”Well then! First up, id like a room for tw-, one, Lloyd!”

”Thatll be fifty crowns. Including breakfast and dinner, that is.”

”And, before we tuck ourselves infor the night, id like to do a quest! Y’know, just as a warm-up.”

”Right. You know where the papers are.”

”Sure do, you cold fish!”

Hans laughed for a bit before picking me up. She looked sort of confused at suddently holding a child-like being in her hands instead of just a flower, but

as i looked just as confused, it was a mutual confusement.

We quickly advanced to the wall upon which the papers were placed without any discernable order. Quite a few onlookers were studying the wall before us, and it was hard for Hans to scuttle past them, but soon we had joined these onlookers, studying the walls like students studying books. Well, everybody except for me. A few onlookers stared at my little body with large eyes, but most ignored me, as if to tell me just how much of a common occurence that sort of thing is.

After a while of studying, Hans turned to me. I looked very befuddeled.

”Ah! Um, yes, well... You see those papers on the top? Those are the high-rank quests, whilst the one further down are lower-rank quests. It might not look like it, but there IS an order of sorts.”

”Ko-, Konnvinnientt...”

”...Sure, whatever.”

She eyed them a few times before picking a quest from the lowest row.

”Look, ”Exterminate the pesky slimes that have been eating my carrots! Reward: 100 Crowns, Location: Hofterup, Due: Whenever i please!”, sounds good, right?”

I shrugged. Exterminating slimes sounds kinda... Wait, whats a slime?

”Huhuhu, it may be a Green Slime, or Rank 3, quest, but it is certainly going to be an easy one considering having you by my side!~”

”Sh-, Sure.”

Niether do i know how much a hundred crowns is, but... Its not an issue at the moment.

”Lloyd! Ill be taking this one!~”

”Do as you please.”

Hans almost jumped out of the Guild.

The travelling itself was done rather quickly, as it the village was quite close to the city. The village was small but charming, and around it were vast fields of crops in all shapes and sizes. All of the crops, from potatos to small, orange-leaved trees, grew large and veluptious, except for one. I’m no expert in logical thinking, but i was pretty sure that the patch of neatly orginized dirt, devoid of any life, might have been where the carrots were supposed to be. On this patch of lifeless dirt, a single man was going about, angerly throwing seeds around him. The seeds thrown, contrary to how they were thrown, fell into neat rows on each row and burrowed into the ground like tiny moles.

”M-, Magic...”

Hans must have heard me and looked at me in confusion.

”Um, yes?... I... Suppose it is?... What do you mean?”

”Uh, um, wherr eim froom, magik no exisst.”

”...I didnt quite catch that... Pardon?”

”Uuuhhh, later.”

”Aha, right. Well, that seems to be our client. Shall we?”

”Yes.”

We easily crossed the distance between us and the man, and with a cough, we caught his attention.

”Huh? Hey! You darned kids, get off my property! Here to steal my carrots, eh? Well, i aint got any!! So get out!!”

He shouted at us, flailing his arms wildly as he walked towards us with unsteady steps. Hans pretended to be calm, despite her hands shaking nervously.

”Sir, we are the Jä-, Exterminators you requested.”

”Extermi-?... Oh, right! About time, i was just about to grow new carrots to feed those pests with! For the third time!!”

”Right. So, they attacked recently?”

”Hol’ up just a sec. Do you have the paper?”

”Paper?... Oh, yes.”

Hans handed him the paper request we had grabbed from the wall. The man studied it closely before nodding and looking back at us.

”Everything seems to be in order. Name’s Lars. Ye?”

”Oh. Yes, I am Anette, and this is my companion, Bob.”

”Pl-, Pleasure.”

”...Is that a dryad, or?...”

”Theres no use in asking, Bob has trouble speaking, so not even i know.”

”...Right. Well, whatever. I just want you, em, you two to utterly DESTORY those pesky slimes! Id recommend doing it before sundown, but you do you. Wish youd come here yesterday when i still had carrots...”

”On that subject, where can we find the slimes?”

”Hm? Ah, right, in the woods.”

He pointed towards a large, lush forest.

”Well, more specifically, in the hole in the woods. Ya see, over there in the woods, theres this mountain, and on the side of it is a cave, and in that cave, those godforsaken slimes dwell.”

”Alright. Well set out immidietly. Bob? You ready?”

”Y-, Yes!”

”Right! Well discuss the reward after the matter has been setteled, alright?”

”Yeah yeah.”

And so, we set out.

The aforementioned woods were, thankfully, rather close by. The problem arose in the fact that we had no idea where the aforementioned mountain was.

I tried to shoot out my eye-root into the skies to check it out, but the closest thing to a mountain i saw was a small hill, and i could only see this because the trees growing upon that hill were slightly taller than the other trees, making a small bump.

Lacking any other goal, we headed towards said hill.

We didnt travell any particular road as we didnt know of any, so instead we just cut straight through the forest. It wasnt particularely hard, but i constantly feared being attacked by some wild animals. Luckily, we were never attacked.

After half an hour or so of walking, we reached the hill. it was a very slight hill, and i was amazed at how i even noticed it in the first place.

As we climbed the hill, we noticed how it slowly got steeper, until it finally smoothed out.

We went around this part for a bit until we agreed that we had reached the tip of the ”mountain”.

We were just about to give up, when i silently extended my optical root to scan the area, and what i found was a hole.

It had been invisable from the side, but from straight above, it stuck out like a sore thumb.

The hole wasnt too wide, having only a meter or so in diameter, but it was so deep that i couldnt even see its bottom.

I happily guided Hans to the hole by constantly saying” Here, here!” whilst pointing in the direction of the hole. Hans followed rather reluctantly.

Once we reached the hole, both Hans and i had trouble noticing it. The sun was falling to the ground in a spectacular array of purple and pink which painted the ground in said colours, making the hole almost invisable.

Once Hans and i noticed the hole, we knew exactly what it was.

Even without speaking a word, just by locking our gazes, we knew what to do.

We were going down there.