Chapter 189 Association Second Floor

Ding—

Pale, slender fingers dropped limply onto the desk like falling leaves. The bell's crisp ring burst out, echoing for a mere few meters before the noisy chatter filling the air swallowed it.

"Next..."

Molly kept her head down, her feeble voice no clearer than the fading bell.

She kept her right hand hidden beneath the counter, rubbing her fingertips back and forth across a clean, prepared handkerchief. Several bright red streaks stained the pristine white cloth.

It was blood left over from tallying the spoils of a certain half-orc who couldn't even count properly, forced to take off his boots and use his toes if the number exceeded ten.

She knew perfectly well that no matter how thoroughly she wiped her fingers now, it wouldn't be five minutes before another blood-soaked loot sack hit the counter, returning her hands to a sticky, foul-smelling state.

Even so, Molly tried to maintain this brief cleanliness as best she could. At least it made her feel slightly better.

Thinking back, she couldn't help but sigh.

Look at her now: she could hold a bloody Bugbear head—resembling a peeled watermelon—with both hands, automatically ignoring the maggots wriggling in the cracked skull and the stench of rot rushing up her nose.

She would turn it left and right, examining it carefully.

And then, with a calm face and clear logic, she would explain to a shouting, spit-spraying bearded dwarf exactly why she could only pay half the bounty.

Who would have thought that this slender receptionist, whose waist wasn't even as thick as the thighs of many adventurers, had been a delicate girl just a few years ago, one who grew dizzy and nauseous at the mere smell of blood.

Despite her inner reluctance, if someone actually told Molly to quit and go back to waiting tables or sweeping floors, she would refuse outright.

No matter how hard or tiring the work, the generous weekly pay—which equaled months of income from other jobs—was very real.

Not having to endure the wind and sun, simply sitting behind a counter and moving her mouth to earn enough to feed a large family—it was already a dream job for countless people.

Naturally, even though she felt this way and completed all her duties to standard, it didn't change her outward appearance of utter exhaustion and lethargy.

"Quest number 2136F, type [Gathering]... Hmm, the quota has been met. The client has taken it down."

"Taken down?!"

A young adventurer stood in front of the counter, clutching a rough burlap sack. His leather armor was covered in mud and grass clippings, and his face was full of disbelief.

"But I remember it was still on the quest board when I set out two days ago! Did you remember wrong? I..."

"Take-down time: the 7th day of the Month of Year's End, Arcane Calendar 1019."

"It was yesterday afternoon. The client came to the Association in person to cancel the quest."

Molly's voice was as weak and low as ever, but her attitude wasn't dismissive. She carefully checked the commission records and explained the situation.

Going to the trouble of collecting the requested items for gathering quests with specific time and quantity limits, only to arrive at the Association and find the quest taken down, was a common occurrence for adventurers in Rivervale Town.

After all, the vast majority of clients here were small shops in town. Their demand for materials was low, making it very easy to meet the quotas.

Moreover, because gathering quests were relatively safe and offered decent rewards, these commissions cycled very quickly.

A quest posted in the morning would often see adventurers returning from the Misty Forest with the required materials by the very next day. The competition was fierce.

Instances of making a wasted trip, like the one happening right now, were not rare at all.

In response, adventurers usually had no choice but to accept their bad luck and sell off their gathered materials at a low price.

But right now, this young greenhorn didn't seem to plan on letting the matter rest.

Even though Molly had explained the situation and offered several ways to handle it, he remained standing in front of the counter with an angry expression, slapping the desk hard to demand an explanation.

She sighed softly, wisely keeping her mouth shut and offering no further explanations.

Pushing off the ground with the tips of her toes, Molly rolled her chair a few steps back.

She made no unnecessary movements; she simply waited in silence.

Seeing her reaction, the young man—who had only recently become an adventurer and still gripped his sword with habits formed from hoeing fields—felt he was being looked down upon. Swearing, he reached his right hand toward the hilt at his waist.

His fingers barely brushed against the rough rope wrapped around the hilt, lacking the time to even tighten his grip.

Under the amused gazes of countless onlookers behind him, this newly debuted adventurer who thought so highly of himself was tackled and pinned to the floor by two guards responding to the commotion.

Without even using their weapons, the guards knocked him out with a few punches, carried him out like a dead pig, and threw him through the Association's front doors.

Molly was already used to this.

Her expression didn't change in the slightest. She pulled her chair forward two steps, returning to her original position.

Lifting her head slightly, she reached her left hand toward the desk bell out of sheer muscle memory.

"Nex—"

Her voice suddenly cut off. Her hand, just about to press down on the bell, hovered in midair.

Beyond the crowd, over by the quest board, a black-haired figure wearing a thin shirt and carrying twin swords suddenly caught her eye.

A dazzling light instantly flashed through her exhausted eyes, half-hidden beneath golden bangs.

'My commission... my commission!'

She sprang up from her seat like a coiled spring, the enthusiasm that had been ground down by her tedious work igniting like a roaring fire.

"Lina, cover me for half the day. I'll make it up to you next week!"

Calling out to her colleague, she left the front desk in the blink of an eye and headed into the crowd.

...

...

[Quest Number]: 09C

[Type]: Bounty

[Reward]: 100—300,000 gold (negotiable)

[Quest Summary]:

A half-blood moon elf named "Windstring" is suspected to have been possessed by an evil entity during a resurrection ritual, resulting in massive structural damage and mass casualties among residents across the Nym Moon Goddess Church, several streets in the West District, and parts of the Slums. His current whereabouts are unknown.

If sighted, please contact relevant Association personnel at the nearest location. Upon verification, rewards will be distributed based on the accuracy of the intelligence.

[Time Limit]: None

[Additional Information]:

Warning! Extremely dangerous!

Non-veteran Class Holders are advised against close contact!

...

Xia Nan looked up at the very top of the quest board, at the bounty poster that had clearly just been put up.

He felt a strange, subtle sensation in his heart.

Based on the detailed information in the [Quest Summary] and the realistic portrait attached next to it, there was no doubt.

This half-blood moon elf named "Windstring" was none other than the golden-haired elf he had encountered before.

Back when he was still in Nym, he had heard about the tragedy of that night through various channels, and he knew the elf had escaped the pursuit of the authorities and the Church, vanishing into the depths of the night.

To some extent, the elf's existence was one of the reasons why he had hurried back to Rivervale Town after staying there for only a few days.

But what he hadn't expected was for Nym's efficiency to be quite so high.

He had only just returned to Rivervale Town himself, yet a bounty for the golden-haired elf was already plastered on the quest board.

Moreover, this bounty...

Xia Nan's gaze swept over the [Reward] section. The massive string of zeroes trailing after the first digit made his eyes swim just trying to count them.

If it were all exchanged for mushroom soup... it would probably be enough for him to drink at the White Chickadee until the end of time.

Of course, it was just a passing thought.

To actually have him return to Nym and throw himself back into a dangerous vortex for a sum of money that was nearly impossible to earn? Absolutely not.

As for any useful clues, without exposing too much about himself, there didn't seem to be anything worth reporting to the Association...

As he pondered this, his train of thought suddenly came to a halt.

He acutely sensed a figure rapidly approaching him through the nearby crowd, locking onto him with a strong sense of purpose.

He looked over.

The person who appeared in his line of sight was a familiar, attractive figure with a head of golden hair.

"Mr. Xia Nan, you're back!"

Seeing the front desk receptionist, Molly, walking briskly toward him and smiling as she greeted him, Xia Nan gave a nod of acknowledgment and replied, "Yeah. It mostly just took too much time on the road."

"The quest has a result as well. Shall we—"

"My apologies, Mr. Xia Nan. I was being abrupt." Molly straightened her slightly messy bangs, an apologetic look on her face. "Please come with me. Let's find an empty meeting room and discuss the details there."

...

...

"So... you really went down into the Nym Sewers yourself and fought the adventurer infected with Lycanthropy?"

Molly sat across the table, her expression indescribably strange.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, the sewers were too complex. I wasn't familiar with them, and he managed to escape." Xia Nan nodded. "Isn't that what the quest required?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Molly stand up from her seat and apologize profusely.

"I am so sorry, sir! Truly, I am so sorry!"

"I don't know if the colleague in charge of handing over the quest reminded you, but he definitely forgot to emphasize that the nature of this Advancement Quest was 'investigation'."

"It doesn't require you to kill a specific target, or to bring someone back alive."

Xia Nan's outward expression didn't change, but internally, he suddenly felt like he couldn't keep a straight face.

'Don't tell me it really is just as I guessed...'

"Then what counts as completing it?" he asked probingly, lightly tapping his fingertips on the table.

"Uh..." Molly paused, turning her head to glance at the tightly shut door behind her.

Only then did she lower her voice and lean in to say, "Actually, you just needed to follow the address we provided, go to Nym, find an insider to ask for relevant intelligence, and then write a report based on your own guesses—or directly dictate it to me. The quest would basically be considered done."

The finger tapping the desk couldn't help but pause.

Xia Nan stared straight into the eyes of the apologetic golden-haired girl in front of him. In his heart, his impression of the Adventurers' Association being a "ragtag bunch of amateurs" deepened once again.

Worried that Xia Nan was angry, or perhaps because the silent atmosphere made her nervous, Molly quickly added before he could reply, "Normally speaking, it's considered a dereliction of duty on the part of the colleague who handled your quest handover, and he would be punished by the Association."

"But... he was already fired last month. He isn't even in Rivervale Town anymore—rumor has it that he made a work error even earlier than that, which caused a high-rank Adventurer Squad to suffer severe losses."

"Please rest assured, Mr. Xia Nan! I will definitely help you apply for a higher-tier quest reward. I absolutely won't let your trip be in vain!"

"Just handle it as you see fit," he said, waving a hand.

Since things had already reached this point, Xia Nan only hoped that the quest rewards the Association eventually gave him would cover the cost of his two pieces of armor.

There were many matters he needed to deal with upon returning to town, and he had no intention of wasting any more time. Xia Nan cut straight to the point: "Can I go up to the second floor now?"

"Of course!" Molly took quick, short steps to open the door for Xia Nan. "Please come with me."

...

This was quite a wondrous feeling.

Long ago, shortly after he had first transmigrated to this world, he had learned from other adventurers that the Association Second Floor was an area only the so-called "Class Holders" could enter.

Even if he hadn't felt any particularly strong emotions about it back then, under the influence of this environment and the envious tones of the people around him, Xia Nan couldn't help but fantasize about the image of himself stepping up those stairs every time he came to the Association.

Now, as he was actually guided by Molly to complete his Class Holder registration, and followed her step by step onto the wooden stairs leading up to the second floor under the watchful eyes of the many adventurers in the lobby... his heart, surprisingly, experienced no great emotional fluctuations.

He merely took one last glance at the adventurers bustling about the lobby when he reached the landing of the stairs, then turned his head, looked up, and observed the layout of the Association Second Floor.

The first thing to catch his eye was another quite spacious hall.

It maintained the same Misty Forest design style, using dark oak from the Deep Forest as its primary material, complemented by vines, branches, shrubs, and various other common plants from the Misty Forest as decorations.

It gave off a simple, elegant sense of natural beauty.

The overall area was quite large, only slightly smaller than the lobby downstairs.

However, because the number of adventurers here was drastically lower, it appeared to be three or four times more spacious.

In the center of the hall, a miniature fountain garden was laid out in a rather leisurely and elegant manner, surrounded by a few scattered wooden benches for people to rest on.

Then, there was the highly noticeable change in the surrounding atmosphere.

Unlike the downstairs lobby—where the crowded, coming-and-going adventurers brought about a rushed and tense atmosphere amidst an air reeking of sweat and blood, as if falling behind by even two seconds meant a desired quest would be snatched away and gold coins lost, making everyone inevitably speed up their pace—here on the Association Second Floor, at least the adventurers currently in the hall all appeared unhurried and composed.

Although the occasional sounds of debate and argument could be heard, the solid aura and calm, capable movements brought about by their status as Class Holders were things ordinary adventurers simply didn't possess.

Beside him, Molly led Xia Nan into the hall, softly introducing the functions of the various rooms on either side to him.

"This is a potion shop exclusively for Class Holders. It operates in partnership with the Alchemists Association. The shop stocks many potions that you simply can't buy outside, and they all enjoy Association subsidies."

"If you're interested, you can take on some material-gathering quests commissioned by the Alchemists Association. Completing them may reward you with a certain amount of discounts."

"Over here is the item exchange area. Rare botanical materials, special metals, and even custom-made enchanted equipment services—as long as you have enough points, you can exchange for them with the staff here."

"This room is for intelligence—"

"Wait a moment," Xia Nan said, raising a hand to interrupt Molly's introduction. Having noticed a specific term in her words, he raised an eyebrow slightly and asked, "What does 'points' mean?"