23 8 / 2018

Chapter 8 : 1 Month Later

One month has pa.s.sed since my apt.i.tude test. I’ve been gathering lulu gra.s.s everyday for gathering quest. Lulu gra.s.s is used for creating recovery potions so the gathering request is always available for me to take.

The gra.s.s grows in the forest where Malik-san first found me, I can easily gather it thanks to [Search] magic. It’s part of support magic so I can use it easily.

For every 100 gra.s.s I turn in, I get 5000 elk.

My daily routine goes like this.

In the morning, I go to the guild, take the quest and gather the lulu gra.s.s. When it’s time for lunch, I return to the guild and have lunch with Malik-san and the others. After I finish lunch, I practice my swordsmans.h.i.+p and magic with Malik-san in the training ground.

“I wonder when I will be able to improve my combat magic skill…”

I slump my head down on the counter gloomily. Even though I’ve been practicing everyday, my combat magic doesn’t improve at all. I don’t have any problem with my support magic, in fact Malik-san and the others gave me their stamp of approval for support magic.

But, it’s no use if I can’t defend myself..

If I don’t have any other combat abilities, I can’t take any other request. Aside from gathering lulu gra.s.s, there’s also baggage carrying quest but the weight is too heavy for me so it’s impossible as well.

So, lulu gra.s.s gathering is all I can do.

Seeing I’m being down like this, Tord-san asks me.

“Ren-san, your support magic is good but you won’t be able to do the quest with support magic alone. You need to join party. It’s been a month and you’re pretty popular here. I wonder why you’re still alone?”

“I’ve been asking around but there’s no party that Malik-san approves. That party is not strong enough to protect Ren. That party has ulterior motives, Ren chast.i.ty will be in danger. And so on..”

If I join a party, I can take different variety of quest, my rank will also rise. Malik-san is really strict in which party I choose. I heard there’s some party that requested for me but Malik-san turned them all down.

“Well I agree with Master! Since it’s for Ren-san of course the party has to be a good party! Heck, even if it’s not Ren-san even I wouldn’t allow people to join such suspicious party! Ren-san you don’t have good eyes at reading people!”

“Is that so? I don’t huh.. Well that means I have to keep collecting lulu gra.s.s for now huh..”

Am I that bad at seeing through people’s intention?

I wonder if there’s any simple way to know which one is a good party and which one is not..

But I think all the good party already has support magician in their party anyway.

“Ren-san, not only you’re Master’s son you’re also this guild’s idol you know! Of course we will get protective over you!”

“I-Idol..? Is it because I’m small so you guys treat me like a child..?”

Recently, not only the guild but also the people in the market they seem to recognize me as Malik-san’s son. They also know about my age and they always looks so shocked when they saw me for the first time. Now, some of them would even pat my head! No matter whether they are a woman or a man, they treat me like a kid..

“Ah, what to do.. You’re too clueless..”

“Eh? What? Anyway, I guess I will go take another lulu gra.s.s request tomorrow.”

Tord-san seems to said something about me but his voice was too low. Maybe I’m just imagining it.

“Ah! That’s right! Ren-san have you seen the quest board? There’s new request! Apparently there’s a huge swarm of monster in Calhea Meadow so they requested for ma.s.sive monster subjugation there!”

Monster subjugation?!

Moreover, not just ordinary monster subjugation but there’s heaps of them?!

I thought I had good relations.h.i.+p with Tord-san but does he hates me afterall? Is he trying to push me to my deathbed?!

“Ah.. Tord-san if you truly hates me please say it.. I will stop bothering you if you hate me that much..”

“E-eh? What are you saying Ren-san?? There’s no way in h.e.l.l I would hate you!”

“Really? I thought you were trying to kill me off..”

I guess I was wrong. But still let alone a bunch of monster, I don’t even think I’m able to kill one single monster!

“You see, I don’t know why but every year there will be surging of monster in Calhea Meadow. It’s almost like an annual event.There’s no rank limit for this quest so a lot of people will take this quest. So there will be a lot of party there, it’s going to be safe for you!”

“Really Tord, is that all? You’re bad at explaining things.. Listen, since it’s a huge quest there will be camp near the area where a lot of monster often appear. In the camp,the support magician can offer their a.s.sistance there. Since support magician is rare, most party won’t have one. Your a.s.sistance will be highly requested. You can give your buff magic or recovery magic in the camp for the people that need it. There will be also a group of adventurer guarding the camp so it’s a relatively safe quest to take even for you.”

“Hugo-san!”

Hugo-san suddenly appeared before us and explains things more explicitly for me.

But how do they calculate the quest’s fee? Since there will be a lot of people, it would be hard to determine the partic.i.p.ant’s fee.

“Is that so.. Then I will take the quest. But how do I get my share of quest’s fee?”

“Ah Ren you’ve never take any subjugation quest before so you don’t know huh. For subjugation quest, the monster that you kill will be listed on your guild card. If you kill the monster in a party, the monster will be displayed as party kill too. When you settle the prize in the guild, the list will disappear. As for you Ren, since you will be a.s.sisting people with your support magic, that means your guild card will show how many people you’ve recovered or you’ve given buff to.”

Guild card you’re amazing! To think the guild card is able to track such things!

“Everything listed in the guild card cannot be manipulated in any other way so it can be used as legal prize counting tool. If you partic.i.p.ate in this hunt you might get 20.000 elk!”

“In other words if I slack off, I will get less money but if I work really hard, I will get better prize too! Wow, guild card is so amazing! I can even get 20.000 elk by just partic.i.p.ating in this quest?!”

I want to do it! I really want it ! This will be my first subjugation quest, yay! And it’s relatively safe too! I wonder such good and easy quest like this will be alright as my first subjugation experience?

“It will take you 3 days by foot to reach Calhea Meadow and you will be hunting for about 1 week there. Usually most adventure will get around 20.000 elk by hunting the monster but Ren-san you might get more money if you collect lulu gra.s.s you know.”

“Ugh back to lulu gra.s.s again. Are you trying to make me reconsider my choice, Tord-san? So cruel.”

It is true I can get 20.000 elk in just 4 days. Usually the normal adventurer in my rank wouldn’t be able to get 5000 elk daily but since I have my support magic, lulu gathering is really easy for me to do. But it’s not good if I only take lulu gra.s.s quest even though it’s so profitable! I have to broaden my horizon!

“No! Of course not! I’m sorry!”

“Well what you said was true though I really want to take this subjugation quest. I want to experience more things!”

Tord-san seems fl.u.s.tered when I teased him but I actually didn’t mind it. Moreover I’m more excited for my first subjugation quest!

“Right now,Master is handling the request counter. Do you best in convincing him, Ren-san!”

“Ugh, convincing him might be harder than doing the actual quest…But I will do my best!”

Even if the one manning the counter is not Malik-san, I still have to tell him eventually anyway.

I saw in the map the location of Calhea Meadow. It seems the Calhea Meadow, Pedrell City and the capital is connected in triangle shape like. Since it will take me 3 days to reach Calhea Meadow, one week to finish the quest and another 3 days to come back that means I will be going for at least half a month.

I brace myself and goes to the counter to face Malik-san. Fighting!

Chapter 9 (Not yet)

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