Proper Meal

The journey to Shinobu City was pretty uneventful. Saizo himself was silent, only occasionally looking back at me and checking up — wondering if I needed to take a rest.

Most of the time, I said I was fine to keep walking.

I guess that after everything I've gone up against in the past…month or so — though, to me it only felt like a few days — I was feeling a little jaded with life. So, it wasn't a big deal that this was the first time I had ever left Town Ohda. The way Saizo was looking at me, I think I should have made a bigger deal out of it, but it's a bit too late now.

Thankfully, the route travellers took between Town Ohda and Shinobu City was well-worn and well-protected. According to Farmer Zohei, Town Ohda is a stop between Shinobu City and several other farming towns, and because of the merchant traffic that uses the route, the national Pjanic military and Shinobu City's security officers routinely patrol the route.

Farmer Zohei had decided to come along on the journey with us because he was in talks with a lord that lived in Shinobu City that was interested in making Zohei's farm a supplier for the city. The deal would provide a neat boost to the town's economy.

We parted ways when with Farmer Zohei when we reached Shinobu City a day later. Farmer Zohei said that he was staying with some family members that lived in the city, while Saizo and I proceeded to go to The Hunter Stands, a middle-of-the-road inn that was located in the northeast section of the city. It was an establishment that was frequented by adventurers and the rougher citizens of the city.

I was sitting at a corner table at the inn waiting for my food. While I waited, the message that was up in front of me bothered me.

[COMPLETION QUEST

BLOOD SACRIFICE STATUS TILL COMPLETION: 32%]

Flashes of her desiccated body stressed me out even more. It looked like all liquid in her body had disappeared, and according to the Completion Quest Window, that only accounted for a third of my Completion Quest.

There was no information about the outcome of the Completion Quest, so there was no way to determine if finishing the Completion Quest was even worth the trouble. All I had to work with was an innate feeling inside me that longed for the Quest's completion.

The image of my transformed hand caused a shiver to go down my spine, but that still didn't shake off the feeling that I needed to do the Completion Quest.

The waitress that came and took my order walked up to the table where I was and set down the plate and I gazed at the wonderful food that was in front of me. I thanked her and she smiled and went off to serve another hungry customer waiting for their order to be taken.

Using a small amount of the money I gained from the Solo Dungeon, I bought the most lavish and fulfilling meal I saw on the menu. It wasn't the most expensive, but to me it was the most symbolic.

On the plate was a slab of Alk steak with some boiled vegetables. The steak was a little bit smaller than I had hoped for, but more than enough, and I was ever so thankful that the dish had proper vegetables. Not all mashed together to a watery soup.

This was the meal that I had planned on sharing with the other kids at the orphanage after I finished the Solo Dungeon. Alk meat was quite common at Town Ohda, but I planned to buy some from the butcher with actual vegetables rather than what we put in the soups.

It was going to be our first proper meal together. Like a family.

It wasn't until right then that it really hit me that the kids were gone, and the chances that I would see them again were small. They would have loved this meal.

The meat was a little bit tough and bland, but after soup and Qrell jerky for the last few days (in my perspective), it was amazing. When I took a bite of some of the boiled vegetables, I nearly cried. It was so well-seasoned and so much more than the watered-down soup that we had at the orphanage, I felt like I could eat the vegetables this way always.

Saizo sat down heavily on a stool opposite me and smiled at the way I had hunched over my food, savouring every bite.

"Ah, good old Alk steak. Meat's a bit bland here, but at least it's filling." He chirped. He took a swig of ale out of the mug he had carried over and sighed, "nothing better than a cold ale after a long day travelling."

"I don't think I'll like ale." I mumbled, mouth full of vegetables, "and I don't mind the meat being bland. It's been so long since I've had such great food. I can't remember when."

I flashed a look at Saizo and saw the adventurer brooding somewhat. I shovelled another piece of the meat as I spoke, "did you find out what kind of Quests there were?"

"I found out as soon as the System logged us entering the inn. I just wanted to give you some time to relax and eat first." Saizo said as he watched the ale in his mug as he swirled it around.

I shrugged as I continued eating, "I don't mind. I'm excited to go on my first proper Quest."

Saizo had motioned for an inn staff member to come over to the table and ordered the Alk steak too. When they left, he took a big gulp of the ale.

"The System gave us three options; do you know how Quests work?" Saizo started.

I had to wait till my mouth was empty before I could answer, "uh, yeah, I read into it a little bit before…they're usually themed, right? But the themes are just unneeded context?"

Saizo explained, "exactly. Most Quests end in some sort of dungeon raid, and the types of creatures that spawn in the dungeon usually have a tendency to follow that theme. The three that the System gave are the following:

"One; The Mad Hatter — a B-tier escort quest that ends in a pretty demanding dungeon raid, based on the Mad Hatter folktale from West Pjana. I haven't completed this Quest before, but I think Nato has, and from what I've heard it's not a fun one."

I nodded as I continued eating.

"The second one is called the Hall of the Ancients. It is only C-tier, but it is a Dungeon Break Quest, so it's a 30-adventurer minimum Quest. Unfortunately, the only way to get that many people for a Quest is to go through the Adventurer's Guild, and that's a lot of hassle."

He paused as he took another swig of his ale and winced when he accidentally drank too much in one go. He let out a loud burp and sighed. I was used to seeing him like this when he would tell me some of his adventuring stories in the bar in Town Ohda. The strong, off-stench of the ale wafted over the table to me and I tried not to breathe in too much of the smell.

"I'm guessing the hassle's not worth it?" I asked after I finished my meal. I drank a mouthful of water. Even though I was of legal age to have an ale, I wanted to be sober. Especially if Mobito and Nato were going to meet with Saizo soon.

Saizo shook his head in response, "Adventurer's Guild politics is convoluted and frustrating enough to destroy dreams. Probably best you not dealing with them for as long as possible."

I nodded slowly in understanding.

"So what's the third one? What happens if the third one is unusable for us?" I tried to bring the conversation back to the three Quest options.

"The third one is called 'The Crimson Tower'. It's a pretty straightforward Quest. We go to the tower, we pass the trials and then it's done," Saizo explained, "I think Mobito has done it a few times so he'll be able to explain in better detail, but it's only a C-tier rescue Quest and there's no dungeon raid to worry about."

"How often do Quests come in?" I asked him, "the variety is pretty lacking right now."

"It depends on the number of Users in a town. The bigger the town or city, the more adventurers there would be so the System would create more Quests more often. Shinobu City's pretty small, so they get updated about once a week." Saizo explained. He paused to think about something for a moment.

I had finished my meal by then and wiped my mouth on my sleeve. I sighed in contentment. He flashed a quick smile at me, "good meal?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty full now." I replied.

"The only Quest I'm comfortable with you joining is probably the Crimson Tower one…" Saizo mumbled in thought.

"I don't mind!" I said quickly. I winced a little in my head because it felt a little too desperate. I hoped that Saizo didn't think that.

"We could always wait till The Hunting Games are over in a month's time. There would be less adventurers around which means that hopefully the choice of Quests will be better." Saizo explained.

Bile and panic rose in me as I felt a desperate need to finish the Completion Quest on my left arm item. I was worried that if they were left to their own devices for too long, Mobito and Nato were going to disappear before justice could be dealt upon them.

"If Mobito has completed the Quest a few times, surely that means it would be easy to finish the Quest without worrying about too much danger, right?" I tried to keep my voice level and normal as I spoke.

I watched Saizo as he juggled the variables in his head in an attempt to try and make a decision. I needed Saizo to agree with doing the Crimson Tower Quest so that he could persuade his two colleagues to come with us as well.

Saizo sighed and nodded his head slowly, "I guess you have a good point."

He reached out into the space in front of him and worked through some Windows that I couldn't see, that I didn't have the permission to see. With one final poke into the air, a Window popped up in front of me. Saizo sent me a Party invitation. I quickly accepted and I received another Window that informed me that the Crimson Tower Quest had been accepted by the Party Leader.

I couldn't help a little bit of genuine excitement at the thought I was going to go on my first Quest as an official adventurer. My face lit up and Saizo noticed and smiled softly.

The waitress came back to grab my empty plate and I asked her for some more water and she came back with a full jug. I thanked her.

"How are your legs from travelling here from Ohda?" Ohda asked after he took another drink from his mug.

"They're fine. I levelled up quite a bit, and I was able to put some on my Strength Stat, so I think that helped." I said.

Saizo nodded, "yep, it certainly would. I only asked because the Crimson Tower is actually quite far away. We would have to go on quite the hike to get to the Quest location. The money reward is worth it though."

I took a look at the Quest information and saw that the money reward for the Crimson Tower was 750 gold. More than the Solo Dungeon.

"That's a lot, right?" I asked meekly, "I only ever had one or two gold when I hunted for the orphanage…"

"Oh!" Saizo exclaimed, "of course! Sorry. For me, I've been able to live off about 1400 gold a week as an adventurer. Now that's a little bit of the low end, but since I'm pretty much a mercenary for random gigs, that's all I've needed."

I felt my jaw dropped at the number.

"If you wanted to save up for a house, you'd have to probably join an Adventurers' Guild. Like I said earlier, they get the early confirmation on all the Dungeon Break Quests and those pay quite a lot. The System's monetary reward is great, but sometimes folk like to tip the Guilds for their hard as well, so you could get quite a big payday at the end, but you have to put down some permanent roots. That's not my style." Saizo further explained.

"I'm guessing the higher the tier, the more gold you get as well?" I asked.

"Right."

I looked at the Quest information again, "so how come this one is 750 gold? That seems quite high for a C-tier, right?"

"That's true, but the System takes into account how long it would take to get there, and the Quest tiering system only takes into account the difficulty of the Quest itself, not the journey to get to the location." Saizo slurped one last big gulp of ale.

I could see his face starting to redden from the alcohol as he smiled at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," Saizo started, "just, I'm glad that your arm is better — that you're better."

He suddenly stood up and dragged the stool he was sitting on back near the table, "well, my mug is empty so I'm going to refill. Don't stay up too late and rest up, I'll work on getting the other two on board with doing the Crimson Tower Quest."

With that, he turned and made his way straight back to the bar.

I sighed and looked at the Window once more. It worked, I managed to convince Saizo. I was once again one step closer to completing my plan.