Chapter 10: CH. 10 | Start Grinding

***

The next day.

Theo woke up from his sleep, feeling for some reason like he’d slept far longer than usual. He looked around and noticed the room looked unusually tidy, different from before.

"Yasa? Michelle?" Theo called out.

He tried calling for them again, but there was no answer at all. Something about it felt off to him. Theo grew curious about where they could be.

Theo got up and walked into Yasa’s bedroom, since both women had slept there the night before. But when the door opened, there was no one inside.

The room was also neat, well organized, and spotless. Now Theo felt even more confused and curious about the strangeness of it all.

He checked every room in Yasa’s apartment, but he still couldn’t find either of them. His attention shifted the moment he stepped into the kitchen.

His eyes landed on a letter left on top of a breakfast plate meant for him. It wasn’t just the piece of paper either, he also spotted three pouches of money sitting beside the plate.

His heart pounded hard. He worried that whatever reason lay behind their sudden disappearance would be written in that letter.

But if he didn’t read it, he’d never know anything at all.

He opened the letter and read it carefully. It was fairly long, but he could make out the core of the message well enough.

They left? But where to? Does this have something to do with the Third Prince showing up yesterday?

The one who wrote the message was Michelle, he could tell from the shape of her handwriting. But she also mentioned something on Yasa’s behalf, a message Yasa had left for Theo.

Michelle wrote that Yasa was leaving the apartment in Theo’s care and that he didn’t need to worry about rent, Yasa had already paid it in full for three years.

They also said they’d come back once their business was finished. Theo had no idea when that would be, but it was probably going to be a long while.

I get it if Yasa had to leave, given she’s an Archmage. But why did Michelle go with her? Is she a mage too? Or some other class entirely? Has she been hiding something from me this whole time?

Their sudden departure clearly left behind a huge mystery, along with a whole new set of questions in Theo’s head.

But sitting around speculating wasn’t going to answer any of them. His best option was to just keep living his life, exactly the way Michelle had advised him.

Lastly, they had left behind three pouches of money, each holding a different amount.

One was packed with hundreds of copper coins, along with dozens of silver and gold pieces.

Michelle asked Theo to use the money wisely and spend carefully, while continuing to work on leveling up and earning through the guild.

That was the closing line of the letter. Theo picked up the three money pouches and opened them. He was genuinely shocked at how much was inside, especially the pile of copper coins.

I never would’ve guessed Michelle was this well off, or maybe this is actually from Yasa?

He folded the letter and set it down on the kitchen table, then picked up the money pouches and carried them into Yasa’s room, which he’d now be using temporarily while they were gone.

That morning, he checked the time and saw it was already past seven, closer to eight in the morning.

He realized the guild’s mission board had probably already been picked clean, which meant his only real option was to go hunt on his own, exactly as Yasa and Michelle had suggested.

After finishing breakfast, he grabbed a few copper coins to buy an inventory bag, an essential piece of gear for any adventurer.

Without one, he’d have a hard time storing loot items during his hunt later.

I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m going to keep living my life and fighting for myself, while I wait for them to come back, of course.

He locked up the apartment and headed outside. The city bustled with townspeople going about their business, filling every corner without exception.

A number of adventurers stood out clearly among the crowd, their gear setting them apart from ordinary townsfolk.

They headed out with their parties, a simple sign that they’d already secured a guild mission after the morning scramble.

He could only hope his luck would turn tomorrow, he’d need to wake up earlier and come better prepared.

Theo stopped by an equipment shop along the road toward the west gate, buying an inventory bag for twenty copper and strapping it to his waist.

The item worked automatically, whenever Theo picked something up, it stored itself away instantly.

Still, its capacity was pretty limited. The inventory bag could only hold up to twenty five different item types.

For now, that would be more than enough to help him through the early stages of hunting. Once he got better and started collecting more items, he’d consider upgrading to an inventory bag with a bigger capacity.

Following the map Yasa had given him, he made his way toward the solo hunting grounds just outside the west gate. The danger zone there was level 1, though Theo still had no way of knowing exactly what kind of monsters ruled the area.

"Look at him! Is he an adventurer too?"

"Going by that gear, looks like it."

"He’s definitely a rookie. I don’t get it, why are there still cocky newbies out there brave enough to take on guild missions all by themselves?"

Theo walked alongside other adventurers, catching their chatter clearly enough. But he didn’t really care. As long as they weren’t causing him any trouble, he had no reason to bother them either.

He reached the area outside the west gate and took in the sight of a wide open grassland stretching before him.

There were monsters scattered across it as far as he could see, their shapes and types distinct enough to recognize right away.

"Slimes?" Theo muttered.

Out of the hundreds of monster types he knew of, slimes were about as weak as it got. They were fragile, had almost no defensive ability, and their attacks were repetitive and easy to predict.

Theo didn’t bother commenting much on it. Besides, he’d come to a level 1 danger zone, so of course he’d be running into weak monsters.

He walked into the grassland and stood right in the middle of it. Sensing a human presence, the slimes immediately turned their attention toward Theo.

They bounced their way toward him and attacked by slamming their bodies into him. Theo reacted fast, drawing his sword and swinging it in a horizontal arc.

The blade collided with the slime’s body, and with enough force behind the swing, Theo’s sword managed to cleave the slime clean in half.

The slime died instantly, its body dissolving into liquid. Right as he landed the kill, a notification panel appeared in front of Theo’s face.

[Congratulations! You have successfully killed a monster]

[Type: Water Slime (F-Rank)]

[Reward: +10exp]

[EXP: 60/150] [+10exp]

Theo paused, watching the notification panel explain that he’d earned exp simply from killing them. Still, the reward was pretty modest, just 10exp.

Given the total exp he’d need to level up, Theo figured he’d have to kill at least nine more slimes to hit the next level.

Considering how easy the slimes seemed to be, it felt like leveling up to level two in a single day was well within reach for Theo.

I’m going to use every single one of you to level up.

Come and get me, you lowly slimes!