A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

This thick stack of documents contains all essential information; Eric only added half a page earlier.

Of course, this wasn't written entirely by Eric alone; it was a compilation of reports submitted by many people.

Eric isn't a human typewriter; he can't possibly write that much by hand.

"What's going on with them? Why is the atmosphere suddenly so serious?"

"They've fallen out, haven't they?"

"These two are really strange..."

People in the office are still talking about it, but that's not important.

"There may be a potential crisis threatening the safe zone."

"The safe zone is not an absolutely safe area."

"It's time to find out." The lazy Eric and the indifferent Alice said in unison.

The two hadn't fallen out; it was just normal interaction. Tina yawned idly in the dilapidated adventurer's guild.

Seriously, what's the point of this Adventurers' Guild? It probably doesn't even get more than five people coming in to take on quests a month.

I don't know what the people in charge are thinking, wasting so much money in a place like this.

Of course, Tina didn't really care, since she could earn some extra money here.

With her thin arms and legs, there's no way she would be so foolish as to explore outside the safe zone.

The Imperial Capital Safe Zone organizes a group operation outside the safe zone approximately every two months in order to collect important supplies.

In addition, there is an "expedition" every year.

An expedition, as the name suggests, is about exploring as far out as possible; exploring new places is more important than collecting resources.

However, although it's said to happen once a year, it's actually only twice, since only two years have passed so far.

Two years may seem insignificant to older people, but for teenagers, it feels like crossing an entire time.

Two years is enough for a person to go from adolescence to youth, from adolescence to adulthood.

Tina, who is sixteen or seventeen years old, still has some time before she reaches adulthood.

At this point, whether someone is an adult or not is not particularly important.

If I had to pinpoint its importance, it would probably be that minors are particularly attractive to certain perverts (just kidding).

She tilted her head back, half-asleep, thinking about all sorts of strange things.

It's not her fault; the Adventurers' Guild is indeed far too idle.

"Creak—" The wooden door made a hoarse sound, interrupting Tina's daze.

She snapped out of her daze, hoping it would be a new face.

"It's you again. Can't you find someone new?" Tina muttered disappointedly when she saw who opened the door.

Nine times out of ten, the person who pushes open this door is this middle-aged man.

Although he always says he's not even thirty, he still looks like an older man no matter how you look at him.

"Seeing familiar faces is actually quite a rare thing," Bray said casually, seemingly unconcerned about Tina's attitude.

Tina seemed annoyed by this monotonous daily routine.

Bray, on the other hand, felt that this kind of life was quite precious.

This is probably why ordinary people envy the extraordinary, and extraordinary people envy the ordinary.

Fat people always say they want to be thin, and thin people always say they want to be a little fatter.

"What's wrong? Why are you suddenly saying that?" Tina pouted.

"Just something I felt compelled to say." Bray didn't dislike the little girl too much, even though she was a bit impolite.

But if we're talking about being impolite, there's someone even more impolite beside him.

"Hello 0V0" Levy greeted the girl she often saw.

She completely forgot that Tina had once sarcastically remarked that she was being kept by Bray.

"Oh...oh, hello." Tina was a little unaccustomed to Levy's enthusiasm and responded stiffly.

What's going on? This kid, who looks a few years younger than me, is so overly familiar.

“I’ve completed this task.” Bray placed a ring on the cracked wooden table.

"So, the ring you handed over is the client's husband's keepsake?" Tina picked up the ring suspiciously and examined it.

This ring looks valuable, but unfortunately, not many people in the safe zone would spend a lot of money on something so flashy and impractical.

“Okay, we can wait for the client to confirm.” Bray nodded.

"I will come to collect the payment after confirmation."

"I understand, I'll go and talk to the client." Tina sighed.

The annoying thing about this receptionist job is this.

Since there were only a few people in the entire Adventurers' Guild, Tina not only had to act as the receptionist, but also as an errand runner.

If the job didn't pay well, she really wouldn't want to do it.

"Where is this place?" Luo Shiqi looked around in astonishment.

“The Adventurers’ Guild,” Bray replied.

"Adventurers' Guild?" Luo Shiqi seemed to have never heard of the term before, and looked puzzled.

“You didn’t know?” Bray was a little surprised.

"I don't know..." Luo Shiqi shook his head.

"Okay, this isn't exactly essential knowledge."

If you do a quick calculation, Luo Shiqi was only eleven years old before he appeared in the safe zone.

It's normal for a kid at this age to not know some things.

If you ask an eleven-year-old what the Ghost Knights are or what monsters they are, he won't know.

"Here are 10 copper coins. Find yourself a place to stay." After thinking for a few seconds, Bray gave Luo Shiqi a few copper coins.

With that much money, it's enough for this kid to support himself until he finds a way to make a living.

Bray isn't their nanny; it's already quite generous of him to offer some money. Does he expect him to be so helpful as to find them a place to stay?

Sorry, he has no feelings.

"Wait for me here tomorrow morning, around nine o'clock," he said to Luo Shiqi, glancing at the Adventurers' Guild's clock.

That's enough for today. It's getting late, time to go home and see what Nia has learned.

I wonder if Naruko will start teaching some weird things along the way.

Bray didn't know why he had this thought, but once it arose, he felt uneasy.

“I’m going home. Goodbye,” Bray said.

"Remember to be more polite in the future," he added after a few seconds.

This kid is so rude, I really hope he doesn't get beaten up on the way...

After saying that last sentence, Bray hurriedly took Levy home.

Even after Bray disappeared from the boy's sight, the boy did not say "goodbye" or "thank you".

"What are you doing standing here like a wooden stake?" Tina said with displeasure, looking at Luo Shiqi who was in a daze.

"No food falls from the sky here."

"I know, I was just thinking about something." Luo Shiqi stared blankly at the 10 copper coins, his tone revealing a hint of confusion.

After a long while, Luo Shiqi left the Adventurers' Guild in a daze under Tina's disdainful gaze.

---

"Bang bang!" Nia, sitting on Naruko's shoulders, shouted happily when she saw Bray in the distance.

"Nia, take a picture of your dad," Naruko said to Nisa.

"Oh~" Nisha, holding her camera, excitedly pressed the shutter.

"Click." Nia took a very blurry photo.

"Mommy, is it pretty?"

"It's beautiful, it's so damn beautiful!" Naruko praised Nia enthusiastically.

"Next time, I'll take a picture of your dead fish eyes."

"Good~"

"You didn't teach Nia any weird stuff, did you?" Bray asked as soon as they met.

"What are you talking about? What's so strange about taking pictures?" Naruko looked at Bray strangely.

“…” Bray looked at Naruko with some suspicion.

"What's with your look? Are you suspecting me of persecuting Nia!?"

"No, not exactly..."

"But you really only taught me how to take pictures?"

"Of course, the ingenious uses of various cameras," Naruko said proudly, puffing out her chest.

“Beep beep, Mommy said that if you see a bad guy, you can use his camera as a weapon,” Nia said.

A question mark slowly appeared.

Given that the security situation wasn't particularly good, Bray ultimately refrained from complaining about the strange self-defense techniques that Naruko had taught Nia.

A camera? Well, let's just say it's a blunt instrument.

Thinking about it this way, Bray wasn't so speechless anymore.

"Why do you look so troubled?" Naruko had just finished washing her hair and was now hanging it up to dry.

Perhaps because she had just taken a shower, she looked much calmer.

"Really?" Bray pinched his cheek and asked doubtfully.

“Yeah, your dead fish eyes are practically screaming ‘depression,’” Naruko said, sitting down next to Bray.

Bray had written all his feelings on his dead fish eyes; if I still couldn't see it, I'd really be blind.

"That brat... I'll take him out for a stroll in the safe zone tomorrow."

"Little Seventeen? What's there to be upset about?"

“Sometimes I also want to stay at home,” Bray said.

"Oh! I get it, you want to stay with me, right!" Naruko said with a look of sudden realization.

"You're such a jerk, if you want someone, just say so," she said shyly.

"..." Bray looked at Naruko expressionlessly.

However, Naruko wasn't wrong; he did want to spend more time with Nia, Naruko, and Levy.

Perhaps I'm just too attached to home, which makes me hesitant to do many things freely.

That's probably why Bray won't leave this safe zone; his martial arts skills are only used to barely preserve it.

I always feel like it's a waste.

"I was originally planning to pass that troublesome kid to the soldiers, but I didn't expect him to pass the buck back to me." Bray said with a hint of resentment when Eric was mentioned.

"You asked for this." Naruko shrugged, letting her hair, which she had finally managed to dry, fall loose over her shoulders.

“I’d rather play with Nia and Levy than with that brat.” Bray looked quite dejected, as if he had no motivation at all.

"If that's what you think, then when you have time, just find a car and take us to some farther places to explore," Naruko said irritably.

"Anyway, I'm tired of staying in this place, and I feel uncomfortable all over." Naruko was originally an adventurer and a wanderer, so staying in one place for a long time was indeed a bit difficult for her.

This stop lasted for more than two years.