Chapter 12: CH. 12 | Another Side of The Adventurers

Thalia backed away a few steps, her face full of panic and fear. Hearing the shout made Denis spin around instantly.

He turned and looked shocked to see another man standing so close to Thalia.

"You?! Who the hell are you?!"

Theo tried to push himself up and put some distance between himself and Thalia, "Wait! I can explain."

"I just finished hunting and was taking a break up there," Theo said, "I got startled seeing you two and ended up falling."

Thalia and Denis both looked up, following where Theo was pointing at the tree branch. It was fairly high up, and wide enough to sit on or lean back against comfortably.

The two of them exchanged a glance, then nodded, accepting the explanation. Their expressions shifted noticeably, Denis lost the edge in his stance, and Thalia no longer looked afraid.

"Guess that’s fine then," Denis said, "I figured you were some kind of thief or something."

"I’m not a thief. Didn’t you see the gear I’m wearing?"

Denis looked him over and nodded. He explained that the light gear Theo had on looked a lot like what he himself used to wear back when he was a rookie adventurer.

"Once I built up a name at the guild, I could start picking whatever missions I wanted," Denis said.

"Oh, by the way, this is Thalia. She’s a new friend of mine, I needed a party partner," the young man added.

Theo turned and gave Thalia a small smile, and she returned it with a smile of her own.

He sat back down beneath the tree, leaning against the trunk again to sort out his attribute point allocation once more.

Denis turned his back to them, keeping watch in case any slimes wandered close enough to attack. Theo got up and walked over to him.

"You’re not attacking them?" Theo asked.

"Their exp is too small, they’re not much use to me," Denis said, "I only came out here to help Thalia level up."

"What level is she at now, anyway?" Theo asked, curious.

"She just hit level 3."

Theo nodded, then turned his gaze back out across the field. His eyes landed on the remaining water slimes scattered ahead, about fifteen of them left in the grassland.

If Theo killed every last one, he’d only earn 150exp total. He also had no idea how long it would actually take to clear all of them.

Still, he was going to do it anyway. If he didn’t manage enough by evening, he’d simply pick it back up again tomorrow.

Not long after, Thalia walked over to join them. She stood beside Denis, holding her wand and glancing off to the side.

"I’ve finished allocating all my points," Thalia said.

"Good," Denis said, "Let’s head out and finish the mission."

Thalia nodded. Denis turned and said his goodbyes to Theo.

The two of them headed off toward the dirt road leading back to the city, walking away from the grassland and leaving Theo behind on his own.

Someone as experienced as Denis, helping out a level 3 rookie like Thalia. And there wasn’t even any blood relation between them.

I don’t know... something about that feels off. I hope they’re both okay.

Theo’s attention shifted back ahead, watching the cluster of slimes continue bouncing around aimlessly.

None of them approached him, probably because he was already sitting within their attack range.

He drew his sword and charged forward. Reacting to Theo’s movement, the slimes bounced their way toward him. He didn’t feel threatened at all, he’d gotten a good enough read on their attack patterns by now.

That afternoon, he made up his mind to use every bit of daylight he had left before evening to keep killing slimes and racking up exp.

Time slipped by fast for Theo. The sun kept rolling from its high point in the sky toward the western horizon.

Orange light spread across the sky as adventurers made their way back from their missions, heading home into the city.

He took down his fifteenth slime that evening, earning exp from the kill as a notification panel appeared in front of his face.

[Congratulations! You have successfully killed a monster]

[Type: Water Slime (F-Rank)]

[Reward: +10exp]

[EXP: 150/300] [+10exp]

Along with the panel about killing the monster, Theo also noticed another system panel pop up right beside it. That notification showed a completed Authority Quest.

[2nd Authority Quest:]

[Objective: Use the Foresight Skill against a monster for more than 5 seconds]

[Reward: 50exp || 100 authexp]

[Status: Completed]

[EXP: 200/300] [+50exp]

[Authority EXP: 200/500] [+100authexp]

Still a long way to go before his Authority Level goes up, but he’d need around 100 more exp to hit level 3.

If I focus on hunting slimes again tomorrow, I’ll need at least ten more to level up.

Beyond just the exp reward, he also picked up a slime acid bubble. He performed extraction five times and ended up with five slime acid bubbles.

He could use the slime acid bubble to attack other slimes, but he was also curious whether it had any other use he hadn’t discovered yet.

Theo glanced over and saw the other adventurers already heading home. Some walked back with cheerful faces, others looked down. A few of them appeared exhausted and injured.

I need to get up early tomorrow to grab a mission at the guild before anyone else.

He followed after the others, heading back into the city, of course wanting to rest after a full day spent hunting alone out in the field.

As the sun set, the sky filled with sparkling stars, clear and cloudless.

The streets buzzed with townspeople going about their evening activities and unwinding for the night. Theo saw them clearly enough, but his own destination for unwinding was the city guild.

He walked alongside other adventurers until he reached the guild.

That night, representatives from every party crowded the reception desk, turning in their completed missions to claim their guild rewards.

Theo wanted to try doing the same. His attention drifted to the mission bulletin board, which showed only a handful of missions left unclaimed, either passed over for some reason or, more often, because their rank was considered too difficult.

The young man settled in at a table inside the guild, ordering food and drink for dinner, all while keeping an eye on the other adventurers around him.

Even so, he couldn’t spot Thalia or Denis anywhere, the two people he’d run into earlier at the slime field. Maybe they were just running late and still on their way back.

KNOCK!

Someone rapped their knuckles on Theo’s table. He turned and saw Sara, the guild staff member, coming over to see him.

Theo swallowed the food in his mouth and asked the server to bring Sara a drink.

"You look worn out, seems like you’ve been busy today, Theo," Sara said.

The server came by with a beer for Sara, and Theo nodded in answer to her comment, "Yeah, I was late this morning, so I decided to go hunt on my own instead."

"That’s right, it’s really the only way for you to level up," Sara replied, accepting the beer Theo had bought for her.

Sara turned around, scanning the line of adventurers returning from their hunts, "I’m still waiting for her."

"Who?"

"Thalia," Sara answered.

"Thalia? The rookie mage? I just saw her earlier today," Theo said.

"You saw her come back?" Sara asked.

Theo shook his head. He told Sara about running into them earlier that afternoon, when Denis was helping Thalia level up.

Sara’s eager expression turned sour, and she let out a short sigh before taking a sip of her beer.

"I’m worried something happened to her," Sara said.

"She’ll be fine," Theo said, chewing his food, "Denis seems like a pretty experienced adventurer."

"...and a creep too," Sara added, "A lot of adventurers have reported him for it, but there’s nothing we can do. He’s the son of a noble in this city."

"All we can really do is warn rookie adventurers, especially women, to stay away from him," Sara explained.

Sara told Theo that they were out running an E-Rank mission, matching Thalia’s level, not to mention Denis’s.

With Denis by her side, a mission at that rank should’ve been simple for them.

But even now, this late into the night, they still hadn’t come back. Sara felt responsible for it, since she was the one who’d approved their mission and party formation.

"Can’t you just turn them down?"

"No," Sara said, "Denis is a noble’s son, his ability matches that mission just fine, and he formed the party fair and square."

"If I turned him down, wouldn’t the guild look like it was playing favorites unfairly?" Sara asked.

Theo nodded, agreeing with what Sara was saying. The best thing Sara could really do was wait, hope, and pray. He never expected there’d be an adventurer like that operating in this place.

"Would you be willing to help me?" Sara asked.

The young man across from her spat out his drink in surprise, caught off guard by what Sara had just said, "Me? I’m barely a rookie, I’m only level 2."

"They should’ve already finished their E-Rank mission. I just need you to go out to their location and check if you can find Thalia."

"If you manage to bring her back safely, I’ll hand you a bonus guild mission as a reward," Sara said, "What do you think?"

Yasa told me going hunting at night is way too risky, monster strength multiplies several times over after dark. Still, I can’t just pass up an offer like that.

If I’m careful and use my foresight skill to spot danger ahead of time, I might actually make it through fine.

Sara noticed Theo’s silence and figured he didn’t want to respond. She told him she wouldn’t force him to take it on, since saving Thalia wasn’t really his responsibility to begin with.

But just as Sara turned to walk away from his table, her steps came to a stop.

"Damn it, Denis!" Theo groaned, "Tell me... where’s the location of their mission?"