No More Pain For This Villain.



"Oh, good morning, boy. I didn't expect to see you first thing in the morning." Old man Clay said as soon as he entered the guild through the door, It's his shift now.

"Good morning. I am here to take a look at some quests that I can accept, but I think I am late." I returned the greetings.

I am right now at the Demacia guild. The guild is open for like 24 hours a day, and their work never stops. Even if there are no staff members in here, we can still accept the requests since it's just reading them and getting the job done, and then we can come back when they are available here to give the rewards.

I am standing in front of the bulletin board that is supposed to have the list of quests suitable for a D-rank adventurer like myself, but every request I am interested in is already stamped with a guild seal indicating that it was completed.

"Oh!? no,no you are not late but too early, son. I have to replace those old posters with new ones. Just give me a second." The old man, Clay, brushed his hand in the air. He was telling me to follow him, and so I did.

Old man Clay walked to his counter and pulled out at least a five-inch fat stack of papers, probably the new request posters he was talking about.

"Umm..... Here," he carefully handed me

somewhere like ten posters from the stack saying, "These are some that you can handle; there are more, but I'll have to sort them before sticking them on their respective bulletin boards; you can wait there if you want to."

He pointed towards the L-shaped couch to the left of the entrance; it was the waiting area, so I walked there.

Now that I think about it, last time I couldn't get a good look at the structure of the building, but now that I look carefully, this building is really big.

Although it is located opposite the entrance, the circular reception desk is still in the middle of the hallway. Behind the counter for the receptionist is a cashier. Although there isn't anyone at the counter right now, I'm certain that their shift begins a little bit later.

Then there is a diner in the right section with a healer's office adjacent to it, and the waiting area and bulletin boards are in the left section of the building.

 The guild master's office is located upstairs and has cabinets for some of the staff members who handle the necessary paperwork. There is a staircase leading to the second story.

I immediately plopped down on the couch and looked through the posters that Clay had given me.

"Hmm!?" There is a request that says that they want a vial full of Serpuler with a reward of two silver coins, followed by massive requests like collecting a hundred cobwebs of Arictodit for a reward of one gold coin.

Sigh

These requests are paying decently but are too time-consuming, and I am looking for something that is quick and will include some killing.

Last night I thought that I should practise my skills on live targets more and test the lightning on some mana beasts to earn some blood points. Blaze says that it's too early to try earning blood points by killing humans and that I should take it seriously.

Creak.

"Hey Gramps!! Good morning." A cheerful and slightly familiar voice entered the guild through the door, but I didn't lift my gaze and focused on the papers in my hand.

"You're here again, huh? Give me a second, and I'll stick it on the bulletin boards." The old man, Clay, said he seemed familiar with this woman.

"Ah, give half of them to me; I'll help." The lady was eager to help, and now that I've listened more carefully, I think I know who this person might be.

I lifted my gaze, and all my doubts were cleared in one go. A girl with a hair bun tied neatly, wearing lightly padded leather Armor was standing before me, unlike before she now has a Bow hanging on her back but I don't see any arrows with it.

"Miss Ana," I called for the green-haired woman. She turned in my direction, and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Ren!! We meet again." She walked towards me with posters in her hands, behind her old man. Clay was still sticking the posters on the large bulletin boards.

"It's a pleasant surprise to see you here in the morning; we couldn't meet yesterday because of my friends." Ana came to me and asked me about my reason for coming to the guild today. I vaguely told her that I wanted to hone my skills, and these quests are not helping at all.

"Hey!! then why don't you come with me then? I am going to the restricted part of Balcker Forest, and some extra help is always welcomed." Ana suggested,

"Yeah,why not,if I can be of any help?"I said, Accompanying her is no problem if it's going to benefit me, and there is also an abundance of mana beasts in the restricted part of Balcker Forest.

"Just wait a second, then; I'll help Gramps, and then we can leave." Ana hurriedly turned around; it's like she wants to leave immediately but also doesn't want to leave the work to the old man alone.

I got from my place and followed behind her and tapped on her shoulder.

"?" She looked at me with a question mark hanging above her head.

"I'll also help; it'll make it quick for your Gramps too." I took about half of the posters from her hand and walked towards the bulletin boards. Anabelle understood the gesture as she smiled a little and nodded in affirmation.

"So both of you know each other, huh? I thought you were new in this town, Missy, but it looks like you certainly have friends here." Old man Clay said, without looking in our direction,

"Oh, we met just recently; you remember those Thargtusk corpses I brought yesterday for sale, right? One of them was killed by this young man here." Anabelle said she's calling me young, but she's also quite young herself.

"Oh!! That's interesting. Then why didn't you come? I could have added that to your guild ID, and it would've been helpful for you to rise in rank." Clay said he was a little disappointed that I didn't show up yesterday.

"Next time then,I was just repaying for the big favour she has done for me." I said,it feels wrong to get benefitted from something that you do for others and more so if it's about repaying for a favour and here she literally saved my ass from dying in that forest.

 ....

 ....

After a while, all three of us were done sticking up the posters. I also found a quest that suited my taste; it's about bringing back three pairs of antlers of Reincervid, a deer like the Mana beast, for a reward of four silver coins for each pair.

"Let's go. Now we are good to go. Bye, Gramps." Anabelle waved her hand while looking back.

"Be careful out there, kids," Old Man Clay said; he sure is quite a worryrat.

We departed the guild and headed out of the town. It's just about seven in the morning, and the town is starting to come alive after a good night sleep 

"Hey, Ren." Anabelle called to me; she was walking right beside me.

"What?" I asked, looking down past my right shoulder, since she's like head shorter than me.

"Yesterday, that lady with you—was she your elder sister?" Anabelle asked,

"Marylin? No, she's not my sister; she's my parents close friend. I've known her since I was a child. What about her, though?" I am not surprised that she guessed Marylin's age wrong; that woman looks fifteen years younger than her actual age.

"Nothing; it's just that she bought the Thargtusk corpse that you killed for like double the actual price from the guild right at the moment I sold it." Anabelle said,

"Huh?" I made a dumb sound, "wha-?"

"Hey! "We are here." Anabelle brought my attention to the large wall in front of me, meaning that our small walk ended here. Time goes by quickly when you are with someone. I'll ask Marylin later about the Thargtusk corpse in person.

After checking out, we got out of the city gate and entered the Balcker Forest. Anabelle said that she'd lead us to the restricted part, and I followed behind. Since she's a mercenary by profession, she's actually good with direction and stuff.

"There!! Look There!!" Anabelle jumped up and down with her index finger pointed in the south; she looks like an excited grown-up child, it's cute though.

"Whoa!" The restricted part of Balcker Forest is completely the same as I imagined it to be and is worthy of being restricted.

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