Lucid came out of the Hunter's Guild, squinting slightly as the daylight hit his eyes. He stood still for a moment, glancing across the cityscape until his eyes landed on a large, pristine mansion towering over the nearby buildings.
"Mansion of the nobles… it really stands out." He sighed, then turned and began walking toward the market district.
"Alright… What do I need to buy? Let's see—probably some food and…"
Before he could finish his thought, someone bumped into him hard. Thud! Both of them fell to the ground.
Lucid blinked, surprised. The other person wore a hooded black cloak, head lowered so much that it hid their face completely. He pushed himself up, then offered a hand with a neutral expression.
"Are you okay?"he asked.
The figure reached up and took his hand. Her grip was delicate, and the skin of her palm felt soft — almost unnaturally so.
"I'm fine,"she replied in a soft, smooth, and cold voice. "I'm sorry… I wasn't looking where I was going. It just… happened."
A girl?Lucid noted silently.
Trying not to make things awkward, he gave a small nod. "It's fine. I didn't get hurt, and neither did you. Have a good day."
With that, he turned and walked away without waiting for a reply.
The girl stared after him, lips parting slightly as if she was about to saysomething… but stopped herself. She tightened her lips and quietly continued on her way.
In the Market District at a restaurant, Lucid was just having a meal while having a casual banter with the shop owner.
"Hey boss, anything new in this city? It seems people are busier than normal." He asked. "Boy, are you not from here? I guess that makes sense since you don't know. Every year the church takes applications to accept cadets for the Holy Knights." The owner said, calmly, while cleaning glass cups. "This is the time of the year, so even people from nearby villages come for that."
"Is it really that big of a deal? I thought Holy Knights were just religious knights that work for the saint?" Lucid asked the shop owner.
"Well, you're not wrong about that but being a holy knight come with lots of perks, so everyone wants to be one and they only accept 30 cadets a year." The owner answered
"I see. Is that why they're rushing to apply and get accepted?" He asked as the owner nodded. He put 3 copper coins on the table and left the restaurant.
He went back to the Hunters guild to check on some quests to see if there's anything he can do. The money he brought was slowly running low, so he needed income fast. He stood in front of the quest board to check the quests.
6 Slimes - 1 Copper Coin
1 goblin = 1 copper coin
1 Orge - 3 Silver Coins
1 Infected wolf - 1 silver Coin
1 Minatour - 1 GoldCoin
Lucid checks the value of each monster's weighting to determine which one to hunt. He was just a beginner, so he couldn't choose monsters that could put him 6 feet under. So he only had 2 options: slimes or goblins. While he was checking, he heard a familiar voice, so he checked in the direction where the voice was coming from.
"Is there not really an option?" The girl asked the receptionist.
"Mrs this is the only option here. if you wish to just put on a request then you should go do that at the adventurers guild but this is hunters guild. So what you can do here is you can put a request for personal hunter or hire one. Other then that the hunters decide what they want to hunt. we who work as the staffs of the guild only manage the monsters the hunters had hunted and registering new hunters." The receptionist explains to the girl. The girl, left with no option, turn silent as she contemplate on what to do when suddently a voice come from behind.
"May I ask what's going on? I overheard a bit and I'm interested." The girl looked back as Lucid said that.
Lucid remember just from her voice it was the girl that bump into him earlier today. This time she only had her cloak on and her hood was off so he could see how she looks.
She had Golden silky long hair that's fell into the hood. She had green pupils, that looks like the colour of jade. Her skin's softly glowing as if it was pure.
The girl also recongnised him as she asked.
"Ah you are that guy that I bump into earlier... right? you're a hunter?" She asked in suprise.
"Yes, I'm a hunter. My name's Lucid." He replied. with a small faint smile.
"I'm Aleina..." The girl replied, her mind is in a daze but after a moment she snapped out of it as she turn to lucid and asked with happy tone as if she had just found free money when she is about to pay. "Hey, you are a hunter right? I have a request will you please listen?"
The girl asked with a bright smile on her face. Lucid seems a bit suprised and a bit of coution. After all from his experince, whenever a perosn is happy while asking another person to fulfill their request it was never simple nor easy.
"Sure... as long as it's resonable." Lucid answered with a slight hint of doubt on his face to the girl.