Starting with the goblin extermination

Riverwood, 3563 AD.

Logan walked along, flipping through the Adventurer's Handbook, searching for any information about the "Sunset Rose".

A symbol of beauty, sex, and the goddess of love and desire. This plant, imbued with multiple romantic connotations, grows in the Ash Forest, most commonly found on the shores of Mirror Lake, the great lake within the forest.

However, Adele didn't mention any details about it, such as the companion monster of the [Sunset Rose]—

Giant frog.

They are quiet and have an adorable appearance. If undisturbed, these giant frogs like to lie quietly basking in the sun by the lake. But when prey passes by, their enormous size, as tall as two people, and their sticky, barbed tongues make them quite dangerous. Of course, given their brains, which are even dumber than those of domestic animals, dealing with them isn't an extremely difficult task.

The problem is, if you have to dodge a thorny tongue that could swallow you whole, armor and all, while also keeping the delicate flowers nearby intact, that's going to be difficult.

If the flower is accidentally trampled by a giant frog or gets covered in slime, it becomes useless.

You can't exactly give a woman a dry, rotten piece of junk that smells sour, can you?

The high difficulty in obtaining it and its low medicinal value result in a low market price for the [Sunset Rose].

Experienced adventurers would never stoop to getting covered in foul-smelling slime just to please their clients.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

"Let nature take its course; if it's too troublesome, then forget it."

Logan closed the book, banishing Adele's voluptuous and alluring body from his mind, and stepped through the doors of the Adventurers' Guild.

......

Today is the day Logan and Thorin have agreed to meet.

Since their last drinking session, Thorin has given Baron and Papa, the two new recruits, two days to rest and rehearse their first mission.

During this time, Logan certainly wasn't idle. He took on two separate missions, slew a few goblins to improve his combat skills, and also went to the town's public library to brush up on his knowledge of the nearby monsters and the White Eagle Kingdom.

Being complacent and content with mediocrity is not Logan's style.

Although it was still early morning, the Adventurers' Guild was already like a bustling market.

Logan walked through the bustling hall and spotted the old dwarf Thorin at a glance. He was leaning against a pillar, holding a greasy meat pie in his hand.

His nephew, Baron, stood to the side with dark circles under his eyes, looking like he'd been through a lot with his blacksmith father.

"Good morning, Logan." Thorin swallowed the meat in his mouth and tapped Logan's leather armor with his thick hand. "Looks brand new! That Darak guy didn't rip you off too badly, did he?"

"Not bad, the price is reasonable." Logan patted his sturdy leather armor. "What good jobs do we have today?"

"Yes, it's a pretty well-paid job." Thorin grinned, about to elaborate, but then his brow furrowed. "Damn it, why isn't that wild girl Papa here yet? We agreed to meet at this time."

Logan looked around but didn't see Papa's agile figure, nor did he see Elsa, the cloaked wanderer.

Logan hasn't seen her since the day he handed out the money.

No sooner had the words left her mouth than a tall figure burst through the crowd.

"Excuse me! Please let me through! Sorry I'm late!"

Papa, carrying a large bow as tall as a person on his back and holding half a piece of browned bread in his hand, squeezed his way to the front of the crowd.

Her long brown hair was a little messy, and her tanned skin had a healthy blush, making her look like a lively little deer.

"Did you oversleep?" Thorin rolled his eyes.

"No! There's something wrong with the oven. Oh well, as long as everyone's here, it's fine!"

Papa skillfully ignored Thorin's eye roll and waved to Logan and Baron with a grin.

Thorin shook his head helplessly.

"Alright, now that everyone's here, let's get down to business."

The old dwarf took a piece of parchment with a black seal from his pocket and slapped it on the table in front of him.

......

Giant Frog Extermination

Quest Level: Iron

Monster: Giant Frog (Challenge Level: 1/4).

Quest Location: Ash Forest - Outer Edge - Mirror Lake

Release date: July 12, 3563 (Arando calendar)

Deadline: Within two days

Reward: 5 silver coins per item, unlimited buyback

Mission objective: Slay the giant frogs by Mirror Lake and collect at least 5 of their tongues.

Note: Please ensure the tongue is intact; defective products will be rejected. — [Bird in the Forest] Herbal Shop

......

Mirror Lake, Giant Frog.

Logan's eyebrows twitched at the mention of those two words.

What a coincidence!

He had just accepted Adele's private commission to find the "Sunset Rose" when Thorin received Adele's quest to hunt down the giant frog.

Is this a test from Tifflin for him?

In any case, with teamwork, Logan's chances of getting that flower have greatly increased.

"You all understand now, right?" Thorin pointed his stubby fingers at the mission sheet. "These giant frogs are brainless, but they're covered in slime, and their tongues can curl a whole person up."

Thorin picked up a wooden bucket from beside his feet.

"I specially went to buy [mud paste] for today's trip. I'm going to smear it all over myself later!"

As soon as the wooden bucket was lifted, a pungent stench, a mixture of garlic and some kind of excrement, hit everyone like a bomb.

"It stinks!" Papa pinched her nose and backed away.

"It's better to stink than to be eaten by a giant frog!" Thorin said slyly, carrying the bucket and deliberately leaning towards Papa. "This stuff can make the giant frog's tongue slip. With it, even if you get swallowed by a giant frog, the smell will make them so disgusted that they'll vomit you out on the spot."

"No!!"

As the wooden barrel drew closer, Papa instinctively pulled Baron to her side...

With everything ready, the wagon carrying the team set off towards the Ashwood, south of Riverwood.

Far from the hustle and bustle of town, as Riverwood disappeared below the horizon, the surrounding scenery began to change.

The sturdy trees form a series of corridors, with scattered small houses nestled among them, indicating human habitation, yet appearing exceptionally quiet.

As the carriage ventured deeper into the world, it seemed as if an invisible boundary stretched between heaven and earth.

The moment he crossed the boundary, Logan clearly felt the light around him dim. The leaves began to fade, and the bark on the tree trunks started to show scattered gray spots.

Logan poked his head out and looked into the distance.

Deep in the vast forest, as if scorched by a fire without light, all the green of the plants was tinged with gray and white, and the leaves made a rustling sound as the breeze blew.

"This is the origin of the name 'Ash Forest'."

Thorin sat on the deck of the cart, a pipe dangling from his mouth, his voice muffled in the woods.

"It's because of the Tallinn ruins in the center of the forest, right?"

Logan plucked a leaf, its surface speckled with gray, like a few gray stars fallen from a green sky.

"That's right. It's said that the magic emanating from the ruins drained all the colors from the surrounding area, turning it into this ghastly state."

Logan leaned against the bike frame, feeling somewhat oppressed. There were no birds chirping, and even the sounds of insects were scarce; the silence was unsettling.

Sigh—

The carriage stopped at the edge of the grey-green woodland, the horses pulling it appearing restless and snorting incessantly.

"This is the best we can do; the area ahead is not where we should go."

The driver shouted, pulling on the reins.

The group jumped off the carriage, and Logan stepped into the dense forest on foot for the first time.

The soil underfoot was soft and had a musty smell, but it didn't smell particularly special.

Thorin led the way.

They walked through the dense forest for an unknown amount of time until the trees ahead gradually thinned out, and they could smell a damp, fishy odor in the air.

"We've arrived. Lower yourself."

Thorin pressed his palm down and parted the gray-green reeds in front of him.

What appeared before everyone was a lake as clear as a mirror.

Mirror Lake.

The lake water was a clear turquoise blue, its surface calm and still, like the blue sky over a summer grassland, reflecting the surrounding gray-green trees.

Several huge silhouettes can be seen on the nearby lake shore.

That was certainly not an ordinary frog.

Each of them is as large as two people stacked together.

Its smooth skin was covered with blue spots, and its big, round eyes moved around. If it weren't so big, it would have looked rather cute.

"Coo-caw—"

One of the giant frogs let out a low croak, and then its long tongue suddenly shot out from its mouth, snatching a field mouse into its belly.

To its left, a rose quietly blooms.

The petals have a translucent texture, almost like citrine, and when illuminated by light, they resemble the sunset glow sealed within a gemstone.

Fragile, yet extremely beautiful.

Perhaps that's why it's called "Sunset Rose".