The Discarded Son's Skill Market
Chapter 27: First Mission as a Mercenary

Chapter 27: First Mission as a Mercenary

That same day, Wednesday afternoon.

Zaid headed to the meeting place indicated by the contractor: a park in the southern part of the city near the Waste Portals.

The park was quite crowded. Everyone was lost in their own world.

Some couples laughed affectionately as their sweet lips touched each other constantly without a trace of shame, annoying the bachelors and loners who watched with disgust—even though all of them dreamed of having someone with whom they could play and joke around in the same way.

And among those single and lonely people, many chose to look at the enormous fountain in the middle of the park.

Children ran about freely, happy as could be.

Among those people was one who caught the attention of everyone who looked at her.

A beautiful woman with crimson red hair that cascaded down her back to her glorious buttocks, like a waterfall at sunset.

Even Zaid was drawn to that woman. She was too beautiful.

Her face was exquisite, though it was poorly cared for... in fact, once you noticed this, the entire image of a Goddess of Beauty was shattered.

Her hair was beautiful, yes, but it looked dirty and unkempt. She hadn’t even bothered to comb it, so she looked as if she had just woken up.

Her clothes were even worse. Despite her extraordinary figure, she was wearing clothes that looked like old rags... or were old rags!

She wasn’t wearing any makeup—which was something to be commended, because her face was so beautiful she didn’t need it—but she was dirty. A few strange stains, who knows what they were, smudged her face.

Everyone who looked at her felt as though their greatest goddess had been destroyed out of nowhere...

Zaid chose to stand a little ways away from her to avoid drawing too much attention; though he still had to wait near her until his contractor arrived.

10 minutes...

"Aren’t the fish here beautiful?"

After they’d been waiting for ten minutes and he was starting to get impatient, a beautiful voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

He turned his head to the left, and there was the beautiful woman with red hair and blue eyes, intently watching the fish in the fountain.

With nothing else to do, he turned and looked at the fish.

They came in all colors and shapes. They kept leaping out of the fountain. They seemed magical.

"They are," Zaid had to admit.

And for quite a few minutes, he stood there, mesmerized by the beauty before him—the fish, the water, and a beautiful woman.

Thirty minutes passed...

Zaid frowned. ’Why isn’t he here yet?’

What an irresponsible person!

He felt a little irritated. How could 30 minutes have passed and he still not have arrived, when he said he’d wait here?

"Ah!"

The beautiful female voice snapped him out of his thoughts again. He looked to his left and saw the beautiful woman who had remained silent for the past 20 minutes, checking her cell phone with a nervous look on her face.

Then she looked around and... left.

Without saying goodbye, she just left.

’It’s not like she has to say goodbye to someone she barely exchanged a few words with, anyway.’

Zaid waited some more. He was tempted to leave. However, he had already waited 30 minutes—what if he left and the contractor showed up a minute later?

Without realizing it, he seemed to be caught up in some kind of waiting paradox or something like that.

The minutes passed.

He saw the beautiful woman walk by several times, until at one point she stopped and stared at him.

She approached him and... "A-are you Mr. Gio?" she asked.

Zaid didn’t pay much attention at first; he thought the woman was going to say something about fish again or that she had misunderstood. However, upon hearing that name...

He frowned.

"Huh? I am. Are you?" he asked.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "It’s me—the person who hired you!" She showed him her cell phone with the assignment posted through the union’s app.

He was puzzled. "Huh? But you... Isn’t your name Robert?" He even checked his cell phone and the contact...

It clearly said Robert in the app!

"Oh, yeah." She smiled, a little embarrassed. "You don’t have to sign up with your real name, so I used my dog’s name. Robert—he’s a pug!"

Zaid put a hand to his forehead... that’s right, he’d forgotten. The name wasn’t necessarily his real one. Hadn’t he signed up as Gio?

He felt embarrassed by everything he’d thought about his contractor earlier... He—or rather, she—had certainly shown up early.

Although she seemed to have forgotten why she came here.

’Actually, she’s a careless girl. Never mind, it doesn’t matter.’

Zaid nodded and shook his hand. "Well, let me introduce myself. I’m Gio, the Mercenary. I just signed up, so my rank is low. But don’t worry—I have experience hunting those beasts."

The beautiful but disheveled woman took his hand and nodded repeatedly. "I’m Scarlett, an Alchemist! I’ll try not to get in your way."

Her smile was so magnificent that it completely silenced Zaid’s thoughts.

Although something she said caught his attention.

"Alchemist? Wow..."

A noble profession, on par with Alice’s sorcery, though academically superior.

They aren’t hunters; though they could be. It’s one of the Three known Legendary Groups.

She nodded. "I have experience in the field, so if you want some potions, come to me!" She patted her chest, brimming with confidence.

"If you don’t charge me too much, I’ll think about it. I might need them soon!"

"You can pay me with work—just get me some beast body parts and we’re all set!"

Somehow, the two hit it off almost immediately.

They set off shortly afterward for the Portal Zone.

And before entering, Scarlett prepared some poisons in her body to protect herself.

"Can I ask you a favor?" Zaid asked as he watched her get ready.

"As long as it’s not about money..." Scarlett looked at him carefully.

"It’s not about that." Zaid laughed. "Although my favor could be very lucrative for you."

"I’m all ears." She replied immediately.

"We can enter this area thanks to the permit the guild grants the contractor. I don’t get many chances to come in here, so could you come with me while I try to earn some points by hunting beasts? Just for one day. All the carcasses will be yours—I don’t need them."

Scarlett opened her eyes wide, but then quickly closed them again. "Won’t it cost me anything extra?" she asked cautiously.

Zaid shook his head. "No. It won’t cost you anything extra. I promise, and we won’t go very far in. Just the nearest F-Rank areas."

"Great!" she agreed cheerfully. "Let’s do it! Anyway, I’m also curious to know how hunters go about their hunts."