“I would like to decide whether or not I want to accept after I meet the other members.”

“Very well. It is part of the basics, determining for yourself whether you can trust party members. Do you mind if it is thirty minutes from now?”

“That’s fine.”

The man heard my reply and then started writing something down. He then handed it over to a different guild worker.

It was probably a notice to have the other members gather here.

“Alright, everyone will be here in thirty minutes. You can do whatever you want in the meantime.”

“Okay.”

Thirty minutes was too short to go out and explore.

I guess I could just kill time by looking at the quest board.

◇

…Thirty minutes later.

There were now four of us gathered together at the guild.

One man with intimidating eyes and two younger women.

The girls were both pretty but had equipment that looked like it had seen a lot of use, and they seemed like veterans.

“Rodis. D-Rank, Short-sword wielder.”

The man with the angry look said.

Apparently, you introduced yourself by saying your rank and job within the guild.

“E-Rank, Archer. My name’s Tina. I team up with Lisa as Adventurers.”

“I’m also E-Rank and use a spear. Call me Lisa. I always work with Lisa. I’ve never seen you two before.”

So Rodis was D-Rank and the girls were E-Rank.

My rank had gone up before coming to Kiria, so it was now F-Rank.

It had gone up all at once because my promotion had been delayed due to the monster outbreak.

But…I was still the lowest in this group.

I hoped they wouldn’t turn me down because of that.

With that worry in my head, I introduced myself.

“F-Rank Tamer. I’m Yuji. I was chosen because I’m a B-Rank Scout, but this will be my first time fighting in a party.”

When I said this, Rodis immediately opened his mouth.

“Hey. What do you think you’re doing, bringing some F-Rank Tamer with no experience? Even if it’s an investigation, it’s still inside of the forest. He will be no use to us if he can’t at least fight.”

Rodis did not seem to welcome the idea of me joining.

Well, I had a feeling this would happen.

As he said, no one would want an inexperienced and low-rank guy to have their back.

As I was wondering how to respond, the girls group replied instead.

“He may be a Tamer, but he’s also a B-Rank Scout, you know? If he is a good enough Scout to get that certification, that should be more than enough.”

Apparently, they agreed with letting me in… Or more accurately, they wanted a B-Rank Scout in their party.

I hadn’t known it was such a famous certification.

“If anything, I’m against having Rodis join. I’ve never been in a party with him before, but the rumors are not good, you know?”

“That’s true. I hear bad things. I agree, Rodis should be excluded from the team.”

Now Rodis was the one was being attacked.

He apparently had a bad reputation.

“Hey, wait a minute. If I leave, then there will only be two fighters. That’s too few for even an investigation team. …And you say that my reputation is bad. But what exactly did I do?”

“Well, it’s not like there is any evidence…”

“Alright. If you agree to let Yuji in, we will agree to let you in. Do we have a deal?”

“…Fine. Do whatever you like.”

Things moved rapidly without my input.

I hadn’t even said anything about deciding to join.

‘What do you think? Can we trust them?’

‘Hmmm…I don’t know!’

‘But, won’t it be fine as long as we watch?’

True. I could deal with anything as long as the slimes kept guard.

If I saw anything suspicious I could make the slimes monitors.

Besides, I had never fought in a party like this before.

It would be a good experience to fight while being cautious of enemies as well as party members.

And as practice, doing it with a small party seemed ideal.

I would be at a loss if I had to stay on my guard in a large party out of nowhere.

“Oh, right, we haven’t even asked you yet. We all decided now. But what about you, Yuji? Are you fine with this party?”

“Yeah. I’d like to join.”

I answered Lisa’s question immediately.

And with that, our party was formed.