Chapter 24: Objective Done

For Caelan and Eveline, the two of them continued with their usual routine. They worked at the farm during the day, collected rotten produce from the market afterward, and spent the evening restoring everything before going to sleep.

It was tiring, but at least they knew their efforts were actually paying off.

The next few days went by quickly. Then a few more. Before they knew it, another week had passed.

Alden returned a couple of times with more news about their business. The demand for their produce had increased again, and he wanted to bring even more on his next trip.

Caelan and Eveline agreed to it. After all, if people were willing to buy more, then there was no reason for them to stop.

So with it, they increased the amount of produce they prepared.

Their room became even more crowded with sacks, and collecting rotten vegetables from the market became an almost daily routine. Some of the vendors even started saving their damaged produce for them.

Caelan couldn’t help but find it funny. They were essentially buying garbage from the market and turning it into money.

And so with that, another week passed. One morning, Alden arrived as usual to get the stocks from them.

"Good morning, you two."

"Morning, Sir Alden." Caelan looked up as Alden entered the corner of his vision.

Eveline also greeted him before looking at the cart waiting on the side.

Alden smiled as he looked around. There were still plenty of sacks stacked against the walls. However, that was not the only reason why he came today.

"I’ve come to give you your share."

"Our share?" Caelan’s eyes immediately lit up when he heard that word.

Alden nodded before pulling out a small pouch from inside his coat. It was the start of the week, and they agreed to split the share at this time.

"This time, we made quite a bit more than before. The demand has been getting higher, and some of the merchants have even started asking if I can bring more."

"Here. Count it yourself." He handed the pouch to Caelan. There was a big knowing smile on his face as he did. For sure they will be gladdened at it!

Even though it was odd, Caelan opened the pouch and started counting the coins in silence. He was expecting the same numbers from last week, maybe just a little more.

"H-Huh..." However, what he didn’t expect was that there were far more coins than he had expected.

"What?"

"I think we did it."

Eveline quickly counted the coins in her pouch too. And to her astonishment, the number was indeed high! It amde her question how much was Alden even selling it for!!

"W-we made this much??" Eveline completely loooked stunned.

[+319 coins]

[1279/1000 coins]

[You have gained +31 Exp]

He stared at the floating screen in front off him. The notifications just rang one after another after it.

[Objective Complete.]

[You have received 1 Hollow Fragment for earning 1000 coins.]

[Gem of Solaris acquired.]

"W-we did it." Caelan’s eyes widened as the notification confirming he completed his mission flashed before his eyes.

"Did what?" Eveline tilted her head, completely clueless about it.

"Nothing... we just finally did it." He couldn’t stop the smile in his face.

After weeks of working at the farm, collecting rotten produce, restoring hundreds of vegetables and fruits, and barely having any time to rest, he had finally reached their goal.

"Yeah. We really made this much..." Eveline continued staring at the coins in her hand, still looking like she couldn’t believe it.

"Looks like it." Caelan nodded, still smiling.

The two of them looked at each other before suddenly laughing. It was the first time in weeks that they could actually relax knowing that they were earning money.

Caelan was relieved to finish his mission, and for Eveline, who was clueless, she was just happy to have this much money.

"We can finally go to the capital," Eveline said, her voice filled with relief.

"Yeah."

Caelan looked at the system again. He still couldn’t believe it.

They had gone from barely having enough money to survive to earning more than their target. And now, thanks to the system, he had also gained another Hollow Fragment and the Gem of Solaris.

Things were finally going their way. However, they didn’t have much time to celebrate.

"Well, we should probably start loading everything," Alden said as he looked at the sacks around the room.

Caelan’s smile immediately disappeared.

"Right..." He looked at the mountain of sacks.

"There’s so many." Eveline also looked at them.

"Yup, so we better start now." Alden told them with a smile on his face.

"Fine. Let’s get this over with." Caelan sighed before grabbing one of the sacks.

The three of them started carrying the sacks one after another. There were so many that Caelan and Alden had to make several trips to the cart. Eveline helped as well by carrying the smaller sacks.

It took them quite some time before they finally managed to move everything.

"Finally." Caelan wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the full carriage.

"Everything seems to be here." Alden climbed onto the front of his carriage and checked the sacks one last time.

"Good."

Alden looked at the two of them.

"I’ll be back in a few days. With how things have been going, I wouldn’t be surprised if the merchants asked for even more next time."

"We’ll see about that." Caelan laughed.

Alden smiled before taking the reins.

"Take care of yourselves, you two."

"You too, Sir Alden."

"Thank you." With that, Alden pulled on the reins and set out once again.

Caelan and Eveline stood there for a moment and watched until the carriage disappeared from view. Once they were completely alone, Caelan slowly turned toward Eveline. A smile appeared on his face.

"Eveline."

"What?" She looked at him.

Caelan looked toward the road leading out of the village.

"It’s time for us to go to the capital."