"It's fine, he'll live." The bartender acted as if this was a normal occurrence in this sort of place. Although Merlin could understand, lower level mercenaries were some of the most rowdy NPCs in the game. They were typically prone to lashing out at anybody who annoyed them, and their general behaviour in taverns made them no better than gangsters or bandits. This is why most mercenary-infested taverns never bothered to upgrade or replace their old furniture, it would only be destroyed in an altercation at some point.
The one redeeming quality mercenaries had however was that they loved money and would do almost anything for it, some would even murder if you paid them enough, although that was a thin line between mercenary and criminal that few dared to cross.
Merlin took a seat at the counter once more, the bartender gave him a cheeky smile. Everyone else seemed to have sat back down and gone back to drinking, although a couple of people who were previously drinking with the guy Merlin destroyed walked over to check on his condition.
Looking around the room, he saw that there wasn't a job board or any loose quest forms, so the reasonable assumption would be that the barkeeper was the one who distributed the quests. This was probably why even the mercenaries kept in line, for the most part, within his establishment. If they got on his bad side they'd be out of a job, or at the very least forced to do the low paying garbage jobs to make a living.
"So, do you have any jobs for me?" Merlin asked the barkeep.
"Would you prefer a lower payout for an easier job, or high payout and an extremely dangerous job?" The barkeeper asked him, a glint of curiosity in his eye.
Merlin put a little bit of thought into it before responding. "Something a little above what you'd assume my level to be, preferably subjugation."
Subjugation quests typically paid the highest, and killing things at his current level was rather easy for him due to his previous combat experience. Although this would get more difficult later on as levels and stats started to matter more, meaning he probably wouldn't be able to finish a combat encounter with a critical hit or two like he had up until this point.
Not to mention the various types of creatures that would appear at later levels, humanoid creatures were abundant, but there were creatures of all shapes and sizes, even giant monsters weren't that uncommon of a sight, although they were usually considered bosses of some sort.
"Well, you've shown yourself to be competent with hand-to-hand and a blade, I may have something for you." The barkeep rustled through a stack of paper, pulling out a crumpled sheet that looked like it had been handled a few too many times. "This one has been in our backlog for a little while, but it had started becoming an even bigger problem as of late."
As the barkeeper passed the sheet to Merlin, a quest window appeared before him.
┌───────────────────
[Common Quest]
Lycoa bandit subjugation.
Reports have come in of a small group of bandits who have been attacking people who attempted to travel between Lycoa and Orchomenus. They seem to have made camp somewhere within the forest, somewhere north from the forest trail.
Kill off a few bandits and force them to retreat so the path can be safely used, a bounty of one silver per bandit has been posted.
Bandits remaining: 20
• Reward: 20 Silver, 200 EXP
└───────────────────
"Think you're up for the task?" The barkeep asked.
"Yeah, I'll take it, thanks." Merlin rolled up the quest form and shoved it into his pocket. "Do you have anything that overlaps with the quest, anything more to do with the bandits?"
"Oh? You want more." The barkeeper's expression sharpened, it almost seemed as though he was somewhat disappointed. "I'll acknowledge that you have some degree of ability, but it's not good to be overconfident. In this line of work that will get you killed."
"Ah, I see." Merlin realised where the bartender was coming from, a gentle smile formed on his face. Ironically, the man who all the mercenaries in Orchomenus respected was the kindest person in the room.
"I apologise if I seem overconfident. The thing is, I was ambushed by bandits on my way here from Lycoa about twenty minutes ago. I've already dispatched three bandits with ease, this isn't a case of overconfidence caused by inexperience."
Hearing this, the barkeeper's eyes widened. He inspected Merlin's facial expression in attempt to discern if he was lying or not, but ultimately it seemed as though he was telling the truth.
"I just figured that if I go deal with them now, I might as well grab all of the related jobs at once and get it over with in one go." Merlin explained his side of the story, his tone signified that he considered eliminating bandits as nothing more than a petty chore.
A large grin formed on the barkeeper's face, it seemed he was convinced. "Very well, the only other job we've received for those particular bandits is a formal request from the head of the Lychesters." He pulled out another piece of paper, not from the pile of job requests, but instead from a wax sealed envelope.
He handed the job request to Merlin, along with the envelope it was stored in, a quest window appeared before him.
┌───────────────────
[Uncommon Quest]
Assassinate the Lycoa bandit leader.
The Lychesters seem to hold a great deal of resentment towards the leader of the bandits hiding within the Lycoa forest.
They have placed a bounty of ten silver pieces on the leader's head.
Eliminate the bandit leader.
• Reward: 10 Silver, 200 EXP
└───────────────────
"I'll accept this one as well, thank you." Merlin took the quest and shoved it in his pocket alongside the other one.
He felt a sharp pain in his palm once more. When he inspected it, he noticed that the light purple spots had now darkened. Merlin's thoughts began racing, more so with curiosity than fear, it seemed to be some kind of poison, but he wasn't sure what it was, at the very least it wasn't your regular poison.
Some form of curse perhaps? He was dealing with an undead, so it was possible it could be the case. It still didn't make sense, curses shouldn't have been seen until much later in the game, at the very least not right outside of the tutorial village.
He was straining his memories trying to find a solution, and then he remembered how it started, a rose. The wounds appeared on his hand as if he had squeezed the rose stems, there were roses on the grave covered in blood, this was a clue.
"You should probably get that checked out. The priestess is supposed to come back in a few days." The bartender noticed the dark purple spots and gave his comment, he gave it a strange look. Merlin assumed this look meant he was worried if it was contagious or not, the bartender's next question sort of confirmed his thinking. "How'd you get it anyway?"
"Got attacked by a ghost on the way here, it's a long story." Merlin laughed it off, "It's spreading rather quickly, so my guess is that it's a curse or poison rather than a disease, you probably don't need to worry about it being contagious."
The bartender nodded, he seemed to be a little surprised that his true intentions were noticed. "It's a little concerning you don't seem that worried about being cursed or poisoned, and I'm not even going to ask about it, but just take care of yourself out there."
"Alright, thank you... and uh, sorry for the table." Merlin scratched his head awkwardly as he stood up and walked out, all he could hear was the bartender's laughter as he closed the door behind him.
Merlin walked around town for a little while, looking at the various stores around town and generally mapping the place out. He came across a familiar named store, Lychester's Provisions. Feeling like he needed to stock up, although his current funds were limited, Merlin entered the store.
Much like the store run by Zoey Lychester, this store was also packed with various goods, but even more so, it was as if he had walked into the lair of a hoarder. An older looking man walked out from behind a large stack of rope. As he got closer, Merlin noticed the name that appeared above his head, "Arwell Lychester".
"Hello, how can I help you? Arwell asked, he began looking Merlin over, but couldn't get a good read on him due to the black cloak, although the cloak itself looked to be relatively cheap in his eyes. His immediate opinion was that Merlin was a cheap customer.
"I just need four torches." As if confirming Arwell's suspicions, Merlin only spent four copper, leaving him at a single silver piece.
Merlin left the store and begun walking to the eastern gate, where he entered the town from. As he walked through the town, he opened his inventory, throwing three of the four torches inside. He also took out his shield and gladius and equipped them, he kept his gladius sheathed while he was in town.
He finally made it to the gate, as he walked out, the chattier guard called out to him. "Hey ghost guy hold up, you going for a revenge match?"
Merlin laughed at being called ghost guy, he felt it kind of ironic considering his intentional ghost-like appearance, but he knew this wasn't why he got the nickname. Merlin turned to the guard and pulled the quest forms from his pocket, handing them to the guard.
The guard started reading the forms as Merlin opened his inventory, pulling out his tinderbox and lighting the torch. The guard returned the forms, which Merlin threw into his inventory along with the tinderbox.
"I guess you're going out to make more." The guard laughed at his own joke, but the other guard facepalmed, it seemed he didn't approve of his fellow guard's flippant attitude to taking lives.
The other guard spoke up, but his words were brief. "Stay safe and good luck."
