Chapter 70: Is This Punishment for the Reward?

Chapter 70: Is This Punishment for the Reward?

“I’m terribly sorry. This is the only remaining request.”

The Staff of the Adventurers’ Guild handed over a request form that no one wanted to take to Aierjisi and Yake, wearing an apologetic expression.

“It’s fine! As long as there’s a request, that’s good enough. Let’s see what kind of mission this is!”

Aierjisi was indifferent. She had only come here to kill some time and see if there were any requests available. Since this one had been passed over by others, it must be quite challenging! Let the strongest Little Princess and her trusty servant take it on and complete the mission in style!

【Request: Eliminate the Slime Horde near the vegetable field. Reward: 5 Copper Coins.】

After reading the mission details and the reward, Aierjisi slowly formed a question mark in her mind. Wait… While Slimes aren’t exactly powerful Monsters that even beginner Adventurers can’t handle, is the reward of just 5 Copper Coins a bit…

“You must be wondering if the reward of 5 Copper Coins is too little, right? Actually, previous adventurers thought this request was a waste of time when they saw the payout, which is why nobody wanted to take it.”

Seeing Aierjisi’s increasingly stiff expression, the Staff knew what she was thinking. It couldn’t be helped; Adventurers had to take on missions to make a living, and for them, low-reward tasks with little challenge were a complete waste of their precious time.

“What should we do, Aier? Should we take this request or wait here a bit? Maybe there will be new requests posted?”

Yake looked at the mission and felt it wasn’t worth it. Clearly, the effort versus reward was so unbalanced. Especially since the Little Princess had top-notch strength—this kind of request wouldn’t catch her eye at all.

“Before that, could you tell me more about the requester? I want to know why they published such a request.”

Aierjisi placed the request down. Before making her decision, she wanted to understand the details about the requester; she had a feeling that the person behind this request must be going through some difficulties.

“Sure. The requester is Qiao William, the head of an Orphanage. The vegetable field there has been repeatedly destroyed by Slimes, causing the children at the orphanage to barely have enough food to eat. That’s why he came to us with this request. Honestly, when he submitted this request, we were also in a tough spot—we told him that it might not get taken, but he insisted on posting it anyway, so we couldn’t do anything but help him put it up.”

The Staff pointed out their predicament at the time with a frown.

“I see. So it’s the head of the Orphanage, and the children are going hungry. Hmm… I understand the situation. I’ll take this request.”

After learning about the requester’s situation and the difficulties faced by the orphanage, Aierjisi didn’t hesitate and accepted the mission.

“Eh? Wait… Aier, are you serious? This request is obviously not worth it.”

Yake was stunned by Aierjisi’s decision. He always thought the Little Princess wouldn’t take on such low-level requests.

“It’s not about whether it’s worth it; the children aren’t getting enough to eat! How can I turn a blind eye to that? Yake, let’s go.”

Holding the request form, Aierjisi led Yake out of the Adventurers’ Guild. Indeed, the mission didn’t seem worth it in terms of payoff versus effort, but the Little Princess, being kind-hearted, couldn’t bear to see those children suffer. She was going to lend them a helping hand. And before heading to the orphanage, Aierjisi and Yake did another thing.

“This should be the location of the orphanage mentioned on the request form, right? The environment here is a bit too…”

Following the address on the request form and with Yake, who was familiar with the Small Town leading the way, they arrived at the orphanage. Honestly, if the address hadn’t pointed to this place, Aierjisi would have thought the building before her was an abandoned hospital used for scare challenges. The place looked utterly dilapidated from the outside, and the iron fence bore signs of damage from Monsters. How could children feel safe living here?

“Anyway, let’s see if anyone’s around first. Hello! Is anyone home?”

Yake raised his hand and shouted into the building, but… there was no response.

“That’s strange. Did we come to the wrong place?”

Doubting their location since no one replied, Yake began to question if they had made a mistake.

“Hm? Wait, over here!”

Aierjisi heard a faint sound and kicked open the barely intact door, rushing inside.

“Ah, Aier, wait for me! Did you hear something?”

Yake followed the Little Princess into the building, rounding to the back.

“Get away! You Monsters, get out of my orphanage!”

An old man with a rusty sword was glaring defiantly at a group of Slimes. Ironically, even these low-tier Monsters treated the old man with indifference, continuing their work in the vegetable field.

“Director! It’s too dangerous! Those are Monsters, you need to come back!”

A girl in a nurse’s outfit shouted at the old man from the back door of the building.

“Be quiet! This vegetable field is our hard work for a year! How can we let these damn Monsters destroy it?!”

The director ignored the girl’s calls and kept his sword aimed at the Slime horde.

“That must be the requester, the director. Wow, he’s already quite old and yet dares to face a bunch of Slimes with a rusty sword. Can’t tell if he’s brave or just silly?”

Aierjisi sighed as she witnessed the scene. The next second, she whipped out her signature Light Whip, wrapping it around the director’s waist and pulling him out of the vegetable patch.

“Ow! Who are you? Who allowed you to enter my orphanage?”

The director rubbed his behind and stood up, looking at Yake and Aierjisi, the Outsiders, with a frown.

“Hello, Director. We are the Adventurers who accepted your request.”

Aierjisi introduced herself and Yake while holding the request form.

“Oh, you’re Adventurers! Thank you! I apologize for not being prepared to welcome you; we must get started on the work right away.”

Upon learning that they were here to work, the director visibly relaxed. Finally, someone had taken his request; he knew someone would eventually come!

“Alright, alright, Director, you should just go rest. We’ll take care of things from here. Yake, let’s get ready and be careful not to damage the vegetable field.”

“Sure, I got it.”

Yake also drew his weapon, and together with Aierjisi, they charged towards the Slime horde to start clearing the vegetable field.