Green Hunt

"Oh, I thought you two weren't going to make it!" Thran exclaimed with a mischievous smile. Instantly, Lucian squinted hi eyes at him. His odd feeling from a couple of days popped up when he saw Thran's casual clothes. "What's with that look? Do I have something on me?" 

"No, why are you wearing that, and aren't you supposed to be at the counter...?" Lucian questioned, his confusion and suspicion was evident by his furrowed eyebrows. 

"Oh? I'm accompanying you two on this request." Thran answered. He waved his hand to dismiss Lucian's suspicion. "It is not uncommon for an adventurer's representative to do so, especially newer ones."

"I understand that... But why in those clothes?" 

"Hm? I do not see anything wrong with these, as you will be doing the task at hand." 

"Nevermind... Anyways, where do we need to go?" Lucian said. His frustration grew upon seeing Thran's attempts to convince him. He switched topics knowing it won't go anywhere. 

"Somewhere quite a ways from here, and no, don't worry we won't be walking. Follow me." Thran explained. He attempted to lead Lucian, who reluctantly followed. "By the way, how long has she been awake?"

"She's been awake for almost an hour." Lucian responded, he looked at the still sleepy Fei who he dragged with him. 

"Well, get her fully awake before we get there, okay?" 

Their destination was soon in sight. A carriage sat in a clearing, a few individuals stood around it, a couple of them wore shorts and short sleeved shirts, they either held a pair of gloves or had them sticking out of their pockets. One stood out as he wore a set of leather armor, a shimmering sword clung to his waist. Bystanders stood far from the center, eyeing them with a curious glint.

"Ah! Sir Thran! You finally made it, are these the rookies you talked about?" The man in leather armor shouted when Thran drew near. 

"Yes, go ahead and introduce yourselves!" 

Lucian tapped his chest with his palm, saying his name at the same time. With his hand which clung to Fei's wrist raised he introduced her. 

"Ah, a demi-human and a human partying together, good luck you two." The man in a hushed tone said. "My name is Nacht, I'll be your g- I-I mean your party member for this request." He hesitantly introduced himself, the smile he wore melted. "Let's get along, okay?" He stuck his hand out for a handshake.

"Okay." Lucian returned the handshake and nodded. His eyebrows subtly raised during Nacht's introduction, why would he stop himself in the middle to compose himself? He turned his head towards Thran who only gave him a smile. 

"Now that you two are acquainted, let's introduce you to the rest." 

One by one, Thran dragged Lucian and Fei to everyone around the carriage. Aside from Fei, there was one other demi-human, however he paid no mind to them. Once they were done, Thran stood in front of the carriage and clapped his hands; it was loud enough to draw everyone's attention. 

"Okay, now that you all know each other on a base level, I hope you all will get along! Now, pile in there, we'll set off here in a few moments!" 

Per his announcement, those closest to the carriage climbed inside first. Followed by Lucian, then Fei who he helped up with little struggle. Lastly, Nacht and Thran sat facing each other at the back. 

After a few minutes, a lady raised her hand. Like a child in class, she eagerly waved it to catch Thran's attention. 

"Yes, what is it?" 

"Mr. Thran, How long will it take for us to get to the farm?" 

"A few hours at most." 

She thanked him before lowering her hand. More hands raised soon after, each one was promptly answered by Thran. 

"Any final questions?" Thran called out. No one raised their hand, all had satisfied looks on their faces. "Lucian, Fei do you have any?"

"Yes, are you hiding anything about the request today?" 

"Nope, next question." 

"C'mon Fei, we-" 

Just as he stood up to leave, he was promptly thrown back in his seat by the carriage being jolted. He only got a smile in response, they were already too far in to leave. Even if he begged for them to get off, they would get denied. 

'WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN?!' Lucian internally cried out. He covered his head with his arms. 'Just why, did we get cursed or something?!' His fists clenched in despair. They only joined the ranks of adventurer's not long ago, but he felt as if they were cursed. He slowly lifted his head to look at Thran who peacefully watched the grass pass by.

'We can't get out of this...' 

Half an hour of staring a hole into the side of the carriage, he felt a slight twitch to his left. 

"Oh, you're finally aware." Lucian noted upon seeing Fei's eyes wide open. "We're on our way to the place, I don't think we'll need to use your staff..." He recounted what he heard to her. Her ears turned inwards, and a confused frown crept onto her face. "N-Nevermind, I'll tell you when you're fully awake." 

"O-Okay..." Fei whispered. 

"Oh, is Miss Fei finally awake? Did you keep her up all night, Sir Lucian?" Thran teasingly exclaimed. 

Fei inched closer to Lucian as in response to the sudden noise. 

"No..?" Lucian replied with a straight face. 

"Aw, are you sure? She's been awfully tired." 

'Don't say anything... Do not say or do anything...' Lucian repeated internally, he felt as if he said or did anything, he would deeply regret it.

"Nothing? That is no fun." 

"You seem to be in a good mood today, Mr. Thran."

"I finally got my long awaited day from the counter. And I am able to relax for the day while monitoring these two." Thran's body lowered as he rested against the wall of the carriage. "Today should be relatively safe, and easy so you should take it easy too, Sir Nacht."

Their ramblings went on for hours, every passenger inside glanced at them time to time. By the time their rambles stopped, Lucian was completely convinced that Thran had deceived him and Fei.

"U-U-Um Lucian... W-Where are we going...?" Fei whispered, her voice was so quiet that even he, who sat right next to her barely could hear. 

"I have no idea... Thran lied to us, we won't need to use your staff or my knife..." Lucian returned in the same tone. His shoulders slumped slightly during his miniscule recount. "Somehow, he hasn't revealed anything." Lucian stated, he stared at Thran who had his eyes closed and an eased smile stayed glued on his face.

"W-Why do you think he, he lied to us..?" 

"He's been avoiding saying things... I can't-" He was cut short as a small bump jolted the carriage. Fei tumbled forward, as her face neared the seat in front of her, Lucian wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back onto her seat. 

"T-T-Thank y-y-you..." Fei stammered, her cheeks turned around when she turned to look at him. Due to a mixture of everyone staring in concern, or in amusement and Lucian's arm remaining unmoving, her blush turned even redder.

"Did you get hurt?" 

"N-N-"

"Nice catch, but please don't do that in front of everyone." Thran interrupted their little moment. He smirked at them, his right eye opened to look at them. "Look where your arm is, or are you deliberately ignoring where it is?" Thran lifted his finger and aimed at Lucian's arm. 

"O-Oh, sorry!" He removed his arm from her waist "I-I didn't notice where I put it, sorry..." He apologized to the agitated Fei. 

"I-It's o-okay..." 

For the rest of the ride, Fei kept her head down, her ears followed and every so often her tail twitched. As for Lucian, his gaze stood fixated on a rather interesting wall; at least it was for him. Their situation left an amusing impression on everyone inside, as chuckles were resounding the entire time.

"Ay, what's with all the chuckling in ere? Bah, whatever we made it, get your butts out of there!" The guild's coachmen announced upon their arrival. 

"Alright, c'mon you lot, now's not the time for laughing." 

Both Nacht and Thran jumped out of the carriage's exit, everyone followed in their fashion, aside from Fei being helped down. Once everyone set foot on the ground, Thran directed their gazes towards their right. A huge farm entered their eyes, in the middle of the fields 2 green houses were lined up furthest from them a barn stood lonesome.

"You've got to be kidding me." Lucian muttered in disbelief. 'He really lied to us!' 

"What's with that reaction Sir Lucian and Miss Fei? I did promise you a hunting request, and today you'll be hunting cabbages and other types of vegetables!" Thran exclaimed with his arms reaching to the sides. "You asked, and you shall receive what you desire." 

"..." Lucian glared at him with disgust. He got their hopes up, albeit poorly attempted. "I'm going home, let's go Fei." He turned around and fully prepared for how long the walk was. 

"Wait you two, this request does pay well, and the walk home is rather long; if you do this today, it will be worth it." 

"Please don't lie to us." Lucian responded to him without looking back. 

"I am not this time, I'll give you your pay upfront if you would like." 

Lucian and Fei looked at each other, quickly coming to a decision. 

"Alright. We'll do it if you do pay us before." 

"Great! Here's the reward, 30 copper coins." 

He was eyed cautiously when setting it in Lucian's outstretched hand. He counted it then slid the coins into his pocket. 

"Alright! Now, let's work together everyone! You two, go with Nacht, he'll be the one showing you how to pick the vegetables; the rest of you, take the other side!" Thran ordered in a booming voice. 

"C'mon you two, go ahead and grab a basket and a trowel from over there and come to me."

Nacht pointed towards the side of the closest greenhouse. 

"Alright, now you see this? This is a head of cabbage, obviously." Nacht said, he crouched down and patted the head of cabbage directly in front of him. "These are the ones you want to harvest, you'll specifically look for the ones that feel firm, there are not signs of damage on the leaves." Nacht continued, once he saw that it clicked inside their minds he took out a knife out from a sheathe on his back. "Once you know its the right one, cut the stem of the cabbage and tada." He showcased what he meant and held the head in his hand. 

Setting it in the basket in Fei's arms, he moved to a separate row that was made up of carrots. His lesson on how to harvest them proceeded. Firm, brightly colored and no damages or visible issues. To gather them, loosen the soil with the trowel, and tug them out. With each individual vegetable, he explained and showed how to harvest and notice what to look out for.

"That's pretty much all you need to know, take this Fei; you'll need it since you don't have one on you." Nacht stated whilst handing the knife he used to Fei. She showed her thanks with a slight bow and took it trembling hands.

 "Mr Lucian, go to the furthest area and Miss Fei will take this part."

Following his instructions, Lucian jogged to the furthest part of the farmland and began the task at hand. Fei followed as well, instantly she located a nearby head. Setting her basket to the side, she crouched down and checked for any damage then checked its firmness. Once she confirmed it was good, she held the knife like Nacht and cut the stem.

One… Two… Three, with each head she harvested, her pace didn't slow until the fifth one. She continued till she could barely move the basket. Normally, cabbages wouldn't give anyone such struggles, these were different as an individual one was larger than her head.

Seeing her struggle, Nacht pointed towards a nearby barrel she could throw them in. 

"Um, Miss Fei do you need help moving that?" Nacht offered while he watched her struggle to move the basket an inch. His offer was seemingly ignored as Fei kept moving it inch by inch. 

'She's awfully weak for a demi-human…' Nacht thought, seeing her get closer. 'One around her size and gender, they would be able to move at least 15…'

Finally, Fei dragged the basket to the barrel with much effort. She hastily threw each inside then went back to harvesting more.

This process was repeated for a few hours, till they were called to take a break for lunch.

"Are you going to be okay…?" Lucian worriedly asked as he met up with Fei. They stood next to a greenhouse. Fei's cheeks were caked in mud, and eyebags were visible. 

"Y-Y-Yes…" She responded, even her voice sounded exhausted, it was rather low and airy.

"They said if you need to take a longer break, go ahead." Lucian said he offered her a bowl. "They're giving this for lunch, we don't need to rush so we can take our time." The bowl was filled with rice and vegetables lined the top. 

"T-Thank you." 

They both sat down, then slowly ate the lunch they were given. Even after they sat there, talking, Lucian led the conversation. 

Eventually they went back to their work. 

Fei's pace massively slowed down, her body kept yelling at her to stop. 

"Go ahead and take a quick breather." Nacht said to her, he noticed her struggling to even breathe. He took the knife from her when she tried to harvest one more head. "Take a breather, we can't have you killing yourself on the guild's property." 

Not willing to fight back anymore, she sat down on the farmland, not caring how dirty her clothes got. 

'He'll really abandon me…' She thought seeing Lucian's silhouette pace back and forth between crops. Moments of self wallowing later, she slowly got to gathering more. 

The cycle was never ending till dusk, this was the mark for all work to halt and their request was finally finished. 

"Good work today you two, you did exceptionally well for your first official request." Thran congratulated them, flashing them a proud smile.

"Thank you." Lucian thanked him. He was too exhausted to say much more, even at this point he felt a bit angry at Thran.

"Although Sir Lucian, next time you should take the time to inspect your crops; you were going too quick and made a few mistakes. And Miss Fei next time check the leaves of the crops, otherwise good job, that was the only mistake I saw."

Lucian nodded as he understood.

"Miss Fei?" Thran called her name but got no response.

Leaning forward, her eyes were snap shut, and the sound of her breathing was relaxed. 

'She's asleep… She really pushed herself today.' Lucian noted as a small smile crept onto his face. 

Suddenly, her body tumbled to the side and her head landed onto his lap. 

"Oh… my…" Thran muttered, he watched Lucian jolt as it happened. 

Everyone's gaze fell onto the two, which sent a slight shiver down Lucian's spine. 

Every cell in his body screamed at him to move her, but a silent force in his brain kept him from doing so. He tried to wake her up, but to no avail as she kept sleeping. 

Fei stayed asleep even after they stopped, she only awoke after Lucian princess carried her all the way to their home.