I think I want to balance my [Agility] and my [Perception] to 12, all monsters that I’ve come across are rather dangerous… I’ve got to strike them first before they strike me, so I think raising those two stats will give me a better reaction time and detection if there’s any monster nearby. I almost got gnawed by the vampire wolves if I didn’t take notice of them earlier with my [Sharp Hearing].
And for the remaining points… I’ll put it into [Strength], being speedy, and having acute perception is great, but I am so weak in terms of power… with this, I can hopefully deal more damage, I don’t want the same thing happened when I failed to strike the goblin… for [Defense]… I don’t feel like raising it for now… I might regret this, but I’ll have to put my faith in my [Agility] and [Perception]…
That should do it…
Out of curiosity, I looked back at the Great Wolf.
The Great Wolf… Liam said that this variant one is C+ rank… can I [Absorb] it..? I doubt that this will work, but what if…
I then got up and slowly approached the dead wolf, then I put my hand on the wolf’s belly.
『Absorb』
DING
[Absorb] – Activate
Wh- What?! It worked?! Look at all this stuff that I absorbed… I got a [Spell] and [Magic] stats from it as well!
I eagerly pressed all of the [?] that I received.
Amazing… the passive skills are very nice, what more, I have my first [Spell] just from this Great Wolf variant… I really thought that I’d get nothing out of this…
“UGH! It’s finally done! What a workout!”
I saw Liam working out a sweat as he sat on the ground with bags filled with giant fangs around him.
“Y- You’re done?” I asked as I quickly took my hand off the wolf’s belly.
“Thankfully… man, I really should buy a better hunting knife… my muscles are all sore…”
“…”
That was close…it doesn’t seem like he saw me…
“*sigh*… I think all work is done here… what about you, man?”
“Well… I only needed the green herbs, so I think mine is done, too…”
“Great! Let’s head back. It’s already afternoon, the more we stay the more danger will head our way.” Liam said as he stood up and carries all of the fang-filled bags
“Let’s…”
…
Are all quests like this..? what an exhausting day it has been…
“*Chuckle*, what a wild, first quest, huh?” Liam said with a big smile on his face.
“Yeah… never have I thought that I’d get chased by a monster that large and terrifying…”
I really don’t know what my fate will be if Liam wasn’t around…
“Well, that is the adventurer’s life… filled with unexpected thrill and challenges… you really can’t tell if a quest is going to go wrong or not, even if the quest sounds relaxing and non-lethal.”
The adventurer’s life, huh… I became an adventurer just because I want to spread my name, hoping that Mika would find me… in the town…
“But… it’s not that bad if you do quests together with a friend or a party, right?” Liam said as he looks at me with a bright and genuine smile on his face.
“…”
Friend… a person like me..? is it truly fine, though…
Tears started to surface on my eyes, confused by my conflicted feelings, I tried really hard to hold it back and wiped it as soon as Liam looked away.
“Oh, yeah. I think you can rise to an E rank, man.”
“What..?”
“The way you use that weird magic to knock down the wolf was amazing! Not to mention a variant of a Great Wolf! I think that you’re already qualified to take the rank raising test.”
Test..? I don’t remember any tests… didn’t that receptionist said that I have to do a couple of quests to raise my rank..?
“Didn’t I have to complete quests if I want to raise my rank, Liam..?
“What? You don’t know? Hmm… maybe the person that informs you didn’t want to tell you that you can raise your rank through your power, too.”
“Through my power..?”
“So, think of it as a fast way to climb up the ranks. You’ll face several obstacles and they’ll also measure your overall abilities. Each rank has different methods of tests, but the test for F rank is not that hard.”
That’s valuable information… I could take monster killing quests, [Absorb] their skills if possible, level up, spend my stat points, and also get paid… with that, I can be stronger and able to climb the ranks faster by taking the test!
We walked and finally out of the forest, the sight of Lissen is seen by the cliff, looking mighty gorgeous even in the afternoon, orange skies with the sun about to set.
“Such a gorgeous town… no matter how many times I’ve ever seen it from here, I still felt like this is my first time seeing it…” Liam said as he looks at the town in awe and amazement.
“…”
I still can’t forget the moment I first saw the town from the cliffs for the first time… with Bella… and sightseeing on the top of a building… with her…
“Come on, let’s move… huh, dude?”
She will depart tomorrow morning, huh…
“Hellooo! Are you daydreaming?” Liam asked curiously as he gets in front of my face and snapped me out of my thoughts.
“I- I was just dazed… it’s like… I can look at the town for a while…”
Why did I suddenly remember her…
“Yeah, me too… if only I’m not carrying all of these heavy fangs though…” Liam said as his arms shivers, trying hard to hold all the weight of the fangs.
“Oh, umm… right… sorry…”
“What are you even sorry for, man, come on. But, it would be awesome if we move… like, immediately…” Liam said with an awkward smile on his face.
“R- Right!”
…
We then arrived at the front of the town’s gate, luckily, the line is not that long.
“ID, please.” Said one of the guards who are on inspecting duty.
Liam rummages around his pockets and gave his ID card to the guard. I too reached my bag and took out my ID card.
“Okay, you can go in. Next.” Said the guard as he gave Liams’s ID card back, then asked for mine.
So, this is the function of an ID card..? I’m sure it has many more functions, bu-
“HEY! YOU!” Shouts a guard that sat on a chair beside the inspection gate.
“Wha-!” I quickly looked at the source of the shout, and I saw a familiar-looking guard, slowly approaching me.
That face… wasn’t he the one that apprehended me?! Hans was his name, right..? shoot! I have to take Garren’s Medal out before he turned the guards on me!
I quickly reached into my bag again, searching for Garren’s Medal of honor as Hans approach me.
“Aren’t you the suspicious one with no ID? You managed to escape, huh! Apprehend him!” Hans shouts to the other guards as he points at me.
“H- Huh?! Hans, is that right? But he has an ID…” Said the guard who is inspecting my ID with a confused look on his face.
“Bah! That is probably a fake one! Quickly, before he escapes again!”
The other guards then became wary of me.
Come on… where’s the medal…
I felt the medal in my hand, then I pull it out and showed it to the guards and in front of Hans’s face.
Here it is!
“I- IMPOSSIBLE!” Hans shouts in disbelief with a terrified look on his face as he steps back and shivers.
“T- That emblem! That is Captain Garren’s Medal of Honor! M- My sincerest apology! I didn’t know you are trusted by Captain Garren!” Said the guard who checked my ID with a shock on his face as he bows to me.
The other guards that wary of me was in shock too and immediately lowered their weapons and bow to me.
H- Huh?! I didn’t expect this to happen, why are they bowing to me?!
Clap Clap Clap
Sounds of slow clapping were heard from the town’s gate. I looked towards the clapping and I saw Khan and Hendrick, slowly clapping and walking towards us.
“Hans, Hans, Hans… we heard it all.” Hendrick said with both of his arms crossed, followed by a sharp, cold stare towards the shocked Hans.
“Not only did you blatantly accuse of someone again, but you also disrespect a person that Captain Garren trust?” Khan said as he looks down on Hans with a face of despise.
“No… I…” Hans said with a distressed look on his face.
“It’s about time that you undergo the trial for all the wild accusation you’ve done,” Hendrik said, angered than before.
“Let’s hear what the Captain has to say about this. Guards, capture him!” Khan shouts as he points his finger to Hans.
“N- No! you’re mistaken! I didn’t mean to accuse him!”
“Save all of your excuses for the captain. Send him to the captain’s office dan tell the captain about this.” Khan said with a merciless and unforgiving look on his face.
The other guards then surround Hans and took him away.
“H- Here is your ID card back, adventurer sir! I hope you’ll forgive me for my clumsiness!” Said the guard as he bows to me for a second time with a terrified look on his face.
“R- Raise your head, please! T- Truly, you’ve done nothing wrong to me!” I said in a panic as I put my ID card back in my backpack.
“Thank you very much, sir! May you be blessed by the gods!”
The guard did a last show of respect, then went back to his post.
I didn’t know Garren’s medal could have a huge effect like this…
“Good afternoon, Dian!” Hendrick said with a satisfied and happy look on his face.
“A- ah… Hendrick, Khan… good afternoon.”
“Never have I thought that you’re the one that Garren’s trust!” Khan said with a joyous and curious look on his face.
“Y- Yeah… me either…”
Garren said that he is a former guard in this town… I didn’t know he was also a Captain here… truly mind-boggling…
“As much as we want to know how you come to know Sir Garren, we’re sadly too busy right now…” Khan said with a disappointed look on his face.
“Yes, we were just strolling around the town’s gate and coincidentally overhear that lowly guard shout. We finally able to catch him red-handed this time, he’s done this from the moment he became this town’s guard.” Hendrick said with a pleased look on his face.
He’s done this since he became a guard..? how could he do such a thing…
“Let’s go, Hendrick. We’ve got more work to do.”
“Ah, yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you again, Dian.”
Khan and Hendrick continue their way back into town and waved their hands to me as they went back to the city.
Khan, Hendrick… they’re nice people… wait… where’s Liam?
I quickly take a look around and saw Liam by the town’s gate, looking rather annoyed as he looks down and biting his nails. I then approach Liam and he noticed me, quickly lowers down his hand, and smiled at me.
“Liam..? are you okay..?”
“It’s nothing! I was just… having some thoughts…” Liam said with his usual look on his face.
“Really..? what kind?”
It's weird that Liam puts a face like that… is he okay..?
“Yeah, yeah. It’s nothing to worry about, man! Now let’s go and complete our quests, shall we!” Liam said with an eager and pumped look on his face.
“Okay..?”
I wonder what he was thinking that he looked angry like that… guess I shouldn't pry further.
After the whole incident at the gate, we both continued our walk back to the Adventurer’s Guild. As we walk back, I could see that the different races of residents in this town are still so vibrant and peaceful.
It’s still lively even in the afternoon… I wonder, how are things back on earth… mom… how is she..? I really hope she is alright there.
“Fiiiiinaly! We’ve arrived at last!” Liam said with a relieved look on his face.
I then looked in front of me and we’ve arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild, with fewer adventurers than it is in the daytime.
I feel like the number of adventurers seems a lot less compared to when I first enter the guild… did a lot of them participated in the monster raid in Ralaph..?
“Thankfully, we’re not too late! Adventurers tend to fill this place around the afternoon after they finish their quests. It helps too that some of the top adventurers participated in the raid. Let’s go in!”
We both then enter the Guild and I could see a lot of adventurers forming lines in front of the reception desks.
“Okay, man, now you look for a reception desk that has the least line of people you could find, I’ll find mine and you find yours, let’s meet outside of the Guild when we’re done completing our quests, okay!” Liam said as he scurries and looks for a reception desk, then he disappeared out of my sights amongst the other adventurers.
T- That was fast… well, he said to look for the least line, but…
I looked around the reception desks and I found one that has the least people in line, I quickly enter the line and wait for my turn.
Well, this one looks like the least one… I think..? actually, all the lines almost looked the same, I wasn’t exactly sure… man, Adventurer’s Guild in the afternoon is so jam-packed…
After 2 minutes of waiting, the line is slowly progressing with me still in the backlines.
*sigh*… this will take a while… I might as well analyze the earlier combat… fighting those wolves… the vampire wolves that we fought are not that hard… they can hide exceptionally well, back then, my [Perception] even have a pretty hard time to locate the wolves’ location, thankfully I have [Sharp Hearing] that picked up their snarls from the bushes… if not, I’d have been heavily injured from their surprise attack, if not… dead… given my low [Defense] stats, it’s scary to think about what would happen to me if I didn’t detect them… I killed one of them out of luck, too… stabbing it in the heart when it jumped on me.
And that Great Wolf… Liam said that the one we fought back then was a variant..? a mutation that happened when a monster evolved… if my thinking is correct, and the fact that the monsters’ numbers greatly increased because of the rumor that the Demon King has resurrected, won’t there be a lot of those variants..? I… the situation is a lot worse than I thought…
“Come on! Go out with me, I beg of you!” Said an old adventurer in front of me, sounding rather desperate.
“No way! Say that again and I’ll have to call the guards!” Said the receptionist, sounding annoyed.
That voice… wait… is it-
The adventurer in front of me finishes his quest with a dejected and sad look. When he got out of the line, I saw the same, rabbit-eared receptionist that teased me earlier, looking annoyed at the Adventurer in front of me.
Wh- What?! I was in her line this whole time?!
Kira then noticed me and she turned from looking pretty annoyed with her ears backward to pleased and lascivious looking with her ears perks up and shakes wildly.
“Ah! You’re back, my sweetheart~!” Kira said as she slouched and puts both of her hands on the desk, looking rather excited with a cute smile on her face.
“PPFT-“
S- S- Sweatheart?!
“W- W- What are you talking about?!”
“*giggle*… it’s really fun teasing you.”
This receptionist… her behavior is the exact opposite of the other one…
I felt the sharp and jealous gaze from all around me.
Eep… I think I’ll become a live target here…
“Come here, don’t be shy~! Let sister Kira take really good care of you, okay?” Kira said with a sweet smile and a seducing look on her face.
“O- okay..?” I said, then I nervously walked closer, couldn’t look her in the eyes.
“*giggle*…” She lets out a sweet and gentle giggle as I nervously untie the herbs that I tied to the side of my belt.
“So, do you want to go out with me, or finish a quest, hmm~?” Kira said as she leans forward, puts her elbow on the desk, and rests her jaw on her hands, looking at me with intent.
“Wh- I want to finish a quest!” I said as I put the bag of green herbs on the desk.
“*sigh*… I was hoping that you would choose the first one... I don’t mind, you know?” Kira said with a disappointed look on her face.
“N- No thanks!”
She is dangerous… I didn’t know there would be this kind of receptionist in this town’s guild…
“Okay… so, this is your quest, right?” Kira asked as she pulls out a quest and showed it to me.
“Yes…”
Kira started to inspect the leather bag filled with green herbs, then she puts a surprised and a face full of amazement.
“T- That’s a lot! You gathered all of this yourself???”
“Well, with a friend watching my back…”
“Other adventurers refused to take this quest in this season because the only growing herbs around this town are in the deep parts of the Hickory Forest. That place is littered with dangerous monsters and you and your friend managed to get this much?! … how brave… oh, Dian! I think I may have fallen for you even more… ♥♥♥”
“I- umm…”
The sharp and jealous stares around me get even scarier as I felt dreadful auras filled with killing intent from the male adventurers.
EEK! She even blurted it out loudly… will I even survive another minute in here?!
“Haa…♥ o- oh yeah! I almost forgot!” Kira said as she snaps back and pulls out a weighing scale-like object from under the desk and put the bag on top of the scale.
She is honestly too much… I can’t even look at her in the eyes for half a second…
“Mmm… judging from the weight and the bonus for herb gathering this season and clearing the emergency quest with more than necessary retrieval… it’ll be three silver coins, hurray!” Kira said with a happy expression on her face.
“T- Three silver coins?!”
I- I thought I’d get copper or iron coins based on the rank of the quest, but three silver coins?! I- I’m speechless… she did say that there are bonuses when she speculates about the payment… honestly…
Kira then stamped the quest and gave me three silver coins.
“Congratulations on your completed first quest, Dian! I want to hug you so much for your celebration, but sadly, physical contacts with adventurers are strictly forbidden for us.” Kira said eagerly.
“Ahahaha…”
I don’t understand… what does she see in a person like me..?
“You must be exhausted after all you’ve gone through, right? You’d better take a rest after you exit the building! Or… do you want to take a rest with me, hmm~?”
“N- No! thank you for everything! I- I think I’ll head out!” I said as I stutter, then I quickly ran towards the exit, through the auras of jealousy that filled the guild.
*gulp*… K- Kira… I think I should pick a safer receptionist next time… I don’t know if I’m able to withstand another encounter with her…
I looked around me and the day already turned night, with street lamps turned on and fewer people outside.
Huh… it’s already dark outside… I didn’t know I waited that long in the line…
“Yo, man!” Liam said as he comes out of the guild moment after.
“Ah, Liam…”
“I just finished trading everything. Here, your share, man.” Liam said as he hands me 10 iron coins and 7 copper coins.
“Wha- Liam, what is this?!”
“Huh? We did a quest together, of course, I’d share for your help back then.” Liam said with a confused look on his face.
Liam… he shared his hard-earned money with me..? but why? If that’s so, then I’d have to-
“Liam, here, take my share, too!” I said as I try handing him a silver coin and 5 iron coins.
“What??? Hey, man! You don’t have to share anything with me! You saved my life back then… plus, I’d feel bad to take anything from an F rank…”
“B- But…”
“Come on, man! You need it more than I do, I don't-“
Liam cut his sentence in the middle as he looks at a certain direction with a serious and expressionless face.
“Ermm… Liam..?”
“I’ve got to go. Keep the coins, Dian. See you later.” Liam said as he ran off in a hurry, not taking the coins that I want to share with him.
“L- Liam?! Wai-“
What’s up with him..? I really feel bad about receiving these coins… should I give it back to him tomorrow..? it’s already dark out, I should go back to the Inn…
