Chapter 129 - Merchant Escort

I returned home alone due to King Lexur insisted on Ellena staying back, to finish her duties as future queen of Rusllyyn and since I'm going to be busy with completing quests for the guild, Hope will be staying with Ellena and her grandfather. After a long quiet journey home, I immediately make my way back to the adventurers guild, and find my way into Gale's office, where I see him sitting behind his desk

looking over some files, I clear my throat.

"I completed what Leonard asked of me."

he looks up and replies.

"good, I hope whatever he was looking for was worth it."

I nod.

"yeah, he seemed very excited about everything that he kept finding there."

he responds.

"well that's Leonard for you, he always gets excited when it comes to that stuff."

as I'm about to leave his office, Gale stops me.

"oh, before you leave and do another quest, give me your guild card."

I hand it over to him and ask.

"what for?"

he answers.

"well I promised Leonard that I would promote you to a D rank, after you finished his little quest."

he gives me back the guild card and says.

"congratulations, D rank adventurer, Collin Belfaust."

I ask curiously.

"so soes that mean, I can start doing harder quests?"

he chuckles.

"yes, now you can move on up from doing herb collection quests."

I reply sarcastically.

"I don't know, I heard herb collecting is important stuff."

he clears his throat.

"in all seriousness, good luck out there."

after leaving his office, I look at the bulletin board to see what quests are available for my level, and I spot a few merchant escorting quests and after grabbing one them, I hand over to the guild receptionist Yui.

"here, I'm going to do this quest."

she looks at the quest and asks.

"this a D rank quest, are you sure you want to do this one?"

I reply while showing her my guild card.

"well I've been promoted to a D rank recently, so yes I'm sure."

she approves the quest.

"okay, just make sure you meet the merchant Joseph outside the town of Slindle."

I nod.

"yes, I'll do that."

as I leave she says.

"good luck."

I then run into Grace, Jill and Bell just outside the guild building, where Jill asks in a taunting manner.

"hey Collin, you doing another herb collecting quest?"

I reply proudly.

"nope, this time I'm doing a merchant escort quest."

she replies obviously bothered.

"then why didn't you just say so, we'll help you out with that."

she looks at both Grace and Bell.

"isn't that right?"

as they nod their head in agreement, I sigh.

"so you want to help me then?"

Jill responds grinning.

"of course we'll help you."

I reply.

"okay then, we must go to the town of Slindle and meet the merchant that we are escorting there."

as we climb in on of the carriages heading towards Slindle, Jill asks.

"do you know where we are escorting that merchant to?"

I reply while remembering exactly what the quest said.

"yeah, escort services from Slindle to the Dwarf city of Mons."

Jill sighs.

"oh yeah I forgot, that ever since the alliance was reformed, merchants have been travelling to many dwarven cities and crossing the sea to elven cities."

I then ask Jill.

"so how was it like fighting the vampires?"

she answers.

"they were terrifying, but there was some other strange monsters that helped us."

interested in what she said, I ask curiously.

"oh really? what were these strange monsters?"

Grace rolls hers eyes.

"here we go again with this."

Jill growls at her.

"well I saw one with my one eyes."

I ask.

"saw what?"

she answers.

"I saw a werewolf."

I laugh.

"werewolves don't exist they are just stories to scare kids."

she mutter to herself.

"I know what I saw."

I then think to myself.

"damn it, I didn't think anyone would see them transform into werewolves when we were fighting Lord Vernon."

I then ask.

"are you sure they weren't just regular wolves?"

she shakes her head.

"no, they were too big, to be just regular wolves."

I sigh.

"well maybe it was just your imagination."

she then asks irritated.

"if vampires exist then why can't werewolves?"

I reply in my mind.

"sorry Jill, but that existence has a stay a secret for now."

I shrug and reply dismissively.

"I'm sure, your mind makes you see things when your in the middle of battle."

after that Jill stayed quiet the whole ride, until we finally arrived at Slindle, where I say to everyone.

"alright let's ask around for the merchant, it said on the quest form that he would be waiting near the outside of town."

we walk around asking around many merchants in their carriages for Joseph, until we run into s well dressed individual with slicked back hair leaning against a carriage.

"yeah, I'm Joseph, are you guys the adventurers who accepted this job?"

I answer.

"yeah."

he replies as he tosses out the toothpick he was chewing on.

"alright, climb onboard and protect this carriage and the merchandise from bandits and monsters that attack."

we climb aboard the back, with the many crates filled with food, potions and other valuables, I then sit close to the front and ask Joseph.

"so why are you going all the way to Mons?"

he answers.

"they are still rebuilding from all the damage the vampires caused."

I ask curiously.

"so all this stuff, is things they need?"

he nods.

"yeah, right now all of our goods are selling at a very good price."

Jill scowls at Joseph.

"so you are just taking advantage of them?"

Joseph replies defensively.

"hey, they are getting what they need, and I just happen to make some money for it."

Jill makes a disgusted sound, and then Grace says while putting her hand on her shoulder.

"relax, remember we are doing a quest."

she sighs defeated.

"yeah I know."

I sit next to Jill and ask.

"what's wrong?"

she answers.

"I hate opportunistic people like him."

Joseph shouts.

"hey, I heard that!"

she shouts back.

"good!"

he shouts back.

"what ever, you stupid brat!"

Jill stands up gritting her teeth and clenches her fists, I then say to her.

"easy there, we are supposed to protect this guy remember?"

she sits back down and we ride quietly, under the cover of darkness until the carriage comes to a sudden stop, Jill whispers to me.

"careful, I think there is a monster nearby."

Grace and Bell stand up, preparing themselves for a confrontation.

I shuffle to front and ask Joseph who is staring out in the darkness with fear in his eyes.

"hey, you see something?"

Joseph points ahead with his finger shaking, and as I keep looking towards the direction he is pointing at, a werewolf with sparkling silver eyes emerges out of the darkness, staring right at us.

I then say under my breath.

"shit."