On a mound of sand lay a huge scorpion, as big as a house. Sitting on it was a young woman with long red hair and golden eyes. The girl was wearing a two-piece suit made of light white fabric to keep cool in the desert. The girl wiped her sweat as she saw the dead scorpion beneath her and the enormous sword embedded in the scorpion's head.
"Lady Cristel!" called a group of four people, running toward the redhead.
"Guys, are you done collecting everything?" Cristel asked, looking at the long pile of scorpion corpses.
"That's right, Lady Cristel. We're done with the mission" said a young man, showing her a large bag.
"Good… we should return to the guild then" Cristel said with a smile, standing up and trying to grab her sword. When she applied a little force to pull it out of the scorpion's body, it broke, making Cristel sigh. 'Tsk, another sword breaks' Cristel thought, seeing how damaged the blade already was.
At that moment, an adventurer came running up. The adventurer was coming from a small base that several adventurers had set up to hunt and control the immense scorpion population in the desert. The adventurer arrived, tired, holding a letter in his hand.
"Lady Cristel, they've sent a letter from the guild!" said the adventurer, calling Cristel.
Cristel looked at him and then leaped up to the adventurer, taking the letter and thanking him for bringing it.
"It's from the Master. There was another attack on Class C equipment" said the adventurer as Cristel read the letter carefully.
"This is the sixth time this month" said a muscular, bearded man.
"It's almost as if the goblins have learned to differentiate between adventurers," commented a young man wearing long robes and a huge hat.
"Over 1,000 years of fighting between us. I'm surprised they haven't done this before" said Cristel, tucking the letter into her shirt. "However, this is different. For some reason, the goblins have stopped attacking wagons with women."
"Isn't that better?" asked a woman dressed in light knight armor.
"Under normal circumstances, yes, but with the goblins' recent strange behavior, it only means more trouble" Cristel said confidently. "However, they are still only minor issues. Class C groups and adventurers must handle this problem."
"So why did the Master send the letter?" asked the armored woman.
"Because there are several Class C groups in our hunting group" Cristel said. "He's warning us to be on the lookout for an attack."
"I understand. I'll go and report it myself!" said the armored woman before leaving for the base accompanied by the young man who brought the letter.
Cristel sighed and looked at the clouds approaching them, followed by a draft that ruffled her hair.
'Why has no one taken charge of that mission? Are the Class C adventurers afraid?Or are they just not interested?' Cristel wondered, then turned to look at her companions. "Tell everyone to reinforce the tents with magic. We won't be able to leave today, and probably not tomorrow either. A huge sandstorm is approaching" Cristel ordered.
—
At the Freewalker Guild, Finn and Darwin were sitting at a table a little apart from the others. In front of them were three papers containing different quests. The two were discussing which quest they should undertake next when suddenly the doors opened, revealing a group of badly injured adventurers. Some of them were missing parts of their armor, while others had wounds all over their bodies.
Several receptionists rushed to attend to them and take them to the infirmary, asking them what had happened.
"A group of goblins and hobgoblins came out of nowhere" an adventurer replied.
"They attacked us just as we decided to rest, and we didn't have our weapons in hand" said another adventurer.
"The bastards weren't normal!" said another, who was the least injured. "Their attacks were coordinated, and there was clearly a power hierarchy among them, since one of the hobgoblins was giving the orders!"
The receptionists, hearing this, looked at each other with complicated expressions. Many adventurers had reported the same problems in the last month. Without giving it much thought, the receptionists took the team and took them to the infirmary. From the reception counter, Amelia and Damián also looked at everything with complicated expressions.
"Another attack?" Amelia asked, standing next to Damian. "How many now, 4?"
"7, maybe? Three groups were attacked during your vacation, and this last one makes 7," Damian said seriously.
"7!? Why the hell hasn't anyone taken care of this problem?" Amelia asked, surprised. "What about the Master? Hasn't he said anything about it?" she asked.
"Of course he did. Just the day after you left, he posted a mission, but no one has wanted to take it," Damian revealed, dissatisfied.
"Those bastards, do they really prefer to continue being attacked than to deal with the problem?" Amelia asked, surprised to see how many adventurers around the guild turned a blind eye.
"You know them, Amelia. If it's not something that brings them a reputation or a large sum of money, they won't move a muscle" Damian said, sighing in disappointment.
Finn and Darwin watched from their table, unsure of what had happened and thinking that the group of adventurers had encountered some kind of powerful monster on their way to the guild.
"It must have been an ogre or something like that. It left them in pretty bad shape" Darwin opined, watching the group of adventurers being led away.
"Of course, it must have caught them off guard. How else would a C-class group have ended up in such a bad way?" Finn said.
"Well, let's move on to choosing our next mission. I think we should try this mission first" Darwin said, pointing to one of the three sheets of paper on the table.
[
Capture Mission:
Mr. Jacob of the armor shop has reported the constant disappearance of his armor every day and believes a thief has been sneaking into his shop at night to steal from him.
Mission Description:
Spend the night in the shop and find out what's going on, if necessary, catch the armor thief.
]
"Sounds very tempting" Finn admitted, but then he saw the next sheet.
"Yes, it's an easy mission and the payout is 100 bronze," Darwin said.
"What about this one? It doesn't look too difficult either" Finn said, showing him the other sheet.
[
Combat Mission:
The knight students are about to graduate from the academy, and a combatant is needed to test their skills and combat effectiveness.
Mission Description:
Looking for an adventurer experienced in combating monsters to fight with students from the knight academy.
]
"...No, we don't have any experience fighting monsters yet," Darwin said, rejecting the idea.
"That's true…" Finn said. "Well, I think the only mission is to capture the thief. Because I don't think we'll be doing the last one, will we?"
[
Hunting Mission:
Recently, several citizens and merchants have reported seeing an ogre hiding in the forest south of the capital.
Mission Description:
Kill the ogre hiding in the forest and bring its head back to the guild.
]
"Yeah, we won't," Darwin affirmed.
"Well, it's decided, we'll do the thief's quest" Finn said, standing up from the table. "I'll put these quests back on the wall. You go register the quest."
"Good" Darwin replied, standing up.
After Darwin registered the quest with Amelia, the two left the guild without any rush and headed toward the center of the capital, where Mr. Jacob's shop was located. Finn and Darwin got off the bus, looking around, and quickly searched for the armor shop. Looking around, Finn couldn't help but notice something that seemed very curious and ended up asking Darwin about it.
"Hey, Darwin, I couldn't help but notice that there are no other mytt in the kingdom. Is Amelia the only one in the kingdom?" Finn asked.
"Yes, something like that. I understand there are two other hybrids besides Amelia, but they are not mytt, they are from another race that I don't know about" Darwin said. "The kingdom of Firorn is characterized by being almost completely human, although there are rumors that a treaty is being made with the dwarven kingdom to form a bond so that our races can live in both kingdoms without problems" Darwin revealed.
'Treaty with the dwarves? If I remember correctly, the treaty with the dwarves was being made 100 years before Cristel and Vana's novel began. Maybe this indicates I'm 100 years before the novel begins' Finn thought, but then he thought for a few more seconds. 'Although... the treaty was never made. Even when Vana's novel began, the treaty was still being made.'
"Found it!" Darwin said, snapping Finn out of his thoughts.
Darwin pointed to a shop on the third floor of a building. The shop was decorated with the logo of a suit of armor next to a hammer, hinting that he was repairing it. Without further delay, Finn and Darwin headed for some stairs that took them to the third floor, where the armor shop was located.
Finn and Darwin walked in, seeing an old man arranging the armor in a display case, making sure it was clean and shiny for the customers. Finn, noticing that the old man didn't notice their presence, decided to knock lightly on the shop door, managing to get the old man's attention.
"Oh, young adventurers, are you here to buy something?" Jacob asked, closing the armor display case.
"No, we're actually here for the quest that was recently posted" Darwin said, taking out the paper with the quest on it.
"Oh, sure, sure. Come in, please. Thank you for coming" the old man said, heading toward a small counter where he usually took out the money. The old man crouched under the counter for a few seconds before taking out a large white notebook and flipping through the pages. "You see, recently several suits of armor have gone missing. At first, I thought I'd forgotten them at home, but they've become more frequent, and the suits of armor never turned up anywhere. It wasn't until two days ago that I noticed some strange marks on the door that I decided to post the mission" Jacob said, showing them photos of the missing items.
"We understand. We'll take care of it from now on, sir" Finn said, causing the old man to nod gratefully.
"Thank you very much, young men. Not many people take these missions, as they prefer the capital's guards to handle them" Jacob said, handing them the shop keys along with a piece of paper. "I'll step aside to let you work. These are the shop keys, and this piece of paper has my address. If you manage to catch the thief, please let me know" the old man said, and Finn nodded.
"Bye, bye" Darwin said goodbye to Jacob.
The old man left the store, leaving Darwin and Finn alone. They would wait in the store until nightfall, when the old man would be robbed. Finn sat in Jacob's chair, waiting patiently, while Darwin began to look at the suits of armor, imagining that one day he would buy one of these suits of armor.
As night fell, Finn remained sitting in the chair, only putting a blanket over him to confuse the thief, while Darwin hid under a table, waiting patiently. The hours passed, reaching 2:00 a.m. At this point, Finn and Darwin were already thinking that the thief wouldn't attack today, but before they decided to leave the store, the two heard strange noises coming from the store next door.
"Finn, do you hear that?" Darwin whispered.
"Yes, they're coming from the alchemy and development shop next door" Finn whispered.
The noises continued for a few seconds until they heard footsteps approaching their shop. A figure stood on the wooden and glass door, catching Darwin and Finn's attention.
'The bastard isn't just robbing this shop, he's robbing all the shops nearby' Finn thought, watching the figure struggle with the door.
After a few seconds, the door lock clicked, indicating it had been opened, and the thief entered the shop unhurriedly. The thief laughed lightly, knowing this would be another night full of trophies.
"Stupid old men, always using the same locks" the thief mocked, entering the shop.
The thief moved forward and stopped right in front of a display case full of armor, not noticing the shadow growing behind him. The thief laughed maliciously, eyeing the suits of armor greedily, and quickly began to pick the lock.
"These stupid old people never realize they lost somenthing, hohohoho" laughed the thief.
"Is that so, asshole?" said Finn, standing at the bar, scaring the thief.
"What the hell?" said the scared thief, wanting to run, but it was too late.
Finn threw himself at the thief, covering him with the blanket he'd used to hide, preventing him from running or even looking. Darwin didn't hesitate to quickly jump out of his hiding place and run to Finn's aid.
"Hold him down, don't let that bastard move!" Darwin shouted, climbing onto the bar and throwing himself at the robber, hitting him in the stomach with his knees. "So you like robbing old people, huh, bastard?" Darwin shouted.
"Ugh, let me go, you idiots!" yelled the robber.
"Kick him, Finn, don't let the bastard get up!" yelled Darwin.
The two of them began kicking the robber, who was still wrapped in blankets, not giving him the slightest chance to move. After a few minutes of kicking him, the robber stopped moving, and Finn and Darwin finally stopped to check on him.
"He's unconscious..." said Darwin, checking his vital signs (he doesn't know how to check vital signs) and then seeing his face, contorted from so many blows. "No wonder he's a robber. With that face, no one would hire him anywhere."
"...Watch him there. I'll get a rope. We'll hang him by his balls from the railing on the 4th floor" said Finn, heading to the back of the store.
"Great idea, Finn. That way, we'll send a message to all the robbers in the neighborhood!" Darwin said, not noticing the tear falling from the thief's eye. "Also, don't forget to leave a note for Mr. Jacob to tell the owner of the store next door that this bastard had also been stealing from him this whole time."
"Okay!" Finn replied from behind the store.
—
The next day, Jacob got up early to visit his store. But as soon as he arrived at the plaza, he noticed several people gathered in the center, looking in one direction. Curious, when he looked up, the first thing he saw was a bruised and naked man, hanging by his balls from the 4th floor, with a sign next to him that read: Mission accomplished.