In an instant, crimson flush spread from her neck all the way to the tips of her ears.
"It's all your fault!"
Nia was mortified. In a panic, she tossed aside the form and clapped both hands over Lance's ears.
Feeling those soft, warm little hands beside his ears and seeing the girl before him nearly steaming with embarrassment, Lance could only raise both hands in surrender.
To make amends, and to thank Nia for her help.
Ten minutes later, the two sat side by side on a bench in the corner of the Guild hall.
Lance gritted his teeth and spent a small fortune to buy Nia the lunch she had been craving from the bakery across the street.
It was two freshly baked special herb rolls.
The rolls were plump and enticingly 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 whetted the appetite.
On top of that, Lance had clenched his teeth and bought a bottle of pink sparkling berry wine.
It was a low-alcohol fruit wine immensely popular among female adventurers in Grayrock Town, sweet and refreshing with delicate bubbles.
Nia held the roll in both hands and carefully took a bite.
The crisp crust and soft crumb collided between her teeth, and the fragrance of herbs instantly filled her mouth.
Then she contentedly took a big gulp 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.
Watching her carefree smile, Lance touched the coin pouch that had suddenly gone flat.
That meal alone 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 of the bread in his hand.
Clerks at the Adventurers' Guild actually had weekends off.
But in the past, in order to save enough travel money for Ostella as soon as possible, Lance had voluntarily chosen a year-round overtime schedule with no days off.
In a frontier town like Grayrock Town, where adventurers were at the heart of everything, most forms of entertainment reeked of hormones and alcohol.
Where adventurers gathered, trouble and conflict usually followed.
Thus, Lance, who strictly adhered to the iron rule of "never join a crowd," had previously spent his free time on duty at the Guild, mooching off its heating, aside from occasionally playing Three Dragon Cards with a few familiar young ladies.
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 heading to Copper Creek Forest.
He had to get all the tools of the trade ready over these next two days.
After getting off work in the evening, Lance first slipped home and changed into an inconspicuous gray hooded shirt, then plunged headlong into the chaotic Craftsmen's District.
This area was shrouded all day in black smoke from burning coal, while the air was filled with the sour stench of tanning leather. It was far from pleasant.
Blacksmiths and leather shops lined both sides of the streets. Any outsider who came here would likely be taken for a fool and fleeced.
But Lance was different.
Thanks to the experience he had picked up through hearsay while serving as an "invisible man" behind the Guild counter for several months.
He knew exactly which shops did good work and which owners were crooked.
He slipped into several reputable old shops with practiced ease and bought all the equipment he needed at fair prices.
When it came to gear that could save his life, he absolutely could not cut corners.
This trip cost him a total of eight silver coins and forty-six copper coins.
And once he factored in the backpack, fire-starting tools, waterskin, rope, and other adventure supplies he still needed to buy, his already meager savings would probably be completely wiped out.
After returning home, Lance painstakingly put on each piece of equipment he had just bought.
Closest to his skin, he wore a specially treated leather cuirass reinforced with rivets.
Hard iron plates had been added at critical points on the chest and back, greatly improving its protection against piercing attacks.
On his head was a reinforced leather helmet, covered by a thick hood.
Its most ingenious feature was the face protection. The helmet came with a half-mask that extended from the forehead to the sides of the nose, protecting the vulnerable bridge of his nose while perfectly concealing most of his face.
Reinforced bracers inlaid with iron strips were strapped around both arms, enough to block slashing blows at crucial moments.
He wore a pair of non-slip, wear-resistant 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 Fine Steel shortsword at his waist and the sturdy wooden round shield on his back.
When Lance pulled down his hood.
Even Nia, who saw him day in and day out, probably would not recognize this murderous-looking fellow as the mild-mannered scribe she knew.
The outfit felt heavy on him, and he certainly did not look like an easy target of a rookie.
Lance stared blankly at his fully armed reflection in the mirror.
Even though he had prepared himself mentally, seeing himself like this gave him an indescribable sense of reality.
His life really seemed as though it was about to change.
Two days later.
Lance successfully received his own specially made adventurer identification.
It was a palm-sized metal tag with complex anti-counterfeiting patterns engraved across its surface, containing encrypted identity information.
The only visible thing was two words: his codename, Raven.
When his day off arrived.
The morning mist had yet to clear when Lance finished gearing up and set out with his bulging pack on his back.
Unlike the vast majority of adventurers, he did not walk to Copper Creek Forest on his own two feet.
Instead, he arrived at the town gate early, spent a few copper coins, and caught a lumber caravan's logging wagon headed to buy timber in the Outer Region of the forest.
Riding in the swaying carriage not only saved his strength, but more importantly, gave him a chance to chat with timber merchants who traveled between the forest and town year-round.
They knew best where beasts had become more active recently and which roads had become difficult to travel.
The commission he had taken today was very simple.
Gather Coppercap Mushrooms.
They were a common fungus that grew in the Outer Region of Copper Creek Forest, dull brass in color and usually found only beneath rotten, damp tree stumps.
The reward was not high either. A small leather pouch filled with Coppercap Mushrooms would fetch roughly fifteen 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 into dangerous areas.
It was best suited for beginners like Lance, undertaking their first commission, to cautiously test the waters of that forest.
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