After the utter disappointment that was my first quest, we moved on to the second - collecting 30 'Lesser dragon' scales. If done correctly, it's a low risk high reward type of deal, at least that's what Sara said.
To begin we have to identify a 'Dragon's' nest, lucky for us, the 'Wolf's fang' members had done so a few months back while doing some other unrelated quest. The nest was in the mountain range that separated the 'Dark forest' from the sea, which meant a long and hard trek through the forest and the mountains for us.
During the trip there, I once again felt utterly useless - the camp set up, the combat, the hunting - everything was done by the others, I was beginning to doubt my value as an adventurer and as a man. One day, during the trek, while I was in the middle of my existential crisis, I couldn't contain myself and asked the group whether or not they even needed me and if not, why did they agree to team up with me.
I was sure that the answer would be no, since they looked to be fine without me, but the answer I was given by Sara with a smile was "Since you're new to this, rookie, and seem to not be good with teamwork, you should observe our teamwork at first and only then will you be able to seamlessly incorporate yourself in to it. If you force it, you might, in the midst of battle, injure yourself or someone else. That kind of a mistake can prove deadly here."
This answer surprised me, but I started to understand why they could work with each other so seamlessly. Thinking back while fighting with Alex in the 'Great dungeon' we always followed a plan and there was almost no place for improvisation on my part. I was always the bait and Alex would be the finisher.
When Clive saw that I was deep in thought, he commented that while they were 'gold' rank, apart from him, all other members of the 'Wolf's fang' were 'B' class or lower, so they weren't particularly strong. What made their party 'gold' rank was their teamwork, so it was the most important thing to them, even more important than individual strength. "But then again, if you officially join our little family, we will have individual strength as well!"
Family huh? While the thought of joining a party for real did cross my mind, I initially brushed it off since they would only hold me back, but now that I saw how inept I was at basic adventurer's tasks, I was starting to reconsider. Besides, these people, while annoying, did comfort me in a strange way and their unrelenting grit somewhat inspired me to try just a bit harder.
I especially got close to Diana. She was the more timid out of the sisters. While she was the weakest in the party, she compensated for that with her hunting and tracking skills. She would take the initiative to hunt for food for the whole party and even began teaching me to hunt as well. The girl was kind, warm and just overflew with passion for the great outdoors.
One day, while she was teaching me to hunt wild animals for dinner, when I gave her a rare compliment on her bowmanship, she just turned her eyes down and muttered "I would trade all of my skills in hunting and tracking for just a little bit of power and a tiny bit of talent in swordsmanship."
Confused, I tried to probe deeper, but she just ended our hunting lesson, stating that we had enough for one day, and left. While it did mildly pique my interest, I found it distasteful trying to force it out of her and snooping around seemed like too much work, so I just left it as it is. Besides, it felt like me and the 'Wolf's fang' party members had an unwritten rule of not getting into each other's past seeing as they never inquired about my mask or the amount of power and the lack of real life skills that I possessed.
Sara was the spirit of our party, she was always cheery, optimistic, loved pranks and had a wild idea of what fun is. To her chaos and madness was the definition of hilarity. I have no idea why she was the party leader, when, in my opinion, someone like Clive would suit the bill far more.
Clive - aka the team's mage was always collected, nice and polite. He was the sole stopping power that contained the insanity that was Sara. He was in his 30s making him the oldest and he seemed to be the most mature in the whole group. His dual elemental specialization in 'ice' and 'earth' made him comparably versatile in combat and a true master of manipulating the battlefield and making the path that we traversed easier. Whether it was walls to stop enemy advancement or bridges to cross dangerous canyons, he could do it all.
Zen was a complete anomaly. It seemed that the guy lived for fighting and nothing else. He was somber and calm most of the time, not speaking much, but during combat all stops would go through the window and you could see the sheer enjoyment that he felt while slaughtering his enemies. I wonder whether he really disliked monsters or was he just a battle junky.
As time went on, I learned to set up a tent proficiently, some basic cooking, how to pick firewood, how to fish, gather and hunt and many more adventurer skills, but my biggest joy was the opportunity to fight. The bloodshed, the sound of breaking bones, the death shrieks of monsters, but most importantly the gratification of once again working in a team. The fact that someone had my back and that I had theirs was strangely comforting. It seems that I like working in a team. Must be the influence of the alchemist or it might be that these people have put something in my food.
And just like that we arrived at the dragon's nest.
"So… Why are we waiting again?" I asked, bored out of my mind, during the second day of our stay near the nest.
"We'll just wait for the 'Dragon' to go huntin'" Sara said with a smile. "I know, it's tempting to charge right at it with guns blazing, but we should control that urge for now. After all, not even you can defeat a 'Lesser dragon' right?"
This girl has no idea. "Fine, let's wait." I said with a sigh. "In the meantime, remind me why are we collecting dragon scales?"
"Agh, you really are a newbie, newbie." At this point it seemed that Sara was about ready to give up on me. "'Dragon' scales are incredibly tough and durable. On top of that they are comparatively light making them a precious material for making armor."
"Are all 'Dragon' scales worth the same?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Let me rephrase - are the scales of a 'Lesser dragon' comparable in worth to the scales of a 'Greater dragon' or even a 'True dragon'?"
This put a wicked smile on Sara's face. "What, did you get in possession of some 'Greater dragon' scales? If so, then you are a very lucky man, since they sell at around 100 times the price of the 'Lesser dragon' scales. If you have some, you might as well share with the little old me here, after all, I did teach you a lot during this time didn't I? So it's only fair."
This was quickly interrupted by Diana, who scolded her big sis for being greedy and asking for too big a compensation. Sara just laughed it off. "It's not like the newbie actually has any, so what's the harm in asking."
Finally after four days of waiting, the 'Dragon' left its nest. The whole time while waiting the only thing that I could think about was fighting it, so when it left, I felt both wronged and strangely relieved that the object of my desire left my grasp and I would be able to focus on the task at hand.
We had to move quickly. While 'Dragon's' hunt usually takes from a few hours to a day, it might return at any moment for some reason so the faster we do this the better. Or at least that was what our fearless leader said to me. In a short amount of time I managed to collect more than ten scales and, since the whole party was collecting them, I thought that we would have enough. When I asked why we weren't stopping, Clive answered that 'Dragons' leave their nests infrequently, so while we have the chance, we should collect as much as possible and the leftovers can be sold at a later date.
In less than 20 minutes, we collected all the scales that we could find and left the crime scene in haste. In total we had 108 scales, meaning that we more than tripled the amount that we had to collect, making this a decent haul. That completed my second quest, but in the end, I still didn't get the chance to fight the 'Dragon'. Let's hope that the last quest is more eventful.