Episode 5: Morning (3)

Exiting out of the guildhall with a sigh, Damian could only solemnly look behind him as he helplessly walked away from the building, quickly heading into the crowded streets of Yumin.

"Sigh. I guess I'll be playing the waiting game for Fei to get better..." Shaking his head in a listless manner, he soon averted his eyes over to the paper within his hands that Balmar had given to him. "Well, whatever. Let's just see what the tasks are all about."

[ Guild Job (F) - Daily Clean-Up ]

Client: Yumin's Guild Branch

As per usual, since the monsters within the area has grown large in recent days—It is our job to do our best to clear out the monsters that are nearby the roads of Yumin in order to prevent bystanders from being attacked.

Objective: Clear out some monsters by the roadside that leads out and into Yumin.

Reward: 50 Fiol per 7 Mana Cores brought back (Limit: 400 Fiol per Guild Ranker)

...

[ Town's Folk Request (F) - Boutique and Flowers ]

Client: Kana

I'm sorry for asking this of you all, but would it be possible if I could get some help around the shop till the afternoon? My back's been hurting a lot lately and my daughter is out to do some business with other shops until then, so I could really use some help!

Reward: 70 Fiol/Hour, a flower of your choice.

...

"..." Reading through the task that had been given to him, Damian nodded his head as he soon kept the paper away into his pouch. "When Balmar said the tasks would be simple... I didn't expect it to be this simple..."

To Damian's expectations, he had thought that for a task classified as simple, it would mostly be resources gathering, monster extermination or the patrols that Roy would usually head out to every morning. But, never would he had thought that 'simple' meant that he'd have to do voluntary work around shops.

"Besides the daily guild job for monster extermination, there really is nothing that much ongoing huh?" he muttered to himself. "Well... I guess with all that had gone on yesterday, an easy day would work."

Did he expect that guild rankers would be constantly bombarded with jobs after jobs as if the country that they lived in was in crisis? No. For a guild ranker, it usually just meant helping around the town whilst fulfilling their duties in fighting monsters when it's due.

It isn't every day that people go out into other cities to fight off mana overflow or things along those lines. He was only just a junior guild ranker who had been recently promoted into the starting ranks of a true guilder of the Yumin branch.

Thus, with a deep breath, Damian hurriedly made his way over to the flower shop for his task.

...

Making his way down the streets of Yumin, Damian's footsteps stopped in front of a shop that was named [ Kana's Boutique ].

"...I guess I'm here," looking around at the front view of the shop, he noted that the flowers out front seemed to be unkempt for the morning. "Hmm... Miss Kana must be inside resting since her back's hurt. I guess I better not waste any time."

With one step forward, he entered the shop where he was soon greeted by Kana who was sitting behind the counter.

"Ah...? Welcome!" Kana's voice resounded through the small flower shop as she averted her eyes over to Damian who stood by the entrance. "Oh, Damian! What brings you here?"

"Ah, good morning, Miss Kana," Damian greeted. "I came here to help out with the shop as written in the guild job you've sent."

"Oh, really? Thank you so much!" Kana smiled. "I really appreciate it..." Standing up from her seat, the old lady slowly made her way towards a few tools out in the back and grabbed hold of them. Moments after, she walked over to Damian. "Here... If you could, would it be possible if you could pluck out the leaves and trim the stems by the flowers at the front of the shop? I couldn't keep them as fresh today because of my back..."

"It's no problem. Please rest and I'll handle it," Damian answered. "Is it just plucking and trimming out the extra leaves and stems to keep the flowers fresh?"

"Yes, yes," Kana nodded her head as she sat down by the counter, swiftly continuing on with the unfinished flower arrangement that she had been doing. "Just pluck the extra leaves out at the front and trim the stems. You and Fei have done this before, right?"

"Y-Yeah..." Letting out a cough at hearing her name, Damian composed himself. "We've done this before."

"That's good..." she let out a sigh of relief as she didn't need to teach the basics. "Ah... Speaking of which, where is Fei?"

"She's busy at the moment," Damian stated. "So, I'm just going around and doing some guild jobs. Anyways... If you'll excuse me, I'll proceed with handling the flowers," after finishing up his sentence, he hurried out of the shop.

...

Going out of the shop, Damian began with his work on the flowers by trimming the stems, plucking out the extra leaves and changing the waters that hadn't been changed for the past few days.

"..." As time passed by in a flash, Damian was about to wrap up with his work as he noticed a flower that had caught his attention. "...?"

Within his eyes, he saw a red beautiful flower with brittles of petals at its top, reminding him of a lotus flower if he had many small petals surrounding its pistil.

"..." Gazing at the flower for a few seconds, his head shook as he went back to his work around the shop—finally finishing up with everything that Kana had tasked him to do. "...phew. Done." With a sigh of relief, Damian turned his head over to the clock tower by the middle of the town, he noted that it was soon turning twelve. "That much time passed, huh? Well... It's not like I had any better things to do."

Moving back into the shop, Damian soon called out to Kana. "Miss Kana. I'm done with the things you've tasked of me."

"Ah...!" Upon hearing Damian's call, Kana's head turned to him. "You're done? Thank you so much, Damian!" Moving her hands over to the drawer below the counter, she took out a pouch of Fiol. "I cannot thank you enough for helping me with this. Here, as the promised reward."

"I hope I've eased your burden by a little with this," Damian slightly smiled as he took the pouch of Fiol with modesty. "Anyways... Miss Sherlyn should be coming back soon, right? I'll be taking my leave then."

"Ah, please wait! There's also this that I want to give," Kana smiled as she stood up from her seat. In the next moment, she slowly walked out of the shop and picked up a red beautiful flower from the stand. "Here, have this."

"T-This is...?" Damian's brow soon raised at the sight of Kana's gesture. The flower in her hands was the flower which he had eyed earlier.

"Zinnia flowers," she chuckled. "They symbolise endurance and lasting relations. It just recently came to the shop, and since you seem interested in it, I thought it'd be nice to give it to you."

"Ah...? No, no..." Damian shook his hand in rejection. "It's fine... You can keep it. I only just stared at it for a few seconds. I don't really need it..."

"Oh... Is that so?" she smiled. "Well... If you don't want it, why don't you give it to Fei as a present? I think she may love this."

"Fei?" Damian uttered out. "Uh... I don't know... It seems rather..."

"Hmm... So it's a no?" Kana sighed. "Well if you ever change your mind, feel free to have this! The flower won't be going anywhere anytime soon."

"I'll reconsider," Damian stated. "Thank you for the offer."

"Haha. Thank you again for helping me with the shop!" Kana greeted goodbye to Damian as he left the building, soon continuing on with his other task for the day.