Chapter 39: CH. 39 | Aya’s Difficulties

Tuvei drove them out of Tulu Village and back toward Aluric City.

Even though the journey in his cargo cart wasn’t nearly as comfortable as a passenger carriage, it was their only option for getting back to the city and turning in the guild mission.

Along the way, Theo and Thalia chatted with Tuvei. He explained that first thing that morning, he’d immediately prepared the medicine and delivered it straight to his patients.

"I’ve still got some of that lotus brew left over, actually. I’ll set it aside for later," Tuvei said.

Theo nodded. He was confident that with someone like Tuvei in Tulu Village, he could do a great deal to help the rest of the villagers too.

After all, he was the only one there with real knowledge of these things.

"Without you all, I doubt I would’ve been able to get that flower," Tuvei added.

"We were just doing our job," Theo answered, "If we hadn’t taken the mission, someone else would have."

"Still, you should be thankful to the guild, since they’re the ones who made this possible for you."

"That’s true!" Tuvei said firmly.

Thalia turned to look at Theo, asking him again what his plan was once they got back from Tulu Village.

Theo explained they’d head to the guild to collect the reward, then rest up and prepare for the next day.

But Thalia had something else in mind, something Theo hadn’t even considered.

"What if we head over to a magic shop?"

"You want to buy more magic gear?" Theo asked.

Thalia shook her head. She explained her real reason for wanting to visit the magic shop wasn’t to buy accessories, but to purchase skill cards.

Theo listened, but he was still a bit confused by the reasoning. Thalia laid it all out for him in detail.

"Right now, our party’s completed two missions, one F-Rank and one D-Rank. If we’re lucky, we could keep clearing missions at that same rank going forward."

"Even so, I’ve noticed something about today’s mission. We’re seriously lacking in skills. The four of us together probably only have one skill total, and that’s not good."

Theo fell silent, raising a hand to his chin as he took in what Thalia was saying. He concluded that the reason Thalia wanted to visit the magic shop was to buy skills, so their next mission would feel a lot easier for the whole party.

Theo had honestly been thinking along the same lines. Technically, he only had two skills, the Extraction Skill and the Foresight Skill, and neither was really an attack or defense type skill, even though he was aware the foresight skill could function as both in a pinch.

But the risk of relying on the foresight skill was far too high. If he kept leaning on it constantly, he could end up dying young.

"That’s a great idea," Theo answered.

Thalia smiled hearing Theo agree, then turned around and told the others about the plan. Both Lily and Aya agreed to come along with them.

"After we buy the skill cards and learn them, we’ll still have time before nightfall. We could go train again in a level 1 danger zone," Thalia explained.

"Yeah. Either way, we still need to actually try out those skills."

The cart kept rolling down the hill until they fully reached the south gate of Aluric City. Theo and the others climbed down right away, thanking Tuvei for everything.

"It’s no trouble at all. You all helped me so much. This is just a small way for me to return the favor," Tuvei said, reaching out to shake Theo’s hand, "I hope we cross paths again sometime, Sir Theo."

"Of course. Take care of yourself, Mr. Tuvei."

Not long after, Tuvei spurred his cart forward and left the area. From another direction, Theo’s attention snapped away as he heard someone calling out to him.

"Hey, you’re done already? I was just about to come pick you up."

The man turned out to be the same carriage driver from before. Theo smiled and explained that another driver had given them a ride, so he hadn’t been able to wait for him.

Even though the trip hadn’t happened, the carriage driver didn’t seem to mind at all. Theo said his goodbyes and walked with the others until they reached the city guild.

By the time they arrived in the city, it was already ten in the morning. A number of adventurers had just left the guild building with their friends, heading out to start their missions for the day.

The guild door opened, and the person behind the reception desk was none other than Sara. The moment she saw Theo had returned, a wide smile spread across her face.

"So? Did you pull it off?"

Theo gave a small smile and pulled out the mission sheet, already signed by Tuvei, handing it over to Sara. She took it with a smile and immediately began validating the mission.

As Sara worked through it, Theo and his party members received a notification panel confirming the guild mission’s completion.

[Congratulations! You have successfully completed the Guild Mission]

[Guild Mission: Escort a herbalist expert to Nador Hill]

[Mission Rank: D-Rank]

[Mission Duration: 02:22:51:12]

[Reward: +200 exp || +15 Contribution Points || +35 Copper]

The reward wasn’t just for Theo, every member of his party received it too. His attention shifted to the group behind him, and Thalia turned out to be the only one who got the chance to level up, Lily didn’t, and Aya hadn’t even registered as an official party member at the mission’s initial submission.

[Congratulations! You have gained EXP]

[Level: 4]

[EXP: 200/550] [+200exp]

[Congratulations! You have gained Contribution Points]

[Rank: Rookie]

[Point: 25/250] [+15]

"As long as you don’t manipulate it, there shouldn’t be any issues."

"How does the guild actually validate it?" Theo asked.

"We sent a letter to the mission owner’s home. If the adventurer carried out the mission properly, the owner can just ignore our message. If not, they have to come to the city guild to clarify and receive their compensation."

Theo paused for a moment, glancing briefly at Thalia before turning back to Sara, "Did that happen with the mission Denis took too?"

"That’s right," Sara answered, "He and Thalia failed the mission, which meant the guild had to pay out compensation. Since the circumstances were different in that case, the guild didn’t want to drag things out any further."

Sara reached for something and handed it to Theo. It was thirty five copper wrapped in a single pouch, with three such pouches in total, one for each portion of the reward.

Right before leaving, Theo handed over four bubble acid slimes to Sara, asking her to buy them off him. Of course, Sara had no objection.

"Prices are running pretty high today, according to the market paper I read this morning. I can offer you twenty seven copper each."

"That works," Theo answered.

In total, he earned 108 copper, the equivalent of one silver and eight copper. But after the 10% admin fee, his net take came out to just 98 copper.

Theo didn’t mind at all, either way it was a decent sum for all of them, including Aya, who hadn’t gotten anything from this trip except sheer exhaustion.

"Thanks for doing business with us," Sara said.

"Thalia will come by your room at the inn to pick up Riley, this is your payment," Theo said, handing over a clean thirty copper directly to Sara.

Sara smiled and accepted the money. She explained her shift would end by midday, so Thalia could pick up Riley then.

Thalia nodded in agreement. Once their business was wrapped up, Theo said his goodbyes to Sara. He and the others walked away from the desk.

But his steps came to a stop the moment he reached the guild’s entrance and spotted three large, imposing men standing there with arrogant expressions.

"Damn it, Aya!"

"Where the hell have you been?!" one of the men shouted.

"Hurry up and pay off your father’s debt... or we’ll sell you off as a slave!"

"I-I still haven’t gotten the money."

Theo turned and realized what Aya’s struggle actually was, she had to become an adventurer just to pay off her father’s debts. He had no idea why they were targeting Aya instead of her father directly.

Still, it seemed likely that her father had fled, dumping the entire weight of his debt onto a girl like Aya.

"Why aren’t you going after him instead? He’s the one who owes the money, not Aya!"

"You?!" the man snapped, "Stay out of this if you don’t want to get hurt."

"You should ask her why we’re not chasing after that coward."

Aya went silent, her head hanging low, her hands trembling with panic. Theo let out a short breath and gave her shoulder a gentle pat to calm her down. He even had Thalia and Lily step in to help comfort her.

"There’s no need for that kind of harsh talk and threats," Theo said, "How about we discuss this debt properly between you and me?"