Their destination, the desert, was still quite far away. There were also no Level 2 towns and above in the desert area, which made Metteo Town one of the closest Level 2 towns in the desert, and it was still some distance away.

This region was simply a lot less populated than the central and northern regions, so this kind of set-up was understandable.

At the same time, because there were few territories, the innovations and the missions here were limited as well, making the development of territories here particularly slow.

It was not a virtuous cycle.

Metteo Town was a few thousand kilometers away from this area, which was still around two days by cart, let alone on foot. However, the beast carts from Acero had all escaped or died during the previous wars, so they didn’t have anything to spare.

Let alone Serao, even Wilem and Anna felt embarrassed by how little they could do for Althea and Garan.

Althea just smiled at them. "Just be sure to bring an acceptable amount of ores," she said. "Good luck."

Anna and Wilem nodded, eyes shining with some ambition. After this trip, the two of them—born from noble families and were respected by the lower class—had been enlightened that they were actually weak and useless.

Humbled and also enlightened about what to do next, they swore that they would be able to do this well!

The first day of the trip to Metteo Town started before dawn and they did not take a break until dusk.

During this time, the mercenaries watched as Althea and Garan handled the threats with ease, even against monsters at the same level as they were.

They were technically ’hired’ to guard them though, so they naturally could not have fewer head count than the couple. At least they could try, though the success rate varied.

They had been mercenaries for years, and they would still, a hundred percent, struggle in going one-on-one with a monster at their level.

What was also impressive was that they were using normal weapons in most times. They already knew they were elementalists, but the use of those was limited to minor roles like grabbing monsters’ feet.

"We want to hone our combat prowess," Althea said. "We don’t want to be helpless when we lose mana."

The mercenaries nodded in understanding. This made so much sense and some of them would even feel a subtle change happening in their future training regimes.

It wasn’t that they weren’t training their physique, but mastering their inherited skills and the like had always been the priority. Those had much stronger damage, so most people tended to focus time and effort on skills whenever they trained, inevitably neglecting their foundation.

They were mercenaries and didn’t want to lose, so they found themselves working harder, becoming more efficient in their attacks or at least trying to.

Further, this was even more intense when they worked together, the synergy really exceeding one plus one.

They also watched how Althea could stop at any point and forage without care, and her husband would just be silently guarding next to her.

They were not in a rush, so they did not feel impatient at all. Rather, they just felt curious.

Althea realized this at some point and wondered whether to tell them she was a pharmacist. She did not, as there was no use for it. "Well, I received a few material gathering missions," she said. "They’re personal missions."

Mercenaries could only take one official mission from the Hall at one time, after all. Her having others just meant that the employer went to her directly, so they didn’t think much of it.

Anyway, the perk they loved (so much) was during meal times! The meat they caught, usually not very tasty, suddenly seemed so delicious they could not stop eating!

This mission they took impulsively was really too worth it!

...

Soon, they reached the vicinity of Metteo Town. They could feel this because of the increasing temperature.

Metteo Town had similar appearances to most Towns. It wasn’t really near the desert before, and wasn’t designed as a desert town.

As promised, she sent Post to Alterra, attaching the names of their current partymates, sending instructions to give extra good treatment, and only then did they amicably part ways.

Well, sort of.

The sadness in their eyes, some near tears, was indicative of their reluctance. Althea sighed, giving them a bottle of barbecue sauce to share.

Only then did Althea really break free from their pitiful looks, and Garan practically carried her away from the annoying people.

...

As for the couple, they didn’t bother resting for now (their camping time was relatively comfortable, anyway) and went to the Mercenary Hall to get missions set in the desert.

This would not only give them extra rewards for a task they were just doing ’by the way’, but they could also gain some guidance about the place from the employer.

The Mercenary Hall was at the edge, near the entrance. In a sense, this arrangement was not bad. People coming in from this were more controlled and stayed in that area.

Something similar was planned in Alterra, in which the Hall was located halfway past the outer zone, surrounded by sentries. However, not much was done beyond this because people entering the mercenary hall weren’t allowed to damage the interest of the employing territory.

As for what the mercenaries would do after they completed their missions, that was already out of their hands. Anyway, those who wanted to make trouble would make trouble regardless, so there was no need to be excessive in certain areas.

Like most Mercenary Halls, there was a separate mission area for the local employers on the side. This was done manually, usually by the Lord’s side, so that the employers didn’t have to pay extra fees, which would be too much if the mercenaries didn’t use the arrays or were already in the town.

In Alterra, their local mission board was placed outside the hall to manage the traffic. The incoming and outgoing traffic in their hall was too large, so they separated the missions that did require going through an array.

For this town, they posted the local ones were inside, along with a concierge.

The couple skimmed through various missions, ending up with the perfect one.

[Mission Information: Kill 10 Undead and take their cores]

[Reward: 1 kg of the Igneus Flower]

Althea’s eyebrows rose. Not to mention the task was something they would do anyway, the reward was something they lacked.