Chapter 8: Nancy, A Child Adventurer

There were tons of other interviews in the company. Ethan was given a name tag and sat on one of the chairs. 

"Hah, there are tons of others here. I hope I'll get chosen." Ethan said to himself. He glanced at the other interviews, they were also worried the same as him. 'I hope I get this job...' Ethan thought.

When he read the message he was overly excited. He was supposed to work at the convenience store, but the message came right on time. When it was Ethan's turn he was overly sweating but tried to calm himself.

It was a short interview only consisting of some questions regarding Ethan's knowledge of players, portals, and fate. The interview only took a whole 30 minutes, and after that, Ethan was out of the company.

"Did I do good?" Ethan questioned himself, he sighed and got ready to go home. "I hope I did a good job..." Ethan said. 

"I'm home.." Ethan opened the door to find his mother on the sofa watching TV. "Hey mom.."

"So how was it?" Martha joyously asked. "Did the interview go well?"

"I...Think so.." Ethan scratched the back of his neck, even though he wasn't too sure if he did well. "Anyways I'm going to my room to rest, I had to wait for three hours for my turn hah." Ethan entered his room and changed his clothes. "Let's just continue the quest." 

Ethan turned on his laptop and immediately was on the game's front page. "The creator told me that he changed some of the character's race...Let's see."

Ethan checked his other characters, 25 including Alice had changed their character race. Some even looked quite different from what Ethan had previously created.

Ethan kept scrolling through his characters and stopped. "Oh, this character! I forgot...It's been a long time since I last played this character, maybe I'll give it a try." Ethan pressed enter and logged in.

[Logging in]

[Character: Nancy]

....

"Grandpa, why are you here again?" Elena questioned her grandfather who was drinking beer beside her. 

"What? Can't a loving grandfather show his support for his granddaughter's first time here in Fate?" Reginald said while his face flushed red drunk.

"Hah, It would have been alright if it was the two of us. But why did you have to bring your guild?!" Elena pointed at the other guild members eating at the side of the inn. "This was supposed to be my day! Why do you have to ruin it alongside your guild members?!"

"Now, dear it isn't my fault. I told them not to follow me but they did." Reginald said trying to pin the blame on his guild members. "Besides, with the other guild members you wouldn't get hurt yet still earn exp points right?"

"Whatever...I hate this." Elena despondent ordered a bottle of beer. "Hah, at least you let me order a beer." Elena looked around the adventurer guild inn, she noticed that a small girl with long violet hair tied into a ponytail wearing warm clothing holding a small boomerang.

"Hey Grandpa, doesn't that girl look too young to be an adventurer?" Elena asked her grandfather and pointed at the small girl.

"Hmm? She is, life must have been hard for the little girl for her to resort to such a hard job." Reginald said and continued drinking his beer.

The little girl walked near the counter, she was too small to reach the counter but she had successfully climbed on the tall stool. "Hup!" The girl managed to climb on the stool and put down the flyer. "Hello."

The woman attending the counter and also the one who would approve the quest smiled seeing the little girl. "Hello darling, what can I get you?"

"Hello, I'm Nancy, and I want to take this quest please!" Nancy said pointing at the flyer.

"Oh...May I ask how old are you, little girl?" Sarah asked.

"I'm thirteen!" Nancy replied earning a chuckle from Sarah.

"Well Nancy, aren't you too small to be thirteen? I'm guessing your... hmmm Eight?" Sarah said causing Nancy to pout.

"I am thirteen ma'am..." Nancy said reluctance in her tone. 

"Well even if you are thirteen Nancy, I can't give you this quest. It requires you to kill a low-ranking dire wolf, it's considered a D-rank quest." Sarah said and patted Nancy on the head. "Now Nancy off you go.."

Nancy was stunned she sat still on the stool. "But I can take this quest by myself! I can!" Nancy urged but Sarah just smiled and didn't agree.

Nancy sighed and jumped off the stool, she heavily sighed and bumped into a tall figure. "Oh, I'm sorry." Nancy touched her forehead and glanced at the tall old man.

"Hello there little girl! Me and my granddaughter want to take on that quest, why don't we team up?" Reginald asked the little girl who joyously nodded in response. "Great, Sarah can I take the quest?"

"Hmm? Oh sure sir. Reginald." Sarah nodded her head and put the flyer away. 

"So your name is Nancy, right? I'm Reginald, you can also call me Grandpa! Now can I ask you why you wanted to take that quest?" Reginald asked curiously at the little girl.

"I wanted to earn money.." Nancy replied nonchalantly earning a few sad gazes from a table away from them. "Umm, grandpa are they your friends?" Nancy asked pointing at the other players.

"Yes they are, they're my guild members haha." Reginald let out a laugh, he patted Nancy's head and asked. "Aren't you too young to become an adventurer Nancy?"

"I'm thirteen though.." Nancy replied earning another laugh from Reginald. "You, you don't trust me?" Nancy asked her eyes narrowing.

"Well, I do, It's just that it's rare to see a young girl like yourself become an adventurer," Reginald said.

"Well, aren't you too old to become an adventurer as well?" Nancy asked earning a groan from Reginald. "You okay grandpa? It seems like you're hurt by what I said." Nancy said with a cheeky smile.

"Hah, anyways, why don't we go now? Off we go!" Reginald said and put out his hand for Nancy to hold. "Why don't you hold this old grandpa's hand?"

"No...Your creepy.." Nancy said walking away from Reginald, she stopped in front of Elena and held out her hand. "Can you hold my hand, big sis?" She asked.

"Sure." Elena held Nancy's hand, she glanced once more time at her disheartened grandfather and sighed. "Granpa hurry up let's go."

"Yes..." Reginald said with a despondent tone.

"So Nancy, are you a mage?" Elena asked, she was curious about the little girl. 

"Yes sort of..." Nancy answered. "What about you big sis?"

"Oh, I'm an archer," Elena said showing off her bow. "Are you experienced in quests?" 

"Yes, I'm quite adept in quests. That's why I was quite shocked that the receptionist wouldn't allow me to take this quest." Nancy said and added. "Maybe it's because it has been a while since I last took one that the receptionist thought I was joking."

"Oh...How long have you been an adventurer?" Elena asked.

"Thirteen..." Nancy replied earning a few question marks from Elena. "From the way you looking at me, you don't believe me do you?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah...." Elena replied, she scratched her cheeks and evaded Nancy's gaze. "Umm, anyways from the map I think we're almost there."

"Really? Then that's great!" Nancy joyously shouted. "I hate those scary wolves..." Nancy said.

"Well, they are a menace, especially to the ones camping in the forest. Elena said. "Um Nancy, so your weapon is that small boomerang right?"

"Yes, I use this to fight off enemies or distract them," Nancy replied and showed her boomerang. 

Two!

"It seems like we're here, and I think they've noticed us, Nancy," Elena said. "Granpa what should we do now?"

"Get to higher ground, you're an archer, and you Nancy you're a mage, you two aren't close fighters remember that," Reginald said and pulled out his gun.

"Let's climb that tree over there Nancy." Elena pointed at a tree and helped Nancy to climb up, Elena readied her bow and arrow while Nancy readied her boomerang.

"Umm but isn't Grandpa a shooter? Why is he standing there?" Nancy asked.

"Oh don't worry about my grandfather, he can take care of himself. If we stay there we'll only be a hindrance." Elena replied.

Awooo!

"They're here!" Reginald said. He cocked his gun and was ready to aim. Exactly five wolves bear their teeth. "Oh, they're angry as heck." Reginald joked. 

"Not the time to make jokes Grandpa." Elena rolled her eyes as she readied her bow.

"Nancy is too cute!" Ethan shouted aloud in his room, he was smiling while looking at the interaction between his characters.

Nancy was the fourth character he had created. A sweet little girl. A mage that specializes in transformation.

Ethan watched the old NPC Reginald, the other guild members who specialized in close combat begin attacking the dire wolves. Elena provided backup with her arrows, and Reginal also continued shooting to help his guild members.