“How is business today?” A deep voice bellowed as someone walked down the stairs from the second level of the building. A middle aged man in his early forties appeared soon after. Although his dark brown hair that was swept back was slightly peppered, his huge, defined muscles and the sharp glint in his brown eyes showed that he was still a man in his prime.

“Guild Master,” Fiore greeted emotionlessly. Even though she usually held their Guild Master, Reuben Wingsley, with respect, she was still annoyed with his inconsiderate remark.

The man who wore a well fitted, black long sleeved coat with silver trimmings and dark blue pants approached the counter slowly. He could tell that the girl at the counter was still cross with him. He had said the comment about her not having a boyfriend the previous day without thinking too much as he had not known that she was just right outside the door at that time.

“I’m really sorry about what I said the other day you know,” he apologised. He had apologised yesterday as well, after she had kicked down the door and held him up by his collar. She was not nicknamed the ‘Iron-Fist Fiore’ for nothing, so knocking down an heavy oak door and holding a two metre tall adult man up was still something within her ability. He wondered if she knew the reason why she could not find a boyfriend…

However, she had ultimately agreed to help out her colleague after she had calmed down. She was still a kind child after all.

“Stop. I don’t want to hear about it anymore,” Fiore replied sullenly.

“Okay, okay…” Reuben said as he held his hands up in the air.

Fiore scowled, but she soon remembered the news she wanted to report.

“Guild Master, remember the Adventurer who picked up the Giant Spider thread quest by himself?”

Reuben nodded. “So how is that lad doing? Did he give up?”

“Nope. He submitted the thread in today.”

“He really managed to complete alone?” Reuben asked in surprise. It seems like this lad had quite the potential.

“Yeah! He’s amazing isn't he,” Fiore replied as she grinned.

“Pshh. I can do that by myself as well.”

Fiore glared at him. “It's not fair to compare him to you.” The Guild Master was a rank A Adventurer before he retired and took up the position of Guild Master. Rank A Adventurers had abilities much higher than B+ Adventurers, and they were usually given that rank after they are recognised for accomplishing something big. From what she had heard, their Guild Master was part of a small party that subjugated a group of six metre tall stone golems that were wreaking havoc near a mine.

“Ah, but that's not all that I want to say,” Fiore shook her head.

Bending down, she took out a basket that contained Goblin ear tips from under the counter.

“This was what that Adventurer passed to me as well. He said that he killed them while on the way back from the quest.”

“All of these? There must be around 50 here!” Reuben blurted out.

“That’s about right. Remember what I said a few weeks back that the monster activity in the forest has been getting lesser?”

Reuben nodded. “I remember. Usually for this season, monster activity is quite rampant. However, there are very few Forest Wolves and Goblin sightings this year.”

“Mmm. But just yesterday, this Adventurer met with a group of 50 Goblins. Don't you think that it's strange?”

Reuben rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You are right. I will send some scouts to track down where the Goblins are coming from. If they are moving around in large numbers, it should be easy to follow them.”

Although Goblins were a threat, it was difficult to hunt all of them down as they were lithe and their villages were all well hidden. In addition, they usually travelled in small groups of three to six. Thus, for an individual to meet 50 all in one day, it was extremely strange. It was definitely something that they needed to investigate.

“What do you think could be happening?” Fiore asked. The sudden disappearance of monsters, and then the sudden reappearance of a huge number of Goblins.

“It is difficult to answer that now. But looking at things, there could have been a birth of a Goblin General.”

Fiore dropped her jaws. Goblin General was a rank A monster and was one of the advanced evolutions of the Goblin species. Apart from having physical abilities much higher than other Goblins, they also had the authority to command lower ranked Goblins. They were also rumoured to be grow up to 3 metres tall and had almost black skin. Although very few Goblin Generals have existed in history, almost all of it had ended in an intense war between Goblins and humans.

Looking at Fiore’s shocked expression, Reuben tried to give an assuring smile, “That is only the worse case scenario though. We won’t know what is really happening until we investigate.”

Although she was unable to shake off the bad feeling in her heart, Fiore nodded slowly. “I will contact some Adventurers to investigate then.”

“By the way, who is the Adventurer that killed of all these Goblins?”

Fiore opened the leather bound book and flipped to the page where the completed quest was at.

Looking for the part which indicated the name of the Adventurer who completed the quest, she said, “Andric Kennings, a Swordsman. Currently twenty three years old, born in the Esterpine Kingdom.”

“I see. Thanks.”

A Swordsman who is able to complete a quest meant for four and kill off a group of 50 Goblins all by himself...

He should keep an eye out for this young lad as he could be useful in the future.

*****

It had been four days since Elise fell sick. On the first day, after she had reached back to the inn, her fever had worsened so she was put to bed immediately, only waking up when the doctor arrived. The doctor’s diagnosis was that she had caught a cold, which she could expect to make full recovery within five days time by taking her medicine on time and having sufficient rest. Hearing that, she had reluctantly stayed in bed obediently for the past four days.

Today was the fifth day she had reached the town of Wivendale, and unfortunately, she had not stepped out of the inn since the first day. Although she was vexed, she could only blame her own body.

Elise sighed as she lied in bed and stared at the whitewashed ceiling. The doctor had came by that morning to check on her again. Thankfully her fever had gone down, but the doctor had said that she should rest more as her body was weak, so she was advised to stay in bed for one more day.

But she really can’t sleep anymore… And if she was to continue staring at the ceiling for the whole day, she might just rot away…

Knock knock. A soft sound came from the door. “Miss Elise, are you awake?”

“Mari? I’m awake. Come in.”

The door opened and a young girl with light brown hair and freckles came in carrying a tray with a covered bowl. Mari was the child of the innkeeper and she had been taking care of Elise for the past four days.

“Sorry for the trouble of bringing the food up. You could have just called me down to eat,” Elise said as she sat up.

“This is not a trouble at all. Plus, I heard from Mr Andric that Miss Elise is sick,” the young girl of around ten said shyly as she put the tray down on the dressing table.

“I’m not sick anymore. Don’t listen to Andric. He is just exaggerating things.”

“That is because Mr Andric is worried about you...” The young girl replied softly with red cheeks.

When she had first seen the both of them enter the inn together, she thought that they were actors from the theatre. The man was handsome while the woman was beautiful; they looked perfect together. However, when they asked for two rooms, she realised that they were not a couple and thought that it was a waste.

However, when they walked in again that afternoon with Andric carrying her princess-style, she felt that there was still hope. Not only that, during the last three days, she had seen Mr Andric being concerned about her. However, Miss Elise did not seem to reciprocate, so she is determined to help him out. She is definitely on the side of Mr Andric!

Not knowing that a silent flame had lighted up inside the heart of the young girl, Elise nonchalantly opened the cover of the bowl and was delighted to find that it was rice porridge with pork and soft boiled egg.

“Please give my compliments to the chef!” Elise exclaimed as she dug heartily into the porridge. Although it was very different from she was used to in the castle, the food was still delicious. “And tell him to put eggs in all my of food please!” She just can’t get enough of the soft fluffy taste of soft boiled eggs!

“Eh? I’ll let Papa know. But I hear from Mama it’s not good to eat too much eggs…” The girl cautioned.

“By the way, is Andric still around?” Elise cut in before the young girl went on further. He was the one who brought the doctor, however, she had not seen him after that.

Mari shook her head. “Mr Andric went out after the doctor had left.”

“I see,” Elise replied simply.

Andric had been going out everyday since she fell sick, and would only return at night. When she asked him where he went, he was quite vague about it. Although she was curious, she did not ask more as she respected his privacy.

“Mari! Can you come down and help out for a moment?” A voice called from below the stairs. Elise recognised it as the voice of her father, the innkeeper.

“Coming, Papa~” Mari raised her voice to reply.

“Go ahead.” Elise smiled as she met the apologetic eyes of the young girl.

“I’ll come up and check on you later,” Mari promised before she ran out of the room, her feet pitter pattering across the wooden floor.

“So cute,” Elise murmured with an affectionate smile. “When I was around her age, I was already following soldiers to exterminate monsters, wasn’t I?” she muttered to herself as she scooped the porridge into her mouth.

As her mother passed away soon after delivering her, she was brought up by nannies and governesses who were strict and cold. Even though her lifestyle was luxurious, she did not have many happy childhood memories because of the stiff environment.

On the other hand, being born as a commoner, Mari needed to work and help out with her family’s business since young. However, she was able to live freely with her warm and kind parents.

Was she envious? Perhaps.

But does she hate her life? Not really

This was the kind of situation that she was born into, and she had long accepted her duty. There was no need for her to waver anymore.

Ah. That’s the last of her porridge. While she was deep in her thoughts, she had finished her porridge. She looked at the bowl regretfully. The food was delicious. She should have savoured it more.

Picking up the tray, she decided to bring the bowl down. It was not like she was crippled, the least she could do was to return it on her own.

The moment she opened the door, the sounds of people talking and laughing coming from the dining area on the first floor floated into her ears.

The inn had gotten busier since two days ago. When they first arrived, only two other rooms apart from theirs were taken up. However, the twelve room inn was now almost fully occupied. Mari had explained that they were mostly Adventurers, and heard that it was because there was a special quest happening.

When she asked Mari what a ‘special quest’ was, the young girl shook her head and said that she was not very sure either as it was only something she had overheard from the guests.

As she walked down the corridor, she met Mari, who was bringing someone up the stairs.

“Miss Elise! You should have left the bowl in the room. I was planning to collect it later,” Mari’s face paled when she saw Elise walking about.

“Haha. I’m fine,” Elise chuckled. “You are bringing a guest to the room right? Don’t keep the guest waiting,” she said with a cheeky smile.

Mari shuffled. But Mr Andric had told her that Miss Elise needed to rest, so she would have let him down if he knew that Elise went out of her room to return the bowl. At this moment, the guest behind her who had been partially hidden behind a pillar stepped out.

Elise caught her breathe as a tall figure came into view.

From the head of the perfectly oval face were long flowing light blue hair that shone when it was caught in the sunlight. Her features were sharp, with thin lips and slender eyebrows. As the person’s light blue eyes met hers, Elise felt as if she was looking into a tranquil lake.

“Nice to meet you, are you an Adventurer as well?” A deep but melodious voice greeted warmly.

“Eh?” A deep voice? Elise was jolted out of her daze.

Elise quickly swept her eyes down the person’s clothes. Although he was wearing loose fitting black and blue coloured robes, she could tell from the broad shoulders and flat chest that the beautiful person in front of her was really a man. What a big mistake she had almost made…

“Miss Elise?’ Mari prompted softly with red cheeks when she saw that Elise was staring at the guest behind her in silence. She could understand the reason why though. She was also shocked when she saw such a fairy-like person.

Elise cleared her throat and smiled awkwardly at the beautiful man (?). “Nice to meet you as well. My name is Elise. Uh, but I’m not an Adventurer…”

“I see,” the beautiful man replied amiably. “My name is Seymour, but you can just call me Sey for short. Since we are going to be neighbours, we should be seeing each other around quite often.”

Elise chuckled. “Seymour is a nice name, but Sey is definitely easier to call.”

“See you around then. You still need to head to your room right? And I need to return the bowl as well,” she said while looking meaningfully at Mari.

“Y-Yes! Mr Seymour this way please!” Mari stammered as she gestured him towards a room to the far left, which was the opposite of Elise’s room. She had almost forgotten what her job was!

“You can just call me Sey as well,” the beautiful man laughed as he followed the young girl.

“N-No, that would be too rude…”

The corners of Elise’s mouth twitched as she watched the two of them walk away. Ah, to think that she would see a man that was more beautiful than a woman… This had definitely dealt a blow to her confidence.