Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Since the group was informed on the previous day, it made sense that they would need some extra time for the job. In any case, over the course of the week, Rain had the chance to see a bunch of kids around Branden\'s age working for the organization. There were around thirty of them, and all of them worked in groups.

Rain was the only kid who worked solo; he was also the only one of the kids who chose the jobs that paid more instead of the most exciting ones that also would improve one\'s reputation.

"They are here. Come to introduce yourself," Karla said.

Rain frowned since he didn\'t notice the members of the group approaching while he was close to the counter, and he had a hard time not frowning even more when he found the group. He thought that he had seen all of the kids of the organization, but he didn\'t see those guys. Moreover, it seemed that Rain would get in the way of the leader of the party.

"Hello… I am Rainendall," Rain said.

The group that he was going to work with had five members, four girls, and one guy. That was why Rain thought that he would get in the way of the leader of the group since he would be getting in the way of his Harem/party.

In any case, the leader of the group was a Swordsman who seemed to be around fifteen. Every member of the party seemed around that age, so Rain could imagine himself not getting along with them since kids tend to see other kids just one year younger than them as total brats.

In any case, the swordsman had short brown hair brushed to the side, and he looked quite fierce and the type that had a short fuse.

"My name is Jori; I am the leader of this party," The swordsman declared. "These are Reca, Liss, Asche, and Terra."

At first, Rain thought that recalling everyone\'s names would be hard, but they didn\'t look similar at all. Reca was a red-headed spearwoman who couldn\'t stop looking at Rain as if the fact that he was going to join them was a bad joke. She had long hair and green eyes, and she was wearing some protectors on her shoulders and elbows.

Liss was a black-haired girl who was wearing a dark robe and hat. She was clearly a mage, but her outfit was weird even for a fantasy world since Rain never saw people wearing clothes like her. Then again, Rain didn\'t know many mages.

Asche was a blond girl who had short hair and a long bow on her back. She was wearing light clothes, so Rain assumed that she would often fight at close range since she also had a pair of knives on her waist, and that was why she preferred to travel light.

Terra was another blond girl, but she had shoulder-length curly hair. She looked a bit similar to Asche, so perhaps they were sisters. In any case, she had blue eyes and was wearing a bit of a baggy dress, and she had a long white hat on her head. She didn\'t have any weapons with her, so Rain assumed that she was the healer of the path.

"You are a mage, right?" Jori asked. "What can you do?"

"I can do a bit of everything, earth, water, wind, and fire magic. As well as a bit of healing magic," Rain replied.

"Is that so…" Jori said while looking to the side, visibly annoyed. "Anyway, we should get moving."

Rain could tell that Jori was hoping for a melee fighter, but he didn\'t look like he was expecting anything from someone who was seven years younger than him. In any case, the group left the building and headed toward the western side of the city in silence. Rain thought that they had known each other for a while, but only Asche and Terra talked with each other.

The others didn\'t look like they were friends.

"You selected a troublesome group for this mission, Branden…" Rain thought.

Before long, the group crossed one of the gates of the city and then began to march toward the West. Rain wondered in which area he would find the monsters. If it were too close to Tristan, things might get messy. Still, before long, the path ahead split in three, and the group began to head south, still in silence.

"Excuse me, what do we know about the targets and the details of the mission?" Rain asked.

"You accepted the mission without knowing that?" Jori asked.

"Branden told me about the mission yesterday, and he didn\'t give me the details; I imagined that we would be informed together," Rain replied.

"You mean Lord Branden," Jori furrowed his eyebrows. "There isn\'t much to say about the targets; they are in the South of Tristan, some of them. They are called Armored Turtles, and that is all."

Rain wondered if that kind of lack of preparation was common for mercenaries and adventurers. He couldn\'t help but assume that it was because they were all kids. In any case, he also couldn\'t help but assume that they haven\'t worked together for long and they weren\'t an honest group. They were forced to band together for some reason or the other, but they weren\'t a real party yet.

"Well, let\'s just wait and see," Rain thought.

Considering the name of the monsters and the behavior of the group, he assumed that the armored turtles were monsters that specialized in physical attacks and charges. That was also the kind of tool the magic people would need to spread havoc in the human country, but they should be slow in spreading.