A Adventurers job

Stopping at the yard and dismissing his horse, Jay walked over to the main building of the Molgen's Farm.

After knocking on the door he heard a lot of rustling inside and after a short while, the door got unlocked and opened a gap wide. With weary eyes, a middle aged woman looked through the small slit and inquired what he wanted.

"I just wanted to report about the Gnolls in the north. I was told that Mr. Molgen placed a request for the Adventurers Guild." J.

"Oh...yes, my husband did that. We'll report to the guild immediately. I think it's best you leave now, young man." Mrs.

"Should I help you with something else, like some pests?..." J.

Getting Jay's hint, Mrs. Molgen very slightly nodded her head and looked to her left. Showing her a friendly and soothing smile, Jay equipped his Wingblade from the quick-slot but held it behind his back.

With a sudden move, he grabbed the door, pulled it open with force and while he shoved the mature Lady to the side, stabbed forward with his sword.

Just in time he hashed a glance on his target, showing him it was a bandit, when his blade pierced right through the young mans leather armor, heart and spine.

A fire charged Wingblade was still one scary tool...

Without even able to scream or somehow else notify his comrades, the thief fell back and died instantly. Jay knelt down and checked on the woman he has had to push aside pretty rough to free her.

That was exactly something that had felt so off to him.

Normally farm workers do greet most passerby, at least some of them. And a farm this silent in the middle of the day was also something he hadn't seen.

Combined with the feeling of getting watched and the story he heard from the bandit leader, Jay had guessed this farm got taken over as well.

"Where is your husband and who else got taken hostage?" J.

"He....he's in the ki...kitchen. Right through t...that door..." Mrs.

"Hang in there. Anyone else?" J.

To that question she shook her head as tears started to spill.

Jay went to the door right left to them where she had pointed to. Listening on the door he could hear a muffled voice, but even with his incredible ears, couldn't make up words.

Kicking in the door and jumping in, he understood why.

The man trying to shout was getting his mouth held in a tight grip by a bandit and a knife held on his throat.

"You there, stop right the..." was all the aged bandit could threaten Jay with.

The hilt peeking out of the man's forehead as he fell back, letting go of his knife and releasing the Farmer, was the result of Jay's throwing skill. He had taken one of the kitchen-knives and hurled it towards the kidnapper, hitting him right between the eyes. That was not something a regular level 14 human could handle.

Thanking Jay in a whisper, Farmer Molgen told about five more bandits hiding in the storage room next to the kitchen.

Wondering why they didn't come out, Jay remembered how soundproof this building seemed.

Helping the man up and sending him to his wive, Jay crossed the kitchen.

As he opened the next door he saw four men and one woman, all at least level 16 and looking with shock in his direction. Most shocked was the woman who had a knife sticking in her chest.

Jay had picked up the one from the kidnapper and hurled it at the closest target.

To her misfortune it hit the only women in the group, instantly killing her. Or maybe it was Jay's misfortune...

The next bandit died due to a missing head. Arcane missiles on instant cast and close distance was one hell of a blast.

The third simply got knocked out by a heavy right hook while the fourth was the one with bad luck.

Jay had wanted to keep the storage as clean as possible, that was why he left out his sword or anything that would make the fight bloody.

A knife through the heart was bloody as well, but not to compare with a split body.

That was the reason he kicked the fourth he attacked on his torso, hurling him back.

The unlucky part was a hook on one of the beams at the ceiling.

It was one of those made for hanging on and drying meat.

Well, meat hung on it, but it was far from dry...

The bandit had flown up there and hit the hook with the back of his head, piercing it through his skull.

With the fourth bandit dangling from the ceiling, the last one dropped his weapons. He went on his knees and begged to be spared, though that was not something Jay had on his agenda.

Grabbing his filthy head on both sides and twisting it abruptly to the right, Jay ended the bandits thoughts.

With the passed out one pulled behind by his hem, Jay walked back to the kitchen.

The Molgens had sat down together and held each other in their arms.

"Can you tell me what happened?" J.

"Y-yes. But first let me thank you. I'm Edgar Molgen, and this is my wife Beatrice... They came here about a week ago and took us captive. All I know is that, after a few men came here in the night and locked us and our workers in the barn, a really big group of them arrived..." E.M.

"About 50 to 60 people?" J.

"Y-yes, how do you know?" E.M.

"Oh, don't worry about them anymore.. go on, please." J.

"...At that time me, my wife and some of the older workers had been let go to work for them. The fields are still getting tended to by a few of our older employees. What happened to the younger ones, I don't know." E.M.

"But I do. They said the younger ones will work in a mine. Even our son got sent there!" B.M.

"Witch mine?" J.

"I...I don't know. He talked about it as he..." B.M.

"As he what? This is the first I hear of that." E.M.

"...as he forced himself on me. Would you believe that? An old women like me?" B.M.

"I'm sorry. Truly. You say he, whom do you talk about?" J.

"That man you are pulling. He and his friend..." B.M.

"...May I lend out your table and kitchen for a while?" J.

A bit surprised, the couple rose to their feet and left the kitchen.

After throwing the bandit he still was pulling, on the table, Jay affixed him with ropes from his inventory. Something he kept always prepared after a special situation.

After double checking the deceased in the storage room and taking their weapons and valuables, Jay went back to the man on the table. It was time to get some information about the mentioned mine, their main base and how many bandits still secured the surroundings and were on lookout for the field workers.

Slapping him awake he started his interrogation.

It took just one shattered kneecap to get information about their numbers.

Only fourteen bandits had been stationed there, so minus the six in the house and the one in front of him, Jay had only seven more to go.

Another crushed kneecap and a broken elbow later, Jay learned the main base was on another farm but he didn't know wich, as it changed after they left.

He only knew it was still south of where they were.

Jay slowly took a liking to the small but effective mace he just looted from one of the deceased bandits. It had no enchantments and didn't deal much damage, but it was perfect for this kind of work.

Asking the next question and getting no answer, the next elbow got softened with a shattering noise.

Then Jay learned the bandits took over the farms to abduct their workers and take the valuables. They either sold the items or took them for themselves but the capable people were always transported away.

Those left would help growing the fields and work until the farm made no more profit and got burned down.

Suppressing the urge to instantly kill the man, Jay asked for the mine and it's location.

No answer.

Jay broke the left wrist.

Still no answer.

Turning the mans arm so he could hit it from the side, Jay shattered the right wrist.

A scram but no answer.

With a frown on his face, Jay looked the man dead in the eyes and asked again. But he only shook his head.

Slowly Jay got the feeling this lowly bandit really didn't know more about it. Because of that he stated on last question.

It was the one why they took Beatrice Molgen, a aged woman. As Jay got nothing but a questioning look from the bandit he decided to take measures.

The small mace descendet on something soft with a loud bang and accompanied by squishing sounds, and a high pitched scream filled the room.

Jay had taken care of the mans nethers, munching them to meat paste making sure the bandit wouldn't repeat his wrongdoings even in the next life.

Not even hoping for any coherent words, let alone answers, Jay went around the table and to the mans head.

With a heavy punch down, he bent the mans head to the back at the tables ends, shattering his neck and relieving him of his misery.

As he left the kitchen, he excused the mess he made on the table, but they didn't mind. Telling the Molgens he would free the farm from the rest of the bandits, Edgar thanked him and even promised to report to the Guild.

Suddenly Beatrice grabbed his hands and looked with pleading eyes right into his own.

"Please... save our son. I know you have the ability to do so. Please. If he's still alive you have to get him back..." B.M.

"I won't promise anything. Until now I don't even have any hint as to where their mine is." J.

"If you find him, this farm might still have a chance..." E.M.

"A chance?" J.

"Without my son, this farm will have to close down soon. I am no longer able to shoulder the work myself and with that many workers missing...." E.M.

Thinking about what the man said, Jay saw some logic in his words.

The old workers were gone and the man had long passed his prime. Even if his wife was helping him, that was far from enough to sustain the whole farm and shoulder the workload.

***

Quest:

Save all Molgens

Object:

Free the Molgen's son and possible workers.

***

Though Jay was still a little reluctant to comply to the woman's pleas, his system clearly wasn't.

With the quest now obligatory, Jay gave in and told them he would do whatever he can to free the workers from the mine. But first he was going to eradicate the few bandits left on the fields supervising the few old workers left.

Jay barely heard Edgar Molgen state he would open another request for rescuing their son and promise a good pay, as he left the main building. The way over to the barn took a few seconds only and then he peeked around the corner through the partially open gate.

Inside he saw a group of four workers cowering together while a bandit holding a big axe watched over them. The four men were all over fifty years of age from how it looked like.

Just as Jay was about to walk around the corner, a second bandit appeared, escorting a woman back to the group of workers.

She was trying to hide her teary face while she walked over with unsteady steps and sat down a bit away from the men.

The bandits gave a high five as the second one arrived and they stood together for a second.

But just as the loud clap sounded, one of their heads exploded. It was the newly arrived one who held no visible weapon.

His skinny body simply slumped down, while the other one turned aroound an faced Jay.

Latter had used the second the bandits stood together and cast a arcane missile, homing in on the defenseless bandit's head.

A second missile got partially blocked by the other man's axe as it reached him not a second later. The bandit's wounded hand and face showed he took quite the hit though.

Standing still, he saw Jay leisurely walk over while only eyeing the poor workers cowering on the ground. Suddenly the men fell backwards and his world turned dark.

The hilt peeking out of his bare torso might have been the reason.

Jay had hurled the knife he found with the last bandits towards the man while he had been busy blocking the arcane missile.

The knife had still been at the ready as Jay had kept it in his hand on the way, playing around with it.

Kneeling down and taking back the knife, as well as the big axe from the fallen bandit, he turned to the workers.

They were completely petrified, not daring to utter a word, so jay simply told them they were free but needed to stay in the barn for another twenty minutes or so. He also asked them to look after the woman as she seemed to have had it hard with the bandits.

With now five more to go, Jay looked at the field behind the barn first.

A single person there was still standing while the others kept plucking the onions that grew on the field. Thanks to his good vision and the low growth on the field, Jay could analyze him as a bandit.

Using his rifle again after a long while, he charged it with mana and fired.

Two shots later another head went poof.

The befuddled workers picked their tools and, contrary to Jay's expectation, fled towards the farm. Glad the Molgens had so trustworthy employees, Jay's hopes for the farm rose a bit again.

As there was no other bandit in sight, Jay walked back to the front of the main building.

On his way to the farm he had seen at least three other bandits guarding on the fields. By then he only saw two of them, so he'd have to find the last two afterwards.

Sneaking up on the first one as the bandit was watching the workers, Jay readied a heavily charged arcane missile.

As he was about ten yards away, crawling through the okra field while using hide, Jay fired the spell. With nearly half of her upper body missing, the female bandit on the other field further away died instantly to the critical hit.

The bandit Jay had come close to followed her not two seconds later as Jay stabbed his fire charged sword through the mans heart.

For a short moment, Jay thought about if, by the time he got a higher luck stat, he would land each hit as a critical.

But a certain notification in his log captured his eyes: His sorcerer job had gone up once in the last battles and just then it had jumped to level 15.

Giving it a quick check in hopes he could set the next job, Jay got a little surprised as well as frustrated. The job was still not at it's peak, so he had to hope for it to be finished at level twenty.

Jay had learned the hard way that jobs did only give the first skills or abilities for free, anything that follows has to be learned the hard way. And as he had come to know, the slight benefit to learning certain skills, spells and abilities a job brings with it, stays even if the job got switched.

That way, Jay had no gain to keep a job for too long.

Dismissing those thoughts and his status, Jay looked around for the last two bandits.