Looting the orc camp was a complete disapointment. There wasn't even a single shiny item in the entire thing. Still, we had at least killed quite a few orcs and completed the quest. I spent a bit collecting ears with Nix's help before heading back towards the vilge.

  "Well, looting that pce was a massive waste of time." (Dragonfly)

  "Yeah, but at least we will still get our reward for the quest. I think that the poster said that we would get 8 silver for the job. Since it was quite a bit harder than expected, we might even get increased rewards!" (Nix)

  As we began to run again, I figured that it would be a pretty good idea to check out my new status.

  [Name: Dragonfly

  Age: 13

  Race: Half dragon

  Level: 9

  Hp: 411

  Mp: 345

  Str: 249

  Vit: 259

  Dex: 67

  Int: 170

  Skills: Intermediate space magic, intermediate fire magic, ??? affinity, basic swordsmanship, draconic genetics, pain resistance+, mental fortitude UP+++, draconic breath, blessing of ???, the power of friendship

  Titles: Collector of Shinies, Dragon of Camity]

  My stats had improved quite a bit, as expected. I had also obtained a skill called basic swordsmanship. I had a feeling that I knew what that was about, but I still checked to be sure.

  [Basic swordsmanship: You know the basics when it comes to hitting stuff with a sword. Your technique isn't anything impressive, but it usually gets the job done.]

  Apparently, my training at Camity's mansion had given some visible results, which was nice.

  Returning to the vilge was faster than expected, as my speed had improved by a decent ammount. Even with the time that we had saved, the sun was starting to be low on the horizon when we arrived.

  "Here we are! Let's go to the Guild to hand the quest in." (Nix)

  Walking into the guild, we noticed that it was far busier at this hour. It wasn't crowded or anything, but there were at least a good dozen adventurers. There were also three receptionists handling the adventurers that were turning in their missions. Actually, no, it would be more accurate to say that there were two receptionists, because a certain catgirl was sleeping on the job again. Considering the fact that no one was trying to wake her up, I figured that this was a frequent sight.

  How had she not been fired ages ago? I had no clue.

  Nix, wasn't about to let this stand, however. She walked over to Eva and summoned a small ice cube. Surprisingly enough, the receptionist "woke up" as soon as my friend got close.

  "Yes, hello, how can I help you?" (Eva)

  "We would like to hand in a quest that we completed." (Nix)

  "Right, the orc subjugation request, I remember. Hand in proof of your kills, please..." (Eva)

  I took the orc ears out of my storage and dropped them all on the desk in front of her. She looked surprised at the ammount before her expression turned to annoyance.

  "The information about the quest was wrong, wasn't it? Oh, this is going to force me to do so much paperwork... Is that ear from a high orc?" (Eva)

  "Yes, we killed it! It was very big tho." (Nix)

  The disapointment on the catgirl's face had reached a level that I didn't know was possible. Her tail was also whipping the air repeatedly.

  "Well there goes my ability to nap for the rest of the day... The quest was absolutely not C-rank, so you'll get paid extra. Let me just figure out how much." (Eva)

  She then began to look through a few documents that she had taken out from under her desk. She was most likely searching for some information that she needed, so Nix and I waited patiently.

  After a while, she spoke up again.

  "Well, taking down an orc tribe that rge and with a high orc leader would normally be a B-rank quest. Payment's 1 gold and 6 silver. Just take the money and go..." (Eva)

  She handed the coins to the both of us before starting to fill out some forms. Nix pushed them towards me, so I grabbed the money and sent it into storage.

  Looking around, I realised that we had attracted quite a bit of attention from the other adventurers.

  "How did they manage to wake that receptionist up? She usually never even works." (Adventurer 1)

  "Have you heard that? They defeated a high orc. At their age, I wasn't even able to beat a regur orc." (Adventurer 2)

  "I'm kinda surprised to see adventurers above D-rank. There usually isn't any work for them here." (Adventurer 3)

  While Nix didn't seem to mind being the center of attention, I absolutely did. I walked out of there as fast as I could without running, dragging my friend along.

  "Alright, we have to find a pce to stay for the night. Oh, there's an inn over there. That should do." (Dragonfly)

  The inn turned out to be quite comfortable. It didn't beat Camity's mansion, obviously, but it was comfortable enough to make me almost not regret having to pay 8 bronze coins to stay there. That wasn't much, since one gold coin was worth 10 silver and one silver was worth 10 bronze coins, but still. It reduced how much money I had, which I didn't like.

  Well, profits for the day were still of 1 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze coins, so it wasn't too bad. Besides, I was keeping the money for both Nix and I, so I had to learn to let go of some coins anyways.