The rays of sunlight passed through the second floor window of the inn and fell on the face of a young man sleeping on an old wooden bed. After a few minutes of tossing and turning, he opened his eyes and slowly sat up. Finishing his customary yawning and stretching he stood up and washed his face using a bowl of water placed on a table in a corner of the room.
Putting on his light, leather armor and grabbing his sword, he left the room and went downstairs. There he sat down at one of the tables closest to the noticeboard on the wall and started reading it while ordering himself a cheap breakfast. As he sat there waiting for his meal, a notice caught his eye and he stood up and walked over to get a closer look.
1 Grilix Horn (Good Condition)
Pay: 150 ceors
Quest Issued By: Burney’s House of Weapons
Deadline: 3 days
With a smile he tore down the paper from the board, folded it and placed it in his pocket. He then proceeded to wolf down his meal, left some coins as payment on the table and walked quickly out of the inn.
Taking out the paper again he studied the rough map drawn on it which gave the location of the establishment that had issued the quest. He left for it at a quick jog, stopping at a few shops along the way to make sure he was heading in the right direction. He reached the store in about 10 minutes and promptly went inside. It was a large store, clearly designed by a proper architect rather than just half-assedly put together, the walls and shelves covered with expensive looking swords, axes, helmets, shields and other such items. He walked over to the counter, behind which stood a young girl.
Showing her the paper in his hand, he confirmed that the quest had only been posted a few hours ago and had not yet expired or been fulfilled. After expressing his intention of accepting the quest, he left the shop and walked outside. Lazily stretching his arms above his head, he looked up to see a pure blue sky with wisps of clouds scattered about its surface. Warm sunlight fell on his face as he smiled.
“Looks like today’s going to be a good day.”
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Nearly 3 hours after Ravel had left town, he saw it. Sprawled out besides a small lake on the plains, the giant animal slept. Its thick, grey hide offered it protection from arrows and even weak blows from swords, while its great horn was capable of piercing through armor like it was made of butter. Adding to it the fact that it weighed over a literal ton, meant it was nearly impossible to stop after it picked up momentum. All of which is to say, people didn’t usually go around picking fights with this guy.
That was good.
It meant Ravel didn’t have to worry too much about competition, even though the reward being offered was fairly tempting — 150 ceors was enough to pay for a month or two of boarding, depending on how cheap a place you were willing to stay at. The Grilix was tough to handle but the compensation was more than fair. For the store to offer this much, it appeared their need was time sensitive.
Whatever the case, it was an opportunity for Ravel, an opportunity he wasn’t about to let slip. He stood in the shade of a clump of trees and observed his surroundings, only stepping forward after confirming that there weren’t any other Grilix, or even more problematic monsters in the area. He approached the beast, his footsteps muffled by the thick grass under his feet and kept walking until he was close enough to reach out and touch the sleeping behemoth.
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During this entire time Ravel had a smile on his face, making it clear his thoughts were occupied more with the payday he would receive rather than the murder machine before him. It was at that moment the Grilix opened its eyes.
Waking up only to see a human creepily grinning not two feet away from it, the Grilix was understandably startled. It let out a deep bellow and stomped up to its feet with surprising agility while snapping its head towards Ravel’s body to push him away. Not feeling any contact against its head, the Grilix moved a few steps back to better focus on the man in front of it. The human stood smiling, gazing excitedly at its horn as if seemingly unaware of the danger a fully grown and fairly pissed off Grilix posed. There was a sword in the human’s hand which the Grilix hadn’t seen him take out. That surprised it — it could have sworn the sword wasn’t in his hand before. The Grilix let out a snort. If he thought that puny stick was enough to save him, he had another thing coming. It tensed its muscles, preparing to dash and skewer the human when Ravel finally stopped staring at the horn and looked into the Grilix’s eyes.
“Don’t worry, you won’t feel a thing.”
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“Here you go, one Grilix Horn in perfect condition just as requested,” said Ravel as he took the horn out of his backpack and placed it on the counter.
Elice put away the book she had been reading and looked at the person who had just interrupted her. He looked to be a few years older than her, in his early twenties, tall, with an easy smile and long, dark hair that fell almost to his shoulders. She remembered him from earlier in the day when he had rushed into the store, much too lively for her taste so early in the morning, asked a bunch of questions and then left. She hadn’t expected him to show up again so soon, honestly she hadn’t expected him to show up again at all. The quest had been issued on very short notice and the owner was worried no one would make it in time. While Grilix were easy enough to deal with for experienced adventurers, those people generally had bigger fish to fry. That meant quests like this were taken up by inexperienced adventurers working as a team. So this guy who looked neither experienced nor part of a group hadn’t really inspired much confidence in her.
Yet here he was again, with what looked very much like a Grilix horn and the sun hadn’t even set. She wasn’t an expert in this sort of thing, she had only seen a Grilix horn twice in her life, but the shape and size of it was pretty distinct. She picked it up to inspect it and immediately her eyes were drawn to the bottom of the horn. The bottom was flat and completely even, unusually so in fact. It looked as though it had been polished, she had never seen a sword cut through something this smoothly. She gazed up and saw him staring at her patiently.
“How did you find the time to get this sanded?” she asked. “You didn’t need to, you know. Sanding it down just means less material for us to work with.”
“What do you mean? I didn’t have it sanded.”
“Huh, then how did you get it to be so smooth?”
“That’s just how it was when I cut it.”
Elice stared at Ravel, debating how to respond to what she had just heard.
“Umm, is there a problem?” asked Ravel.
“No, no problem,” replied Elice, deciding this wasn’t her issue to deal with. “Let me call the owner, he’ll want to inspect it before we can pay you.”
“Sure thing,” replied Ravel as he watched her step out from behind the counter and walk up the staircase located along the wall opposite the shop entrance.
It didn’t take long for Elice to come back, followed by a huge, bald man with a thick, black beard. Emil Burney had been making weapons his whole life and it showed. He had a thick, stout body without much hint of flab and powerful arms that spoke of a lifetime spent doing demanding work. Burney’s eyes fell on the young man standing next to the counter, curiously looking around at the various weapons all over the store. He went over and inspected the horn, paying close attention to the bottom.
“The girl tells me you did this with your own sword. Can I ask how?”
“I’m not sure I understand the question,” said Ravel looking puzzled. “I just cut it.”
“You just cut it?”
“Yep. Really, really fast.”
“………. Okay.”
“Anyways, I have other stuff I need to be doing, so can I get paid now?”
“Yeah, of course,” said Burney as he took out a few coins from one of the drawers. “By the way, can I ask where you’re staying? In case I end up needing your services again.”
“Yeah, sure. I’ve been staying at the Leaky Bucket for about a month. Just ask for Ravel,” he replied counting the coins with glee before pocketing them.
With a wave he left the store, leaving the proprietor and the subordinate staring after his back.