Chapter 64: [64] Meeting Rumble
According to the guild receptionist, Eva, their teammates had applied for the job a little while ago, and were waiting to see if anyone would be interested in joining before they headed out.
Because of this, and the apt description she had given them, they were not hard to find.
Ark found the group of three buying fruit drinks from a peddler who happened to walk past.
"Is that them?" Olivia asked, her eyes narrowed as she watched them from a distance.
"There is only one way to find out..." Ark responded as he walked up to the group.
"Hey, are you guys..." He raised the paper to read the name Eva had clumsily scribbled down for them. "Rumble?"
"Indeed we areeee!" The first guy said enthusiastically without even turning to look. He finished his fruit juice with one gulp, licked his fangs before turning around with a smile.
He was a man with dark-ash fur, deep brown eyes and an aura of glee about him. One simple way to describe him would be if a wolf and a man were crossed.
’A kobold.’
They were one of the lowliest races in Eden, but ironically, they were considered higher ranked than skeletons.
"It looks like we finally have some reliable allies for the quest—"
The moment the kobold laid eyes on him, he momentarily froze, just before he frowned and shook his head. "A skeleton... Is the guild throwing scraps at us now?"
Ark had expected the reaction, what he had not expected was for Olivia to be very offended by his statement.
"What do you mean by ’a skeleton.’ Are you trying to say you are better than him just because he is a skeleton? Are you that shallow of a person?"
Sometimes, with the way she acted in front of him, it was easy to forget how intimidating Olivia could be.
The kobold visibly shrieked back, his eyes cautiously darting between her talons and face.
"I-I didn’t mean any offense. Hahaha, I was just surprised is all...."
"It doesn’t matter what you meant. You’ve offended us and now you need to apologise."
"Um... Olivia, it’s okay." Ark whispered in her ear. "It’s not like I care what they think..."
"But!" She pouted then pointed an accusing finger at him.
"This dog head man clearly insulted you, we harrows do not take insults lying down!"
"Harrow?!" The dog head man—rather, the Kobold, took two steps back then raised his hands up in defence.
There was no one in Eden who didn’t know the name Harrow.
"I’m sorry, I d-don’t want any trouble."
"Olivia... let’s just accept his apology, okay?" Ark pleaded with her.
The last thing he wanted was for her to sink those claws into his head and pluck it right off his shoulders.
Higher ranked player or not, Olivia was still a harpy, and Kobolds were generally cannon fodder.
It was at that moment that his teammate stepped forward.
"I apologize on Sazan’s behalf." He said calmly. "Unlike the rest of us, his mouth is connected to his arse."
"Hey!" Sazan glanced at him, his ears flattening on his head.
Olivia frowned. "Hmph!" But thankfully, she did not push the matter.
"I am Esau, it is nice to make your acquaintance. I guess you are joining us for the egg hunt?"
Ark replied to his greeting with a polite bow. "Yes. I am Ark, and this is Olivia."
The man smiled, revealing rows of serrated teeth. He was a lizard man with thick, green scales in place of skin, and yellow reptilian eyes.
"We have another member, I think she should be arriving right about..." He glanced around. "Aha, speak of the devil."
"I hope you guys didn’t wait l-long?" A high pitched voice came from behind them.
Ark turned around to see a girl running frantically towards them.
To say she was an odd fit for the group would be putting it lightly.
This girl was beautiful. She had long, black hair that was braided into two pigtails that bounced along with her as she ran. Her eyes were a bright pink, and she even had a nice figure.
"Thalia, did you find the herbs you were looking for?"
She came to a stop right next to the lizard man, only to trip on her own foot—
"Eeek—!" She fell forward, about to crash into Ark when Olivia’s wings fanned out and held her by the head.
"We aren’t going for that cliche this time." She hissed.
’But... but I like the cliche!’ Ark huffed internally.
"Sorry, forgive my clumsiness." She dusted her clothing and smiled. Then she gave Olivia a blank stare, actually, it seemed more like a glare.
"..."
Thalia blinked.
"..."
"What are you looking at? Do you want to fight?" Olivia asked, genuinely confused as to why she was being glared at.
Thalia put her hand into the basket of herbs she was carrying and pulled out a pair of round rimmed spectacles.
Once she wore them, the intense look vanished.
"Oh, no wonder I didn’t recognize you. I don’t think we have met..."
Yeah, Ark was sure she wouldn’t recognize her even if they had met in the past. Those glasses... they were as thick as bottles.
With Thalia present, the group did formal introductions and gave out vital information regarding team work.
From what they told him Sazan was the Warrior of the group, Esau was an Assassin, and Thalia was the group’s healer.
They were a relatively new party that had formed just a few weeks ago and had only completed a few quests together...
But their formation was stable, with Ark and Olivia added into the mix, the group was more than capable of taking on a two star mission.
"So, shall we head out now? I’m itching to get my hands on those eggs!" Sazan beamed as he stared at the group.
But Ark’s next words dimmed his mood. "Sorry, but can we delay it till tomorrow morning? I still haven’t set my respawn point."
"Wait." The Kobold’s mouth dropped open. "You’re a newbie?"
But one sharp glare from Olivia was enough to make him swallow his words. "Alright, no problem, we meet here tomorrow." He scratched the back of his ears.
After exchanging their greetings, the party of three went their way.
"So, you haven’t set up your respawn point? That is really dangerous, you know?"
Respawn points were areas players would get automatically teleported to if they were to die in a safe zone.
But the dangers of not setting a respawn point were that if you died, you would get teleported to a random location in Eden.
You could be lucky and respawn next to a city, or unlucky and respawn in the centre of a death zone...
But—
"Who is going to kill me? I’m just an ordinary skeleton, no one would stoop so low as to attack such a lowly player..."
Olivia gave him a blank stare. "So you are really going with that, aren’t you?"
"Yes. And I would prefer it if you tone down your admiration a bit."
This was basically an undercover mission with strangers he had never met. It was only natural to suspect everyone and everything.
Ark didn’t even fully trust Olivia.
"A-admiration??" Olivia’s face burned red. "Me, admire you?!" She folded her hands across her chest. "It seems you have gotten full of yourself Skelly."
"Aha!" Ark snapped his finger. "Perfect, that attitude is much better. It is more natural for you to act this way...."
Olivia gave him a strange look. "Are you a masochist or something?"
Ark shrugged. He was the type to like the most violent women in video games, but that was definitely far from being a masochist, right?
Olivia sighed and shook her head. "Anyways..."
She paused and averted her gaze from him. Although she was doing her best to keep a plain face, Ark could read her emotions with ease.
After all, no matter how much she tried to dampen it, there was nothing she could do about her wings...
They were swaying left and right, completely shattering her stoic facade.
She tossed a strand of hair behind her ears and glanced at him with one eye open.
"If you don’t have a place to stay..."
"Why don’t you come to my place~"
’Heh?’
A second passed in tense silence.
"This is h why I didn’t want to help you out, now you’re making it weird!" Olivia covered her face with both hands.
Ark stroked his jaw, creating a scratchy sound as his ring met bone. Going to Olivia’s place?
"Actually... this is a great idea."
Olivia’s eyes went wide. "Really??"