"We've arrived." A man voice was heard through the carriage's curtains, it was the driver, telling his passenger that they've arrived.
Syla looked from the backside of the carriage, curious with what's infront of her, that's when she saw a wooden sign on the side of the road that said 'Hayville'.
Along with it, she soon passed a wooden gate with the letters Welcome written at the top of it. Syla turned her head in all directions, and what she could only see as far as her eyes allowed it was a massive farmland, with most of them being wheat, Syla knew at that time that Hayville lived true to its name.
Its entire village was surrounded with wheatfields and there are only a couple of houses in the area, since Hayville was mostly occupied by farmers, the roads wasn't as good as in Direwell, instead of using cobblestone, Hayville kept the traditional dirt road all across its village.
While Syla was taking a look at the scenery around her, she accidentally stumbled upon a group of kids running around, they were laughing and are playfully mocking each other as they go.
After a few more minutes of riding the carriage, Syla and the other passengers finally stopped at what seems to be the gathering spot for carriages in the village, there were only 2 carriages on that place, including the one that Syla rode, that only makes it 3, at first glance, Hayvilled seems to be an unpopular place to visit, with barely any adventurers in sight unlike other villages such as Demiria.
"Hup!" Syla jumped down from the carriage, followed by the three merchants and the adventurer, as soon as they've arrived in their destination, all of them began to walk in a different direction, Syla saw the axe wielding adventurer moving into the south while she was heading for the east side.
'Now, where do i go from here?' Syla thought as she opened her satchel and grabbed a piece of paper from it.
She unfolded the paper and was given a map towards the location of her quest, on the side of the paper was written the name of the person that had requested for the assistance, his name was Mr. Rick.
"Hmm.. I think i know, i'll ask the locals about Mr. Rick if i don't find him at the destination." Syla said, her feets began to move forward one by one.
.
.
"Mr. Rick? Ahh, are you the adventurer that took the quest to exterminate the mandrakes? Thank the heavens, i thought no one would come.. Mr. Rick is over there, you see that small resting spot among the dried wheats? He usually sleep there." A middle-aged man said politely as he smiled at Syla.
"I wish you good luck with the extermination, since they're quite noisy, we will evacuate to the west side of the village while you're at it." He added.
"Thank you, mister!." Syla responded and bowed down slightly, she then left the local farmer alone and went to the spot where Mr. Rick was sleeping.
As she weaved through the countless wheats, she eventually entered the dead zone of the farm, where nothing but dryness was present, dried wheats and soil began to surround her, Syla walked through the cracked soils and took the shortest path to the resting spot.
'It's like a game where the biome doesn't have a gradual shift and instead met in the middle awkwardly.' Syla thought.
A few more steps in and she arrived at the resting spot, it was a small open hut in with a flat floor, similar to what farmer on earth usually built in their fields.
Just like what the local farmer from before had said, Syla found Mr. Rick sleeping in the hut.
"Umm.. Hello?" Syla greeted, however it seems like her voice didn't quite reached into Mr. Rick's conciousness.
His eyes showed no sign of opening and his breathing is still stable, if he was a stranger to her, Syla wouldn't bother much about it, but the old man infront of her was her client, so it is her duty to let him know that she has arrived.
"Mr. Rick? Hello?!" Syla greeted one more time, this time she gently pushed Mr. Rick's body back and forth to try waking him up.
Sensing that someone was pushing him, Mr. Rick then slowly opened his eyes, he who was still half-asleep, saw Syla as a blurry figure, because of her white hair, he mistook her as a ghostly apparition and tried to push her away.
"AGH!! WHO ARE YOU!? GET OUT! IM NOT READY TO DIE YET!" Mr. Rick shouted as he swayed both of his hands at Syla's direction.
"Mr. Rick! Calm down! Im just an adventurer!" Syla said while dodging Mr. Rick's flamboyant attacks.
"Hwuh!? Adventurer?" Hearing that the ghostly figure infront of him could talk, Mr. Rick then rubbed both of his eyes to clear out the excess dirt and leftovers from his sleep.
Only then that he finally saw Syla's face as a human, or rather demihuman.
"Ahh.. Im sorry young lady.. It seems like i haven't fully woken up yet." Mr. Rick apologized, though Syla didn't held a grudge against him because she knew that being old like Mr. Rick meant that he would start having complications.
"It's okay." Syla accepted Mr. Rick's apology, she waved her tail while trying to introduce herself. "My name is Syla, i came here from the guild to exterminate the mandrakes invasion in your farm."
"Hmm?.. Ahh, dang it! I completely forgot about that, they say your mind gets hazy when you get old, it's been such a long time since i went to Direwell and requested the help, but no one came.. You're the first one to do so, thank you young lady." Mr. Rick sad, he stood up from the hut's floor and put on his straw hat before walking into dry field.
"I- its fine.. I came here because i know how to deal with mandrakes, so don't worry." Syla said, she helped Mr. Rick to guide her towards the mandrakes location.
"I see, but are you sure about this? They can get very loud if you attack them, the first time i did it, i almost lost my hearings— Ahh!!! Those damn tiny black parasites! Ever since they arrived here, our village turned into a mess, do you know!? I couldn't even sleep at night because those little shits kept screaming over and over again!! Ugh, my head hurts even thinking about it—
"Where do they even come from!? I may be old but if i ever met with their queen or whatever, i'll make sure that they get a taste of this fist!!" Mr. Rick sounded frustrated at the mandrakes, Syla didn't interrupted his rant because she felt like it was a natural respond when faced with such predicament.
Syla and Mr. Rick walked for a few seconds before Mr. Rick stopped and pointed his finger to the front, Syla also saw what he was pointing at, it was a field full of small black trunk that's protruding from the ground, its placement similar to how a wheat was planted. The moment Syla saw those spiky trunks, she knew that those were mandrakes that have taken over the roots of whatever plants was previously there.
"This field used to be filled with potatoes and carrots, although we mostly farm wheats, we also have a significant amount of sector specifically for vegetables.. But now almost all of them are gone to these monsters, they've taken roots in this field and we have given up on trying to get rid of them—
"I see, i think i know where their queen is." Syla suddenly interrupted Mr. Rick, her face was serious and she observed her surroundings like an eagle, she realized that the mandrakes are positioned in a way that makes a straight line in a circular patter, all of the lines lead to a mandrake in the middle.
"Hmm, Mr. Rick, do you happen to own a bucket?" Syla asked.
"Yes?" Mr. Rick was startled by the sudden question, he didn't quite get what Syla meant until a few seconds passed.