Commission

Morning sunlight warmly spread across the land. In front of the manor, two people were talking about something.

"Achill, are you really going out to work today?" Standing before the manor, Le Qi looked at him hopefully and asked with anticipation, "Can't you take me with you? I want to see how mages accept and complete missions!"

"Take you with me? Tch, I think not..." Rolling his eyes, Achill shook out his white robe and refused with absolute determination. He really did not want the mission to fail because of her. Considering her incomprehensible temperament, the chances of that happening were very high!

"Don't worry about it..." Seeing her immediately put on a dejected expression, Achill shook his head and said helplessly, "There will be plenty of chances like this in the future. As long as you become stronger, once you become a mage capable of standing on your own, you'll be able to accept plenty of commissions like this!"

"Oh..." Le Qi nodded slightly and replied glumly, still looking unhappy. Achill could only shake his head helplessly again before reminding her:

"Be careful while I'm gone. Don't run around if there's nothing important to do! All right, that's it. Bye~"

With that, Achill turned and left without looking back.

Just as he had said, he was going to work now!

As a mage, although he had lost his memories and had spent the past year living at Le Qi's home, he had not lost his pride! He was too embarrassed to keep eating and drinking at the expense of a girl like Le Qi. Her family was not well-off to begin with. Before he arrived, Le Qi had always lived alone! Though she had never seriously spoken about her parents or relatives, Achill had still keenly noticed something...

From the occasional fragments Le Qi unintentionally let slip, Achill learned that her mother had been an exceptionally powerful mage—a strong Wood-Make mage!

And this entire manor—Dancing Manor—had been created by her mother! Of course, that excluded the manor's name and the "dangerous creatures" that occasionally appeared within it...

Other than that, Achill only knew that Le Qi's living expenses seemed to have been left behind by her mother. From their previous chats, he had also learned that the money was running low.

But since he was a mage, it was only natural that he should shoulder all the household expenses! He could not stand constantly using a little girl's money. It was not because he had any prejudice against women; his male pride was simply acting up again!

So, after his injuries had mostly healed in the second month after he was rescued, he resolutely went out to find work!

As a mage, there were many jobs Achill could do. However, most mages chose to join a guild, then accepted various commissioned missions through that guild to earn money!

Of course, there were also unaffiliated freelance mages. However, such mages were relatively rare. While some of them were powerful, the overwhelming majority were weak! As a result, they generally lived rather poorly...

Achill was one of those freelance mages. Of course, the reason he lived so "poorly" was not because he lacked strength. On the contrary, his strength was absurdly powerful! Leaving aside his unfathomably vast magic power, his strange and unpredictable Requip Magic—Bleach—was already something ordinary people could not compare to!

In fact, even Achill himself did not know exactly how strong he was, because he had never encountered a mage capable of matching him. At least, there was no one like that in this remote town! Of course, perhaps it was simply because the town was too remote, which was why no experts were around... Achill thought.

The topic seemed to have drifted a little. In truth, the reason he lived so "poorly" was because he was too lazy. Unless he was truly so broke he could barely afford food, he would never go out to accept missions! Also, because he hated trouble, he always tried to choose missions with relatively higher rewards, so he would not have to keep going out every few days just to earn food money...

Yawning as he idly wandered around town, Achill soon arrived at the town center, before the town's only mage guild!

It was a three-story standalone building of medium size. Though its exterior was quite dilapidated, it was already one of the larger buildings in this remote town.

Achill casually glanced at the guild's worn-out signboard. Forest Pathfinder was the name of this guild!

Without any further thought, Achill pushed open the guild doors and stepped inside.

"Yo! Isn't this Nameless? What brings you to our guild today? I haven't seen you for quite a while! Why aren't you at home keeping your beauty company today? Hahaha~" It was an ordinary hall, and the furnishings throughout were extremely simple. There were only a few people scattered around. They had been chatting and laughing about interesting things, but upon hearing the door open, they instinctively looked over. When they saw Achill in his loose moon-white robe, everyone gave him a friendly look. One burly man with a thick beard greeted him with a laugh and teased him a little. Clearly, they all knew Achill.

"Hahahaha—" As soon as the bearded man finished speaking, everyone burst into good-natured laughter.

"You're the one staying home with a beauty..." Achill rolled his eyes, then unceremoniously dropped onto one of the sofas. Looking annoyed, he said, "And stop calling me Nameless! I have a name!!"

"Did you recover your memories?!" Everyone was understandably shocked. They had known Achill for a long time and naturally knew that he had lost his memories. That was why they jokingly called him Nameless, since he had forgotten his own name as well. After more than a year together, they had grown used to him having no name. Now that he suddenly said he had one, their first reaction was that he had remembered his past!

As they considered that possibility, they were not only surprised, but deeply curious about who he had been before!

"Or did Le Qi give you a new name?" The bearded man was calmer than the others. Although his first thought had also been that Achill might have recovered his memories, he immediately considered another possibility out of caution.

After pausing in surprise, the others also snapped out of their excitement and curiosity. Compared to the first possibility, their leader's guess seemed far more likely!

Everyone immediately turned questioning looks toward Achill.

"A name she gave me? Uh, forget it..." Achill instantly thought of the names Le Qi had tried to give him, and his scalp went numb. He hurriedly waved his hands and explained, "I remembered it after recovering a little of my memory! Uh, of course, I only remembered my name. As for everything else, I still have no clue..." By the end, Achill looked frustrated and helpless.

"Don't worry. You'll remember eventually." The bearded man offered a few words of comfort, then asked curiously, "By the way, you said you remembered your name. What is it? Tell us. Maybe we can give you some useful clues!"

The others in the guild also chimed in, clearly curious about his real name.

"Achill. My name is Achill..." Although he knew the chances were not high, Achill honestly answered out of consideration for their goodwill. "I only remember my name. I have no impression of my surname or anything else..." After saying that, he shrugged helplessly. In truth, even knowing his surname would make it difficult to find clues about his past. There were countless people in this world with the same name and surname...

Sure enough, after hearing Achill's name, everyone sighed. Just as Achill had expected, they found no clues at all. However, he had long gotten used to it and did not particularly care. He had never placed any hope in finding clues through his name anyway.

"By the way, President Abudu, do you have any decent missions today that suit my tastes?" Achill reclined on the sofa and asked casually, "I'm practically going broke lately. If I don't take a few missions from you for emergency money, I'll be out of food in another couple of days~"

"Hehe, you kid, honestly..." The bearded man, Abudu, president of the mage guild Forest Pathfinder, shook his head with a helpless laugh. He had clearly been defeated by Achill's incredible nerve and laziness.

"I mean, Nameless—cough, cough, no! Achill..." A thin man with a monkey-like face laughed and said, "Since you enjoy coming to our guild for missions so much, why not just join Forest Pathfinder? Our guild is the largest—and the only—guild in Ashton Town! If you join us, accepting missions will be much more convenient in the future, won't it? And even aside from that, the fees we charge after each mission is completed will be much lower! Why not? Just join us already!!"

Everyone immediately voiced their agreement, and even President Abudu could not help casting Achill a look filled with expectation and inquiry. Although they did not know much about his strength, his one-hundred-percent completion rate on every mission he had accepted showed that he was certainly no weakling! More importantly, he was only thirteen years old! If he already possessed this level of strength at thirteen, how powerful would he become in the future?!

Everyone present could roughly guess the tremendous strength he might possess one day, so naturally they did not want to let him go so easily. If they could recruit him into their guild, perhaps Forest Pathfinder could rise to greater heights through his power...

Thinking that, everyone became even more enthusiastic in persuading him. They all shared the same goal—to talk Achill into joining Forest Pathfinder~

"Uh, no matter how much you say, it won't work. Like I said, before I recover all my memories, I will never join any guild! I don't know whether I belonged to a guild before. If I did, what would I do after recovering my memories? I can't just choose one and abandon the other. You all know I hate multiple-choice questions the most..." Achill paused slightly. Seeing everyone's disappointed expressions, he felt somewhat bad about it, so he could only helplessly offer a promise that seemed rather distant for now. "How about this? I promise that once I recover my memories, if I truly don't belong to any guild and circumstances allow it, I'll definitely join Forest Pathfinder! Of course, if that day really comes, you'll probably have to rename this guild. It's not that I like making snarky comments, but this name is just too lame. It isn't imposing at all..." He did not forget to tease the guild's name at the end.

After a brief pause, everyone burst out laughing.

"Haha! Don't worry! As long as you're willing to come when the time arrives, I'll definitely give our guild an overwhelmingly awesome name!" Abudu declared, pounding his chest and laughing heartily.

"But for now, let's look at a commission that meets your requirements." As he spoke, Abudu walked to the commission board and examined it carefully. Then he tore down one of the notices and casually tossed it to Achill. Smiling, he said, "Take a look at this. You'll get a generous reward of 500,000 J if you complete it! I'm good to you, aren't I~"

"Oh? You'd be this kind-hearted?" Though he said that, Achill still leaned back against the soft sofa and carefully read the commission notice in his hand.

"Search mission: Find Nasen Forest's specialty product—Nasen Fragrant Herb—and collect twelve hundred-year-old Nasen Fragrant Herbs." Waving the commission notice in his hand, Achill asked in confusion, "Although finding and collecting Nasen Fragrant Herb is troublesome, it shouldn't be worth such a high price of 500,000 J, should it?"

"Sigh, that would indeed have been the case before, but now..." Abudu gave a bitter laugh and explained in frustration, "For some reason, rumors suddenly spread that there's a demon in Nasen Forest! At first, I didn't believe it either, but after six people in a row failed, including myself, things ended up like this..."

"A demon, huh? Heh, interesting..." Achill muttered a few words to himself, then stretched and stood up. Lazily, he said, "Then I, Achill, will take this mission..." With that, he headed for the exit.

"Be extremely careful!" Seeing this, President Abudu immediately warned him, his expression unusually serious!

"No need to be so nervous. Oh, right, I forgot to ask—if there's a demon, how did you all come back?" As if remembering something, Achill suddenly asked curiously. He truly found it strange. Just as he had said, if there really was a demon, how were Abudu and the others still perfectly fine? They did not seem to be missing any arms or legs.

"Don't mention that!!" Abudu's expression suddenly became extremely ugly. Not only him, but several others as well—their faces changed with astonishing speed! In the end, Abudu growled, "Everyone who took part in this mission, just like those who entered Nasen Forest after the demon appeared, was cruelly harmed by that demon!!! Don't believe me? Look!" After exchanging a knowing glance with the others whose expressions had changed, they all raised a hand to their heads in perfect unison. Then, before Achill's stunned gaze, they immediately lifted their hair off!!

He had not seen wrong! Lifted it off!!! So after all this, every single one of them was wearing a wig?!!~

"W-what?! Are you all planning to become Buddhist monks?!!" Achill was, without question, instantly stunned by the shockingly powerful sight before him! Staring dumbfoundedly at the rows of gleaming bald heads, he unconsciously swallowed, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and stammered, "A-as expected of a demon..."

With that, he fled as though escaping for his life. He could not guarantee that if he looked at that spectacular sight for too long, he would not be infected by it himself. In any case, he had been thoroughly frightened, so he had better leave quickly. Otherwise, if those guys became unbalanced and shaved his head too, that would really be disastrous! Before he said goodbye to being single, he definitely did not want to become a monk~ Well, after saying goodbye to being single, he wanted it even less!!!

That was what Achill thought.

Eh? What exactly did becoming a Buddhist monk mean? After thinking for a while and still failing to understand why such a phrase had suddenly appeared in his mind, Achill decisively gave up on wasting any more brain cells.

For now, completing the mission was more important! And while he was at it, he would get rid of that "terrifying" demon! Yes, for the peace of the universe~ And for his food money...