Chapter 64: New Missions and Old Tensions

Qiu Nuoya found that strangely reassuring.

"Well, look who’s here again today."

"Good morning, Viktor. Shouldn’t you be taking your own missions instead?"

Viktor smiled warmly.

"For the time being, I am focusing on training Nuoya, so I have taken a break from working as an adventurer."

Viktor wore his usual cheerful smile.

Warren, on the other hand, looked slightly sullen.

There was an odd tension hanging between the two of them.

It was not that they openly disliked each other.

They did not argue or exchange harsh words. Yet the atmosphere between them always felt strangely strained.

Anyone who was good at reading the mood would immediately notice it.

They spoke politely enough, but there was a faint sharpness in the air that was difficult to ignore.

Qiu Nuoya could not understand why.

It was true that Viktor had been angry at Warren for dragging him into the goblin extermination mission in the beginning.

But that was already in the past.

Holding onto it forever seemed rather childish.

Besides, the person who had actually gone through the frightening experience, Qiu Nuoya himself, had already decided to let it go.

If he had forgiven Warren, then Viktor continuing to direct his anger at him felt misplaced.

More importantly, Warren was still a rookie adventurer, just like Qiu Nuoya.

Making a mistake or two was only natural.

As a senior adventurer, Viktor could simply guide and teach them instead. Yet for some reason, he always seemed to dislike Warren.

It was not as though Viktor openly complained about him or spoke badly of him.

He always treated Warren with a smile.

Because of that, Qiu Nuoya could not even point it out.

Still, Viktor gave off an unmistakable aura that seemed to say, Don’t come any closer.

Qiu Nuoya honestly had no idea why.

Warren seemed to have noticed it as well.

When they first met, Warren had practically admired Viktor.

Now, however, his attitude had become noticeably awkward.

What was Qiu Nuoya supposed to do about this?

He had a feeling that saying anything would only make the situation worse, so he could only remain silent.

"Warren, what mission are you planning to take today?"

"What about you?"

Being answered with another question made Qiu Nuoya pause to think.

He was not particularly good at extermination missions.

Still, there was one mission he wanted to accept.

"I think I’ll try taking the Horn Rabbit extermination mission ."

"What!?"

Warren’s eyes widened in surprise.

"Why?"

Qiu Nuoya blinked his eyes.

Why was Warren so surprised?

He had just been saying that adventurers were supposed to defeat monsters.

"The Rank E gathering missions are farther away, so I’d rather prepare a little more before taking those. Besides, Horn Rabbits taste really good."

That was the biggest reason.

Horn Rabbit meat was delicious.

Since Qiu Nuoya earned a little extra money by cooking for everyone at the shared house, securing ingredients was important to him.

Until now, the other adventurers had supplied the game they hunted, and Qiu Nuoya simply cooked it for them.

As a result, he only earned a small cooking fee. But if he gathered the ingredients himself, he could prepare complete meals with his own supplies and earn a bit more spending money.

The proof required for a Horn Rabbit extermination mission was its horn.

That meant the meat could be sold to the guild, but if the adventurer requested it, they could usually keep the whole carcass instead.

He had also heard that Horn Rabbits were not particularly difficult to hunt.

As far as he was concerned, there was hardly a better mission.

There was also a Cockatrice extermination mission available.

However, monsters with poison still made him a little nervous, so he decided to leave that one for another day.

"...Seriously?" Warren stared at him in shock. "The same guy who couldn’t bring himself to kill a slime because he felt sorry for it is perfectly fine hunting Horn Rabbits?"

Qiu Nuoya gave a small shrug.

That was different.

Slimes were one thing.

Horn Rabbits were another.

Slimes were not something people ate.

Horn Rabbits, on the other hand, were already food in his mind.

He had eaten them before and knew how delicious they were, so he had no hesitation.

It was the same as pigs and cows.

Seeing them alive made them seem cute. But when meat was served on a plate, people still enjoyed eating it.

If he could not separate those things, there would be very little left that he could eat.

And Qiu Nuoya certainly was not a vegetarian.

He wanted protein.

"Is that a problem?"

"No... It’s not a problem, but..."

"In that case, we will be heading to the eastern grasslands today."

Viktor stepped smoothly between Qiu Nuoya and Warren and gently urged Qiu Nuoya forward.

It felt a little premature.

They had not even asked Warren which mission he planned to take yet.

If Warren was also accepting a mission in the eastern grasslands, they could simply travel together.

There was no need to rush.

"Then I’ll take this one."

As if afraid of being left behind, Warren quickly pulled a mission from the notice board and hurried after them.

It was the ongoing goblin extermination mission in the eastern grasslands.

Now that Warren had finally been promoted to Rank F, he was allowed to accept extermination missions on his own.

If he could thin out the goblin population, that would certainly help.

Most monster meat was edible.

The only exception was goblins.

No matter how they were cooked, goblin meat was impossible to eat.

That was one of the reasons Qiu Nuoya had little interest in taking goblin extermination missions.

Still, if Warren was hunting goblins nearby, it worked out well for everyone.

There would be no competition over prey and Qiu Nuoya would be much less likely to run into goblins himself.

It was a win win situation.

"So, you intend to follow us again?" Viktor looked at Warren with narrowed eyes.

"W-What? That’s not it! We just happened to pick missions in the same area!"