Fields Of Brown

As it turns out, they can take on almost all the requests that are currently available. There were only a few on the board that they couldn't take and it was because it either required them to take down a very dangerous beast or it was a personal request. And in order to have the option to accept the dangerous requests, they had to prove that they can handle it by completing a bunch of small tasks.

"I guess this one will do," Sirks walked out of the tavern with a piece of paper on hand.

"Which one did you choose?" Iris snatched the paper out of his hand and read it. "It better be exciting..." her voice trailed off when she saw what it was. "Really? Escort?"

"An escort mission?" Kies took a look at the request Sirks chose and saw that it was indeed an escort mission.

"..."

"Don't give me that look! Were you two really expecting me to choose something hard for our first mission?"

"Yes," both Kies and Iris said at the same time. Even though it sounded reckless and like a terrible idea, they needed to complete tougher requests so that they can earn permission to take on the high-risk requests which had better rewards. Kies did the math and saw that doing around ten normal requests on average amounted to the same reward that was given from the average high-risk task. The more money they can make, the better.

"For requests like these, isn't one person enough?" Any one of them could handle this by themselves and they didn't really need to send all of them for just this one task. They can split up and do four separate ones to make things faster.

"Sorry, but no can do," Sirks turned that idea down.

"What do you mean?"

"Read the requirements for this request."

Iris looked at the bottom where the requirements and the rewards were written. "Minimum party of three people... What!? Why would you need three people to go collect a couple of plants!?"

"The desert's a dangerous place. Who knows what they might encounter. I think it's pretty reasonable," Sirks agreed with the requirements.

"Ugh... Isn't there another that we can choose? This one doesn't even pay that well."

"Believe it or not but this is the best paying one that we can accept for now," Sirks told them.

"Are you serious? We only have two weeks you know!"

"Yes, I know. I was the one who mentioned it." Sirks rubbed his brow. "You know what. Three of us take this and the last one takes something else. This way we can tackle two at once. Sound good?"

"Now that sounds like a better idea," Iris agreed. "But who will be the lone wolf?"

Sirks pointed at Kies like the answer should've been obvious. "He's the best fighter here. Wasn't sure before but I'm sure now after seeing him fight with that woman. He can handle things on his own. Also, you said you have a way of finding us right?"

"Yes." As long as Iris has the fragment on her, he would be able to find her wherever she is.

"There we go. He's the best candidate. The rest of us three are together. We will meet here again at sunset."

"Wait, we're doing it right now?" Kies asked him. It was already rather late and there are only a few hours until sunset.

"Yes. I already asked them to contact the person who requested this task. They're on their way."

"Wow... That's... Uh, quick," Iris commented.

"Yeah so you need to get in and choose something as well," Sirks told Kies.

"On it." Kies walked into the tavern and felt a couple of glances at him. Before anyone could get up or say anything, Kies went over to the board and took the first request he saw with no minimum person requirement, and walked out.

"Which one did you choose?" Iris asked him curiously the moment he came out.

"Not sure."

"What?"

"I just grabbed a random one."

"Interesting..." Kies held up the request and read it. "Pack of wild beasts harassing farmers. Exterminate them."

"Simple enough. Reward?"

Kies showed the paper to Iris and she frowned when she saw how little the reward was.

"I mean, this did come from a farmer. They don't make that much money," Sirks told them. It was difficult being a farmer in the desert. Even though the price of crops is high, it wasn't a very profitable job as the money needed to maintain the soil in this climate is by no means cheap.

"Also, you can sell the beasts you've hunted afterward to a butcher or skinner for more money," Sirks added on a positive note.

"Oh! If you do that then you'll make more money than us even though the reward written is actually less!" Iris exclaimed. "Wait... Why didn't you choose an extermination mission for us then?" She looked at Sirks with a disappointed face.

"I didn't think about that until now," Sirks admitted. "It's kind of late now, but we'll do that tomorrow. Okay, let's head off. I see our guy coming."

Sirks pointed in front of them and everyone turned to see a young man dressed in thick robes running up to them. *Huff Huff* "Are you the ones that took my request?" he asked them.

"If you mean this one," Sirks held up the request they took, "then yes."

"Yes, it's that one. That one is mine."

"Okay, let's go then. We'll meet you back here," Sirks told Kies as the three of them walked away with the man.

"Good luck!" Iris waved goodbye to Kies and they disappeared into the crowd.

Well, it was time to start on his request as well. Kies left the city without any issues. The guards at the entrances didn't bother checking him as he was leaving and not entering so they assumed that he was fine since he came out of the city. Afterward, Kies headed to the location written on the paper and spotted a large windmill in the distance. When he got closer, he saw that the farm was a small one and it was by the river that flowed into Otane.

When he arrived, he looked around for the person who made the request but couldn't figure out where they were. The place was empty other than for a few strange-looking animals locked in a pen. What was even weirder is how few of them there were in comparison to how big the pen is. Kies knew that animals needed space to roam around but this was way too much.

On the other hand, the size of the area for the crops is much smaller by around half of its size. Despite all the land for growing crops, only two of the fields had something growing in them. The rest of them were empty but still looked like they were being maintained.

"Croak." Kies walked over to the fence and leaned against it. One of the tall birds hopped over to him and tried to peck his hand. Kies took his hand back and moved away from the fence.

"Careful there. They don't like strangers."

Kies turned and saw an elderly man coming towards him with his hands behind his back. "Welcome young one. Might I ask what you're here for?"

"Are you the owner of this farm?"

"If you can call what is left of this a farm, then yes, that would be me." It was true that the farm was in terrible shape.

"Oh, I picked up this request from you." Kies held up the piece of the paper for the old man to see.

"That... Oh yes, I remember now..." The old man sighed. He had a sad look on his face as he walked up to the fence and stood beside Kies. "You should leave. No point in taking that request now."

"Why?"

"I posted it over a year ago and no one accepted it... Well, until now that is."

"You mean that no one took it in all that time?"

"They have no reason to. The reward isn't very good and the risk is also quite high. This is a task meant for a small mercenary group of at least five people, but the reward is only that of one person. You can imagine why no one took it." The farmer knew it himself that the reward was too little but from the looks of it, he didn't have the money to do anything about it. He couldn't pay the mercenaries what he didn't have.

"To be honest, I don't even have that much money anymore. So even if you want to do it out of pity, I have nothing to pay you," the farmer told him disappointedly.

"I see..." Kies watched the farmer as he gazed blankly at the few birds he had left. They wandered around the enclosed fences with no energy and had the same lifeless look on their faces as the farmer. He also saw that the farmer had some patches of skin that were darker than the rest, which was likely a result of being exposed to the sun for too long.

"Why didn't you ask the army then?" Kies asked him. If there was something troubling him then he could've one and reported it to the soldiers. After all, isn't a soldier's job to protect their citizens?

"I did, but they didn't have time to waste with me. They're out fighting demons and other dangerous things I reckon."

"They're too busy trying to overthrow the current throne and take it from the queen," Kies told him what they were actually doing.

"Huh... How fun... Well, it's getting kind of late and since you came all the way out here for me, why don't I make dinner for you. H*ll, you can even stay the night. I haven't had company in a long time," the old farmer offered Kies.

"I guess I will accept." He saw that the farmer was lonely and so decided to have dinner with him. "But I need to get back by sunset," he told him. He couldn't spend the night here.

"Is it your family?"

"Not really, but I guess you can say that."

"Oh, so you're an orphan."

"Hm? What makes you say that?" Even though that was true, Kies didn't know where he suddenly got that from.

"Am I wrong? There are a lot of orphans in this place and they often form groups to survive in this harsh place. If it's not your family, then it has to be that."

"Yeah, that's exactly it..."

"How disheartening to hear." The two leaned against the fence and stared at the birds for a few more minutes before the farmer pushed himself up. "Well, since you have to be back by sunset, I better start making the food now. Feel free to explore this place while I do. I call you when it's done."

"Okay." Kies watched the farmer walk away and disappear inside a small wooden building that he thought was the barn but it turned out to be his house.

"Oh yeah, one last thing." The farmer pokes his head out from the door to tell Kies, "If you see those beasts, just run. Don't try to fight them. No matter how strong you are, there's only one of you and a bunch of them."

"Got it."

The farmer disappeared back into the house after hearing Kies' answer.

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