Junta & Wizarding World
#21 First Request
“This is really kertas”
Junta muttered softly, his expression looking confused and panicked, he put on that face while walking with Kou on the city streets filled with pedestrians.
“That's why we are now leaving for the Association building right? We have to find a high-paying request, I don't want to sleep outside and I believe Big Brother doesn't want to either, right?”
“Of course! But I really didn't think that the price of the fruits we picked up yesterday was so cheap.”.
“At least we can buy this weapon with little money it”
Kou slightly opened his cloth robe and pointed towards the two knives he had placed on his left waist.
“Your knife and my sword are rusty weapons and look almost broken.. I'm even confused as to why you want to buy this weapon Kou.”
“It's better than we have to fight empty-handed”
Junta held the sword he sheathed at his left waist after Kou said that.
“According to me this is just a waste of money, with the total money we spent to buy this weapon of ours, it should be enough money to sleep in the inn for 1 night”
“Then did Big Brother say that we better fight empty-handed?”
“I mean, didn't you see the sword and the knife on the wall? Indeed we do not have enough money to buy it, but we can save it you know?”
“Kakak... The price of the sword and knife you mean is a total of 1 gold coin, as the merchant said earlier, 1 gold coin is equivalent to 100 silver coins, and the money we get from selling all the fruits we pick out of nowhere is a total of only 20 silver coins! 10 We already used to buy this gun of ours, and 10 more to stay at the inn last night, no more coins left to buy food today!”
“That's why I said if only we didn't buy this weapon, then with those 10 silver coins at least we can get food for today”
Kou let out a long sigh and quickened his pace for him to be a little further away from the Junta.
Not too long later, they reached the Association building, the building was still as crowded as yesterday, nothing had changed, after Junta and Kou had a glimpse of the surroundings, they go to the notice board to see the requests available.
“Hmm, Kou, can you read it?”
“Not too Big Brother.. I just know what this writing means”
Kou pointed towards one of the papers taped to the notice board, he pointed towards a writing beside which there was a number.
“I think this means money, gifts, rewards, or something.”
“H…. I think it's going to be difficult, we know how big the reward is, but we don't know if it's going to be in silver coins or gold coins, we don't even know what request to ask..”.
“Maybe we can know in outline about our mission through those pictures?”
Kou pointed to one of the other papers taped to the notice board, if you look around again, there are different images on each paper on the notice board, which is, indeed the picture wasn't very good, but it seemed like it was enough to help Junta and Kou in determining what request they wanted to take.
“How about this Brother? On the paper it says the number 50, but I don't know if it's 50 silver coins or gold coins.”
“Are you sure Kou? The image that looks like a giant snake makes me unsure.. Anyway how do you know it's 50?”
“If only read the numbers of course I can Big Brother, thank you for the merchant we came yesterday”
“Since when did you learn..”.
“Then how about this?”
“Image of something big circle in black is a little disturbing me.. After all what is this in the middle of the dark circle? A small red circle.”
“Maybe it's like the heart of the monster?”
“I'd rather think that it was his eyes.”
“Hmmm suitable request yes..”
Kou continued looking for requests that looked easy on the notice board, of course they wanted to start their first job from the easy one first, but somehow the request on the notice board looks difficult all.
“Good Sister.. What about this one?”
“Hmm.. Is this a picture of a village? And what is this? It looks like a river, but why is it black?”
“I don't know, on this paper is written the number 20..”
“Viewed from this relaxing image.. Maybe we are required to investigate the river that is in the village, maybe they have a problem with the water source that is there”
“I think this request is quite easy for us, maybe we can do something with the magic we have”
“Alright, we take this one”
Kou pulled the paper from the notice board and walked towards the reception desk.
“Excuse me miss, we will take this request”
Kou handed the paper to the woman standing behind the reception desk, after the woman saw the paper Kou gave her, her originally smiling expression happily turned into a little fear and worry.
“Are you guys sure you want to take this request?”
“Very sure, what is it?”
“This request has actually been in the Association for quite some time, there have been many Association members trying to solve this but all of them have failed, even lately, there are 2 Class 4 teams of 4 members who also failed in completing this request”
“Oh, Junta.. And Kou right?”
“Ah, Yellow haired lady yesterday”
Right after the receptionist woman finished telling her story, Junta was greeted by the yellow haired woman who helped her fill out the form yesterday.
“Start your first job?”
“That's how, me and Kou want to take this request”
The junta pointed towards the request paper that was on the reception desk.
“Oh this request.. I see, that's why Maggie looks a little worried”
“Maggie?”
The yellow haired woman pointed towards the receptionist woman.
“Oh, her name is Maggie.”
“Oh I'm sorry, maybe I forgot I haven't introduced myself to you guys, my name is Margaret, people used to call me Maggie, I'm the receptionist in this branch building”
“Maggie yes, I am Junta, and this is Kou, although I feel you already know our name through the registration form yesterday.”
“Sure I remember it, and that's why I'm a little afraid of your safety if you guys want to take this request”
“Just give the request to them Maggie, I'll accompany them”
“Eh? But Zonya, I heard that the Association will call Class 5 to complete a special request, and most likely you will also be called”
Junta looked at the yellow haired woman after she heard what Maggie said.
“Class 5? Wasn't yesterday you still Class 4?”
The slightly confused junta decided to ask in person.
“Actually yesterday was my last day being Class 4”
“Once, it turns out that yesterday you climbed the ranks yes.”
“I think I'm going to miss Maggie's special request, I'm not going to want to do a complicated request.”
“So yes.”
Maggie's face suddenly became sad.
“I don't think it will be a problem if Zonya comes on the mission this time”
“Wait for the receptionist lady, I mean Maggie”
Kou who from earlier was silent, now started talking.
“Maybe for you there is no problem, but for us this is problem”
“Oh? You don't want help from one of the strongest members of the Association?”
“To be exact, I don't want to split his prize because we really need money now”
The receptionist woman looked at Kou with a confused face, while Zonya, only let out a small sigh.
“The reward is 20 Kou gold coins.. Do you still not want to share it?”
“20?!”
“Actually what is this request? Why is the prize so big?”
The junta started the conversation seriously.
“I will explain it simply, after all it is the duty of a receptionist to explain a request”
“Alright, try explaining Maggie”
“The essence of this request is to purify the river water that is in a village, but, because this request has been too long in the Association without anyone succeeding in completing it, it is, not only the river needs to be purified but now the wells that are there also need to be purified”
”So far I understand, a simple request, then why is the prize so big?”
“That's the problem, the water that was in the village was seen to be contaminated by something that was difficult to remove, there were already many Association members trying to resolve this request, but nothing worked, he said, even Class 4 though”
“What's the provisional guess about the contaminated water it's Maggie?”
Zonya suddenly asked something Junta wanted to say.
“Based on the report of the Association members who once tried to resolve this request, they said that the river that was there was black and slightly viscous, in color, they think there must be a monster that pollutes the upper reaches of the river”
“Thinking? Did they not come up the river and see it directly?”
“They can't Zonya, the river's headwaters are located a little far from the village, and they have to pass through the Sorz forest in order to get to the river's headwaters, based on the reports I received, they repeatedly heard the sound of roaring monsters coming from the Sorz forest, which is why they thought that the river was polluted because it was a monster”
“So yes.. Sorz Forest, although the voice of the monster could have come from the forest not from the river, but only with this information I know why the prize could be this big”
“Uh.. Did I miss something here?”
Junta put on a confused expression after saying that.
“Sorz forest is a large and dense forest, it is said that the forest is the oldest forest in the country that is millions of years old, not only that, people also said that in this forest there are many dangerous monsters that can not be found anywhere else”
After Zonya finished speaking, Maggie connected the conversation to add more information.
“Not only that, another rumor says that the forest also produced a magic that makes the people who go inside will never be able to come out again”
“Why suddenly the nuances here turn into horror?”
Kou involuntarily took those words out of his mouth, Junta cleared his throat to resuscitate Kou who was too loud to speak his mind then said.
“Intinya, this forest is feared right? So why is this request never resolved? Then what about the Class 4 Association member you told me was Maggie?”
“They just check the water there and try to purify it, they don't try to go upstream because they doubt the obstacles there”
“And the obstacle in question is Forest Sorz yes.”
Maggie nodded her head after hearing the answer from the Junta.
“What is this forest really so terrible? I mean, even Class 4 doesn't want to get into that forest.”
Zonya sighed after hearing Junta's question.
“Alright, I will tell you a story that used to be a conversation throughout the country, first, then, Queen Rana attempted to explore the forest because she received information that there were precious natural resources there, so Ratu Rana sent 10 thousand troops led by one of the Queen's confidants, Queen Rana also ordered the troops to immediately explore the Forest Sorz when they had reached there, strangely, the Queen, although it had been 7 days since the troops left, Queen Rana never got word that her troops had reached Sorz” Forest
“Maybe they got lost? Or maybe they were killed?”
“I have not finished Junta, because it feels strange, Queen Rana finally went alone to the Forest of Sorz, and there, precisely on the outer edge of the Forest of Sorz, he found many tents as well as many special equipment that he had previously given to his troops before they set out, there was no sign that they were being attacked, more like the camp was abandoned on purpose, after investigating more deeply, Queen Rana found many footprints belonging to the soldiers that lead into the forest”
“You said that all those troops went inside and never came back?”
“To be precise, more or less that's what I remember, the team came and directly roamed the Sorz Forest without informing their arrival to Queen Rana”
“Hmm although actually the story can not be used as a reference, but I thank you for telling it”
“It's good if now you understand that this request is not an easy request, so, do you now want to receive help from Class 5?”
Junta and Kou looked at each other after Zonya said that, then they both said.
“No, thank you”
“No I thought you guys turned out pretty compact..”.
“I'm sorry Zonya, but what Kou said is true, we can't share the prize with you”
“Junta, listen to me, you're new to the Association, and the request you receive is a difficult one, even I feel that this request will be a special request if there is one Class 4 team that fails again, here I offer myself as Class 5 to help you solve this, you will do this request with the most experienced and most powerful person in the Association, which means, that is, the opportunity to complete this request is getting bigger and of course the possibility of you getting 20 gold coins is increasing”
Junta and Kou only let out a long sigh after Zonya expressed her argument.
“Zonya, why do you look so eager to join us? We don't hate you, it's just that Me and Kou need that money for something, after all Me and Kou are very confident that we can handle this ourselves”
Zonya did not answer Junta's question and just lowered her head and put on a sad and upset face, the look on her face now was the same as Hako's expression when she recalled about her murdered friends.
The reason the Junta wanted that much money was because he wanted to use that money to help him in obtaining the information he wanted, certainly in achieving that goal, it required money with not a small amount, he said, the purpose of the Junta in this world still remains, that is, obtaining information to return to its original world, no one guarantees the security of the Junta and Kou in this world, even in this wrong world the Junta was doubtful whether they could get any information about their parents.
Indeed, broadly speaking, they want to go to another world to find information about the killer of both their parents, but, going to another world requires careful preparation, that was why Kou advised his brother to try to go to another world, of course when Kou suggested that, he must have prepared everything and investigated well about the world they wanted to go to, The junta believes Kou has already done that because Kou's specialty is in the information field.
Junta looked at Zonya's face once again after he had been daydreaming for quite a while, Zonya still lowered her head and put on the same face as before, Junta looked towards Kou to ask for his opinion.
“How is Kou?”
Kou closed his eyes and seemed to think hard.
“All right, I understand, my goodness why we have met so many pathetic people since we came here.. Alright Zonya, I will accept your offer, but on condition, your wages if successfully complete this request with us, is 2 gold coins, this is my offer and I do not want to negotiate”
“I agree with Kou, even though I think every coin is valuable.. But I guess it's an attractive offer”
Zonya raised her head after hearing the offer from Kou.
“Alright, I accept your offer Kou, I think it's enough for me, thank you for accepting the selfish offer from ku”
“Alright, since Zonya, a member of the Class 5 Association is also coming with you guys, I think I can calm down now”
Maggie cleared her throat a little and continued speaking.
“As I said earlier, your main mission is to purify water, but be aware that this pollution can occur due to the actions of high-level monsters, the location of this village is in the mountains located on the left side of this city, the name of the village is Polski”
Maggie seemed to have finished explaining, so Zonya continued the conversation.
“Alright, the journey to Polski village takes approximately 7 days if we walk, then, maybe we will be lucky and can ride in the wagon of the traveling merchants and finally be able to arrive in the village within 5 days, is there a question Junta? Kou?”
Junta and Kou shook their heads after hearing Zonya's brief explanation..
“Oh I almost forgot, please take this Junta, Kou”
Maggie gives a bracelet made from plant roots to Junta and Kou.
“What is this? Jewelry?”
“it is a Class sign for you, Class 0”
Junta stared at the bracelet carefully after Zonya told him what it was, it did look like a piece of junk, but making a root-based bracelet like this definitely required some good skill, Kou had already started putting it on his left hand, and Junta had the bracelet on his right.
“Alright, I'll go get ready first, meet me at the city entrance gate if you guys are ready”
And with that, Zonya immediately went out of the Association building.
“Maggie, what's the matter with that woman?”
Maggie sighed before answering Junta's question.
“He is young, his age is not much different from mine, but also not much different from yours, at his young age he had to go through a difficult path.”
“Kou, do you understand what Maggie said?”
“It looks like something bad happened in the past, judging from the face of the Zonya earlier, I think the events experienced by Zonya more or less the same as experienced by Hako”
“So it's not just me who thinks like that huh.”
“I'm sorry Junta, Kou, but I can't tell you what really happened, let Zonya herself tell you that, I as an old friend of Zonya also express my deep gratitude because you guys have accepted her selfish request that”
“It's okay Maggie, more or less I understand what's going on here, well we'll go now, thanks for all the explanation you gave Maggie”
“Sama-sama Junta, be careful when carrying out this mission”
Junta and Kou answered that with a smile before they finally stepped their feet out of the Association building.
