After the intense boar fight, no other monsters attacked him that night. Maybe because they had seen how strong Shyam was… or maybe there just weren't any. Either way, Shyam continued his journey to Kamalgram.
For food, he ate what he had packed before leaving Nilgram. Maybe from now on, he'd mention that name less and less, and soon, not at all. Sad—but acceptance is necessary.
For the next few days, he just walked and rested whenever it was night.
He used his Dash skill at times to speed things up, but at his current level, his MP recovery rate was slow. Very slow. With high expectations and a low budget, he finally stepped inside the village known best for selling good quality lotus fruits.
"Kamalgram, here I come," whispered Shyam as he entered the village.
This village was very different from Nilgram. Where Nilgram had only about four hundred citizens, he could instantly see over three hundred people just walking around the center.
He opened his map and searched for the adventurers' guild. During his travels, he'd also read the entire Adventurer's Guild rulebook. Yes, the one that looked just like the Krittibashi Ramayana. Sadly, it wasn't an ancient magical technique scroll—but he wished it was. From that, he found out that if an F-rank adventurer wanted to take on an E-rank quest, they had to be in a party of at least two F-rank adventurers.
Which is why Pallabi and Shyam were allowed to take the goblin slayer quest—because both were F-rank adventurers. But now, he had no companion. Maybe he should've spoken with the village lord, see if he could convince him to let Pallabi travel with him.
But it was too late to think about that now. He had already entered Kamalgram, and now he could only try to rank up to E-rank on his own to take on better killing quests.
Before entering the guild, he went to find an inn to see if he could manage a room on the cheap. He only had a little over two silver coins left. Following the map route, Shyam reached The Lotus Inn. Unlike the inn at Nilgram, this one had paintings and expensive-looking furniture inside. It was bigger and had more rooms than the White Sun Inn. Lotus sculptures stood in the corners, and the colorful interior looked like something impossible to imagine even in modern houses.
"Uh, excuse me," Shyam said, spotting an old lady cleaning a table with a wet cloth. The lady at the White Sun Inn also did the same thing when he arrived. Was this a universal innkeeper move?
"Oh, hello," said the lady with a smile.
"Could I get a room for one, please?" Shyam asked.
"Of course. For how long?" she asked, finishing up her table cleaning and placing the wet cloth into a water bucket—probably to clean the other furniture.
"My stay isn't fixed. Will that be a problem?" asked Shyam.
"Oh no, it's just to confirm the price. If you're unsure, does ten copper coins sound okay?" she asked, walking toward the rooms.
"Sure, I'm okay with that," Shyam replied.
He planned to do as many quests as possible in a day so that he could become an E-rank adventurer and start taking monster-killing quests.
"This'll be your room, uhh…" said the inn lady as she opened the door.
"Oh! I'm Shyam," he said, entering the room.
It was beautifully organized, just like the previous inn, and had a comfortable bed to sleep on.
The moment he laid eyes on that soft bed, his brain screamed one thing: SLEEP, DAMN IT!
He had been sleeping on grass and broken logs for days—comfort defeated productivity in seconds.
He jumped straight into bed.
The inn lady had already gone back to her work.
Before Shyam knew it, he had fallen into a deep sleep. So deep, he lost track of time and woke up the next morning.
"What the heck?! How did I sleep so long? Raitha, what's the time?" Shyam shouted, jumping out of bed like someone had shoved a million volts through him.
"Calm down, it's only 4 in the morning. And don't wake me for such small matters," Raitha muttered as she buried herself under the blanket like a grumpy grandpa.
Shyam stared at her, eyes wide open like he had just witnessed a miracle.
"Wake up, idiot! We gotta go," Shyam said, holding her wing and lifting her up.
"Let me sleep," Raitha mumbled, closing her eyes again like she had zero faith in Shyam's protests doing anything at all.
Shyam finally gave in, sighed deeply, and left the room, letting Raitha sleep.
According to the Adventurer's Guild rulebook, all guilds were supposed to be open from 3 a.m.
He stepped out of the inn and finally got a good look at the village. It was quiet, with only a few people on the streets. The fountain in the village center worked flawlessly, and lotus flowers floated on the water as if they were royalty.
A beautiful, calm morning.
Shyam walked slowly toward the Adventurers' Guild, scanning as much of the village as he could see. The houses here were much bigger and better than those in Nilgram. Though comparison shouldn't be done... he couldn't help it!
Painted in big letters was: {ADVENTURER GUILD}.
Shyam entered the building and instantly noticed the difference.
This guild had three receptionists and far more people than Nilgram's. Even the people he saw in Nilgram were probably travelers passing through.
Shyam walked to the quest board and was shocked by how many quests were available.
Definitely a lot more—and better—quests. Not to mention, the rewards were way higher than Nilgram's. This "village" felt more like a developed town.
"Alright, let's see…" Shyam muttered as he scanned the quests.
There were many, yes, but not much for F-rank adventurers. Most were for E and D-rank.
Though according to his map, this village could only promote up to E-rank, so the D-rank quests were rarely taken.
After looking for a long while, Shyam finally picked three quests and brought them to the receptionist. According to the rulebook, an F-rank adventurer could accept up to three F-rank quests at once.
Only if they could complete them in time—otherwise, they had to pay a late fee.
For Shyam, this wasn't a big deal. He had Field Sense to keep him alert and Herbseer to find herbs easily. Not to mention, he could now burn low-level monsters with Fireball. The only problem? He could only use Fireball after a full MP recharge.
His current MP limit was 100, and that's exactly what Fireball required.
The three quests he picked were:
Collect fifteen Red Tiger Grass — Reward: 15 copper coins
Collect three Blue White Herb — Reward: 10 copper coins
Kill fifteen Slimes — Reward: 15 copper coins
Shyam took the quest copies and went straight to the nearby forest marked on his map. He didn't know this world too well yet, but he did have a good idea of where and how to find herbs. After all, he'd just spent two days adventuring in a forest.
He had seen many herbs on the way but couldn't keep them due to lack of storage. Which is why he planned to buy a big enough bag to store decent food and other essentials for his future travel to Taralaya City.
But Raitha had other plans. She quickly destroyed the bag idea.
"Why not buy a storage ring in Taralaya?" she said, walking beside Shyam.
"When did you wake up, sleepy fairy?" Shyam grumbled, staring at her like he was ready to roast her for breakfast.
He had tried waking her earlier when he needed her. But nope—she slept like a cow in hibernation. Now she just shows up walking, acting like she never knew how to fly?
"Eh, just now. So, what are we up to today?" Raitha asked.
"Collecting herbs and killing slimes and all," Shyam replied.
"HERBSEER!" he shouted immediately.
Once again, a blue wave expanded from his body, and all nearby herbs began glowing according to their rarity.
Some had question marks over them; others had basic information.
"Blue White Herb is rare, huh?" Shyam muttered, picking up a few Red Tiger Grass.
With his current skill level, he could only spot herbs up to Uncommon rarity. Anything beyond that showed as a question mark with a red glow.
After just a few hours, he had collected all fifteen Red Tiger Grass. But he only found one Blue White Herb.
No wonder the reward was so high for it.
Luckily, Blue White Herb was still classified as Uncommon, so at least Shyam could recognize it.