Chapter 27: Leather Armor
The adventuring party called Night Owl, aside from its captain Levin, all had somewhat cold attitudes.
After Gauss finished introducing himself, the others each gave their names and their preferred weapon, then fell silent.
Some were shy—like the priestess girl, who stole glances at Gauss, saw the others weren’t speaking, hesitated for a moment, then chose to remain quiet.
Others were likely just naturally aloof.
The cloaked assassin quietly said hello, then kept her head down and resumed cleaning her dagger.
Speaking of which, because the assassin stayed hooded and kept her head lowered, Gauss at first assumed she was male, until she spoke and he realized she was female.
The remaining archer and swordsman were also the taciturn type.
Gauss could understand—after all, you could not expect everyone to be extroverted and cheerful, especially when a stranger suddenly joined the group.
If, as Levin said, this team was “elite,” it was only natural that the others carried a bit of an attitude.
Masters are often like that, right?
Moreover, Gauss was fine with such cool yet non-offensive behavior; if a stranger bombarded him with excessive warmth, he’d feel uneasy instead.
“If there’s no problem, spend the rest of this morning resting on your own, and this afternoon we’ll train together and get acquainted. We’ll meet at the guild entrance.”
“Tomorrow at the bell’s chime, we’ll gather at the town gate and depart for the mission location.”
“We’ll distribute the mission’s rewards based on each person’s contribution.”
“All right, Captain.”
“Then I’ll head back now.”
Levin had barely finished speaking when the cloaked woman waved and turned away.
The others also left after bidding their farewells.
“Don’t take their coldness personally,” Levin said, looking at Gauss, who remained behind.
“If you spend enough time with them, you’ll see—they’re all good people.”
“Of course, that depends on earning their approval.”
Levin laughed heartily.
“I understand,” Gauss nodded.
It was likely that, like Gauss, they saw him as a temporary member—no need to invest much effort in befriending someone who wouldn’t stay long, so better to keep their distance from the start.
“All right, Gauss, come with me to the front desk and register for the mission—I’ll add you to the temporary roster.”
At the Adventurers’ Guild desk, Gauss was registered for the mission and became a temporary addition to the team.
Levin’s Night Owl party was an unranked adventurer team officially registered at the guild.
In fact, anyone who could pay the fee—50 silver coins—could register an adventurer party.
There were many advantages to spending extra to register a team.
First, some clients or missions delegated to the Adventurers’ Guild specifically required a registered party to undertake them.
Since party members typically worked together long-term, their coordination tended to be better than that of ad‑hoc groups, thus yielding stronger combat effectiveness.
Besides, being able to afford the registration fee of 50 silver coins was in itself a demonstration of strength.
So registered parties could accept more missions than freelancers or temporary teams.
Second, just like ranks, adventurer parties could advance.
Registering a party early during the novice stage helped accumulate mission count sooner.
Finally, it was easier to recruit—solo adventurers approached by various teams would naturally prefer the stronger, registered groups.
After finishing registration, Gauss and Levin greeted the desk staff and headed back to prepare their luggage.
This mission’s destination was near Mill Village.
It wasn’t as far from Graystone Town as Birch Village, but still couldn’t be reached in a single day.
Moreover, once they arrived, they would need to rest, gather intel, fight, collect spoils, rest again, then return—a full series of processes.
It would take at least three days to return to Graystone Town.
So essential provisions like dry rations, water flasks, and clothing all had to be purchased in advance and fully packed.
While Gauss was buying basic supplies in town, he thought for a moment and decided to buy a set of leather armor.
In any case, leather armor would need to be bought sooner or later.
Though the price was a bit steep—15 silver coins—its defense was much better than cloth armor, while its lightness and flexibility were about the same.
His old secondhand cloth armor was bought back by the leather shop owner for 50 copper coins.
He had originally bought it for 1 silver coin, and except for the first solo ambush on a goblin, it was only used once in a proper battle, yet its resale value had already plummeted.
Walking out of the shop, Gauss couldn’t help but suspect that the squint-eyed, smiling middle-aged owner would, after a simple cleanup, put the cloth armor back on the shelf and sell it again for 1 silver coin.
Wearing the brand-new leather armor, Gauss looked left and right at the hardened, wax-treated, tanned leather scales—it put him in a good mood.
“Leather armor offers better protection. Against goblins, the risk of injury is significantly reduced.”
He would never admit that a small part of his motivation was the fear that during this afternoon’s group training, if everyone else had well-equipped gear and he was still in his dirty secondhand cloth armor, it would be too embarrassing.
So this set of leather armor was, and had to be, purchased purely for practical reasons.
...
The team’s first joint training session in the afternoon was still held on the open ground outside the town.
Such training usually took place whenever a new member joined.
Even during normal times, slightly stricter captains would organize regular drills.
The nature of this training was somewhat like a basic skill exchange.
A new member’s abilities, skills, role and position in the team, strengths and weaknesses—all had to be shown.
At the same time, other teammates also needed to demonstrate their characteristics to the newcomer.
In other words, the kind of story where someone hides their strength and stuns everyone in actual combat didn’t exist.
That kind of behavior treated the lives of oneself and teammates as a joke.
In actual battle, one couldn’t expect teammates to coordinate correctly without understanding each other’s abilities.
Without coordination, even if you did have some trump card hidden away, you might end up accidentally harming your own teammates.
So training was necessary.
They gathered at the Adventurers’ Guild entrance.
At this moment, the other five had already arrived at the agreed location, all in armor and armed.
Among them, Captain Levin and the swordsman Doyle had the most striking armor.
Both wore black metal light scale armor, with protective layers made of overlapping iron plates arranged like fish scales.
Their limbs were equipped with bracers and greaves, and beneath the scale armor they wore leather coats.
Next to Levin stood a deep brown oak shield, its edge reinforced with metal, exuding a powerful aura.
Kind of cool.
Gauss had to admit—their gear really gave them an edge.
Scale armor hanging on a shop wall and worn on a person had completely different effects.
As for the other three—Archer Oliver, Rogue Meiva, and Priestess Daphne—they wore relatively light leather armor.
But judging from the finish and appearance, even those looked quite a bit more upscale than the brand-new one Gauss had just bought.