Rayleigh was a timid boy. He was fourteen years old. He helped with the inn. I noticed him scurrying around in the background, but I never thought that he was the son of the inn’s owner. His appearance was average, I meant, if it were a movie, he would be a background character with no presences whatsoever. His hair was black, just like his mother. Rita had burgundy hair, perhaps from their father. Well, I wasn’t so sure because the father didn’t have hair at all.

Anyway, the timid boy, Rayleigh, was standing in front of me after being pulled by Rita forcefully. He didn’t dare see me in the eyes, a typical habit of a timid person.

“Come on, you only have to say that you want to learn from her!” Rita knocked his head, quite upset. It had been fifteen minutes and he hadn’t said anything at all. I sighed when I saw this.

“Rayleigh, is it? Sorry, I don’t want to force you to do this. I just don’t want you learn from me just because your sister and your parents force you. I just want to know whether you are serious about it or not. If you are not serious, then let’s forget it. But if you seriously want to learn, you can nod.” I said after waiting for fifteen minutes.

Rayleigh slowly nodded. It seemed he was quite serious about it. “However, before we start, I want to tell you that I can only teach you Ancient Language and Ancient Runes, also, a bit of Magic Theory. I can’t teach you about History and Geography, so you have to learn them yourself, understand?”

He nodded again. Alright, it seemed that I had to teach him seriously now, huh?

“Do you know anything about Ancient Language and Ancient Runes?” I asked him. He shook his head. It seemed we really needed to start from the very beginning. Well, Ancient Language and Ancient Runes, in this age, were only learned by scholar and Mages because they were only useful for casting Magic. And even after years of learning, they only understood the most basic of the Ancient Language and Ancient Runes. If it were Japanese, the scholars and the Mages only learned about the hiragana and katakana, without touching the Kanji at all. So, it was normal for normal people like Rayleigh to know nothing about Ancient Language and Ancient Runes.

“Alright, let’s start with the very basic then…” I started teaching him after he sat down in front of me. He didn’t utter a sound, but he listened to me attentively. Seeing me teaching Rayleigh earnestly, Rita rubbed his head and went to the kitchen, and returned with some snacks for us.

It seemed teaching him was the right choice… cough, it was not because the snack, alright?

…

Afternoon.

The Adventure Guild was buzzling with countless people did their activities there. There were some Adventurers returned after doing their time-consumed quest. There were Adventurers who chose to have a rest while being ready in the guild. There were also some Players looking for quests. Also, there were also the quest givers lining up there.

The Guild staff must be overwhelmed… not. If I were them, I would be overwhelmed for sure, but it seemed they were quite used to this. I waited in the line for the quest givers and after a short ten minutes, it was my turn.

“Good morning. You are Miss Fey, right? Your quest has been taken by a party of Players. They might return late, so you might check again tomorrow.” The receptionist told me with concise words. Ah, there was almost nothing that I could say after hearing that. Oh, no, I almost forgot the thing that I wanted to ask yesterday.

“Er, if I have Healing Potion, can I sell them in the Adventure Guild?” I asked the receptionist. She smiled and nodded.

“You can’t sell by yourself. If you have a product you want to sell in the Adventure Guild, you can put them in our shop. The price will be decided by our experts, however. For further information, you can go to our shop. Our staff there will explain further.” The receptionist showed me the shop. It was still in the same room as the main room of the Adventure Guild. Well, considering the size of the shop, they really didn't need to use another building as the corner of the room was enough. It was a shop that had an old man guarding it. He looked strong, but he always slept. As for the one who really worked, it was a young girl.

“Alright, thank you.” I said and went to the shop.

“Excuse me.” I called out to the girl.

“Ah, welcome! What do you want to buy?” She asked enthusiastically. I felt bad because I wouldn’t buy anything. I looked around and there were… junks everywhere I looked. Cough, not junks, but rather, items Adventurers put here to sell. Those were probably the unsold items and after a while, they looked like junks for other people.

“I want to ask about selling potions in this shop. Is that possible?” I asked.

“Potions? Of course, you can! Can I see the potions first?” She was excited.

“…I don’t have any right now. Perhaps I will have tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Right now, I just want to ask some questions first, if that’s alright.” I said.

“Yes, it’s alright.” It seemed this girl was an energetic type. She replied always with her overflowing energy.

I asked several things to her and she replied all of them easily. The most important rule perhaps about the price. Like the receptionist said, the price would be determined by their expert, which was the sleeping old man. The Adventure Guild would take thirty percent of the profit, while the rest would be for me. Although thirty percent was a little too much, but I didn’t really mind it too much. I wouldn’t have time to sell them all, so it should be alright.

Time passed as I chatted with the shop girl named Erna. It was late afternoon and by now, it was not as crowded as the afternoon. But slightly later, when it was almost evening, it would be even more crowded again, so I thought it was the time for me to ask the miss receptionist about my quest again. Fortunately, this time, that party of Players had returned and brought the ingredients I needed.

Alright, with these ingredients, I could create a batch of potions numbered around twenty. I didn’t know how much profits I would get, but I really hoped I could get a lot of profits for my future request.

I returned to the inn, having an early dinner and went to my bed. I wanted to concoct the potions immediately, but it was busy hours so I couldn’t use the kitchen. That was why I returned to my room and planned to have a quick nap. I was woken up by a terrible nightmare though. I sighed and thought that I really should solve this problem as soon as possible.

When I was thinking that, the door was opened wide and the silly Goddess entered the room, alone. “Hey, Fey, look at what I have!”

She opened her rucksack and took out various herbs… well, most of them were herbs, but there were also useless vegetations like grass and such. “I keep my promise, right? You owe me one now!” She laughed.

I gritted my teeth as I thought about it. Owing another person was bad already, not to mention if that other person was this silly Goddess. However, she really brought a lot of ingredients, even more than the herbs I got from the request I put on the Adventure Guild. With these, I could create five batches of potions. So, a hundred bottles? Yes, it should be around that number.

“…I owe you one.” I said.

“Then come with me to an adventure!” The silly Goddess said abruptly.

“Hm? No way.” There was no way I would go to an adventure.

“Ah, really? Well, if that’s the case, I’ll take all the ingredients here. Oh, I’ll take yours too.” She really grabbed the ingredients I had and put them into her rucksack.

“Wait, wait, wait! Alright, I promise to go to an adventure with you, but not now, alright? Not tomorrow either! At least… at least until my life becomes stable, alright?” I conceded as soon as possible. If she really took those ingredients away, I would be kicked out of this city immediately. I wouldn’t want that happened to me, so I conceded immediately.

“Yes! It’s a promise! Don’t forget about it, alright?” She said excitedly.

I sighed and took out the ingredients from her rucksack again. I did it carefully as not to harm the herbs. If they were harmed, the efficacy would be reduced by quite a lot after all. And speaking of it, the herbs both the Goddess gathered and the Adventurers gathered were really bad in quality. Well, it was not that I couldn’t use them, but the efficacy would be reduced a lot if I diluted them, so I could only make twenty bottles for each batch. Also, the taste would be so strong and it didn’t taste delicious.

“Oh, by the way, where is Slimerin?” The silly Goddess asked abruptly. As expected, she noticed that Slimerin was gone.

“I ask her to gather ingredients for me. Maybe she won’t be home in the next few days?” I replied calmly.

“Hee, is that so? Well, it was a shame that I couldn’t hug her. Oh well, there’s still you.” The silly Goddess said and she came closer to me and pinch my cheeks.

“…” I was truly speechless. Fight back? I didn’t have enough strength to fight back physically. So, I could only let her pinch my cheeks until she was satisfied.

“Right, Fey, we, I meant, me and my brother will go to other city tomorrow. There’s a quest that need us to go there after all. Also, I think most of the Players will go to that place too. Will you be alright? I mean living in this city by yourself? Why don’t you join us?” The silly Goddess spoke while her hands didn’t stop playing with my cheeks. Was it really fun pinching my cheeks? It wasn’t fun for me, at least.

“No, thank you. I’m fine. Also, don’t treat me like little kid.” I replied.

“But you are little kid, aren’t you?” When she said that line, she looked at my chest. Annoying. Also, she definitely smirked when saying that.

“…well, whatever. Alright, I’m going to make some potions, so can you stop doing this?” I said to the silly Goddess.

“Hm? You can’t make potions if I play with your cheeks?”

…actually, I could. I only needed my hands, but still, I wouldn’t admit it. If she knew, she wouldn’t let me go after all.

“Alright, let’s make potions! Don’t worry, I won’t disturb you!” The silly Goddess said when I opened my mouth to answer her. Right, she could read my mind, huh?

Ah, well, whatever. I didn’t want to waste my time debating with the silly Goddess after all, so I went down, looked for Rita and asked whether I could use the kitchen now or not. When she saw me, Rita was surprised and smiled meaningfully. I understood her, she must have a misunderstanding because the silly Goddess was still playing with my cheeks. I didn’t bother explaining it to her though.

“Yes, you can. Ah, if you have done, can you clean up a little too? Thank you.” Rita said and continued with her works.

That night, I created the potions while the silly Goddess was beside me. She kept asking about this and that, and since it was a low-level potion, I didn’t mind sharing it with her. Besides, she wouldn’t be able to make it. Not with her non-existent skill in cooking. Making potions and cooking was similar after all. No, making potions could be considered as a higher level than cooking. So, people that couldn’t cook like her wouldn’t be able to make potions.