Chapter 19: The First Quest (Part 2)

I'm now near to the border to get out and go towards Mar village as the direction leads from Advisor.

The border guards staying guard at the gate seemed to see me, one of the guards guarding the gate is now coming near me.

"Please hand us over your card!" - That guard ordered me

Then I send my Adventurer's card to the guard, he looks at the card, seems to notice the design of the card. That Adventurer's card only has my name, John on it, so he won't know about me.

"So you're an Adventurer! Sir, you can go now but be careful! There was a report that said that a monster out of the jungle!"

Then the guard returned the card to me, after taking back my card, I immediately go to the destination of the quest.

That guard said to me that the jungle has a monster but with Advisor with me, I think there won't be any problems to worry about.

Seems like the way to the village is quite close to the town, the village is in front of me now.

The village is not really well built but it is not that bad, the village itself has a barricade around it. If the monsters or bandits wanted to attack the village, they would struggle a little bit to take it over.

"Who are you, traveler?" - An old man looks like a village guard asked me

Then I put my Adventurer's card and the quest paper out for that old man to see, he seemed confused after seeing the paper and the card.

"Sorry, traveler! I can't read, can you tell me who are you?"

"I'm an adventurer who came here for a quest that was given by a person named Sala, the quest said that this person's house is located here!"

"Oh! So you're an adventurer! Sala's house is over there, Sir! You may see it by the hand I pointed to, but Sir!"

"Please don't do anything to make Sala scared!" - That old man explained to me

The only thing I don't know is why he said not to make my quest owner scared, but I made a nod means to understand what the old man said, then I went to the house that he pointed to.

I also look around the village, seems like the village itself seems very poor, people wearing tattered clothes, I can see some of the villagers I went past seemed a bit skinny.

The village got a lost season or something like that? Or the village here has been like that so long time ago? But I cannot do anything to save these people's life.

At least the only thing I can do here is to help a girl named Sala to collect plants.

I walked towards the house seems that the old guard pointed to. It's made of wood and seemed very old, but I don't care about the details around it so much. I slowly stepped to the house's door and made some knocks.

"Hello, Is anybody home?"

No one answered, seems like the other side of the door has no people inside, should I make another one?

"Knock! Knock! Hello, anybody home?" - I knocked on the door but made it louder, I knew it was very disrespectful but I had no choice but only to do it

Then the door is opened, a little blonde-haired girl gets her head out of the door to see who knocked it, her face seems a little scared, she is now staring at me, seems like to talk something.

"Hello, mister! Do you need anything from my house?" - That little girl asked me with a bit scared voice

That girl seems frozen when she sees how tall I am when my shadow covers her appearance.

Of course, I'm 1,82 meters tall, about near 6 feet in my homeland's measurement system. But I didn't use to the US's measurement so I changed to use the measurement from the European countries instead.

"Oh, sorry little girl! Do you know the woman named Sala? The old guard told me she lives here, I'm an Adventurer came for her quest!"

"Yes! I'm Sala! Mister, sorry for troubling you for not greeting you properly when you got here, please get inside!" - Sala asked me to get inside her house, that girl later ran inside to do something

Then I get inside the house, seems like the house is not as bad as I thought, the house is not wide but seems very fit for enough 4 people to live in it.

The furniture seems fine, that little girl Sala is now holding a wooden cup and doing something with it.

I sit at a table nearby, looking around and notice there seems to be an adult woman who is now lying on the bed on the left side.

Beside her is a small table which has a wooden bowl and a wooden spoon that seems to had foods on it but had been cleaned, maybe that woman had eaten the foods on the bowl then have a sleep.

"Sorry for making you wait, mister! Here is your water!" - Sala put down the cup of water on the table and also invited me to drink

"I'm not thirsty, miss Sala! Just talk to me about the mission you want me to do!"

I need to learn the way to talk with the people in this world, and must use honorifics in all situations as the way I learned from following Reimi and Shera since I got to this world.

"Just call me Salah, mister! I really need you to go with me to the forest near here to collect plants to make my mom's medicine! She is now sleeping after having a meal!"

So the woman sleeping on the bed is Sala's mom, what a good girl! She seems very caring for her mom, she is a good daughter.

"We may go now for the quest, Sala! But maybe you should ask your mother for permission!"

"No, mister! Can we go out now for finding plants?"

"Why?"

"My mom very much cares about me, she is now living in illness but she doesn't want me to find a healer or a physician, the treatment price is very costly!"

"She also doesn't want me to go collect plants for her, she always did it herself! She was scared that if she let me do that, I would be in danger!"

"Alright! Sala, we can go collect plants together but you must return home soon, alright?"

"Of course! Thank you for your help, mister! But what should I call you?"

"Just call me John!"

"John! That name is not familiar to the people here, but anyway! Please mist-" - Salah was about to say but I stopped her

"Just only call me John!"

"Yes, John! Please wait for me few minutes!"

I later waited for Salah for her preparation outside the house, few minutes later, the girl came out with a basket hanging in her left hand.

Then I held the girl's right hand, and lead her outside the village entrance to collect the plants. I hope touching a child is "legal" in this world, I don't want to be arrested by the FBI for touching a loli that looks like a 10 years old girl!

"Oh! You are here, Adventurer! You and Sala be careful out there, there is a report about a monster hanging around the forest nearby!"

"Please return here as soon as possible!" - The old guard warned me

"Don't you worry! Miss Sala is now under my protection!"

Then I walk alongside Sala to the forest, the scenery is very beautiful, the air is very clean, very very good!

No chemicals, have many trees are the things that my world cannot have back.

Then I remembered something, healer and physician, what are the differences between them? Shera said that word once, also this little girl.

I may ask Sala about this but will this girl have enough knowledge to understand what I say?

"Hey Sala, I want to ask you something! I'm not coming from this place, can I ask you why the people here sometimes say the people who do the heal are healers or physicians, what are the differences between them?"

"Uh, John! As my mother taught me, the person who can cast healing magic will be called a Healer!"

"If cannot cast healing magic but know the treatment ways, that person will be called a Physician!" - Sala explained to me, her explanation seems very easy to understand

"I don't see anyone else except your mom and you, Salah! Are there any more members in your family?"

"My father was being forced to enlist and died in a war 10 years ago, and my older sister is now luckily found a job in the town nearby!"

"My older sister always sends money she earned from her job to our house, she also struggles a lot to cure her sickness because she is powerless, she didn't tell me what job she is working!"

"She said she would work hard to save our mom from illness, but she also said to me she has to work in a job that pays very low so she also joins to work the different parts of that job to earn more money!"

"I think my older sister will only have more sickness before she could save my mom! Her name is Cily, can you please promise me to help her, even a little bit when you meet her someday, mister John!" - Sala is begging me

"I will! I will help your sister, Sala!" - I said the truth, I'm a human, how can I ignore everything around me!

"I'm very glad!" - Sala opened a happy smile, she is a real angel, a loli, I mean a little angel!

"You said your older sister is powerless, right Sala? How about you?"

"My father was a healer of the village before he was forced to enlist! I can also do healing magic, I wish that when I am fully grownup, I would be the healer of my village!" - Sala said to me with a happy voice, she jumping around while talking

"Healing magic! Is it belong to the 5 elements of magic? I only see elements Earth, Wind, Fire, Water and Non-attribute?"

"You asked me a lot, mister John! Luckily that my mom taught me very much, Healing magic belongs to the Non-attribute element!"

"When you can cast Non-attribute magic, you can create your own magic, it can be anything but it needs to be very details to cast it!" - Sala explained to me

Seems like if I could use magic, I would be able to create bullets or some sort like that, but I should find a way to get rid of my low magic power.

"Done the talk here, Sala! Where is the place you wanted me to go to?"

"We have already here!"

"Huh?"

Then I notice, seems like I have stopped moving since when I got here with Sala, seems like I have lost my concentration while doing the conversation with her and got here when I didn't notice.

"You do the guard, John! I will collect the plants!"

Then Sala ran towards the plants that have bright green and collected them, putting them in her basket.

"Lalala Lala Lala!" - Sala is singing a song, it seems very good to hear but I don't know what is that song means

Few minutes passed, Sala has now done collecting the plants, she stood up with the basket which was now fully packets with plants and was about to go with me back to the village.

"John! I found an unknown creature that is now very near to you! It's only far from here not about 100 meters, it didn't seen you yet!" - Advisor suddenly warned me

"Why didn't you find out that sooner?"

"That monster heartbeat was very slow and small, I thought that was an error of my system but when I found out, that was too late!"

"That monster seems very strong! If you left that little girl here and ran away, your survival chance would be very high possibly!"

"What did you just say! How can I let Sala here to die!"

"It's up to you! I'm an AI, and human emotion is something that beyond my reach!"

Fight or flee? What should I choose, for my life or Sala?

"Sala! Hide inside a bush behind me, try to hold your breath as much as possible, and do not make any noises in any situations!"

"Why, John?" - Sala is now very confused at what I said

"Just do it!" - I just lost my control and shouted loud to Sala, that monster should have heard my voice

Then Sala hid inside the bush behind me and kept silent. Few seconds later, a creature that has an appearance like a Komodo dragon but with orange-colored and huger comes out of the trees.

That creature looks like a Salamander from the fantasy fictions, it staring at me and slowly walking towards me.

I also look at that creature, keeping my eyes in contact with it, I drew my sword out, both of us walking slowly toward each other.

When I was away from the Salamander about 4 meters, I charged and swung the thrust strike from my sword to it.

That Salamander screamed in pain, I managed to thrust its right eye, but that creature later goes rage and shook me to a tree nearby.

"Aargh!"

I screamed in pain, that was very hurtful! I'm now trying to get up slowly from that attack, very hard to stand up, then I look at the bush where Sala is hiding.

The girl is now scared, she is now about to call me, I can see the tears are about to flow out of her eyes.

"Hey, where the hell did you look at, look at me! You ugly Salamander!" - I challenged the Salamander when it was about to look at the bush

"Aargh! Aargh! Haah! Haah!"

Then I got shooked again by that Salamander, this time! The pain was double that before, that creature slowly walked toward me, opens its mouth, seems like about to eat me.

"Your mouth stinks! Brush your teeth next time!" - I gave that Salamander a "compliment"

I managed to pull the pin from the M67 Grenade out and throw it on that Salamander's mouth, seems like it has swallowed the entire Grenade since it closed its mouth. I take all of my strength, stand up and run away from it as far as possible!

"BOOM!"

I also got hit from that explosion but not much, I'm now lying on the ground, trying to get up but I can't, it hurts a lot, that creature is now dead, its body is torn apart by the Grenade.

"John! John! Please don't die!" - Sala is now very panicked, she trying to shake me, calling me a lot

Little girl! I'm not dead yet! But please don't shake me anymore, it's very hurt!

"Okay! Okay! I'm fine! Please don't shake me anymore!"

"Okay?"

After hearing my voice, Sala wiped her tears, but she was also curious about the word that I said.

Come on! I had explained that word twice to the people in this world, I will have to do it again!

"Okay is okay!" - Seems like Sala was confused more after hearing what I said

Then I slowly got up, but I can't do that, Sala after seeing my suffering, she stared at my wound. Then Sala slowly raises both of her hands towards it, I wonder what is she gonna do.

"Heal!"

Then in about less than 15 seconds, my body feels slightly better, though the pain is still there but I can get up now.

"You can do Healing magic?"

"Yes, my father taught me to!" - Sala explained to me, I was very surprised and made a pat on her head, lolis are cute!

"Let's head back home! Your mom may now wait for you!"

"Oh! Please don't say anything about the monster you saw today, it's a secret between us, okay?"

"Okay? Ah! Okay!" - Sala opened a smile after saying to me, seems like she has now understood what is the meaning of that word

Then I slowly go with Sala back to the village when I was still hurt, when we were about to the village entrance, I saw Sala's mom, who has now woken up and waiting for her daughter alongside the villagers.

"Sala!" - Sala's mom said to her and ran towards her

"Mama!" - Sala also did the same

Then Sala and her mother held each other and cried, she said something to her mom. Maybe to show her mom about the success of collecting plants for her mother to make medicine. Sala after hugging her mother, she looked back for me, looked around and see me nowhere, I'm now hiding behind a tree not so far from them, I don't want to make more trouble for Sala and her mom. Just looking at Sala from far away can make my heart warmer.

"Mister John! Please come here again if you have time! You will always be welcomed here!" - Sala shouted as loud as possible for me to hear

I'm now feeling satisfied with what I did this morning, I slowly walk away from the Village, head back to the Adventurer's Guild.

During the time I go back to the Adventurer's Guild, I was glanced at by the people on the streets, do the wounded Adventurers being looked that hard way like that?

Finally, I got to the Adventurer's Guild, when I opened the door and walked inside, the entire room is empty, with no people, no chatting, only the slim Guild girl that I met earlier standing at the stall.

"Hey! Looks like you are the only one here, where are the others?"

"You just got back just in time, Sir John! The Guild workers are now resting, they are having lunch, we will start working again in about 1 hour!" - That Guild girl explained to me

"I had asked Guild Leader to let me do this guard duty so long ago for more pay, so if you have done any quests, you can get here to report me, I also do the work overnight!"

Seems like this world is not as backward as the Middle ages as I thought, it's developed a bit, but not much if compared to my world.

"I see that you are wounded! Did you encounter monsters or bandits during your quest duty?"

"Yes!"

"If you got their belongings back here, you would be rewarded more money, seems like you missed the chance this time!" - That Guild girl opened a slightly smile, seems like to cheer me up

"About your injures, Sir! Do you need any Healers or Physicians? I can call them here to you right away but it will take you 500 Attas if you called a Physician, 1000 Attas for a Healer!" - That Guild girl seems very cares about me

"No! I think I can handle it myself!"

"So about your quest, Sir! If you have done it, then do you have any proofs to prove?"

"I forgot to ask the quest owner!"

"Then we will send a Guild messenger to the quest owner's place to ask that person as soon as possible, until that time, your reward would be delayed!"

"Cough! Cough! I'm sorry about that!"

"Can you please hand me the quest paper, Sir?" - That Guild girl asked me

Then I hand that Guild girl the paper, and she focuses on the details on it, her face suddenly goes serious after looking at the name of the quest owner.

"Sir! Is Sala still alright?" - That Guild girl asked me in panic, her eyes are full of depression

"Yeah! Only me wounded when encountered the monster, the quest owner is safe!"

After hearing what I said, that Guild girl seems relieved, I wonder why.

"You know the little girl named Sala?"

"No! Not really! I just, just really care about the quest owner's fate, if that person died, there won't be no evidence to show you had done the quest!" - That Guild girl hesitated a little bit when saying to me, but I didn't notice that detail so much

"The price of the quest only has 60 Attas, and it had just posted on the board just a week ago!"

"With this kind of cheap price, I think there won't be any Adventurers would willing to do it, thank you very much for doing it, Sir!"

"Sala! Why did you!" - That Guild girl whispered something very small that I cannot hear properly, I heard a word Sala, maybe it is about that little girl, I'm very curious now

"Sir Rigen! Please accept the money, I think this is not really worth what you have done, you should be paid more but these 500 Attas are half of my salary of the month, please take it!"

"No! How can I take that much!"

"If someone found out I gave you extra money, I would be fired, please just take the money this time, I beg you!" - The Guild girl begging me more and more

Then I took the money, the Guild girl seems very happy to see that.

"What are you gonna do for now, Sir?"

"I will head back to the inn I'm staying!"

"Good luck on your journey, Sir Rigen!" - That Guild girl said goodbye to me

"You too!"

My wound is now better than before, I don't need to get to the Healer, I feel very hungry now! Let's head back to the inn to eat something! Hope that Eris won't say anything to her mom.