Odyssey

Before leaving with Mai and Kara, I checked out at the front desk.

A different receptionist told me that I'd receive my license by tomorrow morning after my grade was decided.

As we left the east association building, I felt a lot of gazes on me.

I didn't think it was because of my exam, since only a few people got to see that.

Rather, it was because of the two I was walking with.

"...No way, do you think that kid is getting into Odyssey?"

"Nah, I saw him a few hours ago, he literally just signed up to be an adventurer, there's no way they'd let a newbie in."

"Wait, a few hours ago? You've been sitting here drinking for that long? You're a bum."

I heard a few mentions of the word 'odyssey' from several different people murmuring around us.

'Must be their party, right?'

Well, there'd be no harm in asking.

"Is that the name of your party, uh, Odyssey?"

Kara immediately started speaking with an excited tone.

"Yeah! We're one of the few S rank parties around here, so you better show us some respect, kay~?"

"Sure... then, how many members are there?"

"Four."

Mai responded quickly before Kara could open her mouth.

'...That's on the smaller side, no?'

Rather than doubting their abilities due to their small party size, I was impressed.

'S rank adventurers are the real deal.'

We continued walking and idly chatting through the streets of Babel.

There were plenty of adventurers on the street, but many adventurers had families here as well, so there were no shortage of children around.

"Tsk."

A man walking by clicked his tongue whilst staring at me.

I was a rather unbothered person, but even I couldn't help but feel embarassed after being given dirty looks by grown men.

There reason for doing so was pretty obvious... I was a kid being flanked by two beauties... who were also S rank adventurers.

"Buzz off."

'Well, that fixes it, I suppose.'

Mai started giving dark stares to anyone who looked at me, just a little bit of killing intent would have low rank adventurers scared to death.

We finally stopped at a small restaurant.

"It's a little shabby, but trust me, you won't find a place better than this in the whole of Babel."

I nodded my head to Kara whilst appreciating the homey atmosphere.

That homey atmosphere was quickly broken by the shout of an angry man.

"We've been waitin' two fucken' hours for you two, what the fuck 'appened!"

I had immediately seen him as soon as we entered the restaurant, seeing as he and the one sitting next to him were the only people there.

"Huh."

I let out a small gasp of surprise.

The two people sitting and staring at us angrily...

One was a dwarf, and the other was an elf.

---

It was my first time actually seeing either of the two races.

Matter of fact, I guess it was the first time I had seen any 'fantasy' humanoid race.

Of course, I was well aware they existed, but reading in a book and seeing in real life...

Well, they're different.

These two men were the remaining members of Odyssey.

After a few minutes of Kara and Mai explaining why they had been so late, the two non humans turned to look at me.

"Oi, speak up then, these two bums 'ave been hypin' you up like yer some kinda genius."

"I-uh, it's all thanks to my teacher that I've managed to grow this much."

He still seemed pretty pissed off that Mai and Kara had made him wait two hours because they wanted to see my exam.

"...A good teacher is certainly more important than having talent, I would say."

The elf man, who had been silent up until now, spoke with a cool and serene tone.

He was what I had expected an elf to look like.

Tall, androgynous but undeniably beautiful, and rather calm, although to be fair his calmness had clearly been tested.

"Hey! You didn't mention having a teacher, Outis! They must be pretty impressive."

Kara seemed curious as to the identity of my teacher, but that was something I absolutely could not reveal.

She and Mai had been kind to me, but I wasn't about to reveal I was a disciple of a lich, let alone the 'lich king'.

I made a slightly downcast expression before executing my plan.

"...He was... yeah, he was pretty powerful."

My acting skills were far from being top notch, but such a simple play was manageable.

They seemed to get the message, as the conversation switched quickly.

"Judari. Any news. About the. Dragon?"

The elf shook his head side to side with a blank expression.

"Bloody shame, that is, was hopin'ta see the old chairman go blow for blow with that thing, would've been a battle for the ages, I tell yeh."

"I'm almost certain he would have lost."

Judari replied to the boisterous dwarf with a matter of fact tone.

This statement seemed to confuse the rest of the party, based on their twisted expressions.

I was starting to feel more nervous about the conversation.

'Damn, Timmy, couldn't you have flew a little lower?'

Seeing his party's confusion, the elf sighed before explaining his words.

"Now, I'm sure the chairman could defeat the undead dragon, but think for a moment, the person who had revived that dragon would've had to be incredibly powerful in their own right. I know you're all younger than me, so you may not know about him...but chances are that dragon was controlled by the Lich King."

'One day inside this city... and your name already came up.'

Speaking up now would do me no good, so I instead listened intently.

"Mmm... I've 'eard of that fella. But 'aint 'e dead by now? 'E was an old legend even when I was a wee lad."

"Vengir, as an elf, I have quite an awareness of that man. He would not die so easily."

I felt very uncomfortable right now.

It was nigh impossible that they could somehow come to the conclusion that I held a relation to him, but nevertheless the situation irked me.

"Hey, hey! Guys! Calm down for a sec, would ya~? You're scaring the kid!"

"I'm fine, just a little nervous is all, y'know, being around S ranks."

I replied a little awkwardly to Kara's interruption.

"Ho? Well, if yer nervous, I know how to fix the issue!"

Seeing the look in the dwarf's eye, a certain idea came to my mind.

'Does thinking that make me racist? There's no way, right?'

The group called over the waiter, an old woman who acted as one of the owners of the store, and ordered.

And... the dwarf ordered a shit ton of beer.

'Who would've guessed...'

---

LOG 32 - DWARVES

Dwarves are an extremely advanced species, with their technology being unrivalled throughout the known world. The dwarven country, Ferrotum, is almost entirely isolated from the outside world, with only a few renegade dwarves leaving to forge their own paths. Ferrotum itself is rumoured to be a thousand years ahead of the outside world when it comes to technological advancement.