Chapter 40: One-Day Messenger
Misha returned to Lance’s side.
“There’s no problem. It’s just simple mail delivery,” Misha sighed. “The courier might have been drunk.”
He still couldn’t believe that the Adventurer’s Guild’s difficulty rating could be so careless. And the tavern owner seemed to think it was too much trouble to change it. As for the other adventurers, after seeing the SSS rating and hearing the tavern owner’s overly dismissive explanation, they had become suspicious of the mission.
The whole thing reeked of a conspiracy. Only a fool would take such a strange task!
But Misha firmly believed that all schemes and tricks were worthless in the face of absolute power.
So what if the mission was rated SSS difficulty? The Hero could easily defeat Ashby. To him, what was the difference between an SSS mission and a freebie?
He, the Great Demon King, teaming up with the Heroāthey were practically invincible.
Lance, of course, trusted Misha’s judgment.
Under the watchful eyes of the adventurers in the tavern, they left. Following the address written on the commission slip, they found the location of the courier station in Skyreach City.
The place was near the outskirts of the city, a massive warehouse area, yet there wasn’t even a gatekeeper. Misha looked around curiously, following Lance into the station. Finally finding a warehouse with an open door, he poked his head in and called out cautiously, “Is anyone here?”
The warehouse was dimly lit, and Misha had to squint to see inside. Mountains of letters and packages were stacked everywhere in the warehouseāso many that Misha was dumbfounded.
From behind a pile of letters, a humanoid figure suddenly straightened up. Wearing a tattered, lopsided hat, he looked at them with dull, wooden eyes.
The man had a pale, sallow complexion, dark circles under his eyes, sparse and messy hair, and stubble all over his chin and cheeks. It took him a while to snap out of his trance, and he asked in a weak, breathless voice that barely sounded human, “What… do you want…”
His voice echoed endlessly in the empty warehouse. The scene was too eerie, and Misha felt an indescribable fear. Yet the person in front of him was indeed human, not a monster or some strange creature, and his thin frame didn’t look like it had any combat ability.
Regardless, they had to bite the bullet.
“Um…” Misha swallowed, holding up the commission slip in his hand, and whispered, “We are adventurers who accepted the missionā”
Before he could finish his sentence, two more heads popped out from the mountains of mail in the warehouseāeach looking just as haggard and deathly pale as the first courier, as if they were about to depart from this world at any moment. All of them turned their gazes toward Misha and Lance. The sheer creepiness made Misha take a few steps back, nearly bumping into Lance behind him.
“Two people,” the courier on the left intoned slowly. “It’s two people.”
“Uh… well… he’s the one taking the mission,” Misha pulled Lance in front of him. “I’m just tagging along.”
Lance: “…”
The courier in the middle widened his eyes slightly, his weak voice trembling a little: “Two people…”
Misha: “It really has nothing to do with me!”
Lance: “…”
The courier on the right couldn’t control his shaking and shouted, “It’s two people!”
Misha: “Eh?”
Why do they have to repeat that sentence so many times?
He scratched his head, watching as tears welled up in the eyes of the three couriers. A clear tear even rolled down the corner of the right courier’s eye. Without hesitation, he propped up his weak body and stood up, saying, “The letters are all in the warehouse. We’re counting on you!”
Misha: “…”
Misha gradually gave up struggling.
These people just looked a bit weak; they weren’t dangerous or bad people. But their overly hasty behavior still worried him a little. Meeting the overly eager gazes of the three couriers, Misha asked carefully, “Is there no pre-job training?”
Courier: “We don’t need that kind of thing!”
Misha: “We’ve never delivered mail before.”
Courier: “No problem!”
Misha: “What if something happensā”
Courier: “Nothing will happen!”
Misha: “…”
The courier was already swaying as he stood up, ready to lead Misha and Lance to another warehouse to find the letters they needed to deliver next.
Misha was very worried.
He began to feel that everything about this situation was weird. Perhaps this SSS-rated mission wasn’t simple after all, and there might be some huge conspiracy hidden behind it.
He hesitated, then followed the courier’s steps out of the warehouse.
The moment he left, he suddenly heard suspicious sobbing coming from behind him.
āIt was the two couriers who had stayed in the warehouse.
Misha stopped abruptly, feeling a chill run up his spine. It was like a plot from those horror novels humans loved, as if a terrifying wraith was about to attack them from the dark warehouse. Misha widened his eyes slightly, looking uneasily at the two weeping couriers still in place.
“Boo hoo,” the courier on the left wiped his tears. “Thank goodness, two newbies.”
The other courier put down the letter in his hand with relief and collapsed into the mountain of mail.
“So good,” he trembled, emitting a blissful voice as if from heaven. “Once the letters are delivered, we won’t have to work overtime anymore.”
Misha: “…”
So that’s why you’re crying!!!
Misha followed the courier to another warehouse.
This warehouse was noticeably smaller, and the number of stored letters was fewer, but it was still stacked to a terrifying degree.
Misha couldn’t understand.
Lance said that the population of Skyreach City was declining, and there weren’t many permanent residents left. So how could a city with so few people have such a backlog of letters and packages?
The courier lit a lamp and led the two toward the piled-up mail in the warehouse.
Misha couldn’t help but ask, “Are these all letters for Skyreach City?”
The courier shook his head, revealing an extremely exhausted expression.
“Only Skyreach City has a post station in this area,” the courier sighed deeply. “The letters here are accumulated from all the towns around Skyreach City.”
Misha looked around. “Even so, there shouldn’t be this many, right?”
The courier sighed and groaned, “Over a long period of accumulation, there will be this many.”
“Eh? Long period of accumulation?” Misha was even more confused. “Don’t you guys deliver the mail?”
The courier finally stopped, turned to look at Misha, and an expression of extreme pain and sorrow appeared on his fatigue-written face.
“We have a total of five employees,” the courier said painfully. “A few days ago, during the giant attack, two of them sprained their ankles.”
Misha: “…”
Misha felt a twinge of guilt.
“There are so many towns and countless small villages nearby. We need to go to each one to collect letters, bring them back to Skyreach City for sorting, and deliver them based on the urgency of the package contents,” the courier covered his face in agony. “We also have to sort letters sent from other cities and then deliver them to the nearby towns.”
He took a deep breath and made a final summary with extremely sorrowful words.
“This is just too difficult. We can’t finish delivering these letters at all!” the courier choked up. “I really don’t want to work overtime anymore.”
Misha: “…”
So miserable.
Is being a courier such a miserable profession?
Misha looked at Lance, who had remained silent. Thinking Misha was seeking confirmation for his doubts, Lance nodded slightly and said, “I’ve read the annual report submitted by the Skyreach City Administrator. The resignation rate for post station couriers is extremely high.”
Misha: “Huh?”
“After the Oracle of the World-Ending Fire appeared, many people fled Skyreach City, reducing the number of couriers by at least half,” Lance frowned slightly. “But this station isn’t just responsible for letters within Skyreach City. After fleeing, a large portion of the residents chose to live in nearby towns. In other words, the population the station needs to serve hasn’t actually decreased by much.”
Misha: “…”
It’s so weird. I’m starting not to understand.
“The station tried to recruit new employees, but because the workload was too heavy, most couriers couldn’t last more than a few days,” Lance sighed. “So the backlog of work grew larger and larger. By now, the ones still working here without leaving are probably just these few people.”
The courier felt like he had met an incredible soulmate.
He was very moved, looking at Lance with eyes almost brimming with hot tears. “I’ve never met such a serious newcomer. You even studied the history of our station before coming.”
Misha: “…”
No, the Hero definitely didn’t study that kind of thing.
He probably just accidentally saw it while looking at Skyreach City’s fiscal revenue.
“Newcomer, I believe in you,” the courier said earnestly. “You will definitely become the new ‘Pigeon King’.”
Lance stopped in his tracks and turned his head in confusion: “…What King?”
“We are amazing couriers,” the courier puffed out his chest slightly. “The person who delivers the most letters is naturally the King of Homing Pigeons!”
Lance: “…”
Misha: “Ah?”
Let’s just not have such an overly embarrassing title, okay?!
They finally stood before the mountain of accumulated mail in the warehouse.
“These are letters that have been backlogged for some time and need to be sent out,” the courier sighed. “From here on, we might have to trouble you.”
Misha thought of another matter.
“There’s another problem,” Misha said. “We can’t go too far from Skyreach City.”
After all, this was just a casual task for the Hero. They still needed to wait in Skyreach City. Once they received news that the King and Queen had returned to the Royal Capital, they would need to leave Skyreach City for the capital.
Naturally, they couldn’t go too far from Skyreach, and this mail delivery job was just a very brief part-time gig.
The courier, of course, had no objections.
As long as someone could help him deliver even one letter, he could work a little less. He agreed to all of Misha’s conditions almost without hesitation, saying, “No problem, then you just deliver the nearby letters.”
He raised his hand and pointed to a slightly smaller mountain of mail on the other side.
“I’ve sorted through it a bit. Those should all be letters for the vicinity of Skyreach City,” the courier sighed, rubbing his eyes, red from staying up late. “But it’s still a bit messy. When you’re picking out letters, please look carefully.”
Misha: “…”
Isn’t your courier work a bit too casual?!
The courier had already turned around and walked painfully toward the first warehouse.
He didn’t seem worried at all that Misha and Lance would steal the letters here. This miserable, unconditional trust made Misha feel nothing but sympathy for them.
Just how much overtime do you have to work to trust an unreliable straw to save your life like this?
Lance had already squatted in front of the mail mountain, sorting through the letters before him.
His mind didn’t seem to be on the letters at all, and he remained silent, not speaking to Misha. Not knowing what the Hero was thinking, Misha could only walk over to Lance and look at the pile of letters as well.
“So difficult,” Misha whispered. “No wonder it’s SSS.”
Lance paused slightly, letting out a low sound of surprise. “Ah…”
Misha asked subconsciously, “Lord Lance, what’s wrong?”
Lance held up a relatively newer letter.
Lance: “I saw a letter of my own.”
Misha: “Eh?”
He leaned in curiously and saw the words written on the envelope at a glance.
Recipient: Misha
Misha: “…”
Ah, could this be the reply to the second letter he wrote to the Hero from the Demon King’s Castle?
His heartbeat accelerated slightly, but he also had to admire his own arrangement back then.
Fortunately, the name he used for the signature was Misha, not his Demon King stage name.
The Hero didn’t know the Demon King’s name at first, so he probably wouldn’t think much of it when replying. But not long after, Gineses revealed the Demon King’s name. If Misha had signed with his Demon King stage name back then, the Hero’s feeling upon seeing this reply now might not be surprise, but shock.
It’s fine, Misha thought.
Luckily, he had foresight.
But there was a smaller sticky note attached to the envelope with a few words scrawled on it, seemingly a note left by the couriers.
Misha had already noticed that every letter here had such a note attached, indicating which station it should be delivered to and any precautions for delivery. This was to categorize the letters. When the letter was finally delivered to the recipient, this note would be torn off in advance, leaving no trace on the letter.
The light in the warehouse was dim. He squinted and looked carefully for a while before he could make out the words written on it.
Doomsday Station (Near Demon King’s Castle)
Note: Air quality is poor, remember to wear a mask.
Misha: “…”
Lance: “…”
Lance raised his head in confusion and looked at Misha again.
Lance: “Why would you be writing letters to me from near the Demon King’s Castle?”
Misha: “…Listen to my explanation!”
Curse you, courier!!!
Is the lie he carefully concealed for so long going to be shattered by this one lousy letter?!
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