"Let me introduce ourselves. My name is Peter Mauk, leader of Sword of Darkness."
He nodded his head in acknowledgment at the smiling blonde in front of him.
Peter then turned toward his left while pointing his thumb toward the person beside him, where another blonde sat with an easygoing smile.
"This is our eye and ear, Lukrut Volve."
"Yoo."
Lukrut raised his right hand in greeting toward him and then turned his head to his right side while winking his left eye.
He glanced toward his right, where he saw Nabe's face scrunched up in disgust, looking at Lukrut like she was seeing an insect.
Peter then looked to the left side of Lukrut and opened his palm toward the youngest of the team, who seemed to be their magic caster.
"And this is the brain of the team, Ninya the Spell Master."
"Hello, nice to meet you."
Ninya smiled politely and bowed his head toward him. His brow then furrowed while turning his head at Peter.
"Peter, can you not call me that? It's embarrassing."
"Why? What's wrong with it?"
"He have a title?"
He asked casually, and Lukrut immediately chimed in to provide an answer while leaning his body toward him with a wide grin.
"He's a genius, you see! He has talent!"
"Talent, huh? Do you mind telling me?"
His interest piqued upon hearing Ninya had talent.
Based on the information he got, talent is a power native to this world, where it can appear in someone out of two hundred people.
This power can range from something as useless as knowing how much salt is in their hand to something useful like enhancing the power of their summon.
He wondered if he could take that power for himself so he could use it to strengthen Nazarick.
"It's nothing much; my talent can cut the time it takes to learn a spell in half."
"It's still amazing, you know? Considering you are as talented as a caster."
"Thank you, Peter, but still, there is someone who is better suited for my title."
"Master Nfirea, right?"
"Yes."
The last member who had not yet introduced himself nodded his head in understanding; meanwhile, he felt confused about who they were talking about.
"Who is he?"
The atmosphere suddenly changed when he asked that as the four of them looked at him in bafflement; he suddenly felt himself self-conscious about his lack of general knowledge.
"You don't know about him? You must have come from far away."
"Man, there is still someone who doesn't know about him, huh? He is famous as the best alchemist, you know?"
"Hoh, the best alchemist, you say?"
He curiously asked and felt interested when Lukrut mentioned the best alchemist.
With the impossibility of acquiring more resources from Yggdrasil, he needed to think about a way to resupply their stock of potions; otherwise, sooner or later, it was going to be used up.
He thought about getting this world's alchemist to work for him, and if there was someone being called the best alchemist, maybe he could recruit that person.
It's a pity there is no one in Nazarick with the alchemist job; if there were, he would make them learn this world's method to make potions and conduct research on their own.
"His full name is Nfirea Bareare; he is a genius alchemist and a 4th tier magic caster. Not only can he make high-quality potions that last for several years, but he can also make strong golems," Ninya said wishfully.
"Not only that, he also invented a new potion that can change the battlefield," Peter added.
"Yeah, from what the rumor I heard, it apparently can strengthen or heal thousands of soldiers, and with the stronger potion, up to ten thousand," Lukrut said in awe.
"It's the reason why the Re-Estize Kingdom was able to push back the Baharuth Empire two years ago, though their advantage is gone now that Baharuth has also begun buying potions from Master Nfirea," Peter said with a wry smile.
As the conversation continued to flow on, he couldn't help but furrow his illusory face after hearing about potions that last for several years from Ninya.
That meant potions here have an expiration date. As far as he knew, Yggdrasil potions could last forever, but just in case, he would order Albedo to check it.
"Lord Momon, it seems this human alchemist can be of use to you."
"You think so too, huh?"
"Yes."
Even Nabe, who despises human, finds Nfirea useful after hearing about his potion, although he wants to scold her for using "Lord" to refer to him even when she whispers it. However, he holds it back for now as the new potion interests him more.
"That rather powerful potion, can you tell me more about it?"
"Sure."
Peter said with a smile as he explained the new potion to him.
After listening to his explanation for several minutes, he nodded his head in understanding. He thought that the potion is more fit to be called a weapon of war with the way it can affect the whole army.
"I see, so the usage of this Splash Potion is like casting magic on the whole army."
"That's right! Isn't that amazing!? You can almost guarantee to win if the opponent doesn't have any!" Lukrut replied with a wide grin.
"But it really is expensive and not to mention it takes a long time to make. Well, it's not like we have anything to do with it though," Ninya lightly said while shrugging.
"Mmph, from what I heard, their prices begin at two hundred gold coins. It's not a sum of money an individual can casually spend, even if it's the adamantite adventurer, and the only ones who can buy the potion are either nations or big companies," the last member, who has not yet introduced himself, said while rubbing his beard.
"Its only use is for the army after all; we ordinary people don't have any use for it," Peter said wryly.
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, imagining using the Splash Potion on his undead army, but instead of a lower-tier potion, he used a higher tier from 7th to 10th tier potions; he would have been unbeatable.
As he got out of his unrealistic fantasy, he saw the Sword of Darkness still talking to each other. He felt it getting off-topic and he made a cough to interrupt them.
"Ahem! Can you introduce your last member?"
"Ah! Yes, I am sorry, this is our druid Dyne Woodwonder. If you have questions regarding plants, you can ask him."
"Hello, nice to meet you."
Dyne simply smiled good-naturedly toward him as he nodded his head in acknowledgment.
"It's our turn, huh? My name is Momon. As you can see, I am a warrior, and she is Nabe, the caster. I hope we can work together."
"Likewise."
Peter reached out his right hand toward him as he grabbed it with his own and shook his hand with a smile.
We then talked about our jobs and the details surrounding them for several minutes, with occasional banter between Lukrut and Nabe, before we finalized our deal.
"Alright, with that decided, we should prepare ourselves."
The Sword of Darkness nodded their heads in agreement after hearing from their leader, and they rose from their chairs to get out of the room while he and Nabe followed them from behind.
"Hmm? Did something happen?"
As they descend toward the first floor, he can see a large crowd of adventurers surrounding the reception.
It seems the Sword of Darkness also doesn't know what happened as they look at the crowd with puzzled expressions.
He then sees the receptionist get out of the crowd and hurriedly come toward them and say, "Momon! You have a personal request!"
There is a buzz when the receptionist says that, as adventurers look at him curiously, while the Sword of Darkness also looks surprised.
He suppose being given a personal request is a big deal.
"By who?"
"By me."
The crowd of adventurers immediately silenced when the clear-sounding voice echoes in the guild hall as they part ways to make a path for the person to walk.
He looks at the source of the voice, which seems to be a good-looking young man wearing a hooded white jacket and jeans.
Although what grabs his attention is something in his ear, which seems to be an earphone.
He has never seen anyone wearing any modern equipment in this world, and he looks at him with suspicion.
"Hello, my name is Nfirea Bareare, can you—"
He raised his right hand to stop him. While ignoring his pouting cheek, he said, "I am sorry, I already have a job; I can't accept your request right now."
There was an uproar among adventurers when he said that, but the most shocked one was actually the Sword of Darkness.
"Why are you rejecting him, Momon!? It's Master Nfirea who is requesting you!"
"Well, shouldn't you prioritize the job you already have?"
Although it is a pity to reject Nfirea and lose the chance to have connection with him, the purpose he came here for in the first place is to raise his reputation.
By rejecting someone's request when he already has a job, it should give him an image of integrity.
"But what we are doing can't be called a job, and we can't pay you if we don't encounter monsters."
Hearing Peter's logical argument, he thought to himself for a moment before he said something.
"How about this, Peter? I have yet to hear Mr. Nfirea's request, so we should hear him first before we decide on something."
"That's alright with me."
"And the Sword of Darkness can come with us."
"Huh? You want us in your meeting?"
"Yes, as a concerned party, your input is important. Mr. Nfirea, you don't mind, right?"
He turned his head toward Nfirea after talking with Peter, and he saw he casually shrugged his shoulders while nodding his head in agreement.
"Alright, let's go back."
After everyone agreed on his plan, we went back to the previous room, followed by Nfirea.
He and Nabe sat in their previous chairs while the Sword of Darkness also did the same. As for Nfirea, he sat at the end of the table between him and Peter.
"Let me introduce myself again. My name is Nfirea Bareare, and as you all probably know, I am an alchemist."
Nfirea said with a confident smile, while he could see the Sword of Darkness shifting around in their chairs nervously.
"Without further ado, I want to give a request to Momon to escort me to Carne Village."
Nfirea said simply while staring at him; there is something in his gaze that he can't quite explain, and it is making him uncomfortable.
"U-Um."
From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Ninya raising his hand toward Nfirea nervously.
"Yes?"
"Why do you need a guard? Aren't Master Nfirea strong enough on your own?"
Nfirea let out a sigh while shaking his head tiredly and said,
"There are a lot of people that want my head, and if I am not careful, even I am going to be dead. Currently, my subordinate is busy fetching something for me, and I need someone to substitute for her, and that led me to Momon."
After Nfirea said that, the Sword of Darkness turned their heads toward him with questioning look.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Why me? I only just came to this city, and I don't have any friends here."
He furrowed his nonexistent brow while watching Nfirea suspiciously; he didn't remember ever introducing himself to the alchemist.
"Well, there are a lot of reasons, but first, I want to hire you because of the potion you gave to the woman you met in the bar. I want to talk to you about that."
Hearing that, he felt confused; it's just some minor potion. He pretty sure the effect is akin to 3rd tier magic; there is nothing impressive about it.
"The second reason is that I heard from that woman that you can throw someone with one hand, so I want to check how strong you are and whether I can hire you. But it seems you exceed my expectations; I can sense that you are even stronger than me," Nfirea said while letting out a chuckle.
"Stronger than Master Nfirea!? Isn't that adamantite!?" Peter said while looking at him with bewilderment.
"That is amazing!" Nfirea said with a smile.
"So those armors aren't decoration, huh? I guess it makes sense now why Nabe follows you," Lukrut murmured a bit depressed.
"Beautiful women are always attracted to strong men, after all," Dyne nodded his head in understanding.
He just sighed upon hearing Sword of Darkness's reaction and gestured to Nfirea with his chin to continue his explanation.
"And the third is, because you are still a new adventurer, it's going to be cheap to hire you."
Nfirea grinned toward him as if he had found a deal, and he smiled wryly at that while nodding his head in understanding after hearing all his reasons.
"So how about it? Although I will not pay you like adamantite, I can pay you like mithril or orichalcum."
After thinking about it for a moment, he reached his right hand toward Nfirea.
"Alright, I take it."
"Deal!"
Nfirea grabbed his hand with a smile. We then discussed the request further along with Sword of Darkness before we got out of the meeting room to prepare for our journey.