Day 5

Early in the morning I arrived at the Adventurer's Guild to take a new Quest.

Unlike every other day I didn't saw a single adventurers in the bar area, this got me curious so I asked the receptionist if anything had happened.

To my surprise, while I was peacefully sleeping in the morning, the adventurer guild had received news of a goblin army attacking one of the neighbor villages around the city.

This gave birth to an emergency quest where all rank C adventurers and above were called to deal with the army.

Because I'm just a rank F newbie, I was exempt from the quest, and had I not asked her, there was a chance I would never know about this event at all.

Worrying about my well being, the receptionist advised me to not take any quest that required me going south for the next three days. Thanking her for the heads up, I assured her I would follow her advice.

---//---

Today's Quest was a simple transportation quest, I would be given a cart from the requester, take the cart to the orchard outside the city, fill it with fruits, and head back to deliver the fruits.

I blindly followed the map to the requester's address and discovered it was the bakery in front of the Inn I'm staying... talk about coincidence!

The bakery is called Apple Pie Bakery and they make delicious lemon pies as well! The bakery is run by a 3 people family, there is John, the father who works as the baker, Tiana, the mother who works as the cashier and Ann, their cute daughter who is my age and works as the waitress.

Unfortunately Ann already has a boyfriend, or else I would have asked her out the first day we met, just don't say that to her, it's embarrassing.

As I arrived at the bakery, Tiana greeted my like always with a happy smile that seemed to me like a wolf who just saw fresh meat enter it's den. Unfortunately for her, this time I was not here to waste my little money, but to gain money instead, so as I explained to her I was here for the Quest her smile disappeared and she told me to follow her.

Tiana took me to where the cart was parked and after giving detailed instructions to me we parted ways.

Honestly I was surprised on how much she changes depending on who she is dealing with.

---//---

The orchard was located north of the City, about 3 hours walking at normal speed, but because I was pulling the cart I expected to take a bit longer to go and even more on the way back since it would be full. Good thing that I started this quest early, but still it's better to not let my guard down and be fast.

After saying good bye to the city guards, I pulled the cart through the dirt road while watching the landscape. The day was cloudy but there was no signs of rain, which was one of the motives I choose this quest.

I had never walked through this road so this was a new experience to me, but exactly because of that I needed to pay attention so that I wouldn't miss the crossing leading to the orchard.

---//---

After walking three hours straight, I reached the crossing.

Good thing it was quite easy to find, now it should take just a bit longer and I would reach the place.

Bad thing is that this is just the beginning, and I still had a lot of work ahead of me before this quest was over.

Putting good and bad aside, I kept walking and soon reached the destined place.

The orchard owner was an old man named Tiller, he had white beard and a bald head, his body was quite skinny and he was a little lower than me.

Old man Tiller, greeted me with a smile and confirmed I was his to transport the fruits back.

After confirming my identity he took me to the storage and started lifting the fruit boxes to take them to the cart. I tried to stop him but the old man was full of energy and wouldn't listen to my pleas for the sake of his health. Noticing I wouldn't be able to change his mind, I ended up giving up and started transporting the boxes as well.

As we transported the boxes to the cart, old man Tiller started talking about the history of the orchard. Hearing his stories was quite interesting and among other things he told me this orchard had been here for 17 generations and is almost as old as the city Arkana itself.

By the time we noticed, all boxes had been transported to the cart. The old man didn't stop talking for a second, making me quite surprised on how is he not out of breath.

As I planed to say good bye and head back my stomach protested embarrassing myself.

Old man Tiller laughed out loud and then invited me to join him for lunch, which I readily accepted.

The lunch was quite good, it was a mix of seeds and rice, cooked like a soup. When I asked the recipe he answered me laughing it was a family secret, and if I wished for it I had to marry his granddaughter.

As I contemplated the idea, I said good bye to the old man and started pulling the cart back to the city.

---//---

By the time I reached the city again it was already evening.

Nothing new happened in the way back, aside from a small break to rest for 30 minutes.

The cart was truly heavy, making my pace drop by almost half, that's why I ended up arriving so late.

As I reached Apple Pie Bakery, Teresa asked me to unpack the fruits and store them in the storage. Having no options left, I followed her orders and took another hour to complete the assignment.

So, finally, after working like a donkey for a whole day, I went back to the guild to receive my reward.

As the receptionist congratulated me for completing my quest, she told me Teresa had left a word of praise for my hard work and even left me a bonus as well, which surprised me a lot.

It seems like all my hard work paid off, today let's have some meat again!