Chapter 254: Boss Big Brother Shye
"H-Hmpph! I do admit that your attack looked…fairly decent, however, it's nothing special so I'm not really that impressed!" Seira exclaimed, slightly stuttering.
Her tough front didn't look convincing at all.
Seeing her current state, Shye couldn't help but inwardly chuckle.
This grape-haired midget was truly a bit comical at times.
There was no way he would believe Seira's words, especially when he earned a point from her.
Elated that his experiment worked, Shye quickly harvested the poison sack from the viper who died from the stray shard.
His attack killed two Haemotoxin Vipers, however, he could only harvest one poison sac as the viper who was hit squarely by the huge icicle spear exploded into more than a hundred pieces, including its poison sac.
'Well, it can't be helped, the boosted icicle spear was just too damn strong!' Shye mused, singing his own praises as the two of them continued on their journey to search for more vipers.
Seira, still a bit shocked at what she just witnessed, remained silent, occasionally stealing glances at Shye as that was the first time she saw such a powerful icicle spear, making her wonder how one of the five suddenly grew and exploded.
'Hmm…seems like this guy indeed has the capital to become arrogant…he's a recent graduate, yet, he's like a fish in water inside the adventurer zones. He doesn't even panic when ambushed…' she mused as she walked behind Shye who was in a merry mood, humming tunes as he excitedly looked for more vipers.
It was only the second day, yet they'd already killed seven vipers.
At this rate, it might not even take them five days to complete the quest.
Unfortunately, things almost always never go smoothly in life.
What they expected to be a five-day breeze of a quest suddenly became a seven-day nightmare.
With only one day left to hunt (as walking back to Balkrow City takes around 8-10 hours), the two of them still had to hunt three more vipers.
The problem was, the little bastards seemed to be hiding from them.
Due to this, Shye had to open the adventurer encyclopedia once more, learning another important life lesson.
[Congratulations! Your Wisdom increased from 53 to 55!]
He already read a lot of information about Haemotoxin Vipers, only, he didn't finish reading the entire thing.
At the bottom of the page, a note highlighted that skinning Haemotoxin Vipers with bare hands would impart a distinct strong odor, detectable only by Haemotoxin Vipers, enabling them to identify the individual responsible for slaying many of their kind.
This odor allowed the Haemotoxin Vipers to get out of harm's way and preserve their lives.
After reading this specific information, Shye and Seira had the urge to bang their heads on a nearby birch tree.
So that's why this quest was ranked C even though the creatures they needed to hunt were only of the (C-) rank!
Fortunately, he sensed that something was amiss, otherwise, he had to return to the guild and report a failed quest.
For a show-off like him, such a setback would not be ideal.
"What should we do now?" the self-proclaimed party leader, Seira, asked. She wasn't that good in the brains department, hence, she subconsciously waited for Shye to think of something.
Shye knew that now was not the time, however, he couldn't help but chuckle inwardly after seeing Seira's desperate face.
"Hah! Look at you, Seira, panicking like a little kitty cat. How about this? If I successfully resolve this issue for us, you'll address me as Boss Big Brother Shye from now on." Shye said with an annoying smirk on his face.
"H-H-Huh?! W-W-Why would I call you that?! Stop dreaming!" Seira retorted, panicking even more upon hearing Shye's condition.
She was torn.
On one side, it would be embarrassing for her, a self-proclaimed seasoned adventurer, to flounder on a rookie's quest after insisting on embarking on it together. On the other hand, the rookie could potentially resolve the situation. Yet, she would be obligated to address him as Boss Big Brother Shye thereafter.
"Now, little sister Seira, what will your decision be?! Come on, calling me Boss Big Brother Shye isn't so bad compared to returning to the branch headquarters as a failure, no?" Shye gently whispered.
'I-Indeed, h-how could calling him big brother be that bad compared to failing the quest? W-We both know who's the actual b-big sister anyway, right?' Seira inwardly thought, not knowing that things wouldn't work as such.
"Tch, tch, tch…time is ticking…should you take too much time to decide, even if my plan works, we might not be able to return on time!"
Due to her mind being clouded by the thought of failure along with Shye's subtle demonic whispers, Seira made a decision she would regret for quite some time.
"W-Well then, B-B-Boss B-Big Brother Shye…can you please solve our current predicament?"
"NYAHAHAHAHAHA! Very well then, little sister Seira, I shall solve our current predicament for us," Shye replied victoriously, taking out a pouch of greater powder for scent removal shortly after. "Here, apply this on your hands"
With a bullied look, little sister Seira angrily took the pouch from Shye's hands and applied it to her hands.
'You hateful bully, if this plan of yours doesn't work, I'm holding you fully accountable!' thought Seira.
Regrettably, for her, they swiftly encountered Haemotoxin Vipers and harvested their poison sacs only a few hours later, following the application of the powder.
…
[Congratulations on completing the quest: Hunt: Haemotoxin Vipers You've earned 2300 points as a reward!]
…
As the weary sun gradually sank to rest, two youthful adventurers, one assuming the role of the elder brother and the other as the younger sister, strolled along a familiar path.
The two of them had contrasting emotions.
The big brother walked merrily, humming a jolly tune while the little sister looked depressed.
They successfully completed their quest, managing to harvest 15 poison sacs within nine days, however, instead of being happy, Seira felt dejected.
Well, why wouldn't she, especially when she was tricked into using such a ridiculous title like Boss Big Brother?
After completing their quest, her mind once again cleared up, allowing her to realize that Shye would probably solve the problem regardless of whether she promised to call him Boss Big Brother or not.
Unfortunately, she already promised and as someone who hates liars, she can't afford to be one herself.