Secret Agent Chapter 072 - Rookie Party (Patreon)

“You must be Jack Werdruf,” Lang said, holding up his hand to stop Zack Adder from approaching further. “And your [Familiar].”

Zack nodded. “Yes, that’s right. This is Sienna.” He tilted his head toward Sienna, who flickered her tongue in and out.

Friend? Hunting time?

Lang eyed them both warily.

“I was hoping to join the thurgenrat hunting party today.”

“Hmm…” Lang reached up a gloved hand and rubbed his jaw. “Alright. Just keep control of your [Familiar]. I’m not lookin’ to get bit today, understand?”

Zack nodded. “Of course.”

“Alright, I see we got Jerry and Nate and Vera, but I don’t know you.” Lang glanced at two young men and a young woman before he turned to the last young man, this one wearing mismatched armor, but only on his legs and torso.

Everyone gathered around Lang, but kept a healthy arm’s—or snake’s—distance from Zack and Sienna.

“I’m Ewan,” the young man, or rather, boy said. He was tall, but his voice gave him away as younger than he looked. He had mussed, light brown hair and hazel eyes and a roundness to his face, and he was carrying a borrowed spear, but that was all.

Lang looked back and forth between Ewan and Zack. “You both got your tonics?”

“Huh?” Ewan eloquently replied. The other three pulled out vials of red liquid from their pockets and held them up. Lang pointed at them.

“Bloodrot tonics. If you’re going out with me, you need to be carrying one. Go buy one and meet me outside, I need to see what you both can do before we head out.”

Lang and the other three headed outside and Ewan sighed with dismay before going to Belinda’s counter.

Zack could have kicked himself for not thinking to get his own first aid kit, but there had been so much on his mind.

He needed to focus.

Why wasn’t there a [Skill] for that?

Or maybe there was, and he just hadn’t got it yet.

A book of all the [Skills] one could get… Yet another thing to try to remember to look for.

“Yes? Oh, ahem, Adventurer Jack, welcome to the Guild. How can I help you today?” Stacy was pitching her voice to be heard from the back and being extra polite and professional today.

She didn’t even comment on Sienna, though her gaze was locked onto the snake’s head.

“I’d like to get a first aid kit, and an extra bottle of Bloodrot tonic, D rank.”

“Of course.”

Stacy fetched the goods. “The kit will be sixty lindra, and the Bloodrot tonic will be ten lindra, for seventy lindra total.” Zack slid a fortin coin across the desk and she made the change.

“Anything else, brave adventurer?”

“Actually, yes, I got these tokens yesterday.”

He turned in his Light Armor and Slinging tokens.

“Just these?” Stacy raised an eyebrow and managed to tear her eyes away from Sienna to give him a look.

“I didn’t get a chance to take the first aid test.”

“Ah, yeah, I heard it was a mess yesterday…” Stacy’s professionalism slipped, but she caught it. “Ahem. These two tokens are ten contribution points altogether, putting your total at sixty-two contribution points out of seventy to promotion to E rank.”

“Thanks. That was all.”

“Very well. Good luck on your quests, brave Adventurer.”

Stacy gave him a very professional smile as he turned to leave, and Zack caught a glimpse of Belinda smirking and rolling her eyes. He strapped the first aid kit to his chest like he had seen Lang wearing his, and Sienna shifted herself so he could get the strap over his shoulder. The extra Bloodrot tonic slid into one of five little pockets just for single dose vials of potions or tonics, and he headed outside, just a few steps behind Ewan.

There, in the yard a dozen paces away from the Guildhall’s front door, the other three young adventurers were practicing spear thrusts at a point near the ground in front of them under Lang’s supervision.

“Okay, good. Take a break while I test the two new guys, then we’ll head out.”

“““Yes, [Leader],””” they all said in unison. Lang beckoned Zack and Ewan closer.

“First of all, Jack. I heard that your [Familiar] is B rank.” He paused after that statement, looking at Zack expectantly.

“...Yes, that’s right,” Zack answered after a moment.

“I may only be C rank, but I’m going to be the [Leader] of this party. If I give you a direction, I expect you to follow it. It’s very important that we get that straight, here and now.”

Ah, so that’s what it was.

It was a bit of a power play, but for good reason.

Lang was the experienced one here, and it could be disastrous if there was confusion about who was in charge during a crisis.

Zack made a serious expression and nodded. “Absolutely, Lang. You’re the boss. Sienna may be B rank, but I’m just F rank. You’re calling the shots.”

Lang’s expression relaxed a bit. The corners of his mouth even rose a fraction of an inch. “Good, I’m glad we understand each other. Now, as for Sienna, she can handle herself, right?”

Zack nodded. “For the most part. Do you want her doing anything in particular?”

Lang shook his head, his hair swaying side to side. “Other than giving everyone else a bit of space to fight, no. If she just hunts a ways away and doesn’t bring anything too nasty down on top of us, that’ll be fine.”

Lang turned to look in the direction of the forest, although the nearby buildings blocked even the sight of the city wall. “Thurgenrats are swarming out there real bad, so we’ll just be going up and down the wall. Shouldn’t be anything dangerous out there other than them. If something happens, though, have your sn—ahem, have Sienna find a way through or over the wall and rejoin with her later. If I call for us to run, we need to run immediately, because it’ll be something I can’t protect you all from.”

Zack and the other three, more experienced adventurers nodded—and after a moment, Ewan belatedly joined in.

“Now, Ewan, what’s your rank and general experience?”

Ewan twitched and looked at the C Rank adventurer. He wasn’t looking up at him—Ewan was actually taller than Lang—but his lack of confidence and posture made it look as though he were.

“Unranked… but I got the [Spearmanship] skill and the token from the trainer yesterday…”

Lang nodded. “Okay, and your level?”

“One, as far as I know.”

“Right, we’ll try to get you up to level three right away, then. You should be okay on your own after that. Just follow my directions out there and keep your eyes open.”

“Okay.”

Ewan’s tone didn’t inspire confidence, but he had gotten the token for spear training.

“Show me a thrust with that spear.”

Zack watched closely. Just like the instructors had said while Zack was watching yesterday, Ewan gripped the shaft of the spear, took a stance, and performed a thrust. The spear was level, and the thrust straight, and the tip of the spear didn’t wobble at all.

But the thrust was at Ewan’s chest level.

“Okay, now aim at where a thurgenrat would be. A few inches off the ground.”

Ewan blushed faintly, and repeated the thrust, this time towards the ground.

“Okay, that was pretty good. Jack, your turn. Level and general experience?”

Zack gripped his spear, [Mimicking] the example he [Recalled] from yesterday. “Level five, and I fought some thurgenrats during the emergency, but only with a knife.”

Lang raised one eyebrow, and the other three young adventurers raised both eyebrows with wide eyes.

Zack continued. “It was a bad idea, though, so I’m hoping it goes better with a spear.”

He thrust, trying to keep in mind all the tips he [Recalled], but as he was aiming down towards where a thurgenrat would be on the ground, he couldn’t [Mimic] it fully. The thrust wasn’t level, and the tip wobbled. Sienna gripped his shoulders tighter, preferring to be jostled a little than to get down.

“So no spear experience,” Lang said, readying his own spear and taking a stance.

“Yeah,” Zack admitted.

“Here, look. Your posture is off. You want your hips like this, and your knees bent, and you want to thrust starting from your feet, twist your hips, and follow through with your upper body.”

Lang demonstrated, his spear making a faintly audible whoosh as it pierced the air, coming to a stop several inches off the ground.

After another minute of pointers…

*ding!* The skill [Spearmanship] has been acquired!

“I just got the [Spearmanship] skill,” Zack announced.

“Okay, do the same thrust five more times. All of you.”

Everyone demonstrated they could do it, Lang nodded. He eyed Zack’s first aid kit and the visible Bloodrot Tonic, and turned to Ewan.

“You got your tonic, right?”

“Y-yes.” He pulled it out from his pocket and showed it.

“Alright, let’s head out.”

They walked north and west through the city streets, the buildings they passed shrinking shorter and shorter the closer they got to the walls, and the guards at the closed gate recognized them. The gate was similar to the one between the city and the Campus Martialus, but this one had large, heavy, iron-banded wooden doors on massive hinges. Two guards stood on the interior side, and they eyed Lang…

And Zack.

Or, more precisely, Sienna, still riding on his shoulders.

Zack overheard one gate whisper to the other.

“I told you it wasn’t a joke! There really is a taipan! You owe me a drink.”

“Aye, aye,” the other grumbled before raising a hand in greeting. “Adventurer Lang! Going out after thurgenrats again?”

“That’s right.”

“You gonna make B rank any time soon?”

Lang chuckled. “Faster than expected if these thurgenrats keep swarming.”

Lang turned and looked at the rest of his group. “I’m going to go out first and make sure we have some clear space, then you all follow me and stay by the gate until it closes.”

“You lot ready?” the guard asked.

“Yep,” Lang answered for them.

Ewan gulped. The other three gripped their spears with some measure of confidence. Zack copied them.

Hunting time! Hunting time!

Tap tap tap tap.

Sienna’s tail tapped excitedly on Zack’s armor.

“Open the gates, six going out!” the other guard shouted.

“Gates opening, six going out!” came a response from atop the wall.

There was a grinding sound, and the gates opened of their own accord, and Lang dashed through immediately.

Shp shp shp.

Three thrusts and three thurgenrats lurking right in front of the gates died instantly.

Nate, then Jerry, then Vera ran out after him. Ewan hesitated.

“After you,” Zack gestured him forward, and Ewan ran out.

Zack brought up the rear, Sienna bobbing her head as he jogged, and behind him he heard the groaning and the shout of the guards. “Closing the gates! Six out!” “Closing the gates!”

The foul odor of living and dead thurgenrats mixed with the scent of a verdant forest, pine, and the salty ocean breeze.