Lucy (part.1)

— Next day —

"Owww… my head hurts!"

I shouldn't drink this much next time…

"I'm actually fine. That's weird. I am usually dying in the morning after a night of drinking."

Thank you Rio. It's good to know that you drank way more than me yesterday, but it's only me waking up like this.

"No problem."

"Wait, I didn't even say it out loud."

Oh… she was talking to Maria.

"Said what?"

"Emm… Nothing."

After that we prepared ourselves to go look for a quests and left.

I knew there will be no quests at all… But only one!?

"Will we take this one master?"

"I guess we don't really have other choice."

We took the paper with a quest from the quest board and went to accept it in the guilds quest window. There were still some drunk or sleeping people from yesterday's night.

The quest we decided to take, the only one on the quest board, was about helping an old lady with house chores and on field, with mainly carrots and cabbage.

"We would like to take this quest."

Lady in the quest window gave us a weird look, and after a moment of silence, she told us:

"This quest seems easy, but two parties already returned and canceled it for some reason. Are you sure you want to take it?"

Her voice was a little shaky, or… how do I put it? I mean that it was obvious she was drunk.

"Yes I am sure. And… ummm… Are you… possibly drunk, Miss?"

"Wha… Do you have a problem with that? Who are you anyways? Don't tell me you are some loser, who wanted to become an adventurer, but suddenly the demon lord has been defeated and now you are taking any quest there is left, so you can start off from something, instead of lazing your ass around like you used to do before you came here?"

It hurts that it's true to some point, if not entirely…

"I'm sorry. Can we just take this quest and leave?"

"I don't know if I still want to give you this quest!"

"Emm… hehe…"

What do I do now?

"What are you doing sister?"

Other girl came from behind the curtain at the quest window. She looked similar to the girl whom I was talking with.

"This loser has come to take on this quest, but he's been irritating me and I don't know if I will give it to him."

"You can't talk like that to an adventurer, sister. Also if we give him this quest, then we could close for today and go get some rest together. It's the last quest from the board right?"

"Yes, it is." I interrupted their little chat.

The girl, who's been yelling at me gave me this look from below her eyebrows, like she was wanting to tell me that I don't have a right to speak when they talk.

"... Okay, now just sign here and the quest will be yours. … Great, when you complete the task, or if you want to cancel it, just come here and we will take care of everything else."

"Okay thanks, but will you be there next time?"

"What? Me? Ohhh I know what you mean. Don't worry my sister isn't always like that, she just gets a little touchy when she's drunk."

"Oh, so that's how it is. Anyways thank you once more. We're gonna leave now."

"Take care!"

-------------------------------------------------------

"It's about 2 hours of walking to get to the old lady's house, if we found a carriage we should be there in… something like 20 minutes probably."

"Then let's go look for one."

We went looking for a carriage to make our way to the countryside (where the quest has its place) as short as possible.

After around 5 to 10 minutes Maria managed to find one for us, and soon we were on the way.

"So what's the quest about anyways?"

Rio asked me. 

"We will need to help some old lady with the house chores, and collect carrots and cabbage from the field. Apparently she has a granddaughter who lives with her, but she isn't able to help her with all the work."

I don't know how there were adventurers who weren't able to make it. I mean, it's the most basic of basics. It's not like this cabbage bite.

But… What if it does? It sounds ridiculous but it's a fantasy novel right? It could be true. I guess I'm overthinking it…

"I think I'm gonna enjoy this quest."

Rio had a very enthusiastic look in her eyes while saying this.

"Me too, the first quest with my harem!"

I couldn't help but grin a little.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself. I'm not a part of your harem and we already talked about it."

So she really is a tsu…

"Don't even try to think that I'm a tsundere. I do enjoy your company, both of you. But don't think that I've already fallen for you."

"Ummm… And I would be happy if you… would not label me as part of your harem too, master. I mean, you can do it if you really want to, but I would rather if you stopped."

"Haaa…?"

Et tu Brute?

We are here.

We got off the carriage and looked at the old lady's house. It's big. White painted wood, brown roof and a porch with a rocking chair. Classic huh? Not quite what I expected of the house that made a few adventurer parties not complete their task.

"Okay, let's go and see what awaits us in this house. It looks normal but better keep your guards up. At least before we discover why this quest is up for so long."

Before we got to the door, the old lady was already outside. She must have seen us through a window.

"So you are the adventurers who are willing to help me today?"

She said, her voice was a little shaky, but comforting at the same time.

"Yes!"

All three of us responded.

We introduced ourselves and talked for a moment about what we will have to do, and then the old lady started to assign each of us to different tasks. Maria ended up cleaning the house, well she is a maid after all. Rio will take care of the porch and help Maria after she's done with it.

"And for you my boy… You will take care of the field. There are carrots and cabbage. Collect them into these boxes near the fence and put them all, even if some remain empty, in this place."

She told me while pointing on the other side of the field.

"Okay."

"Can I help with something too, granny?"

There was a girl standing behind her. I hadn't noticed her earlier. I wonder how long she has been there. Not like it's any different.

"Oh, Lucy. You want to help too? Well… I think you could help this boy with the work. I think that house is already in good hands."

Said the old lady and glanced at Rio working on the porch. She smiled at her and got back to work.

But wait, she's gonna work with me? I mean… I'm not against it, but she's definitely younger than me, and doesn't look like a strong one either. Yet she will help me with carrying this stuff. It seems like harder work and I don't really want to make her do it. But I guess I'll just go with it.

"Hey, I'm Rick."

"I'm Lucy. Nice to meet you!"

"I'm Rio!"

"And I'm Maria!"

Girls yelled from behind us. Lucy giggled and started to get to work, so did I.

We were working for around 40 minutes. Girls were already finishing their work and told us they'll help us once they do.

While working I spoke with Lucy and got to know her a little. And just when I thought that I'm really going to enjoy this work, and while girls were coming towards to throw their helping hands in, the old lady called for me.

"Can you come with me for a moment, boy?"

I suddenly remembered that this quest was canceled by adventurers before, but it's an easy one as for now. Maybe this is where the tough part starts? But we were collecting all this cabbage and carrots, it's not possible to re-grow it that fast right? This means that they didn't even do this part. Right?

"You can continue the work, I'll be back with your friend in a minute."

Rio looked at me, she seemed concerned. I shook my head lightly to show that I'll handle it and they can focus on work.

"Okay young boy. There's something we need to talk about."

She looks troubled. I wonder what it is.

"I'm sure you heard that there were already a few parties of adventurers trying to pick this task…"

Here it comes.

"... And that we sent them back."

"Wait… Sent them back? I thought they canceled the task by themselves."

"I asked them to make it look this way. I didn't want the guild to be concerned about what is happening here. And above all I don't want Lucy to find out."

Okay, now I'm starting to get scared.

"To find out about what?"

I asked, barely getting those words through my throat.

"The real reason for this task was to find a party willing to take Lucy with them and at the same time one that will actually seem friendly and with kind people. And you seem like one. You just barely made it time."

I'm lost.

"What do you mean by that? Why?"

"I have only two weeks left to live. In the best case scenario."

…

What?

"So… Will you take Lucy with you?"

From author:
Hey, this chapter is a bit chaotic. I decided I'll split it into two parts. Also I know that this is a romcom but few next chapters might be a little sadder (sorry). I'll post part 2 of this chapter on friday (22.07) and I'm willing to post more often from now on because I need to catch up with  the time I've lost to this point. I hope you had fun reading. Have a good day!