They reached the village defence wall by 5:30 PM as a traveler gave them a lift to the village seeing the kids having fought a nasty fight on their way to the village.
Gideon was the only one who had a single wound after Meera who was not part of the front-line of the fight.
Manav had a lot of scratches on his heavy armor and was walking strangely, indicating he was in pain because of the internal injuries that might have been caused during the fight, but there was no external injury, thanks to his armor.
They changed their armor to casual clothes in the changing rooms before Gideon went to the medical tent to get treated for his thigh injury which took about 15 minutes.
He came out of the medical tent and was surprised to see Manav and Meera were waiting for him outside the tent.
"How is your injury? Will it be okay for you to walk?" Manav inquired about him while looking at him, hopping a little while walking towards them.
"It is fine. The nurse said all I need is a few days of rest and I will be able to walk fine." Gideon replied with a sly smile.
"Okay then. Let us submit the task completion and get the commission for it." Manav said with a smile while placing his hand over Meera's shoulder making her come a little closer to him and waved his other hand and a luxurious red car that was in a corner of the street that came close and stopped in front of them.
"Hop in. This is our ride to the Adventures Association." Manav said and entered the car with Meera entering right behind him with her monster partner.
Gideon hesitated for a second, but entered the car as all 3 needed to be present to submit the task completion to the Adventures Association to get equal share.
After he closed the car door, the driver who seemed to be a 35 year old man drove the car through the now crowded streets of the village towards the Adventures Association at a speed which he had never gone before.
"Would you like to join us on a few more missions, Gideon?" On the way to the Adventures Association, Manav directly asked Gideon to be in their team for another few tasks as it would be helpful for him to have another close combatant along with a monster partner that would be helpful for scouting the targeted area.
"I am not sure if my parents would allow me to go on another hunting task after seeing this." Gideon replied subtly, rejecting his offer to join them on their next task.
They reached the Adventures Association within 5 minutes and looked around to find the receptionist Nila to complete the task they had taken in the morning, but she was nowhere to be found and the desk she was sitting was now occupied by another male receptionist.
"Hey! You guys are back!" They heard a happy voice and turned to see Nila coming towards them with a smile from another room that was marked as 'Validator' followed by a group of 4 men who were discussing among themselves ignoring the kids in front of them.
"You guys are late and it made me worry about you." Nila said after coming close to them.
"Sorry Miss. Nila. We went there walking, which delayed us from coming soon." Meera said bowing her head a little in an apologetic gesture which Nila waved her hands indicating it didn't matter.
"As long as you kids are fine, it doesn't matter. What happened to you?" She asked worriedly, looking at Gideon standing with all his pressure on his right leg while hopping slightly even while standing.
"Just a minor injury. Doctors said it will be healed in a few days." Gideon answered looking at her concerned expression, but was confused even more when she inquired about it with such concern on her voice and expression.
Hearing that she sighed in relief and guided them to the Validator room for them to confirm the task completion and to collect their commission which was easier than the 3 expected.
All they had to do was show the left scythe-like arm of the 3 Steel Coated Mantises they hunted to confirm the task completion which Nila forgot to inform the newbies when they took the hunting task.
For all the hunting tasks in the Adventures Association, they will have to show a part of the hunted monster as a proof of completing the task which would be validated by the validator before the commission was paid for the task.
After that their commission was automatically transferred to their account which Gideon was able to confirm by the notification he received that 33 dallans were credited to his account from the Adventures Association.
After that, Gideon left the building alone while Manav and Meera went in the red car towards the other side of the village.
It was only 6:00 PM and the sun was beginning to set, shining its orange setting rays.
So Gideon walked slowly towards his house, but saw Henry and Sienna coming towards him before he could reach half way to the house and was greeted with a smile from Henry and worry from Sienna as the cotton dressing done by the nurse in the medical tent was very thick, broad and visible, even when it was covered by his pants. This made Sienna worry that it was not a minor injury.
"It is just a scratch mom. I promise. The nurse strapped extra cotton on it just because they had too much cotton in stock." Gideon said with a sly smile and showed the medical report that said he would be fine after a few days which made her relax after bombarding him with questions continuously for 10 minutes.
Gideon gave his backpack to Henry so he could go to the market and sell the steel coated skin and the 2 scythes he harvested in this hunt while being literally dragged by Sienna home as he also wanted to go to the market with Henry, but was rejected so he could go home early and start taking the rest he needed to be healed.
Gideon was not allowed to leave his room for the next few days except for using the bathroom and Sienna stayed at home to make sure he didn't go out to practice which he usually did when alone at home and brought the food to his room so he doesn't have to come out for having it at the dining table.
Gideon realized how much they loved him to care for him like this for such a minor injury, but he also felt like he was a prisoner in the house and Sienna being a strict prison guard who even peeked at his room once every hour just to make sure he stayed in his bed which made him feel awkward and frustrated.
All this happened because he lost his focus in a battle just for a second to check on his teammates which he will never regret doing, but he made a mental note that he should be more careful the next time he goes out and get some distance from the monster he fights before checking around.
The only time pass he had during these days was speaking with Manav who regularly called him inquiring about his well being asking when they could go out on another hunt which Gideon rejected time and time again, but Manav being persistent did not leave him a day proposing for another task together.
The strangest thing that happened in these days were the male nurse from the Soul Integration chamber helped in Gideon's Soul Integration, came to visit him once every 2 days, checking his health and wound because the Adventure Association is just 'worried' about the newbies and for them to not get side tracked sooner than later, which he had never heard of, but didn't mind it as he focused on getting healed.
On one of the visits, Gideon learned that the male nurse's name is Raam with Lightning Leopard as monster partner and is at Tier-2, level-5 is one of the veterans who is also a back-up fighter if the situation calls for.
The frequent visit got them closer than he expected considering him as a close friend and spent some time with him whenever he visited him for checking.
After 15 days of staying in the bed, he finally got healed, which was also confirmed by Raam that he is ready to take on tasks, but suggested that he train for a couple of days before taking on a task again which Sienna agreed with a worry on her face, but she couldn't say no as she knew Gideon would go no matter what she says as he had already submitted their approval letter to the Adventures Association when he took his 1st task.
Henry, on the other hand, was happy that he got healed and is eager to take on another task to earn more experience and dallans to support the family.
The last harvest he got from the Steel Coated Mantis fetched 98 dallans which was more than what they expected from him and didn't want him to slag down just because of a minor injury.