Chapter 001:

(1) Treedust - looks like a huge seed of a dandelion, the size of a hand, that floats and clings to tree branches. Good for healing skin tears, if applied with mana. A bunch of treedust is said to be beautiful like a sky of snow. The number reduced due to demand and now looks like dust beside the trees, hence the name, "treedust".

Mitch wrote in her 'Book of Herbs' filling the first page with the details about tree dust. She drew a huge illustration of treedust and under it are the details. She raised the book above her eye level and smiled. "Looks good"

She closed it and placed it down the table, and looked ahead. It was the view of her tiny herb store. Upon the entrance, there are 4 tiny drawers in each of the 7 rows of her shelf. There are 5 shelves in total, the two in front of the door and three behind her desk, on the right of the door. Most of it contains herbs and some contains papers and pens.

The place is completely silent since she's the only one around, which means that there are no customers, yet again. It always happens, and there is only one thing in Mitch's mind every time, "Stupid adventurers" she muttered.

"These days I'm on the verge of turning that stupid Guild upside down" she says as she faked a smile, forcefully lifted her eyebrows up, but her eyes seemed looking for a prey to strangle. She put the book back in the drawer on her desk. Grabbing her purse, Mitch went out to visit Mr. Rand, the Sir Veggie vendor on the next street.

The slum street, where her herb store is located, is void of any residents. It was once the residence of poor people and beggars who moved, hoping for opportunities in their Olie village. However, they moved elsewhere after realizing that a village in the outskirts has nothing to offer.

It all changed after the Adventurer's Guild was established recently in their village. The Olie village started to prosper, however businesses like hers are starting to go down. And despite the boom in population, no one seems desperate enough to live in the slum street. Mitch wondered why for a while. But she decided on calculating how much discount she could get from Mr. Rand's vegetables instead.

---

"Did you know that time when Lydia's chickens flew out of their coop and escaped?" Mrs. Rand asked Melisse, their loyal customer and handed out the basket of vegetables she purchased. "Yes? The one who asked for help from an adventurer and got their chickens back before getting eaten in the forest?" Melisse replied.

"Yes! Apparently she gave the biggest egg as thanks. Turns out, it was a phoenix egg that her husband was supposed to sell to nobles!" she exclaimed, delighted to spread the news. "Oh my, I bet her husband is filled with rage!" Melisse covered her mouth in concern.

"Rage indeed! Her husband went to the said adventurer to get it back expecting that they don't know what egg it is and offered money in exchange!" She smiled and bowed down to Melisse's eye-level to release the big news. "But the adventurer actually knew what it was and already sold it before he met Lydia's husband!" she laughed so loud, leaning back and facing the ceiling.

"Poor Lydia" Melisse muttered in a worried expression. "POOR! Yes, she is!" Mrs. Rand added while laughing. She doesn't have any ill feelings towards Lydia, it's just that she finds it fun when others are suffering.

"It seems like adventurers can smell money, they help when there's something for them and they don't, when it's garbage" Mitch butted in, she was now beside Melisse crossing her arms. "They know what you're about to give even when you haven't told them yet"

"Oh really?" the vendor gave a knowing look to Melisse, and she only shrugged in response. It wasn't the first time that Mitch talks bad about adventurers whenever a conversation pops up.

"Yes, one time an adventurer approached old man Yom. He asked them to stay with his grandson for a day so that he can farm" Mitch argued with her brows furrowed. "The adventurer refused immediately and turned away without looking back. Did you know what I found out when I tailed them?"

"No?" they both answered. Whatever the girl talks about, it was sure to be nonsense in order to take down the adventurers. "His party asked why he didn't take the 'quest' they say, and he replied that all that old man Yom can give back is potatoes" she eagerly replied with an expression that tells 'see, I told you'.

This girl is crazy, Melisse thought. Adventurers are known to be strong enough to take down monsters, and even humans. She wondered how Mitch is able to live up to this day without shutting her mouth up.

"They go around the village, approaching people for errands and expecting a valuable reward" she added, pointing in nowhere. "They can just get it at the quest board in Adventurer's Guild, why do they have to look for errands and treat it to be something as grand as quests?"

"They are idiots with only heroic tales on their brains" she said pointing at her head. Mrs. Rand only shook her head with a sigh. She believes

"Well see you around. I just hope that you'll finally be able to get customers so you can stop your series of adventurer's issues" Melisse told the girl, and waved goodbye to the vendor before she left.

"No customers again, Mitch?" Mr. Rand asled as he appeared with a box of lettuce. "You're lucky I got scraps and bad crops, I can almost give it to you for free" he said as he put down the box and proceeded to place the lettuce in his stand.

"You sure are cruel Sir Veggie Vendor when you're nice. Although I like the irony" she replied, handing her basket so that the vendor can fill it with her three-day ingredients.

"Good morning Sir. Rand, Mr. Tim sent me here" a tall man stood beside Mitch. Wearing a dirty white tunic, brown trousers, boots, and a dagger on the side, Mitch can smell the stink of an adventurer emitting from the man.

"Good morning as well, wait for a while" Sir Rand greeted back. He was looking for more vegetable scraps to put in the basket. There might still be a vegetable somewhere in the corners of his stand munched by insects.

Mitch can't count the number of people who go to the shop wearing the same outfit over and over anymore. It was a fashion she was sick of seeing and she couldn't put a stop to it since she doesn't know where it was massively produced.

It was like a tradition among adventurers to go to the veggie shop. Sir Veggie Vendor is a flame among adventurers that gather around him like moths. He was a former A rank adventurer compared to those who approach him who are nothing but mere bugs. Easily squashed under the paws of a bear, she thought.

"Another idiot from the beginner race has appeared" the herb store owner commented. "Don't be racist Mitch, what's your name youmg adventurer?" Sir. Rand asked.

"Nathan" the man replied and he has a hunch that the girl giving him a side-eye is talking about him. After all, what he was wearing is a staple outfit of every beginner adventurer earning a derogatory term, 'the beginner race'.

But as expected of Sir Rand, he was living up to his reputation of being contradicting. Stopping the girl but hearing him say racist when there's not even a 'beginner race' in their world in the first place. He closed his eyes internally and pasted a smile on his face. Inside, he inhaled heavily and released it all at once.

"Why not help little Mitch here? She doesn't have any customers in her herb store" Sir Rand pointed at the girl beside him. "That's a good idea" the girl replied. Nathan must have imagined it but for a second there, but he saw a dark smile creeping in the girl's face. In a blink, a transparent window that only Nathan could see popped up.

[D Rank | Quest] Buy at Mitch's Herb Store

Reward: 15 exp points and 35 Treedusts

Nathan, an F rank, received a D Rank quest that only D rankers can take. He heard that Sir Veggie Vendor is generous with beginner quests, giving out exp points and valuable items as a reward. So he approached the veggie shop in hopes that he could finally purchase new equipment and clothes.

But now he will also receive Treedusts, an expensive herb which is said to be as effective as the basic heal spell of healers. Although 15 exp points are meager for him to level up, the treedust will sell well for solo adventurers.

There might be an ongoing main plot, explaining the rank of the quest he got. "He he he" he laughed quietly, looking down on the ground with his eyes narrowed. Meanwhile, the Rand couple and Mitch looked at him.

He has a loose screw in the head, they all thought.