<h4>Chapter 61: Adventure Guild</h4>


    "I''m going to post a quest in the adventurer guild," Ray dered with determination etched on his face.


    "Are you out of your mind?" Alex eximed, rising from his seat. "Have you ever considered how much money it will cost to hire that many mercenaries?"


    "And are you even sure the wolves will attack us? What if we hire the mercenaries, and the attack never happens? Think of the economic tragedy it would be," Alex blurted out in rapid session, leaving himself no time to catch his breath.


    Ray remained calm and collected in his response as if he had already considered this scenario. "Yes, I fully understand. That''s why I won''t post a subject-specific request in the guild, but apetitive quest instead."


    "Rather than hiring a fixed number of people for the quest, we''re going to try something different. We''ll post a quest with the location and time for the hunt."


    "While the number of people who can apply for the quest will have no limits, we''ll only pay money per wolf killed."


    "In other words, if there is no wolf attack, there will be no hunt, and we won''t lose a single penny," Ray exined with his arms crossed.


    "Oh, dayum, what a brilliant n you have?" Alex said in a sarcastic tone, mocking Ray''s n for not thinking it through. "So we just post a quest in the guild, summon the adventurers, and then tell them there''s no such quest, please go back home, right? It must be fantastic, getting banned from the guild and thrown out of the kingdom at the same time, right?"


    "Don''t worry about that. In case the quest doesn''t match the given details, it means the quest is fake, and the host will be given a penalty of 15 silver coins to pay to the guild," Ray responded, mimicking the same sarcastic tone as Alex and mocking him for his not-so-thorough thinking.


    "There you go... always finding a way with the peanut-sized brain of yours." Alex sat back in his chair, took a deep breath to calm himself, and added, "Even though... I have a little doubt about your n."


    "Hmm," Ray nodded and took a side nce to look outside the window. "You always have your fair share of doubts, don''t you?"


    "Bruh... Just listen to me for once. Even if ten or twenty mercenaries were to join your quest, do you think this number would be enough to tackle the beast horde?" Alex asked, a little embarrassed that Ray saw directly through him.


    "That''s not exactly enough, but this is the best we can do as of now. I will go into the vige and try giving them a speech once more. It will be easier if they were to cooperate with us," Ray let out a long sigh of exhaustion, reflecting on how he had initially just wanted to live a normal, peaceful life.


    All he expected was to be assigned to a territory where he could manage his work and enjoy his life. However, things took a blizzard turn from there. First, he was sent to a vige where he was hated by everyone for unknown reasons. Now, he had to face extraordinary threats to protect the vige. Ray was in a dilemma, wondering whether he could seize this opportunity to run away from the vige alongside Ben and start a new life in some unknown ce.


    "Will it be the right thing to do?" Ray muttered to himself, looking at the evening sky. As he contemted, rising smoke caught his attention.


    It was already evening, and the only source of light was the magicmps inside the room. Still, even in the darkness, Ray''s fire magic allowed him to see the hot smoke rising in the air, surprising him. He stood up and walked towards the edges of the window to see two people chatting near a bonfire. Upon closer inspection, a smile appeared on Ray''s face, and he chuckled as he shouted from the window, "That''s some good meat you guys are cooking. Any space left for me?"


    In response, the figure near the bonfire shouted, "1 silver per rabbit."


    "Dayum, that''s a daylight robbery," Rayined in an annoyed voice.


    "Take it or leave it," the other voice responded.


    Ray just sighed in response before he jumped off the window, directly from the second floor. Alex on the other hand, identified where Ray was going before he shut the window from inside and took the normal stairs route to get down.


    "So you guys decided to stay in the vige?" Ray exhaustively asked walking close to the two people near the bonfire. Closing on the distance, he saw Ben rxing on the ground while Freya was munching on the rabbit meat.


    "I was so tired of eating rice porridge all the time, give me some of the meat as well." Ray sat near Ben, asking for his share, but his request was just ignored by Freya with a few brutal words: Cook them on your own.


    "Just because I am staying for now, this doesn''t mean I am going to stay here, you know," Ben responded to Ray''s earlier question while his eyes were observing a few things with his blood vision skill.


    "Can''t you be more straightforward for once in your life? Just say yes or no?" Ray asked, clearly annoyed by Ben''s calcted response.


    In against, Ben just pointed his finger towards Freya, "If she decides to stay then I will stay. That''s your clear answer."


    Freya, who was munching on the meat, avoided any contact of sight, as she embarrassingly looked in the other direction. "My n is clear if the wolves attack the vige, then I will run away, don''t expect any other response from me."


    Conflicted by her answer, Ray looked at Ben who just nodded his head in the response. ''''We are not bound to stay by your side, you said so yourself."


    The atmosphere between them fell silent all of a sudden before Ray chuckled and his chuckles turned into a loudugh...