Tabitha was too tired to turn in the quest by the time that she made it back to the village, plus Joseph was already asleep which made her even more thankful for not getting into any trouble since he was the one who rescued her the last time.

That meant she could go back to sleep, and sleep she did until the morning.

Then, once it was the morning, the first thing she did after waking up and seeing Joseph asleep was walk up to him with the jar she filled for the quest.

“I think ya asked for this!” Tabitha said. “See, I’m good on my word!”

“I guess you are,” Joseph replied, still tired himself as he took the jar from her. “You even managed to get both bonus requirements. Good work.”

“Heh. Of course I did!”

A moment later and a new window popped up for Tabitha.

Quest Complete

Name: Slitherglow Hunt

Source: Joseph Kroll, Riverbend

Objective: Acquire one vial full of Slitherglow Fluid.

Bonus Objective 1: Ensure that the vial of Slitherglow Fluid has at least 50 Quality.

Bonus Objective 2: Ensure that the vial of Slitherglow Fluid has the [Bright] Tag.

Reward: 5 Gold Pieces | 1 Attribute Point | Slitherglow Bait

The two physical rewards then popped up in front of Tabitha for her to catch. Of course, she used Analyze on them while holding them.

The first item she analyzed were the gold pieces that looked just like gold coins in the size of quarters.

Item Information

Name

Gold Piece

A single gold coin.

Rarity

C

Quality

43

Element

Earth

Source

Crafted

Type

Currency

Each of the gold pieces was eligible to be analyzed, but they were all the same aside from varying qualities.

Next was the slitherglow bait, which just looked like a jar of golden liquid similar to the jar she handed over to Joseph.

Item Information

Name

Slitherglow Bait

A lure that will attract rarer slitherglows.

Rarity

B

Quality

100

Element

Nature

Source

Reward

Type

Lure

“Huh. That would’ve been useful last night. Not sure how useful it’ll be now, though,” Tabitha said before setting the coins and bait aside. “Also, Menu, ya know what to do.”

System Menu

Attribute point distributed to Dexterity.

“Alright! Now then, I think I’ve got enough bread in me to finish Runa’s gift,” Tabitha said while holding onto the other, still-glowing jar of slitherglow egg juices that she collected.

Surely enough, that made Joseph raise an eyebrow.

Some work later and all of the finishing touches were applied to Runa’s present. All that was left was to actually go and give it to her.

“What do ya think, old man?” Tabitha asked Joseph, showing him the final result.

“I’ll admit, it looks a lot nicer than before,” Joseph answered. “Pretty unique. And I’m surprised you found eggs with that tag on them. It’s even rarer than the Bright tag. I can think of a whole slew of more useful items you could have used that on instead, but… this’ll be a nice present.”

“Heh. I’m glad ya think so. Anyways, I’m gonna go and get it to her! Where’s she live?”

“Far end of the village. You should see three houses pretty close together. She lives in the middle one with her parents.”

“Got it. Thanks! I’ll be back once I’m ready to get started on my spear. Which means after I find another slime.”

“Good luck.”

Tabitha nodded and went over to the workshop’s door to leave. Only, as soon as she opened it up, she saw Runa on the other side about to open it. Runa actually ended up stumbling forward as she was expecting to grab the door’s handle, her ears and tail shooting up as she realized she was falling.

“Woah there!” Tabitha said as she reached out to grab her. “Careful there, Runa.”

“A-ah… I’m sorry,” Runa said. “I—it’s the first thing in the morning and I’m already causing you trouble.”

“Pfftt. Don’t you worry about anythin’. You’re not causin’ me any trouble.”

“I—I… never mind.”

Tabitha tilted her head. “Everything alright?”

Runa whimpered but nodded her head. “Everything’s fine.”

Everything was obviously not fine. She didn’t look injured at all, either, so Tabitha figured that whatever was up was a personal issue. That was why she walked out of the shop with Runa and kept on walking until they found a nice spot where they could have some privacy. That just so happened to be next to the river away from the nearest buildings.

Tabitha wanted some privacy for when she gave Runa her present anyways. But for now, she asked, “What’s up?”

Runa’s ears sat flat against her head as her tail almost tucked itself between her legs. “Nothing. It’s alright.”

“Oi. I’m your partner, ain’t I? That means you can trust me. Also, I’m gonna warn you right now. I don’t like lyin’.”

Runa’s whimpering grew a bit louder before she forced herself to say, “I… I feel like I’m doing something wrong. Or like you don’t like me… or you’re going to leave without me.”

“Oi, oi. Where’d that come from? What in the world is makin’ ya think that?”

“Well… you were busy yesterday and didn’t want me around… and then you went gathering in the forest without me… and I thought I’m supposed to be your partner who does that for you. So… I thought maybe you got tired of me, or don’t want me around.”

Tabitha sighed and placed a hand on Runa’s shoulder. “Alright, Runa. Listen up, ya understand?”

Runa nodded her head but couldn’t force herself to look Tabitha in the eyes.

“For starters, I don’t like drama. It’s why I’ve never been in a relationship my whole life. Every gal who ever seemed interested was startin’ drama before we could even go on a date. Now, this ain’t a big deal, so I’m not gonna hold it against ya or anythin’. But I want ya to know that if ya ever feel even a tiny bit insecure about somethin’, or you’re worried about somethin’, then talk to me about it. Ya hear? I don’t do misunderstandings over things that could be resolved with thirty seconds of bein’ honest and talkin’ about our feelin’s. So, next time ya think somethin’ is wrong, don’t be goin’ around mopin’ about it before ya even try to talk to me about it. Ya understand?”

Runa nodded her head. “I’m sorry. I just… worry a lot. And I’ve been so excited about going on an adventure with you that the idea of you getting tired of me has been making me worry even more. I feel fine when I’m with you, but every single second I’m away from you, I’m worrying…”

Another sigh left Tabitha’s lips. She wanted to bring up separation anxiety but figured that might be a bit too dog-like. So, instead, she said, “Clingy, huh? Well, I don’t mind a bit of clinginess here and there. But I don’t have much tolerance for things like hidin’ how ya feel. If somethin’ is on your mind, you tell me what it is. And I’ll do the same for you. Ya got that?”

Runa nodded.

“Now then, the reason why I didn’t take ya with me is because I was workin’ on a surprise for ya. It wouldn’t have been as good of a surprise if I let ya hang around, so that’s why I turned ya down. It wasn’t because I don’t like ya or got bored or anythin’ silly like that. I promise.”

Runa nodded again. “I’m sorry for worrying when I didn’t need to.”

“It’s alright. Some people just worry a lot. But I don’t want ya to keep your worries to yourself. Even if ya think you’re worryin’ too much and are afraid of bein’ a bother or whatever, I don’t care. Just let me know what’s on your mind. I’d rather ya let me know how worried ya are over somethin’ that ya don’t even need to worry about than have ya be worryin’ alone and gettin’ more worked up because of it.”

“I’ll try but, if I do that all the time, I’m probably going to really annoy you.”

“Don’t worry about it. Seriously.”

It was hard for Runa to really think that something like venting all of her concerns was alright, but that honest smile on Tabitha’s face made it hard for her not to believe in her words.