Crimson Servant

Chapter 11 Companion
  The next day, John left the guest room at the Hard Rock Boar Bar. After enjoying a slightly greasy breakfast, he came to the Adventurer's Guild again. The commission board with your personal information is hung in the upper left corner. Over the course of a day, there have been many new commissions around it, just like the fragments of the magic network blocked by the stupid wizard's rough skills.

John looked at the counter. The female half-demon yesterday had already started working with a smile on her face. She did not give any reminders, and no other waiters gave any reminders to him. Standing in front of the billboard, John waited for two minutes, waiting for the feeling of despair to arise in his heart, waiting for him to make up his mind to find a new path.

John left the guild and as soon as he walked outside the door, a figure stopped him. His eyes were a little dodged, and the feathers on his body were clinging to his body. The longest of the three crown feathers on his head was broken, and there were burn marks on the end. He carried a long bow on his back, and the arrow feathers of the same color were exposed from the opening of the quiver. Wearing a close-fitting earth-colored leather armor with unique workmanship. A lightning-shaped white mark pressed on his left shoulder, which was very obvious on the black-feathered Crow Man.

The Crow Man spoke and asked in a unique hoarse voice: "You are looking for a team of adventurers, right?" He raised his hand, showing some sharp claws, and pointed inside the guild.

John turned back in the direction of the tip of his claws and happened to see the commission board he had registered. He turned around again and heard the arakkoa explain with pride, "I have good eyesight."

"You see really accurately." John complimented him at the right time. He saw the black feathers around the white mark of the arakkoa vaguely raised and spread a little.

"Lightning Spear, but that doesn't mean I'm fast, but the bird's nest was struck by lightning as soon as I broke out of my shell."

"John Crenzo, nice to meet you, arakkoa." John held Lightning's paw, his fingers touching every knuckle and every calloused link.

Lightning looked very happy and asked an obvious question, "How did you know that I am a Crow?"

"…Because you are a pure black Winged Man, close to pure black. As we all know, black people are Crow People."

Lightning snorted and blew out gas from the round hole on the top of its beak.

"Stereotype! Have you heard that the arakkoa are cunning, vicious, dirty, bad birds with ridiculous beliefs?"

You also missed a "flightless one", John thought to himself, shaking his head calmly, "A mature person should have the ability to judge whether the information is true or false, and ensure that what he says is the truth."

Lightning obviously did not expect these remarks. He may have imagined John's cover-up, or even a frank admission, but he never thought that a human would be biased towards him. He nodded mechanically and couldn't help but praise in surprise, "God, Warlock is really eloquent. John, you are the most honest and fair gentleman I have ever seen. I am very lucky to have someone like you joining our team."

John Kemp understands.

"Are you also planning to go to the fourth floor of Optitan?"

"Yes, and there are already three of us, and we just lack a companion who knows magic."

John smiled.

"Then why don't you post the commission in the guild?"

Lightning quickly retracted his head, looked around, then guiltily moved to John's side, raised his right wing, and used his drooping feathers to cover his softly talking beak like a wind curtain.

"Don't you think the guild's commission fee for team formation is too expensive? I mean there's no need for us to pay such an unnecessary amount of money to form a team. We can form our own team. John, you can cancel the commission and the money you paid before Maybe you can't return it, but you don't have to pay the agency fee for completing the team formation. I can take you to see our companions now. You can visit your companions first, and then cancel the commission. We applied for a temporary rest tent in the camp. .”

He's right, John thought. The intermediary fee for forming a team of adventurers is quite a large amount, and it would be a bit painful for an individual to share it equally. However, if a team application has been submitted before, after the team is formed, the previously paid commission fee will be fully offset by the agency fee for team formation. In other words, John personally only needs to pay a dozen gold coins.

The Adventurer's Guild is backed by the Merchant Alliance and is a very powerful official adventurer organization. Adventurers believe in its credibility, so they entrust their safety and trust to the Guild, allowing the Guild to help them choose reliable adventurer companions.

For adventurers who are unwilling to rely on guilds or leave personal information in guilds, this is something worth considering.

interesting.

John didn't care whether his companions were honorable or... biased toward lawful good. Strength, not credibility, was what mattered in the dungeon. Traps and monsters, these life-threatening things will force everyone to work together to fight for survival. This kind of life-and-death environment tends to increase friendships, but real treasure can destroy friendships whose value is inferior to it.

John came here to find Nora and research the [Philosopher's Gate]. It would be difficult for these two projects to conflict with other people's interests. But if someone really wants to interfere with him, John doesn't mind telling his companions that he is better at dealing with people than monsters.

"That's the best thing. Lead the way, Lightning. I want to meet my future partner now. Please forgive me for temporarily withholding the decision to cancel the commission. I can't believe your words until I meet other people." After finishing speaking, John He put his right hand on his chest and bowed slightly to apologize.

The Raven Lightning was a little stunned at first because of John's unnecessary apology. Then he imitated John and put his paws on his chest, performing the same non-standard courtesy.

"Oh, oh! I can... I mean I understand your decision, John. I will take you to see our companions in a moment, and then you will realize that your decision was redundant. Cautious, but redundant. "

John and Lightning went out of the city together. Along the way, Lightning kept trying to find topics. They chatted about some tavern gossip and couldn't tell the difference between true and false life ideals. John suggested that Crenzo was a secluded family that originated from Waterdeep. Lightning did not doubt it. He happily mentioned the noble heritage of humans and quickly directed the conversation to the remaining companions.

"We have a paladin. Oh, and he is also a noble. He has an extraordinary bearing, but he is a bit strong. I believe you have many topics in common. I bet that any upright person would be happy to communicate with a cultured person like you. . John, oh, I didn’t even notice you were so young. The way you spoke reminded me of those pretentious...stable and composed elders of the tribe. I’m not very proficient in Common Language.”

"Oh, great, a paladin, I am very happy to have such a reliable companion."     Oh, this is great. The first impression that my future companion and I don't like each other is that we may fight each other. Paladins are as sensitive to the scent of evil as I am to sunlight.

"Mr. Jurgen is a seasoned and steady dwarf druid. He has superb skills and is very good at cultivating plants. The raspberries he created taste quite good."

"I am looking forward."

……

It was a beige tent supported by two brown oak logs, six feet high. The door curtain was fixed with fern stalks as knots at the door. The inside was not big, and the messy plants on the left further compressed the internal space. When the druid came out of the "jungle", there were weeds and leaves in his beard. His gray-white curly hair was squeezed together by an antler-shaped wooden hair crown and tied into a short braid.

He is about four feet tall, with a lush beard that covers most of his wrinkled cheeks, two splayed eyebrows that seem to be carved on his forehead, and brown eyes that sandwich the dwarf's broad nose. When he came out, he was holding a small spherical bottle with green juice inside in his left hand. He blocked the mouth of the bottle with a rolled-up straw rope. He was holding a wooden bowl in his right hand, which contained a pungent-smelling herbal liquid.

The dwarf first noticed Lightning because he was too conspicuous, and then turned his attention to the black-robed warlock next to Lightning. His eyes lit up, and he was about to get closer, then he thought of putting the wooden bowl at his feet, stuffing the medicine bottle into the small pocket hanging on his waist, wiping his hands with his beard, and walking over.

"Is this the last of us, Lightning?"

"This is John Crenzo, a noble, powerful and elegant human warlock. And here, is..."

The dwarf interrupted the arakkoa impatiently.

"Jurgen Mercer, druid. Lightning always likes to exaggerate reality. I don't like the prefixes added to my name. He didn't say anything unnecessary to you, right?"

John looked at the embarrassed Lightning next to him and shook his head at Jurgen.

"He said you are an experienced and steady Druid."

"Are you sure you heard me right? Isn't it so old that I will die? However, in terms of age, this birdman is indeed not exaggerating. I am much older than you think."

John nodded.

"Then your wisdom will exceed my expectations."

Jurgen chuckled, took out an attractively colored raspberry and handed it to John.

"Eat, talking boy, I have no objection to you. The cultivation of wisdom is like the abundant fruits cultivated by well-developed roots. I am sure that you will be an excellent partner."

Jurgen turned around and scolded the arakkoa lightning again.

"This is two days later than you promised. Now that everyone is here, we should hurry up and enter the dungeon. I have been making potions these days and am always ready. Don't cause any more trouble, Lightning."

Seeing that the long oak stick was about to hit him on the head, Lightning shouted in fear, "Don't get excited, Mr. Jurgen, we have to unanimously agree, and Carl's vote is still missing. This won't cost much." Time, let them meet and let the two humans communicate their feelings. Where is Karl? "

"Pray in the side room."

"Praying again? He prayed once when I set out, and again three hours later."

"No, this is the time before you left. He prayed for three hours. If you don't come back, it might be longer."

Lightning scratched his head in distaste for the trouble and complained, "Damn, he is really a fanatical believer."

Typical Paladin.

John said in his heart and made a considerate gesture on the surface, "The Paladins' faith in the gods is their strength. I admire their piety."

"But I don't like you, Warlock."

The paladin who walked out from behind the door had sharp and aggressive eyes.

"Your hypocrisy is as poor as your concealment of evil."

(End of this chapter)