Bar "The Struggler" and Rookie Adventurers PART 1
"Mr. Bar, what quest will you undertake today?"
Bar–a man in his thirties–frowned, looking down upon the three parchments handed by the young receptionist behind the Guild"s counter.
"Which one will you recommend?" Unable to decide, he asked.
"Hmm, I will suggest collecting the Heiren herb." Niebe continued, focusing her red eyes onto him.
"Some rookies joined a while ago and they wished to take on this quest. I, for one, want a veteran to accompany them."
"I see."
Bar nodded.
Niebe, maybe due to her youth, was responsible for many rookies and youngsters, and always had them be accompanied by a veteran.
No wonder she got her alias as "Trainer", Bar thought, smiling.
"It"s fine. I"m free."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Bar!"
Niebe"s mouth broke into a big, wide smile that would bewitch any young man. Not Bar, though. He just stared back at her.
"And where are those rookies?"
Niebe glanced to his right, forcing Bar to move his head in the direction.
There stood three demi-human girls.
15, no 16 years old. Dogmen Tribe, huh.
The girls wore cheap shirts and shorts that wouldn"t hinder their mobility, and were equipped with leather breastplates old enough that they were someone"s hand-me-downs and a short-sword, gauntlets and a staff.
"Eh, it"s this old man?" [1]
The orange-haired girl, standing in the middle of the other two, grimaced and glared daggers at Bar with her tawny eyes.
"Mister, what"s your rank?"
"Seventh Rank," Bar replied.
The girl clicked her tongue, "How lame can you get. You"re so old yet of the lowest rank?"
Her words came as no surprise to Bar.
The adventuring ranks start from Seven to One, and the lower the number dictated higher skill of an adventurer.
To be stuck at the Seventh Rank despite entering his thirties, it was no wonder the girls looked down upon him.
"I-I a, agree we need a veteran to accompany us, but at least let it be someone reliable…or it"ll trouble us…"
The green-haired girl tightened her grip on the staff, raised her eyebrows in worry and appealed to Niebe.
The girls sneaked a glance at Bar"s clothes.
He was clad in a long-sleeved, black jacket with four big pockets, a white shirt to soak the sweat, a blue trousers and a pair of loafers–all of which looked very cheap.
His clothes were a far-cry from an experienced adventurer"s attire. Neither did he look the part of a competent adventurer, nor did his clothes attest otherwise.
It just was no wonder the girls opposed his inclusion.
"It"s because you need a competent veteran that I asked Mr. Bar to accompany you." Niebe answered with a smile, her forehead twitching in anger. "He has accompanied more than thirty rookies, and returned alive with every single one of them. He"s an veteran at his tasks." She said, almost as if bragging about herself.
"Is that considered amazing?"
The blue-haired girl warily looked at Bar.
"You"ll understand once you go on an adventure."
Niebe knew well enough to argue with a rookie, but to let them experience the world by themselves.
"Okay. Fine, whatever."
The girls agreed, their expression contradicting their words.
Should they get on the wrong side of the receptionist responsible for them, it would be harder to request any well-paying quests in the future.
…Is probably what they"re thinking, Bar inferred.
They weren"t the first ones to think and do it. As far as Bar could remember, almost every single one of his parties were the same.
"Then, Mr. Bar please support us."
"Roger," Bar nodded, turning around to face the girls. "I"ll be in your care."
"P, please rest a.s.sured."
The blue-haired girl…only the blue-haired girl bowed to greet Bar.
"I"m Bar. What"s your name?"
"I, I"m Helena," the green-haired girl stated, then pointed at her comrades and introduced them.
"The girl with orange hair is Aefa, and the one with blue hair is Tinee."
"Nice to meet you two as well," Bar said with a smiling expression.
Aefa scoffed and looked away from Bar.
"Me too," Tinee said in a low voice, as though she"d couldn"t be bothered to have a conversation.
This temporary party had every grim prospects, but still, regardless of that fact, Bar"s smile never broke.
"The harvesting place for this herb is…near the waterfront, huh…" Bar re-checked the parchment. "I"d like everyone to buy clothes that cover your hands and feet."
Putting Helena aside, the other two wore half-sleeved shirts and shorts. n.o.body would bat an eye at those clothes, but it was obvious that someone, somewhere–an adventurer–would get offended at the lax att.i.tude of these girls.
"Eeh?"
The girls showed displeased expression with varying intensities.
It took no longer than a second for Bar to realize why Niebe had been so worried about these girls. They had a big problem—they took adventuring as an easy job.
"At least put on a jacket."
"It"s fine. We"re near the Imperial Capital, there can"t be any dangerous monsters lurking near here. Even civilians walk the roads everyday without fear."
Aefa waved her hands, her face contorting in irritation, as she refused Bar"s advice.
Her actions were far too rude for a person, almost as though she were shooing a dog away, but Bar remained calm.
"…I get it. Try at your own risk," He said, stopping the conversation.
There were many youngsters who neglected preparing well in advance because they believed nothing bad would happen to them.
Especially in the Imperial Capital, where the public safety was a.s.sured, and civilians lived their lives without feeling any danger.
That perception, however, was an evil poison for adventurers.
"Okay, then."
Aefa smiled in satisfaction, scuttling forward. "Mister, you can carry our items, right?" Bar nodded calmly, ignoring the conceitedness evident on her expression
The girls probably took his silence as acquiescence on his part.
What rambunctious girls these are.
Bar broke into a grin as he followed the girls trotting away.
The designated place for harvest was situated at the riverfront, which was a thirty minute walk from the western gate of the capital, near a gentle-sloped hill.
Knights patrolled the area alongside the road from time to time.
The danger around here was quite low, and the quests were hardly anything to worry about.
As such, it wasn"t uncommon for people to make light of quests around this area. And for sure, Aefa"s group wasn"t the first and won"t be the last to do so.
Aefa and others gave no mind for their depleting stamina and continued on and on, not stopping for even a rest.
As the quest is simple, so is the reward not high enough. The girls, in their haste, seemed eager to finish this quest and move onto another one.
"We shouldn"t hurry."
Bar warned, walking faster to keep up with the rest, but the others seemed uninterested in his words.
This is going to be troublesome.
Maybe they were looking down on adventuring, or wanted to finish the quest quick enough. But judging by the situation, they seemed to be lingering on both sides.
They"re the type to end up in trouble.
Bar put up his guard, scanning his surroundings warily.
It would be great if nothing happened, though, trouble always reached and gathered around troublemakers, making their lives miserable.
Nothing happened until they crossed the hill. However, that soon changed after they arrived near the river.
"Isn"t that–"
The girls stopped, staring at a big, black cow drinking water from the river.
"It"s Auðumbla, probably."
Helena said, her voice shaking from lack of confidence.
"If I remember correctly, it"s a monster with exquisite milk and beef, right?" Aefa asked, to which Helena nodded.
"It"s got horns, so it"s a female. Apparently, it"s beef is so expensive only n.o.bles can have a taste of it. But it"s also strong enough to defeat an ogre."
"If we do it well, can"t we squeeze out the milk? It"s an obedient monster, right? We can sell it to get some extra change."
Aefa"s words were pragmatic enough for the rest of the girls to nod.
Had she proposed to defeat a monster which could even defeat an Ogre, a monster impossible to beat by civilians or weaker adventurers, even Tinee and Helena might have had protested.
However, if all they had to do was get some milk from its teats, they believed they had a chance.
"Wait right there!"
Bar exclaimed, his expression coloured with panic.
As a veteran accompanying the party, he had to stop the three.
PART 2