Chapter 426 The Inn Incident [Pt 2]
"Oi, oi, oi… did you see it, though?"
As the nine students walked away from the reception, they couldn't escape the loud noise generated by the conversation of nearby Adventurers.
It was rare to see grown men gushing so much, but that was simply a testament to the exciting topic they were talking about.
"Of course! You weren't there, right?" A bald man, easily the tallest in the group, grinned very widely as he addressed a more lanky man in the group.
"Yeah… I was on a Quest."
The lanky man's flat response made it clear how he regretted his decision to go.
His Quest probably ended up a bust as well.
"The thing was huge, I tell you!" Another person in the group of five exclaimed.
"Right? Insanely huge! That was my first time seeing an A-Tier Monster in my life."
"Can't believe they caught something like that."
"I suppose that's the level of Heroic Rank Adventurers, after all. Commons like us can't begin to compare."
"Dude, speak for yourself. I'm taking the Veteran Test next week, so don't lump me in with the likes of you."
"You said that last month and ended up failing. Pfft!"
"Shut up! This time will be different!"
The students ignored the bald man's reddened face as they walked past the group and made their way up the stairs.
"… Those two were exceptional. It's reassuring to see we have two new Heroic Rank Adventurers."
Adonis, who led the group, halted for a moment after those words echoed out from one of the Adventurers.
However, it wasn't long before he continued ascending.
A few of his classmates noticed his hesitation, but most of them were too tired or engrossed in their own conversations to care.
To them, it wasn't particularly interesting to hear low-ranked Adventurers make small talk.
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A Group Room.
Just as the name implied, it was meant to house more than one person. Of course, depending on capacity, the number of occupiers could range from a measly two to more.
Maximum Capacity meant the room could occupy ten people, so it suited the nine students perfectly.
Well, that was what they initially thought.
But—
"H-hold on… we're actually staying in the same room?" Belle spoke up in shock.
She wasn't the only surprised person, though.
Literally all the students—save Adonis and Eric—looked stunned by what they were witnessing.
They were all expecting a similar arrangement as what they were used to in the Royal Estate, though, of inferior quality: A general parlor, and rooms dedicated to each of them.
That wasn't at all what they ended up getting.
Beds were placed in a tidy row, with more than enough room for a person to fit in the space between each one. Then, there were two study desks at the respective corners of the room.
There were three doors that led to the closet, the bathroom, and hopefully a second bathroom.
Sure, the room was quite massive—especially if they measured it by the standard of an Adventurer—but it didn't hold a candle to what they were used to.
It was, in simple terms, regressively degrading.
"Calm down. It's just for one night." Adonis sighed, gesturing for everyone to settle in. "We'll be going our separate ways tomorrow anyway."
The plan was to be assigned different Parties to join for the Conquest. And so, just as Adonis implied, they were better off managing the shared space for the night.
"I hope none of you snore!" Belle shrieked as she walked in, and while many people sighed and had neutral expressions on their faces, a few hid their guilty looks.
Adonis smiled, shrugging off casually as he proceeded to the door.
"Where are you going?" Alicia asked the moment she observed his attempts to leave the room. "We're supposed to be settling in, right?"
Her amber eyes carefully looked at him as he slightly shrugged.
"Just want to figure a few things out."
"You're going to look for those Adventurers from earlier, right?" She probed even further.
"You got me."
At this point, their conversation had gotten the attention of practically everyone in the room.
"What's the point? You could just find that out tomorrow." Belle said with a whiny voice.
"They're low-ranked Adventurers, right? Even if you want to scout for information, aren't they a bit unreliable?" Trisha added.
A few others gave their two cents, so it fell on Adonis to respond.
"You're taking this a bit too seriously, guys. I'm just curious about what they were talking about. Nothing more than that…" He smiled, slightly raising his hands to show how casual his efforts really were.
"You sure you don't want to go link up with that receptionist?" Justin finally spoke, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
"Broooo! I was literally thinking the same thing!" Clark added.
They both made a high-five and literally had stars in their eyes as they turned to Adonis, shooting him a thumbs up.
"Nice one, man!"
"Urgh, you guys… that's creepy." Alicia sighed as she shook her head. "She's like twice our age."
"EVEN BETTER!" Justin raised his voice, but was quickly met with a jab from Trisha.
"You guys are gross…"
"Guys? What did the rest of us do?" Billy and Eric practically said the same thing, their voices overlapping each other.
All through this, the only non-human in the room—the rabbit—
was already fast asleep on her bed.
Adonis watched his classmates through all this and gave a nervous smile throughout.
Perhaps it really was for the best that they split up.
"Anyway, it's fine. I wasn't stopping you from going or anything." Alicia said, finally walking away from Adonis as she approached the bed closest to her Familiar.
"Yeah. Thanks."
"Hey, can I come with?" Eric jumped from his bed and rushed towards Adonis, who pretty much gestured that he didn't mind at all.
"Well, we'll be right back."
The two exited the room, closing the door shut as they returned downstairs.
Both of them had a somewhat similar expression on their faces, which exposed the thought that they shared.
'I hope they've not left yet!'
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[A/N]Chapter 427 The Inn Incident [Pt 3]
"Don't you find it funny that they're complaining about the room?"
As Eric and Adonis made it down the stairs, the boy in glasses brought up the topic while smiling playfully.
"I wonder how they would?react when we finally begin the Conquest and they have to spend a week in the Dungeon." He added, chuckling.
There were no comfy beds or proper furniture in a Dungeon.
No bathrooms either.
"They'll probably have to sleep very close to their Party Members—total strangers. If they're reacting like this to a joint room with people they know… it's hilarious to think about what will happen eventually."
Eric was trying to break the awkward silence between him and Adonis. They had spoken a few times in the past, so he knew Adonis was a cool dude, but something felt off about him this night.
It almost felt like he wasn't really himself.
"You really know your stuff, huh?" Thankfully, Adonis responded back, smiling as warmly as he always did.
Eric laughed a bit nervously as he used his finger to itch a side of his face.
"Yeah. I might have read a few books and played a few games related to fantasy."
"Haha! Is that so? Well… you can't blame our friends for acting this way." Adonis smiled at Eric.
Despite saying that, Adonis' curled-up lips grew broader and he winked at Eric. "Though it will be funny to see their reaction, wouldn't it?"
"Right?"
Both boys laughed as they kept their eyes out for the group of Adventurers that were discussing with one another previously.
Thankfully, the were found without much effort.
"Hello there." Adonis approached them without caution or hesitation, a move that Eric felt a bit nervous about doing.
Despite his curiosity, he wasn't the type to boldly start off conversations with strangers—especially if they were in a group.
He was a tad shy, to be honest.
"Ohh? I haven't seen your face around? New here?"
"Yes. My friends and I just arrived yesterday. We came from the countryside to become Adventurers in search for freedom and fortune."
"Hahaha! Is that so? Well, that's good! Yes, it's good to have dreams!"
The conversation swiftly flowed in that direction, and Eric watched everything play out as smoothly as butter.
'The heck? Do you have some kind of charm superpower or something?' He stared hard at Adonis, his entire face oozing disbelief.
In just a few seconds—not even up to a minute—the boy was already laughing with everyone else in the group. They acted like they had known him forever, and this surprised Eric a little bit.
'I knew he was good, but not this good…'
Adonis had just displayed some next-level charm that pretty much made him an antithesis to socially awkward guys like Eric.
The only reason he started talking out a lot recently was because he had gotten a lot closer to the people around him.
They literally slayed Monsters together, so it wasn't an understatement to say that they were pretty much all friends.
Besides, he considered them Party Members, and knowing the importance of communication in a Party, he decided to be more expressive.
Thanks to that, Eric could say he had gotten relatively close to his classmates.
But—!
'Adonis seems to be closer to these people he just met a minute ago than I am with most of my classmates.'
It was that ridiculous.
"I was passing by and I heard some pretty interesting things you said." Adonis finally brought up the topic he was curious about, causing Eric's ears to perk up so he could pay more attention to the conversation.
"You mentioned two Adventurers becoming Heroic Rank today. What's that all about?"
Eric studied the surprised looks on the faces of the Adventurers they were speaking to.
"You really don't know?" One of them asked with a particularly exaggerated raised brow.
"W-well, my friends just arrived this night. I missed the whole thing, but I've been seeing how lively everyone is since I got here." Adonis itched his head and laughed warmly.
"Is it always this lively at night?"
They shook their head and smiled—perhaps at Adonis' ignorance, or his feigned naiveté. Either way, he had baited them, and now they were more than willing to spill.
"Well, I don't know all the details, but apparently… these two Adventurers—Jet and Lux—came here today."
"D-did you just say Jet and Lux?"
"Y-yes. Do you know them?" The Adventurers asked with raised brows.
"N-no… not really. Just heard of them a little." Adonis murmured. "Forgive my interruption. Please continue."
The Adventurers nodded their heads and proceeded with their words.
They explained what they heard about concerning what happened the previous day; with Jet and Lux proceeding to the Adventurers Guild upon arriving in the City.
They went on about how they requested to take on the Test of the highest order—that is, the Heroic Rank Test.
Then, how they defeated Sango, one of the strongest Adventurers in the City.
The main gist happened earlier in the current day, though, when the two Adventurers returned with their examiner with a captured A-Tier Monster, as well as sacks filled to the brim with unknown treasures.
It was crazy listening to them speak. Some of their words were vague and confused at best, and a few times they would make mistakes in the narration, only to be corrected by a fellow.
Needless to say, the information they provided was very flowed.
'Trisha was right…' Eric sighed to himself. 'These guys are too low-ranked.'
They probably heard secondhand—perhaps even thirdhand—
accounts of what happened and were passing it off as if they saw everything with their very eyes.
This, of course, was so they could look important and propped-
up in the eyes of a newbie, but Eric personally thought it was pathetic.
'We should have waited to talk to a more reliable person.'
"I see. Thank you." Adonis bowed his head in appreciation as he graced everyone with his brilliant smile.
"I have to be on my way now. See you all later."
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