Chapter 3

The roads in Wijaya is mostly made of of little bricks that arranged in such a way to make a proper road. It is wide enough for two wagons to pass side by side without a problem and still have space left for pedestrians to walk through. Well, at least for the main roads, that is. The rest is a mix of bricks and dirt or just plain dirt.

There is also many gravels scattered around. Be it from broken bricks or stones. This gravels is the things that Dimas currently suffered. His skill, [Quiet Step], for whatever reason doesn't worked when he wore his sandals.

It is quite irksome and his being barefooted caused a few stare, but he resolved to just powered through it.

Right now, he is on a quest to vanquishing a bunch of troublesome rats. The quest said that they usually dwelled in the rice fields on the edge of the city.

Upon arrival, he immediately greeted by one of many [Farmers] harvesting their crop. "Good afternoon, mas," he said politely, tipping his straw hat. Mas is the term that the Jayan used to address what they considered an adult or young adult males. "What bring you here to our field on this fine day?"

"Um, I have a-a quest." Dimas said quitely said, not staring directly to the man's eyes.

"Oh, right," he muttered. "We did put a quest for the damn rats this morning, didn't we, dear?" He said to a woman that worked alongside him that appeared to be his wife, his tones when he mentioned the pest is noticeably irritated.

"Yes, mas." She replied tersely. But that didn't looked like it is bothering him though, he just smiled fondly at her direction. "And you," she suddenly addressed Dimas, "Don't steps on too many of our rice, just do your bussiness on the borders of our fields or on the already harvested section, got it?"

"Y-yes, miss." Dimas stuttered his assent.

The tan-skinned [Farmer] let out a little laugh, "My name is Budi," he introduced himself. "That's my wife, Imas. And those two," he said while pointing at two teenagers working on the same field as them, "is our sons. What's your name, mas?"

"D-Dimas."

"Well, Dimas, nice to see you. I'll... leave you to do your quest, then. The rats usually nestled by burrowing a hole through the ground. And have a nice day!"

"Yeah, y-you too." He mumbled back.

Quickly strode up to a cleared section, he set down his sandals that he'd been carrying on his hand all this time, he swept his eyes looking for the Mondok Rats or for the holes that would betrayed their presence.

Noticed a hole on the side of the elevated earth of one of the the border, he presumed this must have been an entrance to their nest. And he would be right. Instead of the often muddy fields, they prefer the dry land on the border and only come to the fields to go looking for their foods. The rices.

Appropriating a stick to poke the hole with, he then scamper around to where he would not immediately be seen by the rats.

Angry chitter could be heard from within, and then emerged a Mondok Rat. It is as Laila described, bigger and furless. It's huge yellowed front teeth gleamed and it's clawed appendage looks menacing.

Approaching with his [Quiet Step], he was able to get close unnoticed. But it is not enough, for the Mondok Rat have sharp hearing and it became aware of Dimas' presence with just a few short steps left between them.

It tilted his head in Dimas direction and immediately greeted by a sight of filthy barefoot, the [Rogue] not wasting his chance and sent it flying by kicking it.

It is sent careening away and came to a rough landing on the cleared field. Hurried over, he started to beating it with his stick ungracefully and without any sort of technique whatsoever. Just... struck the rodent down again and again.

Squeaking in anger and pain, the Mondok Rat tried to evade the blows and bite or scratch the newly registered adventurer's legs. Dimas kept the pest from doing it as best as he could.

Unfortunately, the noise attracted the attention of the rat family. Hearing their kind dying chitter drove them mad with rage and they come out in throng. Fortunately, in their frenzy they made a lot of noises that alerted Dimas of their presence.

They fight with wild abandon. One of them leaped startlingly high and leapt straight to his face. Dimas covered his face with his hand in surprise. It got him scratches on the back of his hand instead and make him stumbled back a few step.

The chittering rat attached itself to his hand, so the [Rogue] had to forcefully waving his hand to be rid of it.

"Ouch!" Dimas cried in pain. The wound on his hand is not deep, thankfully, but it still flowing blood.

The cacophony drawing looks from the [Farmers] family. "Should we help him, father?" One of the son asked their father. Isah was his name, he have a red hair like his mother and green eyes like his father.

"No," their mother interjected, "It's his job, not yours. Why don't you just finish your own job, young man?" Imas said, addressing her offspring.

"I'm sure he got it under control, son. He is an adventurer after all, right?" Budi said, reassuring his son. Although, he himself can't help it to kept glancing at Dimas worriedly from time to time.

Meanwhile, Dimas kept busy handling attacks from the Mondok Rats. Some of them is already dead, including the first one who he haven't quite killed yet before it's friend come over and then get up to fight once more. At some point, he had lose his stick and have to resorted to using his knife which have a shorter reach. It made fighting the nimble creatures rather hard. He had to bent over so he could slash and stab them or waiting for them to leapt and positioning his knife so they would basically impaled themselves upon his weapon.

His Fabric of Enchantment came in rather handy in this situation, it protecting him from their bite and scratch. Of course, it also doesn't do anything to prevent blunt force from being hurt. Or for the area where the long-sleeved shirt didn't covered. It have it's weakness.

He also utilised his other hand and legs to attacks or deflecting the rats own attacks.

It goes on like this for quite some time. Untill finally Dimas stomped on the last rat and it squeaked it's death throes.

Panting, he took a few minute to composed himself. Looking around, Mondok Rats' bodies scattered around him and he count there is eight of them.

'That's it? All that struggle and I'm only faced eight?' The [Rogue] mused incredulously.

Trudging heavily to the border, he sat and checked himself over. Scratches, bite wounds, and bruises littered his body and the ones on his legs likely had ruined his pants forever. He is lucky the ones on his face didn't hit his eyes.

Applying his Healing Potion sparingly, Dimas preparing himself for round two.

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