He was beginning to think he might go crazy. It had been one dull request after the other. Considering he hadn’t aligned with a good guild, or any guild really, his rank was too low for him to accept any of the exciting or much better paying requests. So he was stuck with something like this….errand duty.

With a slight groan, he made his way into the forest. At least these requests were easy enough, and never took too long. He was dealing with the deranged doctor again. But this time, instead of hexing random passerby, he was foraging through the forest for some mushrooms. Apparently these weren’t your typical mushrooms. From what the doctor said, these were toxic if ingested. And considering stuff like that was highly illegal, and therefore very pricey to obtain through the black market, he was resorting to asking someone like Mikajia to risk his own health to gather them.

He had a fair amount of experience dealing with stuff like this, so he honestly wasn’t that worried about accidentally poisoning himself. Plus, with the tip from the doctor, he knew that finding these shrooms would be a cinch. All he had to do was head out at sunset. These particular mushrooms were luminescent.

Considering not many types of foliage and vegetation around this area was luminescent, they would stand out easily in the forest. The hardest part then would just be making sure he found his way back out once he had the mushrooms in hand.

He began his trek into the woods once the sun began to dip down past the horizon. He had to make sure it was dark enough when he came across the things, otherwise they wouldn’t glow brightly enough for him to actually pick them out. As the time passed, he was beginning to wonder if the doctor was mistaken about the mushrooms being around this area, but brushed that thought aside almost as quickly as it popped up. It would be highly detrimental for the doctor to lie to Mikajia. After all, he had already proved himself useful to the man, and considering how much cheaper it would be for him to acquire the mushrooms through him versus the market, it would be beyond stupid for him to send Mikajia out on a wild goose chase. No, he must just not have came across the area yet.

However, he knew he’d have to come across the things soon, otherwise he’d be forced to try again tomorrow, and the doctor wasn’t the only one who hated waiting. He picked up his pace, but made sure to focus even more intently on his surroundings so as not to miss anything.

Finally, after another hour had passed and Mikajia was beginning to worry, he spotted a faint glow. Even though the light was very small, it was nearly pitch black in the forest, so the small light stood out intensely. Mikajia carefully made his way over to the mushrooms, knelt down and pulled on his gloves as he pulled out the bag he was to use to place the fungi in. He gingerly pulled the mushrooms up from the ground before placing them all in the bag, making sure to keep them as whole as possible. He figured the better the condition of the mushrooms, the happier the doctor would be. He may not care much for the man, but you never knew when knowing a talented doctor could come in handy.

With all of the mushrooms bagged up he made his way back out of the forest. There was barely any light to see by, but he had made sure to leave marks on the trees to lead himself back out of the forest. A couple hours later, Mikajia was exiting the edge of the forest. He immediately made for the doctor’s building, being told to head there straight away once the mushrooms were gathered. He found the man awake and eager to take the fungi off his hands, hastily handing over the money once the bag was in his hands. Satisfied with the condition of the mushrooms, the man promised to make use of his talents in the future.

With that, he closed the door behind him. Mikajia turned and left, eager to get home and take a shower before passing out.

WC = 723/500