A few weeks later…
(City of Forgina)
…
[Name: Aisha]
[Level: 25]
[Race: High Elf]
[Bond Level: 70]
[Skill(s):
Unique Skill : ???]
Talent Skill: Survival instinct Lvl 19, Cleave Lvl 10, Weapon mastery Lvl 21.
Artifact skill: Speed boost.]
Ash sat on the bed, his eyes glued to the screen with a look of indifference. For the past month, he and Aisha had taken on many quests from the Aogin guild. As such, their adventurer rank had risen to C, which also meant they had a chance to earn more money from their quests.
That said…
Ash sighed, swiping the screen to the side to bring up the next slide. 'Despite how high our bond level has risen, she still hasn't gained a unique skill. I can't ignore her other changes, but surely, she should have gotten a unique skill I could plunder by now.'
His eyes moved to the next screen.
[Are you willing to activate the Trauma Quest?]
Ash's eyes narrowed slightly. When Aisha's bond level reached 60, the system had announced a new feature. Excited, Ash didn't hesitate to check it out.
To his surprise, it was something far different from what he had expected.
[Trauma Quest.]
The system dedicated a specific quest, tailored to help the heroines Ash had contracted get closure from their former lives by getting revenge on those who wronged them.
In truth, over the weeks, Ash had grown close to Aisha, so he intended to do this regardless.
However, if he accepted this quest, not only would the system grant him all the information needed to fulfill it, but it would also activate something known as the Trauma Link.
This particular feature lets Ash himself live through the flashbacks of the heroine's life, to understand how and what had happened that led to her current misfortune.
It was something Ash wasn't sure he wanted to do, at least not without telling Aisha about it.
But he never did, mainly because he wasn't sure how she was going to react if he suddenly brought up her past.
Sighing, he swiped the screen to the side, causing it to disappear.
Just as he was about to stand up, the door to the room opened, and Aisha ran in.
"Master! Look, I managed to somehow snag a B-rank quest for us!" she exclaimed the moment she entered the room.
Aisha had a bright smile on her face as she stretched her hand forward, holding the quest paper and shaking it around.
She had grown taller, her skin fresh and clean; one could never have imagined she once had ugly scars all over her body. Actually, it was more than that—she no longer looked like a child.
The Aisha who was currently standing in front of Ash looked several years older than the one he had saved from the bandits.
This was because elves and demi-humans don't follow the same growth spurt as other species.
If an elf is brought up in poor conditions, they will most likely never grow and will forever remain the way they are if their condition doesn't change.
But in this case, not only was Aisha more free and supposedly living the best of her life, she was also eating healthy, having baths, and so much more.
These events caused all those years of pushed-back growth to come pouring out at once, leading to her current massive change in physicality.
Her breasts had grown bigger, and because of how tall she had gotten, her dress could barely cover her thighs, making her even more attractive to look at.
Baam!
Aisha closed the door behind her, walked towards Ash, and handed the paper to him.
"Because we had been so successful in our other jobs, the guild said we are qualified enough to take on a B-rank job. This particular one has a reward of 500 eres!"
Ash's eyes widened slightly. "Are you being serious?"
He took the paper from her and read what was written on the quest.
[Name of Quest: Rescue Mission.]
[Description: A group of female adventurers were captured by goblins in the town of Teila. Rescue them and bring them back to the guild.]
[Reward: 500 eres per adventurer saved, and 1500 eres if they are unharmed.]
Ash's expression turned dark for a moment. "Aisha, it says 500 eres per head." his voice was a bit shaky but controlled.
"Per head?" She snatched the paper from him to have a look herself.
When she saw it as well, she fell silent, wearing the same look on her face before she sighed.
"No wonder no one else took the quest. For a pay this high, the quest has to be extremely difficult."
"Not exactly," Ash stood up, grabbing his coat from the bed and slowly putting it on as he spoke.
"There is a small chance the people who were kidnapped are someone important from the nobility. That would explain why they are willing to pay this much for a rescue quest."
Aisha tilted her head to the side. "Are we taking the quest? There are others available, so I can still change it if—"
"No," Ash cut her short. "Five hundred per head is too good a deal to pass up. Besides, if we succeed in this quest, we'll have gathered enough money to head to the capital."
Aisha's face turned glum for a moment.
"Right, I keep forgetting Master wants to head to the capital." She slowly raised her head. "Master… do you not trust me?"
"Why are you asking that?"
"It's just… Master has never told me a single thing about yourself. And s-some nights, you yell about some woman. I assume you're going to the capital to meet her and you don't want to tell me about it."
Flustered, Ash turned around completely, grabbed Aisha by the hand, and pulled her close. "Erase that from your memory. Never mention it again."
"Y-Yes, Master."
"Sigh. I was just having a bad dream. It's really nothing to worry about." He patted her head. "Let's go."
As he walked away, Aisha placed a hand directly where he had just touched her, smiled, and ran after him.