I wake up, open my eyes, and quickly close them again.
'Why is it so bright?'
After lying on my bed for a bit, I push myself up and grab my pounding head. I wait a few more seconds, then slowly stand up.
By squinting and only using small movements, I manage to make my way to the living room. It's full of the scent of oatmeal and coffee.
I go to the couches and lay there, hand covering my eyes. Someone approaches me, but based off the sound of the footsteps it's Natalia, so I don't do anything.
"Want some coffee?"
"Please."
I crack my eyes open as she puts a mug on the table in front of the couch. I thank her and she moves back to the kitchen to continue cooking breakfast.
"Food will be ready in a few minutes."
I mentally prepare myself before I sit up to sip on my coffee. It's black, not the way I like it, but I know it might help.
Reluctantly, I quickly drain the cup, trying to ignore the bitterness of the coffee. Surprisingly, I already feel a touch better.
'Expected of the coffee made by a Druid.'
Now that the light isn't hurting my eyes as much, I look around the small apartment that we haven't been living in for that long.
It doesn't have a connected bathroom, but it isn't that far away from the community bathrooms so it's not that big of a deal.
I glance towards the kitchen as Natalia steps out with two steaming bowls of oatmeal. She hands me a bowl and sits down across from me.
After thanking her, I dig in. At first, the thought of food made me slightly nauseous, but as soon as the oatmeal was placed in front of me that feeling disappeared.
I quickly empty the bowl and set it down, giving a satisfied sigh.
"Thanks Natalia. Do we have anything else to eat?"
"Yeah, I grabbed some Rememe's from the market."
I walk to the kitchen and immediately spot the fruits. I peel back the red peel on the circular fruit and take a bite of the orange inside.
When I first ate one of these, the flavor seemed very familiar but slightly off.
I hear a door open and see Alcon looking like a mess.
There's dark circles under his eyes and he's still wearing his clothes from the day before. His face looks haggard and he's clutching his head.
After seeing him like this, I glance down and see that I'm in a similar state.
I know for a fact that my breath must smell atrocious and just by putting my hand on my head I can tell my hair has turned into a tangled mess.
I grab Alcon a cup of coffee, which he accepts with a grumble, then head to the bathroom to wash up.
***
When I get back to the room, I can see that everyone is sitting in the living room. Alcon still looks like a mess, but Bernadette looks perfectly fine.
'She must have the tolerance of a horse…'
I sit down on one of the couches and listen in on the conversation they're having.
"We need to get a new quest as soon as we can."
"For once, I agree."
Bernadette also nods at Alcons statement. The only one opposed seems to be Natalia.
"We need a little more time to rest. Our bodies probably haven't fully recovered from that last quest."
"But I need more money! I spent most of it last night!"
"That's your fault."
She has no sympathy for Alcon. I decide to speak up.
"I don't think taking a quest right now would be a bad idea."
Right as Alcon is about to shout in victory, I quickly add something else in.
"But Natalia is right. We need to rest our bodies and our minds. If we're going to take a quest, it needs to be an easier one."
Everyone seems to be okay with this, so after everyone has their stuff together we head to the guild hall.
It takes a little bit to find one that fits the criteria, but we end up picking an extermination quest for Dire Wolves.
After confirming that we're taking the quest, we head for the plains where they're supposed to be roaming around. We run into two of the beasts pretty quickly.
We previously agreed on the same formation that we had used for the battle against the goblins, so Bernadette and Alcon are in the front while I'm in the middle and Natalia and Matt are in the back.
It doesn't take long for Alcon and Bernadette to take the two Dire Wolves down.
After they kill them, they pull one fang from each one. This is to make sure that we get paid for completing the quest, each fang signifying one kill.
To make sure people dont cheat and collect two items from one monster, the guild has a device that can sense the miniscule amount of mana in the teeth and see if they match or not.
Since each living thing has its own, distinct mana signature, it's pretty easy to tell if the teeth are from the same monster or not.
They put the teeth in a pouch Natalia is carrying, and we carry on. Every once in a while, I switch to being a tank to give Alcon or Bernadette a break.
We hunt wolves for the whole day, eventually killing the 20 we were supposed to. We hurry back to town as it starts to get dark and collect the quest reward.
Tonight we don't go to Wyvern's Head, instead sharing a meal at home. I make a pasta dish that Burch taught me the recipe for. Buttered bread and a salad are procured and put together by Matt.
As we eat the four of them make small talk while I eat in silence, trying to come to a decision. Eventually I reach one and, after everyone is done eating, pull out the map.
Silence fills the room.
"I found this on Ghal, the goblin Chief that attacked Differentia."
Everyone's eyes widen and we move to the living room. I spread the map out on the table, and share everything I know about it. Alcon plays with a knife, but everyone else listens intently.
"The night of cursed wolves...I'm afraid that I haven't come across that in my studies."
Matt had gotten up to pace the room, his eyebrows scrunched up as he tapped his chin. A tired yawn draws everyone's attention to Alcon, who is lounging on the couch. Matt rolls his eyes.
"If you're not going to be helpful you might as well go to the room."
"The great and intelligent Matthew doesn't even know that their talking about werewolves and the full moon?"
Matt's face becomes beet red, until he realized that Alcon had actually solved the riddle. Slapping himself in the forehead, Matt dropped onto the couch with a sullen expression.
"How did...why didn't I..."
As Matt seemingly starts loosing some marbles over the unexpected shift of rolls, I jump to my feet.
"I didn't even think of that! Well done Alcon!"
With a small shrug, Alcon pulls out a piece of bread from his pocket and pops it into his mouth.
"My instructor told me a story about a mission she had completed a few years back. The locals were having trouble with werewolves, and called the attacks nights of the cursed wolves. I had completely forgotten about it until you brought it up."
Clapping Alcon on the back, I now turn to Matt.
"Do you know when the next full moon is?"
Being pulled out of his sulking, Matt started counting on his fingers.
"Should be a week from now."
"Perfect. In the meantime, lets try to find out anything else we can about this Goblin King."