"A guide?"
Diether asked in confusion.
He wasn't sure if he heard it correctly. It couldn't be helped since he was fully aware that the students who were allowed to conduct a trial within the Wailing Forest must be much older than him.
In fact, he had a sudden hunch that these students came from the branch of the Royal Academy near the Rosen Town. After all, it was the nearest Academy in the region.
This branch of Royal Academy almost had the same size as the Rosen Town. The buildings there weren't just for academic and living quarters but it has many facilities for training the future pillars of the country, the First-Class Arcanists.
However, these facilities were not enough to house a large number of beasts for training, so having a trip to the nearest Wailing Forest was the best option if they wanted to gain real combat experience.
'W-will I meet my sister if I accepted this?'
The young man suddenly felt nervous as he wasn't sure how he would act if he met his sister. He misses her a lot but he was aware that running away from home wasn't something to be proud of. Her mother was definitely angry and he'll be scolded.
'Should I apologize? Will sister bring me home if she saw me here? Maybe I should go to another village?'
"Are you not interested? I think that you're capable enough…"
His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden question.
Orga only spoke after waiting for a few moments. He noticed that the young man was lost in thought and there seems to be a problem in accepting the mission.
"Ah… I'm just curious about their purpose of inviting Hunters… If they came from the Royal Academy, they should have a large number of Arcanist in their faculty to guide their students…"
"Oh, you're sharp for a young man… That's true… They have 10 4th-class Arcanist in their group. However, they wanted to have the Hunters filter the Wailing Forest to ensure their safety…"
Diether paused for a moment after hearing this…
"It doesn't sound like a guide anymore…"
"Indeed… But isn't the best method of guiding these students is to ensure their safety? You guys will only deal with the strong beasts around and let the students handle the weaker ones."
Diether was contemplating whether to accept this mission or select a different one at the mission board… He still has to continue his training with his master since Reiji hadn't completed his teaching yet.
'It seems inappropriate… I don't think it's a good idea to join them.'
"Sigh~ I'm very happy that you've offered me this mission but I don't think that I'm---"
The young man suddenly stopped when he was about to reject the mission.
Orga was confused but he remained silent, he thought that the kid might have suddenly thought of the benefits he could get…
'Right, I haven't mentioned the rewards yet…'
"Although the rank of the mission was only D, you'll receive some good benefits… After all, the employer is the Academy itself. Each hunter will be rewarded with 1 gold coin and will be given a token to enter the Academy's Marketplace… It can only be used twice so you'll have to make sure that you have enough money before you decided to enter their marketplace…"
Orga was sure that with all these benefits, the young man would accept the mission. The single gold coin may be low but this is because it's a group mission. Anyway, just the token itself is already worth several hundred gold coins, and including the bodies of any beasts they killed would already give them a lot of money. The marketplace of the Academy has many incredible items including Magic Weapons or Equipment made by aspiring students. Their prices were very cheap since the creator wasn't known and their durability was known to be terrible.
However, these items can still be very useful especially to Hunters who were incapable of creating these things themselves.
'Haa~ If he's still not accepting, I can try to reward him with my own money… I really want to show to those haughty Arcanists that we also have young and talented Hunters…'
He wanted to show off. After all, Diether was so young but he already has the strength to fight an Evil Beast, it was a very impressive feat... And even though he fought this Evil Beast during the day, it was still not an easy battle…
When he was at that age, he remembers that he was still catching some frogs on his parent's wheat field.
Anyway, after noticing that Diether was still not answering, Orga could only offer a bit more using his savings.
"Alright! I can't let you suffer like that so I'll increase the reward. But remember that this is only between you and me, okay? I will give you four more golds if you accept the mission. So once you completed it, you'll get a total of five gold coins…"
"I'll accept it! Thank you Grandpa Orga…"
"Ha~ So it was really about that… Fine, but make sure that you do your best on the mission."
"I will!"
Diether then left the association building to make his preparation. There were still four more days before the students from the academy will arrive at Farahn Village.
"I trust you master, Reiji…"
"You should. I just want you to become stronger… and accepting this mission will benefit both of us…"
"Yes, master."
As Diether was walking, he noticed that he was in the small part of the village where several stores can be seen. Clothing Store, Weapon Shop, Blacksmith Workshop, and Apothecary was just near the Hunter Association building.
"Hmm… Their trial will last for three days… I have to get some tools like what the other hunters were buying here…"
Diether said referring to the small weapons and tools that the hunters were bringing every time they enter the Wailing Forest.
Reiji didn't stop the young man as he has his own money and he should learn how to spend it himself.
Clang! Clang!
Sounds of bells were heard after Diether opened the door of the shop.
There was no other customer except him so he felt a bit nervous.
It was the first time that he entered the weapon shop and noticed that it was neat and tidy unlike what he had in his mind. The walls were decorated with different kinds of weapons and there were even a few armors on display.
There were a lot of dull color weapons but behind the counter seem to be a couple of precious swords that were emitting vibrant colors.
'It's beautiful. But it seems to be only used for decoration.'
"Welcome, Diether… If you have something you want, just tell me…"
A young man about 17 to 19 years old greeted after seeing Diether enter the shop.
He was slouched on his seat and seems to be napping just before Diether entered.
"Eh? I didn't introduce myself yet… How did you—"
"Of course! You're quite famous! You know that our village was small so you can easily hear the news about the 10-year-old kid training alone in the forest and rumored to be a strong Hunter that was capable of defeating an evil beast with a single strike…"