For the next few days, Alex had lived out his life rather simply, sleeping through the perpetual sound of hustle and bustle from the nearby guild in his new home/shop, waking up after the sun shone through the window, getting up earlier each day, then going out to the market to get something for breakfast and stopping at the same place to grab some berries that looked good enough and tasted the same.

Then he would go back to the shop, open up and wait for customers to come in and buy stuff, but sadly Sieg and his band were the only customers so far.

Around midday he would briefly close up, run to the market to get a sizable number of Kobold Skewers and run back to open the shop and eat them over there, and once dinner time approached, he would leave for the Inn's restaurant, and order the Kobold Roast with some other side.

This was his rather simple routine. At least it was for a while, until one very important day. This day seemed like any other, as the sun rose shining its light into the window of Alex's room he got up and hour later, stretching himself for a second before changing into his usual black cloak, as opposed to the clothes he wore when first arriving, which he now used as a set of pajamas. He had made a mental note to find a place to make some of those for him.

Going downstairs he exited his still set up shop, he had learned after Sarah had to tell him directly one day that no criminal was insane enough to rob a store that specialized in selling to adventurers, that was itself directly next to one of the guilds. Even so, he still felt like it would be best if he could find a locksmith, but that was a matter for another day.

So he would leave the shop to visit the market to buy and eat some berries that to him, looked kind of like blackberries if they were yellow and tasted like tomato. Returning to the shop and turning the sign, he sat behind the desk near the stairs and waited patiently for customers. While some adventurers did peek in through the window at times, they didn't come in and simply passed by. He would sit there, content to just look through his list of items and spells, reminiscing on good times in the past.

After this went on for a few hours and he was a minuscule amount further through the two lists, he would get up and close for lunch. Arriving at the market again, he would find the man who sold him the Skewers each day, Robinson was his name as Alex had learned after his fifth time or so buying Kobold Skewers for lunch. Regardless of what one would believe, this is where the first of two important events had happened.

Alex had attempted to buy some Skewers for lunch as usual when Robinson had had to tell him,

"Sorry Alex, I'm out of Kobold, but I do have beef."

Alex asked "Out of Kobold? What happened?"

Robinson said, "I'm afraid it's getting more and more expensive around here, I've only been able to keep it because you've been ordering at least five skewers a day. But it's still gotten more expensive, and I can't afford to keep buying it when you're the only customer for it."

Alex shrugged and said, "It's a shame, but I understand. Good luck with your sales." before leaving back for his shop.

"Good luck to you as well," Robinson said as Alex walked off.

Alex returned to his shop, opening up sitting behind the desk to eat the beef. As he ate it, it felt kind of, bleh. We all know that feeling, food that's just before the threshold of being bad enough to tell someone it's bad. After eating them, feeling somewhat unsatisfied, he would go back to looking through his items and spells, again reminiscing.

The hours would pass, and he would again close up and leave for the Inn to get dinner. However, this is where what some could call, 'the tipping point' happened. Sitting down near the back of the relatively deserted restaurant, the waiter would come to take his order. He would order his usual Kobold Roast and today a side of soup.

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However, the waiter said, "I'm sorry sir, we no longer sell that and haven't updated out menus yet."

It was at this that Alex said, "What? Surely even with the rising price of kobold you can afford it."

The waiter said, "Yes sir, but we believe it is better if we don't offer it anymore due to the low amount of people who order it."

Alex said, "Why has the price gone up if nobody orders it then?!", Annoyed at his lack of kobold-y dinner.

The waiter leaned in and whispered, "I've heard that there's been a lot more goblin activity in the trade routes between here and the Capital, and that's where we get all our kobold from. Apparently, there are even some merchants and newer adventurers afraid to travel at all because of the sheer amount of the goblins."

Alex would say, "Thank you, I think I'll have dinner elsewhere today."

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Later in the day, Sieg and his band of adventurers had come back into town after a quest to escort a woman to here from Relaea. After seeing her home and receiving their reward, they took their time returning to the guild. Once they made their way back, they entered the guild and appreciated the familiar sights. The large building had a high ceiling, and much of it's inside, including said ceiling and its furniture, showed signs of being beaten, battered, burnt, frozen, shocked, and all other manner of treatment.

This was due to the fact that every guild doubled as a tavern because it helped keep the atmosphere light, it kept plenty of adventurers happy, and it was a tradition stemming from the legend that the first adventurers had all met in a tavern. They also saw the usual receptionists as they sat behind an extension of a bar, which they used as a desk. As they took in the sights, they noticed the sight of Alex eating some bread and soup, sitting at one of the tables.

Seeing this, the group was certain he had put up a quest, and they had simply rushed to the quest wall to find it.

The quest wall was perhaps one of the only places in any given adventurer's guild that wasn't damaged, because adventurers knew to respect the wall, and the few times any drunk wizards had thrown fireballs willy-nilly, paladins, warriors, or even frail rogues would flat out jump in front of them if they had to in order save the wall.

Looking through the wall, they desperately searched for his quest, they knew they needed to accept it immediately. After a minute, they found it on the wall,

Quest Title: Overrun Trade Route, Mass Goblin Extermination Quest Giver: Alex Anders Quest Giver Description: Due to a recent surge of goblins in the trade route between here and the Capital, the price of kobold meat has gone up and is no longer served nearby. As a man who enjoys kobold, and a merchant who may need to use those routes, this is a major issue! I need that route cleared out of goblins as soon as possible! Main Objectives: Exterminate at least 300 Goblins near the route, and at least 50 in each route between towns. Main Rewards: 40 Silver, to be split among any party members as they choose. Bonus Objectives: Assure the safety of four different merchant carriages carrying kobold meat into town. Bonus Rewards: As described by Quest Giver, "Your choice between one of the two display items above the shelves." Reward Location: Alex Ander's Adventuring Amenities Guild Notes: This Quest will most likely take at least a few weeks to complete, given both the distance and sheer number of Goblins, however, the reward will more than offset the cost of the long expedition. Accepting other quests that happen to be in the area to maximize the use of your time is recommended. Our local Item specialist Fiona Fein has personally inspected the items mentioned in the bonus reward, and determined them to be very powerful items, and valued them at 14 Gold for the staff, and 16 Gold for the Morningstar. As such, despite the extreme amount of time and difficulty it may take to meet the bonus objective as well as the main one, it is by far more rewarding for the effort and time needed compared to any other quest currently available.

After reading it, they took it off the wall and held it up.

Grahn'It shouted to get Alex's attention, "Ey, Anders!"

Alex turned to them, munching some bread,

Grahn'It said, "Are ye serious about this?"

Alex swallowed his bread and nodded. The only sound he made spoke volumes more than words could've, "Mmm Hmm."

Sieg and the others quite literally stormed towards the bar extension to accept the quest, knocking a gnome over along the way. Only Gaeia stopped to help him up, well, she was also the only one to notice him get knocked over. So one bruised gnome and a few minutes later, they now had a guild representative with them to track their progress for the quest, and said quest to complete.