Jean and Leah spent an idle few days after being welcomed at the Muski village of Tosnoy. As Ivar proudly boasted, the villagers were indeed hospitable. They were given meals and snacks free of charge, meads flowed in the evenings, and some more absurd clubbing ceremonies were performed.
But Leah knew better than to expect these days to last forever. They were welcomed precisely because they were guests. Should they stay here for any longer than what one might classify as a guest visit, they would not be so welcomed anymore.
Precisely for that reason, the reasonable girl wanted to find some work to do.
"Ivar, we can't possibly stay here forever leeching off your kindness", Leah announced to Ivar early morning as he was preparing to go out to work on his far. He grew what seemed to be wheat, and he has been kind enough to let them stay in his guest room for the past few days. He had a lovely family of five - a loving wife, three children who were bundles of joy, and the man himself.
They didn't have such a thing as a school in this village. Leah noticed upon Ivar's comment on their first night here that in this part of the world (or all over the world that Ivar knew for that matter), school was an absolute luxury reserved for the aristocrats. Technically, Leah Lenov and Jean Simmers might have qualified as aristocrats themselves if they had their family roots here, but such days were over for them. Uprooted, in Leah's mind the best they could do was try to fit in as much as possible.
"Ah, don't worry about it. You ladies are welcome to stay here for as long as you wish! The villagers have been having great fun thanks to you two - especially with that 'clubbing' ceremony Jean taught us"
"Hehe, I'm glad you guys like it", Jean, awake unusually early, responded cheerfully.
"But do you guys intend to travel again?", Ivar asked.
"That's the thing, Ivar. We should probably be on our way eventually, but to do that we'd need to be able to afford travel expenses. Although the villagers have been so incredibly kind to us, we will need to earn some money for our travels"
"I don't think anybody would mind if you stayed here longer", the big man shrugged.
"Thank you again. But although we have no plan when we will leave yet, I think it'd be good for us to do some work. Young people like us should spend our days more productively"
"Ha! As expected of Ms. Lenov. If you insist, I suggest you go to the Guild office at the village square. They might find you some day jobs"
"Thank you so much", Leah bowed and ushered Jean out of the house, leaving together.
"Aw, Leah. What was all that talk about 'work'?"
"You heard me right. First, we need travel expenses. Second, we can't be wasting our time every day doing nothing. Third, don't think that this 'Muski Hospitality' will last forever. Nothing in life is free, not in our world, and it won't be the case in this world either"
"Well, work sucks"
"Have you done any kind of work before?"
"No"
Leah winced.
Although her family has always been affluent back in her world, her father Richard Lenov was a man of discipline. As caring and loving as he was, he taught Leah from a young age the value of hard work. While she was given all the support she needed to concentrate on her studies during the semesters, he made it a point of getting Leah to work on part-time jobs during every school holiday. For anyone in Leah's household, 'wasting time' was an unforgivable sin.
"Well, we will see what kind of work we can find. Let's go"
With that, Leah led the way to the village square where the Guild office was, which wasn't hard to find.
The two girls stood in front of a big noticeboard that had various jobs posted on it. Most of them were benign jobs around farms and mines. There was no fantasy world like 'Go eliminate ten giant toads' jobs here. For this, the Guild felt more like a Job Center of their old world.
"I don't think we can do most of these jobs", Jean commented, taking a big bite of an 'apple' that Ivar's wife - Vera - packed for them.
'These people are too nice', Leah thought to herself.
"Oh? But how about this one, Leah?"
As Leah was diligently searching for something suitable, it was actually the goofy girl who found something first.
"What is it?"
Jean took the pinned paper off the board and showed it to Leah.
"Collect the herbs from the Western Wet Land"
Leah has been finding it odd that people of this world spoke English. Of course, she had no complaints about that, but there was definitely some sort of a connection between this world and the world they came from. Furthermore, the well-read girl didn't fail to notice that many names of the villagers sounded like they were of Russian origin.
"Western Wed Land", Leah thought aloud.
"Isn't that where we were before we met Ivar?", Jean took another bite of the apple.
"I think so. Let's go ask the lady at the counter"
So the two girls walked over to the counter and found the Guild lady dozing off with her jaws resting on her the palm of her propped-up right hand.
"Excuse me", Leah spoke softly, trying to wake her up as gently as possible.
The lady gave no answer.
"Wakey, wakey~", Jean cheekily leaned over and whispered into the lady's ears, and startled, she woke up immediately.
"Wha-, huh-, Oh, it's you two! Good morning!"
"Good morning~", Jean waved her hand as if she was standing miles away from her when in fact they were standing right in front of her with just the counter between them.
"How may I help you?"
"Good morning, Ma'am. We are interested in this job"
Leah placed the job advertisement paper on the counter and politely slid it over.
"Hmmm? You girls want to work? What for?"
"We'd like to make ourselves more useful around here", Leah spoke with a smile.
"Aw, that's very nice of you two. You don't have to worry about that! But still… hm-, let me see"
The Guild lady squinted her eyes to read the advert closely.
"Right. Ok, this is an easy job. Not much money in it but I suppose it's something you can do even without work experiences around here"
"Sounds great!", Leah was mildly excited about finally getting to do something, but at the same time, there was a certain element of acting on her part as she was eager to put on a show of enthusiasm and desire to be useful to the community. She didn't know how long they'd have to stay here for, but working and contributing should help them stay here for longer.
"Only one thing I gotta warn you against though"
"What is it, lady?", Jean leaned over the counter and asked, while offering her half-eaten apple to the Guild lady, which, surprisingly, she accepted and took a bite of.
"It's the Old Man's territory. If you see an old man with big white beard and crazy hair there, then I suggest you give up on the job and run straight back to the village"
"Oh? Interesting", Jean's curiosity was piqued.
"Yes. Once he gets hold of you… you will have to listen to his crazy talk for days on end"
"Ah, it's the same one that Ivar was talking about", something clicked in the curious girl's mind.
"Probably, yes", the lady nodded.
"No problem. If that happens, I think we will just sit down and have a chat for days"
Jean spoke casually as she received the remaining apple back from the lady and finished it off.
"I really recommend you don't. Just be careful out there, girls"
"Sure thing. Thank you for your advice, Ma'am"
With that, the curious and concerned girls left the Guild office and headed to the west.