Syl

Chapter 17.5: Boar Hides and Goblins

The twilight hours of the Adventurers Guild were usually pretty quiet, as most people had already turned in their quests or monster spoils and gone out to spend their earnings at a restaurant, pub, or inn. But there were always exceptions, especially if adventurers were traveling far to and from their objective, so the guild usually kept a small roster of night staff.

Tabitha was unfortunately stuck on the graveyard shift tonight and desperately wished she could head home to take a hot bath and collapse into her bed. There was a bonus quest recently posted to slay goblins that had everyone in a fever, hoping to get the extra payout rate, but it seemed people were struggling to find the nasty creatures, and there had been fighting over the spawns.

Tabitha was struggling to stay awake until the entryway suddenly slammed open, revealing Kurt, who had the smuggest grin on his face. She cursed under her breath and straightened up, attempting to don her professional persona. There was a side bet going on with the guild staff on whether anyone would be able to complete the goblin bonus quest within a week, and Tabitha had bet two silver against it - fully believing there just weren't enough goblins in the forest. Kurt's expression really made her worry that he'd completed the quest and she'd lost her silver.

"Welcome back to the Adventurers Guild, Kurt. Don't tell me you actually found the goblins?" Tabitha asked, failing slightly to remain professional.

"Nope, even better than goblins," Kurt responded. Tabitha desperately wanted to celebrate her bet being safe but managed to restrain herself. He reached into his storage pouch and started pulling out rolled-up hides and placing them on the table.

"Hey! Don't drop raw materials on the reception desk - you'll get blood everywhere!" Tabitha screamed in protest, but that only made Kurt's face upgrade to a shit-eating grin.

"No blood here. These boar hides have been expertly prepared." Kurt responded, patting one proudly.

Tabitha blinked in confusion, then examined the hide, and true to his word, there was no blood or any excess as if prepared by a master tanner. Kurt's current class was a combo of Fighter and Scout, and he had hopes of getting an advanced job with dual-wield skills, so Tabitha knew this wasn't his work.

"I know you don't even have the [Dissection] skill, Kurt. Did you hire someone?"

"Something like that... I got quite a few of them, and man, I am so glad the guild convinced me to buy a storage pouch. I thought you were trying to scam me." He chuckled and started pulling a few more from the small storage pouch.

It was the cheapest option, but it held a small extradimensional pocket, and it was a staple of any aspiring adventurer to prevent being weighed down by equipment, treasure, or monster parts.

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Tabitha frowned as Kurt kept pulling out masterpiece after masterpiece; even the guild staff that could be hired to dismantle monsters couldn't match this level of quality - at least in a small city like this one.

'What level of [Dissection] would be needed for this quality? Something crazy like seven or higher?' Tabitha wondered to herself.

What bugged her the most was while boar hide had its uses, and this would most likely make some exquisite beginner light armor, boars were barely even considered monsters and only used by beginners attempting to unlock [Dissection] without spending valuable skill points. Why would a master waste their time and effort on boars when they could earn a fortune to dismantle something like a dragon?

"Did you go and rob the Crafters Guild or something?" Tabitha questioned.

"Nope, I got these in the forest," Kurt replied.

Kurt wasn't lying, but Tabitha felt he was hiding something. Sighing, Tabitha reached for the enchanted lockbox that only registered staff could access.

"We will buy them at double the normal rate, but remember you will be accountable if someone comes looking for them," Tabitha warned.

Kurt whistled with satisfaction, "Wow, double rate. I knew they were good quality, but I didn't expect that much, and I didn't have to pay that stupid guild fee to harvest the corpse... Maybe I should finally get [Dissection]."

Tabitha frowned but held her tongue. If Kurt was serious about trying to unlock the skill, he would learn a harsh lesson and soon be begging the guild staff - it was messy, time-consuming, and generally unpleasant.

"We will pay you half now, and you can collect the other half tomorrow after we confirm with the Crafters Guild."

"Sure, no problem. Gonna have a big celebration with drinks tonight! Why don't you come with Tabby?"

Tabitha frowned and shook her head- she hated that nickname the adventurers gave her. Even if she wanted to go, she couldn't leave the guild unattended, not to mention her bed was still calling her.

"Sorry, I can't, I have to finish my shift." She responded and handed Kurt his payment, "Besides, what if someone comes in late from goblin hunting?"

"I don't know why they put out that bonus quest. I didn't spot a single goblin out there, just lots of wolves. I'd almost say it was some scam to make newbies waste their time." Kurt responded with a slight scowl, which disappeared the second he started pocketing his payment.

"To be honest, I'm not sure either. You'd need to go deep to where the forest meets the mountain to find any goblins since they like to hide in caves."

"That's like over two days travel... Even with the bonus quest payout, that's not worth it. I'd rather head into the dungeon, grind levels, and hope for a lucky rare drop."

Tabitha snapped her fingers and pointed to Kurt, "Exactly. Even if our dungeon has the reputation of being super stingy."

"True that. A basic undead dungeon is terrible for loot, although it's great for grinding skills and levels."

"Sometimes I think the slime farm is the only thing keeping the economy afloat here. As stupid as that sounds..."

"Hey, don't mock slime farming; that's how I saved money to buy my first real sword."

"Sorry, sorry. I just can't stand the things ever since I found out they roam our sewer system..."

Kurt laughed and said goodbye, wanting to get to the pub before the last call. Right at the exit, he turned around with another stupid grin erupting on his face.

"Next time you drink a potion, you better hope it's from the farm and not the sewer!" He shouted with a laugh and promptly exited.

"You bastard! I did not need that image in my mind!" Tabitha screamed at the closed door. She was definitely going to have horrible dreams tonight... Stupid slimes and stupid Kurt.