Chapter 25 - Adventurer Party
Chapter 25 – Adventurer Party
While Cole was sleeping, Del was browsing [Gear & Items] because his sleep was disturbed by the drunk people downstairs. He wanted something to carry all of those drum mags. He was thinking of buying a tactical rig for a German machine gunner in the Second World War. With that, he could carry all of the magazine and the stripper clips outside of the backpack that he would also buy.
[Showing Available WW2 German Equipment]
[Total Balance: 3205$]
[M40 Uniform] [30$]
[German WW2 Tactical Rig] [40$]
[M35 Helmet] [70$]
[German WW2 Backpack] [60$]
"Is that only for the whole set or only the shirt of M40 uniform?" Del asked.
[One Set]
"I see," Del said.
[Do you want to buy the tactical rig?]
"Yeah," Del said.
[Tactical rig is a custom piece of equipment. What do you need?]
"I want something that can at least carry two drum magazines and five stripper clips. As for the other tools, I want something that can carry sterile gauzes alongside some ibuprofen," Del said.
[Del, you might want antibiotic ointment later]
"Sure, whatever you have in mind," Del said.
[Purchase Confirmed. Remaining Balance: 3165$]
A tactical rig appeared on the metal box on top of Del's table. Del approached his table and he turned on the magical lantern. He looked at the green tactical rig that appeared on the metal box. It was made from reinforced green fabrics. Del wasn't quite sure what the material was, but it was quite strong.
Del tried wearing the tactical rig. It felt rather more comfortable than he previously expected. The rig didn't feel too heavy and the large pockets on the front, sides, and back would certainly help in putting the magazines and anything that he would need quick access to.
Del tried putting one of the drum magazines into the large left side pocket of the tactical rig. It fit perfectly. Del put another one inside of the right side pocket of the tactical rig. The rig didn't feel very heavy. In fact, Del could move agile enough while wearing it.
Del also bought the backpack. The backpack was made from waterproof canvas and colored in olive. It was huge enough to put some food and clothing alongside the remaining bullets. There was also a place to put his rifle on the side of the backpack.
Del would look like a German soldier if he wore the uniform and the helmet. However, Del still thought that buying those two items would only be a waste of money. Maybe if the need arose for buying those uniforms, he would buy it.
Del put the tactical rig and the backpack beside the metal box. He headed back to bed before he noticed something odd on Cole. There was nothing on his neck. The slave collar wasn't supposed to be removable, right?
Del became panicked. It might be a good idea to kill a demon that would go defiant, but thinking about it again, what if the bullet wasn't strong enough to kill Cole. In an enclosed space like his room, even an MG-42 wouldn't be useful enough to dodge Cole's wrath.
As harmless as he sounded, Cole was still the guy that held off six bounty hunters at once. He was also a person that beat an entire convoy of bounty hunters with a fireball. Del was only contributing by killing the heavily armored enemy.
Del didn't want to think about it anymore. He just wanted to sleep. Before this, Del only felt annoyed with Cole, but after seeing that, he feared Cole. Hopefully, Cole was still on his good side.
===============
"What's with that contraption, man?" Cole asked,
Del wore his backpack and tactical rig while carrying the MG-42 on his shoulder. Del filled the tactical rig to the brim with useful stuff. He put the sterile gauzes and the magazines on his rig. The backpack contained the last two drum magazines alongside other items such as clothing and the crackers.
"This contraption? What do you mean? We are going on a long mission, right?" Del asked.
The guild secretary came to Rina's inn early in the morning to tell that their application was accepted. As a result, Del and Cole needed to be ready for the mission in under two hours or the adventurer's party would leave them which meant no money for them.
"Listen, Del, sorry if I'm being such a bitch yesterday," Cole apologized.
"No problem, it's not like both of us aren't tired," Del said.
"How're your wounds anyway?" Cole asked.
"Fine, thanks to Rina's healing spell. I'm just waiting for the scabs to fall off and I can take off the bandages," Del said.
"I'm glad to hear that," Cole said.
According to Rina, the adventurer party would be waiting for them right beside the guild building inside of a carriage. After some walking, they finally arrived at the carriage. That carriage was filled with adventurers.
Del approached the carriage.
"Excuse me, is this the party for bandit extermination?" Del asked.
"Correct. You must be Del, right?" One of the adventurers said.
"Yup, my name is Del, this is my friend, Cole," Del said.
"Friend? Slave, you meant?" the adventurer said.
Del sighed, "Yes, slave."
Del felt a little bit uncomfortable calling Cole a slave. Maybe their relationship was way similar to an ordinary friendship with its ups and downs. If Del saw Cole as a slave, why would he even carry all of the heavy stuff on his backpack?
"My name is David, it's a pleasure to meet you. I heard that you survived a vampire attack, is that true?" David asked.
"Yeah, it's true, more or less," Del said.
"Great, let me introduce you to the rest of the team," David said.
David walked to the back of the carriage. In there, three other adventurers were waiting. Those three adventurers were using different weapons. Del followed David from behind alongside Cole.
Two adventurers were women while the other was a man. The women were both mages while the last man was another sword user. David introduced the member of the team one by one.
"This man is Harold. He's a swordsman," David introduced Harold.
"Pleasure to meet you, Harold. My name is Del," Del said.
"Ah, you're quite reputable for an F-rank adventurer," Harold said.
"Thanks, sir," Del said.
"Just call me Harold," Harold said.
David introduced the women, "The other two are Lizbeth and Lynia. These two are the mages in our group."
"Nice to meet you, Del," Lynia said.
Lizbeth just responded with a smile.
"My sister is a little bit shy, don't worry too much about it," Lynia said.
"Oh, you two are related?" Del asked.
"Yup," Lynia said.
It seems that the needs for specialized marksmen were because there was no long-range attacker at the party. A mage wasn't known for its far range. A mage was more known because of their ability to pierce armor.
An archer or a swordsman could only do so much to an armored opponent. Mage, on the other hand, could punch through the armor of an enemy rather easily with either a sharp projectile spell or using any other means such as explosions.
However, mage usually stayed in the back due to their lack of close combat abilities. It was true that there was some type of mage swordsman, but that was quite rare and usually only available if the adventurer had reached B rank or higher.
"Lynia, Lizbeth, Harold, meet our specialized marksmen, Cole and Del," David introduced both of them.
"Nice to meet you, Del," Lynia shook his hand.
Lizbeth was just looking at Del's MG-42 which looked unfamiliar in her eyes.
"What's the matter, sis? Are you really curious about the thing that our specialized marksman brings?" Lynia asked.
Lizbeth just shook her head.
"What's that thing anyway, Del?" Lynia asked.
"A some sort of magical tool," Del said.
"You don't want to tell us?" Lynia asked.
"It's rather… classified," Del said.
"I understand. Anyway, the journey is simple. We will go to Alder, then to Liverley, after that, Injia Forest. It should take three days at least," David said.
"Three days round trip or three days away from here?" Del asked.
"Three days away from here. In total, we will take six days," David said.
"Nice, more payment for me then," Del said.
"Oh, so you have a mindset of a mercenary? Kid, you better not have that kind of mindset!" Harold said.
"Nah, I just like money," Del said.
"That's a merc mindset," Harold said.
"Whatever, I'm just here to do a job. Whatever you think about me or Cole isn't relevant to our performance, now is there anything else that you want to add?" Del asked.
"Fine," Harold said.
Del put the backpack on the back of the carriage and he climbed inside of the carriage with the MG-42 in his hands. Camping tools were filling the carriage alongside the bags of the other adventurers. Thankfully, there was still enough space for Del and Cole to stretch their legs alongside the others.
They immediately left Midham and started heading for Alder.