The alluring smell of pastries wakes me up from my afternoon nap. I take off my headphones and slowly sit up from the couch. Syl sits at the empty spot where my legs were as I stretch my arms up in the air.
"Erissa, you should eat something other than drinking potions."
Syl pushes a plate of sliced pie towards Erissa while I take a slice for myself. A low groan instead of a proper response is heard from the other couch occupied by the worn-out elf. Erissa and I, mainly Erissa, passed out exhausted when we finally manage to return to the mining town unnoticed by the soldiers and adventurers at the gate. That was three days ago. Erissa hasn't moved from the couch since.
"I don't understand why the two of you aren't sleeping on proper beds."
Syl shakes her head as she takes a bite of the sliced pie with her hand.
"Too tired... to move," Erissa groggily responds with her eyes covered with her arm.
"You mean you don't have the strength to move and your head feels like it's splitting into two," Syl scoffs and corrects her.
No response.
Erissa is suffering from mana exhaustion because she overdid it with the mana arrows while I'm only physically tired and too lazy to make myself walk to the bed. I concentrate on eating the pie.
During the three days of my voluntary immobility, Polina comes to our suite room once and left Syl to look after me and Erissa. No one even asked about Mint's absence. When Mint finally does return a day later, she fills us in on the monster stampede. Simply put, in her words, the monster stampede 'broke off.' Apparently, Mint and the rangers sniff out several more monster attraction scents when they ran off to support the adventurers. Mint prioritise taking care of the monster attraction scent first and when that's taken care of, the adventurers manage to suppress the monster stampede quicker than they anticipate.
The clean-up, however, is taking a long time to finish because not only the adventurers involved in the monster stampede but also merchants and travellers who were attacked by monsters on the road close to the mining town are being isolated and purified by priests and light mages for precautions. And by extension, the Commercial Guild's auction is postponed until everyone is safely cleared. Despite that, Polina, Kif and those involved with the auction are busy making rearrangements.
Everyone around me is busy. I feel kind of guilty about not helping since I technically am a member of the Adventurers' Guild too, on the other hand, it feels nice not having to do anything when everyone else is running around being busy. I'm enjoying a second of this delicious pie that is not overwhelmingly sweet with every bite. Mint returns to the suite room after another day of running around town and I can see her eyes glint at the untouched plate of sliced pie meant for Erissa.
"Iris, Serafina told me to tell you that the guild master wishes to speak with you when you're feeling better," Mint talks as she snatches the plate and devours the pie deliciously.
"Which guild master?"
Even though it's obvious, but still, just to be certain.
"The Adventurers' Guild," Mint answers with a mouthful of pie.
I think first with a spoon in my mouth before giving Mint an answer.
"I can go tomorrow."
Syl looks unsure at my response while Mint pouts when she finishes the slice of pie too quickly. Erissa moves her arm above her eyes and turns her head slightly to look at me. Her complexion looks much better than yesterday.
"She thinks you're still recovering from mana exhaustion. Two days is too short for that," says Erissa.
Mint is telling Serafina and the adventurers who saw me in the forest that my energy and mana are almost completely drained because I strained myself with the barriers and that I'm currently resting to avoid suspicion of my real capability as a mage. Basically, they think I'm suffering like how Erissa is suffering which is half true.
"You were out for three days, Erissa," Mint corrects her then point her spoon at me.
"But she's right. Any other normal mage that did what you did would've fainted less than twenty minutes after casting just one barrier and you lasted three times as long without the support of mana stones."
"Okay. How long should I pretend to recover then?"
Mint put her hand under her chin to think but Syl is quicker with an answer.
"Let's give it four more days to make it believable for the humans."
I nod lightly.
"Mint, remember to spare a slice for Erissa," Syl says to Mint whose hand is about to reach for the remaining pie.
Four days go by quick especially when I busied myself with a small craft project since I'm stuck at the inn and there's no television to pass the time. The last two days, Jilko kindly keeps me company and we managed to make more progress on the gnome sign language book. At some point, Archie starts waving his two front paws to mimic the hand gestures which is incredibly adorable.
Anyways, the moment Mint and I walk into the Adventurers' Guild, the atmosphere is quite tense even with a few adventurers around. We approach the counter and speak with a guild employee.
"We're here to see the guild master. He's expecting us."
Mint states our purpose to the guild employee with her usual bright personality.It takes a few seconds for the guild employee to recover from the surprise of suddenly meeting an elf the first thing in the morning.
"Y-yes, please wait a moment."
The guild employee stumbles while rushing off to the back, forgetting to ask our names.
"Hey Mint, didn't you tell Serafina that we're meeting the guild master today?" I whisper from under the hood of my robe.
"Was I supposed to?"
I sigh after hearing her response and gently stroke Archie inside the pet carrier bag. Before leaving the inn, Archie hops into the pet carrier bag that I left on the floor beside the bed after hearing where we're heading to as I was getting ready.
The guild employee returns a short while later.
"Please follow me."
The room we're guided to is not the guild master's office instead, the sign on the door read - Meeting Room; a spacious room occupied with a long table and the wooden benches pushed up against the walls.
"Guild master, I brought the guests here as you instructed," states the guild employee.
Guild master turns his body away from facing one side of the wall with maps pinned onto it and uncrosses his arms as he welcomes us.
"You finally came. I heard from Serafina that you're recovering from mana exhaustion. How is your body feeling?"
"Much better. Thank you for asking," I answer.
Guild master then shoots a glance at the employee who tactfully leaves the room with the door closed. Guild master then pulls a bench closer to the table and invites us to take a seat. Archie shows himself after I put down the pet carrier bag beside me. Guild master remains standing as he faces us from the other side of the table with his back to the wall pinned with maps. At a glance, the coloured lines and shapes scribbled on the maps, I can roughly guess the Adventurers' guild is investigating the movements of the monsters before the stampede happens. I also notice that Guild master looks more relaxed than a minute ago when we came in. His brow is no longer knitted together.
"First thing first," Guild master starts off the conversation by bowing his head at Mint. "On behalf of the Adventurers' Guild and this town, thank you for stopping the monster stampede and also for providing us with the information of what caused it. The damage incurred and the number of casualties was reduced with the rangers' support."
"We already received your gratitude from Serafina. It is only right neighbours help each other in times of trouble," Mint light-heartedly responds with a smile.
Guild master straightens his back at her response and Mint takes this chance to enquire about the status of the wounded soldiers who returned with Serafina the other day.
"None of the Imperial soldiers showed symptoms of being affected, so the priests released them from isolation and they are currently recuperating."
"That's a relief," I thought as my hand gently strokes Archie.
"That reminds me," Guild master moves his gaze from Mint to me. "Iris, stop by the counter on your way out later. You need to confirm that you receive the compensation for the potions you readily offered for the wounded Imperial soldiers."
For a second there, Guild master narrows his eyes at me.
He continues, "The money has already been transferred to your account but if you're dissatisfied with the amount, the guild will help negotiate with increasing the price for you."
"Okay, I'll check it after this."
Moving on, Guild master says, "I already heard the reports from Serafina and the Triumph Party and I'd like to hear it from you too, about things the others might've not noticed."
Before that, I raise my hand with a question.
"What's the Triumph Party?"
"Triumph Party is the C-rank adventurers assigned as Serafina's guards during the monster stampede," Guild master answers.
Oh, those three female adventurers.
I proceed to tell Guild master what happened, of course not everything. Mint cuts in now and then with parts I deliberately omit with the excuse that my memory was a bit fuzzy towards the end of it as I was near my limit.
"And what happened to the monsters you defeated?"
"Burned it all. Can't risk letting it rot and taint the soil."
Mint unhesitatingly answers Guild master's question regarding the fallen Armoured Ants and Raging Bull.
"Will there be other soil potentially be tainted?"
Guild master word his question carefully.
"We cleaned it up very thoroughly. You can go there if you want."
Guild master nods his head firmly to Mint's casual response.
"Anything else?" Guild master asks.
"That's all from us," I conclude the verbal report.
Amongst the messy piles of papers on the table, Guild master pulls out a paper in between a thin stack and show me a long list of names.
"Your name is added to the list of people who participated in the monster stampede," Guild master explains.
As he says, I find my name with the word 'Tamer' written in front of it.
"Unfortunately, the rangers involvement cannot be disclosed to the public. I hope for your understanding."
Mint just shrugs her shoulder, looking unbothered.
"Iris."
I look up when Guild master calls my name.
"I should've said this earlier. Good job on protecting the Imperial soldiers. I wasn't under the impression that you're strong enough to hold off against a horde of monsters."
Guild master praises then express his honest assessment of me.
"To be honest, that was my first time facing so many monsters all at once. I didn't think I could handle it if it weren't for my friends," I say, not forgetting to acknowledge my ranger friends' help.
Mint and I high-fived each other; an action my elf friends pick up from me.
"It will also be added to your achievement record. If you keep this up, you might just get a rank promotion in a year."
I return the list of names to Guild master.
Mint must've noticed something from his voice or expression when she leans close to my ear and speak. "In other words, he's expecting great things from you."
I blink in surprise and look back at Guild master who's pretending to sort through the papers on the table.
"There's no way..." I doubtfully thought so.
He might have said the same thing to other adventurers as words of encouragement because he's the Guild master. I decide not to take Mint's interpretation seriously.
The meeting ends when there's nothing else to say.
Before leaving the Adventurers' Guild, I stop by the counter and almost exclaim in shock at how much the Imperial soldiers compensated for the potions. It is slightly more than the usual market price. There's even a short but politely written thank-you message on the note section which made me smile.