The Exiled Knight Takes Up Life as an Adventurer — A Former Captain's Secret Power and His Carefree Days in a Distant Land - Chapter 22

“Here’s the quest request form.”

Palma handed me the sheet, and I looked it over.

◇◇◇

Quest Request Form

• • Difficulty: C Rank

• • Type: Gathering

• • Target: Illusory Rock Mushroom (Fatul)

• • Objective: Gather Illusory Rock Mushrooms. No upper limit.

• • Reward: 1 kilk = 1 gold coin

• • Deadline: Within one week

• • Team Limit: One C-rank adventurer

• • Notes: See contract for details. Adventurer tax paid.

◇◇◇

“One gold coin for just one kilk of mushrooms? That’s more expensive than rare ores.”

“Exactly. The Illusory Rock Mushroom Fatul is considered a phantom mushroom. It only grows in early summer and harvesting it is life-threatening. That’s why high-end restaurants in the capital pay ten times the normal price for it.”

“Seriously? Then if I gather a bunch—”

“It’s not that easy. They’re extremely rare. You’re free to collect as many as you can, but good luck finding them.”

“Figures. If it’s that rare, it must be a pain to track down.”

“We’ve got that part covered. The Fishermen’s Guild provided information on where they grow. They can see the locations from their boats, but they can’t harvest them.”

“Why not?”

“They grow on cliffs. Sheer sea cliffs.”

Palma pulled out a map of the area and spread it out.

“It’s a cliff southwest of Kaen Forest. This thing is several hundred medelt tall.”
“If it’s a cliff, couldn’t you just rappel down from the top with a rope?”
“It’s actually closer from the sea. Coming down several hundred medelt from the top is impossible.”
“So it’s that dangerous, huh?”
“There have been deaths in the past. That’s why it’s classified as C-rank, even though it’s just gathering. To be honest… no one’s taken this quest in years.”

Not surprising. With that level of danger, no one wants the risk.

Even if you take it, there’s a good chance you’ll fail.

And the Guild has a strict rule: fail three quests in a row, and your adventurer rank drops automatically.

“High risk and risk of failure.”
“Exactly. The reward’s great, but it’s just not worth it for most. Guess we’ll write it off again this year…”
“I’ll take it.”
“Come again?”
“I said I’ll take the quest.”
“You’re serious?”
“You wanted someone to do it, right?”
“Well, yeah, but still…”
“Could use the money right now.”
“I… see. Well, I appreciate it. Just don’t push yourself too hard, alright?”

We completed the paperwork, and the quest was officially mine.

—

Early the next morning, I left home.

Passing through the harbor and crossing the sandy shoreline, I reached a rocky coastal area.

Large and small rocks jutted from the ground, splashed by incoming waves.

“Looks like the waves are calm today. Lucky me.”

This rocky area only appears during low tide.

By noon, the tide comes back in. If I don’t return by then, I risk being stranded—or worse, swept away.

“Better get moving.”

Carefully hopping from rock to rock, I followed the map and reached the cliff base.

Looking up, I saw a sheer wall that seemed to stretch all the way to the sky.

“Looks just like the Boundary Cliffs of Griphy up north.”

In the northern part of my homeland, the Kingdom of Jeness, lies the Griphy Boundary Cliffs facing the North Sea.

Massive, jagged walls that stretch for over a thousand kilts east to west and rise several hundred medelt high.

They say those cliffs were formed when the continent split long ago, and parts drifted away to become islands.

I looked down.

The sea shimmered like it was sprinkled with emerald gems—beautiful, but…

“Yeah, this is no joke.”

If I, a non-swimmer, fell in…

“Don’t overthink it.”

I shook my head, pushing away the fear.

“Alright. Let’s do this.”

I pulled out a monocular from my belt pouch and scanned the cliff face.

“I heard the Illusory Rock Mushroom Fatul grows in clusters… Hmm? There it is!”

About twenty medelt above sea level, I spotted a cluster of mushrooms growing on a rocky ledge.

“Yep, no doubt about it. Matches the illustration in the field guide. That’s Fatul.”

Several jagged outcrops jutted out from the cliff—possible footholds.

Since time was tight, I brought only the bare essentials.

No armor, no weapons. Just a wicker basket on my back and my Thread Spool Raphil on my right arm, now fitted with a hook.

“Alright, let’s make this work.”

I fired the Threadfil at a crack in the rock about three medelt up.

“Got it!”

It hooked into the gap just as planned.

I tugged hard a few times to check it held firm, then jumped—retracting the thread midair to pull myself up and land on the ledge.

Then I fired at the next rock.

After repeating this a few times, I reached the ledge with the mushrooms.

“There’s no way I could’ve done this without the Raphil. This thing’s incredible.”

I pulled out my harvesting knife, Cortello, and carefully cut the mushrooms loose.

Each cluster looked to weigh about a kilk. I placed them into the basket on my back.

“Alright, got one. That’s one gold coin right there.”

Looking around, I spotted another patch of mushrooms not far off.

“Might as well collect as many as I can.”

I fired the Threadfil again toward another rocky crevice.

—

“W-Wait, you harvested this much?!”
“Yeah, lucky break. Even I’m shocked. Haha!”

I returned to the Guild just before noon, safely and with a full haul.

At the counter, I turned in the entire basket.

Palma weighed the mushrooms precisely—seven kilks in total.

With the quest offering one gold coin per kilk, that meant seven gold coins.

“This is insane. That’s a record for our branch, no doubt about it.”
“Guess that means I’m a record-holder now… and I’m still just a forever C-rank adventurer.”
“You should really consider ranking up. We don’t even have any B-rankers in this branch.”
“No way. B-rankers are monsters.”
“And yet you pulled off a haul no one else ever has. That makes you the monster.”
“Nah, it was pure luck this time. Just got lucky, seriously.”

Palma gave me a look full of doubt.

If I stuck around, he’d probably start poking into things I didn’t want to explain.

“Anyway, I’m off.”
“…Tch. Alright. Still, thanks. You really helped us out.”
“Same to you. That was a nice payday. Haha!”

I took my reward and left the Guild quickly.

Before heading home, I stopped by the market and picked up a few treats: fresh salt-grilled Great Razor Mackerel Furel, roast Forest Chicken Urgaro, and a bottle of wine.

I decided to splurge a little today.

Even so, the total came out to just under one silver coin—six half-silvers, to be exact.

And the seven gold coins from this quest? That was the highest reward I’d ever earned from a single job.

“Man, that paid off big time. This Thread Spool Raphil really is amazing. Looks like it’s already earned its worth.”

I looked down at the Raphil on my right arm.

“Guess I should treat Leashe to something nice again.”

The moment I said it, I remembered just how terrifying her appetite was.

“If I treat her again, I might go broke… Hahaha!”

Still, the thought of having another meal with Leashe made me smile.