Chapter 4

- Shari - I’m going to sell some ingredients to our local tavern. Sometimes I ask myself how this place can survive in a village like this. The only guests coming from outside are small adventure groups, but those people only come once a month to have a starting location for the job. So I don’t know how the owner, Miss Oka, manages to keep this business alive. The only conclusion I can come up with is that she gets paid enough by the same villagers she draws her ingredients for the dishes from, like this, creating some kind of loop in a closed community. In a way, one could say that this place, with its four tables, is the commercial center for all the people of this village. Even for me, as my family mainly delivers the ingredients we draw from the forest here. When I enter the tavern, I catch the rare sight of four people I don’t recognize at a table. Is it again that time of the month? Yet I draw myself back from my thoughts as Miss Oka is right now at the counter. "Hello, Shari. What can I do for you?" (Oka) "Ah, you know this season we had a good harvest of greyshrooms and cinderberries, also some spiceweed. So I would like to know if our favorite customer would like to get the first choice?" (Shari) "Sole customer, you wanted to say, hmm? To be honest, at the moment we don’t read many of these. My stocks are good, and we didn’t sell many dishes with those recently." (Oka) "Oh, that’s too bad! We would have appreciated it if you had taken some. It’s not like we are going to starve, but selling to the villagers one by one is quite a hassle, and without the pay, it seems that my diet will suffer a heavy increase of berries and wild herbs. Honestly, they aren't very tasty, but they will keep one alive." (Shari) "Sorry to hear that, but how about this? If you bring me purpleberries and dark leaves, I will give you a special bonus for your effort." (Oka) "Uhh..." (Shari) "Is something the matter?" (Oka) "Well, you know, those are rather rare here at the outskirts. Especially, as most villagers directly take them if they find any close to the village. So the only way to find them would be to head into the deep parts of the forest. However, you know this, don’t you?" (Shari) "Seems like I’ve got exposed. If they were easy to obtain, I wouldn’t be short on them. Still, your family is kinda experts in traversing the forest, aren't you? So it shouldn't be asking too much, and the bonus will make up for it." (Oka) "Sigh, I won't promise anything, but I will see what I can do." (Shari) "I expected nothing less from you." (Oka) "Yeah, yeah. Flattery won’t gain you a discount. I’ll be on my way then. Bye." (Shari) "Goodbye, Shari." (Oka) When I leave the counter, I manage to eavesdrop a bit on those adventurers. I hope they are not here because of a penalty, as those people tend to be troublemakers. But they seem to be okay since they are calmly chatting. "God! Why do we need to do this stupid subjugation quest, here in this god-forsaken place? I mean it's about ‘slimes’! Who cares if we kill them here or not?" The one speaking is a young man with a sword on his hip and garbed in chain mail. Does he always wear this attire? Seems rather uncomfortable always having to carry this heavy of a burden. That's at least my opinion. "You know that, if we don’t get them here, they will gather and inevitably draw to the important places." Said number two, a ranger with a bow. I’m a little offended by his indirect insult to my home village, though I can’t deny his assessment. Heck, I don’t even know if we pay taxes, so remote are we. Have never seen someone coming for this reason, at least. "Well, this might become more interesting than we first thought. Have any of you heard of that incident where a group got completely wiped out?" I assume this one is a mage. His red robe is practically screaming fire. I don’t know if it’s a good idea to announce it like this in battle, but I guess most monsters don’t care for colors, and it might help in coordination with other groups. "Hmm, I might have heard something in this regard as well." The last one. A rogue with a short-sword on his left side and several shells on his hip, which I think are for throwing. "Wait, if they got wiped out, how can there be a story?" (Adventurer 1) "Sorry, wiped out was maybe a little too much. Apparently, the backline could run after their vanguard got killed." (Adventurer 3) "Running? Some newbies that were done by the first over-average beast. Tsk!" (Adventurer 1) "No, I heard they had at least one year of experience. Not too much, but enough to handle a dangerous situation." (Adventurer 4) "By the way, it was no beast." (Adventurer 3) "What’s that supposed to mean?" (Adventurer 2) "To come back to our previous topic, I heard it was a slime." (Adventurer 3) "You gotta be kidding me! Slimes can’t pull this off. I mean, killing one, not to mention two, people before you can manage to escape? Did they jump in this blob heads first?" (Adventurer 1) "No, it seems this one was some kind of mutation. Much bigger. And even more interesting, it took the appearance of a girl." (Adventurer 3) "Okay, now you're trying to fool us. I mean, seriously, a girl?" (Adventurer 1) "I didn’t mean to! It’s exactly what I heard." (Adventurer 3) "The way here took us quite a while, and such news doesn’t spray fast, so the story should be at least two months old." (Adventurer 2) "Hmm, it sounds strange. But on the other hand, maybe there is a reason for this, like tricking your victim to hesitate or come closer. As some kind of adaptation against humans, perhaps? Might work in the dark." (Adventurer 3) "Well, if she looks like a young beauty, then I have no problem coming close." (Adventurer 1) "Ehh, pal? You know what would be going to happen to your… Urgh, never mind" (Adventurer 4) At this point, our chain mail wearer grows seriously pale with the realization that you shouldn’t poke everything you come across. "Still, a slime. That’s unheard of." (Adventurer 2) "Pal, you shouldn’t take this so hard. There are others out there. For example, this girl over there has been looking at you for quite a while now." (Adventurer 4) Aaaaand I’m out of here! The first thing I do is head back home to gather my equipment. Pouch, smell bags, cutting knife. Though not my good one. Dark leaves aren't that sturdy. Dad is currently out chopping wood. That leaves but one hurdle if I want to do this. "Shari? Is that you? How did it go with Miss Oka?" (Hannah) Yeah, Mum is at home today, again preparing herbs. Therefore, there's no way she can go by herself. Though while we aren't destitute, that commission by Miss Oka would help a lot. Let's hope I am convincing. "Unfortunately, she wasn't quite interested in our stuff. However, she asked for some other ingredients. So I thought I could just go for a quick gathering tour. I know right where to look for them." (Shari) "Shari, I'm still not very sure about you going alone." (Hannah) "Mum, I already handled one by myself, and this time isn't going to be much different. I'm only gonna be out for a few hours and will be back before it even gets dark. There's no reason to worry." (Shari) "Sigh. But promise me you'll be careful." (Hannah) "Of course, Mum" (Shari) Okay, that should've done it. Also, I needn’t worry about Dad, as he won’t make a fuss if I’ve got Mum’s permission. In general, he's pretty easygoing about this. Now I need to go to the deeper parts of the forest to retrieve the wanted ingredients and, like this, an appropriate payment. It’s a bit more dangerous, as there are occasionally fiercer monsters, but nothing I can’t handle. Of course, I'm not going to tell Mum about this. She can be such a worrywart, and it's not like there's any particular danger involved with this. Also, I did just fine on my own last time! All I need are our good old smellbags. I guess I’ll take two more as spares. Prepared like this, I’m more than ready for everything the forest might throw at me. There's no reason to worry. So I set out to get the ingredients. I just hope this will be worth it.