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Six to Seven
Chapter 9: Leech to Lucrative

Chapter 9: Leech to Lucrative

I never would’ve imagined that places can get so crowded… Just walking around here is making me a bit anxious… After all, I’ve only met a handful of people here. Yet to leave the carriage, I remained seated as Ency and Vylona seemed to be browsing the many markets in the area. Speaking of which, there were so many stores housing various goods, some of which I recognized from when merchants would come to our village every now and then. The smell of fish was strong in some areas, whereas some areas would have a floral smell, or a scent of spices. It almost felt like I was traveling through portals, opening to new experiences that are so new to me. Simply put, I was in awe!

“Oooh, Vy, should I pick up some brackel filets for tonight's dinner? I’d like to have something with less of a fishy taste from the fish we caught on our way here.”

“Sure, but don’t go too overboard with the spendings. We’re a bit low on funds after all.”

“LOW?! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE REST OF THEM?!”

“Hello? I’m pretty sure you wasted it all on those fancy seasonings you bought back at Cario! No way in HELL did I do anything with the money.”

Ency squinted his eyes in frustration and turned his head forward.

“I mean, it was pretty good, was it not?”

“I’m surprised we’re able to stay afloat with the money we’re making. We seriously need to pick up some jobs. Not to mention, we have a third person on board.”

I was getting worried about what they said about their funds… Perhaps I’m too much of a burden to be kept around… I don’t want them to worry about me any longer if they’re struggling to keep up with money and such…

“Hey, I think it’s best if you leave me here while you guys go and do your own things. I’ll be fine with taking care of myself from now on.”

Ency pulls a lever, and the wooden wheels of the carriage jerk to a stop. He then climbs up the carriage and takes a seat right next to me.

“Vy, take the carriage for a sec.”

“Oh..! Sure, I suppose.”

Vylona flicks the lever on once again as we slowly make our way through the streets and towards the oceanside. Ency takes the straw from his mouth and rests them on his left hand, with his other on the sword that he always carries around. I was expecting him to say something to me, yet we both sat in silence for a solid while, iIt felt a bit unnerving. He’s definitely the more mysterious one out of the two, and we haven’t spoken to each other much other than him giving me some small talk when it’s just the two of us.

“What… do you think about us, Froya?”

I froze up a bit. That was a question I definitely didn’t expect. What do I think about them, huh? I’ve only known them for about a week now, so there really isn’t much I can talk about. Yet they’ve been kind enough to provide me food and a place to feel safe when the only place I called home was long destroyed.

“Well, I would consider you guys like foster parents, no? After all, I have no family to go to.”

Ency coughed for a bit before continuing, while I noticed Vylona turning her head slightly away from the two of us.

“Foster parents, hm? Heh, I suppose that could be a way to put it…”

“O-OH! I’m sorry if that came off as insensitive!”

“No no, not at all! But hey, just to let you know…”

He puts the straw back in his mouth while looking off to the side, where the people of Baricht could be seen trading off and buying goods.

“You’re not a burden to us. AND, you have something important.”

“Important..?”

“Your potential of course! It’s not every day that we get to see a Soul class accumulation!”

“Is that the reason why you’re taking me with you guys?”

“Hmmm… not necessarily…”

There was this nostalgic, yet saddened reaction that he gave to me. It was almost like he was remembering something. Something that he wished was reality.

“You remind us of a friend of ours. But now, they’re in a state that’ll be hard to fix. She lost something precious to her, and this band of ours that we had, is now in shambles.”

“Now, we just travel plenty, looking for answers and taking jobs every now and then.” Vylona adds.

“Oh yeah, speaking of which, Vy, you think you can take a few odd jobs alone? I think I’ll pair up with Froya for the others.”

Their jobs? Me? Ency’s taking me to these jobs of his? Well, I hope I can help in the slightest at least. Perhaps it’s just something easy, like nabbing herbs off the ground, or to help out others like I did with the villagers. Either way, this is the time where I can prove to myself that I’m useful, and that I can fully convince them that it was a good idea taking me alongside them.

The smell of salt peaked once we hit the docks. The horns of ships roared across the vast body of water, the hard working laborers unpacking all of the cargo and the many individuals waiting to sell and or to buy the goods that came off the ships. Ency parked his carriage in the designated area and Vylona reached her hand out, helping me descend from it. The three of us explored across the dock for a solid while before stopping at an intersection, where it became even busier.

“Where do you guys normally earn money?” I ask out of curiosity.

“Usually we talk to the guild before handling shit from the Board of Behest, not sure if you’ve heard of it before.” Vylona replies while scratching her head in discontent.

“Thing is, the guild here always causes lots of damn problems for us and it gets reallyyyyy annoying after a while. Me and Ency are somewhat well known in these parts, and we get a lot of nasty eyes pointed to us.”

“Huh?! How come?!”

“Wellll, we’re known as the ‘Harvesters’ in these parts, for… reasons you’ll soon get to know later.”

Ency was clearly eager to visit this place. Him browsing the marketplace for more ingredients he can use, and the fact that he’s about an entire block ahead of us. He almost seems childish in a way, it’s pretty funny if I do say so myself! Although if we don’t catch up soon, we might lose him soon enough. I began to lightly jog in the hopes of doing so, while Vylona followed suit. Or… that’s what I thought when I went to check behind, and got completely lost already!

Yep. Not to mention I’ve lost Ency already too… I tried to backtrack where Vylona used to be, yet she was gone too. Well, this is a great start to my introduction of large populuses. The streets were so filled, it was like rummaging through a leafy forest… The loud noises… the crowds… the environment… It was overwhelming me, until I saw something in the distance.

“A SIGNPOST!” I shout to myself in excitement. Thank the heavens that I found a place to go off of. Luckily, Kyman taught me how to read, so I should be able to find a place where they would most likely be found. Maybe the marketplace? Ency could be still there browsing, but no… it’s too big for me to search… Vylona doesn’t have any interest in the goods from here either… OH! THE GUILD! They’ll definitely show up here sometime later today! I quickly scurried to the place as fast as possible. It surprisingly wasn’t that far away, just to the right of this huge fountain with a warrior statue planted in the center.

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I felt quite frightened at the time, it was bound to be a new environment. My mind seriously wanted to enter, yet my body refused to let me. I figured I should stay put at the front door and wait for them instead. It seemed like a much better idea in my head than conversing with people who hate the two of them. Who knows what they’ll do if they learn that I’m associated with them-

“Hell are you doing, waiting in front of the door?”

“OH! E-extremely sorry sir, I didn’t mean to get in your way!”

“Hm, you look like someone in desperate need of some cash, wanna come in?”

“No, no! It’s fine, really!”

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Welp, I was in. This random guy just took my hand and dragged me into the building! The place wasn’t as terrifying as I thought it would be, as it almost felt like the village again. Everyone seems like they’re having a great time…

“Welcome to the Mari Guild! You better thank me later for introducing you to the place! The name’s Vertren, young lady~”

“Uh… Sure… Thanks…”

This guy is uh… freaking me out a bit… He was constantly getting in my face… I tried to leave at first, yet he kept pushing me towards this board with his stupid words, making it hard for me to even reply back.

“You should totally join! By the way, may I ask for the little miss’ name?”

“F-Froya Falst..?”

“Froya! What a beautiful name for such a beautiful lady! Say, why don’t I show you around the place? It'd be nice to earn some money, no?”

At first, I was about to immediately decline his offer, but, if I can earn some money, I’ll be able to help out Ency and Vylona with their financial problems, even if it's just miniscule.

“Sure, yeah. That’d be great, thank you…”

He took his time to explain to me the ropes of the place, as well as introducing to me what appeared to be his friends? I’m not entirely sure, but let’s see what happens when he talks with them…

“Hey! Grant! My man!”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Ok not in a mood to talk I see…”

Well… Looks like he doesn’t seem to be well liked here. Everywhere he goes, he’s shunned at, except for the receptionists for some reason. After that uh, quite sad attempt of introductions, he took me to the board and asked me to pick up any quest that seems suitable for me to feasibly do. I swiped my eyes from left to right, looking at each and every piece of pinned paper, yet every one of them tasked the person to slay or defeat creatures, which I doubt is up to my expertise at my current state…

“See anything that you can take on? I’ll be more than happy to help you accept it from the receptionists!”

“Say, do you have anything that doesn’t require me to like, y’know, kill anything..?”

Vertren glances at me with a confused face, seemingly out of nowhere. The sounds of paper rustling were heard as he stuck his hand into his pocket and revealed what was written to me.

“This is a hunters guild though… I thought you would’ve known that since you came here…”

“Well no, you dragged me in her-”

“If you want to find any of THOSE jobs that have LITTLE to NO PAY, I suggest going to the streets asking the locals to sweep their porches or clean their windows.”

I don’t know if this was me, but it was feeling like he was thinking that I wasn’t taking this seriously… Not to mention he started to get pissed off a bit.

“So, how about this Froya? Why don’t you take one of the easier bounties and you’ll be on your way, ok?”

“Hey! I don’t appreciate the way you’re pressuring me into making decisions. I’ll take things at my own pace, ok?”

“Now listen to me, do you want to make Kols, or not? I have the power to blacklist you if you don’t start racking in reputation for u-”

The door slammed open violently, everyone in the room turned their attention to the source of the noise.

“ALRIGHT! WHICH ONE OF YOU HAVE SEEN A BLONDE GIRL WIT- Oh hey, there she is!”

Ency!? Oh thank the heavens he’s here. These guys keep bothering and pestering me!

“ENCY! Where were you?!”

“Sorry that I lost you two… Y’know, I saw this crazy looking fruit that I was dying to taste, but then there was this competition, and then this raffle, and… I’m not gonna bother you with all of that. Say…”

Ency looks around for a bit, with all the eyes of everyone there pointed directly towards him without a word.

“Seems like you found the guild I was talking about! Good eye!”

“Yeah, that's great and all, but can we just get out of here?! I’m getting the feeling that you shouldn’t be here…”

“Oh, trust me! I get these looks all the time! Let’s pick out a few jobs then , shall we? I’ll pick up some for Vylona too. Speaking of which, where is she?”

“I-I also lost her too when we were trying to catch up to you…”

“She probably has something important to discuss with one of her lackeys. She tends to disappear out of nowhere when one of them needs her.”

“Do you have any? Y’know, subordinates or students of yours?”

“Oh, just two of them! I haven’t talked to them at all much, which is a good thing in my books I suppose.”

Ency approached the board, filled with probably tens or hundreds of requests, each of them being seemingly more dangerous than the last…

“Hm, well I guess I’ll take these then!”

“Which ones are we doin- THE WHOLE BOARD?!”

“Well, duh! We’re low on money after all. One job just won't cut it.”

“Isn’t that a bit dangerous?! What if someone gets killed-”

He gave me a look that I’ve never before seen. It was cold, yet warm at the same time. Everyone in the building seemed to be a bit frightened by his stare.

“You best believe that no one dies here. I would never let myself be shamed like that.”

I heard the slightest chatter before everyone continued to do their things. With the papers shuffling in his hands, he checked off each and every single one with the receptionist to supposedly confirm that he will complete them, as well as including my name to the party he will be completing it with.

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This was taking… WAY LONGER than I thought… It was to the point where I was starting to get a little tired after all of this… My seat was to the far back of the room, as probably due to my association with Ency, I’ve been getting looks left and right, some even spitting on the table I was resting at. “A nap wouldn’t hurt at this time” I thought to myself as I laid my head on the dry wood.

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“E-Excuse me, miss… Hello..?”

I felt a bit of shaking… Someone’s bothering me again… I’ll try to ignore it this time…

“Sorry if I’m disturbing you, but are you awake..?”

“Mfghh…”

“Ah! So you are! I-I was wondering…”

“Mmmm… What… Whaddya want…”

I lifted my head, with my eyes still dry. It was a boy, equipped with items that were… questionably damaged, to say the least. Taking a closer look, he had a light blue tint to his hair as well as it also flowed across his hair quite nicely for a boy.

“...”

He didn’t say a word. Not even a slight murmur… It was deadpan silent for a while. Well, if he has nothing to say, I suppose I’ll go back to sleep then. It’s already been such a long day already…

“No, wait, miss! I want to ask if-”

“Mmm… If you what..?”

“If I can… join you for your board missions..?”

He wants to help? I mean, it was nice of him to offer, but I don’t see him contributing much when Ency and Vylona are here… After all, I get the feeling.

He did seem quite passionate and full of energy. I mean, he did work up the courage to ask me, seeing Ency is quite busy. I’d like to give him a chance if I’m gonna be honest, but I don’t know what the two of them would think. And well, speak of the devil…

“Hey! Hey! Ency- Oh! Looks like you’re already at it?”

“Yes… I know… It’s still odd seeing me take initiative, isn’t it? The sound of papers flipping gets annoying after a while, so I thought I’d save you the trouble.”

The boy glances over towards the two of them, seemingly in complete awe. Y’know what, I guess I can give him a little helping hand.

“Hey, why don’t you go talk to Vylona, she’s not busy right now.”

“I-I don’t know… if… I want to do that…”

“Oh it’ll be fine! The worst she can say is no after all!”

Hopefully that motivated him enough to make his message clear, as he was slowly inching towards the two of them. It was made pretty clear that he wasn’t great with others, but when he finally got to the other side of the room, he really stood completely still.

“Hm? Whaddya want, kid?” Vylona questioned, noticing him approaching her with his hands in his pockets.

“W-well… I’ve been seeing you two… complete expedition after expedition… and I wanted to know-”

“Yeah, well lemme hear it then! I don’t have all day, kid!”

“Well, now that you have a third person in your party… I was wondering… If I may join!”

“Fuck no! What am I? Some babysitter- Nah I don’t mind, of course you can come!”

Yikes Vylona, almost scared the guy… I have to admit though, that was pretty funny! However, now we have the issue of taking someone along for our trip, I’m afraid that others might see this as an opportunity…

“Good thing we’re still pretty hated here! FROYA! C’mon, I just finished all the paperwork! We’re good to go!” Ency shouted, one hand to his mouth.

“Mmm… Alright!”

“By the way kid, what’s your name? Best to know since you’re tagging along!”

“Scheu… I’m Scheu! Scheu Stromen!”