NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3: Chapter 2: More Problems
"So let me get this straight," Jane said, "You took on a two-week quest with exceptional results. Slaying Wyverns. But you failed to complete this quest yesterday. For picking flowers. Am I getting this right?"
It had taken hours for Jasson to download those cat videos with only Fisk and his men for signal, so Jasson had returned home late in the day. Harriett had also come home at some point, and about smothered Jasson when he approached the not-ruins. Apparently they'd been worried that Jasson had been abducted, which wasn't far off. He got a thorough chewing from Petra on not meeting up and disappearing on them. Then, the next morning after playing with the kittens, Jasson rediscovered the quest in his pocket.
Jasson hung his head and said "I got…distracted. Side quested from a side quest. Is there really no chance of finishing this?"
"No, it expired yesterday evening." Jane sighed and wrote something down, "Which makes three successes, two failures. Are you really trying to go up in the guild?! If you fail the next one, you will be demoted down a level and banned for a month."
"Yeah," Jasson felt his neck burn, "Maybe I should just steer clear of flower quests."
"You do that," Jane said.
After a moment Jane sighed and said, "Look, why are you trying to go up in level? The gold you tipped the other day is indicative that you no longer have need for money. Maybe it would be best for you if you focused on more productive things than sitting around here every day."
"I want to get to the metal ranks," Jasson said, "so that I can access to the quests in the back."
"Oh, those." Jane shook her head, "Every level you go up is exponential in requirement. Each type of quest only gives you so many points, and flowers will take you forever. If you're going for higher ranks and don't need money, then pay attention to the quests stamped with a flower. Those are pro bono, or unpaid requests posted by the guild. The credit you get from completing those, no matter how small, is double or triple that of the paid equivalent."
"Wait," Jasson said, "So each quest gives you credit? And you can go up in levels faster by taking quests that don't pay?"
"Correct," Jane said, " And the credit is based on the difficulty. We usually teach you this once you reach Willow, but you skipped that rank."
"I guess I did," Jasson rubbed the back of his head, "Thanks for the explanation. Are there other ways to advance faster?"
"Hundreds," Jane motioned to the tip jar, "The tip jar is optional and limited. But the Adventurer's guild has been around for hundreds of years. There are so many weird ways to do anything if you dig far enough. The city library should have a copy. Now excuse me, there is now a line forming behind you."
Jasson apologized and hurried to the side, making his way to the Quest Board. He'd noticed those flower stamps before, and now he knew that they meant. Jasson perused the offerings, working with Trainslate and what Do A Lingo had taught him. These were little more than chores for the town. A few mentioned that the requests were from an old grandma or something, and Jasson was starting to understand. These were service projects for adventurers to do in order to get to higher levels.
Nothing that good yet, Jasson thought. I should go let Harriett know the new criteria.
Jasson left the guild and made his way down the corner. He'd set this up as a rendezvous with Harriett while she was horsing around. Jasson didn't know why he bothered establishing a place to wait when Harriett materialized beside him the moment he rounded the corner.
"Hey," Harriett said, "We didn't even make it to the first quest of the day."
"I got new criteria," Jasson said, "Although this would be easier if you came into the guild with me."
"I would but," Harriett disappeared, "Walking on people's heads to get to the quests is against the rules."
Jasson looked up and Harriett hopped off his head. He could barely feel anything when she did that.
"So what's the new criteria?" Harriett said, "You already mentioned that we needed to focus on quick trips."
"We're looking for ones with flower stamps on them and-" Jasson hesitated. The more difficult the quest, the more he'd get from doing it pro bono. But this was Harriett…
Eh, whatever. Jasson thought. How hard could unpaid quests be?
"Flower stamp quests eh?" Harriett said, nodding, "Looking for a charity mission? Shunning reward to serve the community?"
"As long as it doesn't take weeks to do," Jasson said, "A short quest that's as challenging as possible. That's the way to raise my rank the fastest."
Harriet burst in an ear to ear grinch-grin and said, "Now you're speaking my language."
Chills rushed across Jasson's back, completely stripping him of the right to say that he didn't see it coming. This was the girl that cleared a den of wyverns and risked her life for the fun of it. What Harriett considered challenging…no. It would be fine. These were unpaid service projects.
"All right," Jasson said, "I…I will be in the guild. I'm going to be looking over what you grab before we go on the quest."
Just to be safe.
****
The lunch rush was oozing out the Guild doors, fleshy heat wafting out the windows with the little air crystals panning over the crowd. Jasson looked at the quest in his hands. It was one of two quests Harriett had grabbed. Jasson was torn.
This first one was a quest for monster culling in the local woods. There had been an abnormal rise in monster activity in this area, and the old lady living there was starting to be threatened. Simple enough, a good task for an evening. It wasn't even due for two more days.
But Jasson had seen enough fantasy, and real life, to know that this would be a more difficult quest than it seemed. Something was obviously manipulating the monster behind the scenes. Of course, Jasson felt bad for leaving the old lady there. They should help.
On the other hand, or more specifically laying flat on the table, was another quest. This one was a request by a poor local potter who needed to clear out a warehouse. Something had been eating the dogs and cats, and the potter couldn't afford to hire people for the job.
Huh, Jasson thought. Petra and Clara should be done feeding those kittens. Wonder if they'll be at the lunch meet-up. Then we can go handle one of these and...
Jasson looked between the quests. Even if things got out of hand, he couldn't envision the twins failing to complete the quest for the old lady. On the other hand, a quest in a tightly packed warehouse didn't seem like a good place for Clara's giant sword and Petra's earthshaking magic. But to bring everyone for both seemed like overkill.
Jasson stood and looked to Jane's desk. There was a line. He'd be late for the meetup if he got in line now. But Grog was free.
"Hey," Jasson approached Grog, "Is it okay if I'm not on one of the quests? I want to split the party for two quests."
Grog looked down over his book and said, "Don't make a habit out of it."
"Okay?" Jasson looked for a further response, but Grog was back in his book, "Thanks."
Jasson hesitated before the door. Did he really want do take both of these quests at once? The time limit was a couple days out. But, then tomorrow there might be more quests and…
"Victory is for the brave." Jasson said, and stepped through. Officially taking on both quests.
****
Petra tapped idly on the first quest and said, "So you want us, both me and Clara, to tackle some light pest extermination? Wouldn't that be…overkill? I have things to do."
"I mean," Jasson shrugged, "this has probably festered and gotten out of hand. Back up is useful."
"You're not wrong," Petra said, "But why don't you serve as back up? Then we can send Clara and Harriett on the other one."
"Hey," Clara said, "I wanted to go- eh…exterminate slimes for a few hours. Why doesn't Jasson back me up?"
"No," Petra said, "It's best if I go wi- It's best if you go with Harriett. Your heightened senses would be more useful in a warehouse."
Jasson looked between the sisters. Were they arguing about something in twin-speak?
"No offense," Harriett said as she balanced her sword on the tip of her finger, "But I'm not in the mood to work with you two in a tight space. I saw what you did on the battlefield."
"We can be careful!" Petra said, "I have an extreme precision shot!"
"And what happens to whatever is standing behind what you shoot?" Harriett tossed the sword and caught it deftly, sheathing it at her side.
"It is cleanable with cold water and time," Petra said, "If I'm really gentle, at least."
Harriett said, "So if you scrub the blood off, it's not too bad. With your gentlest shot."
"Fine!" Petra threw her hands up, "We'll take on the other quest."
"You could see how fast it can be done." Jasson said, "Speedrun exterminating the threat."
"That sounds fun!" Clara said, grabbing Petra's arm, "Let's go Petra! If we're done early enough, we'll help Jasson out."
"Sounds like a plan," Jasson said, "After all. With people as strong as us, what can go wrong?"