Chương 32: 1-31 The final assembly

Josef woke up a good while before sunrise, having had trouble sleeping with the nervousness about the next day keeping him awake. That, and the uncomfortable arrangement of sleeping on the floor with several layers of blankets acting as his bed. If he had known that he was going to end up on the ground, then he would have rather used the cot in the clinic and gotten up a little earlier to reconvene.

Zippa had kindly offered to let the human use his own bed, but Bezzo vehemently prohibited him from doing so, as if he was fighting off some major catastrophe. Would it have been so bad if his older brother had moved over and shared a room with him for a night? Josef could only wonder how bad the older reptile's sleeping habits must be, for him to react so strongly. Maybe he was snoring flames? The mental image brought some light to his dark morning.

Fortunately, he was apparently not the only one who had issues sleeping that night, as the first reptile was soon to join him. Bezzo appeared oddly energetic considering how early it was, though that still put him at a rather low level for a fully awake person.

"Can't sleep either?" He yawned his question, once more wishing there was coffee in this world. Bezzo took his sweet time answering, setting up a kettle to boil some water, a motion that Josef had become uncomfortably familiar with during his stay in Aurum. It was the prelude to making the horrid liquid some would call tea.

"I always rise precisely when I plan to do so, though last night's preparations made for an uncomfortably brief rest." He finally answered with too much sophistication for someone who had just risen from bed. Anyone who could function within minutes of standing up without the aid of coffee was an inexplicable mystery to Josef.

"So about last night…" he tried to initiate a morning conversation.

"Let's not speak about that. Unlike my brother, I'm not interested in your status. All I care about is getting my brother through this mess. I already regret allowing him to sign us up. No matter how many coins were on offer, it's not worth this risk. Unfortunately, everything is always clearer in hindsight." Bezzo sighed after saying his piece, resuming to wait for his tea water.

"Yeah, I get that, and I'm still sorry about that whole mess even existing in the first place. But what I meant was our sleeping arrangements. Why shut your brother down so hard? Should I be concerned about sleeping near him in the dungeon?" He knew this trip was going to last for several days, so if sleeping near Zippa was a hazard, then he wanted to be prepared in advance. Bezzo only gave him a pitying look before returning to his vigil over the kettle.

Boiling water sure could take a while if everything had almost frozen from the nightly cold.

"Pray you never learn. There is no going back after you do, and every day I wish I could go back to ignorance." Josef lightly chuckled at that. Apparently, someone acted melodramatically in the morning. He enjoyed seeing that side of Bezzo, as it made him far more relatable than the facade he was usually showing. Thudding footsteps coming down the hallway announced the last of the trio, as Zippa excitedly stomped his way into the room.

"Morning, Bez. Morning, Jo. Who's ready for some breakfast?" Somehow it didn't surprise Josef that his friend was a morning person, even though every fiber of his body shuddered as he tried to comprehend that eldritch principle. Internally, he was glad to hear his own nickname instead of that strange title people had pushed on him. If Zippa had started to call him 'Drake' with the same enthusiasm as he used his name, then Josef would have had to resort to drastic measures to get his friend back in line.

Like giving him a stern, disappointed look before switching back to calling his full name. He knew doing so would hit the reptile harder than a kick to his nonexistent balls. Grumbling back his own "Morning…", he watched as the brothers worked together to put some food on the table. He had already learned better than to attempt helping them with cooking or setting the table, as they had both rejected him the night before.

Apparently, they were both firm believers that the guest should not lift a finger while being hosted. It was an awkward feeling to just watch them both go about their routine to set up breakfast, but he didn't want to risk another argument. Having Bezzo talk to him like that was fine, but Zippa stopping him with strict words was just outlandish. The two brothers couldn't be more different, but moments like that made it fairly obvious that they truly were family.

Josef found himself looking forward to getting to know them better, as they would spend the next days together. Thinking back to how Cana had acted with her friends, maybe this was how a genuine party was formed, not by some statistical advantage of grouping up certain classes, but by matching people that would fit well together and not jump at each other's throats while under stress. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Or perhaps it was a healthy combination of the two. Josef was nervous as he walked across the Guild's plaza, following his friends to the rendezvous point where adventuring teams were gathering for today's expedition into the dungeon. The amount of people gathered in one place was already enough for his introverted ass to get uncomfortable, and it didn't help that he couldn't hide behind a mask, as that would cause obvious negative attention.

Even Vasaj's token had been placed in his hoard, so as not to draw attention to himself if someone recognized the magical cover-up. No, today he was up and about as he had first arrived, as Josef the summoner, some new guy in town who had just joined as an apprentice to an adventuring group. That's why he couldn't allow himself any slip ups, because right now he had his own face on the line, and he would rather keep it intact.

They arrived not at the guild building itself, but near the official entrance to the dungeon, located on the opposite end of the plaza. It was an imposing gateway several meters in height, with many guards stationed around it. Where one would have expected to see through such an opening, and at least spot the brickwork of the building behind it, this gate led into a yawning darkness.

How people could go about their daily business around such an ominous structure was a mystery to Josef, though people could probably adapt to anything if they lived around it long enough. Even though it was his first time seeing this entrance in person, he could quickly recognize that the current situation was out of the ordinary. After all, he wouldn't expect a large contingent of guards to ordinarily just stand around the entrance and look inwards into the dark, instead of at the people exiting this place.

Confirming their participation was a simple matter of walking up to a booth to the side of the gate, hosting an elderly looking elf with intricate glasses. He wondered how old that man must be to show such signs of age, considering that according to his knowledge, elves could easily reach just shy of a thousand years. Still, if his aged body gave him any trouble, the man didn't show it, as his work was quick and all of his movements precise. Were those glasses even real or just decoration?

All they had to give were their individual names and that of their group. Thankfully, Vasaj hadn't lied about expediting his paperwork, and there was no apparent reaction to his partaking as part of the group. With that, they were directed towards the font of the gate where several other groups had already gathered. What Josef noted first and foremost was how all present groups had had either only elves as members, or none at all.

Their 'Scalesome Brothers' was currently the only party mixed in such a manner, immediately drawing glares from many of the elves present. Apparently, Josef had immediately ousted himself as a pariah to their way of life. Not that he cared what a bunch of bigoted long-noses thought about him, even if he had been one of them. Even so, the immediate whispers that accompanied some less than stealthy looks at him felt deeply uncomfortable.

He hadn't expected the mixed nature of their party to immediately draw that much negative attention. However, any regrets in that regard were futile now, as they had committed to the plan and couldn't turn back now. Not that turning back had ever been an option, as the only path Josef considered was the one forward. Fortunately, as much as people were whispering their mouths dry, no one dared to speak out or confront them, allowing them to settle down quietly somewhere near the edge of the amassing adventurers.

Soon, the newly arriving groups filed in around them, sparing them from further scrutiny from anyone beyond their direct neighbours. Josef wondered if the people working for Vasaj had already arrived at the plaza, or if they planned to enter by different means. At least there were none of the suspiciously colored beastkin around, though he hadn't expected them to arrive looking like that either.

He took his time to shake off his prior discomforts and eventually proceeded to look at the other groups in turn, taking in more details. It was immediately apparent that there was a disparity between the elven groups and the ones containing beastkin and scalefolk. There was not only a separation in space in-between them, as if neither side could stand the stench of the other, but also one in how they appeared.

Where the elves had more or less decent armor, with some even wearing proper plate mail, everyone else was mostly equipped with various amounts of leather armor and cloth. Some scalefolk even came with nothing but a loincloth on them!

Josef knew they didn't necessarily need much armor for a fight, as their scales could be hardened with mana, something he had learned from Zippa, who was one of the more sparingly equipped reptiles himself, but he couldn't help but doubt that this was always by choice, especially for the beastkin that fell into the same category. There was also the matter of weapons, which were almost exclusively found on elves, who, unlike most beastkin and scalefolk, needed them for close combat.

Staffs were also pretty widespread among them, as those could be very useful for a spellcaster if they found one that was both compatible with their affinities and well-made enough to provide a sizable boost to their casting capabilities. Unfortunately for Josef, that also meant that there was little reason for him to go looking for a staff anytime soon, as those for rare affinities were almost impossible to find on the open market and having one crafted was extremely expensive.

Also, it would be difficult to find one that provided an increase to his own mana regeneration or spell efficiency, because, unsurprisingly, heartstones were already extremely efficient by design, making all but the best staffs obsolete. As Josef was pondering their own, under-equipped nature, a tumult caught his attention when a new group came down a nearby street, heading straight for the dungeon entrance.

Around two dozen elves in gleaming silver armor had entered the plaza, the sheer luster of their equipment creating a gross contrast to everyone else currently present. Compared to the new arrivals, all present adventurers appeared as mere paupers. The people of Sanctum had arrived.