"Hey Ai- mpf!"
The demi-human rushed towards them and wrapped her arms around both of them; she held them as tight as possible.
"I have not seen you two cuties in forever!" She exclaimed while hugging them tighter. A huge grin stayed on her face for the entirety.
"A-Aiko, please... I-I Can't breathe..." Lucian choked out. His face turned a bright red due to the extreme force coming from Aiko. Fei wasn't fairing well as her face started to turn purple. He tapped on Aiko's shoulder a few times, hoping for sweet release.
"O-Oh, sorry... I couldn't help myself..." Aiko backed up a few steps, leaving room for Fei and Lucian to catch their breath. "Where have you two been!? Wait, let's catch up inside!" She exclaimed after their faces had returned to a natural color. "C'mon, c'mon!" With one hand in her grasps she started to drag them into the tavern.
Without being able to get a word in, they complied to Aiko's orders. Inside, they were greeted to an old sight. A few circular tables sat inside, each one could fit five individuals. To their right a middle aged woman who wore reading glasses sat behind a counter, her gaze lingered below her as if she was reading something. Behind her, there lied the kitchen, they could only see it through a window.
"Ah? Is that Fei and Lucian? It's good to see you two again." The lady who sat behind the counter said when she noticed them.
"It's good to see you too."
Fei bowed slightly as to greet her.
"Now, Aiko, we can't give them free food like usual, it's been tight this month!"
"Yes, yes I understand, I'll pay for it myself!" Aiko responded while wagging her finger. "Here, sit down, I'll go make you two some food."
"We-"
"I know you two are busy, and you most likely have not eaten anything this morning!" Aiko cut Lucian off. She glared at him as she saw his body stiffen up. "You can explain yourself when I get back."
"She's as energetic as usual." Lucian muttered, a slight smile crept onto his face.
"Y-Yes she is."
They watched as Aiko's head whipped around from their seats. It kept going back forth and the smell of cooked eggs permeated the entirety of the inside. Just as quickly as she left, she returned with two decent sized platters of scrambled eggs.
"It isn't anything special, but I hope you two enjoy these!" Aiko exclaimed as she set them down onto the table.
"T-Thank you." Fei thanked her in a low voice. "But, um, we, we came here to see y-you..."
"Well, we can catch up while you two eat."
"Where have you two been? I haven't seen you both for at least two weeks!" Aiko exclaimed as soon as they took their first bites. "I was starting to get worried if something happened."
"We have been looking around for a new job-"
"You two would be perfect over here, why didn't you come here sooner?!"
"This place isn't popular enough for what we nee-"
"So wh-"
"Aiko, dear, please let them finish before you cut them off." The middle aged lady interjected without even glancing up.
"R-Right sorry..."
"Anyways, we knew this place isn't popular. We managed to find a job that allowed us to work together. That allowed us to save some and we could buy Fei a staff." Lucian explained with a proud smile. A single bead of sweat ran down his face as Fei gave him a glance. 'If only we could.' Lucian thought to himself.
"W-Wait, does that mean-?" Aiko mumbled as her ears perked up, and her tail stiffened up. Her initial ecstatic expression was quickly distorted into disbelief.
"Yes! Our dream of becoming adventurers have come true!" Lucian exclaimed as he flashed his and Fei's ids in front of Aiko's eyes. "Although our first request didn't go as we hoped... Nevermind that, there'll be better and way more fun requests today, I can feel it! You can feel it too, right Fei?"
"Y-Yes, I can, can feel it..." Fei responded, her voice lowered as guilt gripped at her heart. 'What if we can't find a better one...? What'll happen to him?' The spoon in her hand started to tremble.
"We should probably head to the adventurer's guild."
"Nyat quite yet!" Aiko exclaimed while pushing Lucian back into his seat. "Do nya know how long it's been since you last visited?! Why dontnya stay a little longer!" She continued as her grey cat tail flicked back and forth. Her furrowed eyebrows didn't compliment the pure joy in her brown eyes.
'She's trying to hide something.' Lucian and Fei simultaneously noted after seeing Aiko's actions. Her expression was a clear tell to the, followed by her nyas and flicking tail were signs that Aiko was hiding something.
"I, I think w-we should stay a little, b-bit longer." Fei said. Lucian nodded as Aiko's "angry" eyebrows softened.
"Great! Nyaow, tell meow how your first request went!"
"It really wasn't interesting to be honest."
With enough insistence from Aiko, Lucian told her how their first request went. Despite it being a bore, she listened intently. An obvious tell that she was, her tail wagged furiously. From an outsider's perspective she seemed like an elated mother listening about her kids' first day of school.
"Wow~ That really didn't sound like a good time, are you feeling sore from that?" Aiko asked after the entirety. Lucian shook his head in response. "What about you Fei? How are you doing after that?"
"I'm, I'm doing o-okay." Fei said. She drew her hands closer to her body unconsciously. This, however didn't go unnoticed under Aiko's eyes.
"Let me see your hands!" Aiko ordered. Like a scared child, Fei's ears instantly drooped at the her tone and complied with her orders. "You are so clumsy... They look to be healing fine, but, next time make sure to treat them properly." Aiko let out an exasperated sigh after seeing the state of Fei's palms. The spots where her skin has been peeled off exposed the pink flesh underneath.
"S-Sorry..."
"Good. Lucian, please keep an eye on her next time."
"I will." Lucian confidently agreed. Fei pulled her trembling hands back; Aiko gave a warm smile to her to try and calm her down.
"Aside from Fei getting hurt, I'm happy to hear that went smoothly."
"AH! I almeowst forgot something!" Aiko yelled startling both of them. "I-I'll be right back!"
"Don't forget, they're in the top right cabinet."
"Thank you!"
She bolted into the kitchen leaving Fei and Lucian in utter confusion.
'What's she doing?'
Clangs and bangs could be heard coming from the kitchen as Aiko rummaged inside. Lucian tried to stand but was told to sit down by the lady at the counter. Fei covered her ears as the ruckus started to irritate them.
A thunderous bang could be heard, in suit a yowl came.
"AHA! Found them!" Aiko exclaimed after a few moments. She returned just as quickly as she left. In her hands she held 3 wooden boxes, 2 of which had bows on top. "Here, one for you and one for you! Go ahead and open them!"
"Um, Aiko, what is thi-" Lucian questioned as he brought the box up to his eye level.
"Don't question it! Just open it!"
"A-Alright."
Once he found the sliding compartment at the top, he slid it open. Peering inside, he saw a silver bracelet.
"U-Um, what is this...?" Fei was the first to speak, she held a similar looking bracelet, albeit smaller than Lucians in her palm.
"It's a good luck charm! Look I bought one for each of us!" Aiko pulled an identical one from her box. Although they believed her, Aiko's tail kept whipping back and forth which was telling them she's hiding something else.
"I-I s-see... T-Thank you." Fei thanked her with a small smile.
"Thank you."
Aiko puffed her chest out embracing the words of gratitude given to her. She quickly put hers on, giving a sign to them both to put theirs on.
Staring at each other for a moment, Lucian put his on his right wrist, whilst Fei put hers on her left.
"Nyaow, we'll be getting good luck for the next year... Hehehe." Aiko laughed, she rubbed her bracelet softly. "What's with the looks?" Both Lucian and Fei had a frown on their faces and their eyebrows furrowed.
"Did someone say that these'll give good luck?" Lucian was the first to respond. Although, he had heard that items can give someone luck, or increase their physical and magical abilities; they were incredibly rare. There was no way Aiko could have bought them, even if she found a place that sold them.
"N-Nyo..."
Aiko put her pointer finger up to her lips, shushing whatever follow up question they could ask.
"Nyaow nyaow, you two should get going. I know you're going to have a busy day."
Aiko wrapped her arms around them when they took a step outside of the tavern.
"Please be careful out there." Aiko whispered as she carefully squeezed them. "And return here whenever you get the chance." Her voice soothed the nervousness that Lucian and Fei felt.
"We will."
Lucian and Fei looked back at her with a smile on their faces. With a slight push from Aiko they began their journey to the adventurer's guild.
"Please, be careful." Aiko mumbled, she clutched both of her hands together in front of her heart. Her heart raced with worry, the silhouettes of Lucian and Fei shrunk as the distance greatened
"Don't worry about 'em, they'll be okay."
"I know... I can't help worrying."
"Oh, your accent came out when talking to 'em."
"W-W-Wait it did?!" Aiko exclaimed. Her entire twirled around, and her tail stood up. "W-Why didn't you say anything?!"
"I didn't feel like I needed to, those two... Wait what were talking about?" The middle aged lady said as she finally took her eyes off her book.
"GAH!"
"Aiko sure seemed excited today."
"Y-Yes, she did."
"Did you eat enough?" Lucian asked. By the time they left, Fei had only eaten a few bites of the food.
"I, I wasn't hungry." Fei responded, she clutched her staff closer to her body, meanwhile her ear slightly twitched.
"If you say so... Why do you think Aiko bought these for us?" Lucian changed the subject, he didn't believe Fei not being hungry; she ate almost as much as a normal person, but she barely put a dent in her food. 'Does she not like eggs? She normally eats what's given to her...'
"I-I don't know... She, she seemed to be hiding s-something..."
"I don't know either, it won't make us lucky, that's for sure." Lucian said as he shrugged. Although they had known Aiko for the past 6 years, they had a hard time reading what she was thinking. With a mix of her energy and cat-like nature, she was unpredictable. "Oh, what request do you think we might get today?"
"P-Probably a s-simple one... That, that p-pays well..." Fei mumbled that last part while looking at the cloudy crystal of her staff.
"Sorry, did you say something? I couldn't hear what you said." Lucian lowered his body while keeping his momentum.
"N-Nothing, I, I said nothing."
"Alright..."
'They really have to get better at lying.' Lucian internally remarked. People usually have obvious habits when lying; inability to make eye contact, scratching their cheek or their intonation when lying. Fei's uncut ear flicks or moves whenever she lies, it was hard at first to determine the truth or lie, but once he noticed the habit it became much easier to discern. "Hopefully we do get a good paying request."
Before long, they stood in front of their destination. Entering the adventurer's guild, it was in gutter silence. There weren't many adventurer's around, both Lucian and Fei felt release upon seeing the miniscule amount who weren't paying attention to the front.
At the front counter, Thran leaned on it, he rested his chin on the palm of his hand while doing paper work. His quill moved at a speed that left them impressed.
"Oh, welcome back you two, I thought you were going to quit." Thran welcomed them back after glancing up for a moment.
"Thank you, is this amount of people in here normal?" Lucian couldn't help but ask, the difference was night and day, his expectations were blown away.
"Hm? Oh, no. Many of the adventurers were sent out due to the rumored monster running around the kingdom. We need as many hands on deck, and the pay was decent enough to entice all of them." Thran explained, he stamped the paper he wrote on in the middle of his explanation. "And what brings you two here today?"
"We came here to get a request, do you know if any came in?"
"Yes, one did come in however; I wouldn't recommend accepting that one. The pay is miniscule to the task at hand." Thran said as he gestured towards the request board with his quill. "Trust me, many adventurers who saw it complained."
"I see..." Lucian muttered. Hearing the news, he felt an empty pit form in his stomach. "Are there any we can get that pays well?"
"No, there is not. The requests you can accept are rare to come by, and the normal ones are usually taken."
Fei's tail lowered after hearing Thran, just as Lucian lowered his head. His train of regretful thoughts were derailed by Thran.
"There's no need to feel bad about it. Let me tell you a secret, come closer." Thran said while motioning towards them with his pointer finger. "In two todays, there's an official hunting request, if you take that request today I'll put you two as candidates for it." He whispered into Lucian's ear.
"Wait... really?!"
"Shhh, keep your voice down!"
"R-Right, sorry. Are you serious about that?"
"Mhm~ All you have to do is take that request right over there." Thran once again gestured to the single white page stapled to the front of the board. "Don't worry about the time it takes, that secret I told you will make up for it. Oh, miss Fei did you hear?"
Fei nodded her head, her neutral expression masked the amount of fear she felt upon hearing the secret.
"Alright, we're all set. Oh, do you have any questions about the little secret?"
"Yes." Lucian nodded quickly, his excitement was clearly written on his actions. 'This is such great news!' He looked at Fei who felt the complete opposite. Her tail was aimed towards the ground and her ears were vibrating with ferocity. "What about you, Fei? Do you have any questions?"
"yes" Fei squeaked out.
"Sorry, what did she say?"
"I think that was a yes."
"Very well then, please follow me." Thran said, he stepped through a small door that separated the front counter and the main hall and led them to the nearest table.
"Before asking questions, are you sure you are up to the hunting request?" Thran questioned when they all sat down, there was an air mixed with nervousness and excitement around Fei and Lucian.
"Do you even want to do this...?" Lucian whispered to Fei, despite his pure joyousness, he would try to put Fei's feelings first.
"I... I-I-" Fei stammered, her eyes darted between Lucian and Thran. Her entire body urged her to avoid going on the request. "I, I do..." She managed to let out
"Are you sure...?"
It was evident that she felt fearful and hesitant over this matter, even Thran could see her true feelings about it. Her entire body shivered, completely unrelated to the warmth inside the guild.
"Y-Yes..."
"Okay..."
"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear what was said. What did she say?" Thran interjected, their entire conversation took place just between them, he couldn't hear a thing even though they were right across from him.
"We'll do the hunting request."
"Great, now, what were the questions you two have?"
"What type of creatures are we going to hunt? Goblins? slimes?!"
"They're similar to slimes, I don't know the exact creatures. But you will learn of them on the day." Thran replied as a mysterious smile formed on his face.
"Okay, what do we need to prepare for it?"
"Just get a pair of gloves for both of you, that is all you need."
"That's... It? Don't we need more preparation? What about medical supplies?" Lucian followed-up, he felt a strange feeling enter his stomach. "Are you messing with us?"
"No, no I am not. The creatures you'll be hunting at harmless from what I hear." Thran explained while he waved his hand, trying to dismiss Lucian's doubts. "You'll just need to capture them instead of fighting and slaying them."
"I see..." Lucian mumbled. He believed Thran's words but he felt like all wasn't being said. "That's not a hunting request then..." He continued with a disheartened voice.
"It falls under the requirements for a hunting request; that's a common misconception, capturing the creatures falls under the requirements for one."
"O-Oh... Those were my only questions." Lucian said, his mind went blank after listening to Thran's explanations. No matter what he said, Lucian didn't buy into it fully. Perhaps it was due to his excitement or disbelief, but the smile on Thran's face left a lingering feeing of doubt. "Um, Fei do you have any questions?"
"y-You m-m-mentioned official requests, requests, w-what's the d-difference?" Fei fumbled out quietly, only Lucian who sat next to her could hear. With a quizzical look, Thran turned his head towards Lucian.
"Ah, the difference between a request and an official one?" Thran confirmed after listening to Lucian's iteration. "The request you took was a normal one, the individuals who submit a form are the ones that pay you, and it doesn't contribute to your rank in the guild. However, official ones, the guild pays you and it contributes to your rank. You can tell if it's an official one if there's a sword and shield stamped on the request."
Upon hearing his explanation, both nodded their heads.
"Oh, before we're done here, have you two made your party yet? It's important if you're going to take on more requests." Thran asked before standing up. The expressions on their faces gave him his answer. "Sir Lucian, can you hand me yours and Miss Fei's ids? I'll show you how to form a party."
Hesitantly, Lucian listened to him. Once they were in his grasps, his fingers glowed. A few seconds later, a textbox appeared in their retinas.
"You have formed a party with Fei." Lucian read aloud. "Wait, how do we even-" Thran slid both their ids over and walked away in a hurry. A long line formed at the counter during their short time talking. "He really..." Lucian sighed while facepalming. "Anyways, at least we can do a request today." He continued with a smile on his face. "Are you ready?"
"Y-Yes." Fei responded after a slight delay. 'Is he really okay with me going along?' Her worries intensified after Thran's actions.
Reaching the board, Lucian grabbed the lone white slip atop of everything. He gave it a quick scan, and he felt anger enter his throat. 'What in the hell is this?!'
I need help clearing rats that made a nest in my home, any rank of adventurer will do. Rewards will be 1 copper per rat caught or killed. Supplies to catch them will be given upon arrival.
"What the f..." Lucian mumbled as the temptation to tear the request up multiplied.
"W-What does it say?" Fei asked after seeing the frown on Lucian's face. "O-Oh..."
"Sigh... At least we have a new request in a couple days. Anyways, let's show Thran then get this done."
Thus, they entered the long line of adventurer's. It moved at a snail's pace, but eventually their patience paid off as they stood at the counter. Repeating their first time, Thran took a quick look and sent them on their way.
Their walk was short, at most it took ten minutes.
"Wha? Who's there?" A lady answered the door after Lucian rapped on it a few times "Who're you two?"
"We accepted the request you've sent at the adventurer's guild." Lucian answered her question whilst flashing the request.
"Eh? You and that demi-human?"
"Yes."
"Hm, then come inside, I'll get you gloves and a box for those rats." The lady said, leaving the door open for them as she slinked away.
"C'mon, let's get this over with."
Lucian gave the usual nervous Fei a smile. Her breathing didn't calm, and her ear shivering stayed at its rapid pace. After a bit more pep talk, they entered the home.
"Here."
The lady handed 2 pairs of leather gloves and a slightly large wooden box to him. She left to a different room, leaving them to themselves.
"Hm? Do you hear something?" Lucian couldn't help but ask when he saw Fei's ear twitch.
"I-I think one is over there..." Fei stuttered, she pointed towards a cabinet. "I-I h-hear something moving there." Fei elaborated upon seeing Lucian's confused look.
"O-Oh... Right."
'I forgot about her hearing...' Lucian facepalmed mentally. 'Looks like this will be easy...' He breathed in, then swung the cabinet doors open. A rat inside let out a loud squeal as it was munching on a bag of rice through a hole in it. "Aha! Gotcha! Fei, open the box quickly!"
"O-Okay."
One by one, they caught every rat; thanks to Fei's hearing, they were able to pinpoint each rat's hiding spot.
"T-There's one, one more..." Fei mumbled. "It's, it's not moving, b-but I, I heard it..." She lowered her body, slowly she crept on the floor.
"It should be here..."
Lucian's short search ended after a loud bonk reverberated throughout the house.
"Fei! Are you okay?!" He exclaimed, he turned around to see Fei holding her head in her hands. "W-What happened?!" He rushed to her side.
"N-Nothing.." She grimaced, the pulsating pain she felt on her head was too great to tell. "I-I'm... Okay..." She assured Lucian who stared at her with worried and curious eyes.
"Let me see."
"..."
Moving her hands revealed a humongous red welt on her forehead.
"Did- Did you run into... A wall?" He questioned, his laughter could barely be held in.
"...Yes..."
"H-Ho..."
His laughter was cut short by a slight glare from Fei. Soon after, the last rat was caught.
"That was fast, here's your payment." The lady said whilst handing them 6 copper coins. She scribbled her name onto the request. "Go on your way, there's nothing else I need."
They left with both feeling a sense of disappointment about their reward. But it was better than getting nothing, both thought.
"Congratulations upon finishing another request. And thank you for doing it, those complaints were rather annoying." Thran congratulated them with an exhausted smile. Eyebags could be seen under his eyes. "Come tomorrow, there might be more."
'Was that his true goal? To make us clear the request so he won't get anymore complaints?' Lucian thought. "Thank you."
Nothing else was said as both parties departed from each other.
"That was disappointing..." Lucian mumbled. "Hopefully that one request Thran talked to us about pays us well."
"H-Hopefully..." Fei repeated Lucian's hopes. "U-Um, g-good job t-today."
"You too." Lucian replied with a smile replacing his disappointed frown.