'At last! I'm officially done with this Medicinal Tincture assignment!' After bottling up the mixture in its special container, Agnes happily raised her hands. The outsiders had no idea, but she had been working on this assignment for almost a month.
The assignment itself was simple, but obtaining the ingredients is where the difficulty kicks in. Furthermore, the lack of mission takers to hunt the Mountain Goblins made procuring the ingredient harder than expected.
With fewer ingredients to come by, Agnes was forced to buy or hunt on her own. She could fight as well as the other recruits, but against Mountain Goblins that are well known for moving in a group? Needless to say, this option was the last in her choice.
After all, fighting wasn't her forte.
Furthermore, the cost of failure had to be accounted for. With a lack of stock, less demand, and Agnes' questionable processing skill, everything here contributes further to her struggle to deliver.
It was already quite admirable for her to produce eight bottles of the tinctures through her ability. But with two bottles remaining and two days to go before her assignment's due date, completing them is nearly impossible.
Until Hespar came. Like a savior who delivers coal in winter, he appeared with a container of forty well-preserved hearts. Each was taken out without a hint of rot on them. The arrival of these ingredients was warm, like standing barefoot in hell.
The happiness even gave her the confidence to succeed twice in a row. While the party out there was having a great day hunting six Mountain Lizards early on, she had two successes in her processing.
After stretching herself, she wasted no time packing the five bottles for delivery to the office. Although it takes her close to a month to accomplish this task, a complete is complete in the eyes of legal paperwork.
"Congratulations, recruit Agnes from Sunflower Town. This would be your fifth complete assignment so far. According to the Processing Division's rule, you'll have another silver coin piece added to your monthly salary."
"Your salary will be two silver coin pieces from now on. Please do your best as your promotion is nearby." said the receptionist handling the assignments related to recruits.
"Would you like to take any other assignment while you're here?" the receptionist continued. Her hand rested on a thick catalog with at least a hundred requests stuffed inside.
The receptionist's question made Agnes' heart move for a while. To someone like Agnes, completing the division's assignment was the fastest way to promotions due to her regular fighting strength.
Unlike Brent, Victor, Lucas, or Catalina, Agnes has no talent nor hope of manifesting an Aura. This means her career is nowhere on the field officers but the support officers. And to be considered, accomplishing many tasks is one way to go.
"Is there some easy task I can choose from?" Agnes politely asked.
"Of course, my dear." the receptionist smiled. Even if Agnes took simple missions, the completion rate would still be recorded under this receptionist's suggestion. These results would reflect positively in their report when an evaluation comes from one stage to another.
The receptionist took three pamphlets out from the catalog after responding to Agnes.
"Producing Magic Stones, preparing the antidote's base concoctions, or refining the plasma for Blood-Stopping Paste. I have three simple tasks here that you won't have a problem completing." said the receptionist.
"Refining the plasma? I'll take this quest, please!" Agnes immediately accepted the third task without thinking.
"Are you sure, my dear? You know there's a lack of demand for hunting the Mountain Lizards right now, correct? And you still wanted to take this mission?" the receptionist asked again before Agnes regretted her choice.
"I'm sure of it," Agnes replied with confidence. Her confidence didn't come from elsewhere but the fact she knew Hespar and the others were hunting Mountain Lizard right now.
"Alright, that's your choice. Ten vials of the refined plasma for Blood-Stopping Paste. Your reward will be one silver coin piece per vial. The assignment duration is one month from today. Completing it earlier will reward you with ten additional copper coin pieces every five days." the receptionist read out the terms and gave the pamphlet to Agnes.
"Thank you, Officer." Agnes left the office with a smile. In her eyes, the quest was already half complete.
...
...
...
While Agnes was smiling back in the eleventh camp, the situation was risky for Hespar and the rest of his party. Although the danger has subsided a little with the death of the Goblin Archer, the group was still surrounded by over fifty goblins, and one evolved.
"Good job, Stolas! You got the Goblin Archer!" Ashen immediately shared the news after seeing the monster's corpse emerge from the foliage.
With the Goblin Archer gone, the party will be no longer under threat from a distance. This gave them more flexibility to move around unhindered.
All that remained right now was the priest-looking goblin with an unknown ability and the minions. But from how it seems, the goblin's ranking will likely fall soon due to the lack of leaders controlling them.
(Giya...)
(Jiji...)
(Gigi...)
It seems that disagreement already happening among them. Few of the stronger goblins had started to voice their opinion and abandoned the more foolish goblins on the frontline.
Even with the priest-looking goblin giving orders, the current group of goblins is no different from a pile of loose sand.
From how it looks, the priest-looking goblin only had rights over a few goblins around it. As for those further away, they don't seem to be as respectful as those near the priest-looking goblin.
It was apparent that the majority of Mountain Goblins here wasn't subordinate to the priest-looking goblin but only brought together for a cause. Even if they were given a chance, these goblins band together could not be compared to a human soldier.
(GIYAJIJI!)
(GIYAJIJI!!!)
Seeing how their plan had already failed, the priest-looking goblin didn't hesitate to order a retreat. It was the first to turn around and escape while screeching loudly to give the rest of the goblins its order.
Upon the call for retreat, more of the goblins started to scatter. But most of them ended up coming right at Hespar and his party instead of making their way further into the trees.
It might be done on purpose so the priest-looking goblin could retreat successfully. But with only itself left, the chances of Hespar encountering it again would be rare.
Unsure if it's fortune or unfortunate, six Mountain Lizards attacked the party as they were about to chase after the goblins. Seeing how their target came at them instead of needing to look for it, Hespar and the others smiled.
"Leader, what are we going to do?" Foster and Quinn resumed their post as the vanguards with Hespar. Brent was somewhat injured but could still move around. As for Stolas and Ashen, they should be fine, as long they don't act recklessly.
"Do you guys even need me to tell you? Get rid of these guys, and let's go home!" a burst of laughter was noted in Hespar's reply. Following his words, the team fought fiercely against the lizards that came to them.
Later that afternoon, Hespar and the others returned with more luggage than yesterday. Even the guards of the eleventh camp were surprised by their efficiency today.
"Looks like you guys are doing much better than yesterday," the same guard who inspected their belonging yesterday said while performing the same standard routine. None of their packages was left unattended as they went through a series of inspections.
"We're just a little luckier than yesterday," Hespar replied in a friendly manner.
"Alright. The inspection is done. You guys can take your belongings back and get inside the camp." said another guard who came in a minute later.
"Hespar, right? Hold on a minute as I have something to talk with you." the second guard who walked in held Hespar back as he was about to step out with the others.
"Yes, my fellow officer. How can I be of your service?" Hespar politely replies to this guard.
"I noticed there a few stalks of Serenity Ice Flower during the inspection. Although I am unsure if you have any use for them, I hope if you sell them, can you please consider me first?" the guard asked. From the guard's tone, he seemed to have an urgent need for the flower.
"I would definitely consider you first if my party is going to sell them. But for now, I can't make the decision before consulting the others. I hope you can understand," Hespar replied.
"Of course. That would be everything from me. Please feel free to leave the tent." the guard added. Feeling that he shouldn't keep Hespar here any longer, he pointed him to the exit.
Hespar returned to his private room about ten minutes later. Pulling apart the cloth that doubles as a door, he was greeted by the same party members accompanying him earlier, along with Agnes.
She had four bottles of the Medicinal Tincture in her hand. From its look, these bottles should be the results of the forty Mountain Goblin hearts he gave her this morning.
"Congratulations. Can I assume that you've accomplished the task in your hand since you don't seem to be in a rush anymore?" Hespar speaks with her in a friendly manner.
"Yes. Thanks to everyone, I managed to complete the assignment in time. These four Medicinal Tincture is what is left from the goblin's heart you gave me." Agnes placed the four bottles of Medicinal Tincture on the table.
As for how it would be distributed, that would fall under Hespar's decision.