As is the case every day, in the early morning, a long line of people coming to return their completed missions, is waiting in front of the counters of the Griven adventurers" guild.At least, that should be the case. Three of the receptionists look jealously at the beautiful blonde woman with the provocative neckline who has just joined their team and catches all the men"s eyes. Too busy comparing their empty counter to the line of the first counter that stretches out into the street, the three women don"t see the little hand that quietly plunders their checkouts.
Helen sees out of the corner of her eye the nasty smile of the little girl who runs out the back door but overwhelmed with work by all those men whose eyes rest more on her chest than on her face, she is unable to go and check what new foolishness this child has made.
If Helen is so busy this beautiful morning that she doesn"t realize how much time is pa.s.sing, her colleagues who only receive a woman adventurer from time to time or make a few inscriptions have realized that something is wrong...
For fear of sounding crazy, none of the receptionists who are shunned by the men dare to tell their colleagues, but as they receive a coin or two, the money flies away almost immediately. Frightened by this mystery, which attests to the presence of a lost soul, the three paler and paler women, who now spend their time staring at the ceiling, allow the little culprit hand to commit her thefts without hurrying.
Not far from them, in front of the missions posted on the board, the adventurers, who were happily discussing the beautiful Helene and her generous curves, stop their animated debates when their eyes fall on curious missions. As confident in themselves that his manly men are usually, for whom fear is just a meaningless word, faced with one of the missions that they themselves judge to be somewhat eccentric, suddenly become shy, they lower their eyes and scratch their noses.
…
Lunch is one of the most pleasant moments when you are a registered adventurer in Griven"s guild. Here, in the restaurant on the second floor of the guild, the atmosphere is always friendly. Adventurers and employees of the guild are like a family, which even in the most difficult times has always supported each other. It is in this friendly atmosphere that many muscular arms rise to claim their drink.
"A bottle of pear spirit, my pretty little angel."
"A big, thick, sour vina.s.se made from green grapes from our region, my little Hera."
"A two-liter bottle of beer, my pretty one, and bring us half a lemon to let it all slide down into our paunch."
Seeing the little girl running in the stairs, Helene wants to help the little unconscious who proudly declared, "This lunchtime, I alone will serve the adventurers" booze." but sitting opposite her, Caius puts his hand still pink after the shrimps he has just peeled on her wrist and shakes his head.
"Let her have her fun playing waitress. When she realizes how hard the job is, she"ll come to you ask you to help her, herself."
Helene feels conflicted, but when a "Huhuhu" sounds on the stairs, fear drives away the pity she felt for the child.
In the cellar, on a large barrel, Hera puts the paper on which she has written down all the bottle orders made by those she considers to be armed alcoholics. She grabs the small pointed object hanging on the wall and with her help, she carefully opens each bottle corresponding to the orders.
Looking at all the bottles on the floor, she covers her mouth so as not to burst out laughing. Her hand searches the inside pocket of her pretty yellow vest that Caius gave her yesterday and she pulls out small mushrooms that she stole this morning from one of the forbidden cupboards in the guild"s storeroom.
She puts them on the large wooden board that is usually used for cutting sausages, and then with her feet she grinds them into powder. In order not to lose anything, she runs her finger under the soles of her shoes to remove the fine particles of mushrooms and by pinching them, Hera puts a little powder in each bottle.
…
Helene observes with astonishment the adventurers who are particularly nervous today. It"s true that she doesn"t work here since a long time, but usually these men with muscular brains only fight at the end of the meal.
"Caius, I don"t have a very good feeling about this."
The guild master didn"t let anything show on his face so as not to worry the one who shares custody of her little treasure with him, but seeing these men crushing their own comrades" heads in the walls, his feelings on this subject are also very mixed.
"Better not worry about that. Let"s just enjoy our meal and get back to work."
In the midst of nameless chaos, between a table where, as a fallout in their childhood, adventurers throw food in each other"s faces and a table where a warrior mistakes his thief"s face for a punching bag, Caius holds his anger in check and swallows his orange duck.
Caius likes very much the orange duck. He appreciates the sweet and sour taste of this meat which he takes his time to chew. When he eats it, he is used to say that the world might explode, that it would not disturb him... (Boom)
...at least that was his opinion until this moment. Eating while the sun"s rays warm his head can be pleasant. It would even seem that it would be beneficial for the body as well as for the heart and the head, however, however pleasant and beneficial the gentle rays of the sun caressing Caius" skull, his face becomes deformed and he puts his spoon on his plate.
"Which is the son of a fool who blew up the restaurant?"
These men may be bullies, but he trained them well and usually those who don"t respect him fear him. Even if these bullies are in the middle of a fight, all he has to do is open his mouth and he can hear a fly fly. Here, n.o.body can question his authority and a simple word from him can make them crawl like worms, but today, none of them crawl when Caius screams. Rather than seeing these men bow down before him, Caius sees several projectiles flying towards his face.
…
Helene wipes her forehead. It"s been a trying day, but it"s coming to an end. The beautiful blonde woman finishes counting the money in her till. She puts it away in the red leather bag but before taking it to Caius" office, seeing that two papers have fallen out of the missions board, she decides to hang them up before going upstairs.
When she is in front of the board, she is about to bend over to pick up the papers when her eyes come across an unorthodox mission statement.
[Legendary Quest! Find Gina"s green panties stolen by Jean. 100Gold]
The paper and ink do indeed come from the guild and Helen can certify that it was edited by the machine provided by the Capital Guild, however ...
[Ranking Test Quest! Do a favor for the Master of the Griven"s Adventurers Guild by relieving him of of his plantar mycosis. 15Gold]
[SS Rank Quest: To cure her of her S-grade avarice, invite the receptionist Helene to dinner and leave without paying. 50 gold] ... ...
Helene"s very worried eyes conscientiously go through each a.s.signment and as she feared on each sheet, she can read various nonsense that would not be so bad if the public concerned were not so gullible. Unfortunately, by thinking about it a little longer, there are not that many adventurers who are able to think ... However, there are still a small dozen. So why hasn"t anyone reported the presence of the strange missions? Thinking back, she remembers a certain little girl who was very devoted to her work and who used to take some people by the hand and take them away to offer them a fruit juice.
"You little b.a.s.t.a.r.d, how dare you come in here and ask me to take off my shoes to relieve my mycosis."