"Eeeh!? You're forming a party with Sophia-sama!?" the guild receptionist screamed.
"What are you so surprised about? Didn't I tell you all about my teacher? Well, here she is now, and I'm obviously forming a party with her," Soap nonchalantly explained to the guild staff.
Being in the hero's party before, Soap would obviously be a well-known figure in the capital. All of the guild staff knows her face, and it turns out they were even acquainted with her. The adventurers watching us from the sideline were no different.
"So they're really teaming up?"
"And I'm stuck with a bunch of muscleheads."
"I quit our party, I'll be joining theirs' now."
I can clearly hear the clamor in the hall.
"I-I see... Well then, I'm going to need you to fill up some forms. First of, we'll have to decide the name and rank of your..."
"Ah. There's no need for that. Eria-nee already has a party, so I'll just be joining her."
"Oh. I'm aware she has a party, I simply thought you two would prefer to make a new one..."
Standing alongside Soap and I, Log had completely escaped the eyes of everyone. Even now that our party had been mentioned, the receptionist still wouldn't pay attention to him. It's as if he was invisible to her.
"But that will make things easier for us. You will still have to fill up some forms, Sophia-sama, but Eria should be exempted."
"Heh...?"
"Don't worry, it won't take long."
Soap really wanted to immediately take on a guild quest, so she pouted after hearing that she will have to wait.
That's the Soap I remember... She's spoiled as ever...
As we wait for her, I decided to look at the guild board to look for a difficult quest we could take on in advance.
Right away, I noticed the difference in the contents of the quest posters in Root and here. For some reason, there were a lot of private and personal quests in Rusceah. They pay a lot more too.
The personal quests varie from taking care and bodyguarding a Noble's child, to helping with a researcher's experiments on the human body. Most of them were commonly requested everywhere else, but among them were some weird throwaways you would imagine only weird people would come up with.
After sweeping through a wide spread of posters, I finally found one that fits my criteria. To kill a manticore making a home of an abandoned stone mine. I also found another quest for Log that's near its location. It's a mere goblin hunt, but since it's so close to the home of an rank A monster, no one is taking it.
"Do you think you can do this, Log?" I asked Log.
He read the quest details, and nodded with no hesitation.
Log knows how to read and write now, but I'm still the one who chooses which quest he would take. I would give him a challenging quest from time to time, but I never give him any that would prove impossible with his current stats. With that said, no matter what quest I give him to tackle alone, I would always ask for his confirmation first.
"Is Sophia-nee coming with you, master?" he asked.
"Umu. You know, despite her looks, she's actually as strong as me," I noticed how he was doubting her, so I assured him of her abilities.
While she's not as versatile in overall combat as I am, Soap and I are practically equal in magic. In fact, with her many specific buffs, she's by far the better offensive mage. And with her prowess, she could even reproduce the power of a small atom bomb with the Explosion spell.
"R-Really? As strong as you?"
"It's true. Log, you shouldn't judge someone's strength by their looks."
I decided to take the opportunity to teach him a valuable lesson.
I never underestimate anyone by their looks, but my opponents surely do with mine. As a result, they would always conveniently let their guards down. Their hubris served me many easy wins on a silver platter.
But I understand how Log would misjudge Soap's strength even with his sharp instincts. Similarly to me, she basically put all of her points on charm rather than intimidation. Both of us—none would imagine would be so strong.
"I'm back!" Soap loudly waved at us.