Chapter 17 : Chapter 17
Chapter 17. I Am Quite Fond of You!
Vivian woke up because the smell of food lured her from sleep.
She rubbed her drowsy eyes and sat up, only to see Wu You chewing half a piece of black bread with a blank expression.
“You are awake? Come here.”
Wu You jerked his chin toward her, then broke off about a third of the bread and handed it over.
Vivian’s eyes lit up instantly.
She immediately pounced over and took the bread.
She completely forgot about any “great mage’s dignity.”
Like a starving little beast, she wolfed it down, stuffing the bread into her mouth in just a few bites, and then stared eagerly at the remaining piece in Wu You’s hand.
Wu You: “……”
There was still half a piece left in his hand.
Looking at Vivian’s emerald eyes, which clearly said “I am still hungry,” he fell silent for two seconds.
“….”
Wu You pressed his hand to his forehead and muttered quietly.
“Is it still possible to return the product now…?”
Vivian did not hear him clearly, but judging from his expression, she roughly understood the meaning.
Her little face immediately drooped.
She lowered her head and nervously twisted the edge of her tattered robe with her small hands.
Seeing her begin to act pitiful again, Wu You sighed helplessly.
“Catch!”
He irritably tossed the remaining half piece of bread toward her.
The bread traced an arc through the air.
Vivian fumbled slightly but managed to catch it.
Her expression instantly brightened, revealing a huge smile still dotted with bread crumbs.
“I am quite fond of you!”
Then she resumed her “hamster eating,” nibbling the bread in small but rapid bites.
Her cheeks puffed out as she chewed, and her emerald eyes narrowed with satisfaction.
Watching her like that, Wu You continued grumbling.
“Eat, eat, eat. All you ever think about is eating! Why do I not see this enthusiasm when it comes to working? You call yourself a One-Time-Use Mage? More like a one-time-use rice bucket…”
Yet as he continued complaining, watching Vivian look so happy and satisfied over such a tiny bit of food, the impatient expression on his face slowly softened without him realizing it.
Even the corner of his mouth unconsciously curved upward with a faint smile he did not notice.
Forget it.
He would just treat it as raising a particularly gluttonous pet.
Although this pet was rather noisy, somewhat chuunibyou, and exceptionally good at causing trouble.
After Vivian carefully ate the final crumb of bread and even licked her fingers—only to have Wu You smack her hand away in disgust—
The two tidied themselves up and left the cold basement, heading once again to the Adventurers’ Guild.
The guild was just as lively during the daytime.
With Vivian trailing behind him like a little tail, Wu You squeezed his way to the quest counter.
It was still the same receptionist from yesterday.
When she saw Wu You, her eyes brightened slightly.
Especially when she noticed the little girl behind him, now wearing a somewhat cleaner—but still ragged—robe, her gaze softened even more.
“Mr. Wu You, what kind of quest would you like to take today?” the receptionist asked warmly.
Wu You’s mind was still calculating how to make money and gather energy faster.
The frustration of being cursed by a goddess also surfaced from time to time.
So when he heard the question, the answer slipped out of his mouth almost instinctively.
“Is there… a quest to take down a goddess?”
Receptionist: “…???”
Several adventurers nearby who had been secretly listening: “…!!!”
Even Vivian looked up at Wu You in shock.
The moment Wu You said it, he realized what he had done.
He quickly laughed awkwardly and scratched his head, adding in a casual tone.
“Just kidding, just kidding. Trying to liven up the atmosphere.”
He leaned closer to the counter and lowered his voice so only the receptionist could hear.
“What I mean is… do you have anything with short duration and quick money? Something that might even have a little extra income on the side? E-rank or F-rank is fine.”
The receptionist recovered from her shock and looked at Wu You with a mixture of amusement and helplessness.
She lowered her voice as well.
“Mr. Wu You, even if there really were… that kind of quest, it would not be something we could publish. And certainly not something you could accept at your current level.”
She paused and searched through the quest list before pointing to a line.
“Short time, quick money… There are not many E-rank quests that fit that description.Let me see… Ah, this one.Clear out the overpopulated Gale Rabbits in the western Wind Whisper Grasslands.Gale Rabbits are first-tier magical beasts.They are very fast and not very aggressive, but there are simply too many of them. They are damaging the grasslands, and because they are troublesome to kill, not many people take the quest. The reward is one silver coin for every ten pairs of intact Gale Rabbit ears you submit. What do you think?”
Wu You frowned.
One silver coin was equivalent to one hundred copper coins, which sounded decent.
But ten pairs of ears for one silver coin?
Just how difficult were these Gale Rabbits to catch?
And “troublesome to kill”…
That probably meant both time-consuming and exhausting.
“Is this the only one?” Wu You asked.
“At the moment, this is the only quest that suits your level and urgently needs manpower,” the receptionist said apologetically.
“The others either pay less or require special skills or long-term outdoor assignments.”
While Wu You was still weighing his options, Vivian suddenly squeezed forward from behind him.
Her little face lit up as she spoke in a deliberately lowered voice full of “majesty.”
“Gale Rabbits? Hmph. Such low-tier wind-attributed magical beasts are nothing more than chickens and dogs before my supreme arcane power!”
She patted the broken staff in her arms, which was nearly as tall as she was.
“With a single grand-scale Flame Storm, I can reduce them all to ashes. The reward will be easily within reach!”
Receptionist: “……”
She looked at Vivian, who clearly believed she had just said something extremely impressive, and then looked at Wu You, whose expression screamed “I do not know her.”
The corner of her mouth twitched slightly.
Wu You grabbed Vivian by the collar and dragged her behind him, ignoring her protest of “Release me! How rude!”
He turned decisively to the receptionist.
“We will take this one. The Gale Rabbit quest. Please give me the quest scroll.”
Large-scale magic?
Flame Storm?
With your “one-time-use” artillery body, you will probably set the entire grassland on fire before you even burn a rabbit—and then collapse again!
In the end, I will still be the one doing all the work!
No, this mission needs a more careful plan…
Walking out of the guild with the quest scroll, Wu You began to feel a headache coming on.
Facing a group-dwelling magical beast known for its speed…
None of his skills seemed particularly suitable.
[Quick Step] sounded excited.
[Speed? I excel at that!
Host, chasing rabbits is my specialty!]
[Horizontal Slash] also spoke up.
[Area attack? Leave it to me!
One swing of the blade, and however many rabbits there are, I will cut them all down!]
[Enhanced Upward Slash] and [Radiant Thrust], however, sounded somewhat uninterested, feeling the targets were too weak to be challenging.
Wu You ignored the chatter of the skills.
Instead, he was thinking.
Perhaps… there was another way to approach this.
He glanced at Vivian, who was still sulking about not being able to display the dignity of a great mage.
Then he thought about her unstable yet extremely powerful magic.
A highly efficient idea slowly took shape in his mind.
“Hey, rice bucket,” Wu You called out to her.
“My name is not rice bucket!”
“Do you want to… prove that you are not a one-time-use mage?” Wu You revealed a slightly malicious smile.
Vivian looked at him cautiously.
“What are you planning now?”
“This time, we will try something different.”
Wu You waved the quest scroll in his hand.
“You do not need to chant those long and smelly incantations. You do not need to collapse after casting either.”
“You can just act as… bait. How about it?”
Vivian: “???”
Bait?
For feeding rabbits?