Returning to the Adventurer's Guild

"Havent!"

"Fight! Fight!"

Havent, lying in bed, frowned, his expression unusually ferocious, his hands tightly gripping the quilt.

"Who are you? Don't go, don't leave me!"

With a shout, Havent sat up in bed, sweat soaking his bangs and sticking them to his forehead. He looked at the sunlight streaming through the window, let out a slow breath, and lay back down.

After calming himself, he turned to look at the bed next to him. Havent sat up again. Paimon, who usually slept more than him, was gone from his bed. This wasn't right.

He scanned the room and found a letter on Paimon's quilt. Havent walked over and opened it.

[Will, my good brother, I'm leaving. You don't need to look for me. So much has happened these past few days that made me realize I'm truly a terrible person.

I've decided to venture out on my own. What you said at the tavern yesterday was absolutely right. To earn others' respect, you need to rely on your own abilities. I can't stay under my uncle's protection anymore. I want to become an independent and reliable person.

Even though we've only known each other for a few days, you're my brother for life. The next time we meet...

Paimon]

Looking at Paimon's letter, Havent irritably scratched his head. Was he considered to be instigating a minor to run away from home?

He cursed the unreliable guy, got dressed, and took another letter left by Paimon to Wells's room.

"Uncle Wells, are you really not going to send anyone to look for him? What if something happens to him?"

Wells lay calmly on the bed, holding Paimon's crooked letter. He looked out the window for a long time before slowly shaking his head.

"He's made his choice. Since he's embarked on this path of no return, we mercenaries have always been prepared for death. At least Paimon is right about one thing: he can't live under my protection forever. One day, he'll have to face life on his own."

Havent looked at the man covered in bandages, his face pale, and sighed. Wells, lying on the bed, seemed to recall something else and turned to Havent.

"Will, I'm truly sorry. As you can see, the mercenary group is in a difficult situation. We've been dismissed by the merchant guild, so we can't take you to the Imperial Capital."

Hearing that Wells was concerned about this, Havent quickly waved his hand. "It's okay, Uncle Wells. I'll figure out my own way. What are your plans now?"

Hearing Havent's question, Wells lowered his head again and gave a bitter smile. "What other plans can I have? Once my injuries heal a bit, I plan to return to the village. I've saved up some money over the years to distribute to the families of my fallen brothers. If it's not enough, I'll keep working until I can't anymore."

Looking at Wells's somewhat dry, graying hair, Havent scratched his nose. After thinking for a moment, he took out paper and a pen from his spatial ring and began writing at a nearby table.

Wells looked at the envelope in his hand with confusion and asked, "Thank you for taking care of me during this time. When your injuries have healed, you can take this letter to Knight Commander Taren in Baiman City. He'll know what to do after reading it."

"This, this is too kind. Will, we haven't been able to help you much."

Havent stepped forward and pressed down on Wells, who was struggling to sit up. He smiled and said, "Don't be so formal. Paimon is my good brother, after all. Alright, I have to go. We'll meet again someday~"

Watching Havent's retreating back, Wells looked at the letter in his hand again. "So this child is the Knight Commander's son from Baiman City. No wonder he's so outstanding."

Havent walked out of the Four Stars Inn, shielding his eyes with his hand as he looked at the bustling crowd on the street. He scanned the area, confirmed the location of the Adventurer's Guild, and walked towards it.

Boli Town seemed a bit smaller than Streamwood Town, but there were many vendors along the road.

It was almost eleven o'clock in the morning, and feeling a bit hungry, Havent went to a roadside food stall and bought two fried pies. The conversation of the people waiting nearby piqued his interest.

"Hey, have you heard?"

"Heard what?"

"That thing, about the Mist Forest."

"Ah! You mean that? I've heard. I've heard. Six mercenary groups have gone to explore, and not one has returned."

Watching the two women sway away, Havent's interest was successfully piqued. He took the fried pies from the stall owner and asked, "Boss, what were they just talking about?"

"What did you say, sir? Who?"

"What those two women were just talking about, the Mist Forest."

The boss finished his work and stood up, pulling a wine flask from his waist. He unscrewed it and took a small sip.

"It's like this: two weeks ago, a few mercenaries returned to town, covered in wounds. They said they found a lot of magical herbs deep in the Mist Forest and brought back quite a bit. I heard some of them sold for over ten gold coins, tsk tsk tsk."

Speaking of gold coins, the boss took another sip of wine, shaking his head and sighing.

"And then?"

"Then? Then the mercenaries in town heard the news and rushed to the location the group mentioned. It's been almost half a month, and not a single one has returned."

Havent finished the two fried pies while listening to the boss's story.

Hearing Havent ask for three more, the boss quickly put down his wine flask and started preparing them. While wrapping the filling, he asked, "Looking at your attire, you seem to be a mercenary too. If you're interested, you can check out the Adventurer's Guild. I heard they're posting bounties to organize people to investigate again."

Taking the freshly fried pies from the boss, Havent nodded and walked towards the Adventurer's Guild.

The Adventurer's Guild in Boli Town was a three-story building made of pine.

Pushing open the wooden door of the Adventurer's Guild, Havent once again smelled the scent of sweat mixed with pine resin and blood. He took a few deep breaths at the entrance before walking in.

There weren't many adventurers inside, only about thirty or forty scattered around.

With his previous experience, Havent went straight to the quest board. As expected, he saw the quest for exploring the Mist Forest on the blackboard to the left. The reward seemed quite generous: 1 gold coin for any valid intelligence, and a whopping 10 gold coins for participating in the search party organized by the Adventurer's Guild.

However, Havent wasn't too interested in that and began searching the quest board for information about traveling to the Imperial Capital.