Gathering Coppercap Mushrooms

In an instant, crimson heat blazed from her neck all the way to the tips of her ears.

"It's all your fault!"

Nia was so embarrassed and furious she wanted to die. In her panic, she tossed aside the form and covered Lance's ears with both hands.

Feeling those soft, warm hands by his ears and looking at the girl before him, who was so embarrassed she seemed about to smoke, Lance could only raise his hands in surrender.

To apologize, and to thank Nia for helping him.

Ten minutes later, the two sat side by side on a bench in the corner of the Guild hall.

Lance painfully splurged and went to the bakery across the street to buy Nia the lunch she had been craving.

It was two freshly baked special herb breads.

The loaves were plump and temptingly round, their crusts baked to a perfect golden crisp. The baker had cut rose-petal-shaped crosses into their tops, revealing the soft, white crumb within.

The dough had clearly been made with care, kneaded with plenty of fresh chopped rosemary picked from the edge of Copper Creek Forest. Its rich herbal fragrance filled the air and made mouths water.

On top of that, Lance gritted his teeth and bought a bottle of pink sparkling berry wine.

It was a low-alcohol fruit wine wildly popular among female adventurers in Grayrock Town, sweet and refreshing, with delicate bubbles.

Nia held the bread in both hands and carefully took a bite.

The crisp crust met the soft crumb between her teeth, and the fragrance of herbs instantly filled her mouth.

Then she contentedly took a huge sip of the pink sparkling wine.

"Mmm... It's so good!"

Nia happily narrowed her eyes like a cat that had stolen some dried fish, her legs swinging merrily beneath the bench.

Looking at her carefree smile, Lance touched the coin purse that had instantly gone flat.

That meal had cost him half a day's wages.

"It's fine. This is called a necessary social investment."

Lance silently wept inside, then viciously took a huge bite out of the bread in his hand.

The Adventurers' Guild's clerical staff actually got two days off each week.

But in the past, in order to save enough travel money to get to Ostella as soon as possible, Lance had voluntarily chosen a year-round, no-days-off overtime schedule.

In a frontier town like Grayrock Town, where adventurers were at the heart of everything, most entertainment was steeped in hormones and alcohol.

Where adventurers gathered, trouble and conflict usually followed.

So Lance, who strictly adhered to the ironclad rule of "never join a crowd," had previously preferred to stay on duty at the Guild and mooch off its heating during his free time, aside from occasionally playing Three Dragon Cards with a few older girls he knew well.

But things were different now.

His adventurer identification would be approved tomorrow, and the day after that was when he planned to try taking on a commission and head to Copper Creek Forest.

Over the next two days, he had to get all his gear ready.

After getting off work in the evening, Lance first slipped home and changed into an inconspicuous gray hooded shirt, then plunged straight into the chaotic artisan district.

The entire area was shrouded year-round in black smoke from burning coal, while the air was thick with the sour stench of tanning leather. It was far from pleasant.

Blacksmith shops and leather stores lined both sides of the street. Any outsider who came here would likely be treated as a fat sheep and fleeced.

But Lance was different.

Thanks to the experience he had picked up through rumor and hearsay while serving as an "invisible man" behind the Guild counter for several months.

He knew perfectly well which shops did good work and which owners were crooked.

He skillfully ducked into several old shops with solid reputations and bought all the equipment he needed at the fairest prices.

When it came to life-saving gear, he absolutely could not cut corners.

The trip cost him a total of 8 silver coins and 46 copper coins.

And once he factored in the backpack, fire-starting tools, waterskin, rope, and other adventuring supplies he still needed to buy, his already meager savings would probably be completely drained.

After returning home, Lance laboriously put on each piece of equipment he had just bought.

Closest to his body, he wore specially treated, rivet-reinforced leather armor.

Hard iron plates had been added over the vital areas of the chest and back, greatly improving its protection against piercing attacks.

On his head was a reinforced leather helmet covered by a thick hood.

The best part of the design was the face protection. The helmet came with a half-mask extending from the forehead to the bridge of the nose, protecting the vulnerable nose while perfectly concealing most of his face.

Reinforced bracers inlaid with iron strips were strapped to both arms, enough to block slashing blows at critical moments.

He wore a pair of non-slip, hard-wearing fingerless gloves on his hands.

His lower body was protected by thick leather greaves, and he wore military ankle boots with steel toes.

Together with the standard steel shortsword hanging at his waist and the sturdy wooden round shield on his back.

When Lance pulled down his hood.

Even Nia, who saw him every day, probably would not recognize this murderous-looking fellow as the gentle, refined copyist he usually was.

The outfit felt heavy on him, and he certainly did not look like an easy target of a rookie.

Looking at his fully armed reflection in the mirror, Lance was somewhat dazed.

Even though he had been prepared for it, seeing himself like this brought an indescribable sense of reality rushing over him.

His life really seemed about to change.

Two days later.

Lance successfully received his own specially made adventurer identification.

It was a palm-sized metal tag with intricate anti-counterfeiting patterns engraved on its surface, containing encrypted identity information.

The only readable part was two words: his codename, Raven.

When his day off arrived.

Before the morning mist had cleared, Lance was already fully equipped and setting out with his bulging pack on his back.

Unlike most adventurers, he did not travel to Copper Creek Forest on foot.

Instead, he arrived at the town gate early, spent a few copper coins, and hitched a ride on a logging wagon belonging to a merchant caravan headed to purchase timber from the forest outskirts.

Sitting in the swaying wagon not only saved him strength, but more importantly, gave him a chance to chat with timber merchants who traveled between the forest and town all year round.

They knew best where beasts had become more active lately and which roads had recently become difficult to travel.

The commission he had accepted today was very simple.

Gather Coppercap Mushrooms.

They were a common type of mushroom found on the outskirts of Copper Creek Forest, dull brass in color and usually growing beneath rotten, damp tree stumps.

The reward was not high either. A small leather pouch filled with Coppercap Mushrooms would fetch around 15 copper coins.

This was a type of welfare commission specifically issued by the Guild.

It had no mandatory combat requirements and did not require adventurers to venture deep into dangerous territory.

It was most suitable for newcomers like Lance, taking on a commission for the first time, to cautiously test the waters of that forest.