Walking into this new village, Chase noticed that it looked alright. It had decent houses, some more prestigious buildings, probably those of businessmen were two stories high
Supporting what he assumed to be their living quarters up top.
The roads were paved in all the main areas, their wasn't bustling businesses even on the streets like in mint stone, but it was decent.
'If I had to guess, I'd say this is about what the average village should look like. Not too glamorous, but also not bad either. '
As they walked the empty road, a piercing voice hit their ears. "STOP IMMEDIATELY OR DIE!" Coming down the road were the local guard, men dressed in chainmail with long swords already drawn. Further back were archers.
In response, everyone pulled out their own weapons.Chase, his hands, Andrew looked like the same until magic symbols started appearing on them. Donnie and Damian pulled out their respective blades and axes.
"Who are you to send us a quest to stop a monster, then complain when we get here?"
Damian was already wasting no time.
"I did no such thing." The voice was closer, but as everyone made way for their leader,
The Torchbearer's came to realize how feminine the voice sounded.
Moving through them, a woman, standing at a height of 5'10 looked at these people. Wearing boots, gloves, chainmail armor.
Her brown hair and stern gaze were primary features.
"It must have been that shithead Harold. It's just like him, calling in others instead of just buffing up the force already protecting the village." Her look got even more angry when she mentioned it.
Sighing heavily, she continued "don't expect to have to tell you that people are disappearing. What I'll instead do is inform you that it is a thing doing it. It is able to avoid detection from rank one mages entirely, and we're not sure if we need more investigating or more firepower, seeing as it only attacks normal civilians."
'What kind of creatures can exist in this world?' Chase was used to seeing wacky creatures like giant birds pulling carriages, Inwardly he'd prefer not to know about the more terrifying creatures, but he needed to know what to avoid.
"Hopefully we can be both." Donny said, getting in front of everyone, hood off, trying to scoot away from the fact that everyone else was covering their face in some way.
"One of our friends is way better than the average rank 1, and we're pretty capable fighters in our own right." He was smiling, but inwardly he was hoping they left now.
Next to the woman stood a man with a similar outfit, but just from looks and him being at her left side, it was a deputy to a sheriff kinda deal.
He wore a mustache and had a sword on his hip. He spoke with an angry tone "Go to the him, and once he fully briefs you on everything, you'll be listening to us. don't poke your nose where it doesn't belong."
The woman looked like she was already getting a migraine, and Chase could definitely relate. 'Always the people who are dicks the moment they have an small bit of authority.'
That was common in both worlds. Everyone has them rude managers who make everyone else follow rules to a T while simultaneously making their own loopholes. Even real life police officers on occasion.
They couldn't afford to get into an altercation this early. Piss off the wrong people their identities get exposed. Then someone they definitely can't handle will collect their heads.
"…Suuure" Donny purposely dragged it out, giving the man a funny look.
"YOU—"
"Let it go" The lady said, uninterested in where the conversation was going.
She then turned to look at them.
"Get briefed by your employer and then hurry back."
"Yes ma'am" Donnie said, eager to get this over with. With that the guard left, though the deputy was mumbling under his breath.
They too began walking. Looking for the nicest estate is something they picked up looking for their hirer. Most people don't have the money to put out quests so it was usually easy.
While on the search, Chase was in thought.
'At least one of them has a decent head on their shoulders'