“So he went to the family to give them fifty gold coins?” Paul asked.

“Yes,” Jade replied.

“And he gave the girl a gold coin?”

“Yes.”

Paul remained quiet, looking out to see Adam return back from his small task.

‘He’s so suspicious.’

“And that was all?”

“Yes.”

Paul blinked. “Fifty gold to make sure they could take care of themselves. A gold coin to the daughter to spend on herself.” Paul shook his head. ‘Seriously.’

“Shall I continue shadowing him?”

“No,” Paul said. “It’ll be only a matter of time until either of those two manage to sniff you out. We’ve confirmed his business, so leave him be.”

Jade bowed her head.

Paul sighed. “Seriously. If you continue to act like that, people will hear about the fact you like to throw away gold coins. Should I go and pay a visit to Shadow Rat?”

“Why the long face?” Lucy asked, biting into a potato.

“I realised that my good intentions are misconstrued,” Adam said. “It’s tiring being so suspicious all the time because I’m nice.”

“Stop being nice then,” Lucy said, simply.

“Boss, you’re a great guy,” Remy said.

“Yeah, don’t listen to anyone else,” Jeremy added.

“Thanks, guys,” Adam said, sitting down to eat his breakfast. He filled himself with meat and potatoes.

“So you finished your business?” Jurot asked, walking back with Nobby, who held an axe at his side, and a shield at his back.

“Yeah,” Adam said, spying the shield and axe.

Smithing Check (Intelligence)

D20 + 5 = 23 (18)

The axe and shield were of great make, and definitely cost more than ten gold. The metal axe head was well tempered, with a handle made of slightly reddish wood. The shield, which was fairly long and wide, suited Nobby’s build well.

“It seems that Nightval has awakened some White Wolves,” Jurot said. “The guild is offering twenty gold per head, and sixty gold for each Elder White Wolf.”

“That’s quite an increase,” Remy said. “Aren’t they usually about ten or fifteen per head at most?”

“Fifty for the Elder White Wolf,” Jeremy added.

“There seems to be a Magical Beast which has awakened,” Jurot said.

“A Magical Beast?” Adam asked. “That sounds interesting. How much does that go for?”

“Two hundred, but we would hunt it for its core.”

“Core? Is it a magical core?”

“Yes. Since it has awoken during Nightval, it will be perfect to create an ice based enchantment.” Jurot threw Adam a knowing look.

“An ice based enchantment, you say,” Adam said, rubbing his chin, chuckling like a villain. “That would be pretty… cool.”

Lucy groaned, and the cousins who looked like twins glanced away. Jurot did not react at all.

Nobby smiled. “Heh.”

“You’re too kind to me, Nobby. I’m glad I paid your parents so much for you.”

“Um,” Nobby said. “Thank you for the opportunity, mister Adam.”

“Don’t call me mister Adam,” Adam said. “Call me… boss.”

“Yes, mister boss.”

Adam blinked. “Good enough.”

“Should we find the Magical Beast?” Jurot asked. “They do not know which form it has taken.”

“Hmmm. You say it’s two hundred for the Magical Beast, right? That’s just for the hunting?”

“Yes. It is important it is quickly dealt with, so most Magical Beasts go for at least that much.”

“How strong is it?”

“Strong,” Jurot replied.

“Well, if it’s you saying that, we should be careful,” Adam said.

“Let’s go hunt!” Lucy groaned. “I’m bored!”

“Alright, alright,” Adam chuckled. “Let’s head out.”

The group grabbed their gear, including the Porters and their palanquin. Nobby held a smaller pack than usual, still there to be a Porter, but he was also going to help them fight whatever comes to fight.

“Nobby, stay near me, alright? I’ll make sure to keep you up, and if you do go down, I’ll sort you out,” Adam said.

“Yes, mister boss,” the boy replied.

‘I gotta make sure he doesn’t die on the first day at least,’ Adam thought.

They followed Jurot out, who led them out towards the road towards the forest. Eventually they veered off towards the dangerous forest, the Red Wood.

“The Red Wood?” Remy asked, nervously.

“We don’t work in the Red Wood,” Jeremy stated.

“Don’t worry, nothing bad’ll happen to you,” Adam assured. “I’ll increase your pay to five gold each day.”

Remy and Jeremy looked around the forest, following the group.

Jurot squatted down, brushing his finger’s along the ground, before looking around. “If it is too dangerous, what should we do?”

“We retreat,” Adam replied, simply.

“Then let us retreat,” Jurot said, motioning them back.

“Is it bad?” Adam asked.

Jurot nodded. “There are three Trolls nearby.”

Remy and Jeremy stared at Jurot with wide eyes, before they quickly retreated away, the rest of the group surrounding them.

“A bunch of Trolls? That shouldn’t be too hard for us,” Lucy said.

“So many Trolls in one area is bad news,” Jurot stated. “It is not the Trolls we should worry for.”

“Our goal is to hunt safely,” Adam said. “We can’t die.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lucy grumbled.

Jurot continued to lead them around until the hours passed by. They found plenty of life around, but nothing which was worth hunting or fighting against.

“We should return,” Adam said. “It’s getting late.”

Jurot nodded.

“I can’t believe we found nothing,” Lucy groaned.

“Relax. Some days are like that. Though, even I have to admit that I’m a little disappointed. I thought the Red Wood would hold something dangerous.”

“It does,” Jurot said. “There is something watching us.”

“What?”

“It has been watching us for some time,” Jurot said. “Waiting until someone treads too far.”

“You didn’t tell us?”

“There was no need to,” Jurot said. “I remained close to Jeremy and Remy. It would have come otherwise.”

“Damn, Jurot,” Adam said. “You should at least warn me.”

“Do you not trust me that much?” Jurot asked, earnestly.

“I do but… I’m nosy. I like knowing things.”

“There are things to know, and things to leave.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Adam grumbled. “Iyrmen.” He shook his head.

They eventually returned back to the Adventurer’s Guild.

“That was disappointing,” Adam said.

“It was only the first level within Red Wood,” Jurot said. “I made sure to keep away from the second level.”

“Where would the Magical Beast be?”

“Within the first two levels,” Jurot said.

“So why didn’t we go into the second level?”

“It is too dangerous,” Jurot said.

“We can’t handle it?” Adam asked.

“We can, but we would be unable to protect the Porters.”

Adam nodded his head slowly. “Well, as always, I’ll leave it to you.”

Jurot nodded his head in return.

“Aren’t you lucky?” Adam said, placing down the gold for the Porters. “You get five gold for walking around.”

“Thank you, boss,” Remy said, quickly swiping the gold.

“My stomach hurt the entire time,” Jeremy admitted.

“I hope the gold eases it.”

“My stomach ain’t hurtin’ no more,” Jeremy assured, feeling how heavy the gold was.

Adam chuckled. “Good, good. Nobby, take this.” Adam handed over ten gold coins. “Your pay for today, and a little more for your birthday I missed.”

“Thank you, mister boss,” Nobby said, looking at the gold coins.

“Nobby, make sure you work hard, okay?” Adam said, patting his arm. “You’ve got parents to care for, and a sister to inspire.”

Nobby nodded his head slowly. “Yes, mister boss.”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “You and little sisters. How creepy can you be?”

Adam frowned. “Hey. I don’t poke fun at your chest.”

“Wh-what?” Lucy raised her fist to attack him.

“Outside!” Braun shouted.

Lucy froze and looked back at him. “I wasn’t really going to hit him…” She kept her eyes half away from Braun, but spend much of her time ogling him.

“Asking Nobby to look after his sister isn’t the same as you harassing muscular men with your eyes,” Adam said. “That’s actually creepy.”

“Shut up,” Lucy whispered. “I’m just admiring the beautiful art.”

Adam rolled his eyes.

“Adam, should we take Zeus tomorrow on the hunt with us?” Jurot asked. “He will be useful.”

“Zeus?” Adam asked. “Oh. Zeus! I forgot all about him!” Adam rubbed his face. “Yeah, we probably should. He can carry some stuff too.”

Jurot nodded.

“What am I going to do without you?” Adam asked. “I’ll go check up on him.” He stood and stretched his neck. “I should probably have a nice hot bath too.”

Adam checked on Zeus, who seemed to be faring just fine in the stables of the Guild, spending most of his time standing still. Then he went to bathe and eat, hearing Lucy rambling about how bored she was.

“Let’s hope tomorrow we have some fun,” Adam said.

Omen: 4, 20

Adam chuckled quietly to himself when he woke up.

“I think today is going to be a good day,” Adam said.

“Why do you think that?” Lucy asked, peering up at him with her questioning eyes.

Adam smiled.

“It really is a good day!” Lucy said, many hours later. “Finally!”

“Me and my big fucking mouth,” Adam said, hoisting up Phantom. “To arms!”