I'm a farmer, not a hero : Chapter 34

An hour has passed and the two finally reached the city gates.

Heading straight to the adventurer's guild while still reeking of blood from the goblins he had killed and carrying large sacks of proof of subjugation and mana cores, the farmer is receiving a lot of stares from the residents they pass by and the adventurers inside the guild.

"Here's the proof of subjugation for the quest…" The farmer places a medium sized sack filled with goblin ears at the front desk.

"And I was told that the guild buys these mana cores?" He then placed the goblin mana cores next to it.

"Uhmm, yes. May we take a look at it?" The guild clerk, a different one from the usual clerk the two have interacted with, asked before opening the sack to check the said materials.

"And these are hobgoblin mana cores with the proof of subjugation, hobgoblin fangs." The farmer then placed the large sack filled with the said materials over the table for the guild clerk to check.

"W-wait! The quest you took was for an E-ranked outer dungeon clearing quest right?" The clerk, confused, tries to ask for clarification.

"Yes…" The farmer replied nonchalantly.

"But hobgoblins are usually at the mid to the inner layer of the dungeon…" The clerk explained.

"By any chance, did you accidentally wander in the mid layer?" She then asked.

"Uhh, no." The farmer replied.

"So how did you end up with a lot of hobgoblin materials?!" The clerk questioned with a shocked tone in her voice.

The farmer explained to her in great detail the events that had transpired, but the clerk could not find herself to believe the words that he said.

"Wait, so you're telling me that you, a D-Ranked adventurer, managed to single-handedly beat a horde of hobgoblins that a party of B-Ranked adventurers were running away from?" The clerk sarcastically asked.

"Well, if you say it like that then it doesn't sound believable." The farmer replied.

Although he seemed a bit annoyed by how judgmental the clerk was, he understood how ridiculous it was for a D-ranked adventurer to be stronger than a party of B-Rankeds. After all, she doesn't know about his adventurer exam so she could not have possibly known about his capabilities.

"Look, I've told you the truth. Whether you believe it or not, that's up to you. Now I know that you're trying to protect the integrity of the guild by not letting a scammer, if I indeed am, make a scam…"

"But aren't you risking it as well by doubting one of your adventurers? What would the others say when they found out that you don't trust them?" The farmer argued.

The clerk was taken aback, not sure what the appropriate action she should take. Upon seeing this, the farmer made a suggestion.

"Why don't you talk with your superiors about this as the presence of a goblin shaman in the outskirts dungeon seems to be of urgent matter."

The guild clerk paused to think for a while before responding.

"Fine! But I'm not doing this because you said so!" She was about to talk to her superior just as suggested when the farmer called her.

"What about my reward?" The farmer said.

"Ohh, wait…" The clerk said before handing him the appropriate reward for the quest they took and the goblin's mana cores.

"Please come back tomorrow for the hobgoblin mana cores." She said before leaving the front desk without giving a proper explanation as to why she's delaying the reward.

Though a bit annoyed by how the clerk treated them, the farmer just shrugged it off knowing he can finally get himself cleaned, and heads to the back of the inn where a merchant is selling buckets of water.

"30 silvers per bucket?!" The farmer was very shocked.

While it is understandable for the price of the water to be expensive, given the circumstances with the lack of source of water in the wasteland region, the farmer still could not get over the fact that a bucket of water is more expensive than the mace they just bought. Nevertheless, he still paid it knowing it was the only way he could wash himself without arousing suspicion.

"Uhmm, is something wrong?" The young cleric asked, puzzled when the farmer stopped to stare at the water in the bucket.

"I'm just wondering…" The farmer replied.

"Will this be enough for me to totally wash myself?" He added.

"Probably not… Maybe you should buy another bucket? It's not like you don't have enough money right?" The young cleric responded.

"True, money isn't an issue but buying another for myself means I'm depriving someone for their own use." The farmer explained.

"Normally I wouldn't care much about it but water is a necessity for survival and it is very scarce around this region." He added

"Wow, I didn't think that you'd worry about others." The young cleric said with awe.

"No… not really." The farmer quietly uttered before changing locations. Despite not really caring about others, he knew the hardships of being deprived from even the most basic necessities in life and, at the very least, he doesn't want to be the cause of someone being deprived with that.

"Wait, where are you going?" The young cleric asked.

"Where else? Somewhere appropriate to wash myself." He replied before following a group of adventurers carrying buckets of water for the same purpose.

Located a few walks at the back of the inn is a small plot of land the owner is trying to cultivate for farming food ingredients and so, he's letting the adventurers wash themselves in there in hopes that the land becomes fit for gardening some day.

After finding a spot, he takes a quick glance at his surroundings; mainly the adventurers washing themselves, trying to see how they maximize the bucket of water they have to clean themselves. Most of them, the warrior class, would clean themselves by damping a piece of cloth then wiping themselves while the magicians would use magic to make the water into something similar to a slime monster that would slowly absorb the dirt around them.

Though the method the magicians used is the most efficient, he thinks that it wouldn't be enough to clean the dried blood off of him, and so he adapted a similar yet different method. Just as the magicians did, and with the help of the Sage's bracelet, the farmer molded the water in the bucket into a large ball. He then submerged his head in it before using another Magicka, to create a vortex within the water ball, to get rid of the dried-off blood, eventually moving to the rest of his body. Though he was able to get rid of most of the filth and dried viscera off his body, he couldn't fully remove the blood stains on his clothes and cloak.

"I guess this is better than reeking with death." The farmer commented on himself.

It was then that he realized the set of eyes from the adventurers around were glued to him.

"I should probably leave." The farmer thought to himself. Feeling that the adventurers would bombard him with questions should he turn his back towards them, he slowly fled the area whilst maintaining eye contact.

"Ohh! That was quick." The young cleric greeted as soon as she saw the farmer moving away from where he came from.

"Come on, let's get some dinner." The farmer responded, without even stopping or slowing down.

"Wait, why are you in a hurry?" She asked as she followed him.

"I may have attracted some unnecessary attention." The farmer stopped for a moment before looking at the young cleric with a horrified look on his face. He then quickly made his way towards the tavern with the young cleric following him.

*****

Early morning the next day.

"I don't know why you're making us go here so early, it's literally just next to the inn." The farmer said to the young cleric, who pestered him to go to the adventurer's guild.

"W-well, so we can get a quest and start my training!" The young cleric replied. She doesn't want to tell him that she's worried about the arrogant swordsman's party and wants to know if they have returned or at least a backup had been sent to them.

"I told you, it's not like they'll run out of quest." The farmer replied.

"Now I want you to apologize to them when they arrive, clear?" As soon as the farmer opened the door, the voice of the clerk echoed through the empty lobby.

"Yes ma'am." Another clerk replied.

"What's going on?" The farmer asked as soon as he approached the front desk.

"Ohh! Perfect timing!" The guild clerk, the one the farmer is familiar with, exclaimed.

"Now don't you have something to say?" She added, referring to the other clerk who was rude to the farmer when they returned from the quest.

"I apologize for my behavior last night." She said, with her head bowed.

"And?"

"And it will never happen again." She added.

"Good! Now go make us a coffee." The clerk ordered.

"I'm really sorry about her, she actually just graduated from being a trainee."

"No worries… Uhmm, did she mention anything else about last night?"

"Hmm? Ohh! The hobgoblin mana cores? Yes! Here's the reward for that." The clerk handed him a pouch with coins inside.

"Five gold coins and fifty silvers. That's the total of the hobgoblin mana cores you brought."

"Also, about the goblin shaman. We've already sent a party of investigators to the dungeon." She added,

"Uhmm, how about the other party?" The young cleric timidly asked, referring to the arrogant swordsman's party.

"Ah, they haven't returned yet but since we've sent some investigators, I'm sure they'll return soon." The clerk replied.

"I see…" The young cleric uttered, with hints of worries on her face.

"Don't worry… Even though they're like that, they are still B-Ranked adventurers." The clerk said.

"I… Okay…" Even though the clerk already reassured her, she could not hide the expression of worry on her face.

"Can we take that outer layer clearing quest we did yesterday again?" The farmer, after seeing the young cleric's expression, asked.

"Unfortunately we're restricting entry to that dungeon until the investigation is concluded." The clerk responded.

"I see…" The farmer replied.

"But if you want to take on a quest, I can recommend you to a higher leveled dungeon–" The clerk said but the farmer quickly cut her off.

"Sorry but I can't take a quest that's far from the city…" The farmer said before pulling out the sword-shaped metal the dwarf gave him.

"I'll be competing in a few days." He said, referring to the swordsmanship competition.

"Ohh! Well, with your abilities, I'm sure you'll make it to the finals!" She replied.

"By the way, since we can't take on quests… Do you mind if we use the training ground?" The farmer asked, referring to the examination room they used for his adventurer exam.

"But you're plenty strong already! Do you even need to train?" The clerk half-jokingly said.

"Hahaha! Thank you, but it's not for me…" The farmer, quickly catching on, replied before turning his glance on the young cleric.

"Ohh! I see, I see… Go ahead, no one's using that room to train anymore, anyway. However, if you break any of the weapons there then you'll have to either pay or replace it." The guild clerk replied before leading them to the said room.

"It's okay! We'll be using our own. Thank you!" The farmer replied.

"Feel free to call me at the frontdesk if you ever need anything." The clerk said before going back to her post.

"Uhmm, what kind of training are we going to do here?" The young cleric asked.

"What else? We're going to spar." The farmer said while holding his sheathed sword over his shoulder.

"Eh?"