The adventurous manager

Fish and goblins

It's still dark when I return from my morning jog, I must say that I am quite proud of my progress. When I think that I couldn't run three kilometers without ending up half-drowned in my sweat, after two months of daily training, I can now run five kilometers without too much difficulty.

Yes, it's been two months since I last spoke to you. I must say that I didn't have much interesting to tell you, my life was reduced to three things: training, completing a mission, and not making waves. This cycle repeated itself every day, over and over, without a hitch. So much so that I ended up telling myself that I had finally made a place for myself in the village. After all, I don't have a bad reputation, I've successfully completed about thirty quests, I'm friends with the innkeeper and the herbalist... In short, everything is going perfectly.

Right?

Well, no, it turns out I let my guard down without realizing it, and it was Raiya, the redhead at the adventurers' guild reception, who explained it to me. Indeed, the other adventurers noticed that I never undertook quests involving any kind of combat, and some people eventually hypothesized that I had no special skills related to fighting, which was entirely true until yesterday.

Oh yes! I finally unlocked the special skill related to my dagger! Not to mention my special herbology skill! But I'll tell you more about her two skills in detail later; all that matters is that they are at the "basic" mastery level. Ciiph had already mentioned it, and I asked him what it meant. To put it simply, a special skill offers its users physical, technical, or mental bonuses, and the higher the mastery level, the greater the bonus. There are four levels of mastery: basic, intermediate, advanced, and perfect. Obviously, to unlock a higher level, you need to train, and the closer the mastery level gets to the perfect level, the longer the training time.

In my case, I have two skills at the basic level, and as I told you, I won't go into more detail about them for now, because I will have to use them for a very particular mission.

The end of my run brings me to the doors of the adventurers' guild, which isn't open yet, but I head to the alley leading to the back of the building. Raiya is waiting for me there, hiding her face under a hood. I would like to tell her that it's completely useless since her red hair sticks out from it, and she's the only red-haired woman around, but I'm not in the mood to tease her, especially since she's probably saving my life.

- You smell like sweat.

- You are very poorly disguised.

I know, I said I wouldn't bother her, but she really asked for it.

- At least I smell good.

- That's you saying that.

She smiled at me, then handed me a class 5 mission that she had taken care to reserve for me.

- The other adventurers think you don't know how to fight, they plan to attack by surprise in the forest.

I nod, she has already told me, but I suppose she is too worried to remember. Knowing this, I decided to take two precautions before going on the mission. First, I asked Raiya to give me the quest before opening hours. The adventurers stationed in the forest won't be expecting my arrival for a good three hours. I should be able to bypass their ambushes while they sleep.

Second precaution, I am going to undertake a "delivery transport" quest, a dangerous quest because the cargoes are prime targets for bandits and often require adventurers to fight. I hope that by successfully completing this kind of mission, I will finally prove my worth in the eyes of my colleagues.

So I leave the village, the sun has not yet risen and it is difficult to navigate in the dark, but I don't really have a choice. I know that the adventurers who targeted me have hidden themselves along the edge of the forest that runs alongside the path for a few kilometers. Not knowing exactly where they are, I can't afford to light my lantern and risk revealing my position.