First Quest

It was the next day, and we were being guided down the hallway by Tiamat. Since today was the weekday, everybody was wearing their gear, combat clothes, that stuff. While on the other hand, all I was wearing was a black tunic, white trousers, and boots. Everybody was staring at me with weird looks.

"Why is he just wearing casual clothes?"

"Does he not have any gear with him?"

"Maybe he's too poor to afford gear."

Well, that last one is true, I can't afford any gear. My father doesn't have any combat gear because he discarded them and my mother never fought before.

Tiamat had guided us down the hall and we arrived in front of this massive board filled with job requests.

"Here is the task board. Every task is separated by ranks, all the way to the left is where the copper ranks will get their quests and all the way to the right is where Divinium rank will get theirs."

I looked all the way to the left. There were a bunch of people wearing classic, low end looking gear. If I were to guess, they were probably copper or bronze ranks. Just a guess, to be honest.

"When you pick the quest that you want to do, just go over to one of the receptionists and they'll verify your quest and ID. "

That must be what these rank cards are for. They are like another set of Identification.

"Remember, you can't pick a quest that's higher than your rank, that's for safety reasons. You can also pick a quest that's one rank lower than yours, and only one rank lower. You can also do a quest in groups, which I recommend. Anyway, good luck, and come back safely."

That's assuring.

I scanned through the many quests in the gold rank section. All I found were jobs requesting to deliver some letters and packages. Are those even important?

"Not many good jobs."

I looked to my right where the voice came from and Genesis stood there with her arms crossed. Her long rose-colored hair was tied in a ponytail and she was wearing gold armor with hues of black and red.

"You think so? I was expecting jobs like killing some monsters or something."

"I was thinking that too. If you look over at the silver rank, they have all of that."

"Wait, you're a gold rank?"

"Yes, one of them."

"One of them I see."

"What quests are up there?"

"Hmm?"

I looked up and there were a few quests lined up. I couldn't really see what they said since they were, well, high up. I guess I should fly up there and see what quests there are. There are other people flying, so I guess I can fly as well.

"Let me see."

Flutter.

I slowly flapped my wings up and inspected the jobs.

"Damn it, it's the same thing."

There was one more at the top. I went up there and looked. It had a silhouette of a large bear that looked like it was creeping around. I took a look at the description.

[Kill the Stalking Bear that haunts the Okapi Forest.]

Stalking Bear? In the Okapi Forest? Never seen one of those in the forest.

[Reward: 20 silver and 60 bronze]

20 silver and 60 bronze, huh? That's a pretty fair amount.

Money in this world is kind of like money back on earth, except well you use these coins instead of paper money.

There are 5 kinds of coins, copper, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. To make it easier, I'll explain what each of them means.

1 copper coin = $1.00 (US dollars) 1 bronze coin = $10.00 (US dollars) 1 silver coin = $100.00 (US dollars) 1 gold coin = $1000.00 (US dollars) 1 platinum coin = $10000.00 (US dollars)

That is what I'm guessing, what each one is worth. But you don't have to listen to me.

Anyway, since this job is offering 20 silver and 60 bronze, that means I'll be getting...

2600 US dollars. That equals around two gold coins.

"I guess this one can do."

I ripped the poster off the wall and landed safely on the ground, folding my wings.

"Did you find a good one?"

"Yes, it's a good mission with a decent reward."

"Can I join you on this one? We can form a party."

"Sure."

I walked up to one of the receptionists and handed them the poster and my rank card.

"This is your first quest, right?"

"Not really, I've done some, but as an observer."

"I assume that you know all the rules by now."

"Yes."

There are rules when you do a quest. When you complete a quest like slaying wolves, fishing, delivery, etc. You will get a verification note that verifies completion and you'll receive rewards and reputation. In order to rank up you need a required amount of reputation, when you reach that requirement, your rank card will automatically rank up. I don't know how that works, it just works.

Anyway, back to the quest. If you somehow don't complete it, you have to pay a breaching fee, which depends on how much the reward is. If the reward was 10 silver, you have to pay 5 silver back. Basically, you have to pay half the reward and I don't want to do that.

Since me and Genesis will be doing this together, the reward will be split up, so now I'll get 10 silver and 30 bronze coins. The reputation for the quest won't be split up though, so even if you had a 10 man party, the reputation will be the same.

"Ok, you have 10 days to complete this job. Good luck."

10 days, huh? So you can skip classes?

Not that I want to skip classes, but do we really need 10 days to take this "Stalking Bear" out?

Oh well. Guess I'll do it.

"Lucian."

"Yes?"

"I'll wait for you outside."

"Mhm."

Wait, why is she waiting outside?

"Darliiiiiiiiing!"

Ahh, I see why.

I turned around and met with Yuki in a white kimono with snowflake patterns. Her pretty white hair flowed down her back so smoothly.

"Are you going on a quest already?"

"Well, yeah."

"Aww, that's too bad."

"Hmm? Why?"

"Cause we could've done a silver rank quest together."

She sighed in disappointment while pouting cutely. Oh no, she's too cute.

"Don't worry, when I get back, I'll be sure to do a quest with you."

I patted her head, and she responded with an adorable smile.

Stab!

My heart, this is too much.

"I'll see you soon."

"Ok, but first a kiss."

"Uhh, let's calm down with that, we can't do it in front of everyone. You'll uhh... make everyone jealous."

I looked around, and everyone was looking at us. I could see jealousy in their eyes.

"So uhh, maybe when I get back?"

"Mmm, ok, don't take too long."

She pouted. I nodded my head and waved goodbye as I left.

It's best I don't tell her I'm doing this quest with another girl, or who knows what she might do.

Anyway, I have 10 days to complete this quest. I think I can do it in an hour or two. Not that I'm bragging or anything.

But Stalking Bear... wonder what makes it "stalking".

***

A few hours passed.

We decided to travel by wagon since it reserves stamina. From here to the Okapi forest, it takes around 2 days. The actual battle, hmm...

"Hey, Genesis."

"Yes?"

"Do you know anything about Stalking Bears?"

"I heard about them, it's said that they lure their enemies using this kind of rod which comes out of their backs."

So it's like an angler fish, they use that thing on their head, well in this case it's on the back, to lure creatures in. I guess I should be cautious when I see something strange.

Genesis was cleaning her daggers with a white cloth.

"So how's it like being a princess?"

"Huh?"

After Smoke became king, Genesis suddenly became a princess as well. That is to be expected since she is the daughter of Smoke.

"It's...alright. It's weirder than I expected. Father told me that when you're a princess, everyone will treat you with respect."

"Of course, you are a princess after all."

"But it feels weird, I was never treated with respect, I... lived in the slums for all my life. I never really had friends except for these 3 boys who I thought were my friends."

"Hmm? What happened?"

"They tried to hurt me, I don't know why since I never did anything to them. But my father saved me from them."

"Is that why you have a hard time talking to men?"

"Y-yes."

"If so, why are you not having a hard time talking to me?"

"That's because..."

Her face turned bright red, and she looked away from me. I tilted my head.

"Hmm..."

"W-what?"

"Hmm..."

I narrowed my eyes and glared at her. She was fidgeting with her fingers and she was looking all over the place.

"So why then?"

"T-that's because..."

Because?

"B-because..."

She was sweating and shaking. Then, after a while, she began sobbing.

Shit! Did I take it too far?

"I-I-It was just a joke. Please calm down. I didn't mean to hurt you or anything."

After a while, she calmed down. That was my fault. Maybe I shouldn't force someone to spit out an answer. But I do have my suspicions.

Well, I'll get my answer soon. For now, I need to focus on the task at hand.

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