Chapter 1230 Chapter 1230 A Humble March
"So… this has been a great story and all, but it still doesn't explain how you all met up to form an adventurer group," said Marigold.
"Eh, the rest of the story really isn't that interesting," said March with a shrug. "The Guild Master asked if I was serious about still adventuring, and when I said yes, he offered me the chance to work with Willow.? Willow wanted her adventuring team to be… more organically grown, but her parents put their foot down about that particular part.
"The Guild Master had heard about their search, I think it had only been going on for about a week or so… anyway, the Guild Master knew a guy who was good friends with that family, so he thought I'd be a good fit. I imagine the 'good fit' part is mostly down to the fact I survived, and carried my teammates out of a wolf den led by a Rank 2 wolf,"
"You do realise that's impressive right?" said Burgandy. "Most monsters tend to be stronger than their Rank would suggest, even if they can be defeated through use of cunning and smarts. Which you DIDN'T DO! No, instead you beat a Rank 2 wolf in direct combat without any tricks, and the rest of its pack just for good measure."
March tried to deflect the praise, "I'd been practicing for years at that point and it was probably just a recently ascended Rank 2 wolf. Might be that it got to Rank 2, and then started causing issues, which had been going on for a week at most when we got the quest. So the wolf had, at maximum, a month to get used to its strength, and I'm sure it wasn't doing intense training in that time,"
While this was happening, Oditr tapped the table once and leaned over to Kat and Lily. "For your benefit I'll explain. March is downplaying a truly massive achievement in terms of combat capability. I'm sure, for a demon such as yourself, killing a monster a Rank above you is not even that strange or dangerous. What you have to understand is that even with this one accomplishment, many will assume March is guaranteed at least Rank 4.
"Killing up a rank, when the monster is fresh and unwounded? It's a very rare occurrence. Especially in direct combat like March's was. If more people knew of her combat prowess, she'd be hounded by plenty of people trying to curry her favour. Luckily for her, she never boasted, nor did she say the wolf was Rank 2 for quite some time. Though that might just be that it needed to be pointed out to her…"
"Is it really so impressive?" asked Lily. "I mean, the story itself certainly was… but you're talking about this like it's something else…"
"March may just be a once in a generation talent," said Oditr with a sigh. "Now, granted, humans tend to have a lot more of those just by virtue of having so many people, and much shorter lifespans. That being said… this is the sort of thing you'd expect from people like myself. People like Titania… people like Ulf. Perhaps you can't understand because your perspective is so different, but if March can replicate that feat once or twice more? She would be on track to become the new strongest human on the continent. Heck, she's already closer to it then everyone except for Ulf's daughter, but once again, she doesn't count because she married Auctifer."
Kat felt rather stunned at that. "That… that's… I can hardly believe it. Does that mean we lucked out as a team that this round has no combat in it?"
Oditr shrugged and said, "I suppose so, but I imagine March isn't exactly phased by the lack of combat either. A natural fighter she may be, but March seems perfectly content to train in the mountains for decades if she felt that would give her the strength she desires. As any true seeker of strength knows, breaks can be just as important as the training itself,"
Kat looked over at March who didn't seem all that angry at… well anything really. *Which is sort of weird for someone that can literally have steam come out of her ears, but I suppose life can't be a cartoon.*
[Says the magical demon girl with an animal familiar.]
*That's not really how our relationship works, but I'm not going to deny your point either.*
"Hey, I've got another question, if you don't mind, March, Burgandy, either is fine," said Lily.
"Sure, I'll take this one, assuming it's not about March," said Burgandy.
"What exactly happened to your last member? I mean, Stan has only been helping you guys for this round right? So there had to have been another person working with you… correct?" asked Lily.
Burgandy nodded, "Yeah you're right. We had another guy on our team, he is an elf called Arbor. He fit in decently with the group… but not perfectly. The reason he left though, is only somewhat due to the group itself. Um… let me see if I can explain. So… Arbor joined up with us… basically because of teenage rebellion.
"Now, he thought we'd offered him a place just because he was competent… but really it's because his parents knew Willow's parents and when their son ran away from home, they asked if we could snag him up for our team so that he wasn't just adventuring alone, or with people his family couldn't trust.
"Or well, I wasn't in the team just yet, timeline wise, so technically it wasn't 'our' team at the time, but you get what I mean. Anyway, that's how he joined the team. He was… fine? As a team member there wasn't much to complain about. He was a surprisingly good team player, and we did well on jobs…
"But he just wasn't gaining strength like we were. Not sure if it's talent, or if being an elf held him back. Heck, maybe he was skimping on training or meditation or whatever it was he did in his free time. What it amounted to… was everyone in the team getting to Rank 2 and he… well he just didn't.
"Now, this was fine at the start… but then we nearly lost. It was a close run thing last round, and he definitely dropped the ball. Which is fine, he was only Rank 1 and it was a lot of pressure… but if Thyme wasn't around he would've died. This is made worse by the fact that… well while he was still reeling from that and not properly handling his emotions, he got a letter from home to find out that his aunt was dead.
"Now, I'm not sure exactly how close he was with his aunt. If she was a big part of his life… of if nearly dying just two days before getting the letter helped shattered what little control he had over his emotions when the letter finally did arrive. Regardless, Arbor decided that, at least for now, he had to return home.
"He'd been getting letters from them the entire time we'd been a team, but he never actually read them. The only reason he read that particular one was apparently it was marked with something special denoting it as an especially important message. It looked like a normal letter to me, so I've got no idea how it was marked, just that it was. Arbor nearly didn't open it actually.
"Spent the evening debating it with us. Or, more accurately debating with himself while we sat around the table with him giving the occasional words of encouragement or denial based on what he was saying. Still not sure if he should've opened the letter at because next thing we know? He's packed up and ready to leave.
"Perhaps we could've talked him out of it but well…" Burgandy let the words trail off.
March was happy to say them though, "We didn't feel it was right to stop a man grieving his family from returning home. Even if the win for the tournament would be nice, none of us truly need it like some other contestants. If his departure is what causes us to lose? Then that's fine. We can still hold our heads high knowing we've tried our best,"
Just as March finished speaking, a loud clap went over the area. Kat turned to look at the sound and saw a larger than normal Thyme standing up and waiting for everyone to stop talking. When they were all silent, Thyme spoke, "So, I'm glad you have all been having fun this evening. I have to inform you all, that it's actually quite close to midnight. Now, I'm not going to be quite as strict with the timing for starting tomorrow, but I do want to start early, around nine.
"So I'm just letting everyone know, that I suggest you all finish up with your talks and head to bed soon. I'm not going to force anything. I know quite a few of you want to speak with the various judges, but I'm only going to be so lenient come tomorrow morning if you're one of the people that stayed up too late. Think on that. I myself, will be shifting into the background to check on some projects instead of sleep. I'll bid you all, goodbye, and goodnight." Then Thyme vanished.
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