Footprints were left on the dirt path that Lu arod upon. A soft breeze whisked through Fei’s messy long hair, causing it to flutter lightly. The st of grass filled their nostrils, a grassy pin sandwiched the dirt path, and a few rundown houses were scattered on each side as they tiheir journey.

  “Um… Lu, where are we going?” Fei asked suddenly after a few more minutes of walking. Their journey had been aimless to her, so far they have been walking for 30 minutes and have gotten to this destination. Lu even asked a few strangers, who begrudgingly gave them dires.

  “We’re going to the pce of our first request!” Lu responded in a slightly proud and disappoione. He slowed down his walking speed so he and Fei were walking side by side, then he held his arm in front of her while the crumpled request sat in his palm. “I know, it’s slightly disappointing but at least we got one!” He excimed after seeing Fei’s eyebrows furrow upon seeing the request.

  “I, I see…”

  “Ah, right we won’t need your staff for this…”

  “Here, let me carry it for you.” Lu offered as he put the request bato his pocket and stuck his arm out again. “, you’ve been carrying it for a while.”

  “Lu… I carry it.”

  “Alright, but don’t pin to me if your arms start to hurt.”

  Lu shrugged his shoulders. He knew demi-human physical capabilities were lower than that of humans, but Fei ecial case. She ’t keep up with his normal walking speed, so he purposely slows down for her.

  “I’ll be fine…” ‘She’s definitely lying.’ Yet again, Lu saw through Fei’s act. He stuck his palm out and motioned for her to give the staff to him.

  “...”

  ‘Should’ve said so in the first pce…’ Lu internally ented as Fei set her staff in his hands while looking away with a disgruntled look. A slight smile could be seen on his face as he stared at the back of Fei’s head. Her messy hair, that was white as snow, slightly fluttered in the wind. He muttered a few words under his breath which caused Fei’s ears to twitch slightly. “Anyways, we should be, oh I think that’s the pce!”

  Directly to their right, tall grass took over the wn and a small house could barely be seen behind the front. A mailbox with the number 308 painted onto it stood on guard in the front.

  “Yeah…. That’s it.”

  Rereading the address on the request and looking at the mailbox a few times., an ominous feeling took over Lu, he had hoped it was the wrong address. Choking that feeling down, Lu pumped himself up as he took his first step towards the home. “This should be… easy right?” He asked while looking back, each bde of grass reached his stomach. The smile that he had pletely disappeared, instead his lips twitched in fear. His once lively eyes were filled with despair as he looked at Fei.

  “...Right?” He once again asked, yet Fei kept her head locked iher dire. “Um… I think you shou-” The sound of his foot hitting the grou a jolt down Fei’s spine.

  “Um…”

  “What, what, what happened?!” Fei fumbled over her words as she whipped around. Her face was red as a tomato. “Lu?” Lu’s fear filled face made her heart beat quicker.

  “Take… a look.”

  Lu poiowards their destination with his thumb. Her beet red fapletely turned white as a ghost as the view left her mouth agape

  “Shouldn’t this… Be a higher ranking request?!” Lu cried out as he fell to his knees. “It makes sense why it was covered by everything! I shouldn’t have taken it!” He smmed his fist against the earth while cursing his decision to take the request.

  After a few more strikes, Lu fully vented out his frustrations. After a deep breath, patted the dirt off his clothes and rose.

  “Maybe, they just need help with the inside.”

  “, they might just need help inside… Hopefully.” Lu said to Fei, whispering the st word under his breath, unknowingly jinxing everything.

  “But, but what if…” Fei stammered but stopped herself after seeing Lu’s soulless eyes.“We’d still have to do it.”

  It would look terrible on them if they quit on their first request.

  ‘Plus, I o earn moo pay off this.” Lu thought to himself while looking at the staff in his grasp.

  “Alright…”

  Mentally preparing themselves for the hell they are about to experience, Lu took the first step. A horrid odor entered Fei’s nostrils before she took a step, instantly causio cover her h her shirt.

  “What’s wrong?” Lu asked with a fused tone. But he asked too te as his step spped him in the face. “WHAT THE?!” He reeled back while holding his nose.

  “What the heck is that smell?!”

  A horrendous smell spped him in the face as soon as he took that step. His eyes widened as he looked at Fei who hadn’t taken aep. ‘Will we be able to do this? Maybe, it won’t be that bad once we get closer…’

  Slowly, Lu waded through the tall grass, his free hand didn’t leave his nose. Fei was in toe, c her h her shirt, while holding her nose as well.

  As they got closer, the stench that encapsuted the entire wn did not worsen, nor did it dissipate. Despite it not dissipating, Lu stayed strong, at first his entire being told him to run away but he gained fidence as he kept going. Fei, oher hand was struggling to keep up, the odor kept assaulting her mind causio bee dizzy, nearly tripping a dozen times in their short journey.

  “Finally…” Lu let out a loud sigh as he stepped onto the deck. Their short, yet treacherous journey has met its end. Not daring to take his hand off his ill, Lu walked up to the front door of the house.

  Instantly, the door flew open and a balding old man flung through it with a pitchfork in his hands.

  “WHADDYA TWO PUNKS WANT WITH US?!” His voied as he raised his pitchfork in a threatening maowards the nhtened Lu, who jumped as he heard loud thuds ing from inside. “HAH?! ARE YA DEAF?! ANSWER ME!” With each step the old man took, Lu took a step backwards, eventually tumbling over the unscious body of Fei, who fell unscious upoering the ter of the domain of stenbsp;

  “e came here to fu- fulfill the request you submitted at the adventurer’s guild!” Lu excimed as he grabbed the crumpled request in his pocket and held it in front of him.

  “Request? Ha? What request?” The old maically eyed the paper in front of him. A p expression soon took over. “Ahhh! That! I fot abou’ that!” He let out a hearty ugh. “Sorry for the scare, young man.” He offered his hand before tinuing. “‘Bout time ye adventurer’s took it.”

  “It’- It’s fine…” Lu relutly accepted his apology. After taking the old man’s hand, he was yanked up as if he had weighed nothing. As his 2 feet hit the ground, the old man poiowards the body of Fei after releasing Lu from his grasp.

  “Is that yer partner?”

  “Eh?” ing his neck, the view of Fei lying on the body with her eyes closed sent Lu onto his knees. He let out a sigh of relief after seeing her breathing, albeit raggedly. ‘The smell must’ve gotten to her…’

  “Ha, ha, I guess so. e inside, youngster, don’t worry your little partner will be fine.”

  Every cell in his body told him to run away after hearing the old man. If the stench outside was this bad, how much worse would it be inside?

  “Don’t worry, it only smells like this outside.” The old man said to him after seeing the horror on Lu’s fabsp;

  “...” Snuffing the fear, Lu steeled his resolve. Removing the intense grip he had on his nose, he ed one arm around Fei’s back, his other arm sat beh Fei’s knees. In one swift motion he rose with Fei in his arms.

  “e on! e on! We don’t got all day!” The old man ushered him through the front door.

  To his surprise, the inside was pletely spotless! Not even a speck of dust could be seen!

  ‘What the heck is this pce?! Why does it smell so bad outside?!’ He was pletely befuddled at the situation. But that was short lived by the loud thuds ing from behind him. Which of course, was the old man aggressively setting the pitchfork down.

  “Don’t look too shocked, youngster.”

  ‘We’re really going to out there…’

  The urge to cry out at their predit took over Lu. ‘Why was this the only request we could find?! WHY?!’

  “HONEY! WE GOT VISITORS!”

  His silent curses were cut short by the booming voiing from beside him, which caused him to nearly jump out of his skin. How the heck does an old man with barely any hair, and looked to be 80 be this loud?!

  “Waht?”

  “Nothing…”‘What have I gotten us into…’ If his hands were free, he’d have facepalmed himself tless times.“HO-”

  “Oh, be quiet you old fart.” An old dy shot back after appearing from around the er. “Wele to our home, please have a seat over there, and I’ll make everyone some tea.” She tinued while gesturing towards the room to their left. Her tone shift left Lu bewildered, but he decided to listen as he was afraid he’d get the same treatment. Following the old woman’s gesture, a table stood in the middle of the room, on one side 2 rog chairs stood on guard, meanwhile 2 normal chairs sat oher side.

  “Um… Okay.”

  Entering the appointed room, Fei, who was in his arms, started to stir. Her face torted into fusion as she looked around the room, soon it turned cherry red as soon as she realized she was being princess carried.

  “U-Um… Lu, you put me down…”

  ‘Cute…’

  “Ay, you’re awake, I thought ya were going to nap a little longer.” The voice of the old man rang out behind the two after Fei set foot on the ground. “What? I was just messin’ with ya.” He shrugged after seeing Fei’s frown. “Anyway, have a seat ya two, it’ll be a while before the tea es.”

  In a swift motion, uing of his age, the old man sat in the rog chair that was o them and fshed them a small smile. Nodding his head, Lu turowards Fei who was shaking a small amount.

  “Hey, it’ll be okay.” Lu whispered to her. “I don’t think these two will try anything.” He tried to assure her. His words had truth to them, aside from nearly getting skewered by a pitchfork just moments ago, Lu felt no ill iions from the old couple. “I mean, look at him…” Taking a step to the side, the old man rocked bad forth on his chair while his gaze was somewhere else.

  “O-Okay…” Fei squeaked out, due to a mixture of her embarrassment and nervousness her heartbeat had not slowed down. Her quivering had ceased after listening to Lu’s words.

  “.” Lu fshed her a smile, he motioowards the chair with his head.

  Upon taking a seat, Lu tried his best to find a fortable position, but it was nearly impossible. Parts of the chair poked him, albeit small, it was enough to make sitting normally unfortable. Eventually, he gave up and found a position where it poked him the least.

  Looking towards his left, Fei sat there looking down at her hands, she was fidgeting with her hands. A slight twiered his heart, no words could e to his mind.

  “Ay, I got a question for ye youngster.”

  “Huh? Sorry, what did you say?” “I got a question.”

  “O-Oh, what is it?” “Why did you take my request, the rewards aren’ eye dy, so why?”

  “It was the only request I could find.”

  “Eh? I thought the adventurer’s guild retty popur pce. How long have ye been adventuring for? Seeing yours and hers getup, it seems ret, right?”

  “We started today.”

  “Ye started today?! What the heck! I should’ve raised the reward on tha’ request if I knew ye two were in’!” The old man excimed after hearing Lu’s response.

  ‘Wait, how much is the reward…?’ Lu thought after hearing the old man. Looking at the request once again, he was reminded how legible the handwriting was. “How much is the reward?” “Did ye even check?” “I did, but I ’t read anything on this.” Lued waved the paper in front of him. The old maured for him to hand it over. Lu obliged without a moment of hesitation.

  “It clearly says it right here!” The old man said as he poiowards the top of the request.

  “Sir, some of this ’t be read by normal people.” Lu replied while looking at the old man with a deadpan look. Was it eve to be read by the average person? Who knows. This question popped into Lu’s mind. His thoughts were quickly interrupted by the old man’s frown.

  “It clearly says, 10 coppers and a bag of vegetables. you even read, boy?”

  “Sorry.” “Hmph. And here I thought reading was an important skill all adventurer’s should have.” The old man ented after tossing the request babsp;

  ‘How am I supposed to read this fully if no one aside from you .’ Lu fought the urge to snap back. Just as he was about to shove the request in his pocket, Thran’s words fshed inside his mind. “Um, Sir, I will need you to write ynature on this…” Lu said whilst feeling awkward after their exge.

  “Just set it oable, I’ll give ye my signature if you show you do your job.” The old man responded while not giving Lu a gnbsp;

  “But-”

  “I said what I said, boy.”“Alright… Sorry.”

  “Hmph.”

  Silence overtook them, aside from the small grumbling ing from the old man. It sted until the old woman came in carrying a tray with 4 mugs ying atop of it.

  “Here you go, please enjoy the tea.” The old woman said after setting the drinks down. A sweet smile was glued onto her face during the process. “Oh, you’re awake?” She remarked after seeing Fei sitting on one of the chairs. She didn’t get a response as Fei was too focused on fiddling with her hands.

  “Thank you…” Lu thanked her. Grabbing the mug by the handle and holding the side. Peering into the mug, a green liquid filled the ey, and a few strands of steam flew into the air.

  “Oh, please be careful, it’ll be hot.”

  Heeding the old woman’s words, Lu braced himself as he took his first sip. Her words were irue, as it felt like someone had lit a fire in his mouth, and it quickly sprinted down his throat.

  “What do you think of the tea?” The old man asked while hiding his smile.

  “It’s… good.” Lu responded, his expression stiffened as he tried to hide the pain he was feeling.

  “Good response, boy.”

  Ign his remark, Lu watched the old woman hand Fei her tea. A smile crept onto his face as the old womaly took care of Fei.

  “Once ye two are done, ye will be taking care of the front wn.” The old man expined after a long silence. He stood up after setting his mug down. “I’ll get ye yer tools for the job, e outside when yer done.”

  Lu nodded his head in uanding, meanwhile Fei’s ear twitched after listening to his words.