Half a vlawnia. Half a vlawnia for eight goblins. Is this a joke?! I was preparing this hole for a whole day. After that I needed to come back, I got very little rest, and now you tell me that all we got was half a vlawnia? And it’s not like I could take everything. I needed to divide it into two parts, one for Mikori, and one for me.

“Hey, why are you sulking? We need to clean the shop.” Mikori said, and yawned. It seemed that she was tired too. Well, I couldn’t feel bad for her. It was her idea to go there, and dig this hole.

She was now wearing different clothes. A white apron, and blue frilly skirt, that was reaching to her knees. Now she just looked like a normal, cute girl.

“You see… We went to dig a big hole, and everything we got was…” I didn’t end my sentence, and she looked at me.

“You could always work for this evil woman. Be happy for what you have.” she said, and continued sweeping with a broom.

Evil woman? You are an evil woman too!

Ehhh. It’s not like this work is worse than the one I had before in the guild. Most of my duties are simple, and easy to do. But I need to help Mikori, with her stupid “kill all goblins” scheme.

It would be great if I didn’t have to go on “adventures” with this girl on every weekend.

“What are you thinking about? You should work, not think.” Mikori said, and I started sweeping the floor.

The place we needed to clean wasn’t that big, and it’s not like it was dirty or anything.

Yeah, this shop… Best sweets in Flark. I couldn’t see the old lady, but she was probably baking the food that she would put in here. It was morning now, so she needed to hurry to make it on time.

Her oven was in another room, so we were now alone with Mikori.

“Anyway Mikori, could you explain to me one thing?” I asked, and she looked at me one more time.

Her clothes really were cute, and she looked in them really good.

Ahh… A girl that cute. It’s a shame that she is a nutjob.

“What is it Ryan?”

“You see... Yesterday we went to kill some goblins. I understand that you got your revenge, but it seems that you still want to go there.”

“Of course I want to! I hated those goblins, and I wanted to beat them, it’s the truth. But I also want to become an adventurer. If I am to become one, then I need to kill more goblins.”

“Oh yeah, I can understand you, but if we could only work here like normal people, and after that we would buy an experience po…” as I was saying this, Mikori looked at me with anger.

“A true adventurer must taste the hardships of a good fight! He must sing with his companions at night by the fire, and he must kill monsters. I don’t want to be a poser!” she said, and continued cleaning.

Wait Mikori! Wait a moment! Those words truly sound beautiful, but we were just killing weak monster after luring them to a hole. We were the bad guys! Mikori, don’t be deceived!

“Anyway, you should see your smile Ryan when you were dealing with those green dwarfs! I knew from the beginning that you will be a good adventurer.”

“I think that you are mistaken about something Mikori.” I said, and she looked at me puzzled “Anyway, how long do we need to clean this place?”

“Dunno.”

Why did I even ask?!

Eh, sometimes it seems to me that Mikori doesn’t know anything useful.

“Don’t worry Ryan, sometimes when I end the work quickly, and there is no need for me to help, this lady lets me have the rest of the day for myself.”

Is this true?! Mikori, why didn’t you tell me this earlier?! You know useful things! Anyway, if I knew this before, then I would clean faster. Now I am motivated to work!

“Ryan, I didn’t know that you like cleaning so much! It looks almost like dancing!” Mikori said in amazement, when she saw my secret technique - “Clean everything before mother enters the room”.

Only a true neet can master a technique like this. It’s weird that it wasn’t shown in my skills.

As I was cleaning happily, thinking about what I will do with the free time that I will have, the old lady entered the room.

“Oh, it seems that the young boy is a real hard worker. It’s good to have someone like this, when you need to have the job done.” she said, and laughed “But don’t think even for a moment, that I will let you have any free time.”

She’s a demon! A demon!

“Anyway, you should help me carry the food to this place. After that I will give you an important mission.” the old lady smiled, as she was saying this.

Important mission? It sounds bad.

After that we went after her, to a special room where she was making her “best sweets in Flark”. At first, we passed the door, where Mikori once went to grab the shovels. When we did, we arrived at a small corridor. It had two windows to the right, and four doors. Three of them were to the left, and the last one was at the end of the corridor.

We just walked to the last door, and the old lady opened it. When she did, I could smell some really tasty things.

We were in a small room, with an oven and kitchen utensils everywhere. This place had many drawers in it, that probably contained things that are needed to bake. It reminded me of my grandmother’s kitchen.

“Okay, take those buns, and put them behind the glass. Mikori will take the bread, and I will take the cakes. It’s all that I baked today.” she said, and handed me the buns. I loved them so much. They were my children. “If you touch even one of them, I will kill you.”

A demon! She’s a demon!

After she told us that, we quickly did what she asked us to. The work wasn’t that hard, and it didn’t take us that much time.

Twenty minutes passed, and we were standing in the shop, looking at the food that was now arranged behind the glass.

“It’s better when we have three people, isn’t it?” Mikori asked, as if she wanted to confirm, that I was being useful.

“Yeah, yeah Mikori.” the old lady only responded, and looked at me “Anyway, as I said, I have a special mission for you both.”

A special mission? Is it about carrying heavy things? Or is it about working like a slave? I know very well, how special missions work in this world old lady. Hit me! Hit me with it!

“I want you to go to some shops.” she said, and handed me ten vlawnias.

What?

“What kind of shops?” Mikori asked, and the lady responded while still looking at me.

“You know… I need some flour, and sugar…” why are you looking at me? Why are you looking at me?

“Don’t worry. You can leave it to us.”

Stop Mikori! Don’t you see that it’s a trap?!

“I knew that I can count on you both… Because you agree, don’t you Ryan?” she said, as she looked at me. I just nodded, and looked another way. Her eyes were too scary. Too scary for a mortal like me.

“Mikori, go outside, and wait for a moment. I will just give Ryan a list of things that you need to buy, okay?”

“Of course ma’am!” Mikori replied, and left me alone in this weird shop.

What is happening? Am I going to be killed? This is really weird! Are we going to carry very heavy things?! Are we?!

“Listen to me Ryan.” old lady said, as she handed me a small list “I don’t send you there, to do any weird things do you understand? You are her first friend, so you should spend some time with her in a normal way. Not fighting some goblins.”

Wait! What are you talking about? Are you an angel?

“But try doing something weird, and I will kill you, do you understand?”

Are you a demon?!

“She’s a good girl, and she works hard everyday. When I asked her about you, she told me how you helped her fight those goblins.” Wait! We didn’t fight any goblins! It wasn’t a fight at all! “It’s good that now she has a friend, don’t you think? I’m glad that someone finally understands how kind she is.” as she was saying this, she smiled.

“I gave you more money than you need, so you can go and eat something together, or do anything you want.” she said, but after that she looked at me with very scary eyes “Of course, I said do anything you want, but you know that I didn’t mean it literally, do you?”

A demon! A demon!

“Now, now! Don’t look at me like that! Go and have some fun!” she said, and laughed “But return too late, and you are dead, do you understand?”

“Y-Yeah!” was the only response I could give her.