrapping leather cord around the shaft of a spear. He was perhaps thirty, with short brown hair and a weathered face that spoke of years outdoors. His build was lean and muscular, looking like a guy that relied on speed rather than brute strength.
He looked up as Yamamoto entered, his expression neutral. "You must be the new roommate," the man said. "Garrick Moss."
"Yamamoto Odinson," Yamamoto replied, closing the door behind him. "Kenneth mentioned you."
"Did he now?" Garrick returned to his work, deft fingers tying off the cord. "Hope he didn't say anything too flattering. I've got a reputation to maintain."
"He said you keep to yourself mostly." Yamamoto said.
"That sounds about right." Garrick tested the grip, satisfied with the result. "Don't worry—I'm not the chatty type. You do your thing, I'll do mine. We'll get along fine."
Yamamoto sat on his bed. "Works for me."
They settled into a comfortable silence. Garrick finished his spear maintenance and moved on to sharpening the blade with a whetstone. Not to appear too strange, Yamamoto brought out a few useless things and placed into the chest.
"First guild quest tomorrow?" Garrick asked after a while, not looking up from his work.
"Yes. Goblin nest with Cole's team."
"Good group." He said. "Watch out for Silas though."
"Is he that bad? Kenneth warned me."
"Well, its not a secret after all. Silas is skilled, but he lets his emotions get in the way. Some time ago, he nearly got someone killed because he was too busy sulking to call out an ambush." Garrick looked up, his eyes serious. "Don't trust him to watch your back until he proves he will."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Garrick nodded and returned to his sharpening. After a moment, he spoke again. "You settling in alright? I know guild life can be an adjustment."
"You're right. It's better than I expected, though, at least for now." Yamamoto admitted.
"Could always be worse," Garrick agreed. "That's what I tell myself every time I wake up and realize I'm still doing this instead of farming like my father wanted."
A slight smile tugged at Yamamoto's lips. "Not a farmer at heart?"
"Tried it for two years and nearly died of boredom. Figured I'd rather die from facing monsters instead. At least it's more exciting." He set down the whetstone and inspected the spearhead. "You former military? You've got that look."
'Do I?'
"Self-taught," Yamamoto said. It was becoming his standard answer.
"Huh. You must be good then, if Tormund let you in. He doesn't take charity cases." Garrick stood, stretching. "I'm heading to the baths before bed. Fair warning—I snore. If it bothers you, there's spare cloth in the bottom drawer for earplugs."
"Appreciated."
Garrick gathered his bathing supplies and headed for the door. He paused at the threshold. "Good luck tomorrow. Goblins are trickier than they look. Don't underestimate them."
"I won't," Yamamoto promised.
The door clicked shut, leaving Yamamoto alone with his thoughts as he could only reflect in bewilderment.
'Wasn't he supposed to be a reserved type? This guy might actually be lonely out here.'
Just like that, the rest of that day went by slowly.
…
The following morning, Yamamoto met up with his teammates.
He had his sword on his waist, and the new one he picked strapped to his back. Because of his height, it didn't look too much on him.
The team was already assembled when he arrived. The others were all together, while Silas stood apart from the group, pointedly not looking at Yamamoto when he approached.
"Good, everyone's here, " Cole said, glancing up. "We should get moving immediately. We've got about a two hour walk north."
With everyone in agreement and ready, they all headed out through the gate.
Once clear of the city, Cole moved to walk beside Yamamoto.
"Since this is your first dungeon with us, I'll brief you on what to expect," Cole said. "The goblin nest we're clearing is a recurring dungeon. You know what that means?"
"It respawns," Yamamoto said. In the game, recurring dungeons regenerated their monsters on a timer—usually a week or two. One-time dungeons disappeared after being cleared.
"Exactly. This particular nest respawns every ten days or so. Makes it reliable work. The goblins are not sophisticated, but they're not stupid either."
Cole pulled out a rough sketch—a basic map of tunnels and chambers. "The nest has three main sections. Entrance tunnels with scouts and sentries—goblins levels 10 to 11, usually four to six of them. Main chamber with the bulk of the tribe—twelve to fifteen goblins, mixed levels, some warriors and some using crude ranged weapons; and finally the chief's den in the back—the chief himself is level 12, he usually has two bodyguards stationed there with him."
He tapped the map. "Standard approach. We clear the entrance quietly if possible. If we're spotted, they'll sound an alarm and we'll have to face the whole nest at once, which is not ideal. Following that, we go in hard and fast—Ninia hits them with an area of effect magic, I hold the front line, Silas flanks to take out their ranged attackers, Priest Donovan keeps us healthy, and you..."
Cole looked at Yamamoto appraisingly. "You're our flex. You see an opening, you take it. Someone needs support, you provide it. Your job is to read the fight and adapt. Think you can handle that?"
"I can," Yamamoto said.
"Good. Now, goblin attack patterns…" Cole went on to explain more things to Yamamoto, some standard things he already had an idea of, and a few things he was hearing for the first time but wasn't going to take note particularly.
"One more thing," Cole said, his tone serious. "In combat, I call the shots. If I tell you to pull back, you pull back. If I tell you to focus fire, you focus fire. Teamwork keeps us alive. Understood?"
"Understood," Yamamoto said.
While he wasn't exactly used to it, he was going to try. After all, he wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen.
After walking for an hour and half, they reached their destination. It would have been better to use mounts like horses, but that was not only expensive, but the terrain wasn't the best, besides, it was shorter to take the shortcut than to go on horseback following the long route.
"One more thing," Cole said, his tone serious. "In combat, I call the shots. If I tell you to pull back, you pull back. If I tell you to focus fire, you focus fire. Teamwork keeps us alive. Understood?"
"Understood," Yamamoto said.