I woke up to the stupid bird again.

Won't the stupid thing ever shut up? It's not a damn rooster why is it acting like a [another word for a rooster].

I noticed Dob and Lob sleeping on the floor and tapped them both on the shoulder to wake them up. They eventually did after a few taps but I could see a significant amount of grogginess in their eyes. Not wanting to deal with them in this state I ordered them to wake up and that did the trick as I saw their eyes immediately become crystal clear.

Darn, wish I could do that to myself...

I decided that the goblins would do their first mission today and I'd act as their support if they ran into something they couldn't handle or got into trouble. We gobbled down breakfast and thankfully Stella extended the free meal policy to them although that had the detriment of making me feel even guiltier for my blatant shamelessness in taking advantage of her hospitality.

I ran to the guild, eager to start my day, the goblins following me closely behind. It was quite a sight and it had the effect of making it look like I was being chased but in a bittersweet twist, no one asked if I was ok, saving me the trouble of explaining but also making me feel slightly sad. Although thinking about it a bit more I don't know why I expected these people I didn't know to help me when from their perspective I'd done something wrong in the first place to warrant being chased after.

I arrived at the door to the Guild panting and I was soon joined by my minions, both in the panting and being by the door. I did the now-standard procedure and entered the Guild getting a smile from Melissa as I entered.

"Hello, James and company!"

I smiled and the goblins waved at Melissa.

"Thanks, Melissa! Hello to you too!"

"What can I help you with?"

"Well, I just wanted to stop by to ask if you could give the Bobs' their first mission?"

Melissa sighed.

"I already gave them their mission yesterday James. Remember?"

Well, this is embarrassing.

"Ah yeah, I just wanted to come to say hello also you forgot to give us the bags for the Chrysanthum herbs yesterday."

Melissa shed her slightly smirky smile for a moment.

"Ah yes I did. It was a test to see if you'd notice. You failed."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Uh-huh."

Yeah right. Nice try Melissa but you're gonna need to try way harder if you want to fool me.

Melissa got two bags out, they looked identical to the one I'd used, and handed one to Dob and Lob.

They grinned happily at Melissa excited about receiving the bag. I didn't have the heart to tell them that they'd have to return the bags later so I left that problem for future me to solve.

Procrastination has always worked out in the past why not procrastinate some more?

So after receiving everything we needed our motley group set out on our journey to Yarthon Woods. We arrived at the woods not long after and since it would speed up the process I decided we'd look for the Chrysanthum herbs inside the forest instead of on the outskirts like the mission said. I was confident in my ability to deal with anything we'd come across due to my new gear and the programmed knife which I didn't have when I went to collect the Chrysanthum herbs before.

After wandering around for a bit we came across a wolf. The wolf looked pretty much the same as the wolves I'd encountered before, sporting viciously sharp teeth and gray matted hair, held up by four strong but surprisingly lithe legs. The wolf growled fiercely at us even though it was outnumbered three to one. It kept growling at me and the goblins so I ordered the goblins to attack it, annoyance clearly showing in my voice at being interrupted by this canine.

What the frick does this mutt think it's doing? It's outnumbered and keeps freaking growling. What's its problem? Guess I'll grant its death wish.

They both took out their daggers from their sheaths and advanced on the wolf. The wolf looked from goblin to goblin, trying to keep them both in its eyes at the same time so it couldn't be attacked by surprise. Dob and Lob kept moving closer and the wolf seemed to suddenly realize that it was now in danger.

It turned to flee but didn't get the chance to even move from its spot before the two daggers came through its head. Making it look like a deer with very weird antlers instead of a wolf. The daggers through its skull also had the obvious effect of instantly ending its life but also conveniently shutting it up.

The goblins cheered at their first kill and high fived each other before coming back to where I was standing, seemingly unaffected by their first battle. I had a big smile on my face due to the goblins' combat ability. I was very pleased.

This is great! I even got some experience. I honestly didn't expect that but I guess the goblins counted as programmed weapons due to the binding rune I'd programmed on them.

[Killed Wolf]

[+5 System Experience]

[Experience: 715/800]

These guys can fight better than me at least in close combat! All I do in combat is dodge and send daggers flying but they were using actual moves!

This was a great step up in my security as someone could be killed in an instant and without time to aim I wouldn't be someone's match in a close melee but Dob and Lob took that issue off my chest and I could tell they'd handle any non-abnormal trouble with ease.

I and the goblins explored around more and we eventually came across the Chrysanthum herbs. There were more than a hundred in this patch but I decided we'd only take one hundred to give the remaining plants a chance to spread.

Now nobody can say I'm not generous.

Dob and Lob roughly stuffed the herbs into their bags and we ended up having to harvest all of them due to some getting damaged by the goblins' vicious harvesting.

I grew slightly annoyed at the goblins' lack of care as in the future if we were harvesting some valuable plants it would be a disaster. I ordered Dob and Lob to be more careful because of this which caused their speed to decrease a bit.

The goblins finished soon since they were being so fast but careful with their harvesting. Then we walked back towards the town. The goblins now carried the bags full of the Chrysanthum herbs while I skipped along with the light as a feather.

We got back to town sooner than I expected due to the goblins' speedy picking and we had enough time to turn Dob and Lob's missions in. It was a pleasant surprise as I wanted to see how the Guild handled people doing missions in a group and how credit distribution and payment would work.

Walking to the Guild I got some looks due to everyone else in my group carrying big bags while I carried nothing but they were more looks of curiosity rather than disdain. We then got to the Guild and walked inside.