Adventurer's Guild
The guild girl, looking quite tired, saw a young man approaching.
"Oh, welcome!"
He had brown hair spiked forward, dressed like a dusty traveler.
It was the same guy Tyler and Kai had met in the Abyss dungeon.
"Today feels light—I feel like I can do anything," he said, stretching comfortably.
"Is that so? I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do."
"Yea, you'll definitely get the result you're hoping for."
With that, he walked over to the mission board.
He quickly noticed a B-rank dungeon exploration quest.
"Wait a sec… Isn't this…?"
He turned to the guild girl, making her a bit confused.
"A B-rank dungeon quest? A group already accepted that one."
"Are you stupid?"
"??"
He grabbed the paper, handed it to her, and pointed at a small line of text.
She squinted at it and finally realized:
[Warning: This quest is expected to be upgraded to A-rank due to long-term lack of conquest]
"…That text is smaller than an ant."
"…You know what? I don't blame you anymore."
"Then take back the 'stupid' part."
"No."
He sighed.
"Who's in that group?"
"If I remember correctly… four students from Blue Sky Academy, a spear-user, a mage, and a bunch of guys who looked pretty pathetic."
"Great. Four Blue Sky students? This guild might not make it past tomorrow…" he muttered, scratching his head.
The guild was his lifeline. Without it, he might actually have to beg for a living.
"Flag this quest as emergency, fast. I need some people to deal with it."
"Oh, of course. But… why gather more people? You're strong enough to do it alone."
"Yea, I just wanna train a few kids."
"Well then… good luck, Shark."
He smiled, revealing shark-like teeth.
***
"Uhhh… You dare cut off Jim Curbank's limbs? You'll pay for—"
"You talk too much," Irilia said, stomping on its head with disgust.
In an instant, its entire body was frozen solid.
Meanwhile, we were still sitting by the campfire.
Honestly, I thought it'd be a tough fight at first—but Irilia just soloed it.
And she was insanely strong.
"See? The only thing keeping her out of S-rank is that her skill's only rated B," Violet said, wiping blood off her cheek.
B. Can you believe that? A B-rank skill.
Vakoth didn't look too happy—he genuinely wanted a fight.
As for Kanna…
"Ughhh—"
I patted her back while she vomited horrifically into a plastic bag.
Looks like her ability has some side effects, I guess.
The simps were staring at the bag seriously, which freaked me out.
They… they wouldn't do anything with that vomit, right?
Irilia came back and sat next to Violet.
"Uh, you're freezing. Get away from me," Violet said, hugging herself, clearly annoyed.
I glanced at the monster's corpse—it had been shattered into pieces from a massive blow.
I thought she was a powerful mage, but turns out she's a physical fighter.
"Let's rest here for now. Tomorrow we go deeper," Irilia said, brushing her long white hair.
Everyone agreed, except Vakoth—but what could he do?
So Irilia assigned people to set up the tents.
Girls in one, boys in the other.
If anyone tried sneaking into the girls' tent, they'd be frozen and kicked to pieces.
Wow. That warning was so intense it made the simps drool as they imagined god knows what.
Maybe that's why people hate them—loving someone in a toxic way? Worse than being a womanizer who at least knows when to quit.
And yeah, Irilia paired me up with the guy in the black cloak to set up the girls' tent.
"Huh? Why me?" I pointed at myself.
"You two aren't into girls."
"But what about Vakoth? He doesn't even have emotions for anyone, wouldn't he be a better pick?"
"I've worked with him. I know what he's capable of. Setting up a tent isn't one of those things."
Yep, what she meant was Vakoth's too dumb for it.
He heard her but didn't care—because she wasn't wrong.
"Ugh… fine." I reluctantly followed her orders.
If this were another novel, readers would probably flame me for simping—just because I didn't stand up and tell them to do it themselves (even if they don't understand what "simp" actually means).
Let me remind you: she's the one with the money, and I work for her. If I don't follow orders, she'll dock my pay.
If you've ever had a job, you'd understand.
Don't piss off your boss.
Your livelihood is in their hands.
Sighing, Kai and the other guy began building the tent.
The girls' tent was placed much farther away—for safety reasons.
While working, I noticed the black-cloaked guy didn't complain at all—just kept his head down and worked, which made me a bit curious about his face.
As we passed each other, he whispered something in my ear:
"Please meet me when everyone else is asleep."
I stopped and looked at him as he kept working.
"...?"
Eventually, the girls' tent was finally finished.
"Good job, servant," Violet said as she patted my shoulder, making me want to kick her.
Kanna peeked inside the tent, seemed satisfied, then walked over to me.
"I feel like I owe you a lot, so I made this for you!"
She handed me a small charm.
"This is...?"
"A good luck charm!"
...Luck? For me?
"Sounds like a joke. I'm not taking it."
"Huh?! Don't say that! You have to accept it—it has my effort in it!"
Then she started listing off all the runes she engraved into it, which honestly surprised and touched me a little.
And then she vomited immediately, shifting me from "touched" to "emotionally dead" real fast.
"Nice work. I'll remember your contribution," Irilia said as she looked at the tent.
Yeah, you'd better. Make sure I get paid properly.
After that, the black-cloaked guy and I both walked off while Kanna waved at us.
I glanced over at the tent built by the simps and Vakoth (though really, he didn't help—he just stood there watching).
And… yeah, it looked like crap.
I sighed, walked over, and started fixing it.
The guy in the black cloak silently and intently watched me the whole time.
*****
Sorry guys, I'm sooo busy that I become lazy and want to sleep, thanks for reading!