(AN:I'm quite new as an Author and also English isn't my first language, so feel free to point out any errors I make)
Under the shade of an ancient oak tree, a boy and a girl lay side by side on a gentle, soft patch of green grass beside the stream that cut through the center of the rural village they came from.
The boy had a short and messy brown hair, his black eyes that was weighed down by deep bags beneath them look as lifeless and unmotivated as a dead fish. The dirty clothes pair with his semi-malnourished pale skin made it quite clear that he came from an economically struggling family.
The girl, in contrast, had a long smooth pink hair that is as shiny as a high quality silk and her azure blue eyes gleam like a finely cut, polished gem. The luxurious noble child's dress she wore, paired with the expensive toys scattered around her, made it clear that she came from the nobility.
The boy in question is me, Rise Felixson, the son of a potato farmer, and the girl lying beside me is my childhood friend, Gloria von Beau, the daughter of the nobles who own my family's land. We have a sort of tradition of spending time together every weekend.
"When I grow up, I'm going to become an adventurer, just like Light the Hero himself!" Gloria she yelled loudly out of the blue
"Umm… umm… good for you then… good for you…" I muttered unconsciously as my eyelids began to close, worn down by the exhaustion after spending the entire day dealing against her playful antics.
"And you're going to become an adventurer too. Let's have a race to see which one of us reaches level 20 first!" she yelled again, her voice even more stern than before.
"Umm… umm… yes… yes…" I muttered unconsciously again as my eyelids closed shut, embracing the comforting darkness that filled my vision.
"Really?! That's a promise, okay?" she said proudly as she forcefully hooked her pinky around mine.
"Umm… umm… sure… sure…" I muttered, already fast asleep and running purely on the autopilot mode my brain had developed after years of dealing with her.
"Oh yeah! Demons and monsters, wait for me for about five years! I'm going to slay you all, hahaha!" she shouted as she jumped to her feet, swinging her toy sword around and laughing maniacally like some kind of psycho.
But then, she suddenly stopped and whispered softly, "If you win, I'll become your wife. But if I win, you'll become my husband." She muttered, her face as red as a ripened apple.
Meanwhile, I knew none of that and was completely asleep.
---
-5 years later
On the afternoon of another peaceful day, on the back of a merchant's horse-pulled wagon, currently rattling along an old dirt road that could barely be called one, the boy from before had grown into a man. An uninteresting and unmotivated man, but a man nonetheless. And yep… that's me.
I'm currently a passenger on a random wandering merchant's wagon traveling through my home region. It's a rare opportunity, since not many merchants come around here. After all, the purchasing power of my home village is about as low as dirt.
"Where to, young man?" the old merchant driving the wagon asked, dressed in fur-lined trading clothes as he twirled his mustache with one hand. By the divines, the way he did it made him look like a villain straight out of a children's storybook I used to read with Gloria when we were young.
"Any village you come across with an adventurers' guild branch will do. You can just drop me there," I answered nonchalantly, forcing the friendliest smile I could muster.
The reason I left my home village was to become an adventurer, not because I wanted to be a hero or anything like that, but because a letter Gloria sent me said the job was easy and paid well. She's a big name in the region now, by the way. That's because she left our village to become an adventurer two years ago. She really is eager for adventure, isn't she?
"Whoa! Really? You want to become an adventurer? Really?" the merchant asked, a hint of wariness in his tone.
Of course he was worried. My body was built like a piece of cloth that could be blown away by a gentle breeze. My current outfit was just as appalling, shoddy leather armor placed over old ragtag peasant clothes better suited for farming than fighting. Not to mention my weapon… or rather, my lack of one.
"Yes, I want to become an adventurer" I answered.
"You know it's a really dangerous job, right?" he asked.
"Yes, I know, but I wasn't worried at all" I answered with a smile, shrugging my shoulders in order to appear like some kind of big-shot rookie. A good first impression never hurts, right?
And I wasn't lying, not even a bit. I had a plan. After I got my adventurer's license, I would accept only safe, small quests like helping farmers harvest crops, rescuing cats stuck in tall trees, or collecting herbs. Jobs like those would be ideal. And if even an idiotic girl like Gloria could become one, why couldn't I?
"Young and confident, huh? Good for you then…" he murmured, turning back to focus on driving the wagon.
-3 hours later
As the sun began to settle over the horizon, we arrived at a stone paved road leading into a rural village. It was larger than my home village, but not big enough to be called a town. "Oakenville" was the village's name, engraved on an old wooden sign planted at the side of the road.
"Please drop me here, sir" I said to the merchant, and he nodded in response.
But as I climbed down from the back of the wagon, the merchant said something that sounded interesting out of the blue.
"Hey, young man… if you're going to be an adventurer anyway, why not try taking an easy little job from me, hmm?" he said quietly, a knowing edge to his voice. "No license needed" He added.
"Sure, I accept. What do I have to do?" I said, agreeing without even pausing to think.
"Uh… um… aren't you normally supposed to ask about the quest details before accepting this kind of unlicensed request?" he said, sounding a bit shocked.
"Just tell me what to do" I said confidently.
"Um… just pick up this piece of paper and a pen." he said as he handed them to me.
"Ok, and what's next?" I ask
"When you get into the village, use them to draw a layout map of the village, especially the roadways and the guard barracks" he said slowly, as if explaining it to a mentally stunned child.
I nodded in response.
"I'll come back for the map in three days. I'll give you a gold coin then, okay?" he said, peering straight into my eyes as if trying to read my soul.
"Uh… okay?" I replied, trying my best to remember everything he'd just said.
"Good! I'll see you in three days, young man" he said, turning his wagon around and driving off into the sunset, leaving me standing there with a thoroughly confused look on my face.
It was pretty weird that the merchant didn't go into the village to do any actual trading, but who cared? I shrugged it off and walked down the road into the village.
---
Merchant POV
On the afternoon of another peaceful day, I, the vice chieftain of the White Wolf Bandit Gang, was on a covert mission to buy supplies for our secret hideout. But today, something special was happening… or rather, someone stupid.
He was an naive-looking young man who took a ride with me, fully believed I was nothing more than a traveling merchant, despite the fact that my wagon was pulled by a warhorse and left completely unguarded. After all, every bandit in the area already knew my face and name.
Even more astounding, he said he wanted to become an adventurer despite all that shoddy equipment. Worse still, he didn't even have a weapon.
After all these years living as a bandit, I know that in this dangerous world there are monsters so terrifying that even our massive bandit gang can do nothing but cower in fear in their presence. Those are the kinds of threats adventurers normally face on a daily basis.
This man is either secretly really strong… or astoundingly stupid.
And my gut told me to bet heavily on the second one.
I trick him to basically act as a spy, reporting the layout of our next raiding target back to me for the measly cost of a single gold coin. He agreed foolishly, just as I expected him to.
Now that the pawn was set, I would bring the supplies back to the hideout, leaving behind a clueless spy.