Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

The impact knocked down three of them, and Jori used that chance to stab them to death.

His plan would have worked if not for the new group of monsters that came from his back. Still, even from that distance, Rain covered him, making several earth walls block their path and almost smash the monsters upon contact by falling. Jori turned around when he saw the impacts and opened his eyes widely… he dealt with the monsters in front of him, but he never noticed the ones coming from behind.

He thought that he had grown a bit, but he sighed upon realizing that he still had a long path ahead.

Although things got a bit tense, eventually, the battle ended, and everyone sighed in relief… fighting just after having a meal sure was tough. In any case, they didn\'t drop their guards since more monsters could come.

"... Keep your guards up and let\'s take the heads of the monsters," Jori said. "We will walk East for a while before camping again. Our mission is over… we have a lot to report."

That was a wise decision; the monsters\' behavior was too odd, and they had to spread those pieces of news. Besides, they killed around fifty monsters, which should be enough… the heads should also put everyone in the area on high alert.

"Rain, can you bury the shells somewhere else for us to take it back some other time?" Jori asked.

"No problem," Rain replied.

While Rain was working on burying the shells on a hill that would be easy to find, he realized that Jori was calling him Rain. He didn\'t recall presenting himself as Rain, but his name was quite hard, so it made sense. It felt a bit weird being called like that by a kid who wasn\'t from his family; a bit disrespectful. Still, there was no point in fussing over that.

The job finished rather quickly, but the group didn\'t feel that happy about it. Their teamwork improved a bit, and from now on, they would act more like a real party. However, the situation getting that intense in the country was rather troubling and overshadowed their accomplishments.

In the end, the group only slept for two hours that night and began to move a bit sooner than sunrise because some snow had started to fall in the area. It seemed a bit early in the year for that to happen, but it made everyone move faster toward the capital.

"I wonder if the snow will help us here," Rain thought.

Still, now that Rain thought about it, maybe the job of dealing with the monsters would fall on someone else\'s hands since things were way out of control with their behavior. He was fine with that; he will have more time to train his techniques… Besides, it will take a few weeks to solve the problem, at the very least.

Rain wanted to pay a visit home in the next ten days, that is why he couldn\'t work on that.

"That being said… I wonder if things will be that simple," Rain thought when the group finally could see the capital while the sun was setting the next day.

The group looked quite tired, but they returned to the organization at dinner time while feeling proud of themselves. They also showed the heads of the monsters, and while Karla congratulated and paid them, she left in a hurry after hearing the report.

"All right, let\'s drink to death today to celebrate!" Jori said while smiling from ear to ear.

"Sounds good to me," Reca said.

"I am tired, and I don\'t handle alcohol well," Liss said.

"We also can\'t return home too later, or we will have to rent a room in an inn," Asche said, and Terra nodded.

"You guys are no fun… I suppose Rain can\'t drink yet… so let\'s celebrate tomorrow with lunch," Jori said.

"You guys aren\'t supposed to be drinking either… but I didn\'t study the laws of this country that much," Rain furrowed his eyebrows.

In any case, the group split up after that, and Rain watched them leave the building while waving their hands at each other. It seemed that he did well helping them… they should be able to develop their teamwork after that. Regardless, Rain went to buy some skewers filled with meat as a dinner and then headed to his room.

He had planned to do some training, but as soon as he fell on the bed, he fell asleep as well and only woke up the next day, way after breakfast time.

"I guess I can skip today\'s work…" Rain thought. "I also should inform Lotto of what I learned and buy a weapon."

Fighting in the back all the time was convenient but also pretty boring. Since he also said that he would have lunch with the others, he didn\'t have much time for that… just doing all that all day was no good; he had to train as well.

"Rain, I have a message for you," Karla said when Rain appeared in the lobby of the building, the place was almost empty since most of the members had left to work.

"Yes?" Rain asked.

"Lord Branden invited you and the Blade of the Goddess to have lunch with him at his residence," Karla said.

"Blade of the Goddess?" Rain furrowed his eyebrows.

"You didn\'t know? That is the name of Jori\'s party," Karla said.