"Allow me to do the introductions, these are the adventurers who are looking to accept your request, the party leader, Aster Estrea and his party members, Faris and Neri." The rabbitkin guild staff introduces us to an old man.
After our previous meeting with the staff, we went to spend some time training in the training at the guild before having a simple lunch in the guild pub. When we went to report our attendance afterward, Fron notified us that the requester was already here so the guild staff who handled us quickly guided us into a meeting room.
"And this is Robert Lensly, head of the fourth nature mage division of the merchant guild, the requester who is looking for escorts to the city of Austellus. Please feel free to use this meeting room as you please, now if you'll please excuse me." The rabbitkin lady bows to us before leaving the room, closing the door behind her.
With the quest Neri chose leading us to the dwarven country in the south, we chose a corresponding escort quest down south, to the southernmost city of the kingdom, the city of Austellus.
With only the old man Robert and us left in the room, both parties take a moment to size each other up. I try to keep up a business smile and to look confident but polite because as they say, first impressions will make or break a deal.
I take the time to gauge my potential employer as well, the last thing I want is someone reckless and stupid telling me what to do and where to go.
The old man Robert gives off an aura of an army veteran with the way he sits perfectly straight and his head full of grey hair that complements well with his well-trimmed beard. Maybe I'm biased to age but he seems like someone with enough life experience to be cautious enough for me to be a good employer.
Human Male Age: 62
Magic Level:
Nature Lv. 67
Earth Lv. 67
Water Lv. 67
Fire Lv. 1
Unique Magic:
Those are pretty high levels but three different magic? Why would someone with such high levels need bodyguards in the first place?
"Nice to meet you Mr. Lensly, feel free to ask us anything you would like, we will be happy to oblige." I act proactive and extend my hand out for a handshake, hoping to gain the favor of my potential employer.
"A bronze ranked kid with his slaves that know some degree of etiquette, and judging from the skin on the back of your hands are, you obviously don't do much manual labor. Which house do you belong to?" The old man ignores my outreached hand and questions me instead.
"...I'm sorry?"
"Which noblemen house do you come from?"
"I'm sorry but I believe you are mistaken, I am not a noble of any sorts, I am just an adventurer." I try to sound as genuine as possible.
The old man stares at me for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.
"It's fine if you don't want to say but don't lie to me."
"..."
---
After spending a great deal of effort and time to convince Mr. Lensly that I'm not a noble, we finally moved on to talk about the expectations, requirements, and terms of employment and got successfully hired.
The terms we agreed to were mostly to avoid small misunderstandings. We agreed that we are responsible for our own food rations, transportation, and obviously, equipment. In return, we will be paid 1 gold coin and 50 silver coins per day and with all mana crystals of the monsters we kill belonging to us as well.
The length of employment is starting tomorrow morning when we will depart, up until we reach our destination which is expected to take 8-10 days as we will be making various stops along the way.
We won't be the only adventurer party Mr.Lensly hires as they usually employ two to four parties depending on the size of their caravan but seeing how there is a shortage of manpower everywhere, we probably will be one of two parties participating in the request.
This time, the caravan will consist of half a dozen other nature mages who are all part of the fourth nature mage division that is under Mr.Lensly.
With the deal settled and with us officially employed to be part of the escort team for the fourth nature mage division of merchant guild, Mr.Lensly takes his leave as only my party is left in the meeting room.
"A nature mage division of the merchant guild huh? It felt awkward asking the old man but who are they exactly? Why would a group of mages need escorts while they tour all over the south?" I voice my doubts to Neri, expecting her to have the answers to my questions.
"..." Neri soundlessly stares at me before turning to give Faris a look that screams, is he serious?
Hey! That hurts master's feelings a little if you give me that look, Neri...
"Master, the nature mage division consists of mages trained carefully by both the kingdom and the merchant guild in agriculture support magic. They have dedicated themselves to researching ways to use their magic to help improve the quantity, quality, and time required to grow crops." Faris explains patiently.
I love you, Faris.
"Nature magic can do that? I thought the changes it brings were only temporary."
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I remember back to my fights in the tournament where I fought against a nature mage once. He made vines grow out from seeds at an astonishing rate and was pretty skilled.
"Of course it can, it requires a lot more time, skill, and mana to change even a little bit so you won't see it in combat but the changes can be made permanent. It's thanks to these nature mages dedicate themselves to this pursuit that we are able to feed everyone so well and why they are so few people starving. The only people who starve is because they are logistically cut off from food." Neri chimes in.
I was always wondering in the back of my head why I haven't seen the slums in the city yet with such a high population, it must not exist or very small and consist of people from special circumstances.
"So they're basically going around to help different farms along the way from here to Austellus?"
"Yep," Faris responds while Neri nods slightly.
"Should I assume they have little to no fighting capabilities?" I say while thinking back to Mr.Lensly's high levels.
"Correct, they can use magic at a high level but they probably have little to no experience in a fight so they won't be able to effectively utilize their spells while fighting for their lives. They've been trained carefully under the management from the merchant guild with the adventurer guild's help but is only in matters pertaining to agriculture."
So they're grown in a greenhouse and are more of the scholarly frail type.
With our objective clear, we head out to start shopping for supplies with a long-distance journey in mind. We need to buy a tent, portable utensils, foodstuff, and most importantly of all, a wagon to carry all of the above.
The amount of supplies and equipment needed for is no joke as we aim for at least 15 days worth just in case. Even if we were able to carry it ourselves we wouldn't be able to fight at the same time with all the extra baggage in the way.
Since it's our first time, we didn't spread out but stayed as one group and went through the things on our checklist. With only 64 gold coins, 144 silver coins, and 50 copper coins left in our possession, we have to try to budget everything in order to have enough to purchase enough dwarven alcohol for the request.
We start off with transportation first to make it easier to carry the goods we will be purchasing so we arrive at a shop near the outskirts of town. The shop sold a variety of carriages and wagons as well as horses.
"I'm not too familiar with wagons and horses, do you two know how to choose from all this?" I ask the two girls beside me as I look around.
I look at Faris first who immediately turns over to Neri as I set my gaze on her as well.
"...With a budget in mind... we should ask for the cheapest covered wagon. The coverless ones won't be suitable for long-distance travel as we won't be able to take cover from the sun or rain nor could our luggage. Blacky alone probably won't be able to pull the cart, he isn't suitable for the role anyways as a fine warhorse so we should look into some cheap draft horses." Neri whispers out at a volume that's barely audible as they are many people around.
Both Faris and I nod at her words like having received wise teachings from our teacher.
With that in mind, I head over to find someone to help us.
We ended up buying a second-hand wagon with a white cloth cover that reminds me of the back of a pickup truck in size for 2 gold coins. We also bought two draft horses to pull our new wagon for 3 gold coins total, spending a grand total of 5 golds.
Let's hope this will be useful to us for a long time to come.
The only one among us who knows how to drive the cart is Faris, having been trained to do so as part of her full course training back with the slave trader.
Both Neri and I insist to learn as well so that we can take turns in the future but I teacher Faris only accepted Neri as a student and I was mercilessly rejected, with the reason being "Master does not need to know how to drive as it is our job as your slaves to do so for you."
I tried riding on our new wagon out but my ass couldn't stand it for long with how bumpy the ride is against the hard wooden seats. I really need to get soft leather seats like Norton has or somehow install shock absorbers to the wagon.
So instead, I plan to focus on improving my riding skills with Blacky as we can't escort if all of us are just sitting around on the wagon.
After having acquired our new mode of transportation, we set off to purchase up the rest of the things on our list.
Our next purchases are much easier to choose from, picking out a tent that is large and stable enough to shield all of us from the wind and rain, everything to do with food that can be easily carried and preserved, and small useful contraptions like a warning system which basically only consist of bells attached to rope.
The only expensive thing on the list was the tent so our total damages were only 1 gold coin and 50 silver coins.
The shopping didn't last as long as we expected so we used the extra time to finish some matters at the housing store and to research the dangers we may encounter along the route we will likely be taking tomorrow at the adventurer guild.
It's been decided that we will discontinue renting our current place as we will likely be away for quite some time so it won't be worth it to pay for next month's rent. Good thing we have few belongings so we can just carry it all with us on the wagon.
We end the day with having dinner downstairs at the adventurer guild pub before heading home to rest early to prepare for our first request tomorrow, can't be late on our first day after all.
---
18th day of the third month.
As promised, we head for the south gate at sunrise.
The girls are on the wagon while I ride Blacky alongside them.
We managed to exit the city after a quick inspection of our wagon before searching for our employer at our meeting place.
There's a lot of traffic even though it's so early in the morning but we after carefully searching, we managed to find Mr.Lensly and his entourage standing to the side under the city walls. Beside them are two carriages and five large wagons.
I sure didn't expect them to have so many vehicles, it won't be easy to keep an eye on all of them.
"They sure are bringing a lot of transport."
"Probably to carry the samples of crops and soil from different areas for research and examining their progress," Neri replies.
We park our horses to the side before heading over to report our presence.
Closing the distance, we stumble onto the scene of a young woman with green hair complaining to Mr.Lensly while pointing to the people on the other side of her who seems to be adventurers judging from their getup.
The adventurers are huddled around one of their own, a young man, who seems to be recovering from being knocked down.
"...WASTING MONEY ON ESCORTS, WE ARE PLENTY ENOUGH TO DEFEND OURSELVES!" The green-haired girl yells.
Goddamnit, just the perfect time for us to come. Let's just stand in the distance and wait for it to pass.
"Enough, you are being too rude. I know what you are trying to say but there is a reason it's part of the guild rules to hire escorts during our missions. No matter what you say, the decision has already been made." Mr.Lensly lectures.
"BUT THERE'RE SO WEA---"
The girl cuts herself short when she noticed Mr.Lensly's stern gaze and stomps her foot into the ground before turning around to storm away.
Mr.Lensly ignores her and turns to apologize to the adventurers.
Just as the green-haired girl is about to storm pass us, she comes to an abrupt stop upon seeing Neri and stare at her for a while before turning her gaze to me.
"...YOU!"
...Give me a break, what did I do now?!
---
"You think they'll listen or call for the knights?" A man voices out.
The rough-looking man is sitting on a wooden chair placed in front of a fire while he feasts on the skewer he is holding.
Kneeling beside him is another man with a thin figure in a jet black cloak, with his face hidden, wrapped in cloth.
"Don't worry leader, even if they call for the knights, I doubt they have any spare manpower to investigate based on their claims alone."
"I hope that will be the case. Double the lookouts around the area just to be sure and remember to feed our 'guest'." The leader says in a commanding voice as he stands up and throws the skewer in his hand to the side.
"Right away sir." Says the cloaked man, with obvious fright in his voice.
Having received his orders, the cloaked man immediately takes his leave, disappearing as if he was just a shadow.