The Bounty Reward

After Kale gave the directions and description of the owl monster, the guards headed down the road we were on. They seemed bewildered by Kale's description of it, but carried on with their job.

As the three guards strolled off, kale turned around and held up the bag of goblin ears. "Alright, next stop is the bounty hall." He looked at Tera. "I'm assuming you are coming with us?"

"Of course." Tera said, she stood in front of Kale. "Someone's got to keep an eye on you when you watch the kids."

"I already have someone watching me." I'm assuming kale was referring to King Lucian. "AND I can keep an eye on the kids."

Tera scoffed at that and pointed back at us. "Tell that to the one that had a broken arm. Kale, stop being so stingy and let me help."

Kale looked at her in a weird way, like he was looking at a different person. "Why are you being so supportive right now? This isn't you!"

"Oh, I've always been like this!" She snapped back at him. "I'm not all horny and teasing, you know! Now let's finish what you wanted to show them about Quest and we'll all have a chat at your place. It's very important!"

Kale rolled his eyes before waving at me and Lilith. "You heard her…guess I'll show you guys how ranking up in the bounty hall works."

As much as Kale seemed annoyed, I couldn't help but notice his smile as he turned around to walk towards the gate, along with Tera who smirked. The two seemed to have reconciled from earlier. Or at least I thought, considering she hasn't decided to blast him with magic yet.

Something has been bothering my mind since coming back from the forest. That reptile shop keeper. Looking at the Camp outside of the gate, I wondered if that reptile man was still there? The camp itself seemed to have died down. The campfire that used to be there in the morning was dim and no one sat there. It seemed like everyone or most of the people ended up inside their tents. It didn't seem like anyone wanted to be out at night, it seemed reasonable. Who knows what's out here at night? Robbers? Monsters? Anything could happen outside of the kingdom's walls.

"Come one, Kota!" Lilith nudged me, I was too focused on the camp that Lilith accidentally bumped into my back.

I apologized to her and quickly followed Kale and Tera.

Passing through the gate, Kale brought up an interesting topic. "So how'd you find out we were here? I don't remember leaving a sign on my door."

"Once I left your home, I ran into Sura. Fun girl, she saw you guys enter the Bounty hall this morning." Tera answered.

"Sura? The pink haired girl?" Kale looked at me to make sure that was a real person, I nodded at the acknowledgement of my classmate. Though I found it weird that she spotted us on the way to the Bounty hall. I don't even recall having seen her on the way, maybe I wasn't paying attention on the way. I looked at Lilith for confirmation that she was there but Lilith also shook her head. How the hell did we not see her?

"Sura was there roaming, something to do with…Learning the culture or something. Anyways, hurry up and get to the bounty hall!" Tera snapped her fingers as she said that. "I'd rather not be out here for too long."

We continued our walk through the market district, it wasn't as busy as it was in the morning, but there were still people roaming and selling things. The snow didn't seem to affect them that much. Kale told me that some shops stay open during these sorts of weather just to make due rent in the homes here, so these people are really just out here to survive and stay warm inside. As we passed by some shops and tents that were still open, I could spot people inside that were either older people or people that seemed to be sick in some form. One of the tents had what I assumed was the owner of the tent struggling to close down his tent. It was an older man who struggled with taking some items into the tent. It seemed he didn't make much rubees as the jar that was on a table wasn't even half full.

My focus on the store people then shifted to Kale and Tera, who seemed to be arguing.

"I don't understand how you can work with Lucian." Tera started, she was walking alongside Kale who tilted his head at her remark.

"Aren't you technically working for him too if you work at the university?" He frowned as he finished his sentence.

Tera waved her arm in a dismissive manner. "I don't work under him, at least I'm not taking personal daily chores from him." She started waving her finger around in a circle. "Which makes me think you like doing others chores, like a obedient slave."

Kale squinted his eyes. "I am not like a slave, I'm not anyones slave…"

"Want to be mine?" Tera let out a sly smile as she said that her usual Flirtatious side was back. " I can make you do my chores! Like washing the clothes, cleaning the plates! Maybe fix up the bed!"

"Sounds like something you'd ask your man to do."

"I am asking my man."

"…" Kale hesitated, a blush speeding across his cheeks which made Tera laugh.

"Haha! I'm just joking. But seriously, why are you working for him?" Tera quickly questioned again.

"…Money, adventuring wasn't cutting it and Lucian needed a Fire king Teacher in the kingdom. Too bad no one here wants to, so he just had me as his investigator." Kale sounded like he was low on energy when saying that. "I was saving up money…I mean that was my original plan." He glanced back at us. "Until My own apprentice called and asked me to train Lilith. Now I do Lucian's job to keep her and Kota alive here."

Tera took all that info in, Is It weird that this is the first time she's heard of it? Kale never told us why he worked for him either. But how didn't Tera know about this?

Luckily she answered that. "Well then. Wish you told me Last Summer then…I could've assisted."

Assuming she meant a couple of months ago, I'd assume she actually came to Prusha around the same time me and Lilith came here. Maybe a couple of weeks apart from each other. So looking at this now…These two have reunited together quite recently.

"What? You'd want to help me?" Kale seemed surprised by that.

"Why wouldn't I?"

Tera stared at Kale for a moment, unsure why he stared at her blankly. Kale stared back, unable to respond. Suddenly he turned and walked faster.

"Forget it. Let's keep going." He quickly said.

Tera chuckled at his sudden response, she didn't bother making any comeback and followed in suit. It was Lilith that noticed and said something about kale.

"Kale blushes a lot when around her." We were almost near the bounty hall when she said that, it seemed like she thought about their conversation long after it was finished.

"You finally noticed?" I would've assumed that Kale might've told her about his predicament with Tera. But Lilith tilted her head in confusion. Maybe he didn't trust her with not spilling it to tera? I think she could hold a secret for someone, I remember when I accidentally blew up a pot in the kitchen a month ago and I told her to not tell kale….he still figured it out, but Lilith acted like it wasn't my fault, I'm assuming it was just him managing to solve who blew up the pot.

"Only until now, he's usually straightforward with me. But he acts like a dumbo when with her." She said that last part was quieter to not let him hear. "Anyways, it was just an observation."

Finishing up our conversation, we steadily made it to the Bounty hall. The snow was cleared on the road, bunched up on the side of the building so much that one of the windows was covered. As we entered inside, it was less noisy than the morning. But still noisy, adventurers were still inside drinking and eating. Some took glances at us, particularly at Tera who didn't mind the views. Kale tried to ignore it, but I could tell he was getting somewhat annoyed by the stares. We made our way to the reception desk where the receptionist waited. She must've recognized us from this morning as she smiled and immediately said our names.

"Kale, Kota and Lilith! Back from goblin hunting huh? Took you guys a long time, I hope it wasn't too hard…" The receptionist eyed the bag that Kale had. "Got a lot for us?"

Kale grabbed the bag from his side and placed it on the desk. "We got ten in here, all clean. And…" he opened the bag and picked out the ogre ear. "An extra one."

The receptionist looked at it in surprise and quickly grabbed it. "An ogre in our area? Yikes. Luckily you guys killed it, right? I'm not going to assume you just cut its ear and ran off." Kale shook his head, which the receptionist sighed in relief. "Good, an ogre in that area would've caused major problems for the newer adventurers."

"We killed it!" Lilith said triumphantly, the receptionist leaned and looked over at her. "Me and Kota!" She said louder. There was a noticeable amount of people who looked up when she said that, maybe she should stop.

The receptionist lady smiled at Liliths confidence. "My…is this true, kale? Did those two actually beat the ogre?" Kale's response was a nod. "Really? That's impressive for some first timers." She held out her hand past kale. "Let me see the ID cards for the both of you."

I grabbed my ID card, grabbing Liliths as well when she handed it to me. When handing it to the receptionist, she grabbed an ink pen from the side and quickly edited both of our ID's.

Once she gave it back, alongside our names were the words "Beginners". We were now certified adventurers! As I turned around to show Kale and Tera, the two smiled.

Giving Lilith her ID, she took a close look at it and joyfully jumped around. "I'm an Adventurer now! Kota, we're adventurers!"

I was pretty joyful as well, imagine flipping this badboy out to the others and telling them how you earned it? Killing an ogre to be a beginner? Only after one quest? They wouldn't believe it.

"Here's the reward for the Goblins. Oh and the ogre? There wasn't a bounty on one, but we're glad you managed to kill one. So we'll drop a little extra for you guys." The receptionist pushed out a bag of rubees towards kale, it sounded pretty hefty when kale picked it up. "Thanks for helping out the kingdom! And you kids should come back for another quest!"

"I'll have them come by when we can. Alright, let's head hom-what are you doing?" Kale was about to have us go home before he turned and noticed Tera holding her hand out.

"My piece of the reward." She casually said.

"…no…no no. You weren't a part of our group. I don't share with you." Kale avoided her, but she persisted by batting in his back like a child.

"Come on, if I didn't teach Kota at the university, you and Lilith might be dead!" Tera eyed me, she knew damn well that was true. Most of the teachers at the university taught from the books while she was more on hand, which gradually helped me and Griffin do better in our classes.

Kale grumbled for a moment before picking out some rubees in the bag. ""Here, ten rubees."

"That seems a little too low for me." Tera frowned.

"Extra is gonna cost you." Kale said while tying the bag.

"Fufu, I see where you are going with that."

"What? No! I-you know what, nevermind. People are staring." Some adventurers still watched us with curiosity. Tera seemed to acknowledge that and dropped her act, which led to all of us deciding to leave.

Quickly, we all headed outside of the bounty hall. It was sunset when we came out. Tera was outside first, stretching her arms as she waited for us.

Finishing her stretch, she looked at us and pointed back in the direction of kale home. "Ookay, now back to kales so we can talk about this very important thing."

"What's so important about it? I asked.

"It's about the festival, the Lucian festival." She started to walk, leading to all of us just following her. "Mainly, about what's happening at school and the dance."

Kale squinted his eyes when he heard the word dance. "…I feel I know what you're planning…"

"Nonsense! Not like I was going to ask you to dance! Haha, Kale you can't dance. You're funny…" Tera laughed even more after that, which Kale didn't appreciate. "Though I can teach you if you'd like. But anyways, it's about the Kids."

"Us?" I looked at me and Lilith in confusion.

"I'll tell you all about it once we get to your home!" Tera smiled back when she said that.

It was only a couple of minutes before we finally got back to Kale's place, the front lawn was piled with snow due to Kale's laziness. Only a small trail was made to traverse in and out of the front. But that didn't matter as Kale quickly ran to the front of his door, making a whole new trail for us to follow. His legs were white from the snow, but he didn't mind.

Once he opened the door, we all walked inside. Tera being the last one in, casually ridding herself of her cloak and placing it nicely on the living room table. Me and Lilith decided to head upstairs and change into more suitable clothing.

I let Lilith change first. Since we've been here, I've made the rightful decision to have us change separately since it was just more comfortable for me. Lilith didn't mind that I saw her changing but I insisted that I shouldn't. The girl has no Boundary when it comes to that. After a moment, I heard a knock on the door and opened it. Lilith wore the white dress that Tera had given her.

"Done, go ahead and change." She said, inviting me in. She hadn't moved outside of the room yet, which concerned me.

"I would rather change…alone." She seemed to have acknowledged that and quickly moved out, a hint of red spreading over her face as she did.

Walking into our room, I quickly found a white shirt and some black pants to wear. Seemed like something I'd wear in my past life, my taste in clothing has never failed me.

However, as I was changing I felt an odd presence. Like eyes watching me. I quickly turned around and looked at the door.

At first, I thought it was Lilith. Somehow thinking she'd want a good look at my back, but no. It was Tera. I could only see one of her eyes through the crack of the door, her Blue hat made it quite noticeable. Why was she staring at me?

"Uh…hello?" I awkwardly asked.

There was a moment of pause before Tera mumbled. "Mmhmm…No marks on you or anything-Lilith, I thought you two toy around a lot during sleep?"

"What!?" I heard Lilith blurt out. "You got that idea wrong! I don't do that to Kota!"

"Haha! Kidding, gosh you kids…unless kota heals it."

Who the hell says that to kids? As I finished up changing, I made myself noticeable again with a. Cough. "Ahem…we don't do that, Tera."

"Fine…I'll be downstairs with Kale. Me and him will talk about some..other matters." And then I heard Tera's footsteps as she walked downstairs.

Walking to the door, I opened it to see Lilith waiting across the door.

"That was weird, why was she up here?"

"Checking on us." Lilith answered.

"Huh…maybe she's right about the sleeping part though…maybe one of us sleepwalks or something?" I thought for a moment about that. Do I sleepwalk? I don't think so. Not once have I found myself in another place or having Lilith or Kale bring it up.

Lilith seemed to have wanted to erase that though in her head, blushing a red as she shook her head. "NOO! I don't wanna think about that!…Wait,what if I did things to you when we were asleep! Aargh!" She looked at me with confused eyes. "Do I sleepwalk?"

I scratched my chin at that thought as well, I don't Lilith sleepwalks. But she does actually move a lot in her sleep, sometimes she jabs me in her sleep. But most of the time, I usually see her reaching for something in her sleep or she ends up putting her arm on me. Although…I wouldn't mind getting a hug from a sleeping Lilith.

I shook my head as a response to her question, to which she sighed in relief. With that out the way, I decided to switch the topic.

"We should…head downstairs and see what those two are talking about."

"Yeah, I wonder what she wants from us?"

"It's something related to the university, perhaps some help in her classroom? I assumed. Lilith nodded her head, thinking the same thing.

We then made our way downstairs, where they sat across from each other. They seemed to be talking about the Festival.

"You want me to be there?" I heard Kale say.

"Of course, it'll be fun." Tera said.

"I'll take a pass, Festivals aren't my thing. Especially the last festival, I got a potato thrown at me because I didn't want to dance." He sounded serious when saying that.

"Haha, you can't be serious?"

"I'm not. Maybe this time, King Lucian will have a job for me."

"Yeah, and guess what? It'll probably involve the Festival. So, no matter what, you'll be at this festival." Tera let out a chuckle when she finished, which kale grumbled at.

Finally, the two noticed us. Tera pointed at the two seats on the couch that kale was sitting on.

"All ready? Lovely Dress, Lilith! Let's all talk about the Festival!"