CHAPTER 2: ODD JOB QUESTS

A week has passed since I became a rank 10 adventurer. I’ve been living a fulfilling life since then, completing rank 10 quests one after the other. I collected a lot of Hyria on my first day but another Hyria collecting quest was posted the next day. It seems there’s no end to the Hyria they need. Though surprisingly, the Hyria had already grown back to the point of harvesting. I learned that the herb is very reproductive, but I had no idea that it would grow back this fast. Because of this, I devoted myself to picking them all day again. Then on a different day I collected both Hyria and another herb. By the way, the moment I touched the other herb, information about it came pouring into my brain after all. ...I have no other idea what it is but I have no way to investigate it. A normal person would probably find it to be disturbing to have memories or knowledge that you didn’t know suddenly appear in your brain. However, my mind seems to be a bit different from regular people, so I don’t really mind it. Rather, other than the headache that comes with it, I even find it to be convenient. My master might have wanted to fix this as well, the way my mind works. Regardless of that, I’ve been completing herb quests and have gained various information on herbs. But today’s quest is different.
“Hm… They said they saw it this way but...”
Today I’m searching for a certain cat. This quest is perfect. The client lost their cat so they posted the quest apparently. Though I have to admit this quest is only perfect for me. Despite it being laborious and time consuming, it doesn’t pay very well. So there aren’t many adventurers who are willing to accept this kind of quest. Though these types of quests are right up my alley. The cat I'm looking for is a white, black, brown Calico cat with a pink collar. I straightforwardly asked around the city searching for it. However, this was surprisingly more trouble than I anticipated.

Although Kret Is considered to be a small city, that’s merely compared to the capital city of the Ledion Kingdom. Naturally, it’s taking me a while to find them since I have to search throughout the entire city. And not only that but I get puzzled looks everytime I call out for the cat and ask around. A missing cat quest isn’t popular even amongst other odd job types quests. At any rate, I intently went searching around downtown, in order to complete my ongoing quest. That’s when---
"Woooo—”
“Hm?”
For a moment I heard a howl-like sound.
“What was that?”
I stopped and listened closely to hear it again, but I heard nothing.
“Was it just my imagination...?”
Though I certainly heard a howl... I looked around just to make sure but there was no sign of anything.
“Meow.”
“Oh!”
The pink collard Calico cat suddenly appeared in front of my eyes.
“I found you!”
In a panic, I immediately chased after it but the Calico Cat noticed me and with a strong first step took off. The cat smoothly avoided the passersby and went into a back alley. I chased after it, making sure not to bump into anyone. The back alley was a dead end. However, as expected from a cat, it swiftly leaped onto a wall’s scaffold and jumped onto the roof and escaped. I see, this is pretty troubling. Especially for new adventurers, they have to go all out just to keep up. Plus, as you are busy trying to get up on the roof, the cat is already escaping to its new location. However...
“Oof.”
“Meow!?”
In one breath, I jumped onto the roof, landing right beneath the cat. The cat tried to escape but I quickly captured it.
“Capture complete.”
“Meow! Meow meow meow!”
“Whoa!? Calm down.”
The cat frantically tried to escape and swiped their claws at me but I evaded it. Hmm, I wonder why animals despise me? They’ve hated me even in my Black Emperor days. The same goes for monsters, the moment they see me they have an urge to kill me and attack. It’s a different story when it comes to humans. I’ve been living my life with no problems. And not once has someone told me that they didn’t like me the moment they saw me... I have to be careful from now on when accepting odd job quests. At any rate, I safely returned the cat to its owner, completed the quest and then returned home.
* * *
The next day. I accepted another non-herb collecting quest and headed over to the client. This time, it was a transporting goods quest so unlike a herb collecting quest where I would bring the items to the guild, I had to head over to the client. The contents of this quest consists of a company looking for someone to load goods onto a carriage. Though surprisingly not many people are willing to do such a quest. The labor is quite taxing and the pay is low. And on top of that, the company might demand compensation in the case that you damaged any goods, which is why people avoid this kind of quest. Though, I don’t mind the low pay and even in the case that I damage something I don’t mind paying the compensation fee either, since I have the money to do so. Well if I were to damage the goods by my carelessness that’s one thing but if someone were to accuse me of something strange then I’d have to look for other options. But that probably won’t happen. While thinking about this topic, the company building came into view. The company was the biggest amongst the companies within the city. Upon arriving, a carriage standing in front of the magnificent building, was having things loaded onto it by people already. I quickly headed over to the person who was giving out orders.
“Excuse me! I’m here for the quest posted at the guild...”
“Huh? Oh! You accepted that quest!? Wait here for a sec!”
After giving out brief directions he came back.
“Sorry for the wait. I’m Berumo. President of the Berumo Enterprise!”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Bran.”
Berumo gave out a sigh as if he was shocked.
“In the end you’re the only one who accepted the quest.”
“S… sorry about that.”
“No, it’s not your fault. I’d like it if they accepted quests that regarded the local area but adventurers are more interested in monster hunting so it can’t be helped. I just wish they could at least look at our quests.”
“...”

I could only give a vague smile towards Berumo’s words. Well maybe if the reward was higher then maybe it’ll be a different story, buy even that isn’t for sure. The company would go bankrupt though if they offered a higher reward for loading goods quests. More than anything, I’m sure there’s a lot of adventurers who are concerned about compensation fees and hours spent working. In reality, these kinds of quests can take 2 days to finish and the progress can vary.
“Oops, I ended up complaining didn’t I. Anyways, you’ll be fine as long as you load the goods inside the company building onto the carriage as instructed.”
“Okay.”
I headed inside the building and inside was a variety of prepared cargo. It varied from food ingredients like grains, and vegetables to recovery medicine, towels and even daily necessities packed inside wooden boxes. For now, I gathered bags of grain and carried them over to the carriage.
“Y…you’re joking right? To carry that amount in one go...”
“Huh, isn’t one heavy enough?”
“He shouldn’t be able to carry them like that...”
Carrying the bags of grain grabbed the surrounding people's attention and caused a stir. Amongst them a person worriedly called out to me.
“H…hey are you okay carrying that much!?”
“I’m fine. This is still light for me.”
“I…it’s light...”
True, the cloth bags are quite heavy. But because of the training my master put me through, I can use my magic to spread through my body and make it become stronger than that of a normal person’s. That’s why this level of heaviness isn’t enough to make me suffer. The people around were taken aback but once they snapped out of it they followed in my steps and went back to work. Perhaps seeing me carry the instructed cargo triggered it but a man was carrying in multiple wooden boxes.
“H…hey, don’t overdo it!”
“I…it’s okay! I can at least carry this much!”
That’s what he says but just by looking at him I can tell how dangerous it was. Which is why I went to assist him but as I was on my way he unluckily bumped into a female employee.
“Ahh!”
“Ahh?!”
At that moment the man lost his balance and the goods he was carrying over were knocked over. And not only that but I also had to worry about the woman I bumped into!
“Hm!”
In an instant, I cut the distance and wedged myself between the man and woman, I then used one hand to support the falling woman and used my other hand to catch the knocked goods midair. That was close... I barely caught the wooden boxes in time.
“Are you okay?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah!”
The surprised woman replied with energy after I questioned her well-being. I roughly checked up on her but it didn’t seem like had any injuries. I released the woman who was fine for not and carried over the wooden boxes I had in my other hand over to the carriage. I then called out to the man who lost his balance.
“What about you? Are you okay?”
“O…oh. I’m okay... Rather! Thanks to you I’m okay! Sorry about that...”
The man had an awkward expression and scratched the back of his head. Berumo then came rushing over here.
“Did something happen!?”
“S…sorry president... I made a blunder...”
The man explained the situation and Berumo let out a surprised-like sigh.
“Ha...How lucky. The goods inside the wooden box didn’t get damaged. And I’m glad nobody got hurt but please be careful from now on.”
“Understood...”
Berumo then turned to me.
“Thanks to you, nobody got hurt. Thanks.”
“No, I’m just glad I made it in time.”
“Nevertheless...You don’t look like it but you’re quite strong aren’t you. How about you quit being an adventurer and work for my company? How about it?”
My eyes widened, I didn’t expect to get such a job offer. To think that I, who only knew how to fight would get a job offer like that... Although, at the moment I don’t intend on quitting being an adventurer.
“I’m extremely thankful but I like the way my lifestyle is right now.”
“I see...Well let me know if you ever change your mind.”
“Okay!”
I went back to work after such an exchange. We finished loading around sunset and I safely completed the quest.
* * *

A certain day after finishing various odd job quests.
“Congratulations on your promotion to rank 9!”
“No thanks.”
“What!?”
While trying to accept a quest at Rina’s desk as usual, she said something strange. Promotion to rank 9...
“I’m fine staying in rank 10, so no thanks.”
“No no no! You can’t do that!”
“Please, somehow...!”
“Even if you ask me, it’s the rules! rank 10 adventurers is just an interim period. Every rank 10 adventurer ranks up once they’ve completed a certain number of quests!!”
“N…no way!”
“Why are you so down about it…?”
Despite finally becoming the rank 10 adventurer that I longed for, I didn’t expect to be forced to rank up to rank 9. My master recommended me and I started from the middle ranks, but I properly took a test all the way to rank 0.
“Aren’t there supposed to be a test for promotion…?”
“Tests start from rank 7 and above. Adventures rank up naturally with time until rank 8.”
“What, all the way up to rank 8!?”
I fell to my knees. Th…there’s no way… What’s going to happen to my quests…! Rina's face stiffened as she looked at me in despair.
“I don’t understand why you're so depressed about it… Usually, people want to promote and work hard for a promotion… That’s why I’ve never needed to explain the natural promotion that occurs up until rank 8.”
“There are people that think rank 10 is fine, you know.”
“That’s just you, Bran.”
There’s no way I’m the only one. There’s gotta be someone else who shares the same sentiment. I believe it.
“B…but it's fine isn’t it! Although it can be said that rank 9 is easy, the monster hunting quest restriction is lifted from rank 9 and above!”
“I don’t care…”
“Y…you don’t care!? U…uh, look. The rewards are also higher!”
“I don’t care…”
“What’s really going on!?”
Becoming able to accept monster hunting quests and obtaining higher pay isn’t important to me. As you know, I did monster hunting quests so much in my Black Emperor days, I’m at the point where I’m fed up with them now. I hate it, there’s no meaning to registering as a rank 10 adventurer if I have to accept nothing but monster hunting quests.
“I don’t know why you hate the idea of ranking up so much but as an adventurer you should increase the quests you can do for the citizens.”
“For the citizens?”
“That’s right! Even if rank 9 adventurers deal with generally weak monsters, it doesn’t change the fact that these monsters are a threat to citizens who have nothing to do with fighting. Adventurers can secure townspeople’s safety by defeating these weak monsters. And more than anything, it’s an adventurer's number one mission to pioneer undeveloped areas with crowds of monsters in order to spread humanity's living space.”
“...”
It’s exactly as Rina says, even the slimes in the plains are dangerous to folk who have nothing to do with monsters. In other words, it’s necessary to defeat such weak monsters. …Up until now, I’ve been defeating monsters as told by powerful people. Consequently, I haven’t thought about how it affects the townspeople’s lives. Hm… Do I need to consider hunting monsters from now on…? While pondering the question, Rina continued.
“Well, although you can start accepting monster hunting quests starting from rank 9, it doesn’t mean you can’t accept rank 10 quests and above anything else, monster hunting quests are popular amongst low rank adventurers. Which makes it difficult to get your hands on one, as it’s a first come first served basis…”
“So that’s how it is! I can continue accepting herb collecting quests then! If that’s the case then it’s fine!”
“Huhhh…”
I thought for sure that I wouldn’t be able to accept them once I ranked up. Actually, now that I think about it, I never thought about accepting low rank quests when I was an intermediate rank adventurer because the quests specific for that rank start to increase. Well, it’s because I was forced to accept those quests rather than the low rank quests. At any rate, I’m relieved that I can still accept odd job quests. While I was in high spirits, Rina let out a sigh.
“...That’s enough. More importantly, please hand over your adventurer license so that I can change your rank.”
Urged by Rina, I handed her my adventurer license and she once again put my license in the strange box. After a short while, I received my license back, on it was an engraving of my new rank, “rank 9”.
“Okay, I have now returned your license. I altered it and promoted you to rank 9, congratulations.”
“...Thank you.”
“You’re blatantly not happy about it!?”
I sighed while I regrettably looked at the “rank 9” engraving. Hahh… there’s no nothing I could do about it. At any rate, the important thing is I can still accept odd job quests. Luckily, there’s a test that needs to be passed in order to enter the intermediate ranks entrance, rank 7. If that’s the case, then I can stay in the low ranks as long as I don’t pass that test. Even if my rank changes I won’t stop putting my best efforts. I put my feelings behind me and as usual looked at the quest board and grabbed a herb collecting quest. Then, I had Rina process the quest for me, she looked at it and gave a sigh.
* * *

One month has passed since I was promoted to rank 9. In one month, I regrettably ended up promoting to rank 8. Although, I won’t rank up as long as I don’t take the promotion test. I’ll just complete odd job quests as a rank 8 adventurer from here on out. I headed over to the gilded and mid-thought I realized the adventurers that were already in the guild were looking at me. Then, one of the adventures was eyeing me with a look of suspicion.
“Hey, why’s everyone eyeing him down?”
“Hm? Ohh… you mean the odd job guy?”
“You don’t know about him? That guy hasn’t accepted a single monster hunting quest despite being promoted to rank 8. Up until now he’s been accepting nothing but odd job quests.”
“That’s right. While everyone immediately accepts quests and quickly takes the promotion tests, he’s the only one who doesn’t take the test and stays rank 8.”
“Like just recently, a new adventurer who got their license after him was promoted to rank 7.”
“Seriously!?”
“If he doesn’t have any intention of promoting, he doesn’t even show the slightest sign of fighting monsters. What in the world does he want to do and why did he even become an adventurer?”
I could hear criticism about me throughout the whole room. People have been giving me looks lately. The number one purpose of an adventurer is to fight monsters and secure living territory for humanity. Rather, there are a lot of people who believe in that. Amidst that, I probably seem like a coward from the point of view of the other adventurers. Though, I don’t intend on retracting my stance on this. In the end, a lot of adventurers don’t do quests for those purposes when they rank up, they do them for the money. Furthermore, powerful people like noble and royal families make adventurers into their lap dogs, in order to upkeep their appearances. Where’s the purpose for humanity in that? However, most intermediate adventurers hunt monsters so it’ll naturally help humanity. I ignored the stares, checked the quest board, grabbed a herb collecting quest as usual and headed over to Rina’s desk.
“This quest, please.”
“Okay okay, it’s another herb collecting quest right. Bran, you don’t want to try a different quest?”
“Hm? I sometimes do shopping quests and item search quests as well, don't I?”
“No, I’m talking about a hunting quest…”
“I don’t want to accept that kind of quest.”
Hunting quests are popular though, that doesn’t mean I don’t have opportunities to accept them. However even if I don’t do it another adventurer will properly do it themselves. Compared to them, odd job quests are untouched. New adventurers immediately rank up and transition into monster hunting quests. That’s why I accept and complete the stagnate untouched quests.
“It’s true that thanks to you the accumulated odd job quests are cleared out, but you don’t need to cling on to them to this extent…”
“It’s because it’s fun.”
“...The only one who can say that they’re fun is you, Bran.”
Rina sighed and gave a slight serious expression.
“But, don’t you know what everyone calls you because all you accept is odd job quests?”
“Odd job guy right? It’s fine isn’t it? It suits me perfectly.”
“Why are you happy about that…”
After all, it’s proof that people have an image of me doing odd jobs. Just knowing that gives me energy to try hard and complete these odd job quests. That’s why it makes me simply happy that my hard work is recognized.
“I don’t understand your view on this… but, at this rate you’re going to get labeled as a bad adventurer, you know?”
“When the time comes, it comes.”
Certainly, in the eyes of a serious adventurer I’m an eyesore. Of course, I’m working hard in my own way but what someone thinks is important is different, it’s simply different values. Rina, who's realized that I don’t care about what’s said about me, sighs.
“...fine. Just do one favor okay?”
“Hm? A favor? A favor from the odd job guy?
“Yeah. I ask because you’re the odd job guy… Actually, a girl registered as an adventurer a few days ago. And she’s started accepting quests as a rank 10 adventurer.”
“Oh, that’s good isn’t it.”
Beginner adventurers move up the ranks from this point after all. Rina gave a troubling look on her face.
“You see, she still hasn’t been able to complete a single quest.”
“What?”
My eyes widened to the unsuspecting words. As you know, exactly as my teased name odd job guy implies, there’s really nothing but odd job quests. What does she mean they can’t clear a quest…? Rina looked at me with slitted eyes as if she was reading my mind.
“...This is part of your fault, Bran.”
“Huh?”
“You take up all of the odd job quests, so the newbie doesn’t have a chance to grab a good odd job quest to do.”
“W, wait wait! It’s true that I accept odd job quests as much as possible but I don’t take them all, you know?”
“There’s a problem with those quests that you leave behind. For example, the lost cat quests are quite troubling… and compared to the high paying Hyria, the harder to distinct herbs are the only ones left.”
“Ah…”

She’s going as far to explain this to me so I reflected on my actions. It’s exactly as she says, other than the time I did a lost cat quest downton, I haven’t accepted one since. Furthermore, other quests around the town involve goods loading, and specific area cleaning. The company that posts most of the loading goods quests, just embarked with the loaded goods to sell them off, so they're not recruiting at the moment. And I periodically clean the city so there aren’t many cleaning quests either. And regarding the Hyria quests that I’m really into, they’re constantly being posted so I thought there was a demand for them, so I made sure to definitely accept them. Actually, Hyria is an important ingredient for making a medicine that cures light sickness and injuries. I accept other herb collecting quests but these ones are ingredients for hair restoration, mana potions, and for experimentation purposes but because they’re not as important as Hyria, they’ve been put on hold. As a result, only the difficult, tricky odd job quests are left.
“You always collect the herbs in top-quality condition, however everyone else isn’t like you. And lost cat quests are quite difficult because it depends on luck whether you can find them.”
“...Sorry.”
I was enjoying the quests so I haven’t given it much thought. This isn’t an excuse but, in the past I never caused issues by accepting a bunch of quests so I was careless. Rather, they were quests that no one ever accepted and were scaringly difficult so there was never a need to worry about them troubling anyone else. Rina got flustered after noticing me reflecting on my actions.
“Oh, I’m sorry! I ended up complaining to you a little, I’m not saying you’re in the wrong. In reality, odd job quests tend to pile up so It’s a good thing that there’s someone who’s willing to clear them up. It’s just that, there’s never been someone who’s been so gung ho on doing odd job quests to this extent…”
“So, what’s the favor you’re asking of me?”
Feeling uncomfortable, I asked her again, Rina opened her mouth.
“Actually, I want you to guide them.”
“G…guide? I’m not the type of person to show someone the ropes… Above all, I’m not even an adventurer who accepts monster hunting quests. I’m not in the position to teach other adventurers.”
“I know. Like I just said, I’m asking a favor from you because you accept a lot of odd job quests.”
Rina recited with a serious expression.
“I don’t expect you to teach her how to fight. She can learn that from the guild, no problem.”
That’s true. There’s probably nothing she can learn from me anyways.
“What I’m asking for… is specifically showing her how to complete a herb collecting quest.”
“Herb collecting?”
“That’s right. You are constantly collecting and delivering top-quality herbs so our clients are always extremely happy. That’s why, if you can share even a little bit of that knowledge it would be very helpful.”
“Hm…”
“...Of course, I’m not saying that it would be for free. Knowledge is an adventurer’s intellectual property after all. Which is why, I’ll post it as a quest from the guild and have them pay the reward. I’ll even have it promote you to rank 7 if you’d like—”
“I refuse.”
“...Joking aside, I can have the guild pay a hefty reward. What do you think?”
I’m not really opposed to teaching them. Rather, I don’t even know where my knowledge of herbs came from. I’m not sure it’s okay to teach something that you don’t know where it came from. However, it must not be wrong since it’s been recognized and I’ve been using that knowledge this whole time to collect the herbs. Besides, it would be reliable if I were to teach it. More importantly, I can’t ignore this issue if I’m causing problems for other new adventurers.
“Process that quest.”
“Really!? Thank you! This is experimental but, if more adventurers become more knowledgeable about herbs then it should be helpful for everyone in their adventures!”
Certainly, herb knowledge doesn’t just help completing quests. Hyria can heal wounds by just crushing it and rubbing it on the wound. Adventurers can prepare in case the situation calls for it. Through Rina’s— rather, the guild’s quest, it was decided that I’ll show up at the guild in the afternoon tomorrow to guide the newbie adventurer.
* * *

The next day. I headed over to the guild at the promised meeting time. A small blue long-haired girl with the same blue in her eyes was standing by Rina’s side. The small girl is wearing leather armour with her just recently bought sword sheathed. She’s probably the girl Rina was talking about yesterday. When I quickly headed over to where the two were, Rina noticed and faced me.
“Oh, Bran! Over here!!”
“N… nice to meet you! I’m Aria! Th… thank you for looking after me today!”
The girl named Aria who anyone can tell that she was rigidly nervous, bowed her head in a 90 degree angle.
“Hello, I’m Bran. You don’t have to be so stiff.”
“N… no! I’m having an upper adventurer show me the ropes, so I have to at least show this much respect…!”
How should I put it, this girl is filled with motivation. Other newly registered adventurers also have as much motivation but in the end that’s because they’re trying to promote quickly and become able to accept monster hunting quests. In contrast to that, Aria in spite of doing a herb collecting quest, is brimming with motivation. Even if I’m the cause of her troubles, she shouldn’t have any problems if she skipped this training. However Aria showed up with the intention to increase her knowledge. Though even then, I can tell the motivation in her eyes is slightly different than those in other adventurers.
“Well then, it may be abrupt but shall we start heading out?”
“Y… yeah! Which herb will you teach me about today…?”
“Just to be sure, I plan to focus on collecting Hyria and as soon as we find any other herbs that appear on quests, I’ll teach you about them.”
“I- I see!”
Rina had a sweet smile on her face after seeing Aria’s eyes sparkle in excitement from my words.
“Well then Bran, I leave the rest to you. Try your best Aria!”
“I will!”
We broke apart from Rina and I took Aria to the plains where Hyria grows. I immediately asked Aria a question when we arrived at the plains.
“Now then, this is the plains where most of the quest herbs can be picked. Various herbs can be seen with just a glance. Can you tell them apart?”
“S… sorry… I only sort of know about Hyria so anything more than that is a bit troubling for me…”
Aria had an apologetic expression on her face but there was no need for her to worry about it. That’s why she’s taking this training. So that she can learn about them. Plus, all she needs to know is how to distinguish them from one another. At any rate, the plains must look like there’s only weeds to someone who doesn’t know how to distinguish Hyria. The same can be said for the other herbs, rather it’s probably even harder to distinguish Hyria characteristics than the other herbs. From the point of view of someone who doesn’t have access to this knowledge it must be difficult to tell them apart. For now, I picked the Hyria at my feet.
“First of all, this is Hyria. As you can see, it has a characteristic of two leaves branching off from each other. When harvesting them don’t pull from the root, pick them off around the stem, then wrapping them in a wet towel can preserve their freshness. Although this works when you’re bringing them back to the city from the plains, if you’re going to be carrying them for multiple days then you need a different method to preserve them.”
“I… I see… By the way, what are these other methods?”
“Soaking the stem in water. You can carry them to a certain extent if you can use water magic but to go that far for collecting herbs is a bit much…”
“Th… that is a bit of an overkill…”
It’s a different story if an adventurer has an abundance of mana, if that’s not the case and the quest isn’t particularly important then there’s no need to frantically preserve the Hyria to that extent. Furthermore it grows around here anyways.
“At any rate, this method of preserving works for other herbs as well so you should remember it.”
“Understood!”
“Also… I sometimes see this one on quests as well.”
I said pointing at a herb whose leaves had a more concentrated color to them compared to the weeds and herbs around it. The plant’s leaves, with a concentrated green color, have serrated edges to them.
“This is a herb called Ruluk. It has healing attributes.”
“This is… I’ve never paid it any mind till now but this is also a herb huh.”
Well I guess even if you’ve never noticed it before, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a herb.
“The method of collecting them is the same as for Hyria, however you have to be careful when using Ruluk.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you can use Hyria herbs to stop the bleeding of open wounds by rubbing them on the wound. They can be rubbed onto the wound as they are. In that specific situation you can even get a better healing effect if you were to crush them and then rub the crushed Hyria onto the wound.”
“Okay...”
“And, with Ruluk, you can restore your mana by drinking it. However, if you were to eat it as is then you’ll get a stomach ache. That’s why you have to boil it in water for about 5 minutes, and then you need to extract the Ruluk essence from it in order to drink it safely.”
Generally the positive effects of herbs can be seen without doing anything with them, however sometimes herbs like Ruluk can have negative effects to the body if an extra step isn’t taken to prepare them. Aria listened and nodded with a docile look on her face.
“I’ll be careful!”
“Alright. For now, we’ll pick Hyria herbs. Try picking them following the instructions I gave just a second ago.”
“Okay!”
Aria replied energetically. She then proceeded to pick the spread out Hyria herbs. Aria was then able to safely collect the Hyria herbs and finished her first quest.
* * *
Around the time Aria safely completed her quest. At the Demon Forest adjacent to Kret of the Rireito Kingdom. Is home to strong plant and insect type monsters, making it one of the most dangerous zones in the world. Above all, it’s said that the 3rd Demon King, one of the demon kings who once instilled fear across the world, is sleeping in that forest. The monsters inhabiting the Demon Forest are believed to be under the 3rd Demon King’s ruling. It’s a very dangerous area, however even then, it’s one of the safer areas amongst the other dangerous territories. This is because, despite the 3rd Demon King being one of the demon kings that has been at odds with humanity throughout history, the 3rd Demon King in particular has been very docile in comparison to the other demon kings. Rarely taking action against humans. The 3rd Demon King is known to be moderate in the eyes of humanity. Acting as proof of this, the monsters of the Demon Forest hardly step out of the forest and it’s not particularly dangerous unless one were to step foot into the forest themselves. Furthermore, the Demon Forest is said to be a gold mine for humanity as the land is home to various important herbs. Though, this doesn’t change the fact that a demon king is living in the territory. Amongst the humans, there’s a belief that this is all part of the 3rd Demon King’s plan to trick the humans and attack once they have let their guard down. Consequently, in contrast to the scale of the city, there are a lot of soldiers based in Kret, which is the closest city to the Demon Forest. Deep inside the Demon Forest.

“This presence… Is that the 6th Demon King…?”
In a place made up of plants resembling that of a cradle, Natural the 3rd Demon King calmly awoke from their slumber. Natural is wearing plants around their body like a garment with a somewhat thin, translucent figure. The awoken Natural, spread her 6 senses to find the presence she sensed outside of the Demon Forest. She then grew a stern expression once she realized the sensation he felt earlier wasn’t his imagination.
“It can’t be… We defeated him…”
—The 6th Demon King. The demon king who was never supposed to be born and was defeated by the other 5 demon kings. The personification of destruction that destroys anything in front of it, without a single underling. Natural had sensed his presence.
“No, there’s no way it’s him… The forest would have been wiped by now if it was…”
Even the 3rd Demon King who humanity feared of, felt threatened and acknowledged the 6th Demon King’s power. Natural stood up and raised her hand in front of her.
“...Rise.”
With just one word the ground started to shake violently. As the ground swelled up, humanoids gradually formed. Furthermore, vines from the sprouted trees came stretching out one by one and entangled to the soil humanoids. The humanoids transformed, being fully covered in rocks and ore and finally growing over 5 meters tall. These bodies that Natural had just created were known as tyrant golems amongst the humans, and were rank 3 monsters. Just one rank 3 monster has the power of destroying an entire city. One rank 3 adventure or 5 rank 4 adventurers are needed in order to defeat a single rank 3 monster. Natural created 3 of those tyrant golem monsters right before her eyes.
“Alright, this should do. If it’s truly the 6th Demon King then these won’t be enough to even slow them down but I can’t just ignore it…”
Natural tilted her head and gave out a sigh.
“Nevertheless, the direction in which the presence disappeared is towards the city of the humans… What in the world is going on…?”
The just awoken Natural, is wary of the 6th Demon King’s revival so she accumulates her power little by little in preparation.