Serlandul hesitated for a moment but ultimately did not voice the confusion weighing on his mind.
After all, the two were not yet official teammates, and it was a grave taboo to recklessly pry into each other’s strength.
But waiting idly was boring.
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
After a brief greeting, Aria chose a chair close to Gauss and quietly moved it closer to him, sending a questioning look.
Gauss quickly introduced.
“This is Serlandul, a half-snake adventurer and professional priest. Aria, you should know him well.”
“Serlandul, this is my companion, Aria, a professional druid.”
The two nodded respectfully to each other.
After the brief introductions, Gauss immediately got to the point.
“Serlandul, what do you think about joining our team, Aria?”
Upon hearing this, Aria’s face showed the same surprise she had when Gauss first mentioned the request.
Joining the team?
Priests and clerics like that were highly sought after in many teams.
During the months she had adventured with Gauss, they had indeed received requests from strangers to join their team, but after several screenings, they hadn’t recruited anyone suitable.
Most applicants were level 1 warriors or level 1 rangers.
Never had a priest actively sought to join.
Why?
Firstly, compared to warriors, rangers, and rogues, priests are relatively few, and many have no desire to become adventurers.
They mostly work in churches, temples, monasteries, hospitals, and similar institutions. Only a few priests with a natural adventurous spirit are willing to endure hardships outside.
Therefore, priests, especially senior priests, are often highly sought-after talents.
Though tribal priests like Serlandul’s half-snake clan have a narrower employment scope than priests, it is easy for a level 3 professional priest to join a team mainly composed of level 4 or 5 professionals.
But what about the two of them? Despite Aria’s impending level 2 advancement and Gauss’s strength surpassing ordinary level 2 spellcasters, their team was hardly prestigious.
Even in Grayrock Town, they didn’t rank, and in the talent-rich Barry City, they barely made a ripple.
For Serlandul to want to join them was more like a favor.
Moreover, he had helped them before.
This was a good thing!
Aria turned to Gauss.
“I have no objection. You decide.”
In the end, as usual, she left the final decision to Gauss.
“Then...”
Under Serlandul’s watchful gaze, Gauss nodded firmly.
“Welcome to the team, Serlandul!”
He extended his hand, officially welcoming the third member to Gauss’s team.
Serlandul breathed a sigh of relief and smiled brightly, shaking Gauss’s hand.
“Hello, Captain.”
“Just call me Gauss.” Gauss waved his hand.
Though nominally the captain, he was not domineering or bossy.
Many important decisions were actually discussed with the other member, Aria, and now there might be a third.
He disliked putting on a captain’s airs.
“That’s just my personal habit, Captain.” Serlandul nodded.
Seeing he did not insist on the title, Gauss let it go.
After all, it was just a form of address.
Looking at the two teammates beside him, Gauss smiled.
With three people, they finally looked like a proper adventuring team.
Though most adventuring teams maintained 4-5 members, many small teams had only three.
Team size wasn’t about more being better; factors like profit sharing and power synergy mattered.
“Let’s find somewhere to eat and celebrate Serlandul joining us.”
Aria instinctively wanted to nod, but as her head lowered, she suddenly remembered something.
“But Gauss, you can only eat light food now. You haven’t passed the doctor’s restrictions yet.”
“Heh... don’t worry. Am I that much of a glutton? You guys order whatever you want. I’ll just eat some light stuff.” Gauss smiled awkwardly.
The two walked ahead, and Serlandul watched their easy, natural conversation, feeling a faint, easing smile rise in his heart.
Joining such a fixed team felt quite good.
“Hey, Serlandul.”
Gauss rode his tall, majestic ostrich, Golden Spike, galloping down the main road of the Forest Capital.
Beside him, Serlandul slid along at no slower speed.
“What’s up, Captain?”
Serlandul also used the cantrip message spell to respond, his hoarse voice ringing directly in Gauss’s ear.
“Haven’t you considered buying a mount? It’s very convenient.” Gauss looked at his sliding companion and sincerely suggested.
“No need, Captain. Your ostrich’s endurance and speed don’t match mine. Don’t worry, I’m keeping up easily.”
Serlandul was straightforward.
...
Gauss fell silent for a moment.
Is this the racial advantage of half-snake people?
Still, even if Serlandul was keeping up easily, he worried others might mistakenly think he was abusing his teammate.
Silent and thoughtful.
Two days had passed since Serlandul officially joined the team.
During these two days, Gauss’s body had fully recovered and he was able to resume adventuring activities.
However, Aria was in quiet meditation, busy comprehending nature to break through to level 2 as soon as possible, so since yesterday they had temporarily parted ways.
This meditation would last about a week.
Therefore, Gauss did not plan to delve deep into the Maze this week but intended to take some simple nearby tasks, such as clearing out goblin tribes, as a transition.
But before starting the tasks officially, the information he had asked about finally came back.
“That’s really far, west side of the city...”
Gauss rode Golden Spike, traveling for several hours from the south to the west of the city.
“So this is the Golden Beak Trading Company?”
Gauss dismounted and looked at the vertical plaque on the side of a four-story building, speaking softly.
Observing the surrounding environment, an indescribable complex expression flickered across his usually calm face.
Half a year had already passed...
People always remembered their “firsts” most vividly.
As a newbie, the memory of forming a team with three other rookies might never fade even after many years.
He adjusted his clothes. Today he wore relatively casual attire, not expensive but very proper.
As for Serlandul, he was just tagging along out of boredom to see the place.
Old teammates... what was there to keep in touch about?
Watching the storms and clouds swirl across Gauss’s face, Serlandul shook his head slightly, murmuring to himself.
He could not empathize, for when he was a low-level adventurer, his first team had broken apart violently due to fighting over a silver stash looted from a monster cave.
Perhaps that experience caused him to keep others at a distance throughout his adventuring career.
Gauss took a deep breath and strode into the trading company lobby.
The Golden Beak Trading Company was a small-scale ordinary trading company in the west of Barry City.
Gauss was able to find it from the south purely by using his “cash power” to buy information from an informant.
In this era, there was no map navigation software to pinpoint addresses instantly in a huge city.
Upon entering the lobby, a receptionist came forward.
“Sir, how may I help you?”
Though Gauss considered his attire casual, his outstanding aura and charm were impossible to ignore.
“I’m looking for Hayley. Is she here?” Gauss glanced around.
Except for a few ordinary employees, he saw no familiar faces.
Upon hearing the name of the chairman’s daughter, the receptionist hesitated slightly.
Her service industry instincts vaguely sensed a kind of “upper-class” aura from him.
“May I ask who you are?”
“My name is Gauss. I used to be Hayley’s adventuring teammate. Didn’t she travel to Grayrock Town for a while last year? That’s when we met.”
Noticing the other’s guarded expression, Gauss added more information.
The receptionist thought for a moment.
The information roughly matched.
Last year, Miss Hayley did travel with two other companions for a while, destination Grayrock Town.
But since returning from that trip, she had completely given up on becoming an adventurer, as if she had recognized reality, becoming much steadier, putting down her longbow, and focusing on managing the family business.
“Please wait a moment. I’ll check with Miss Hayley.” She turned and left.
After she left, Serlandul, who had been silently standing nearby, finally spoke.
“Captain, your former teammate’s family is quite well off.”
Though the headquarters was just a four-story building, being located on this busy commercial street indicated a good business.
Of course, it probably couldn’t compare to truly medium or large trading companies.
But heirs of such companies usually wouldn’t become adventurers just to experience life.
While the two whispered quietly, hurried footsteps came from the stairs.
A woman with chestnut curly hair ran down quickly.
Reaching the first floor, her eyes scanned the hall swiftly and locked onto the conspicuous Gauss.
She rubbed her eyes as if reconfirming.
After a long moment, she opened her mouth in disbelief and walked step by step toward Gauss.
“It really is you, Gauss!”
She stood before Gauss, her pale pupils full of surprise.
The figure before her was completely different from the Gauss she remembered.
The Gauss of the past was thin and small.
But now the young man was tall and slender, with an extraordinary presence that exuded calm confidence just by standing there.
As if he were not a visiting stranger but the owner of the place.
If it weren’t for employees notifying her of the name in advance, and the facial features only barely recognizable, she wouldn’t have believed this was her former teammate Gauss.
“You’ve changed so much!”
“Long time no see, Hayley.” Gauss’s lips curled into a gentle smile.