After spending a fair amount of time looking through reports, I figured it would be a good idea to take one of those quests. I looked through the list and found what seemed to be a good choice, although... A whole week for a job that gave no payment? It was somewhat confusing.
I had to ask around to find out that I was allowed to eat the supplies of the storeroom and to sleep there if I desired, so I would be compensated for my one week of work by not having to worry about rent or food in that time period... It was not an ideal work environment, but it seems there is no such thing in this guild, so I suppose it will have to do.
Once I arrived at the storeroom, I was left to my own devices... I felt like this was quite the breach of security as I shouldn't have a hard time stealing something if I wanted to. Is this just blind trust or did they have some security measures I was unaware of? Considering how the pixies were able to constantly able to get away freely, I'm afraid it might be the former... Yet another thing to file a complaint for I suppose.
Nonetheless, I decided to get started. There was no way I'd be able to catch up to something as small and swift as a pixie if I allowed them to have the initiative after all, so I moved around the storeroom and started placing two talismans on each wall, while making a prayer as I put each in their appropriate places, and yet another one once they were all prepared.
With this the barrier was set, now all that was left, was to wait.
The first two days went by with no incident whatsoever, it would be ideal if nothing happened throughout the week, but considering how this was a permanent request from the guild, I doubted that would be the case.
On the third day, I was doing my usual prayer routine, when I suddenly heard a faint shout. It would probably be easily missed if we were outside, but in a quiet storeroom, sound traveled far. I got up and started moving towards its general direction, aware that the culprit would probably no longer be there by the time I arrived... It was okay though, time is something I have plenty of.
The following hour was filled with me casually walking towards shouts that kept coming from all over the place, those pixies are certainly fast, I'll give them that... Eventually though, they got tired, sat on the ground and waited for me.
When I got near, I could take a proper look at the culprit. She looked similar to a human, but she was only 10cm tall, had two wings coming out of her back, and some shiny glitter constantly came out of her body... Interestingly enough though, the glitter disappeared when it hit the ground, as opposed to dirtying it... Quite the unusual being.
I sat down next to her and asked, "I'm Nene, you are?"
She gave me an annoyed stare in response... But as I said nothing else, she eventually replied, "What do you want?"
I calmly answered, "To know your name."
The pixie rolled her eyes, but gave an a reply anyways, "Tink."
That was quite the unusual name... Different races, different naming conventions I suppose, I shouldn't give that much thought. Instead of delving into that topic any further, I asked her, "Why are you here, Tink?"
To that, she snapped, "Why else, you dumbass!? Don't try smart with me! Now get rid of this damned barrier so that I can get away with your sweets!"
That was not quite what I expected from the way the quest depicted the fairies... I thought she'd be meeker once she realized she'd be unable to get away scot free, but instead she became rude? That's troublesome... "Well, I'm afraid I cannot do that, as it is my job to stop you from stealing from this storeroom." To that, she just looked away grumpily... This is not progressing well... "However, that is not to say we can't make a deal to let you out."
This time she turned back towards me with glittering eyes, "You want me to steal something for you then? Tell me the name and I'll get it back in no time! Don't underestimate my thieving capabilities, old lady, I'll have to know I'm..." And she started bragging about herself doing unsavory activities... I wish she wouldn't call me an old lady though, I may be past my prime, but I'm still fairly young.
After letting her talk for a while, I interrupted her, "I'm afraid it is against the goddess' teachings to steal things though, so that is not what I request." She got grumpy again.
"So what?" She asked.
I calmly replied, "I want you to work for the guild." Her face got even grumpier, "You see, this place extremely short-staffed right now, and helping hands are extremely needed. You are clearly very fast and good with your hands, so I think it would be a great boon if you could help out in carrying messages or going through documents."
She seemed to be outraged at the idea, "Me? Work? Do you even have any idea who I am, old lady? I work for nobody, alright? I'll have you know that I..."
Tink was about to start bragging again, but I cut her off at the start this once, "How about a bag of cookies?" She stopped speaking and paid more attention to me. "If I stop this warehouse from being raided for a whole week, I'll be rewarded with a bag of cookies. However, I am not very fond of sweets myself, so I wouldn't mind giving it to you... Provided you used your skills to aid the guild that is."
She was giving very careful thought to my proposition. "And then what? Even if you paid me for one week's worth of work, that bag won't last forever."
I just smiled at her question, it was surprisingly cute to see such an unruly pixie get swayed by a handful of sweets... I suppose their value is much bigger when they can hardly carry more than one cookie in each of their trips here. "If you show some good work, I'm sure the guild master would gladly provide you with a steady supply of sweets in order to keep helping the guild."
Tink gave my proposition some very serious thought. Eventually though, she asked, "How can I be sure you aren't scamming me?"
I answered calmly, "It would be completely against the goddess' will to tell lies to people. Moreover, you can directly ask the guildmaster in advance before doing any work if you so desire.
"In addition, I'll only be here until the end of the week, so if I were to try fooling you, nothing would stop you from stealing supplies again once I was gone."
She seemed to be almost convinced, "What about the barrier though...?"
I simply answered, "I cannot maintain it from a large distance. Even when I'm this close, it requires a constant influx of prayers to keep it up."
After giving it a bit more thought, she said, "Alright, I'm in!"
I smiled in happiness due to seeing someone entering the holy path of good deeds. Then I told her the directions to the guildmaster's chambers, gave a rough idea of what kind of work she'd be expected to do, and asked her to tell her friends about the deal if she liked the outcome of it. Afterwards, I temporarily lifted the barrier that stopped her from leaving in order to let her start working... And then I put the barrier up again and got back to my prayers.
... A similar encounter happened two more times throughout the week, though the other pixies weren't as rude as Tink, they certainly took about the same effort to convince... It was a bit saddening that I would need to spend my money buying two more bags of cookies in order to pay them for their work, but it was worthwhile in the long run.
Hopefully this would help reduce the burden on the guild workers and lead to a better work environment, or at least I prayed it would be like that.
Once the week was over, I took the talismans off the walls, left the storehouse, bought the cookies for the two pixies that I convinced latter, and told the receptionist to directly deliver my reward bag to Tink instead.
It felt like a productive week, though I wonder if asking them to spread the word to other pixies will really reduce the amount of attacks in the storeroom we get... I pray it will.
Maybe you can ask the guild master in the Tavern about it...
