Chapter 400: First Joint Work

“The time has finally come.”

Toa says this in the first-cla.s.s guest room that was a.s.signed to them.

Ranina and Louisa were making serious expressions just like their leader.

And the only male member, Hazal, was having his chin kicked by the cute mammal that’s nicknamed as the handkerchief that flies in the sky, and was prostrating there.

“It is extremely rare to have guests from Tomoe-sama and Mio-sama, but the difficulty has jumped radically each time.”

“Right. You could also say the rate for returning alive has decreased drastically too.”

“We have somehow managed to all come back alive but…”

“““Hazal died.”””

The voices of the 3 harmonize perfectly.

“And that’s right after accepting the request, you know? I don’t even know what’s waiting ahead of us anymore.”

“We may have some time to recover, but it has been quite the continuous hard fought battles. But well, the part that is uncertain is that maybe Hazal wouldn’t have died if he had perfectly maintained equipment.”

“This is a request from both Tomoe-sama and Mio-sama after all. I can’t even begin to imagine the hardships awaiting us.”

“To be more accurate, we received a request from what’s most likely the father(?) of Raidou-san, so Tomoe-sama and Mio-sama are simply matching along.”

“But it still doesn’t change the fact that it is from one of the most dangerous people to ever grace this world.”

Hazal had spoken without any worries, and Toa points this out while sighing.

They have finally stepped into a quest that will involve their very lives right from the beginning, so the worries of the girls in the party were natural.

The flying handkerchief was pulling his hair, and the person himself that was dead not that long ago was way too relaxed.

“Really? How to say it, I feel like it will be exactly as the request is, and will end unexpectedly easily though…” (Hazal)

“Hey, rat that looks like it has been in agreement with us for a while now, what do you think of the optimistic view of Hazal? Is this an instinctive feeling from an Astrologian? Or some kind of mystical force?” (Louisa)

“Ouch! Ouch ouch ouch! Don’t bite my ear! It hurts more than dying!” (Hazal)

“…That must be its way of saying ‘there’s no way that’s the case’.” (Louisa)

Louisa kicks Hazal lightly as if agreeing wholeheartedly.

This was a kick from her heart from the fact that she doesn’t want to hear him saying so lightly that it hurt more than dying.

Ranina was exasperated with narrowed eyes, and Toa nods too.

“I didn’t expect Tomoe-sama to pull off a resurrection.”

“Looking at the state of the Oyakata-sama, it doesn’t seem like it was a miracle that could only be performed that one time.”

“Well, we just have to steel our resolves. Us being unable to come here until now must have been the will of Tomoe-sama and the others, right? And yet, it has been fulfilled this time around. We are probably being tested here to see if we are suitable in their eyes. I am honestly greatly interested in this town. I would like to overcome this request and would like to form a relationship with them where we can use this place for training and respite.” (Louisa)

Louisa had been exceedingly interested in the Forest Onis, the demi-humans of this land, and the forest around.

Honestly speaking, Toa, Ranina, and Hazal had also been interested in the Mist Town even from the fact that they weren’t blessed with the chance to come here until now.

They have now noticed that the reason they weren’t invited might have been because of the close relationship they had with Tomoe and the others.

“Request, huh. They asked for our 2 parties to cooperate, but…that party called Birgit, they don’t give me that much confidence. They only have 4 people.” (Toa)

“Toa, we also have 4 here. It is true that I would like a pure frontline party to become a wall though.” (Louisa)

“Right. There’s a mage-dono here that for some reason stepped in front of the vanguard and killed himself after all.” (Toa)

“I appreciate the sentiment alone, but don’t do that ever again. I will kill you.” (Ranina)

“It is okay, Ranina. I will shoot down his legs before that happens.” (Louisa)

“Counting on you, Louisa.” (Toa)

“Leave it to me, Leader.” (Louisa)

The uppercut combo of the momonga had slightly shaved the eyebrow of Hazal.

Hazal had shrunken in place, and he had his head down with a face that wasn’t enjoying this at all.

“They said that they would like one of our parties to hire a Beast Cruiser with the future in mind, right?” (Toa)

The words of Toa clearly showed she wasn’t too into the idea.

The 3 nodded at Toa.

“Apparently. It seems this is to help out in smoothing the relationship between the demonic beast and adventurer that had coincidentally managed to tame the Moon Grizzly which is a demonic beast that inhabits this area.”

“We thought the request wasn’t that big of a deal, but look at us now. Who knows what will be connecting to trouble.”

“Having Hazal as the only male member is enough. If he were to put a hand on Rinon…” (Toa)

““Crush him.””

“Thanks.” (Toa)

Toa shows a big smile at the united agreement of the party.

“We will be gathering information about the Moon Grizzly at night after we have an official meeting with Birgit, right? About the demonic beast tamer, the Kuzunoha Company is apparently going to be securing them at Tsige.”

“But I haven’t heard of a demonic beast tamer that has been of use in the wasteland. What brought them to think in that direction?” (Toa)

Toa speaks out the question she had in her mind.

The adventurers that act in the wasteland would train their Jobs and head to dangerous lands.

There’s many Jobs that would gather attention by making new discoveries, but there have been no cases of those being with a demonic beast tamer.

In theory, by just looking at the ability of the demonic beast tamer, the Job is strong.

You can change demonic beasts from frontline to backline in order to match the needs of the moment.

But the reality is that the number of demonic beasts you can tame and the strength of them brings difficulties, and there’s also the worst scenario where the party gets wiped out from the demonic beast going out of control.

Leaving aside just how much power in specific a Beast Cruiser has, if it is to form an official pact with a powerful demonic beast and then even look after them…then, it indeed smells like it would be a pain.

As for the Birgit party that they were introduced to and told to coordinate with, they were a composition that doesn’t even fill up the weaknesses of Alpine.

It couldn’t be helped that she would feel dejected right now with everything that has been lined up on top of having a party member of hers die right from the get-go.

“…We won’t know until we hear about it in detail. But Toa, be it Tsige or the base…it is not like every person comes and goes to the wasteland because they want to. If there’s circ.u.mstances, isn’t it sort of our destiny that this time it is our turn to extend a hand to them?” (Hazal)

Just like how they were saved in the past.

“Hazal, don’t go saying cool stuff while being munched by Rat-chan. I was a bit moved for a second there.”

“Everyone, please be careful, okay? We have to avoid quick a.s.sumptions and inadvertent actions at all cost here. The first thing is information, communication, and teamwork.”

“We have an item bag, so leaving aside things we might forget…if you want to step forward, get approval first, okay?”

“I…feel like I said something really nice there just now. Yeah, I did. And yet, why is it that my face hurts everywhere? This is so weird, so unfair. Also, this little one is apparently called a momonga.” (Hazal)

He was tilting his head, but there was no party member who agreed with him.

The request from the Mist Town begins.