When the next day came, Tristan, Layla, and Barry met the other four adventurers in the guild as promised.

The four adventurers sat together in a circle. Upon hearing footsteps nearby, they all turned their head, and saw Tristan coming in with another person.

“Now, who is this?” Borin leaned close and looked at Barry from top to bottom.

“My name is Barry, captain of Erantell guards,” Barry answered, a little perturbed by Borin’s behavior

They were going on a quest located outside of the town, and as it was not an official quest, Barry came without wearing his uniform, Instead, he wore standard brown leather armor with a sword strapped to his side, making him look just like a normal adventurer.

Borin kept staring at Barry in doubt. There was nothing to indicate that Barry was such a seasoned adventurer, and the group leader was reluctant to bring an inexperienced adventurer into such a dangerous quest.

“Yes, he’s not lying.” Tristan added. “The mayor forced me to bring this guy along… I hope you guys are alright with this, I’m sure he could make himself useful.”

“Yes, if it’s battles you’re concerned with, I can help.” Barry said with a flat expression.

“…”

An awkward silence followed.

Seth, the Lancer, was the one to break the silence. He walked closer to the two of them and touched Borin’s shoulder. “It’s alright, he can come, but don’t expect us to divide the reward by 7.”

Tristan looked at Seth and responded. “Well, that’s a little bit unfair. He’s a guard captain, his experience in that position would be very useful for our current job. In addition…” Tristan looked at his sister. “My sweet sister here.. she can cast a healing spell.”

The word ‘healing’ instantly attracted everyone’s attention, but Seth believes that Tristan was trying to fool them.

Even knowing this, Tristan still doesn’t really care, he continuously without shame tried to tip the scales in his favor and get more of the dividend.

Barry sighed and answered. “Actually, I don’t need-”

Knowing what Barry was going to say, Tristan quickly cut in “- he don’t NEED your concern. He’s a great fighter, and you have the skills to back it up, don’t you Barry?”

“Well, that… I’m a pretty decent fighter, so yes.” Barry nodded before staring at Tristan.

Layla merely looked at her brother from a little bit afar and shook her head. Her brother’s decision to force the leader to give them an increased share of the reward made her quite ashamed. However, Borin decided to accept his request.

Seth complained that his share was getting smaller, but Boris reminded that from the information he had managed to gather, there is a possibility of them having to fight over 50 orcs, and thus more people would mean a safer job and better chances of getting out of this situation alive.

Piyo, the short guy in a cape, chose to not say anything. He told them that he would follow what his brother decided on.

Meanwhile, Herrera doesn’t seem to care. The beautiful short-haired magician merely stared at Tristan and gave him a flirtatious smile, while occasionally nodding in agreement as if pretending she was listening. While the group was deep in discussion, the woman took up a piece of an item that looked like a cigarette, held it in between her fingers, and summoned a small ember of fire magic on the tip of her other hand.

Herrera blew a cloud of smoke towards Tristan and offered him a piece.

Tristan decided to stop paying attention to the ongoing discussion and joined her in the corner. Unfortunately Tristan was unable to show off his fire spells.

Tristan’s prison years made him unable to avoid indulging in such a thing, as it was one of the few ways he could entertain himself in prison. He took a long drag, savoring the taste, when he realized.

“Damn, this is weed..”

——

The 7 of them walked to the west for around two hours before they reached the shore. There was nothing but blue as far as the eyes can see.

The waves move in a rhythmic pattern, creating the atmosphere of a soothing beach. They walked along the shore until they found a small port, flanked with a dozen wooden houses all around.

“We have reached Epheria port,” said Barry, trying to be a good tour guide for Tristan.

Apparently, they need to take a boat to reach their destination.

“Why do we need to take a boat? Is it really that far?”

“Our options are 2 days by horse riding or a day by a boat ride”

“I see.”

Now that he was closer, Tristan could see the port properly. He was surprised to see that even such a small port was heavily guarded, complete with a watchtower and wooden palisades set up on the ground.

Barry looked at Tristan, saw his confusion, and explain that there is a huge threat across the ocean from the east. The Barbarian tribes would often come to raid the place or the small villages around them, and it was crucial that even such a small town should have a working defensive system.

The group headed to one of the half a dozen boats that were waiting on the shore.

“The cost for the ride is 6 silver coins for all of us, so let’s share it. 3 coins each?” said Borin

Tristan was standing right next to him, but pretending not to see or listen to anything. He was prepared for another argument before It was Barry who jumped in and covered the half portion of the cost.

Seeing this actually made Tristan wonder how much money Barry had.