Sol parted ways with Commander Xander, but not before the man mentioned that the offer for a permanent position would always be available to him. Politely declining one last time, Sol made his way back to his room to pack up as the caravan to head back to the city left soon.
He made his way down the hallways wearing a new dark brown belt with an emerald buckle and a braided vine bow with fluffy ends similar to dandelions over his shoulder. While the belt looked relatively normal, he still drew the eyes of a lot of strangers, as someone wielding a bow and sword was an odd combination. Once Sol noticed the stares, he grabbed the bow and held it in his hands as if he was delivering it to someone, which lessened the overall attention on him.
Arriving at his room, Sol quickly packed his belongings in the backpack. Thanks to the spatial expanded backpack he bought a while back for the gathering quests, he had more than enough space to store all his personal belongings. As he was about to place the Pollen Bow in the bag, he stopped as he stared at it and thought back to what he had said to the Commander.
’Should I head back and help her unlock her second talent?’
Sol considered the possibility of heading back to Initium and helping her level up to unlock her talent. While he knew it would greatly accelerate her growth, he quickly threw away the idea.
’Anna would be furious if I even offered to level her up.’
While Annabel did not mind being helped, she drew the line with handouts. Sol remembered the time her father, Guildmaster William Deliban, offered to give her pocket money to buy a dress she really wanted. She later ranted to Sol that she didn’t want it if it was simply given to her; she had a perfectly good job and could buy it herself when she got her next payment. Sol at the time thought it was weird, as her father and boss were the same person, so the money came from the same source, but he was not stupid enough to mention that in front of her.
’She did mention her father was helping her level up in his free time, but I doubt he is doing anything besides watching over her in case something happens. She probably got to level 14 all on her own.’
After discarding the idea to head back to Initium, Sol stowed the bow in his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. Although the backpack weighed a lot for an average person, thanks to Sol’s abnormal strength, he could easily carry it on his back.
There was not much time left before they had to leave, so Sol decided to head there early and wait. On arriving, he noticed that he wasn’t the only one who had that idea and saw some of the healers grouped together by the gates.
One of the healers noticed him and waved over, "Hey Sol! Come join us."
"Hey Mitch, are you all waiting for the carriages?"
The healer who called him over, Mitch, nodded. "Yeah, we have nothing to do, so some of us decided to come here and talk while we wait."
Along with Mitch were 15 other healers Sol worked with, including Nataly and Caroline.
Nataly then asked the group, "What do you all plan to do back at Kerman?"
"Hmm… I’m not from Kerman, so I will probably do an escort quest that heads back home."
"I’ll just rejoin my party and head into the dungeon."
Everyone discussed their plans for when they headed back to the city, and from their answers, most were originally from Kerman and would simply join back with their parties, while others had their own plans.
Caroline asked Sol, "So you plan to stay in Kerman for a while?"
He nodded, "Yeah, just until I become C-Rank."
"Why don’t you join a party then while you’re here?" Nataly chimed in.
"Maybe, but I don’t really know any parties…" Before he continued his sentence, he remembered that he did get acquainted with a party, Radiant Historia. Maybe he could team up with them to complete a few quests, and although they almost perished from the monster house they seemed fairly strong. They mentioned they were almost B-Rank, since Sol saved them from the monster house, there was a good chance they will let him join their party.
"Actually, I may know a party who is willing to take me in."
Nataly seemed disappointed by his answer, "Aww... really?"
’Did she want to ask me to join her party?’
Seeing her disappointment, Caroline looked at her in disbelief, "You wanted to invite him to your party? Won’t that be a waste with two healers; the experience will be split even more."
"Well, I was thinking he could act as a swordsman, you know? He’s very strong, and my party lacks a swordsman."
The two girls went on a tangent about his versatility in not only being able to deal damage but also cast magic, which could open up a lot of possibilities. Sol didn’t even say anything as they just made their own conjectures, not wanting to accidentally spill anything unnecessary. By the end, they simply concluded that he was too good for their party and deserved a C-Ranked party, which was what he was originally going for, sparing him the need to decline Nataly’s invitation.
The group of healers talked for over an hour until it was finally time to hop on the carriages and leave. Sadly, they weren’t able to pick who they sat with as they were evenly distributed among the carriages. Even more unfortunate was the fact Sol was placed in a carriage filled with moody and quiet people and had to awkwardly endure the whole ride back in silence.
Thankful that Kerman was not too far from the fort, Sol arrived as the evening light covered the city. He hopped off the carriage and was going to head to the adventurers guild until he noticed the hordes of adventurers doing the same. Not wanting to spend the entire evening in a line, he decided to just head over tomorrow and went to a nice restaurant to eat dinner. While the food at the fort was not bad, it had a very mass produced feeling, and all he wanted right now was a warm hearty meal.