The Adventurer's Guild Again

'Havent!

'Fight! Fight!'

Havent lay in bed with a furrowed brow and a horribly twisted expression, his hands clutching the blanket tightly.

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

With a shout, Havent sat bolt upright in bed. Sweat had soaked his bangs and plastered them to his forehead. He looked at the sunlight streaming in through the window, slowly let out a breath, then lay back down.

Once he had calmed down, he turned to look at the bed beside him and sat up again. Paimon's bed was empty. That shouldn't have been possible—Paimon usually slept even more than he did.

He looked around and spotted a letter on Paimon's blanket. 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, and it made me realize that I really am a terrible person.

I've decided to go out and make my own way alone. What you said over drinks yesterday was absolutely right. If I want to earn other people's respect, I have to rely on my own true abilities. I can't keep living under Uncle's protection. I want to become an independent person others can rely on.

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

Paimon

Looking at the letter Paimon had left behind, Havent irritably scratched his hair. Did this count as encouraging a minor to run away from home?

After cursing that unreliable guy, Havent got dressed, took the other letter Paimon had left behind, and headed for Wells's room.

"Uncle Wells, are we really not sending anyone to look for him? What if something happens to him?"

Wells lay calmly in bed, holding Paimon's crookedly written letter in his hand. He stared out the window for a long while before slowly shaking his head.

"He made his choice. Since he chose this road of no return, we mercenaries have already prepared ourselves to die at any time. At least Paimon was 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 pale man covered in bandages and sighed. Wells seemed to remember something else as he lay there, turning to Havent.

"Will, I'm really sorry. You've seen the current state of the mercenary group. We've been dismissed by the merchant association, so we can't take you to the Imperial Capital."

Hearing that this was what Wells was worried about, Havent quickly waved his hands.

"It's fine, Uncle Wells. I'll figure something out myself. What are you planning to do next?"

At Havent's words, Wells lowered his head again and gave a bitter smile.

"What else can we do? Once my injuries are a little better, I plan to return to the village. I've saved up some money over the years, and I'll divide it among the families of the brothers who died in battle. If it isn't enough, I'll keep working until the day I can't work anymore."

Looking at Wells's somewhat dry, graying hair, Havent scratched his nose and thought for a while. Then he took out paper and a pen from his spatial ring and bent over the table beside him to write.

Wells looked at the envelope in his hand with confusion.

"Thank you for taking care of me during this time. Once your injuries have healed, Uncle, you can take this letter to Knight Commander Taren in Baiman City. He'll understand once he reads it."

"How can I accept this? Will, we haven't really helped you with anything."

Havent stepped forward and pressed Wells down as he tried to struggle up, smiling as he spoke.

"Don't be so formal. Paimon is my good brother, after all. All right, I'm leaving. We'll meet again someday~"

Watching Havent's departing back, Wells then looked at the letter in his hand.

"So this child is the son of Baiman City's Knight Captain. No wonder he's so outstanding."

After leaving the Four Stars Inn, Havent shielded his eyes with a hand and looked over the bustling crowd on the street. After scanning the area and confirming the Adventurer's Guild's location, he headed over.

Boli Town seemed a little smaller than Streamwood Town, though there were plenty of vendors along the streets.

It was eleven in the morning. Feeling a little hungry, Havent went to a roadside snack stall and bought two fried pies. The conversation of some passersby waiting nearby caught his attention.

"Hey, did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"You know, about Mist Forest."

"Ah! That? Yeah, I heard. Six mercenary teams went in to explore, and not a single person came back."

Watching the two women sway away, Havent's interest was successfully piqued by their words. He took the fried pies the stall owner handed him and asked,

"Boss, what were they talking about just now?"

"What did you say, sir? Who?"

"The two women just now. Mist Forest."

Having finished his work, the stall owner stood up, pulled a flask from his waist, uncorked it, and took a small sip.

"Here's what happened. Two weeks ago, several mercenaries returned to town covered in injuries. They said they'd discovered a lot of magical herbs deep in Mist Forest and brought back quite a few. I heard several plants sold for more than ten gold coins each. Tsk, tsk, tsk."

At the mention of gold coins, the owner took another drink and shook his head in amazement.

"And then?"

"And then? The mercenaries in town heard the news and noisily rushed to the place that team had mentioned. It's been nearly half a month now, and not one of them has returned."

Havent finished both fried pies while listening to the owner's account.

When Havent ordered another three, the owner hurriedly set down his flask and began making them. As he wrapped the filling, he asked,

"Judging by how you're dressed, young man, you must be a mercenary too. If you're interested, you can go take a look at the Adventurer's Guild. I heard the guild is offering a reward and gathering people to investigate again."

Taking the freshly fried pies from the owner, Havent nodded and headed toward the Adventurer's Guild.

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

Pushing open the Adventurer's Guild's wooden door, Havent smelled that familiar odor of sweat mixed with pine resin and blood. He stood at the entrance, inhaled deeply several times, then walked inside.

There were not many adventurers inside, only thirty or forty scattered around.

With his previous experience, Havent went straight to the quest board. Sure enough, he saw an exploration quest concerning Mist Forest on the blackboard to the left. The rewards looked generous too: one gold coin for any useful information, and ten gold coins for joining the Adventurer's Guild's search party.

However, Havent was not very interested in that. He began searching the quest board for information on traveling to the Imperial Capital.