Chapter 10

Once curfew ended, they left the city, continuing their journey West. They passed through large plains with nothing but grass and bushes. Unlike the forests, the plains gave the enemy little space to hide, so while Syorin remained on guard like usual, the atmosphere was a lot more relaxed.

“How long before we arrive?” Kakashi asked. They had been on the road for an entire hour at this point.

“Three hours before our next rest stop, then three more hours, I think?”

“I’m starting to think some of your stories are real, if not because of how impatient you are.”

“Oh, that reminds me, how long does the journey between cities in your world take?” Syorin asked.

“That depends on the city… and the method…”

He already told them about planes, and the speed at which they traveled was unfathomable. Even the fastest dragons flew at slightly more than a tenth of a passenger jet, and this speed allowed distant cities to be reached within a few hours.

“Well… I think I knew someone who traveled from a different city for school, roughly an hour every day.”

“That’s pretty long.”

“I don’t get his circumstances, either, but it’s normal for us to live somewhere else and travel long distances for work or school.”

“Wait… is that…?”

In front of them, a single carriage stopped on the side of the road. It didn’t have any horses, but it looked just like a regular carriage. Its front had been damaged, and one of the wheels was bent. Neila brought the carriage to a stop beside it.

“What are you doing?” Astill asked.

“We should at least check. Maybe we can help them,” Neila said.

“Sigh, what a waste of time.”

“Anything we can help you with?” Neila asked from her seat. While rare, some individuals may pretend to need help to lure others into stopping. Syorin and Astill remained on alert, just in case this person tried something funny.

“Oh, it’s alright,” the person standing in front of the carriage said. “Wild animals attacked us. Now we’re waiting for help from the guild to arrive. By the way, are you adventurers?”

“Yes, we are.”

“Are you willing to accept a quest?”

Neila glanced at Syorin, and she shrugged. Syorin noticed Kakashi's confusion and whispered, “It’s uncommon to give strangers passing by quests. Usually, you’ll ask the guild.”

“Is it illegal?”

“Not necessarily, but it’s risky.”

The guild guaranteed that the quest would be completed, or the money would be returned. Private quests have no such guarantee. Since they’re strangers, they would have no way of knowing the party’s rank or strength. They couldn’t even guarantee that the party that agreed wouldn’t just run away immediately.

On the flip side, adventurers also didn’t want to waste their time completing a quest only to not be paid, so normally, neither side would want to do personal quests.

“Wouldn’t direct be cheaper?”

On Earth, marketplace applications served as the connector between buyers and sellers. They guarantee that the seller will receive the money they are owed, and the buyer will receive the product they bought, but their fees are high. Sometimes, people would rather take the risk than pay that extra fee.

“Not really. Would you take that risk for an extra percent?”

“Ah.”

That was far lower than he expected.

“Well, I guess you make less by selling loot to the guild compared to directly to someone else… but most people treat loot as a bonus, not their main source of income.”

As Kakashi and Syorin talked about it, Neila received the quest details from the man. She then turned to her party member and began explaining it.

“It’s a recovery quest. One of the boxes was stolen by the monsters. We’ll need to get it back.”

“What’s in that box?”

“A secret.”

Syorin then asked about the payment. This secret item turned out to be a big deal, as the person was willing to pay a large amount to get it back.

“Where did the monsters go?”

“Over there.” Neila pointed to some trees in the distance.

“Let’s try it, no promises, though.”

Since no one complained, Neila told the person that they would try. If they decided they couldn’t, they would abandon it and head straight to their destination. The person was heading to the same city, and he told them to bring it to him if they succeeded.

Neila steered the carriage away from the main road, following a smaller road heading North.

“Why would monsters take a box?” Astill murmured. Most monsters are unintelligent. They couldn’t think beyond their natural instincts, meaning most monsters wouldn’t be able to differentiate between what’s valuable and what’s not.

“I don’t know. Maybe it smells good?”

“Maybe.”

The trip to the forest took about half an hour. From there, Astill used her magic to sense the traces of monsters, figuring out where the monsters went. “This way.” They walked for another hour before reaching their destination.

“A dungeon?”

They arrived in front of a large cave-like space embedded in the stone walls.

“Are you sure we're at the right place?” Neila asked.

“We can turn around if you don't believe me,” Astill answered.

“I'll check.” Kakashi pressed his controller. He tried moving everyone out of his party, but after removing them, the ability got turned off.

“Syorin, looks like I can't go alone.”

“I don't mind coming with you.”

“Be careful,” Neila warned. Kakashi reactivated his ability, this time keeping Syorin in the party. Since there were no enemies, Syorin could move continuously. The two traveled deeper into the dungeon. It didn't look like anything man-made.

There were no torches, so Kakashi commanded Syorin to utilize fire magic to light the way.

“Aren't you tired of commanding like that?” Syorin asked. “Maybe we should go normally?”

“You… have a point.”

Kakashi pressed the controller again. They walked normally until they reached an opening. Below them was a group of goblins, trying to pry a metal box open. The goblins, being dumb creatures, bang the box repeatedly with their fists, seemingly unaware that they needed a key to open it.

“That’s the box we need to recover, right?” Syorin asked.

“Yeah. I wonder if Neila could open it.”

“Neila?” Syorin turned her head. Kakashi nodded.

“She could lockpick.”

“... What?” Syorin looked as if this was the first time hearing it. Neila probably didn’t mention it to them, although Kakashi couldn’t think about a conversation where someone would bring up their lockpicking skills.

“That’s not the only weird skill she had.”

“Other examples?”

“She could do party tricks, she could prepare tea, I think she also understands a lot about the economy.”

Some of her abilities' names suggest such skills. Kakashi wasn’t sure how ‘tax collecting’ and ‘tea ceremony’ would be useful in battles, but he knew she had them. It was but a small dip in her large pool of various abilities.

“... Why would she be able to do that?”

Kakashi shrugged. He couldn’t tell why someone would spend all that time learning skills that didn’t correlate with one another. Some of them looked useless, as well.

“Oh, she also has an eye for gemstones and precious metals.”

“... Huh?”

“It’s called Appraisal, but she has a lot of things she could appraise. Antiques, accessories, and even rocks.”

“I guess being able to tell fake diamonds from real ones is an important skill to have?”

“Maybe. She could forge documents as well.”

For a moment, they completely forgot about their mission. Kakashi told Syorin some other tricks Neila knew. Some of them did have uses, but they have nothing to do with her other tricks.

“You know… I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s some kind of spy.”

“Spy?”

“Like, you know, she picked up those skills to better fit the place she’s infiltrating.”

“That makes a lot of sense, actually.”

“Well, that’s unfortunate.” A chilling voice came from behind them. Both Kakashi and Syorin turned around, Neila standing behind them, an explosive in her hand. A frightening smile was on her face.

Kakashi quickly pressed his controller.

“... Oh…”

“I was just joking.” Neila laughed. She was their ally. Had she been serious about taking them out, Kakashi wouldn’t have been able to command her. She and Neila weren't the only ones who got held by the controller, though. Despite her often hostile behavior, Astill, too, appeared as an ally.

He pressed the controller, returning everything to normal.

“So, you found our target?”

Kakashi pointed to the goblin group below. The goblins were still around the crate, seemingly frustrated from the fact that they couldn’t get the thing to open.

“... Should I take them out?”

“Don’t. You’ll just destroy the crate.”

Neila’s explosives were powerful. For goblins, it would be complete overkill, assuming the goblins were like monsters in fantasy and not secret dragons or something.

“Are you alone? Where’s Astill?” Syorin asked.

“Astill said that she’s not interested in helping us.”

Kakashi peeked at the space behind Neila. Hidden behind those rocks was Astill. He couldn’t see her, but she’s within the twenty-by-twenty-meter space. It wouldn’t be long before she revealed herself, as Kakashi was sure she had noticed him activating his ability.

“Alright, let’s discuss our plans.”

Had their target was just to eliminate the goblins, then it wouldn’t be difficult. What’s concerning was the package at the center of those goblins, the one that received constant beating from said goblins. From afar, the goblins’ attacks looked weak, so the package might be designed to survive such attacks. The girls’ attacks were much more powerful. There’s a good chance they’ll destroy the package in the process.

“Syorin’s going to be our main damage dealer, as she’s the only one that can hit individual targets.” There were multiple goblins around the crate, too many for Syorin to handle on her own. Since AoE attacks were a no-go, they needed someone to bait the goblins away. “Neila, we need someone to bait the goblins away from her, to prevent her from getting overwhelmed.”

“How should I do that?” Neila asked.

“... I think this could work.”