Chapter 54: Intermission: Just Another Normal Quest (Part 1)
๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ: ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ค๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ฐ.
"Here is your reward. Thank you for your hard work."
"T-thanks."
I took the coins from the counter and added it to my own bag. Looking into the bag.....๐บ๐ข ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ. ๐ ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ?
"C-can show me th-the highest p-paying ones?"
"...."
Brianna didn't say anything immediately, and just stared at me. It seemed like she was trying to figure something out. After a few moments of silence, she spoke.
"....Are you that in need of money?"
"Y-yes."
"I must say I am surprised. You have been clearing Low Tier Quests quite frequently, and since I haven't seen you with a party you must be taking all the rewards, yes?"
"...Y-yes."
"Then excuse me, but if I could ask...is that not sufficient? I don't want to pry, but while we do have higher paying Low Tier Quests, they are far more dangerous. It is ill advised to do them alone. You are very close to moving up to be a Mid Tier Adventurer, I'd advise that a slow and safe pace is the best way to get better paying solo-able quests."
"..."
I didn't know what to say. Everything she had said was correct...if I was a normal solo adventurer. Unfortunately, not only was I not alone in my quests, but I technically had 2 mouths to feed on top of my goal of migrating to the City of Walfrey. I also had fought a Demon and won. Even if it was a scrub and I barely won with a lot of luck, it was an entity from the Demon Realm. So far every quest I had taken since the incident felt like a walk in the park comparatively. However, I couldn't say anything of these things to her. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ ๐ด๐ข๐บ? ๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ.
"...Does it have something to do with all the damage your armor sustained recently?"
"URGK!"
Before I could think of something to say she had asked a question that was far too close to the truth. I instinctively made a surprised grunting noise. Her eyes narrowed the moment I reacted, and kept assessing me. Being stared at so intensely by a pretty girl would normally be a (sort of) good thing, but right now all it did was make me want to run out the guild doors. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ! ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐บ...๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ...๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ...๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ!
"You can trust me you know? While I work for the guild, we are bound to keep our clients secrets unless it is something that would cause a national emergency."
"..."
"Is it something that bad?"
"It is...d-difficult to explain. P-please understand."
That was all I could muster. I couldn't think of any good lies. Even if I did, I definitely didn't have the skills to tell a lie convincingly. She continued to stare at me with discerning eyes, but eventually she stopped and sighed.
" ...Hah...very well. While I wish you would share more with me, I guess I should be happy that you at least didn't try to lie to me."
When she said that it made my stomach churn, it felt bad having to keep secrets from...๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ? ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ...๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฎ...๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ.
While I was trying to figure out the concept of friendship, Brianna placed a hand on her cheek, and suddenly gave me a saddened look with her eyes upturned.
"I had thought we were getting quite close, but it seems you still keep me at arms length. Is this because of how we first met? Did you want me to apologize again? Or did you...want something else as compensation?"
"URGK!"
Another odd grunt escaped from me. I had never seen her like this before, and it was...honestly it was kind of cute. She was normally such a professional, but every once in a while she would show me a completely different side of her. Immediately my brain went into overdrive. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ?!? ๐๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ? ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต? ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ?!?
"Haha! I'm just kidding, I'm sorry for teasing you...(though it is definitely worrying how enjoyable it is)."
"I-it's o-ok. Wait...I-I didn't c-catch that last part."
"Oh it was nothing important. Here, have a look at these quests, but I must warn you they are much more difficult than the ones you have picked up so far."
I started looking through the quests she presented to me as I tried to cool down my overheated brain. I quickly found the highest paying one.
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Required Level: Low Tier
Recommended Party Size: 6+
Difficulty: ******
Reward: 1 gold for extermination, 10 gold for each victim returned alive
Quest: A group of goblins attacked a caravan and abducted the people inside. The people missing include the children of Baron Emerldon, Baucus and Rigrit Emerldon. Also missing are the tutor who was with them, Georg Fallows, and their maid Regina Pentagrew. No one has been able to ascertain their location. The wreckage of the carriage was found on...
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Wow, all the people listed as missing had last names, which means they were all some sort of nobility. Though, based on the fact that they only made an ask of Low Tier Adventurers...๐ ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ข ๐ด๐ข๐บ, 10 ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ณ๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต...๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ?!? ๐๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ? ๐๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ?
Looking at the date when the wreckage was found, these people had been missing for about 2 days. Another thing that surprised me was...
"Wh-why did no one t-take this quest?"
That's right, for such a high paying quest I would have expected someone to have taken it by now.
"There are two reasons. One, is that no one has been able to find where the captives are, there is no one with the ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค๐๐ซ job within the area. The Goblin tracks seemed to go in every direction, but then disappeared as they entered the woods nearby. A large scouting party was not paid for, so we are unable to muster the manpower to scour the area heavily to find them with brute force. Second, since this involves nobility, people don't want to be blamed if the captives cannot be returned. Goblins, while they aren't the strongest monster, are quite vicious. It has already been 2 full days, and without a proper lead many believe it is a lost cause and do not want to be blamed by the nobility if they fail."
That makes sense, the chance of success was low, and if they failed they would be afraid of getting blamed by the nobility. It made me kind of not want to take the quest, but looking at the potential payout...๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐.
I had an ace up my sleeve, I had my own search party. I could send all my minions out and have them search the area en masse. They moved fast and wouldn't tire, I was probably the person with the best odds of finding them right now. Also, if anything did go wrong and I failed, I could just up and leave with Fiona. I hadn't really put down roots anywhere, and no one really knew me yet. I'd just say my farewells to Brianna and Rockfort and slip away in the night. I had been considering going to the City of Walfrey anyways, and there I would just be another face in the crowd.
"I-I'll take it."
"Are you sure? This quest if it goes awry...you might have to--"
"Th-thank you for your c-concern, but I-I need th-the money."
"...Very well. The quest has been assigned to you. I wish you luck..."
With that I turned around and left the guild, heading toward the last known location of the missing people. In my rush I hadn't noticed the extremely worried look Brianna had on her face.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone