A girl in armor brandished her sword at Alan, trembling. Her blond hair seemed to flutter in the wind.
“I ask again. Are you part of the demon race?” she asked, her gaze full of suspicion towards Alan.
Alan frowned, looking at the girl with confusion. “Why would you think that?”
“Your sudden appearance. It’s not normal. And how could you possibly defeat a demonic bear with one punch?” the girl explained anxiously.
Alan looked at the girl without responding. In his heart, he thought he might have overdone it when hitting the bear earlier.
“It seems there’s a misunderstanding here, and I hope we can understand each other,” Alan said calmly, trying to ease the tension.
“What do you mean?” the girl asked, her face suspicious.
“As you see. I’m just an ordinary human who happened to pass by,” Alan explained.
“Then how do you explain your sudden appearance? Are you a demon race that masters teleportation?” the girl asked again, trying to find an explanation.
Alan paused before answering, “Ah, actually… yeah, you know. I was taking a nap and accidentally fell from a tree.”
“What? What kind of silly answer is that?!” the girl was shocked to hear it.
A man with a large sword stood in front of Alan, smirking. His arm muscles twitched while holding his big sword.
“Hey kid, I know you’re hiding something. You better reveal your identity or something bad will happen to you. We just want to make sure whether you’re a foreign spy or not,” the man said sharply.
Alan just stared at him with a cold, expressionless gaze.
A woman carrying a staff walked forward to them, trying to defuse the situation with a slightly forced smile.
“Bulldog, I also feel that he’s a bit mysterious. But at least he has helped us deal with that bear monster faster,” the woman said gently.
Bulldog, the man with the large sword, felt a slap to his pride upon hearing the woman’s words. He squinted his eyes at Alan before finally lowering his guard.
“Huh, alright then. Kid, what’s your name?” Bulldog asked with a somewhat softer voice.
“Alan.”
“And your last name?”
“None.”
Bulldog frowned but ran out of words and chose to be silent. Meanwhile, the woman smirked at Bulldog.
A man carrying a bow stepped forward with an optimistic stride. “Alan, right? Are you a wanderer? I’m Gield, the man with the muscle sword is Bulldog, and this witch lady is Mery. And also the sweet girl you just greeted, she’s Jessy. My future wife.”
“Hey, why are you telling him that? And who do you want to be your wife?” Jessy protested.
“What’s the problem? Isn’t it rude if we don’t introduce ourselves after he introduced himself?” Gield asked.
“I appreciate your understanding, but I must go. See you,” Alan said, turning around and walking away.
With an angry face full of emotion, Bulldog walked ahead of Alan and stopped him. “Where are you going? Can’t you appreciate us a bit?”
“Sorry, but there’s a place I need to go.”
“Are you joking? Didn’t you just say you don’t know the way and were asking yourself a moment ago?”
“Indeed, I won’t deny that. Maybe I’ll find some information after going to the nearest village.”
“Oh my god, you’re really hopeless. There’s no village nearby within a 50 km radius. Huh.. We’re heading to Sirverfale right now. Go with us and find information there. There should be some information there even though it’s just a small town. You can leave afterward. But I’m not forcing you.”
Bulldog walked away, leaving them and started walking away from everyone. Meanwhile, Gield seemed interested and saw Alan as a new team member.
“Huh, I apologize for the muscle-brained old man, even though he’s like that he’s actually a good person. Isn’t that right, witch grandmother?” Mery said.
“That’s right, join our party for a while. In return, you can help us with simple tasks,” Gield added.
Alan saw the group as a unique team. They were bonded as if they were siblings. Yet he couldn’t figure out why Jessy seemed to dislike him so much.
They walked in a group together. In front, Bulldog led the group with Jessy behind him. Followed by Mery, Gield, and Alan was in the last position.
Throughout the journey, Jessy kept staring at Alan with suspicious eyes, while Alan tried hard to keep ignoring her.
Bulldog looked at the sky slowly turning red and frowned.
“It’s getting dark. It will be dangerous to continue the journey now. So we will rest here!” Bulldog declared, greeted with nods of agreement from everyone.
“Then I’ll go look for firewood,” Gield said, walking away from the group with a big smile on his face.
Alan followed Gield to help look for firewood.
Under the starry sky, the campfire radiated warmth that hugged the night. The flickering flames danced among the burning wood, emitting captivating orange and red colors.
They sat by the campfire, chatting warmly and warming up food. Occasionally, Gield threw wood into the campfire to keep it burning.
“Hihi, that’s about it. Not much I can tell about my hometown,” Bulldog said spiritedly.
“Next, Jessy. Can you tell us about your hometown? I’m sure everyone wants to hear it considering we’ve only met a few weeks ago,” Bulldog said, turning to Jessy.
“Well, if you insist. My hometown is in a secluded place. It’s filled with colorful tulips. We often harvest them for certain events, of course, we replant them after harvesting. Yeah, everyone seems happy when the festival begins,” Jessy narrated.
Alan, who initially wasn’t interested in their conversation, now began to pay attention to Jessy.
“It seems Jessy’s hometown is a beautiful place. I hope I can see it,” Alan said.
“Haha, you’re right. Alright, next is Alan. Can you tell us something?” Bulldog asked.
A faint yellow light emanated from Alan’s pupils, he looked around as if searching for something in the darkness.
“What’s wrong, Alan?” Meri asked.
“Everyone, prepare for an attack!” Alan declared seriously, prompting a quick response from the entire group.
An arrow flew towards Jessy before finally landing in Alan’s hand. Several people in full armor ambushed them.
Bulldog attacked several forward soldiers, showing his strength to dominate some soldiers. From behind, Jessy jumped and attacked, knocking down several soldiers agilely.
Meri began chanting spells. Red light started forming in the air into fireballs. Several fireballs flew in the sky, colliding with each other before finally exploding.
Several arrows shot in succession towards the group. Gield took several arrows from his back at once, then shot them simultaneously, successfully penetrating each arrow before finally causing a small explosion in the sky.
Alan helped by taking down several soldiers. Occasionally, he looked back to closely observe the group.
“They’re a solid team. Each role works effectively considering their party is still relatively new. Only, somehow I feel bothered by something,” Alan muttered.
