Chapter 11: Chapter 11 – Quest Complete

CHAPTER 11

“Wow, I was on my way to give you guys a hand, but it looks like you’re almost done with the carrots,” I announced to Malthar the drow.

“Yes, I was pleased that these two drow needed a job.  I brought them on over and we pushed through the task rather quickly.”

“You’ll have to introduce me soon.  I don’t want to interrupt them right now.”

“Will do.”

I heard loud footsteps and huffing behind me. I turned to see my good bear buddy Henegar thundering toward me with Jamison, the lizardkin, on his back.  “Jamison, I’m happy to see you actually riding Henegar for once.  You’re usually just pulling him around town on foot. How are you liking that ride?”

“It’s been delightful.  I must admit I enjoy working with animals, but I always feel bad about riding them,” Jamison replied.

I raised a brow. “Why’s that?” 

“I don’t really know.  I don’t feel worthy to a certain extent, I suppose.”

“Why on Solaire do you not feel worthy?  You are one of the best men I know and you take care of these animals like they are royalty,” I replied as I rubbed Henegar’s neck.

Jamison hopped off the giant bear.  When his boots hit the ground, there was a minor dust storm from the impact. Then he shrugged. “Chalk it up to one of my weird quirks.”

“I’ll do that,” I chuckled as I shook the lizardkin’s hand. “I’m glad you and Malthar are here. I have some good news.”

Both of the men’s eyes lit up, and they nodded as they awaited my answer.

“I was able to procure the mayor’s land.  This farm has just gotten really big… really fast.”

“I was skeptical that he would sell it to you.  This is great news,” Jamison said with excitement.

“Well, he didn’t sell it to me.  He gave it to me.”

Jamison’s eyes became saucers, and he jolted back in surprise. “Gave it to you?”

“I was just as shocked as you were.  I told him I planned to give the crops away for free to those in need.  He was so moved that he told me I could have the land for free since I was going to use it for something so noble.”

“This is incredible,” Malthar interjected with a smile.

“It looks like you guys are going to have to put your employee recruitment plans into overdrive.  The mayor owned even more land than I thought.  There are an extra 100 acres on this farm now.”

“By the Nine, this is wonderful.  Jamison and I will start hiring more workers this evening.  Like I’ve said before, there are a lot of drow from my village that are out of work,” Malthar said.

I laid my head on the soft fur of Henegar and rubbed his flank.  “This means you’re going to be busy as well.  We need to get you some help, though.  I don’t want to work this good boy too hard.” Henegar responded with a happy huff and nod.

“Not to worry, I have a few horses, Blossom being one of them, that would love to get more exercise than just walking around a pasture all day.  Henegar will still handle the heavier work, but the other horses can pick up the slack so we won’t overwork Henegar,” Jamison replied.

“I want to use some of the extra space to put up a barn and whatever structures you two think we should have.”

“Really? Can you afford all the new employees and buildings? I’m sorry, that was rude of me to ask.  My apologies,” Jamison said with flushed cheeks.

“No, that’s fine. I’ve got a decent surplus of funds from my dungeon carrying gig on the side, not to mention the restaurant is thriving.  As a matter of fact, I’m going to head over to Stonerock Dungeon tomorrow.  I want to surprise Koshiro with her first dungeon run.  She’s B-rank now, as we all know, so that is enough power to be a combat healer.  She’ll be so excited.  She’s wanted to go on dungeon runs for a long time.”

“That’s exciting.  She is fortunate to have a S-rank barbarian to show her the ropes and keep her safe.  Are you going to carry any other adventurers or just you two?” Malthar asked.

“That’s a good question.  I’d thought about just taking me and her by ourselves, but I think it would be good to take an adventurer or two to make some extra money for the farm.  This sounds kind of bad and I apologize for saying this, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing to take some adventurers that might get hurt on the run.  That way, she can practice her healing under pressure.  Don’t think any less of me please,” I chuckled uncomfortably.

Jamison laughed.  “You’re one of the best men I know.  Your intentions are always honorable.  That is an excellent strategy, as far as I’m concerned.”

I shrugged. “I mean, I could get myself hurt, but that isn’t the easiest thing to do at Stonerock.  It would be odd for me to just stand still and let monsters attack me for a few minutes just so they can injure me to give Koshiro some practice.  Not to mention, Koshiro wouldn’t let that happen in a million years.”

“That’s true.  She would be furious that you would get yourself hurt on purpose.  Ms. Koshiro is frightening when she is angry,” Jamison cringed.

“You’re not wrong.  That’s for damn sure.  She can go from zero to one hundred in a split second.”

Malthar motioned toward the restaurant.  “Someone is coming this way. Do you recognize him?”

“I think that is a woman, actually,” Jamison added.

“I don’t recognize her.  We’ll soon find out who she is,” I replied as I watched a slender woman with platinum blonde hair tied into a bun.  She stood almost six feet tall, clad in tight brown leather armor with a black belt and dark brown boots. I could make out a bow and quiver on her back. I saw abnormally long pointy ears and her eyes were a brilliant green color.  The closer she became, the more her striking beauty revealed itself.

“Hello, I’m looking for Chad Stone,” the mysterious leather armored woman announced sternly.

“That’s me.  What can I do for you?”

“I’m here to turn in your quest for red meat.”

“Oh snap, that was quick.”

She smiled, then a large chest appeared on the ground in front of me.  I knelt and unlatched the arcane chest and saw the three hundred pounds of red meat that I posted. Everything was properly processed like a butcher would do it. This woman was very skilled.

Your quest has been completed. You have been brought 300 pounds of processed red meat.  The rewards you offered and essence from the Nine have been given to the talented adventurer.

“This looks great.  Thank you.”

“You’re welcome and thank you for the rewards.  I’ve heard talk of this New Beginnings restaurant from adventurers at Stonerock.  I’ve heard about you as well.”

“You’ve heard about me?  Why did you say you were looking for Chad Stone, then?”

“Just habit. It’s best to not assume.  However, I was fairly certain that there weren’t many extremely muscular blue-haired barbarians in Summerstar. Do you always were your chef hat?” the ranger giggled.

I raised my hand and felt my hat sitting right on top of my head, then I yanked it off in embarrassment. “Right.  What’s your name?  Where are you from?”

The woman’s left brow arced. “I’m not used to quest givers asking me questions.  It’s always just a quick transaction.  How intriguing.”

“If you get to know me, you’ll know that I do things much differently than most.”

She nodded with a crooked smile.  “My name is Apple.  I’m a wood elf from the forest village of Locke, about seven miles south of here.”

“Apple, that’s an interesting name.  I love it.  I love apples,” I replied, then regretted the awkward response.

Apple giggled, then locked eyes with Malthar, and her demeanor chilled immediately.  “I see you have a drow working on your farm. Actually, I see a few drow working in the fields. How unusual.”

“Drow can be quite unusual, I suppose,” Malthar replied with a dash of disdain.

It hit me quickly that the drow and wood elves were not the closest of friends in FFO.  I was guessing it was a similar story here in the real world of Solaire.

“Unusual, indeed,” Apple replied coldly.

I crossed my arms. “I sense some tension.  Do you know each other?” 

“I don’t know her personally, but I know her kind very well,” Malthar replied, not breaking eye contact with the wood elf.

“Let’s just say the wood elves and the dark elves have a tumultuous history,” Apple replied.

“We are drow not dark elves,” Malthar corrected sharply.

You are reading story Barbarian Chef – Volume Two at novel35.com

“You will always be dark elves to us.”

I closed my eyes to dig through my memories to see if I had any memory of the lore in FFO regarding the drow and wood elves, but I came up with nothing.  “Why do you not want to be called dark elves?”

“Because the dark elves are a race of killers and thieves.  We are not.  Drow and dark elves have similar appearances, but we are nothing alike otherwise.  We are hardworking and honorable.”

I nodded. “I would have to agree with you there.”

“Drow and dark elves look the same because they have the same ancestors.  Thousands of years ago, the dark elves split in two.  What you see here is the result.  Drow, dark elves, potato, pah-tah-tow, tomato, tow-mah-tow,” Apple said with an eye roll.

Malthar cleared his throat.  He was perturbed, but he stood straight and adjusted his blazer.  “I will get back to work now.  Thank you for delivering the good news, Chad.  Jamison and I will get started immediately.”

“Thank you, Malthar.  I’m thankful to have you on staff and as a friend.”

The drow nodded. “Likewise.”  He turned and headed into the carrot field.

“Apple, go easy on Malthar.  He’s a good guy.”

“It is impossible to remove thousands of years of bad blood.  Luckily, we are civil with the dark elves that are determined to call themselves drow.  I prefer to avoid any wars with them,” Apple replied as she glared at the laboring Malthar.

I held out my hand toward the wood elf.  “Apple, it was nice to meet you and thank you for completing my quest.  The meat looks great, and the quick delivery was just icing on the cake.  Hopefully, we can work together in the future.”

“I’d like that.  I’ll be on the lookout for any quests you may have in the future.  I will link to the quest board and get notifications on my interface whenever you post a new quest. I specialize in game hunting and gathering quests, but I handle combat quests from time to time.  I do not do assassination quests, though, or any quests that may harm a child.”

“Oh, I don’t foresee any need to assassinate anyone in the future,” I laughed.

“Hmm, are you sure about that?  I heard of your visit to the Stonerock the other night.  You gruesomely killed two human adventurers!”

“Well, that wasn’t really an assassination.  That was revenge and I wanted to send a clear message.  Those guys tried to kill Malthar, Jamison, and my bear.  If my wife wasn’t a healer, Jamison would have died.  I let one adventurer live, at least.  That was nice of me. Right?”

Apple chuckled.  “I suppose.  However, I fear that seeing his friends slaughtered so gruesomely will take a toll on him mentally for a long time.  You sent a message, though.  I don’t think you will have more issues with people causing trouble in Summerstar.  Everyone is talking about the altercation.”

“I don’t want to be seen as a guy to fear.  I’m not at all.  However, if you hurt the people I love, you’ll pay the debt which will be death.”

“Oh right, I’ve heard that you have a harem up and running already.  Three monster girls now, am I right?”

“I prefer to call them wives, and I don’t like the term harem.  That makes it sound like they are slaves or something,” I informed sternly.

“I didn’t mean to offend you.  I apologize. Polyamorous relationships aren’t exactly a new thing, especially for a man of your stature. Several wood elf men have harems in Locke.  I foresee your number of wives growing.”

I laughed. “The three I have keep me busy enough.  I’ll just stay with three for the time being.”

“I bet they do keep you busy,”  Apple replied with a wink and a sultry tone that I hadn’t heard before.  She was flirting with me, which caught me off guard completely.

“Umm, yeah, they are cool.  Why don’t you stop by the restaurant and get you something to eat with that new voucher you got as a reward?”

“I think I’ll do that another time.  I want to try your cooking.  I’ve heard such good things.  It looks like you are playing farmer barbarian today,” Apple smirked.

“Claire is very good.”

“I’m sure she is… very good,” Apple rubbed my arm.

“At cooking, just to clarify.”

Apple’s eyes widened.  “So she isn’t good in other areas?”

“I’m not sure what areas you’re talking about, but she is great all around,” I stammered.

“I think you know the areas I’m talking about.”

Koshiro came out of nowhere in a fit of rage.  “What in the flying fuck is this whore doing?  I saw her rub your arm.  That’s my arm, bitch.”

“Oh shit,” I sighed heavily.

Apple held up both hands in surrender.  “We’re just having a conversation.”

I motioned to the arcane chest on the ground. “This is Apple. She brought us the meat from the quest.”

“It looks to me like she wants you to bring your meat into her mouth,” Koshiro growled with maniacal eyes. “What kind of name is Apple, anyway? Are your parents morons?”

“You must be the mentally unstable but loyal Koshiro.  Is that right?”  Apple asked then crossed her arms, pushing her breasts upward revealing nice milky white cleavage.  Her breasts were larger than they looked before.  The leather armor flattened them a bit.  I didn’t have large titties, of course, but this had to be uncomfortable.

Koshiro abruptly pulled her butcher knife and waved it at the ranger. “Mentally unstable?”

“Obviously,” Apple shrugged and motioned to the shimmering blade.

Koshiro glanced at Apple, then the butcher knife and wrinkled her nose, then unequipped it.  “I’m not unstable.  You’re unstable.”

“You don’t even know me,” Apple chuckled.

I cleared my throat and put my arm around Koshiro.  “Koshiro is just very… passionate.”

The kitsune stood on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek. “Exactly.”

“Right, well, I’m going to go by the quest board before I retire for the night to see if there are any worthwhile quests.  It was nice meeting the both of you.”

“It’s getting late. Are you walking all the way back to Locke tonight?”

“Who gives a fuck where she is going?” Koshiro scoffed.

“No, I’ll just camp somewhere outside of town.”

“That can’t be safe out there all on your own,” I said.

“Who gives a fuck if she is safe?” Koshiro growled.

I tugged on one of Koshiro’s tails. “Well, I care if she’s safe.”

“You just met this whore.  Why do you care if she’s eaten by a pack of angry dogs?”

“I certainly care,” Apple interjected with a raised index finger.

“No one asked you, whore,” Koshiro snapped.

“Koshiro, stop calling her a whore.  That’s not nice,” I whispered in her fluffy ear.

Koshiro exhaled loudly.  “I will stop calling her a whore, but only because you asked me to.  For the record, I still firmly believe she is a whore.”

Apple laughed.  “Unstable, indeed.”

You can find story with these keywords: Barbarian Chef – Volume Two, Read Barbarian Chef – Volume Two, Barbarian Chef – Volume Two novel, Barbarian Chef – Volume Two book, Barbarian Chef – Volume Two story, Barbarian Chef – Volume Two full, Barbarian Chef – Volume Two Latest Chapter