Chapter 8

"Want to continue?"

The man in charge of new employee training poked his head in, still wearing that suspiciously smug smile.

"If you don't have any particular objections, why don't we continue? It's free, after all."

The advice from this staff member, who had even given me a massage, could be said to have been accurate in the end. So, I silently nodded, deciding to give it a bit more of a try.

"Alright, that's the spirit of an adventurer."

With that, he looked at the bulletin board and started browsing the requests.

"Alright, let's try this one next!"

He presented a request: "Request Level: C. Item: Utsukazuran's poison sacs. Quantity: Five. Deadline: By the end of the month. Location: Eluda Maze Cave. Reward: 25 gold coins, to be paid in full upon completion. Report to: Eluda Branch of the Adventurers' Guild."

"Utsukazuran?"

"It's a plant about knee-high, shaped like a pot. It's around level fifteen."

"Huh? Weaker than the underground crabs?"

"These things move in groups, so in a group, they feel more like level twenty-five. Their main feature is that they are just plain annoying!"

"Annoying?"

"Right, annoying!"

"Is 'hard' followed by 'annoying'?"

"'Hard' is followed by 'annoying!'"

He blushed and had a terribly annoyed expression.

"How annoying are they?"

"First, they're small. Before you know it, they're at your feet in the dimly lit cave."

Indeed, that sounds annoying.

"These things, when they spot an enemy..."

"Spot an enemy?"

"..."

"..."

"They run away."

"Huh?"

"They run away! They suddenly take off, using their two tentacles to do a light backstep!"

"Wow, that's not good."

"It's not just not good. They keep running around and linking up with their buddies. Then, when they have the upper hand, they turn around and counterattack!"

"Whaaat!"

That... that's... too annoying.

"Sometimes you don't even realize they're close, and they attack you when you least expect it. It's a real panic."

"That's ridiculous..."

"They use their two tentacles like a bow, launching themselves like a slingshot. It's a body slam attack. It doesn't hurt much, though, because they don't have much mass. It's just annoying."

He sighed.

It's an all-over annoying feeling.

"Their biggest weapon is their poison."

"Annoying!"

I blurted out.

"They spit poison when they bump into you. It's a weak neurotoxin. If you inhale it, you'll be paralyzed and unable to move. If the damage accumulates, it can lead to heart failure and death. Once you can't move, it's over. You'll be slowly digested from your fingertips."

"Why do I have to deal with these things?"

"If it were easy, it wouldn't be training, would it?"

"You're right, but..."

"Alright, young man, give it your best shot. The reward is five times that of the crabs, go-bai. Make sure you have good anti-poison measures."

The man skipped off to the office with the request in hand. I was left there, already feeling defeated.

"I should have quit while I was ahead..."

I received a copy of the request at the counter and left, hanging my head.

Come to think of it, the request was quite sunburned. It must have been a long time since anyone had taken it... Maybe I was just being used.

The penalty for abandoning a request is half the equivalent of the request reward, which is 12 gold coins and 50 silver coins. It's a sign to give up.

It's been a week since my first submission.

My impression is that the amount of manuscript I submit at once is more than I expected.

So far, there are few characters, so there's not much dialogue, and just the narrative alone is quite a challenge.

I can't help but bow in admiration to the writers who have been maintaining long-term serials.

And it seems that the number of people who are reading it is gradually increasing, so even though it's just the beginning, I want to express my gratitude here.

I'll do my best.