After Shyam successfully obtained the grimoire, Shyam continued his journey to Bhadrabari—the village of farming, known for its top-quality products and tons of exports annually. Shyam was excited to visit this city, as farming was one of his favourite professions from his past life.
He liked to see plants grow—the process and the result. Farming tested one's patience.
Just after two days of travel and loads of goblin hunts on the way, Shyam finally reached Bhadrabari. He was once again introduced to small places.
He did feel a little bit weird though, seeing short houses and fewer people walking on the streets just after leaving a big city like Taralaya. But he was sure he would get used to it in time.
But first, he needed to visit the local adventurer's guild.
To advance further than D-Class, Shyam now couldn't get away with just ten quests. Nor could any mayor recommend a promotion. Now, he would need to do as many quests as possible, as well as contribute for the good of this planet.
People stared at him. Maybe they hated outsiders? But Shyam didn't care much either way. This village was only a stop for just a few days. As long as they only stared and didn't bother him, he too would go on silently.
The guild wasn't far from the entrance, and it wasn't big either. Just like Kamalgram and Nilgram, this village's guild too had only F & E-rank adventurers.
Shyam entered the guild. Surprisingly, unlike Nilgram, this guild actually had many adventurers. Some stared at the quest board, and some sat down at tables, probably discussing plans. Shyam ignored them all and went straight to the receptionist to see if there were any quests for D-rank adventurers here.
There were two women sitting at the counter. Both had a bright smile on their faces.
"Uh... hello," Shyam said as he stopped just near the counter. One of the receptionists came to him.
"How may I help you?" she asked.
"Are there any D-rank missions here?" he asked as he placed his guild card on the counter. The receptionist looked at the card, and her face instantly darkened as if she had seen a ghost.
The other receptionist noticed her dark and scared face—she thought maybe Shyam was bothering her. But moments later, they both stared at the D-rank guild card as if they had seen a ghost.
"D...D...D-Rank?!" one shouted. In a village like Bhadrabari, D-rank adventurers often just visited to resupply—other than that, they didn't even bother looking at the guild hall of this village.
"Could you wait a moment, sir? I will call the guild master ASAP!" said the first girl and ran inside the guild.
Shyam sat down on the chair with a faint sigh* He had done it again. Showed the wrong thing at the wrong time.
He should have shown them the card if they humiliated him—the shock would have been much more enjoyable that way. But oh well, a person learns from their mistakes, eh? From today onwards, he had learned not to show the guild card in advance!
Moments later, the girl returned in panic with an old man following her. That man's eyes were hidden behind his long white hair as he walked behind the girl with a stick for support.
Shyam could tell he was at his oldest age, but maybe no one seemed worthy of this guild master seat, for which he still had to handle this title.
"What's your name, adventurer?" asked the guild master.
"Shyam, sir," he replied, trying to be polite. No matter his rank, he was still only an adventurer. A guild master was a guild master.
"I see," the guild master replied and placed three papers on the table.
"Well, if you're in search of quests, these are the only three D-rank missions we have. These are over four months old actually—haha." The guild master said as he slid the papers toward Shyam.
Shyam looked at them—three papers all containing different information. But they were all about killing some monsters. Some were bosses, and some were normal monsters.
[Kill the red lizard]
[Kill 20 goblins blocking the road]
[Clear the slimes from the waterways for the farmers]
The last quest caught Shyam's eyes. Why wouldn't it? That quest involved his favourite activity—farming! But what did it mean by "waterways blockage"? Come to think of it, the crop fields he saw after entering the village were all dried up.
"What about this one?" Shyam asked as he pointed his fingers toward the slime-clearing mission. The guild master looked at the quest and then sighed.
"This quest has been here for over two years now. The slimes were no problem at first, so we ignored it—our fault, really. But now they've multiplied so much even I am unable to defeat them. And the Vyomsetu adventurer guild isn't even reading my requests, so it's no use, really," he replied.
The regret could be felt just from his voice.
If there are so many, I might get enough to reach Tier 1 Sub-Stage 4's peak! Shyam thought.
Before, he tried but lacked the energy to jump to Tier 1 Sub-Stage 4. But if there were countless slimes, he might get enough ES to tier up!
Thinking just that, Shyam accepted the quest.
"I would like to give it a try, if possible," he said.
The guild master flinched. He was surprised that even after knowing the risk, Shyam still accepted the quest.
"Of course. Just make sure you don't die," the guild master said and gave Shyam a copy of the mission paper.
After taking on the quest, Shyam left the guild to look for an inn to spend the upcoming nights here in Bhadrabari.
"I was like him once..." the guild master whispered as he went back into his office again.
After walking for a little while, he found an inn called [GREEN CROPS INN]. He entered the inn and saw an old lady cleaning the table.
DAMN AGAIN? WHY IS EVERY INN LADY CLEANING THE TABLE 24/7?!
"Oh! Welcome," the inn lady said as she put down her cleaning cloth into a wooden bucket and greeted Shyam with a bow.
Shyam was surprised. Everyone in this village outside the guild seemed to hate him—then why did this lady greet him like this?
But he was too tired to suspect anything right now.
"A room for one, please," Shyam said as he placed a whole silver coin onto the table.
"Of course, right this way," said the inn lady as she slipped the coin into her sack and started walking towards the rooms.
Shyam followed her and soon reached the door.
"This will be your room. Please enjoy your time here, and call me if you need anything!" the lady said as she went back to her work.
Shyam entered the room—not expecting much. Just like Kamalgram and Nilgram, this inn too didn't have much decoration. Simple furniture and a bed with a bearable soft mattress.
Shyam sat down on the bed. Raitha jumped on the bed and fell asleep instantly.
There was still time until it was nighttime, so Shyam decided to go and eat something before slipping off to sleep.
"Wanna go eat?" Shyam asked as he turned towards Raitha.
She wasn't on the bed. Suddenly she spoke from the direction of the door.
"What's the wait?" she asked as she opened the door.
"Yeah, right," Shyam said and left the inn.
After which, he entered a tavern.
Bricks that weren't painted properly, and the smell inside wasn't so good either. Still, they were hungry, so they somehow entered the tavern.
Inside sat many people—the place was filled with drinkers.
Shyam sat down around the corner where not many people sat and looked at the menu.
What the heck?! Why were the foods so expensive here?
Was it because the fields were dried out so the villagers were short on supply?
Might be.
With a long sigh*, Shyam ordered some food that fit his budget and quickly finished it, because the smell of the drunken drinkers had started to bother him slowly.
"That was rough," Shyam said as he walked back to the inn.
"Agreed," Raitha replied as she lay on top of Shyam's head. Surprisingly, she was almost weightless, so Shyam didn't ask her to get off. She wouldn't do so anyway, so there was no point.
After reaching the inn, he directly fell asleep. After over ten days of sleeping on the floor or ground, he finally found a good enough bed to sleep on.
---
Ch-31