Edited by: KenChi死
Little and slightly green-skinned fairy ran through the Gates of town in really good mood. All the way through the town she was humming some really lively song.
* “Now, now! About 1.5 kilometer from here there is a village, it is responsible for growing plants and breeding animals for the city. Thanks to the small distance between village and city, in case of attack, they can quickly evacuate. But what we are looking for is about 100 meters before the village.”
She was extremely talkative. I didn’t mind. After traveling with someone who was not talking at all it is a change I happily accepted.
* “Hey, bit off topic, would you mind telling me who is important in the guild? I don’t want to offend anyone.”
* “If you ask about inside guild members, only Guild Master and Secretary. They are doing 90% of paper work here. The rest of crew are told to do more… physical labors. Yet still, be nice to them cuz’ you may find some surprise in your sheet if you would angre some maids… If you ask about adventurers, you are free to offend everyone! But, be prepared for a brawl. Fear not if someone would join forces with your opponents, because as soon as this would happen, someone would join you. The matter you are arguing is not important, it is important who is with who. If you would start arguing with that bird-brain orc, I would join you right away. As I would join you, there is such a bitch, Claudia, I have no idea what is wrong with her, but she would join that idiot just because she would see me… then Claudia is hated by Anatoly… it is hard to be hated by Anatoly… Anatoly is found annoying by…”
* “Okay. Okay! I get it!” I chuckled. “Action breeds reaction which will be the action for the next reaction. If I would be to loud my personal quarrel will trigger a small inner war.”
* “Yup!... but if you are looking for someone to never offend… that would be Gisele’s team. Not only because they are strong, they are also very, very nice. Why would you offend someone is nice and able to plaster you all over the floor?... but they like little brawls, they even break their team and join different sides to make it more balanced… and as they begin, no one will stop them.”
* “Not even guild master?”
A fear flashed through her eyes.
* “Even worse. Sometimes Guild Master, if he would find it an “attractive training ground”, would join by himself… but here we are!”
I didn’t even notice when did we get here. A bit before the village we stepped out of the road and entered a small copse. In the middle of it, there was a really small lake.
* “I like how peaceful it is.” She had on a blissful expression. “No one comes here, human are too busy with their businesses, running from one building to another, always in a hurry. It always bothered me, you know? If you have a life that is so short, shouldn’t you focus on enjoying it, instead of working your life out?”
* “But people want to achieve peace and satisfaction. They have just…a twisted way to achieve it. First, they would have a need. If this need would not be satisfied, they would look for a way. They would build a tool; they would start improving their knowledge. And finally they would have this one need satisfied. But as they would do so, they would noticed, that this tool or knowledge could be improved, they would try to improve what is good. Finally during satisfying this one need, two more would be generated. Humans need shall never be truly satisfied.”
* “He? That petty logic… stupid, but logical. I was raised in the violet forest, far to north. The forest gave us everything needed to live. And we never needed more, so we have lots of time to sleep and sign. That was fun.”
* “So, may I ask why you are not in that forest any longer?”
* “Monsters came in and slaughtered my whole family... my whole little nation. I became an adventurer to protect as many families as possible from fate like this.” She said it cheerfully. Almost laughing. Poor, poor thing.(ED: “So cliché” editor says while crying)
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* “Would you mind telling me what kind of plants were growing in your forest?”
* “It was a place where the most beautiful blue roses grew! And lots of…” she was describing every plant, every herb, every tree. She even told me which specific tree was growing where, as the picture of her home was permanently plastered in her memory. She remembered every blade of grass. But the most important words where said at the very beginning. As only she said Blue roses, I started Seed creation and Accelerated growth. She was not looking at me, as she was describing her little village.
* “… and we had a few carnivores plants, nothing serious, just small plant’s eating little bugs, but it was still pretty reassuring to see, that even such small plants are not defenseless… because if plants were able to protect themselves, then maybe we also could.”
I finished my little job, just in time as Marika faced me after some time. Her gaze felt immediately at small rose I was holding in hand.
* “Not much, but maybe it will warm your heart a little.” I put little flower behind her ear. It had no thorns. To make it look as casually as possibly, right after that I began to do what I actually came for – I started collecting herbs. As I was in a squat, I was enlightened. Of course! There is a small trick that will allow me to gather small fortune from this little quest… on the other hand, the market can break…. But who cares!?
As I was gathering plant after plant I noticed, that Marika crouched near me and began to collect herbs to the same basket.
* “You don’t need to help me, you know? You already showed me this place, so I am more than grateful.”
* “I will help” she said quietly. I don’t know her that well, but this very short sentence was muuuch to short for such a conversation freak like her. What a little cutie you are.
In an hour we were heading back. Marika was holding her head low, from time to time her finger was moving all the way to her ear, touching the small flower as if checking if it still there.
* “You know, my mother used to put the same flower behind my ear every time I went for a little adventure around the forest.”
* “… if it brings painful memories, then I am sorry…”
* “No, it is fine! Thank you! Thank you so much!”
She lifted her head with a bright smile and with her palm she wiped a tear that appeared in the corner of her eye.
Not much later we entered the city, then guild. In the inn section we parted our ways. She moved to her room on the floor, while I was about to report the quest back and hand out a really big basket of herbs. Yet, of course, on her way back she was mocked by Mrogul.
* “So, how was your travel to the wild, midget? You were pestering yet another person with your babble about how wonderful nature feels like?”
* “Good day to you to, pardon me, excuse me, see ya.” She didn’t even looked at him, as she was walking past another and another man on her way to the stairs. The inn went a bit silent, and when she vanished on the floor, about a dozen men jumped to me.
* “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER?!”
* “Scuse me?”
* “There is no way that Marika would simply let go any provocation from Mrogul! Oy! When Mrogul told you to hump her he was joking, you know?!”
* “But it is good to see that young are having fun these days!”
* “You better take responsibility if anything would happen!”
* “But no worries! Fairies are not very fertile, so chances she get pregnant are really low…”
* “Now! This is occasion to drink!”
* “But I didn…”
* “MWAHAHA! Fear not! We are like one big family here! Seeing you getting along is heartwarming for us!”
* “Anatoly… if we all are family… doesn’t it make it incest?”
* “No one likes your pathetic jokes Loki!”
* “Yes, it is hard to compete with joke your mother made”
* “Which one are you talking about?”
* “Her best joke, would be you.”
* “MWAHAHA! Loki told a funny joke! The Word must be ending!”
Looks like it is normal. So here, let’s just report back. I put a basket in front of a men in reception.
* “What do we have here? Basic herb gathering? Okay, show me what you’ve got.” He started taking out every herb and began to put it in different places of the counter, counting every kind of herb and checking quality.
* “Not bad for the first time. Four kinds of herbs, each in good condition… that will be… 40 copper coins, but I will give you 30 and will rent you a room for next 24 hours, is that okay? Or maybe you have a better place to stay? In that case, full 40.”
You have finished [Herb gathering] QuestExp: 20
Gold: 00g00s40c
… 20 exp… it is a lot! Not for the high level me, but if I would start here and would gather 20 exp for a basket of herbs… After five days of herbs carrying I would level up! No wolf biting! No trap making! No covering in dirt! And money enough to buy myself a room and food for next 4 days every time I would finish it!
No, wait, what is more important, as I would rank up, and will have access to harder quests, like dungeons rades. Dungeons are places where you are exping the hell out, and then get another exp reward… C rank! Here I come!... But… not now… unfortunately… someone has already put a massive arm over my shoulder and forced a cup of beer in my hand.
* “Mwahaha! Everyone! Our rookie has just finished his first quest! Let’s drink for it! We will see how long this kid will last while drinking with me…”
… how long I WILL LAST?!... bro, my Slavic soul is offended right now, as I was studying at the university and made friends with a few erasmus students… they were having enough as we were barely warming up… Now, you asked for it! You will beg me to stop! You will cry: “No, please! Enough! No more!”, but I will be merciless and will ask those words, which are Slavs most powerful weapon while someone dosn’t want to drink -> I will ask “You will not drink another one with ME?”.
But my excellent plans for evening were delayed, as the guild master walked out of his office.
* “My, my… don’t demoralize the young!” … Old man, how can you demoralize someone who is not moral in first place? “Before you will get this young man drunk, I will need him for an hour or so.”
* “Sir, did our rookie get in any trouble?”
* “Trouble? Ho, ho, now… we will just besparing.” He said with a wide grin.
* “Fear not, kiddo, we will bring you a beer in the nursing section. Have fun, do not die, and remember to breath.”
A pat to the shoulder let me know, that it will be far worse than I imagined.