At a roadside stall in the southern district of Anka Market, Ya Ya was gnawing on a piece of roasted meat of unknown origin, mumbling her thanks to Jia Deka, who was sitting next to her: "Gulu... Thank you, Wang! So good... Wang!"
"Thank you very much." Mo Tan also held a vegetable skewer and smiled at the Old Mage: "We even had to trouble you to treat us to food."
The old man chuckled and shook his head: "It's nothing, it's not easy for us adventurers these days. I heard about the trouble this Half-Orc girl caused earlier. Those goblins are greedy for money and don't care about their lives. They probably extorted quite a bit from you, didn't they?"
"A friend of mine helped repay the debt," Mo Tan said honestly. "I'm truly penniless. As for Ya Ya, I actually just met her not long ago~"
Jia Deka took a sip of a local drink, also of unknown origin, and smiled at Mo Tan: "Having more friends is a good thing. If someone is willing to help, it means you're worthy of that help. Mo, right? You're really good..."
At this point, a hint of loneliness flashed in Jia Deka's eyes, and then he sighed deeply: "To be able to accept a shameless, useless mage like me as a teammate, that kind of broad-mindedness and courage is truly..."
"Everyone who perseveres deserves to be respected," Mo Tan replied very easily. "Even if effort and reward often aren't proportional, what does that matter?"
By now, Ya Ya had already finished the roasted meat in her hand, contentedly letting out little burps~
Jia Deka stared at Mo Tan for a long while, then, after he and Ya Ya got up, he paid the bill and walked beside the young man, heading out of the city with the two of them.
"I was born into a knightly family." It wasn't until they had walked out of the city gates that Jia Deka slowly began: "My father was a Great Knight, my grandfather was a High-Rank Conquering Knight, and it's said that there were even a few formidable Lord Knights in our family history..."
Mo Tan had heard most of this information from Kasha, the mage in the Ground Dragon Mercenary Group, but he still listened quietly as Jia Deka continued, without the slightest impatience or annoyance.
"Everyone thought I should be a knight~" Jia Deka shrugged and made a face at Mo Tan and Ya Ya: "But I was fanatically set on becoming a mage since I was little! Even though my elemental perception ability was extremely poor, and my so-called fire elemental affinity only meant I wouldn't blow myself up, I still wanted to be a mage."
Ya Ya blinked: "Wang element..."
Mo Tan silently pinched her ear, trying to make the girl stay quiet for a moment.
"Haha~" Jia Deka just laughed heartily, clearly not minding, then continued: "Elegantly wielding the power of nature, learned, mysterious, wise, powerful, comprehending elemental power in meditation, discussing academics and knowledge with companions in a magic tower, being the most trustworthy partner in battle, and turning the tide with a laugh... Very naive, isn't it?"
Mo Tan shook his head slightly: "I think it's very cool."
"I also think it's very cool~" Jia Deka 'iced' his smoking staff again: "That's why I didn't hesitate to leave my family, and why I treasure this staff I bought for two gold coins from the black market. It's not that I like causing explosions; it's just that I can't use more advanced staffs at all. This thing at least allows me to sense a tiny bit of elemental presence."
"I think it returned that affection," Mo Tan joked. "At least you're still alive and well, aren't you?"
Jia Deka looked at him in surprise, clearly astonished by the unique angle of that 'chicken soup for the soul', then gently clenched his fist: "Perhaps, or it could be a matter of physique. When I was little, my family all said I was a born knight. Even now, I might not lose if I arm wrestle with some not-too-strong Orc warriors. Yet, after all these years, the only thing about me that resembles a mage is my appearance and age. Sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn't it?"
"No, you don't resemble a mage," Mo Tan said, then nodded to the slightly flushed Jia Deka: "You are a mage. Even if one day you can defeat a dragon with your bare hands, you're still a mage."
This time, the other party's silence was especially long...
"Call me Jia Deka, pal." It wasn't until they were almost at their destination that the Old Mage said this to Mo Tan: "Thanks."
Mo Tan patted the old man's shoulder: "Alright, Jia Deka~"
"Wang Dejia!" Ya Ya also happily called out to Jia Deka: "Wang Dejia! Meat, thank you, Wang!"
"Haha~ Ya Ya has such a good personality."
"Indeed~"
"Wang!"
...
Five minutes later, not far south of Anka Market, Jerry's Farm.
"That's roughly it." A vigorous Old Orc said to Mo Tan and the other two: "So, while I'm visiting relatives today, I'll leave the farm to you."
Mo Tan nodded: "Clear the weeds outside, help fertilize and de-worm the crops."
Jia Deka continued: "Fix the leaky roof, check if the fence is sturdy, and then drive away any wild beasts trying to ruin the crops."
Ya Ya tilted her head: "Food included, Wang!"
"Food included, food included~" The Old Orc pointed to a stone house not far away: "There are plenty of ingredients and cooking tools there, feel free to use them."
Ya Ya's eyes immediately widened: "Good, Wang!"
"Then I'll be going now." The employer nodded: "I'll entrust the rest of today and until tomorrow night to the three of you!"
With that, the Orc elder flipped onto a sickly, almost dying goat-like creature beside him and slowly ambled away at a pace even slower than normal walking.
"Wang goat, did it make a mistake?" Ya Ya scratched her cheek, watching the poor, limping animal's back slowly disappear into the distance: "So, it's being punished, Wang?"
Jia Deka stroked his beard: "No, I don't think it's punishment, just pure bad luck..."
"Agreed." Mo Tan nodded in agreement: "Really unlucky..."
How could it not be unlucky! The Old Orc, plus the baggage on his back, was almost twice the size of that goat-like creature!
After a brief moment of sentiment, the three decided to start working.
The technical content of this job was not very high; even a few ordinary people with no abilities could do it. In fact, apart from fertilizing, de-worming, and fixing the roof, even a well-behaved dog could handle it.
By the way, the above content has no implicit or metaphorical meaning whatsoever...
"Leave the fertilizing and de-worming to me," Jia Deka said to the two. "Mo, you check the roof, and Ya Ya, you go check if the fence is sturdy. Any problems?"
Mo Tan readily agreed, and Ya Ya also nodded vigorously to show she had no objections.
So... work began...
Mo Tan, relying on his Level 3 Warrior (he used the experience rewarded from the previous debt repayment quest), easily climbed onto the roof of the farm's main house. Looking at Jia Deka, who was carrying a bucket of fertilizer in each hand and moving swiftly, and Ya Ya, who was hopping around near the fence, he felt that the prospects for this mission were bright~
However, it must be said that this mission indeed had no difficulty. The reason Miss Chris could casually assign it to the three of them, besides a little bit of care, was also that other adventurers weren't interested.
Both the reward money and the adventurer qualification points were very small, and it was also very time-consuming. Even a newly-minted rookie adventurer wouldn't have much interest in this mission.
But these three didn't care much...
At this moment, Mo Tan, who always maintained the mentality of 'don't neglect good deeds, however small,' is beside the point. Jia Deka, who was always isolated and excluded by other low-level adventurers (High-Rank adventurers and proper mages wouldn't bother to exclude him), certainly didn't mind. As for Ya Ya, there's no need to mention it; being able to do a mission with everyone made the girl as excited as anything.
Everything went so smoothly, and then...
Then, after working for half a day, the three were ready to eat dinner. Is anyone expecting something? Don't be silly, it's not time yet~
During this time, Mo Tan had already simply repaired the main house roof with the materials left by the farm owner; only the details remained. Jia Deka had also completed the fertilizing work, and just needed to tidy up the few remaining pests before dark. Ya Ya had also firmly patted several unstable sections of the fence, making them incredibly sturdy...
"This girl is really strong," Jia Deka said, smacking his lips as he simmered vegetable and meat soup. "She's almost as strong as me!"
By the way, is that a comment a mage should be making...
Mo Tan also nodded. He had checked Ya Ya's work earlier (because he was worried) and gave the dog-eared girl a thumbs up: "So impressive~"
"Hehe!" The latter immediately put her hands on her hips and said loudly: "Wang, since I was little, I've had a lot of strength, Wang!"
Then she continued to stare intently at the vegetable soup in the pot~
Ya Ya couldn't cook (Mo Tan was not surprised by this), and although Mo Tan was good at cooking, the ingredients on the Innocent Continent were too unfamiliar to him. He was worried that rashly taking over might lead to food poisoning for the three of them, so in the end, Jia Deka ended up cooking~
However, this junior mage, who looked like a Grand Mage, seemed to be enjoying it.
...
As the sun set, the three, full of food and drink, continued their work. Mo Tan quickly finished dealing with the almost-repaired roof, and Jia Deka crushed some pests with his bare hands within twenty minutes (...). During this time, Ya Ya was busy tackling the weeds.
Even after the other two finished their work, the girl didn't seem to have made much progress. Of course, this was to be expected; no one had noticed earlier that Ya Ya had ignored the sickles and other farm tools piled nearby, and instead was hopping around, pulling weeds by hand...
Even if her nails were sharp, those were human hands! The Half-Orc features were not as obvious as Mo Tan's Half-Dragon ones; the former only had beast ears, a tail, and sharp fangs, while the latter, due to a few scales on his face and a slightly protruding forehead, still looked somewhat human, but it was hard to make out the player's original appearance.
Of course, it was still much better than players who rolled races like goblins or Ogres; at least there was some exotic handsomeness, wasn't there~
"Ya Ya, move aside." Jia Deka clapped his hands, picked up the unstable explosive beside him, and rolled up his sleeves: "Let me take care of these things!"
Ya Ya looked back and blinked: "Wang?"
Then she moved two steps to the side...
"Are you sure?" Mo Tan asked with some concern: "Safety first, you know..."
"No problem!" Jia Deka smiled confidently, beginning to wave his staff: "Although I'm only a junior mage, dealing with these weeds is no big deal!"
Mo Tan looked around Jia Deka, and after confirming that there was nothing that would be troublesome if accidentally blown up, he nodded, then also moved a few steps to the side.
"Red Cloud!" Jia Deka roared excitedly, flicking his staff, outlining a trail of fire, which then quickly spread along the ground towards the weeds a second later, finally disappearing precisely just before it reached the fence.
Perfect casting!
"That's amazing!" Mo immediately clapped his hands: "So convenient!"
Jia Deka stroked his beard, just about to say something, when he suddenly heard a low growl from not far away...
Mo Tan naturally heard it too, and immediately stiffly turned his head to look closely.
He then saw Ya Ya half-crouching on the ground, gripping the tip of her tail with her right hand, staring intently at them. Her originally emerald green eyes were now filled with a crimson red, and the fangs on either side of her mouth seemed to have grown longer...
At the tip of her tail, there was a clear charred mark...
At this moment, Mo Tan suddenly remembered what Miss Chris had said earlier...
【Tore down half a house~】
【Leveled their yard~】
【With extremely high slaughter efficiency... yes, that's what I mean~】
There seemed to be a few more lines, but there was no time to think!
Ya Ya pounced!!!
"Aow!!! It hurts so much!!!" The girl appeared in front of Jia Deka in almost an instant, grabbing the collar of his dirty mage robe and, before he could react, forcefully flinging him away: "It hurts so much, you bastard! You old geezer, if you don't explode, you burn people's tails, right! You're not happy unless you're courting death, right!"
For some reason, her originally soft, puppy-like voice (...) was now full of a cool, mature woman's aura, and more importantly...
Her common tongue was incredibly standard! And her speech was incredibly fast!!
"Ya Ya!" Mo Tan suddenly realized this wasn't the time to be sentimental, and he immediately jolted, rushing to the girl's front and shaking his head: "You need to calm down—"
Bang!!!
Accompanied by the loss of one-fifth of his health, Mo Tan flew backward dramatically, directly crashing into the main house!
"Don't get in the way, you guy!" Ya Ya roared without looking back, then all four limbs simultaneously pressed to the ground, she exerted force, and her entire being, trailing an afterimage, appeared behind the just-getting-up Jia Deka: "How dare you treat a lady's precious hair like this! Go die ten thousand times, you old bastard!!!"
The girl's slender right leg swept low to the ground, throwing the junior mage off balance, then immediately followed up with a spine-breaking knee strike and an over-the-shoulder throw. Finally, she lifted him by his legs and began to spin wildly, screaming as she spun: "You noob mage, go die, die, die, die, die, ahhh!"
Whoosh!
With a release of her delicate hand, Jia Deka was sent flying in circles, plowing a deep furrow in the farmland before crashing into the kitchen where the three had cooked earlier, then, with undiminished momentum, smashing through a large section of the fence before finally stopping.
"Ya Ya!" Mo Tan, now disheveled, crawled out of the half-collapsed main house, shouting loudly: "Calm down! Stop messing around—"
"You're so annoying!" Ya Ya's eyes glowed with brutal red light as she darted behind Mo Tan: "Do you want me to hit you too, or what?!"
And then Mo Tan also flew...
He flew directly towards Jia Deka, who was struggling to get up...
And half a second later, he crashed hard into the latter, rolling several meters away!
"Are you alright?" Mo Tan, still at half health, immediately looked at the battered Old Mage, asking with concern: "Are you seriously injured?"
The latter, however, shook his head: "I'm fine, my physique is pretty good..."
A whistling sound rose again; Ya Ya, in some strange state, rushed towards the two with almost no pause!
"You, quickly get out of the way!" Jia Deka shouted to Mo Tan: "I remember an immobilization spell; maybe I can temporarily subdue her!"
Mo Tan immediately scrambled several meters to the side... his legs were a bit numb at the moment...
At the same time, Ya Ya pounced like a gust of wind!
And then...
Boom!!!!!
It was that familiar feeling again. Mo Tan understood the moment he was sent flying: this wasn't Ya Ya's attack, nor was it some immobilization spell. It was Jia Deka's staff, which read 'staff' but was actually an unstable explosive, blowing up again!
...
"Finally, after Ya Ya woke up, she and Jia Deka told me to go back to the city to rest, leaving them to clean up the mess at the farm." Mo Tan said with a dark expression, sitting on the sofa in the living room, talking to Yi Dong on the phone: "Later, I disconnected and switched accounts on the way back to the city to buy repair tools, and then there was nothing else... Hello, are you listening to me? Hello?"
A few seconds later, a burst of hysterical laughter erupted from the other end of the phone...
Chapter 46: The End