He had heard that zombies and skeletons had been popping up in the public cemetery recently. Both were relatively low-grade monsters, which fit Lynn's goals perfectly.
Unfortunately, the cemetery seemed quiet today, and there were no related commissions.
There were water ghouls in the Misty Reed Marsh to the southeast, but that area was too dangerous, and the risk of running into a ranked monster was too high.
There were ghouls in the mountain forests to the east. While the forests were indeed a relatively beginner-friendly area with few ranked monsters,
ghouls were among the most troublesome monsters with a Challenge Rating of 1/2. In terms of individual combat power, they even surpassed Goblin Warriors.
Furthermore, these creatures were riddled with disease and lived in packs, making them extremely dangerous.
Lynn looked down at the first floor, where many adventurers were still recruiting teammates.
It looked like he would have to party up.
Since he hadn't prepared the "secret recipe" he used against the slimes last time, he didn't need to worry about exposing any secrets by joining a party.
Many commissions that he couldn't complete alone would be doable with a few teammates of similar strength.
For example, this one—
【Quest Name】: Giant-Winged Bat Nest
【Quest Number】: Wingen Town White Iron 1222031
【Type】: Subjugation Bounty
【Client】: Mossy Hill Village
【Quest Details】: The mountain villagers of Mossy Hill Village were bitten by a group of Giant-Winged Bats while out gathering herbs. Now, the villagers dare not go out, and they cannot supply Wingen Town on time. Please help them clear out the Giant-Winged Bat nest!
Note: Giant-Winged Bats carry venom in their teeth. If you are accidentally bitten, please seek treatment at a church as soon as possible!
【Time Limit】: 3 days
【Bounty Amount】: 90 copper coins per Giant-Winged Bat, counted by wings. The Wingen Town Apothecary is also providing an additional base bounty of 5 silver coins.
Giant-Winged Bats were monsters with a Challenge Rating of 1/4. Because of their large size and ability to fly, they were quite a hassle for ordinary adventurers.
But the real trouble began when these monsters gathered in groups.
Once assembled into a swarm, they could release soundwaves under a leader's command that were powerful enough to rupture human eardrums and damage internal organs!
Under those circumstances, the Challenge Rating of the Giant-Winged Bats would temporarily rise to 1.
Lynn pulled the commission sheet off the corkboard. Just as he was about to head downstairs to find a party to join, a familiar figure caught his eye out of the corner of his vision.
It was Monk Gan.
Strangely, the knight, Solon, and the Ranger, Hal, who were in the same party as him, were nowhere to be seen.
Come to think of it, Monk Gan had left his contact address with Lynn before departing a few days ago. However, Lynn had been busy with various matters and hadn't gotten around to contacting him.
“Gan! What a coincidence.”
Lynn stepped forward and greeted him.
The monk, who was in the middle of choosing a quest, turned around and recognized the talented young man he had met in Yar Village.
Pressing his palms together in return, the monk enthusiastically chatted with Lynn for a moment.
Through their conversation, Lynn learned why the other two members of the party weren't there.
A couple of days ago, their party had gone on another quest. Unfortunately, Hal the Ranger had his back injured by a gnoll in the forest.
Because he couldn't afford the treatment fee at the church, he could only apply some wound salve and had yet to recover. Solon had stayed behind to take care of him instead of taking on more quests.
Thus, the monk had no choice but to come and take a quest alone.
Lynn's eyes lit up. “In that case, do you want to party up with me? I just accepted a commission.”
Lynn was quite satisfied with the monk's strength and character.
Although they had traveled together for less than a day,
both the monk's ability to overpower a Goblin Warrior and his willingness to allocate a valuable magic stone to a newcomer like Lynn showed that he was a highly reliable teammate.
Lynn's proposal was exactly what the monk wanted.
After confirming that the commission Lynn accepted wasn't overly dangerous, Monk Gan readily agreed.
And so, a temporary party was formed.
The monk asked tentatively, “Lynn, how many times can you cast your spell? Last time, after you used it on the Goblin Warrior, you seemed completely drained of mana.”
Lynn answered honestly, “Only once.”
There was no point in hiding this from the monk. Doing so might cause him to misjudge the situation and put the party in danger.
The monk frowned. “In that case, we'll need a ranged attacker to deal with the Giant-Winged Bat swarm. Otherwise, if they harass us from the air, we won't have any way to counter them.”
This suggestion aligned perfectly with Lynn's thoughts.
His 「Magic Missile」 wasn't meant for the ordinary Giant-Winged Bats, but rather to deal with any potential Giant-Winged Bat leader.
Therefore, the party needed a Ranger for damage output.
It would be best if they could recruit a frontliner as well.
Having reached an agreement, the two turned and went downstairs, intending to recruit a few more teammates.
As luck would have it, as soon as they reached the first floor, Lynn spotted another familiar face.
She wore a red beret, had silver-gray long hair, and held a tower shield as tall as a door. Yet, she was shrinking back, too timid to strike up a conversation with anyone.
There's our frontliner!
Lynn's eyes lit up, and he greeted his "old friend" with familiar warmth.
“Lupa, over here!”
For some reason, the moment Lupa saw Lynn, her first instinct was to run away.
Unfortunately, she was too close to Lynn, and the first floor was so crowded that there was no way for the little wolf-girl holding the tower shield to escape.
Lynn grabbed Lupa by the wrist.
“Were you trying to run away just now?”
Lynn looked somewhat puzzled, but in Lupa's eyes, his expression seemed deeply threatening.
Lupa squeezed out a placating smile. “N-N... No, I wasn't.”
Lynn noticed that Lupa was acting strange, but he couldn't wrap his head around why.
When Lupa fought the Dungeon Slime alongside him, she had clearly treated him like a savior. Why did her attitude change so drastically after he discovered her identity as a half-beastkin?
Although there were indeed occasional frictions between the human kingdom of Vallenia and the beastkin tribes, it had little to do with the common folk at the bottom.
While people didn't have the best attitude toward beastkin, they were generally quite tolerant of cute-looking half-beastkin.
What Lynn didn't know was that, in Lupa's eyes, since he was wealthy enough to use "alchemy tools" to subjugate slimes, he was undoubtedly a young noble master.
And the relationship between nobles and beastkin was nowhere near as harmonious as that of the commoners.
Some nobles would even risk having the church's paladins knock on their doors just to secretly keep half-beastkin as slaves.
So it was no wonder Lupa was so terrified.
Though puzzled, Lynn still extended an olive branch to Lupa. “Our party is currently missing a Shield Guard. Do you want to join us?”
Lupa wanted to refuse, but under Lynn's "oppressive" yet friendly gaze, she muttered a few words and ultimately agreed.
The moment she agreed, the beastkin girl visibly lost her spirit.
Even her beret, which was propped up high by her beast ears, drooped down.
Party members: +1
Just as Lynn was about to search for the final piece of the party's puzzle, heavy thudding footsteps echoed in his ears.
A shadow cast down, enveloping Lynn.
Lynn looked up.
A muscular, hulking man standing nearly two meters tall was standing right in front of him.
The giant had an expressionless face and a fierce gaze, as if provoking Lynn.
Rate on N.U.
