Like any other day, Nathan takes his breakfast at the inn. The waiter approaches him with the bill. After that, he stays for a little while, reflecting on his actions on the previous day. He wondered whether what he did was the right call. Mikhail’s party was made up of extremely skilled adventurers. It seemed to be difficult even to a veteran mercenary.

  ‘Is that mercenary really that skilled? I mean, he said it with such confidence…’ how would he be able to do the job? No, even worse, what if he fails and Mikhail figures out that he is the employer? That would really ruin his already damaged reputation.

  This climax started from a simple misunderstanding (well, if you could even call it that). To make it short, a conflict ensued between the two at a party. Nathan got angry at the crude comment that he made. Something about being a lazy pimp. Naturally, it angered him.

  ‘Damn, now that I think about it,’ he thought, ‘maybe what I'm doing is a bit too rash.’

  He tried to think of a way to reach Anzou. That's when it dawned on him that he had no idea about his whereabouts. This is bad; he had to figure out a way to stop this. He thought about it logically; he first thought of heading towards the adventurers guild. Lots of adventurers usually gather there and do quests. Maybe there could be some mercenaries.

  Upon arriving there; he was astonished to discover that the place was mostly empty. He didn’t give up though; he tried to find a soul that was there. Any information would be valuable. By sheer fortune, he was able to find a person there. Well, the person in question seemed to be a strange demeanor. his left eye seemed to have suffered a severe burn. He seemed to be lost in a train of thought.

  Unsure of how to approach this man, Nathan decided to head towards the owner of the guild. He headed toward the counter.

  "Dammit!” No one was there.

  His sudden remark had suddenly attracted that man’s attention. The man studied him for a while, eyeing on his movements. He realized that this man had no idea what he was doing.

  “S’cuse me, “ he said, “if you’re looking for a quest, just look at the bulletin board over there.There are plenty to choose from.” he resumed his thoughts.

  He took out a pencil from his pocket and scribbled out something on a piece of paper. He seemed to be absorbed in it. Then, he took out some coins and started counting them. Perhaps he was balancing something? he then paused again, probably calculating. He then stood up and walked towards the counter and picked a piece of paper from the stacks. He then returned to his seat, resuming his calculations. He did not seem to be worried about anything. Maybe he was more than just an adventurer?

  Nathan couldn’t guess more than that. After all, this wasn’t his area of expertise. By some profound reasoning, he decided to follow the man’s orders. looking at the bulletin board, he saw many papers. Most of them seemed to be of minor tasks: such as eradication of slimes at a village, clearing of boulders that blocked the route between two towns and even finding some lost cat. The most extreme one he found was killing some goblins that have invaded an abandoned village.

  ‘Is this really all that they do?’ There was nothing unique about these quests. And the pay was downright diabolical. He wondered how these people managed to make a living on these things.

  ‘Maybe that's why there’s so many bandits. I mean, with this shitty pay, I would even turn to a life of crime.’ He thought of it as massive injustice. Then it dawned on him that he was most likely running on a timer. He needed to find a way to reach that mercenary.

  He was lost in a deep sea of thought. For a while, the loud ticking clock was the only sound that was in that room. that and the scribbles that man was making on the paper. He seemed to be finishing up.

  "And… that’s about it.” He immediately stood up and folded his paper.

  He walked towards the reception and placed the paper there.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Hey!” he called out, ”The summary is here.”

  In an instant, the backdoor opened up and a short woman emerged. Perhaps she's of the dwarves' species? she picked the paper and squinted her eyes, carefully examining its contents.

  “What does this part mean?” she questioned in a brash tone.

  “Unexpected events happened this past month,” he explained, “Anyways, it's merely a small dent compared to what you’re making.”

  “You say as if business has been going good…” she didn't want to further this conversation. She muttered as she left. She was clearly frustrated by this accumulation of expenses.

  ‘Judging from that interaction,’ Nathan reasoned, ‘That man has to do a lot more than just adventuring. Then again… with his looks, maybe he’s probably in a greyer part of this.’

  It was just a hunch; but he had a good idea of what he was. He walked towards him. his heart was racing; he had no idea of what to tell him. There were so many ways this interaction could go wrong. Yet, something worse was about to happen if he just sat there thinking about it.

  "Hm?" he glanced at him the moment Nathan got close.

  He thought about it, ‘Just start with a simple question.’

  “Say, do you have any idea what's the best place to find mercenaries?”

  He took a brief moment to respond, “Huh? What do you want?” Suddenly an air of suspicion consumed the room. This was bad.

  Nathan immediately changed the topic, “Actually, no. I meant to ask for a friend.”

  It was a comical way to go about it, but it seemed to lighten the heavy atmosphere.

  “No, I don't have any idea.” Well, that was to be expected. it's not like he's going to outright give him an honest answer. Nathan now felt like an idiot for a brief moment.

  “Thank you.” he decided to end it there. any more could be even more painful.

  "Don't mention it.” What an awkward end. The man seemed to hold some lingering suspicion toward him. ‘Why does it feel like I'm gonna meet up with this guy again?’

  Nathan headed towards the reception. Fortunately, the receptionist had just arrived. A new idea emerged. ‘Maybe I should just know where Mikhail’s party is heading.”

  “Welcome,” the receptionist answered, “how may I help you today?” The woman was well endowed. her long brown hair flowed smoothly at her body, capturing the essence of her bust.

  “Hi, I'm just trying to know where my party left,” he tried to cook up a convincing story, “you see, I just woke up late and I don't remember where they said they would be heading.”

  It seemed to work, “Is your party employed or is it just freelancing?”

  ‘Employed? Freelancing?’ He had no idea that guilds were divided into two categories. Anyway, it seemed to be reasonable to pick the former.

  “umm… we’re employed.”

  “Then could you give the name of your employer?”

  “Mikhail Astonashiv.”

  Nathan couldn’t tell whether she believed him or not. But he was sure of one thing; that name made the atmosphere even heavier. For a brief moment, she glared at him with her piercing blue eyes.

  ‘Great. Just great. Now one more person is suspicious of me.’ He decided to proceed with this conversation with even more caution.

  “Well, this is an unrelated question. Answering it is completely optional.” she proceeded without changing her initial tone “What is your role in that party?”

  ‘There was no way she would raise that question as just ‘optional’.‘ Nathan wasn’t aware of it, but now it was likely that his life is in danger. depending on how he answers it is going to completely determine the outcome.

  It wasn’t as if Nathan was oblivious to this sudden shift. He thought about it. ‘Now that I think about it, I don't know much about this guy.’

  All that Nathan knows about Mikhail is that he employed a guild, and that's about it. You don’t get a lot of information on nobles during parties. The most you could ever know is their names and their prospects. Nathan wasn’t interested to know about these people. He only saw them as spoiled rich kids that constantly talk about their parents' accomplishments. Conversations are usually shallow, usually ending with a cliched ‘let’s meet in another meeting’ or something along with that vibe.

  But Mikhail seemed to be different from the bunch. Despite being roughly the same age as Nathan, he has made some commendable accomplishments. All the other nobles hold him in high regard, even amongst his peers. Nathan sees him as a show off. In more recent times, where the older generation of nobles are a bit skeptical of entrusting their generational wealth to their successors, it seemed convenient for someone to reassure them of their future. Well, that’s how Nathan sees it anyway.

  So, didn’t it seem odd that this woman before him holds him in such a weird way? Like he’s a part of gangsters? Or even the head of some underground mafia? It was too early for Nathan to make any conclusions.

  ‘Well, can’t say I'm not completely surprised…’ Now Nathan had to address the person right in front of him. But how could he possibly salvage this dire situation?