Starting with the goblin extermination

Adele sat behind the tall counter, examining the thin calluses on her fingertips in the dim light of dawn—these, and only these, were what connected her to the woman from before, the adventurer.

Thirty-two years old.

For a Tyflin with demon blood, this was the perfect age, like a ripe peach. If it were an ordinary human woman, she would have already married and had children in some farmhouse.

But she is a retired level two mage and a level three potion master.

These titles are nothing special in the White Eagle Kingdom, but they are enough for her to live an ideal solitary life in this border town.

I'm satisfied with my life, but something always seems to be missing, and there are always things I dislike.

For example, men are always like flies, relentlessly persistent.

They always wanted to get into her bed, showing off their strength and their figures, but the greed in their eyes was always too blatant and ridiculously stupid.

Adele had no appetite for them.

For her, choosing a man is like raising a dog; she loves newborn puppies the most—they're so round and chubby, and so cute.

On the contrary, as she grew up, she was always disappointed.

The only big dog she liked was the one she raised from a puppy.

Adele lowered her head and gently scratched the chin of the black dog lying at her feet.

"You're still the best, aren't you?" she murmured softly, her tail swaying lazily behind her.

Unfortunately, besides being a dog owner, she is also very picky.

Until that blond northern boy appeared.

Logan.

Adele silently savored the name in her heart, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up.

The urge to devour him whole was real.

Even today, it was even more intense when Logan nodded at her.

He completed the commission...

jingle--

The wind chimes on the door jingled, interrupting her thoughts.

Adele raised her head, her dark golden eyes instantly lighting up, and her long, languid tail behind her stretched uncontrollably in mid-air.

He is back.

Logan walked into the room with his back to the light.

Adele noticed that he seemed out of place in the sunlight; his long golden hair appeared jet black in the backlight, as if he were walking in the night.

bang.

A clean wooden box was placed on the counter.

She stood up, her tall, voluptuous body leaning forward, almost touching Logan's handsome face.

The clasps on the wooden box were gently unfastened.

A perfectly intact rose, as if carved from citrine, lay delicately in the box.

Bathed in sunlight, it was so beautiful it was almost unreal.

He did it. Not a single petal was broken. If this bouquet of roses weren't an ingredient for a new potion, Adele would have stuck it in her horn right now.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"That's right."

Logan looked at Adele, unsure whether he was referring to the flowers or the person in front of him.

Adele took a green bottle of [Basic Healing Potion] from the shelf, and then, to Logan's slightly surprised look, took a dark blue bottle of potion.

The two bottles of medicine were pushed together in front of Logan.

"Your reward," Adele said, tracing her long fingers across the blue potion, "is this [Night Vision Potion] as an additional personal investment of mine."

"Invest in what?"

"Find me one more thing."

She apologized to him with an elegant smile.

"To be honest, this rose is actually one of the ingredients for a new potion I'm developing, and I'm still missing a few other ingredients."

She stepped out from behind the counter, her tail wrapped around her round thighs.

As she wished, Logan accepted the potion.

Name your price.

......

Logan walked out of the herbal medicine shop.

As he walked, he rubbed the faint red marks on his cheeks with his hands.

The warm touch on his fingertips and Adele's words still echoed in Logan's mind.

"Help me collect 5 pairs of Ferocious Rat Eyes, 1 gold coin for each pair, plus an extra... bonus at the end."

The Ferocious Rat is a small monster with a challenge level of 1/3. Although it's called a small monster, these dirty rats are actually almost the size of a small dog.

They have rough fur and two bright red eyes, and often appear in underground caves or abandoned mines.

They can be found in abandoned mines in the Ash Forest, but it's pitch black there.

Perhaps this is why Adele gave Logan the night vision potion.

Five gold coins, plus an unknown extra reward... Even excluding the extra reward and the landlady's allure, this is still a well-paid task.

But fighting in the dark, abandoned mine is still too risky for Logan at this point.

[Thrust LV2 (33/100)]

Logan thought to himself that if he could upgrade [Thrust] to LV3, he would be more confident in defeating those ferocious rats in the mine.

Fortunately, Adele gave them a full twenty days.

Considering that only 6 days have passed since Logan arrived in Riverwood, and his Thrust skill has already leveled up from LV1 to LV2, these 20 days are more than enough time.

Let's get to work.

Logan pushed open the doors of the Adventurers' Guild and headed straight for the huge quest bulletin board.

His main goal was clear: to improve his combat skills by defeating low-level monsters like goblins.

But since we're going to take risks anyway, it would be best to also get some rewards in addition to the bounty to increase our income, so as to maximize our benefits.

Of course, good tasks are always in high demand.

......

Sewer cleaning

Monster: Slime (Challenge Level: 1/8), approximately 8.

Mission Location: West Riverwood - Sewers

......

Logan looked at the familiar sewer cleaning task and raised an eyebrow. Slimes were indeed weak and there were quite a few of them, but the pay was also very low. If possible, he would prefer to earn money and train at the same time.

Logan's gaze continued downwards, and he was lucky enough to find some decent-paying missions.

Finally, after careful selection and route planning, Logan tore down four notices:

[Collecting the shells of hard-shelled beetles]

Cleaning up the nest of silkworm spiders

Hunting Giant Goats

[Small Goblin Camp Extermination]

In addition to these four tasks, he also casually piled up the sewer cleaning job requests.

The first four quests are all located on the outskirts of Ashwood, and the routes connect to form a closed loop. As for the slimes in the sewers, consider them a warm-up before leaving the city and a way to reimburse your travel expenses.

Of course, he still needs to make some necessary preparations before going on a mission.

After all, after completing the sewer cleaning task, he needs to complete four other tasks on the outskirts of Ash Forest. Even if he is highly efficient, he may still need to spend several nights in the forest.

Although camping in the wild was nothing to him, he was an adventurer.

The worst thing an adventurer can do is take risks.

Logan is actually very clear about his own position.

Even if you have mastered one combat skill, such as the "thrust," know some swordsmanship, and have some experience in wilderness survival.

However, he himself remained among the lower-level adventurers.

Although level 1 monsters won't appear on the outskirts of the Ash Forest, it's always good to be cautious.

He spent some time making purchases.

The package included enough food and water for Logan to survive in the wild for four days; unused healing ointment, bandages, and splints from the last mission; a newly acquired [Initial Healing Potion]; a compass, a map, a lighter made of some unknown material, insect repellent powder, and essential living supplies such as a sleeping bag.

Logan's backpack was already bulging with these things.

In addition, to avoid losing all his possessions by losing his purse during his adventures, Logan also stored most of his remaining gold coins in the Berk Bank.

It's not about the interest, it's about security.

Remembering the nauseatingly obsequious smile of account manager Kruger, Logan finally understood why no one went to the goblin's window.

wow——

With a muffled thud, the core of the last slime was shattered.

Logan flicked the slime off his longsword and strode out of the sewer.

The sewers have been cleaned, and he will be leaving Riverwood for Ashwood for the time being.

As Logan watched the adventurers coming and going in the guild, boasting about their loot in groups, a sense of loneliness, typical of lone wolves, briefly swept through his heart.

But he immediately shook his head, leaving the loneliness behind.

"It's time to go."