"So... how long do you think she is going to keep going?" Hera was leaning against a tree.

  "I honestly don't know. It has been a solid five minutes. She does not even stop to catch her breath. I'm genuinely impressed," Blue was using a branch to poke at the body of a frog.

  The two were watching Alex scold Leo. While that was going on, they took a moment to remove the eyeballs of the frogs. They could be the cheapest part, but were also the easiest one to carry around. It could end up not being worth all that much, but still, every little bit counted.

  After a moment, Blue pulled a small bottle from her pouch and gesture to Hera, "Come here."

  Hera took a step closer to her, "What's up?"

  Blue held Hera's chin and splashed some of the water on her face. The liquid stung more than it should on a cut.

  "Ouch," Hera grumbled, but didn't pull away.

  "Oh, stop complaining. Your face got cut, and we need to clean the wound. This is just soap water," Blue said as she grabbed a small piece of cloth to remove any excess water. With the cut clean, she placed a bandage on the explorer's cheek.

  "Thanks, Blue. I wasn't expecting you to be that worried about cuts," Hera said.

  "After the fourth time I had to take antibiotics for not cleaning a wound properly, I learned my lesson. It was so bad that I ended up being hospitalized for a week."

  Hera stared at her friend. How bad must have been the infection for her to stay that long in the hospital?

  "Are you hurt anywhere else?" Blue asked

  "My hand is a bit numb, but that's all. I guess I was holding the chakram a bit too tightly," Hera said.

  Blue nodded and looked towards the frog corpses behind them.

  "I guess we could check the frogs. We might get some gold with the parts," Hera said as she turned around.

  "Yeah, Alex doesn't seem to be losing steam," Blue said, staring at the assassin who was making even broader gestures at the moment.

  Hera and Blue walked towards the corpses of the frogs. Before touching them, they activated the [Inspect] skill.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Giant Dichromatic Frog

  Type: Blue

  A type of frog common in the first layer. Its stomach is blue.

  The blue variation is known for its tongue strength, being able to pull targets over double its weight with ease.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Giant Dichromatic Frog

  Type: Green

  A type of frog common in the first layer. Its stomach is green.

  The green variation's tongue has anesthetic properties, making whatever it touches numb and sluggish. The toxin is accumulated at the tip of its tongue before it strikes.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  It was obvious there was a lot of information missing, but the differences between the tongues were not what Hera expected. At the same time, it made a lot of sense considering the events of the fight.

  "Oh, so that's why," Hera exclaimed, staring at her hand.

  "Maybe Leo fell because of this, but why it didn't affect me?" Blue asked.

  "Well... your Kevlar bodysuit is thicker than Leo's clothes. Or maybe your role has something to do with it. Since you can control the battlefield, you might have some resistance to effects that would do the same. That's what the skill says, right?," Hera said.

  Blue nodded," Yeah, good catch. Maybe I'm naturally more resistant to stuff like this now."

  "Yeah, but how are we going to carry the rest back? Can we make something, or should we carry it by hand?" Hera asked.

  "I mean, we are still close to the town. Carrying it wouldn't be that bad. I can take the big legs, you and Alex the little ones, and Leo can take the tongues,"

  Agreeing with the idea, the two of them started to harvest the rest of the parts they needed.

  "What do you think we should do with the rest? Just leave it here?" Hera asked while cutting one of the blue frog's legs.

  "Yeah, I mean, what else can we do? Give it a burial?" Blue shrugged as she cut off the Frog's tongue.

  For the ten minutes or so that they kept working on the blue frogs, Alex was still scolding Leo. When she finally finished, she turned around only to let out a loud yell.

  "What the hell are you two doing?"

  Blue and Hera stared at each other and then at the assassin.

  "We are just grabbing some parts we can sell. We need money," Blue said.

  "But how are you? ... That is sooo gross," the woman shook her head and looked back.

  Hera stared at Blue. They were a bit covered in blood, but it belonged to the frogs, and the inspect said nothing about it being poisonous.

  "What's the matter? It's just like cooking a fish," Blue said.

  "Yeah, or making a barbecue. Sometimes the meat is a bit bloody," Hera chimed in.

  Leo took a step back while Alex walked away from the duo.

  "I agree with Alex, that is too much. I'm out," the man said.

  "Like hell you are. We are in this mess because of you. Since Alex is clearly out, you are carrying some legs," Blue said.

  Leo wanted to protest, but he didn't want to be scolded again. Not to mention he knew Blue was right. He was the one who made this all happen. After a few more minutes, they managed to grab the six back legs and three of the eyes. The other ones were destroyed during the fight or in the attempt to harvest them.

  Since Leo was still a bit numb and they had no way of transporting the materials aside from carrying them by hand, the group decided to go back to the city. Alex walked in front of them, making sure to be far away from the frog body parts.

  "Now spill it, Leo. What the hell was that?" Blue asked.

  "I got too excited and jumped in. It was my mistake," he replied.

  "Bullshit. Your test was all about observing your prey and finding its weakness. There is no way in hell you jumped in because you were excited," Alex yelled from the front.

  "Its... nothing," Leo said.

  "Leo, look, we like you. You know that, but we need to know if you are going to do something like that. Unless we understand why you did it, we can't say for sure it won't happen again," Hera said.

  "It's stupid," Leo replied.

  "I sure hope so. You were stupid!" Alex shouted, doing her best to continue listening to the conversation.

  He tried to change the subject a few times, but the three women were adamant. Seeing he had no other choice, he started to talk.

  "Look, when we finished the tour, I got a message that the group I want to join will be recruiting new members at the end of the week. The thing is, they only accept applications that have completed at least 10 quests, and four of them have to be hunts. I also need to have completed a dungeon. That's the requirement for people under level 5."

  "Ok, I get it. But why the rush? Do they take a long time to get new applicants or something?" Blue asked.

  "Well, a bit. Usually, they recruit people once every six months or so. There have been times where they stopped recruiting for a year," he said.

  "I get that you want to join now, but it's not like everything is over. You can still join them even if it takes a while," Hera said.

  "I just don't want to wait. They are a bit strict about being a part of other groups. You can party with others, but you can only be part of their group."

  Hera nodded. She understood how it was like to keep waiting for an opportunity better than most.

  "I'm not buying it. You are hiding something. Why do you need to be a part of this particular group?" Alex asked, stepping closer to the group but still making sure to be away from the more frog like parts.

  Leo started speaking and stopped several times before shaking his head, "My uncle… he helped raise me when I was little. My parents were always working in the museum, and I was angry all the time. When my parents got a grant for a big excavation that would last a few years, my uncle came to live with me. He showed me how to control my anger and to focus it on something else. He is the one who taught me how to use a spear, and pretty much everything I know. Any time I mentioned my master, I was talking about him."

  The Hunter took a deep breath, "He was... he is a fighter, and he was a part of the Crimson Coalition, that's the name of the group. Five years ago, he came to the MAZE and disappeared. Apparently, his bracelet is still sending a signal, but it doesn't send the coordinates. I know it's stupid, but I came here to find him."

  The three women glanced at each other.

  "Alex, can you do me this favor? My hands are full," Blue gestured with her hands that were carrying a few frog legs.

  "My pleasure," the Assassin replied just before smacking Leo in the back of the head.

  "What the hell was that for?" the man dropped some of the legs he was carrying and scrambled to pick them up.

  "That's from your uncle and from us. You can't find him if you are dead. So tell your friends what is going on," Alex quickened her step to stay away from the smell again.

  "Yeah! Yarnball can even help with that, I think. But we need to be in the room he was in at least," Hera chimed in.

  "I can't ask you guys to go out of your way to help me. This is something I'm looking for. I'm the one who needs to do this," Leo said.

  "Ok, first of all, do you think you can stop the three of us from going? Second, you didn't ask. We are telling you we want to help. I'm sure even Bonnie will be down," Blue said.

  Leo tried to tell them not to worry, but the women ignored him. As he talked, the three started to discuss the plans for hunting the frogs quickly enough so Leo could try to join the Crimson Coalition.

  "The good part is that now we know what the different frogs do. The green one has poison on its tongue, and the blue one can pull you back, so basically avoid the tongue," Hera smiled.

  "What do you mean, blue and green frogs? They were the same color, right?" Alex turned back with a frown.

  "Oh crap, what color did you see?" Blue asked.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Well, the color I see it's... Well, I guess you call it blue? It looks like a pool, but with less vivid colors. All three frogs were like that. Just different shades between them."

  "Did anyone try to observe them?" Leo asked.

  "Yeah, but the names were just Giant Dichromatic Frog on all of them. The colors were marked as types," Hera explained.

  The group discussed other differences, trying to find something that Alex could use to distinguish them. After some time walking, Hera picked the eyes she had taken from the monsters and showed to Alex. The ones from the blue frog were yellow and snake-like, while the eyes from the green one were whitish and had some squiggly lines to it. Thankfully, the assassin could see those differences.

  As they approached the city, a few explorers stared at the group carrying six giant frog legs around. Moving straight to the guild, they circled to the back after being instructed by the guards at the entrance. There were a few people in the line waiting to sell the materials, yet none of them was carrying such a big haul.

  After about ten minutes, it was finally their turn.

  "What do you have?"

  A gruff voice rang behind the counter. It belonged to a very short man with a spiky ginger beard. He had a movable monocle in his right eye and a heavy metal gauntlet on his left hand. Blue stared at the man for a moment before asking.

  "Are you a dwarf?"

  "Blue!" the rest of the group barked.

  The man let out a resounding laugh.

  "Yes, I am. Well, half-dwarf on my father's side."

  "That is soooo cool. You are the first non-human we saw here," Blue said.

  “I doubt it, we run most of the shops here. Most just hide their features not to scare away new customers. Why do you think most uniforms have hats?" the dwarf said.

  Hera was a bit surprised, Mr. Greyson told them that the people born inside the MAZE were the origin for fantasy stories. Elves, dwarfs, tritons, beastfolk, and the children of the sky, also known as harpies.

  They were not monsters, or anything of the sort. Just people, sentient people who grew, had children, and lived their lives like anyone else. It wasn't uncommon for some of those sentient species to intermingle, especially when most had very similar ways of reproducing. The only outlier were the harpies as they laid eggs instead of getting pregnant.

  Still, Hera didn't expect to meet someone from one of those other species so soon.

  "Now, stop gawking and show me what you got," the dwarf said.

  They placed the frog legs and eyes on the counter and let the man evaluate them. He started with the eyes, making a few notes on a piece of paper. Proceeding to the legs, the man seemed a bit more excited about them.

  "This is some nice work. Well done boy," he said, nodding at Leo.

  "It wasn't me. It was those two," Leo pointed at Hera and Blue.

  "My mistake, most new girls don't have the stomach to do this work. How long did it take?" the dwarf asked.

  "Between us two, around half an hour, right?" Blue asked.

  "Yeah, we took some time to figure out how to start and if it was safe to do it," Hera replied.

  "Not bad, not bad at all. For the haul, I'll give you 88 gold. 40 for the two green legs, 32 for the four blue legs, 14 for the two eyes of the green one, and 2 for the one eye of the blue one. This one is a bit banged up."

  "We'll take it!" Alex cheered.

  "I'm never letting you negotiate," Leo said, staring at the assassin.

  "If you don't mind me asking, where did you learn to disassemble these things so well?" the dwarf asked.

  "My dad is a butcher. I helped him out at the store sometimes. At first, just as a cashier, but when I got older, I started to help to cut the meat," Blue replied.

  "In my great uncle's farm. I spent my summers there and helped take care of the animals, or make meals out of them," Hera added. She didn't go into details on how much time she spent in the forest back there, but it wouldn't matter.

  Leo and Alex stared at each other.

  "Did you know that?" Alex asked.

  "I had no idea, but it kind of makes sense, right? Not so much Hera but for Blue," Leo said.

  "Hey!" the controller yelled.

  "Before you start killing each other here, let me ask. Do you guys have a partner?" there was a gleam on the man's eyes.

  Not longer after, the group walked towards the district where they could find people who would buy and sell materials in bulk. It was closer to the port, spreading from a bit after the center of the city all the way to the edge of the town. The housing bureau was also there. According to the map, it was called the Taaffeite district.

  The dwarf had told them that merchants were always looking for people who could supply them with good materials. If they get a partner, they could have an easier time transporting the materials.

  "What was his name?" Blue asked.

  "Durgan, why?" Alex replied.

  "No, not the guy in the guild. The merchant," Blue said.

  "Oh, then is the owner of the store called For Cod's Sake. His name was Edmund something," Hera said.

  "Avington, Edmund Avington. Or at least that's what I wrote down," Leo chimed in.

  Asking for directions, they were pointed towards a store with an extravagant golden entrance. Inside they could see that all the furniture was a mix of gold, silver, and rose gold.

  "Please tell me this ain't it," Alex said.

  "I could, but that would be a lie. Look at the name," Leo said.

  Above the entrance, there was a giant golden chain with a plaque that read 'For Cod's Sake'. The group stared at each other, pausing in front of the store. Hera wanted to go away. She didn't feel comfortable dealing with people who were that showy.

  "I know this is bad, but maybe we can check it out. We are already here, you know," Blue said.

  "Yeah, and if we can get someone to help us take the monster parts, we can hunt faster. And make more money while we are at it," Leo said.

  The two entered the store, with Hera and Alex following behind. The interior was so bright that it made you want to wear sunglasses. Every light was reflecting and bouncing around everywhere. Luckily, the shop had a big open area in the middle, and most products seemed to be behind the counters. Otherwise, people would easily trip over the displays.

  Blue approached one of the clerks and showed the letter that Durgan gave them. He sent a text to someone and moments later a weird man came out of the back room. He was wearing a red bucket hat, a pink v-neck sweater, puffy pants with one leg tucked inside a red sock, and the other leg folded over the knee. He also had a pair of tan sandals and a golden chain with a large gold coin in the middle.

  Leo walked towards the man, "Mr. Avington. It's a pleasure to meet you. Durgan sent us here," he said, putting out his hand. His confidence was surprising, especially since no one had mentioned how the man looked.

  The man shook Leo's hand vigorously, “Listen, man, Mr. Avington was my pops. Call me Mondy. They mentioned a letter, let me take a look at it."

  He read the letter, and after a few moments, he opened a big smile.

  "Hey, can someone grab a bottle of bubbly and bring it to my office?" he said towards the staff, "Now you four, follow me."

  Mondy walked towards the door in the back of the store. He opened it and waited for the group to follow.

  "Leo, how did you know it was him?" Hera whispered.

  "Only the boss can wear something like that at work and not get yelled at," he replied.

  Hera couldn't help but giggle. The man had a point. They walked through a hallway as pretentious as the storefront. It was filled with tapestries and ornate golden decorations until they reached a small white door with golden details with a golden engraving that read 'Janitor closet 1'.

  Mondy opened the door and walked in. Inside it was a big office, but much more simple than the rest of the store. The walls had no paint. It was all bare brick. There was an old beat-up couch in the corner with a TV in front of it, a whiteboard with some ink stains that seemed to be permanent. In the back of the room, there was a round felt table with markings for playing poker, as well as eight chairs around it.

  "Come, sit, relax," Mondy said, walking towards the poker table.

  The group sat at the table, still looking around, surprised by the office they were using. Not only that, but the man had a much more relaxed posture than any of the clerks.

  "So, before we start, do you have any questions?" Mondy asked.

  "If you don't mind my saying. This is not what we were expecting, especially with that store," as Alex spoke, Leo stared daggers at her.

  "I hear you, I hear you. But outside, it's good for business. People want to think they have something grand, something that they can show off. A big house, jewelry, weapons, armor, or whatever. I just show them what they want, but I rather have a real talk on my home turf," Mondy said.

  Hera nodded. It was part of the reason her dad had a successful business. People wanted to show off their custom made furniture.

  "What do you sell here? I was too distracted with the store to look," Leo said.

  "C'mon boy, you can't let some shine take your eyes away from the prize. I sell a bit of everything, but my main product are exports and imports. I sell things we can get here, and in a bunch of lower rooms to the higher ones. Aside from that, I have luxury goods in the store. Monster based weapons and armor, or more niche things like tea sets and cooking knifes. Some of the stuff is to help Explorers, and some is just to look nice on your shelf. And honestly that is just a hobby. Import and export, that's how you make big money. And that is why you are all here," Mondy said.

  "Yes. Durgan told us about having a partner, but I'm not so sure about how that would work," Hera nodded.

  "Oh, it's easy. Instead of selling to the guild, you sell the things you get to me. You let me know what monster you are hunting, and I'll tell you what I can use. Some of them can do so much that it is just easier to buy the whole body."

  "Sure, but how does that work? Do you pay by pieces like the guild or what? Also, how can you help us bring the materials back?" Leo asked.

  "Chill, dude, one thing at the time. I pay for each piece, but unlike the guild, it's a fixed rate unless you send something really special. For instance, frog legs are 10 gold each, well giant frog legs I say, there is a minimum weight to it. But that is the starting value after I sell you guys get 10% of the profits. If I get a good deal, one frog leg might give you 30 gold." Mondy said as he started to play with a gold coin.

  "That's really low. If we sell it to the guild, we will make double that, and the commission won't make up for it." Leo crossed his arms.

  "But you would have to carry the pieces back. I offer you a way to sell it on site. And as long as the piece is not ruined, it's a fixed price. No need to worry about messing up. Besides, I'm not offering you a contract. If you wanna sell something to the guild, sell it to the guild. I'm just giving you an alternative, so you won't have to come back to the city every five minutes."

  "And how can you help with that?" Blue asked.

  "Drones, baby, drones. I have a delivery and retrieval service set up. I'll register you as users, and you can call in a drone to pick up your materials on site," Mondy said as he pointed towards a drone in the corner of the room.

  The merchant explained how it worked. The group would install an app on the tablet, creating an overlay on the map. It would show the areas that the drones can reach safely. All they needed to do was send a signal, and the drone would go there. It could carry up to 50 kilograms, and it would fly towards a distribution tower. The drones have to be protected when below a specific altitude. The payment for the materials would be reduced if the drone was damaged during that time.

  To Hera, it seemed like a good deal. They weren't chaining themselves to Mondy, but at the same time, they had a way to make some quick money. Even if they earned just half of what the guild would pay, they could get more money like that. Between going out, killing the three frogs, and coming back, it took almost two hours.

  Being able to hunt and sell without coming back would let them make a lot of money. However, it would be better if they harvested the materials themselves. If they send in a full frog, for instance, there was a disassembly fee to be deducted from the pay.

  "So, how about it? Let's give this deal a chance?" Mondy asked.

  The explorers looked at each other and asked for a moment to discuss the deal. Mondy nodded and walked off, going to pick some glasses since his staff only delivered the bottle of champagne.

  "I don't like it. We lose too much money with this," Leo said.

  "Yeah, but we can focus more on hunting like that. It would help to make some money while we help your missions," Hera said.

  "That's true, but I still don't like it," the man said.

  "Why is that?" Alex asked.

  "He seems shifty. I don't trust him,"

  "Why?" Blue asked.

  "He's just weird," Leo said.

  "Wow, way to be judgmental. Look at his store. Even if he is shifty, he is doing something right. Besides, we are new here, and he is making an offer with no string attached. I say that is a good deal for us," Alex said.

  "I'm not, it's just..." Leo looked towards Mondy, "he is rubs me the wrong way,"

  "What about this? We accept the offer, and only one of us uses the app thing. After we are done with your ten missions, we look for someone else to sell the materials to. He mentioned towers, and I doubt he owns them. So that means that more people should have similar ways of retrieving monster parts," Hera said.

  Leo agreed with her suggestion but stated that he would be fine if they went looking for someone else right now. However, everyone knew that was a lie. He's been fidgeting ever since Mondy started talking. If it weren't for them, the hunter would probably be running towards the frogs.

  Once Mondy returned, the group accepted his offer. He thanked them and created an order with them. Orders, unlike quests, are always available. They are jobs that don't have a limit or a goal you can keep doing them as long as the client keeps the posting of it.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Order: Giant Dichromatic Frog materials

  Leg (at least 500 grams) - 10 gold each

  Tongue (at least 800 grams) - 11 gold each

  Eye - 6 gold each

  Heart (unharmed) - 12 gold each

  Spleen (unharmed) - 8 gold each

  Liver (unharmed) - 5 gold each

  This order gives you access to the Ofbator delivery drone (Max capacity 50 kilograms, container area 2 m3)

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Hera accepted the order on behalf of her group and installed the app on her tablet. Leo was worried about it, but the app was registered in the official guild catalog. Meaning it wouldn't have any viruses or security issues.

  Thanking Mondy for his time, the group left the store. It was still the middle of the afternoon, even with all they had done. Hera wanted to explore the town to try to find the legends, but Leo kept pacing around looking towards the town gate. She opened the map to check the area that the drones could reach. They had a surprisingly big range, and it took them only ten minutes to reach the edge of it.

  When Hera showed the drone range for the group, Leo said they could go back to where they had found the frogs and start there. After all, it was in the middle of the drone range.

  Leaving the city once again, Hera saw the guards changing. Stanley and Timothy, the ones she saw before, were being replaced. As they left their post, Stanley, a tall man with a sun-tanned skin and golden eyes, removed his helmet and revealing his long blond hair and a pair of dog ears that fell on his head. The ears' position was higher than what it would be on humans, but they dropped, covering the place where human ears would be.

  As Hera stared at the guard, their eyes meet. The man waved to her as he smiled. Hera smiled back but looked away, embarrassed about being caught staring at the man's ears. It was the first time she had seen something like that, and she wasn't sure if staring at it would be rude. Then again, Beastfolk should be the species with the most variation between them.

  In essence it wasn't a single species, but a blanket term used to classify people with animal parts. From the simple cat or dog ears to full blow bipedal elephants. According to what they learned, there wasn't much rhyme or reason to their form. Parents who only had cat eyes could end up giving birth to someone with a boar head.

  The only 'restriction', if it could be called that, was that a person would only be born with the features of a single animal. No matter the circumstances. So, there wouldn't be a half giraffe half bear walking around.

  No one knew for sure why that was the case, or how things became a thing. Not even the beastfolk. Despite being the second oldest civilization in the MAZE. Only losing to the elves.

  Hera turned back to the road ahead. In a little over half an hour, her group was back in the area where they could hunt for frogs.

  "Leo, this time, we do it the right way, ok?" Blue asked.

  "I'll behave, I promise," he replied.

  "Ok, so I think me and Alex should go in front, we can move around more freely. When we find something, we give you a signal and check the surroundings,"

  "Sounds like a plan," Alex said, "but I'm not helping with the gutting and cutting and... I think I'm gonna be sick,"

  "Just don't think about it. You can protect us while we do the dirty work," Hera said, "Now, let's go. I don't like the idea of staying here after sunset."

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