A woman stood behind the reception and created quite a crowd around her. Chairs aimed a little closer, and the conversations seemed to steer around her, rather than about her. She was on the shorter side, but it only seemed to elevate her charm. Her emerald hair fell in a polished bob that brushed over her shoulders, framing her face with unfair precision.

  “Where’ve you been all this time, Mari? We missed you!” A man at the front counter asked.

  “I had some business with the filing department for a while, but I’m here to stay again. But Ragdar… have you been drinking?” Her voice carried effortlessly over the crowd, warm and lifting.

  The man stepped away from the counter with a nervous backfoot, almost tripping as he launched onto his heel.

  “Uh– maybe just two or three. Y’know how it goes!” He let out a hardy laugh, still red in the face.

  {Mari Astervold Lv4}

  {Species: Human Female}

  {Status: Normal}

  It’s the same girl I met on my first day here. I guess she was telling the truth about working for the guild. I doubt she’d remember me, though.

  The guild acted as a government organisation to help aid adventurers in all types of fields. Whether it be rewarding them for missions, or supplying them with those quests in the first place.

  “A friend of yours?” Veyra asked.

  (Not exactly. We met on the day we arrived in the city, but not for long. I think if we keep to ourselves, she won’t notice I’m a golem.)

  Hollow already stepped away and found the quest board. He stood upright, scanning through the many flyers and pasted pages scattered on the wall.

  “Master, this one has goblins.” Hollow had the flier in hand before we could reach the board.

  We had actually gotten into a bit of a routine at this point with which quests we took. Almost all of them had something to do with clearing out critters or helping villagers and citizens of the city with their chores. It’s been rough, and most of us were tired of it.

  Veyra’s hand slammed into the page, pinning it to the board behind her palm, “No! I won’t do another Goblin quest. Anything but that!” tears practically welled up in the corners of her eyes.

  Some of us were more tired of it than others.

  (Y-yeah, I was just thinking it’s time to mix it up. How about you pick this one, Veyra?) I answered nervously.

  “Really?! You mean it? We don’t have to hunt goblins again?” She gripped the ends of my cloak and nearly ripped it off my head.

  Stolen story; please report.

  (Yeah– Just ease up on me, okay?)

  Veyra ran off to the other end of the quest board, and after staring over a few of them, she ran past us and to the other end. Her eyes scanned through with trained precision, jolting from one page to the other while her hand traced her eyes' direction in the air, then finally, grabbed one.

  “Here it is! This is the one I want to do.” She held it up with a cheery smile.

  It illustrated a cavern sketched in pencil and had a pretty short description under it. It seemed a little vague.

  (That’s great, what kind of mission is it? Clearing out monsters from a mountain? Defeating some kind of stray beast?)

  “It’s an investigation quest. There’s a cavern only a few hours away from here that’s been giving merchants some trouble. It’s about time we get to do something with exploring in it.” Without waiting for a response, she quickly walked to the reception with the quest in hand. “Let’s go!”

  We approached the reception desk, where Mari studied the mountain of paperwork in front of her. She slid a handful of it off the top and plopped it in front of her before letting out a hardened sigh. Clearly preparing for the work ahead of her.

  “Oh, are you taking out a quest?” She asked, looking directly at Veyra.

  With a swift motion to her chin and the gentle taps that followed, Mari understood and reached for the page in Veyra’s hands.

  “Ah, no worries then. Can anyone in your party communicate for you?”

  Hollow nodded faintly, “Yes.”

  We had gotten pretty used to our routine, so we didn’t have to talk about it much anymore. This was a daily exercise at this point. That’s why I was surprised to get the telepathic link to Veyra at that moment.

  “Aren’t you going to speak to her?”

  (Oh, I didn’t think I should… Better leave it to Hollow, since he’s used to it now.) I scrambled for a response.

  “Atlas, I’m okay. This is my burden, and you’re already trying so hard for my sake. Don’t limit yourself so that you won’t upset me. I’m happy you have a voice now.” Her smile beamed with life, and I knew she wasn’t lying.

  (If you’re really fine with it…)

  “Hey, mister, don’t I know you from somewhere?” Mari stared past Hollow, directly at me.

  With a quick adjustment to my mask, I averted my gaze entirely, “Uh, I… I don’t recall…” The words were barely strung together. I had gotten so used to only speaking to Veyra and Hollow that I fumbled it completely. I suddenly felt a whole new appreciation for what Hollow had to go through recently.

  She creased her brow, and after another look at me, shrugged her shoulders and sat back down.

  “Must be my imagination. Alright then, so you’re taking this quest then…” She observed the page's contents with laser focus.

  That was a close one. It’s probably a good idea for her not to remember that time from before. It’s a little confusing to explain, after all.

  “Excuse me, but I don’t think you should take this quest.”

  “Why not? Isn’t our rank high enough to take it? It’s only a D rank quest?”

  “On paper, yes, but the guild is issuing a request to investigate the site in question and any potential dangers. Quite honestly, your party is still very new, and your ranks wouldn’t be able to handle a high-level threat. I can’t stop you from taking this job, but I’d strongly urge you against it.”

  Her determined expression was a little disheartening, but it just went to show how serious she was about her job. Most of the other workers didn’t bat an eye at the jobs people took. Some straight out didn’t care. She went through it in detail and even weighed our experience into account.

  Even so…

  “Atlas, do we have to abandon this one?” Veyra shot me a worried glance.

  “Thank you for your consideration,” I answered back with a frown of my own, “But we’ll be taking the quest, please.”