8 What Can I Do for Money?

Alex dumbfoundedly was looking at the metal plate with the mission's content.

'Mission: Supervise the customer on his/her first mission of an (F-) rank, ensuring the safety of the customer and mission success.

Award for success: 200 silver coins'

To say that Alex was surprised is to say nothing at all. His second mission is just a repeat of his first one, but this time he needs to take another person with him and give all of the contributions to that exact person. However, the most shocking part was the mission reward.

"200 silver?!" shouted Alex.

"Yes, you're now in the (E) ranks, so the price is much higher," cleared the confusion the man behind the window, "Awakened at the (F) rank usually cannot do much except for gathering common ingredient and send messages. Only those in the (E) ranks can fight magic beasts, so they get much more money."

"Ok, I understand now... Then sir, according to the mission slit I must be someone's nanny?" Alex voiced out his displeaser.

"Yes, but if you don't want to you can always take another one..." suggested Mark, with an amiable smile.

From his point of few, such missions are the best, one doesn't need to overdo things, just follow the customer and get your reward.

"Are there any other missions?" asked Alex helplessly.

"Yeah, hunt at least 2 Grey-Tooth foxes for 50 silver, of course, you are also getting paid for their body parts, but that depends upon how many you can slay."

"How much do I get for one fox?" Alex got interested when the conversation touched the topic of getting paid more.

"Usually, you may get 15-20 silver for one, that means in total at the very minimum for a mission you'll get 80 silver," calmly explained Mark.

For several years, Mark has been dealing with a lot of awakened ranged from (D) to (F) ranks. It was within his scope of responsibility to inform them of the mission in as much detail as possible. That's why he never gets irritated with too many questions from the awakened.

"But I need to bring them back first..." Alex softly said out loud his thoughts.

"Right, so my advice would be to take the supervision mission, it is safer, easier and pays well."

The young awakened looked at the metal plate in his hands and then at the counterman in front of him. Alex needed money, and both of them knew that, so the answer was obvious.

"I'll take it, thank you..."

"Good, you must wait for the client at the South City Gates, the appointment time is written on the mission slit. Good luck, boy!" said Mark with a happy face.

"Thanks, see you..."

Leaving the Association building, Alex felt a little bit frustrated, for some reason deep within him, there was arrogance which got hurt the moment he took the mission.

'I need money, and this mission is appropriate,' Alex. tried to reassure himself, '10:00 am, I have 30 minutes left, lucky me..."

At the same time, when the mission was accepted by Alex, at the other side of the Association, a young boy and a middle-aged man got a message on their arm protectors.

"Young Master, someone has accepted the mission," happily said the man.

"Lucky us!" the boy agreed.

"Let's go, Young Master, we have 30 minutes left!"

"Go quickly!"

In thirty minutes at the South City Gates, Alex, who was standing right next to the Border Guards' Station, saw a pair of a young boy and a man. The boy's appearance was stunning, however, he was still no match for Alex. Straight nose, black hair, tied in a ponytail behind, long eyelashes and dark eyes, that's what Alex saw observing the approaching client. The middle-aged man, on the other hand, looked as plain as possible, there was nothing to take notice of, maybe only a small scar on the left side of the face, close to the ear, which was barely noticeable.

"Hello, sirs, are you the mission's issuer?" asked Alex after greeting the duo.

"Hello, yes we are... And you must be the awakened who took it?" agreed the man and then suspiciously asked Alex.

The man had his doubts the moment he saw a young boy greeting him and his Young Master. Alex was just too young and it was rare to see awakened that young.

"Yes, my name is Alex" answered Alex, a little embarrassed of himself. He could understand the reaction of the man in front.

"It's great that you are the one to take the mission," suddenly said the young boy, "We are probably of the same age and will get along well! I am George and this is uncle James."

"Thank you, it's nice to meet you."

The duo shook hands with Alex after a short introduction and then went towards the Gates, where they got inspected by the sentries.

"Good luck, sirs..." said the guard, who inspected them, at the end.

"Thanks.

In the wilderness, Alex felt a familiar feeling spreading over every inch of his skin. That was the coldness of the wilderness, the atmosphere of the territory where dangers do not hide behind a corner but stare directly at you.

"How many times have you been out here?" asked the plain man.

Alex hesitated for a second but then answered, "This is my second time..."

"Second?!" the man was rendered speechless hearing what his companion said.

"And you're already an (E) rank? Isn't that too cool?" shouted George in surprise.

"I hunted a magic beast on my first mission, so it got upgraded," explained Alex, feeling a little bit uncomfortable.

"Wow?! When will I be able to hunt magic creatures?" fantasized the young man.

Uncle James was also impressed with Alex, after learning how he got his (E) rank, so he put down his worries about Alex's capabilities for later.

"We must start moving forward, the faster we finish the mission, the less time we will spend out here."

"You are right, Uncle, let's go!"

The group of three started running towards the forest, where not long ago Alex had his first death fight.

'I should finish the plan and return to Young Master as soon as possible,' thought James.

After half an hour, near the forest, the man said, "George, Alex, I will go patrol the surroundings to prevent dangerous beasts from attacking you."

"Great, uncle James, thank you for your help."

"No worries..." the middle-aged man meaningfully looked at the young boy.

'If that's the case, the mission will be easy.'

The man jumped on a tree and then disappeared in the shadows.

Alex just stared into that direction for a few seconds when a young voice sounded from his right side, "Uncle James is strong, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he is..."

"Well, let's go!"

Inside the forest, Alex attentively observed his surroundings, even with the protection of uncle James the wilderness may send an unexpected gift.

"Alex, what do you think about the City of New Hope?" asked George in a whisper.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean... Do you like the city?"

Alex couldn't think of a reason why his client asked for his opinion on his hometown.

"Well, I've lived there since the start of the examination, so I guess, I like it."

"Have you never been to other places? The Golden Lion Empire is pretty huge..."

"My family didn't have any awakened, so it was hard to earn money and... We lived in a very poor region."

"I see, then now you must be your parent's pride, right?" said George, smiling at Alex.

His expression was innocent and pure, it made people like him as soon as they see him. However, Alex felt out of his place looking at George... His words and smile reminded him of his parents and their disappearance.

George evidently noticed his partner's change of expression and asked, "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no... Let's continue with the mission."

The duo traveled deeper and deeper into the forest, plucking up the (F) rank herbs, which they could.

'Uncle James is really impressive...' thought Alex, watching the trees around him, George and he was pretty far in the forest and they still didn't encounter any magic beasts.

Alex didn't know if it was due to luck or Uncle Jame's efforts but he hoped on the latter. However...

'I've killed as many beasts in the surroundings as I could, hope it's enough for Young Master to be safe,' considered Uncle James, jumping from one tree to another.

He was already nearing the place where they previously entered the forest. For some unknown reason, Uncle James decided to return to the open field of wilderness.

After a few minutes, James landed onto the ground and looked towards the North.

"James..." sounded a seductive voice from the right.

The source of the voice was a young woman, not older than thirty years old, with a curvy figure and brown long hair. She wore a lightweight armor that didn't cover much of her body as it should. Nevertheless, Uncle James wasn't captivated by her, instead, he had a respectful and slightly fearful expression.

"Ashley... Did you succeed?"

"Of course... It was easier than I thought," the woman answered and playfully smiled.

Frivolous of the woman didn't irritate Uncle James and he nodded in relief.

"James, how is Young Master?"

"He is fine, I eliminated all danger in the radius of 100 kilometers."

"Is that enough?" worriedly asked Ashley.

"Yes, the don't need to delve deeper than 100 kilometers into the forest, so I even did a little extra."

"Good, because if anything happens to Young Master, I'll be the first one to tear your body limb from limb," cheerfully said the young woman and clapped her hands together.

This made James tremble from fear and move further away from her.

"Well, let's proceed with the rest of the mission, James..."

"Ok."

At the same time, inside the forest.

"Yes! The last one!" shouted George.

"Tch! Quite, we don't want to invite beasts here."

"Oh, yeah, you're right."

"Good, let's hurry up home, the sooner we leave the sooner we get to te safety."

George nodded and they moved towards the city of New Hope.

'Mark was right, the mission was easy.' contemplated Alex while running a little bit behind his client, 'Maybe I should take a few more of such mission?'

This idea greatly attracted Alex however the next moment he dismissed it.

'No! I cannot only do missions for money. I must train myself and grow stronger. I take missions as a means to make myself stronger and earning money is only secondary.'

Alex quickly calmed down his mindset and returned his view towards the goal of his life as an awakened.

"Alex, thank you!" suddenly George's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"What for? I didn't do anything."

"You accepted the mission, that's enough for me to thank you."

"The mission was good, that's why I took it, no need for gratitude."

"You are so stubborn! Why can't you just accept it?!"

"Um..."

George sighed and continued, "Alex we are different from other children because we've awakened our memories we lost our right to have a childhood, the easiest part of our lives. So, sometimes, we must make things easier, as compensation."

"I don't understand..."

"Someday you will," said George and smiled.

"No, I mean you said a bunch of words with a wise expression, but they have no meaning."

"What did you say?!"

"It doesn't make sense," Alex was calm and nonchalantly answered.

"You! I am not talking to you anymore!"

Alex's companion showed angry expressions from time to time, trying to make Alex apologize but it was to no avail.

At the boundary between the forest and open field Alex and George stopped.

"Where is Uncle James," asked Alex.

"He must've traveled deeper than us... Don't worry, I'll text him."

"How?"

"Using this!" George showed Alex and elegant wristband, which looked like an arm protector.