Resounding Success

As the high-noon sun lightly seared the land below, the residents of Greyfen Town began to feel uneasy, especially Mayor Erold.

More than an hour had passed since Hal left…

"Is the young wizard back yet?" the injured old town leader asked in worry.

He wouldn't be able to move his left arm ever again and he would probably have to retire as the town's mayor soon, but Erold couldn't care less.

He cared more about the young man who, despite the clear, unreasonable difficulty of their request in exchange for a modest reward, went above and beyond for them.

Instead of treating everything as a mere business transaction, it was evident that the young man truly cared for them as a fellow human.

If Hal could grow into a strong wizard in the future, then the empire would be in good hands, and this was why Erold was so worried that a fine young seedling might lose his life because of their insignificant selves.

Arlo, who was tasked to watch over the injured residents, shook his head, causing the mayor to sigh with a heavy heart.

It was then that the makeshift infirmary's door suddenly burst open.

"M-Mayor! The young wizard is back!" exclaimed the defender who came to report.

"Truly?! Where is h–"

Before the elderly mayor could even finish his words, however, Hal had already entered, a slightly dazed look on his face.

His expression brought the mayor further worries.

"S-Sir Hal, what happened to you? Are you perhaps injured?! Arlo, call Aiko and have her treat the young wizard, quickly!"

"R-Right away, sir!"

But Hal grabbed the young man's wrists before Arlo could exit the makeshift infirmary, slightly jolting him out of his joy-induced stupor.

It was the 300 Chaos Points that made Hal go dumb.

"N-No need, I'm not injured."

Arlo slowly glanced at Mayor Erold and calmed down.

"I-I see… You seemed dazed earlier, so I thought…" the elder explained, before finally failing to contain his curiosity: "A-Anyway, may I ask what happened to the sprites? Was it too difficult to raid their lair after all?"

"Oh, right, the sprites…"

Hal knelt as he unpacked his bags, retrieving a slightly larger arcane core, four smaller ones, what remained of the solidified mana orbs, and two pairs of slightly damaged wings, all under Arlo and the mayor's dumbfounded gaze.

"I managed to kill them all," Hal responded with a sincere smile, his pride at somehow managing to keep his word to the hopeful town residents allowing him to temporarily forget his massive point gains.

"I believe they won't attack again."

The mayor couldn't respond for a few seconds before a few drops of tears streamed down his cheeks.

"Is that so…thank the heavens…and thank you, young sir Hal. Greyfen Town will forever be in your debt…"

***

Mayor Erold was injured and his town was in ruins, so, after a short but sincere farewell, Hal left Greyfen Town.

He decided not to eat lunch there, as the residents could barely feed themselves due to the current situation.

Hal didn't want to burden them with another meal.

Nonetheless, although a bit hungry, he was ecstatic.

Ten pairs of slightly damaged Mischievous Housesprite wings, sixteen F-ranked arcane cores, two solidified mana orb extracts of unknown value, the mission rewards, and slightly over 300 Chaos Points in total…

Who wouldn't be jumping for joy?

He would earn at least three whole silver coins for sure once he got back to Aeloria City to sell or exchange his spoils, so why would he skimp on a donkey cart seat?

Plus, he was out of offensive spell cards aside from his [Weak Mana Blast].

It would be safer to ride a cart where low-tier wizard guards could protect him.

Heading to the nearby village's ass terminal, Hal couldn't help but daydream about what spell cards he might obtain from the system, as well as how he would budget his spoils to exchange them for either money or academy credits.

But the sound of a Manatech Jeep's engine humming in the distance snapped Hal back to reality, prompting him to seek it out.

Owning a Manatech vehicle had always been one of his dreams.

They were also an extremely rare—if not almost nonexistent—sight back in Poporo Village.

He certainly wanted to see it.

Fortunately, it was headed his way, seemingly in the direction of Greyfen Town.

The jeep finally came into view.

Hal was slightly disappointed, as it wasn't one of the purchasable models, but a military jeep from the Imperial Army.

To his surprise, it was the Imperial Army Wizard Platoon camped inside the City of Aeloria just a week ago that he saw inside the vehicle, causing him to become slightly absent-minded as he moved aside to allow it passage.

'Hmm? Are they headed to Greyfen Town to resolve the sprite situation?' he pondered.

But on second thought, why would the Imperial Army send a whole platoon?

Even a single one of their wizards was enough to wipe the floor with those pesky things.

Hal could only conclude that they had a different agenda, perhaps somewhere farther.

With a shrug of his shoulders, he moved on.

Around an hour later, he arrived at the Donkey Exchange Terminal, paying a painful twenty copper coins for a seat that would last less than two hours.

***

Hal hadn't noticed that he had fallen asleep.

Rubbing his eyes and yawning, he looked toward the driver, realizing they were already on the wide main road leading to Aeloria City.

The daunting and impenetrable city walls were also already visible on the horizon.

Excitement gripped Hal's young heart. 

It was time to enjoy the fruits of his success.