Chapter 266 A good mission for free
Since Hector said the young man was not his friend, the other members of Team Light stopped paying attention to him and looked back at the requirements of Mission No. 345.
Quest Name: Collecting Sek'en Bird Feathers
Quantity: 20
Location: Warcraft Forest
Reward: 15,000 gold coins
Mission duration: one month
Adventure team level requirement: None
"Wow! This is a great mission!" Budno excitedly grabbed Amanda's shoulders. "Finally, there's a mission we can complete!"
Disceo and Angel happily high-fived each other. "Yeah! That's great! This is a mission tailor-made for us."
Shu Li stared at the amount of compensation, and his eyes turned into symbols of money.
15,000 gold coins!
This is 10,000 more gold coins than the last Stargrass collecting mission. Isn’t that awesome?
Each of the eleven people received 1,350 gold coins, and the extra 150 gold coins served as shared funds. It was perfect.
Kumandi looked down at his notebook and put a check mark next to the fourth item on his list.
Ace quickly calculated the distance and time required. "Starting from Igya City and heading north, we'll pass through the Kingdoms of Keshengdao and Ailansi in a straight line and reach the Monster Forest. If all goes well, we can complete the mission in three days."
Shu Li's eyes lit up when he heard this.
Although the weekend is only two days long, you can ask Ilio for leave, set off on Thursday night, arrive at the Warcraft Forest on Friday evening, complete the quest on Saturday, travel at night, and return to Igya City on Sunday evening.
It was a bit rushed in terms of time, but it was worth it for the 15,000 gold coins.
"Okay, let's take this mission! We'll go back and inform Seryu and ask him if he wants to go." Shu Li was very excited. He took out the adventure team badge and prepared to register at the window to accept the mission.
"Wait, Sperian, are you sure you want to take this mission?" Hector pulled Shu Li with a confused look on his face.
"Hmm?" Shu Li nodded as she met Hector's confused eyes. "Sure!"
If you don’t take on such an easy task now, when will you?
"Do you want to take a closer look at the mission requirements?" Hector asked helplessly.
"Gather twenty feathers from the Sek'en bird. That's right!" Shu Li raised his hand and pointed at the quest description. "Reward: 15,000 gold coins."
Thinking that he was about to get so many gold coins, he couldn't help but smile sweetly.
“Hehehe~~”
"Hehehe~" Discio, Angel, and Budno laughed.
Amanda was a little slow to laugh. "Hehehe——"
Kumandi: ...
Ace's lips curled up slightly, a hint of smile flashing in his green eyes.
Siti and Nasha looked at each other in silence. Although they shared Hector's doubts, they trusted Sperian's decision.
Hector was simply defeated by his simple and naive teammates.
He pinched his brows and pointed to the description on the taskbar, saying, "Sek'en Bird! Look carefully, the mission target is the Sek'en Bird! A high-level demonic bird known as the Swift Wind!"
He had not forgotten that when Sperian was a child he was "kidnapped" by a Sek'n bird and taken to the edge of the Fairy Forest, where he almost had an accident.
If he were a goblin, and was suddenly taken to a strange and dangerous place, and was almost killed by the Black Knight, he would have developed psychological trauma long ago.
Next time I see a Sek'en bird, I won't even have time to hide, so why would I take the initiative to approach it?
"I know the Sek'en birds are known as the Swift Winds, and most of them are high-level magical birds above level seven." Shu Li saw the worry in his teammates' eyes and blinked reassuringly, "Don't worry, it's okay!"
Ever since that incident, the other Sekhen birds have been very well behaved in front of the goblins.
In addition, he adopted five Secken birds and grew up with them. After spending so much time with them, he knew their habits very well.
The most important thing is that the Sek'en birds in the Fairy Forest and the Sek'en birds in the Warcraft Forest basically belong to the same group.
The name "Swift Wind" is not undeserved.
Because of its fast flying speed, the Secken bird often travels back and forth between the two forests, and over time, it has developed a habit of migration.
For safety reasons, most female Sekhen birds choose to lay eggs and hatch chicks in the Fairy Forest. When the chicks are fully grown, they are brought back to the Warcraft Forest for training.
Of course, a few Secken birds find it troublesome and, relying on their own strength, hatch eggs directly in the Warcraft Forest.
This gave adventure teams and mercenary groups the opportunity to steal eggs.
However, anyone who dares to plot against the Sekern bird is likely to be in great danger.
When Shu Li saw the task description, he was overjoyed.
For him, asking the Secken bird for a few feathers is not too easy!
Those 15,000 gold coins were almost free.
Hector didn’t understand the situation and was worried about him, which touched him. However, the place was not right now, so it was inconvenient for him to explain, so he could only appease him first.
"Trust me." Shu Li patted his shoulder lightly, looking serious.
Hector looked at the boy's confident face, his worries faded away, and he nodded involuntarily.
"Let's go and take the mission." Shu Li waved his hand and hurried to the registration window.
He was afraid that if he arrived too late, his mission would be snatched away by other adventure teams.
"Hector, wait a moment." Jason, who had been watching, said, "You are all magic apprentices. Accepting this mission is tantamount to seeking death."
Hector stopped, frowned and glared at him, and said coldly: “It has nothing to do with you.”
Jason seemed oblivious to the disgust in his eyes and said good-naturedly, "This quest has been posted for two months, and two level-seven adventuring teams have returned empty-handed. Seeing no one was willing to take it anymore, the employer raised the reward to 15,000 gold coins and removed the level requirement for adventuring teams. Despite this, a week later, no one is interested."
Hector said mockingly: "You know it very well."
More than ten days had passed since the start of school, and he hadn't met Jason in the academy, so he guessed that he was not in the academy.
After all, intermediate magicians are qualified to go out on adventurous missions.
The unexpected meeting here today means he just came back.
"If you don't believe me, you can ask anyone." Jason sighed, "I can't just watch you die..."
"Thank you for your concern, but I don't need it." Hector said coldly, walked around Jason who was blocking the way, and went to the registration counter.
Shu Li glanced back at the young man and found that he was frowning with a stern expression, as if he was suppressing his anger in order to maintain his elegant demeanor.
Could this be another "Luvisi" who is looking for trouble with Hector?
Shu Li handed the adventurer badge to the staff at the registration counter and said politely, "Hello, we are Team Light, accepting mission number 345."
The staff member took the badge and looked at it, thinking he had misspoken about the mission number, so they carefully confirmed with him. "You are a Level 1 adventure team."
Shu Li replied: "Yes, you read that correctly."
The staff member said, "Mission No. 345 is to retrieve the feathers of the Sekon bird. Do you really want to take it?"
A group of magic apprentices entered the Warcraft Forest, just to deliver food to the Warcraft.
Shu Li said affirmatively: "Accept! This quest has no level requirement for the adventure team."
The staff had no choice but to help them with the procedures for accepting the task.
What a bunch of ignorant magic apprentices. Since they insisted on taking it, he couldn't say anything more.
I hope they return safely.
After completing the registration formalities, Shu Li received the mission card and happily left the Adventurer's Association with his teammates.
Jason stood by a pillar, staring at Hector's back with a gloomy look.
"Oh, is he the one you've been thinking about?" A teasing voice sounded behind Jason.
Jason didn't look back, his blue eyes full of paranoia. "Isn't it great?"
The armored swordsman walked from behind him to the front, arms folded, and squinted his eyes at the retreating magic apprentices. "I think the younger boys are more interesting."
Not only does she have an exquisite appearance and pure aura, she also has a cheerful personality.
"Them? Those mountain people?" Jason glanced at his teammates with disdain. "I didn't expect you to have such a strong taste? You even want to get your hands on babies."
"No..." The swordsman glared at Jason in dissatisfaction, "Is there something wrong with your eyes? Why are they babies?"
Jason said, "To me, children who are inexperienced in the world are no different from infants."
Those mountain boys looked so pure, as pure as a piece of blank paper.
He is a man of principle and would not harm a child who is inexperienced in the world.
Besides, he already has someone in his heart, so how could he be attracted to someone other than Hector?
Unfortunately, Hector didn't understand his painstaking efforts and avoided him like a snake every time they met. In order to attract the attention of his beloved, he had no choice but to do excessive things again and again, which led to greater misunderstandings.
Jason was in pain and had no one to talk to.
The swordsman tsk-tsk-tsked and shook his head. "I really don't see what's so special about Hector that he deserves your constant attention for three years."
Jason said bluntly, "As long as I know it in my heart, that's all."
Hector thought that the palace banquet three years ago was the first time they met, however, he forgot that they had met ten years ago.
After leaving the Adventurer's Guild, Hector couldn't wait to ask Shu Li why he accepted Mission No. 345.
Shu Li led his teammates to avoid the crowd and walked to a remote street corner. He lowered his voice and told his human teammates detailed information about the Sekhen bird.
Hector, Siti, and Nasha were more and more surprised as they listened, and they were all dumbfounded at the same time.
Is it the goblins that are special, or is it Sperian?
It's incredible that he even has five Secken birds.
If they do this task, the reward is almost like picking it up for free.
"Ace, you don't seem surprised?" Hector asked, puzzled. As human beings, Siti and Nasha's reactions were similar to his, but Ace remained remarkably calm from beginning to end.
Shu Li immediately looked at Ace.
Yes, when he decided to take Mission 345, Ace fully supported it and didn't question it at all.
This is very wrong.
Ace said calmly, "After what happened at Wobba Canyon, I believe Sperian has the ability to lead us to complete this mission."
His eyes swept over the goblins and the dragons.
Siti suddenly slammed her palm. "That's right! The four of us are the real magic apprentices in our team."
How could she have forgotten this?
Sperian is a mid-level archmage, Kumandi is a low-level archmage, Desio, Angel, Budno, and Amanda are high-level magicians, and Seleu is a high-level magician and mid-level greatswordsman.
Even if so many strong men unite, can they not pluck the feathers of the Seken bird?
Hector laughed awkwardly.
He really forgot.
It was all that annoying Jason's fault. He showed up on purpose to mess with his mind, causing him to become confused and forget the true strength of his teammates.
Shu Li received Ace's look of complete trust, and her heart moved, and her cheeks inexplicably became hot.
He turned his head and asked Hector: "Who is that man? Have you ever had a feud before?"
"He..." Hector put away the smile on his face, clenched his fists, and hesitated.
Shu Li raised his hand and said, "I'm not deliberately asking about your privacy, but I'm afraid that person is another Lu Weixi. Just in case, we must prepare in advance to prevent him from taking advantage of his power and bullying others."
"Sperian is right!" Desio waved his fist. "If he dares to bully you, we will help you beat him up!"
“It’s better to take precautions before they happen,” Kumandi said.
Nasha whispered, "That person...looks at you strangely."
Siti rubbed her arms. "It's a bit weird indeed. If someone looked at me like that, I'd get goosebumps."
Hector smiled bitterly.
After today, Jason might hold a grudge against his teammates.
There was someone who was close to him before, but after a few days, he was threatened by Jason, and then that person never dared to be friends with him again.
If he doesn't want his teammates to get hurt, he'd better tell the truth.
Taking a deep breath, Hector mustered up the courage to reveal the secret he had kept in his heart for three years.
"That man's name is Jason, the heir to Lord Ferent of the Pros Empire. He... likes homosexuals. Three years ago, he made... unreasonable demands of me, and I ruthlessly rejected him."
Hector hesitated and stammered, his face getting redder and redder, even his ears were red enough to bleed.
"Because of my rejection, he held a grudge and deliberately found fault with me, making things difficult for me. I'm sorry to have caused you worry..."
After he finished speaking, he lowered his head, feeling uneasy and not daring to look at his teammates' expressions.
"So that's what's going on? I thought it was serious." Discio scratched the back of his head.
"He likes you, but you don't like him. He's deliberately finding fault with you, which is really ungraceful," Angel said.
Hector looked up, his silver-gray eyes filled with confusion. "Don't you... feel strange?"
He felt his teammates' focus was a bit off.
"What's strange?" Shu Li asked.
Hector looked at the innocent faces of the little fairy and the little dragon, gritted his teeth, and said boldly: "He is a man, and I am also a man. Men like men... isn't it strange?"
As a noble, he knew that some noble young men were very extravagant, but they usually went to specific places and looked for special people to have fun with, and would never hunt nobles of the same sex.
Jason was different from others. He actually made such an excessive request to him, who was still the heir to the lordship.
Hector felt offended by the nobles' pride.
What did Jason take him for? Or did he think he was an easy target?
Just because I accidentally spilled wine on him, I deliberately humiliated him in that way?
Over the past three years, they had crossed paths on different occasions, and each time Jason stared at him as if he were his prey, which made him shudder.
Hector became more and more angry as he thought about it, and then he tried to avoid Jason whenever possible.
The eyes of the little goblins are too pure. Asking such questions makes me afraid of polluting their innocent minds.
"Oh, same-sex love is fine!" Angel tilted his head and said, "As long as they truly love each other, it's not strange whether it's between men and men or women and women."
Hector was shocked. "Can you... accept it?"
Shu Li cleared his throat and said, "In our tribe, same-sex couples are very common."
Fairies and elves never worry about gender. They can be together if they like each other and will receive the sincere blessings of their tribesmen.
Humans on the mainland are much more conservative about this.
Hector was stunned and asked, "How can same-sex couples reproduce?"
As the former heir of the family, he was taught from childhood to marry, have children, expand his family, have many sons and grandsons, and keep the family going.
Shu Li said: "We don't have this worry."
Fairies are born from flower buds, elves are conceived by mother trees, and the tribesmen only care about love and are not responsible for reproducing offspring.
This is different from humans.
When Shu Li first traveled through time, he was quite shocked when he attended a same-sex wedding. However, as time passed, he gradually integrated into the tribe, accepted the fairies and elves' ideas of respecting nature, and basically assimilated.
Therefore, he is not opposed to same-sex love.
Hector opened his mouth and covered his face, feeling embarrassed.
He forgot again.
Unlike humans, fairies do not have to bear the responsibility of reproducing offspring.
He sighed deeply, feeling uncomfortable. It seemed like he was making a big deal out of nothing by bringing this up in front of his teammates.
"Pfft..." Siti reached out and patted Hector's shoulder. "There's nothing to be ashamed of in this kind of thing. You should be proud of it."
Hector's cheeks flushed. "Proud of what?"
Siti raised an eyebrow and said teasingly, "I'm so proud of your infinite charm! Even men fall at your... uh, feet."
Hector said unhappily: “I like the opposite sex!”
Kumandi said, "In that case, then stick to your original intention."
Hector felt warm in his heart and looked at his teammates with emotion. "Thank you..."
After finally telling the secret in his heart and not being discriminated against, he suddenly felt relieved and relaxed.
"Let's go find Seleu." Seeing Hector smile, Shu Li knew that he had figured it out.
Soon, the group left the remote street corner and walked towards the nearby bus stop.
Ace and Shu Li walked side by side and asked calmly, "Do you like the same sex or the opposite sex?"
Shu Li was stunned, his foot stepped on empty air, and his body suddenly leaned forward.
Ace was quick to grab his slender waist.
"Be careful." He whispered in Shu Li's ear.
Shu Li felt the heat and his ears suddenly turned red.
He suddenly remembered that his roommate had different feelings for him. Was asking this question a test, a test, or a test?
How could he answer this?
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