Kays Translations

Chapter 88: A Team Quest

Tauro and his companions were reasonably well known at the Dansas branch of the Adventurers’ Guild as specialists in gathering medicinal herbs.

Once the promising Aeris joined them, however, the group began attracting a different kind of attention.

Even before that, the sight of two adults following a child had been unusual. It had drawn little concern while they remained a low-ranked group focused on gathering herbs.

With Aeris—who possessed multiple rear-guard skills—now among them, some people began whispering that her talent was being wasted.

“Ignore them. Everyone has been promoted to F+, and we’re progressing well. We’ll surprise them once we reach the E-rank band.”

Tauro calmed Aeris before she could react to the whispers.

“Speaking of that, why hasn’t Tauro… been promoted beyond F+?” Shin asked, still stumbling over the unfamiliar way of addressing him.

“That’s true. He could have advanced already. I never expected us to catch up,” Rumeya said.

“Tauro has been refusing promotion so he can stay with us,” Aeris declared.

Tauro started.

He had rejected the promotion directly to Chloe so that no one else would notice.

When had Aeris seen it?

“That’s right, isn’t it, Tauro?”

So it was only a guess. For a moment, he had thought she was stalking him.

Tauro sighed in relief. Having a teammate secretly follow him would make the future terrifying.

“Even if I advanced alone, it wouldn’t change what we’re doing. Come on, let’s choose a quest and leave.”

The other three nodded.

“He’s hiding his embarrassment.”

“Definitely. He’s embarrassed.”

“Don’t say it out loud. You’ll embarrass Tauro.”

They whispered loudly and very deliberately.

“Stop! You’re embarrassing me now! And Shin, that wasn’t a defense at all!”

Tauro turned red.

* * *

Forming a registered team at the Adventurers’ Guild offered many advantages.

One was access to team quests.

Many requests couldn’t be completed by a solo adventurer.

Tauro had always worked alone. Most of his previous team-quest experience came from temporary groups hastily assembled by recruiting solo adventurers.

Realizing that he now belonged to a genuine team left him unexpectedly moved.

One team quest was open to teams in both the E- and F-rank bands.

The objective was to exterminate kobolds and Mad Dogs.

Tauro had accepted a kobold extermination before and had recently heard that their numbers were increasing.

The quest probably included E-rank teams because the outbreak needed to be eliminated before a higher species emerged. Tauro’s group was currently the only F-rank team registered at the village guild.

In the end, two E-rank teams joined the request along with Tauro’s F-rank team, for a total of three.

They immediately traveled together to the neighboring village that had issued the request.

“Having Mad Dogs involved is more troublesome than it sounds,” one member of an E-rank team complained.

Mad Dogs weren’t particularly difficult to kill on their own. Mixed among kobolds, however, they darted around the adventurers’ feet and became a nuisance.

They also fled whenever the battle turned against them. Depending on the request, that could cause the mission to fail.

This time the Mad Dogs were explicit targets and had to be hunted down.

If any escaped, the reward would be reduced.

“How about we hunt the Mad Dogs first, then finish the kobolds?” an E-rank team leader proposed.

“That sounds safest.”

“Agreed. We’ll do the same.”

Ordinarily, the E-rank teams would naturally lead an extermination involving an F-rank group. That arrangement would protect the reward and, more importantly, preserve the other members’ pride.

Aeris in particular would never accept being treated as a burden.

It was therefore fortunate that the E-rank team had made the proposal itself.

“Once the battle starts, how about I gather all the Mad Dogs in one place?” Rumeya suggested.

“You can do that?” the E-rank leader asked in surprise.

“I’ve successfully used [Taunt] on fleeing Mad Dogs before, so it should work.”

“[Taunt]? What kind of ability is that?”

The [Shield] skill wasn’t popular.

Even Rumeya had once shared the common belief that a shield was only for temporary protection and that attack mattered most. Few people deliberately developed shield skills.

As a result, almost no teams had a dedicated shield bearer.

Many adventurers carried shields, but that didn’t make them shield specialists.

“You learn it by improving [Shield]. It forces enemies to focus on you.”

“[Shield]? That’s an unusual skill to train… Still, if you can do it, we’ll leave the Mad Dogs to you.”

The leader didn’t mock him, but he couldn’t hide his surprise as he stared at Rumeya’s large shield.

The E-rank teams would soon be astonished by Rumeya’s performance in battle.

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter