“We had a really juicy request come in today,” Lola told me the following morning. “You need to catch a rainbow grasshopper.”
“A…rainbow grasshopper?” I stared at the request slip, deep in thought. The rainbow grasshopper was, as the name suggested, a rainbow-colored grasshopper. Their habitat was more or less known, but they were exceedingly difficult to find, so they were a rather infamous creature.
“I’m sure it’ll be a piece of cake for you with your special skill, Mr. Noir.”
“Ah, right!” I’d completely forgotten about my Great Sage skill. I could use it to ask just about any question and get an answer. “Well, I guess I better get going.”
Emma’s face came to mind the moment I stepped out of the guild hall. I had only ever been able to properly use my Great Sage skill with the help of her kisses, but on the off chance, I tried using Get Creative to make the skill Complete Headache Immunity.
Complete Headache Immunity — 5,000 LP
That was insane! With only 700 LP to my name, the skill was completely out of reach. I considered trying it again without the word “complete.” This dropped the cost all the way down to 300 LP, so I figured it was worth a try.
“I wonder how well it’ll work,” I murmured. Even if I did get a headache, maybe it wouldn’t be as intense now. I was a little scared to try though, since there was still a chance it could be awful. I decided I should be near Emma before I tried, just as a backup pla—
“Noir, you big dummy!” Emma always had a way of appearing at just the right moment, and her boobs were as in-your-face as ever. But more to the point, she seemed a little mad about something. “When you said you were going to ‘pay your own way’ yesterday, you meant you were going to become an adventurer?! Why didn’t you invite me?!”
She must’ve stopped by my house and found out from my family. I decided I’d better apologize and make sure I expressed proper remorse. “Sorry…”
“Oh, uh, it’s fine. Don’t get so down about it. I just felt a little left out.”
“Adventuring is dangerous anyway, so I felt weird inviting you.”
“But we’re best friends, aren’t we? Did you forget the promise we made?”
“What, you mean in the park six years ago when I shouted that we’d be attached at the hip until we died?”
“Yes! And it was six years, five months, and twelve days ago.”
That was pretty darn specific. I certainly didn’t remember it that well. It was just some silly childish thing I’d said, but Emma must’ve taken it pretty seriously.
“Are you on a job now?” she asked. “I’m going with you. You can’t stop me.”
“Fine. I’m not going to. Let’s get going.”
All things considered, I was actually glad she’d joined me today. The two of us headed to the Humeur River, where the rainbow grasshoppers lived. The river ran near town and there were hardly any water monsters in the area, so the water was clear and full of fish. That made it a popular fishing spot. However, we weren’t there for the fish, so we walked the shore, combing the grass for grasshoppers.
It wasn’t easy. It was said that you could spend a whole year searching the shore and never spot one of the elusive bugs. Of course, their rarity meant the rainbow grasshoppers fetched a high price at the market, and the reward for this request was fairly impressive to boot. The insect’s only real value was aesthetic, so the request had no doubt come from some bored rich person with money to burn.
When simple searching proved fruitless, I stopped Emma. “I’d like to use my Great Sage skill, but I was wondering, if I…”
“Don’t finish that sentence! You know I’d do it for you any time. I mean, kisses are practically just a greeting after all!” Emma sounded happy. I could rest easy in using my skill with her assistance.
Where is the nearest rainbow grasshopper?
<It is approximately three hundred yards to the south, behind a large boulder.>
I had a bit of a headache, but nothing I couldn’t tolerate, so I tried asking another question.
How many other rainbow grasshoppers are there in a three-mile radius?
<Two.>
My head seemed fine. It didn’t hurt any more than after the previous question. I threw in another one, just to test it out, and it really didn’t make the headache any worse. What a relief! If that was the worst the headaches would get, it was massive progress. It wasn’t even bad enough to hinder me in combat.
“Follow me,” I declared. “I know where one is.”
Emma balked. “Wait, no kiss?”
“I gave myself Headache Immunity, so I’m fine.”
“Aww…”
“I mean, well… Like you said, we’re best friends, so, you know, kisses are basically no different from a greeting. Which means we can do them whenever, right?”
That brightened her right up. “Oh! Totally. Let’s get going!”
Lo and behold, we found a rainbow grasshopper right where the Great Sage had suggested we would. Its body was striped with brilliant color, and it was a lot faster than a regular grasshopper. It wasn’t easy, but with the two of us working together, the bug didn’t stand a chance. The second we caught it, I dropped it in a bag and closed it up.
“Apparently, there are another two around here, we should catch them too.”
With the help of the Great Sage skill and Emma, it wasn’t even very hard. We captured the other two in no time and were heading back into town when she asked me a strange question.
“Hey, so, I think you got a little faster. Did you learn another new skill?”
“Oh, that might just be my level. I’m at 33 now.”
“What?! That’s almost double mine.” Emma was at Level 18. “You’re just leaving me in the dust, Noir.”
“Oh, no I’m not.”
“I want to get even stronger too. That settles it, I’m taking the exam to join Odin. And then I’m forming a party with you! Is…that okay?”
“Sure! I don’t mind at all. But let’s deal with this grasshopper first. Didn’t you know some old guy who was really into grasshoppers?”
“Oh, yeah, I remember him! I’ll go fetch him.”
Once we got back to town, I headed to the guild hall and Emma went to get the grasshopper man. He was a bit of a weirdo, but he liked to collect grasshoppers, so of course he was desperate to add a rainbow one to his collection. He’d made a killing in business in the past, so he had plenty of money to indulge in his hobby.
“Wait, did you already catch one?” Lola was surprised to see me so soon. She probably thought it would have been hard to actually capture it, even with the Great Sage skill to help.
“Take one from the bag.”
“You caught three?! T-talk about over-achieving…”
Impressed as she was, Lola processed the catch. It sounded like this one was worth quite a lot of points, getting me pretty close to D-Rank. I even got 50,000 rels as a reward.
“I brought him with me,” Emma called from the entrance.
“Oh, that was quick.”
Emma was already waiting outside the guild hall with the grasshopper man. He was a plump, middle-aged fellow who liked to indulge in the good things in life. I’d met him quite a few times before.
“It’s been a while, Noir,” he said.
“Indeed it has, sir.”
“So, I hear you caught a rainbow grasshopper?”
I opened the bag for him to see the goods and he let out an utterly delighted gasp of joy. “Would you take 100,000 for two?”
“Oh, 100,000 huh…?” That would be 50,000 per grasshopper. That was what I got from filling the guild request, but with no middleman they should have been worth more. I turned to Emma. “Remind me, how much did that other guy say he’d pay again?”
I winked at her. Saying we had an almost telepathic link was probably overstating it, but the two of us had been friends for a long time, so she immediately picked up on what I was doing. “Umm, 290,000 I think.”
“A full 290,000?! That’s insane!” The old man was shocked, but not as shocked as I was. Emma had gone way too high. I was guessing she’d say 150,000 at most. Surely nearly 300,000 was too much, even for this guy.
Plunk.
The man began to line up piles of coins.
“I have 300,000. Will you sell ’em to me for that?”
“They’re yours! Thank you for your patronage!” I responded instinctively with the standard shopkeepers’ script and handed the man the bag.
He looked immensely pleased with himself as he jaunted off. Meanwhile, Emma and I had similar expressions of barely suppressed surprise. I knew rainbow grasshoppers were rare, but it was hard to believe how easily that guy had parted with all this money. I guess the world wasn’t just full of scoundrels and cheapskates. I couldn’t help but envy his wealth, just a little. Though, at least a chunk of it was now mine.
Emma high-fived me. “We did it, Noir!”
“I totally thought you overplayed our hand at first.”
“I knew it would work. He’s loaded.”
“Wait. Doesn’t this mean…” I looked down at the money in my hands. That…I already have all the funds I need for my tuition?