After falling for the stupid witch’s prank and ending up with much fewer Jewels than she anticipated, Michelle had nowhere close to enough of what she had to pay for her rent. She went back to the town’s bulletin board, but couldn’t find anything that was quick or worthwhile. Having promised the hotel manager that she would return with the money she owes by the afternoon, and afternoon only being a couple of hours away, the young assassin started panicking. She may be many wrong things, but she always kept her promises.

Seeing no other option, Michelle headed towards the good old doctor’s shop. Stephen was more than happy to welcome his trusted errand runner. She never thought she would go to him asking for something to do; but desperate times called for desperate measures. “Hey! I have to pay the rent and I’m running short on Jewels. Do you have anything I can do for some quick cash?” she asked, with a rather blunt honesty. However, that didn’t seem to faze the doctor. He was delighted to send her on a fetch quest. “Must be your lucky day, Miss Hunter! I have just the thing for you,” he said, grinning widely. Michelle hoped this wasn’t something weird like casting hexes on random strangers, like last time. Luckily, his task did not involve harming others for no reason.

“There is this particular mushroom I’m looking for. Very rare and expensive. And of course, illegal. You see, I cannot leave the lab to go looking for it. I have something stewing that I need to keep an eye on. Would you mind getting it for me, please? I’ll pay you handsomely,” he said, handing her a paper with detailed sketch and description of the mushroom. At least, I can trust this man to not prank me. She took a look at the paper and nodded, before leaving the shop.

Michelle had to jog towards the woods; she was running short of time and was determined to find the mushroom as quickly as possible. When she finally did reach the woods, she was surprised at the amount of grey mushrooms that were dubiously similar to the ones described in the doctor’s notes. Tall, skinny, and has glowing green dots… she reminded herself.

Even after wandering the woods for almost thirty minutes, Michelle couldn’t find the mushroom the doctor described. Wondering if she was searching the wrong parts, she marked the trees with a sharp rock to avoid going in circles and headed deeper into the forest. The deeper she went, the thicker the forest got, and higher the chances she would run into a wild animal. Unfortunately for her, the worst did happen. Few minutes into the thick woods, she heard the growl of a wolf; a lone wolf at that. She knew lone wolves are usually lost and extremely scared, which meant they would be aggravated and attack recklessly. This one was no different. The minute the wolf noticed Michelle, it charged straight at her, attempting to sink its teeth into her neck.

512/1000

Michelle was no push over. She had fought several animals before, including wolves, and she knew how to handle herself. With a quick backfist to the wolf’s jaw, she diverted the attack and jumped back to gain some distance. The wolf whined in pain, but was not out of commission. The counter attack only aggravated it further and it came back with more vigour than before. The young assassin was ready this time. She held her ground, and just when the wild animal got into range, she swung her left leg in a perfect arc kick in front of her and activated her slash. A thin compressed-air blade shot forward immediately and took the wolf by surprise. By the time the animal realized what was heading its way, it was too late. The wind blade struck the wolf’s legs, cutting a deep wound and making it stumble down.

Michelle knew there was no way the wolf could get up immediately and follow her. She found no pleasure in killing the animal, nor did she have the time; so, she left the wounded wolf there and fled the scene. Fortunately, the wolf did not choose to pursue her after recovering from the attack.

Changing the search location helped. After almost an hour inside the woods, Michelle finally spotted the mushroom the doctor was looking for. Despite having many similarities with the other common mushrooms, this one still stood out with its glowing green dots. As she rushed towards her objective, she saw a small squirrel hop towards the glowing mushroom. Oh crap! Michelle did not want a stupid squirrel to spoil her mission; besides, from what she read in the doctor’s notes, that mushroom was toxic. So, if the squirrel even took a whiff of it, it was going to die. When it became clear that the squirrel was going to reach the mushroom before her, Michelle bent low, picked up a pebble and threw it right in front of the squirrel. That was enough to scare it away. With a heavy sigh, she plucked the mushroom and wrapped it carefully on a large dry leaf she found on the ground.

Looking at the time, she realized she had less than forty-five minutes to noon. She tracked her way back using the marking she had left on the trees and rushed back into town, heading straight to the doctor’s shop. Michelle did not give the doctor any time to welcome her back or offer other pleasantries. “Here’s your mushroom,” she said bluntly, immediately after entering. The doctor looked at her curiously and then at the mushroom she placed on his counter. “Ah… Perfect! I see you are in a hurry, so I won’t keep you here long. Here!” he said, handing her a heavy bag of Jewels. This should be enough to pay the rent. With just fifteen minutes left to noon, the purple-haired woman dashed to her hotel, and managed to reach just when the clock hit twelve. With heavy breathing, she placed the Jewels on the counter and yelled “There! I made it,” startling the poor hotel manager.

1031/1000
-Exit-