Intermission: Just Another Normal Quest (Part 1)

𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦: 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰.

"Here is your reward. Thank you for your hard work."

"T-thanks."

I took the coins from the counter and added it to my own bag. Looking into the bag.....𝘺𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩. 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦?

"C-can show me th-the highest p-paying ones?"

"...."

Brianna didn't say anything immediately, and just stared at me. It seemed like she was trying to figure something out. After a few moments of silence, she spoke.

"....Are you that in need of money?"

"Y-yes."

"I must say I am surprised. You have been clearing Low Tier Quests quite frequently, and since I haven't seen you with a party you must be taking all the rewards, yes?"

"...Y-yes."

"Then excuse me, but if I could ask...is that not sufficient? I don't want to pry, but while we do have higher paying Low Tier Quests, they are far more dangerous. It is ill advised to do them alone. You are very close to moving up to be a Mid Tier Adventurer, I'd advise that a slow and safe pace is the best way to get better paying solo-able quests."

"..."

I didn't know what to say. Everything she had said was correct...if I was a normal solo adventurer. Unfortunately, not only was I not alone in my quests, but I technically had 2 mouths to feed on top of my goal of migrating to the City of Walfrey. I also had fought a Demon and won. Even if it was a scrub and I barely won with a lot of luck, it was an entity from the Demon Realm. So far every quest I had taken since the incident felt like a walk in the park comparatively. However, I couldn't say anything of these things to her. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘺? ���𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦.

"...Does it have something to do with all the damage your armor sustained recently?"

"URGK!"

Before I could think of something to say she had asked a question that was far too close to the truth. I instinctively made a surprised grunting noise. Her eyes narrowed the moment I reacted, and kept assessing me. Being stared at so intensely by a pretty girl would normally be a (sort of) good thing, but right now all it did was make me want to run out the guild doors. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩! 𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘺...𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬...𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬...𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬!

"You can trust me you know? While I work for the guild, we are bound to keep our clients secrets unless it is something that would cause a national emergency."

"..."

"Is it something that bad?"

"It is...d-difficult to explain. P-please understand."

That was all I could muster. I couldn't think of any good lies. Even if I did, I definitely didn't have the skills to tell a lie convincingly. She continued to stare at me with discerning eyes, but eventually she stopped and sighed.

" ...Hah...very well. While I wish you would share more with me, I guess I should be happy that you at least didn't try to lie to me."

When she said that it made my stomach churn, it felt bad having to keep secrets from...𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥? 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯...���'𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦. 𝘏𝘮𝘮𝘮...𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭.

While I was trying to figure out the concept of friendship, Brianna placed a hand on her cheek, and suddenly gave me a saddened look with her eyes upturned.

"I had thought we were getting quite close, but it seems you still keep me at arms length. Is this because of how we first met? Did you want me to apologize again? Or did you...want something else as compensation?"

"URGK!"

Another odd grunt escaped from me. I had never seen her like this before, and it was...honestly it was kind of cute. She was normally such a professional, but every once in a while she would show me a completely different side of her. Immediately my brain went into overdrive. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯?!? 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦? 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘵? 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥?!?

"Haha! I'm just kidding, I'm sorry for teasing you...(though it is definitely worrying how enjoyable it is)."

"I-it's o-ok. Wait...I-I didn't c-catch that last part."

"Oh it was nothing important. Here, have a look at these quests, but I must warn you they are much more difficult than the ones you have picked up so far."

I started looking through the quests she presented to me as I tried to cool down my overheated brain. I quickly found the highest paying one.

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Required Level: Low Tier

Recommended Party Size: 6+

Difficulty: ******

Reward: 1 gold for extermination, 10 gold for each victim returned alive

Quest: A group of goblins attacked a caravan and abducted the people inside. The people missing include the children of Baron Emerldon, Baucus and Rigrit Emerldon. Also missing are the tutor who was with them, Georg Fallows, and their maid Regina Pentagrew. No one has been able to ascertain their location. The wreckage of the carriage was found on...

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Wow, all the people listed as missing had last names, which means they were all some sort of nobility. Though, based on the fact that they only made an ask of Low Tier Adventurers...𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘺, 10 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘳���𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵...𝘥𝘰 𝘔𝘪𝘥 𝘛𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦?!? 𝘖𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦? 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮?

Looking at the date when the wreckage was found, these people had been missing for about 2 days. Another thing that surprised me was...

"Wh-why did no one t-take this quest?"

That's right, for such a high paying quest I would have expected someone to have taken it by now.

"There are two reasons. One, is that no one has been able to find where the captives are, there is no one with the 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 job within the area. The Goblin tracks seemed to go in every direction, but then disappeared as they entered the woods nearby. A large scouting party was not paid for, so we are unable to muster the manpower to scour the area heavily to find them with brute force. Second, since this involves nobility, people don't want to be blamed if the captives cannot be returned. Goblins, while they aren't the strongest monster, are quite vicious. It has already been 2 full days, and without a proper lead many believe it is a lost cause and do not want to be blamed by the nobility if they fail."

That makes sense, the chance of success was low, and if they failed they would be afraid of getting blamed by the nobility. It made me kind of not want to take the quest, but looking at the potential payout...𝘐 𝘕𝘌𝘌𝘋 𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘚.

I had an ace up my sleeve, I had my own search party. I could send all my minions out and have them search the area en masse. They moved fast and wouldn't tire, I was probably the person with the best odds of finding them right now. Also, if anything did go wrong and I failed, I could just up and leave with Fiona. I hadn't really put down roots anywhere, and no one really knew me yet. I'd just say my farewells to Brianna and Rockfort and slip away in the night. I had been considering going to the City of Walfrey anyways, and there I would just be another face in the crowd.

"I-I'll take it."

"Are you sure? This quest if it goes awry...you might have to--"

"Th-thank you for your c-concern, but I-I need th-the money."

"...Very well. The quest has been assigned to you. I wish you luck..."

With that I turned around and left the guild, heading toward the last known location of the missing people. In my rush I hadn't noticed the extremely worried look Brianna had on her face.