"Are you joking?"
"No." Isaiah lowered his head as the potion maker settled herself over her chair, "You're asking me for money,"
"I just need a loan, 100 marks should be enough."
"You haven't even completed the quest and you're asking for an advan-" Her words were interrupted by the sound of someone's stomach rumbling, "Don't tell me you're poor?"
"I have no money,"
"Oh..."
"But, but, I really need the quest, so... Uhh, so, how about I give you one more stone for free as interest on the loan?"
"..."
"Please, I am begging you, I need this."
"This is..."
"Just this once, just once."
"Well..." The lady wiped her forehead, "I mean you do have the skill, so, I-I guess that would work... Fine," She stood up and left for the room behind, remerging later with two bags,
"Thank you, I thank you very much..."
"9 stones, but I only pay you 1300 this time, right?"
"Yes, yes, that'll be enough."
"Well, here you go, that's 100 marks and some spare bread that I made. Don't disappoint me now kid."
"Right, right... Thank you very much,"
"Now go, I have things to do."
***
The bread was rather tasty despite its lack of any flavor, it had the crispy texture of a taco and the scent of freshly made bread which made it a really good brunch that Isaiah readily munched, he was seated at the front of the carriage just behind the other passenger and the driver. The journey to Tubeck would take almost half a day which meant that Isaiah would arrive there by nightfall.
Isaiah had gone and purchased a few more loaves of bread to sate his hunger whilst telling his stomach to endure,
'Only a few days...' He told himself, 'Once I return, I will have the money to buy a proper meal... Just a few more days,'
His determination burned brightly as he arranged himself in a more comfortable seating manner, water was rather cheap in Koln at 5 marks ladle and he managed to buy an old leather bag to store water in, that said it did taste like tap water which Isaiah's stomach wasn't too happy about.
The trip was pretty barebones too, with no phones or advertisements to keep him engaged, just boring peace and quiet. Though he could hear the two in front speaking with each other, he couldn't understand a word they were saying, he couldn't even recognize the language they were using. Isaiah continued to listen, but their voices were deep and felt hypnotic, and before long he found himself asleep. He was woken up after a while by the driver, upon seeing him awake he left before he could even sit up properly, seeing that the carriage had stopped moving Isaiah got up and exited the vehicle,
"Tubeck," The driver, who was waiting for him outside declared, "The forest is over there, the villagemen told me there should be no monsters around."
"Ah, I see, thank you."
Isaiah looked around and took in the sights of the village, it was quiet as the sky above was getting darker, huts lay around the village with a rural church at its middle, sporting a small open space the size of a basketball court. There were plenty of houses around, and almost all had open backyard space and those closest to the church had turned into workshops for their crafts, those farther away had bigger yards that hosted livestock or crops.
The driver had gone into a house nearby, but since Isaiah had no extra funds to rent a room out he went ahead and searched for a place for him to sleep, he met a kind farmer who gave him some space in his empty stable. Though it proved difficult trying to sleep in an open and exposed location, having grown up in an urban area all his life, he soon found himself snoring away all his worries.
Isaiah woke up early the next day and quickly left for the forest, he was determined to finish the quest so that he could move on with his life. At first, everything went well, only thirty minutes in and Isaiah found a bush of pornicous littered around the forest, harvesting them was as easy as taking out malungay leaves but upon realizing the weight of an individual leaf compared to a single stone, Isaiah realized it would take more than just a bush to fill a single stone.
Time began to pass by as Isaiah focused himself on gathering as much of the plant as possible having filled one and a half, but right now the bushes suddenly got rarer, and the ones he found either were too young for harvest or were a different plant species. He was now spending more time searching rather than gathering but he pressed on, determined to finish his quest in a day and get back to Koln as soon as possible to get paid. Hunger soon kicked in and Isaiah decided to rest up. He plopped his rear down a tree that bore a pinkish fruit that somewhat resembled a banana. He remembered seeing the natives eat them back in the village so he decided to chow down on some, the fruit itself tasted like banana but was filled with seeds. Having gone through multiple fruits he gulped down the last of his water and proceeded on his search.
An hour or two had passed by but Isaiah's hadn't filled his second sack. As he was continuing his search, however, he realized that by this point he was lost. In his hurry, he had entered the forest without a single bit of research and had gone in circles trying to look for pornicopous that he didn't realize just how far deep he had gone in. He looked around but all he could see was miles upon miles of trees. He ran in all directions trying to figure out just where he came from but after hours of walking, he realized it was in vain.
He began to regret ever taking this request,
'I should've just stayed and worked at the port!' He crashed himself into the trunk of a tree as he rested,
He grabbed the flask, but it had been long since empty, the humidity from above had forced him to drink his fill very early on but with no river or well in sight for refill he was dangerously close to dehydration, realizing he might sleep in the forest tonight he began to rack his brain up to find a way out of this situation,
'Could I fly,' he looked up, 'I'd rather not, I doubt I could anyway... Hmm...' He closed his eyes to think, and that's when he remembered the river the locals were talking about, and so realizing he had some chance he decided to look for this river. He went about his ways for hours, going around in circles trying to look for any tell-tale clues about a body of water and soon he found himself listening to the sound of water flowing.
He listened closely and followed the trail until he arrived at his source. And what he found was a river whose water was so clear that he could see the bottom in high definition, it was as if he was looking at glass. He paused for a while and marveled at its beauty, it was his first time seeing a river this pure.
'Cold... But the fresh kind of cold.' He dipped his fingers onto the waters first whilst looking around, then he took a deep smell of the liquid, 'Nothing...' He deliberated for a moment before he drank the water, after all this was another world who knows what kind of funny things awaited him when he drank river water? Though the water did have a metallic taste it was offset by the sweetness it carried, like a cool freshly chilled cup of water drunk from a well-used stainless steel cup, it was refreshing.
Although his stomach wasn't too fond of the drink, he drank himself until he had enough. Wiping his mouth he filled his flask before diving straight into the water.
"Cannonball!"
A rush of cool water wrapped around his body as his butt hit the ground rather painfully, the river proved to be shallower than he expected. The river's coolness felt similar to a silky smooth blanket that had been hung near an air conditioner, it was a welcome feel from the heat of this unforgiving place. He decided to give his clothes a simple wash and scrub, drying them up on the sacks once finished. Then he returned to the river to cool himself.
He remembered bathing like this back in the province, but it had been eight years since they last returned. He let his body float, anchoring his foot by a nearby tree whose low-hanging branches touched the river, he closed his eyes to relax focusing on his ears as he listened to the sound of the gentle rush.
For a while everything was serene, until he felt something long touch his hands, the touch was rather soft, so soft that it was almost non-existent but Isaiah caught notice of it and opened his eyes. What he saw was a long strand of brown hair. It was rather easy to spot due to the contrast from the dark brown to the crystal clear waters. That said, it was not alone, there were plenty more coming upstream.
He was surprised, for he knew that the color of his hair was black so it wasn't his.
'Is there some kind of monster molding around? I have drunk this water...' He took a massive gulp, 'Hopefully no disease,'
He looked up, still more were coming, thus he decided to investigate.
If it was a monster then at least he could gain some experience points, if it was human on the other hand then he could ask for directions.
By submerging most of his body, the movement he made produced very little noise increasing his stealth as he made his way upwards, it didn't take long before he found himself staring at a rather beautiful waterfall. It was small, barely ten feet tall but the rock formations underneath plus the shining glory of the water did take his breath away. As he continued to examine the plateau above, he suddenly heard a sound from his side.
As his head snapped in that direction his mouth couldn't utter a single word, for the fourth time in his life his heart skipped a beat,
Sitting by a rock was the origin of the brown strand of hair, a lady who was brushing her bushy tail, her dainty face carried on an ethereal beauty that could not be described. Upon sensing his gaze she turned around and froze like a deer caught in headlamps. A pair of beautiful, sharp red eyes locked onto his.
Maybe because of the awkwardness of the situation or perhaps because both were completely naked, they stared at each other without blinking. Though Isaiah enjoyed and was enamored by what he saw, the lady was horrified. She was the first to break the spell, standing up slowly but when Isaiah reached out to her she flinched causing him to stop. Isaiah now had a full view of her figure. From top to bottom, she was flawless, her face was more than enough to make men's heads turn but her body would make women seeth in jealousy. Though her breasts were somewhat lacking, they perfectly matched her frame, giving her a unique mature tone of beauty, quite different from Nicole's innocentish looks.
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
A fair skin, on top of her killer figure bare naked for him to see made Isaiah feel hot, the lust in his body that he had kept began to surge and he could feel a rush of blood flowing all across his face and, worse still, his member. Her eyes, which were locked onto his face moved over to his lower regions and her reaction was immediate. Her face turned red as she turned about and fled, realizing what had just happened he tried to chase after her,
"Wait... Ah, Senko-san, or something..."
The Kitsune paused and looked back,
"Aah... I... I do not mean no harm or anything."
The kitsune looked blankly, her expression began to calm down after she saw his hands lower.
"Good... Good morning?"
"..."
"Hi, uh... Yeah."
She suddenly spun her body around, kicking up a wave that splashed Isaiah's eyes. He shielded his face but when he lowered his arms she was gone, not a trace of her anywhere. Isaiah stared blankly in the direction where she once was,
"What the... I just said hi." Isaiah wiped his face and rubbed his chin, "But damn, a kitsune is really cute up close huh... Guess, I should have one in the harem too, wait if they exist wouldn't others also exist? Like elf-girls and dragon-girls." A grin crossed his face as he turned around, "I should have some for diversity and whatnot. Its good to see many beautiful things in different shapes and sizes..." He scanned the forest where she might have fled, "But I have to meet her somehow, wait I'm naked, did she see the mark?"
As he pondered on his thoughts something shiny caught his eyes and as he picked it up he realized it was a bronze adventuring tag that bore a different crest but was overall identical to his. He examined the crest, which resembled more of a grape-like fruit, behind was an inscription though he could not read the name as it was written in a way that made no sense alphabeticly.
'A new language... Also, she is an adventurer huh, makes sense why she would be here.' He looked up into the forest, 'I doubt she's coming back, plus keeping this would be a good excuse to meet up with her if we ever see each other again...' He held onto the plate for a while as he made one last look into the forest, 'I hope she didn't see the scorpion, as it would make things difficult later on.'
As he was leaving, little did he know that the kitsune had just hidden herself behind a tree a dozen meters away from him, despite the distance she heard everything he said
"..."
***
He had half expected for the Kitsune to be there when he woke up but as he did so she was nowhere to be seen. Once again he found himself alone in the middle of the forest.
He resumed his search, having filled his second sack by the second day, as it turned out the bushes do replenish very fast as it didn't take long before he was already harvesting from the same bushes he did yesterday. And thus for the second day, he had filled out three. But he still had six more to go. His third and fourth days went by rather quickly, by night a villager had encountered him near the river and thus he was able to make his way back to the village where the kind old man gave him the stable for his place once again. But by that point, he realized he was running out of time. He had only been able to fill in six bags and already the six-day deadline of the quest was finishing tomorrow. Travel back to Koln was half a day by carriage but he didn't have any spare cash for the ride anyway so left with no choice he had to begin walking back tomorrow if he wished to arrive just in time.
By the next day, he once again resumed harvesting, trying to fill in the bag as much as he could and by the time the sun was directly above him he slowly made his way back to the city. By tomorrow he must return, but he only managed to fill in six and a half bags worth, and so with a heavy heart he set himself back to Koln.
Thankfully, finding the city wasn't too hard, the villagers told him that by following the road he would find himself back in the city. On the way, he met with caravans who gave him further instructions. It took him almost two days but near nightfall he found himself back at the city, tired and beleaguered his foot full of blisters and his eyes rather dark.
He hated every second of it.
The traveling, the lack of equipment, and most importantly his lack of funds. That was why he was very happy when he finally found his way back to the lady's store, its windows were closed but a light source came from the inside. He decided to quickly enter so that he could collect his rewards and be on his way.
There was however one problem...
"I am sorry, I couldn't fill up everything..."
The lady crossed her hands, she was just getting ready to clean up her store and go to sleep when Isaiah arrived.
"I tried everything I could but there were too few."
"Right..." She nodded, "I told you to go find a troupe or whatnot, I shouldn't have given you this mission."
"I am sorry. I'll definitely go join one later."
"Right, whatever... Hmm," She then took out the document that bore Isaiah's name, "Are you aware that if the amount you brought in didn't match the request, you don't get paid?"
"Wait what!" Isaiah exclaimed, "That's bullshit."
"It is... See here, you even signed it."
"But you never told me what's inside,"
"Oh? Can't read is it? Well tough luck, but you signed it."
"Well..." Isaiah crossed his arms, "I ain't selling to you then."
"I have your plate you know,"
"I can always just register myself again."
"Who are you gonna sell it to then?"
"I am sure those merchants would want to buy them..."
"Well, first of all, pornicous is only used to create mana potions but many chemists have stopped using them as other materials are more useful in creating more mana. The only reason I am using them in the first place is because I found a way to extract more mana from the plant and I don't plan on sharing that. Another is that no merchants would buy stuff from people who can't prove that they own the stuff they are selling in the first place."
"What do you mean?"
"Wait, hold on... You never asked permission to harvest pornicous from the forest now did you?"
Isaiah remembered only asking for directions in the forest, never mind asking permission to actually harvest stuff.
"Err... They weren't mad when I had them."
"You are aware that the forest you took the pornicous from is owned by somebody right?" She then grinned and crossed her arms, "Is this a thief I am looking at."
Isaiah racked his brains to find a way out of this mess until he remembered something she gave him, he pulled out the paper he showed the guard telling them that he was on an active quest. "You gave me this, this itself is proper documentation unless you are suggesting that you have no authority to give me this. Then you are aware that you are an accessory to a crime?" Isaiah grinned in the same manner as she, but rather than break down as he had expected, she only sighed...
Then laughed.
"Ahahaahah!" She wiped his eyes, "Don't you pull the law on me, kid, I gave you the authority to embark on the quest, but I don't have the authority to give you permission to harvest them in the first place?"
Isaiah's confidence crumpled before his eyes as he stared at the paper, "Wait what..." He wasn't sure what had just happened as he watched the massive grin the lady was giving him.
First of all, it was his first-ever quest, he should have noticed that something was going on judging by the fact that this quest paid more than the usual bronze-ranking ones. He had worked hard for nearly four days just to harvest the plant, and the last remaining one and a half days by walking back to the city only to get cheated...
"But... But," In a last-ditch effort, he tried to mount a final defense, "Aren't you supposed to handle the paperwork?"
"Me, why? I did my part by permitting you to embark on my quest, as well as handling the paperwork for giving out the quest itself. Everything else is up to the adventurers, or are you expecting me to travel all the way to Tubeck to ask for their permission? If that's the case I might as well just harvest those myself."
"What..."
Isaiah had thought everything would be easy, he hadn't expected that this would also be very complicated. Now he understood why people joined troupes, and why this lady asked if he had one in the beginning. The troupes weren't just a way to increase the numbers on a quest but also to divide and deal with the massive logistical and bureaucratic needs of said quest.
"Making money is hard..." Tears began to well into his eyes as he realized that all his hard work was about to be washed down the drain. It was still his first job but he already screwed up.
The lady saw his state and felt rather uncomfortable, "Look stand up, I don't want people to see me making somebody cry..." However Isaiah wasn't listening or anything, he only looked dejected as he stared blankly in front, two small streams on both sides of his cheeks. "Look fine... Fine, I'll... I'll buy the plant."
"You will?" He asked,
"Yeah, yeah... Just don't go around telling people I made you cry, that'd make me look bad." She then took out a weighing device from underneath her desk, "But I'd only pay you based on how much you got, alright?"
"Yeah... Yeah, that be alright."
She riped up one of the sacks and laid it flat on the ground, then she told Isaiah to pour all the leaf onto the sack to which she tied strings down on its four sides, then she connected all four strings to the hook on her weighing device, the device quickly caved in towards the sacks direction, but after applying one stone at a time, the device slowly balanced out,
And soon enough it balanced out just as the ninth stone was placed. The lady's eyes furrowed but Isaiah felt relief wash away all the pain in his chest. He even began to chuckle as he watched the lady look confused seeing the weighing scale straight. She looked at Isaiah and back at her scale but found nothing anomalous going on. What she didn't know however was that Isaiah applied a little bit of pressure on the plant's side of the scale to make it heavier than it used to. Sure he was cheating but the lady nearly screwed him anyway, plus it isn't like he made it obvious just a tiny bit of push on his side.
He took a deep breath and felt embarrassed for having to cry. The lady looked at Isaiah, annoyed...
"Looks like you win..."
Isaiah nodded as she threw him a sack,
"There you have it, 1,300 marks... Now get out."
As soon as he was out, the lady closed the door with a 'Hmpf', but Isaiah didn't mind all that as he watched the sack of money in his right hand and the bronze plate at his left. It was a surreal experience, he had thought that his first payday would go awful but everything worked out really well. That said he did learn a few lessons on how embarking on a quest works.
'First of all, I have to take care of the logistics... I might join a troupe or perhaps I could just do it all myself. I need to learn how quests are done, what documents I need, and all the background stuff that has to take place.'
But all of that could be taken care of tomorrow, for now, he had to do something with the money he earned.
The first thing he did was look for dinner, now naturally none of the fancy restaurants would accept him based on what he was wearing, so he went for a tavern that was filled with people. He ordered as much food as he could, basing his order on those foods that sounded familiar. It took some time before his order finally arrived.
The first was a bowl of bread with some kind of thick white soup that tasted like a chowder but was probably just a sour porridge dish. The next was a tomato-based soup with 'some' meat chunks. The next was just meat juiced in sweet sauce. While the last was beer.
It was his first time tasting beer and it tasted, rather plain. It had a spicy oomph to it but he couldn't figure out why people liked drinking them at all. That said, when the bill came he had to part ways with nearly a quarter of his salary, this brought him back to reality forcing him to rethink his strategy about splurging as he knew full well that a quest that pays this well might not be forthcoming.
Except that, he lost all those convictions when he arrived at the marketplace.
From fresh vegetables to furniture and art pieces, to even clothing and weapons, the marketplace had all kinds of wares for sale and Isaiah loved every single second of it. He went from stall to stall, carefully choosing those with many customers so that he wouldn't be bothered by the merchant whilst trying to window shop. Now naturally, he did buy a few things. Clothes were one of the things he had purchased, as wearing the same old one every day doesn't sound hygienic.
That said, they did not come cheap.
Just two new shirts, some pants that seemed older than Isaiah plus shoes with rough wooden soles, just those four items cost more than his dinner, a whopping 400 marks. He was rather confused as to why the economy wasn't exactly as he had expected it to be, back on Earth a piece of cloth could be bought at the same price as food was, yet here they are substantially more expensive.
The night wasn't over in this city yet he had already gone through half of his salary. As he sat down on an inn he began to rethink his budget. The inn he chose wasn't exactly the cheapest he had found, but he decided to splurge just a bit for his sanity and hygiene as this tavern had a proper bath service.
'The single room costs 150 marks a night, a cheaper shared room costs about 80, and breakfast would cost me 20 which should leave me with about 500 marks for tomorrow's quest.' That said, he wasn't too sure if he could find another quest with similar pay, and he wasn't too fond of almost being tricked. As he stared blankly at the sack of money he found himself holding onto the bronze tag of the woman he found back at the forest.
He could remember her pretty face looking straight at him as if frozen in time.
'I wonder if she's here...' He looked around, curious, and here he realized one strange thing, 'Now that I wonder, I've never seen another person with animal ears like her here...' He peered through the window from his seat yet not one man or woman who had passed by the street had animal ears or any indication that they were not a pure human. 'Are they discriminated here?'
As he was looking out the window the lady who ran the inn came in front of him,
"Your room is ready."
"Ah right..." Isaiah stood up, suddenly he felt unsure of whether or not to proceed as he had paid 150 marks for the single room whereas the shared room would only cost half, he wanted to speak about it to the landlady but seeing his hesitation, she grunted,
"Anything wrong? Not satisfied with our place eh?"
"Err no..." Seeing her somewhat angry, Isaiah swallowed his complaints and smiled nervously, "I was just wondering about the quest, you know, adventurers and stuff..."
The lady looked up and down and nodded, "Well, you better get things right young man, I don't want you to be running around with bills unpaid." She reached her hand out as Isaiah handed over two silver coins, "For a bronze, you do have the money, things must be doing well in the guild. Come now... Here's your key."