“I’m not complaining about being out of the sewers Asin, but did we have to take quests so far away?” Trudging out of the city, Daniel grumbles as he hefts his backpack. They had only been in Silverstone for a few days as it stood and now they had left it again to visit a nearby village to help the farmers fight of attacking vermin while they completed harvesting.

It was not a glamorous job but it certainly paid well as the farmers needed to attract the Adventurers away from the Dungeons. More importantly, from Asin’s point of view, it got the pair out of Silverstone and away from that traitorous, two-faced Catkin.

Seeing that his partner has decided to ignore him, Daniel glances over to the side and spots a familiar face from the Guild Hall. Not seeing a guild badge on the group, Daniel diverts himself slightly to say hi.

“Morning there!” Daniel calls out and the group turns to him. The middle-aged, slightly potbellied mace wielder he spotted eyes Daniel for a moment before grinning, waving to Daniel.

“You’re the youngsters from Karlak,” the older gentlemen replies, smiling.

“Yes. I’m Daniel.”

“I’m Lin. This is Ingrid and Jorge,” Lin indicates his older companions, a redhead in an old but well-maintained suit of chainmail and a darker skinned, spear wielding companion in turn. “You headed to Ilquin too?”

“That’s right. The quest was good coin,” Daniel says.

“Definitely. It’s why we do it. I’m impressed you managed three days in the sewers though, most groups give up after the first.”

Ingrid shudders at the mention of the sewers and Daniel finds himself rubbing his nose, the smell coming back to him once again.

“Which Dungeon do you run otherwise?” Daniel asks, curiosity filling his voice.

“None!” Jorge answers for the group and seeing Daniel’s surprised look, he continues. “We’re questors.”

“Huh?”

“We don’t run Dungeons anymore Daniel. We focus on quests only,” Ingrid quickly explains, her voice surprisingly high pitched for such a rough looking woman. “We gave up on all of that dangerous delving a while ago. That’s what Questors are - Adventurers who only do quests.”

“Oh…” Daniel falls silent then frowns. “But we were told there weren’t enough quests being taken up!”

“Not at your level,” Lin chuckles. “Just because we’re retired doesn’t mean we want to do fetch quests or the sewer.”

“Is this dangerous then?” Daniel frowns, recalling that Asin had appeared at his door this morning with the quest already taken.

“No, not at all. It’s a longer quest since it takes a few days for the harvest to be brought in but the biggest danger is the Spotted Deer which are running and those are easy enough to scare away. At least for us Adventurers,” Lin pronounces and Daniel nods slowly. “Ever met the deer before?”

“No.”

“Har, alright then. Come on, I’ll tell you about it and the quest…”

“Smell good,” Asin says, walking over to peer at the meal the experienced Adventurers are making. Lin laughs, waving her to take a seat as he flips the pan, sending the thin slices of meat into the air before catching them.

“That’s quite a compliment coming from Asin,” Daniel says, shaking his head as he sees how fast the group have set up their sleeping area. Asin and he had just finished setting up their own camp and were in the middle of gathering wood and these three were already cooking.

“Join us then,” Jorge says as he brings back a pot of water which he hangs over the fire. The moment it is hung, he moves to the waiting vegetables which he begins to throw in. “Lin always brings more than enough.”

“You’d pack more too if you ever got stuck in a snowstorm on Pare Peak like I did. Ended up chewing on our leather vests just to eat something!” Lin replies, a slight smile twisting his face. “Of course, that’s when I learnt that Derin Lizard brains are quite good.”

“Don’t corrupt the kids Lin,” Ingrid says, dropping her bundle of wood. “Right, if you add your pile to ours, we’ll have more than enough for tonight.”

Asin nods with alacrity, leaving Daniel behind as she accedes to the invitation. After a brief questioning, Daniel moves away too to bring along the meat he was to cook and watches as Ingrid slices and spices the meat with deft strokes. Asin prods at the spice, sniffing at the spices with interest as she deposits the wood.

“Why were you on Pare Peak?” Daniel says, once he is situated comfortably and out of the some from the fire.

“Quest of course. This young nobleman wanted an escort to find the Yeti,” Lin rolls his eyes, “Hired two whole parties for three weeks and paid good coin for it. We ended up stuck there for 2 months when we were snowed in. Luckily, the quest was paid by the day. I bought a pair of enchanted swords from that quest.” Lin smiles, dark eyes remembering past glories before he sighs, “Those broke half-a-year later fighting a stone golem.”

Putting the cooked meat aside, Lin accepts the newly seasoned slices onto his pan while Ingrid says, “Two swords! I used to have a set of full enchanted plate. Had to sell it to pay for all the healing potions we needed after a bad delve and to heal for Quinn, our Mage. Healers are a damn scam.”

“You’re telling me. I ended up being a questor because I needed to sell off all my equipment just to cover the bill to regenerate my foot,” Jorge adds, shaking his head. “Though I guess I could thank him too.”

“Definitely thank him, if that’s why you became a questor,” Lin follows up before waving them closer to him. “Right, first batch is ready, get your plates.”

The group stop grousing for a time as they work through the bread and meat that is provided, Lin occasionally returning to the pot to stir and taste the vegetable soup. As everyone begins to finish up, Asin turns to regard the experienced Adventurers before speaking, “Why Questors?”

Lin pauses, spoon halfway to his lips before he lowers it. Jorge sighs, rubbing at his beard when she speaks while Lin answers, “You normally don’t ask that. It’s considered rude.”

“Why?” Asin prods, scratching at her ear as her tail waves lazily.

“Most other Adventurers consider us failures,” Ingrid explains. “In fact, most won’t even speak with us.”

As Asin opens her mouth to ask why again Daniel kicks her in the foot. She glares at him but says nothing, turning back to her soup. Lin watches the unsubtle interaction and his lips twist in amusement before he says, “I was a guild leader once. Just a small one, we only had about 40 members. Then we had a few bad months, a few of our party’s were lost and others were poached. We eventually disbanded and then, well, I hadn’t really been doing that much delving since I became a guild leader and I realised I wasn’t interested anymore. So I just started doing quests.”

“I couldn’t get past the eight floor no matter what I tried,” Jorge speaks up, looking at his bowl of soup as he adds his own story. “I was always the one making the mistakes, always the one holding the team back. They eventually decided to cut me loose and I couldn’t find another team to join permanently. I worked quests when I didn’t have a group or in-between delves and eventually, well, I just stopped trying.”

Asin and Daniel look to Ingrid whose lips purse before she says, “No.” Disappointed, the pair turn back to their meal. Later, when Ingrid has left Jorge murmurs to the pair as they leave, “She lost her party in a bad delve. Never tried again.”

Daniel nods in thanks and invites them over for breakfast the next day in turn. As he walks back, he cannot help but think that being an Adventurer had more paths than the single one that he initially imagined and that for many, those paths ended in heartache.

True to Lin’s prediction, the next few days passes without incident. Watching from his assigned spot, Daniel wipes rain away from his eyes before scanning the surroundings again before stopping on the farmers as they finish up the latest field. Barely a dozen in number, the workers had cleared three fields just today by themselves even though they have to work in the pouring rain. In fact, the greatest slowdown was in storage as carts struggled along the muddy roads as they attempted to deliver the goods to the various warehouses.

Once again, Daniel smiles as he watches the farmers work. It always amazed him how so few farmers could produce such a large harvest - though realistically, it was no different than how experienced Miners could churn out significantly more ore than beginners. If not for the need to continually train the next generation of workers, youngsters like him would never be given a significant role in mining operations.

“Deer,” Asin says, her hood pulled tight over her head as rivulets of water drip down around her. As she speaks, she points and Daniel wrenches his gaze away back to work. In the distance, he sees the Spotted Deer run downwind of them, each motion a thing of beauty. They glide across the ground but veer off suddenly as the smell of old and rotten blood carries its way to them. Daniel relaxes and then reaches for his water bottle, feeling the lukewarm water wet his throat.

“So… this is the last day it seems. We’ll probably even be able to get back before the evening falls if we hurry,” Daniel says.

“Mmmm…” Asin purrs.

“What I’m saying is that we could enjoy a soft bed, warm water and a hot meal if we decide to,” Daniel tries again as he pulls his own cloak tighter, feeling the chill from the rain carry to his bones.

Again, all Asin does is purr.

“Are we going back tonight?” Daniel cries out exasperatedly and Asin lets out a chuckle, looking up to him from where she crouches, her tail waving lazily in amusement.

“Yes.”

“Good,” Daniel nods firmly, stretching. “So you’re good then?”

Asin nods, then shrugs after a moment. “I was foolish. It over now.”

“I still think Tevfik liked you for yourself you know,” Daniel adds and at seeing the glare Asin shoots him he shuts up. Soon enough, the work is done and Daniel heads over to wish goodbye to the other Adventuring parties and the farmers before the pair head back to the city. Asin pauses for a moment, staring back to Daniel before she flashes him a grin and takes off, loping forward at speed through the mud, Daniel growling softly as he hurries to keep up with her. Damn cat.

“Daniel!” Niko waves to the youngster as he walks in, cold and grumpy having lost the race back. Asin had out-paced him very quickly and never seemed to look back so all that Daniel could do was follow after her, alternately jogging and running. Having finally made it back to the Inn, Daniel only wants to rest in his room and so ignores the calling Niko, heading upstairs.

He is pulled short as he ascends halfway up by Niko’s hand on his arm, the older swordsman looking serious. “Daniel, I just need a moment. Please.”

Daniel frowns and then nods, recalling how the other Adventurers had helped them. He owed Niko at least the courtesy of listening to him. In the dining hall, Daniel quickly orders some mulled wine to warm him up before he turns to Niko.

“I know you’re upset we hid our intentions from you. I just wanted to explain it to you. You see, well, finding an unaffiliated healer is incredible. Even someone who only has Minor Healing can make a difference in a party’s earnings over the long-term and if you ever learned more powerful spells, you could make a major difference on a day-to-day basis. Few parties ever advance beyond Advanced without a healer in the party but even including the priests, there just never are enough,” Niko shakes his head. “Finding a healer that’s unaffiliated is a big thing especially for a small guild like ours.”

“I’ve figured that out,” Daniel answers grumpily.

“I still think you should join a guild, even if it’s not ours. There’s no reason for you to be working a dungeon like Karlak, earning a few silver every run when you could be in a real dungeon. With a guild’s help, they could outfit you with proper equipment and ensure you got the right training.”

“Out of the goodness of their hearts?”

“Of course not. You’re an investment and they’d expect you to use your skills, but it’s nothing more than what you offered to do in the bath house,” Niko points out.

“Oh, you found out about that eh?” Daniel grimaces and Niko nods.

“And I know of what you did for the travelers. You’d just be using your gifts for other Adventurers instead.”

“You’d treat me like a healer though.”

“Of course! We’ll protect you and make sure nothing happens to you. The worst thing you can do is have your healer killed!” Niko adds, shaking his head.

“Right, right,” Daniel sighs and drinks down his wine, standing up. “Thank you for that Niko. I’ll… think about it.”

Niko nods, disappointed. As he stands, he offers the man a patch from his guild, saying, “If you change your mind, just show this at the reception of our guild hall and state my name. I’ll leave word to keep an eye out for you. And Asin.”

Daniel nods again, putting the patch away in his pouch as he heads up the stairs. A part of him can see the advantages, the way that joining a Guild could make up for his Gift and meet his dreams. However, it meant he would be treated as a precious commodity, a healer that could never be injured. No longer would he be allowed to risk himself in dungeons that might be a little too difficult for him or fighting bosses. Daniel would be a healer, and healers never fought in the front.

Still, this offer would let him make up for his lost time. Daniel knew he was old for a beginner Adventurer, old to have just started on this journey. While Levels and experience could have stave off the effects of time, time still always won.

Lying in bed, Daniel stares at the wooden boards that make up the ceiling, thoughts going in circles.