Bon and Jon are not their real names.
They don't know what their real names are, they don't even know who their parents are. They were dumped by their parents in the trash on the same day. The caretaker of the orphanage gave them that name.
Like most human children Bon and Jon aspire to become mages. However, they were just orphans so they didn't have any respectable family to help them enter the military academy and didn't have the money to buy [Mana Potions] from the alchemist shop.
Because of that, they always train their bodies to become adventurers when they grow up. They often hear stories of adventurers as they explore dangerous places, fighting terrible mutated animals and fierce monsters.
For Bon and Jon, the stories of drunken adventurers in cheap bars are like stories of heroes rescuing princesses from the dragon's castle.
Bon has good looks and intelligence that can make people's hearts melt when he starts talking. While Jon has strength and a big body that makes people afraid when yelled at by him.
Two boys growing up, they were finally able to register as adventurers in the Guild. They are very excited to start their first adventure.
Seeing two young teenagers eager to become adventurers, a beautiful clerk girl assigns them a mission to collect medicinal herbs in the Bog forest outskirt. It is an easy mission there are only some beasts like foxes or snakes which might be dangerous for them. However, of course, Bon and Jon completed the mission with ease.
The beautiful Clerk girl was happy with their success. Bon and Jon again ask to be given a new mission which of course is given by her.
Mission after mission was easily completed by Bon and Jon until the Guild trusted them to complete more difficult missions. They were asked to look for some medicinal plants in the deeper parts of the Bog forest.
Bon and Jon believe that they can complete this mission easily. However, they failed and were nearly killed.
Their smell which is easily smelled by wild animals in the Bog forest makes them the target of prey. Their inadequate weaponry also made the fight very difficult. Some plants have poisons that can confuse them and an antidote is needed to cure them.
They were forced to return to the city of Heles with failure. They also didn't have the money to compensate for the mission failure. The money they got in the previous mission could only pay for their food and lodging.
Seeing the young duo's first failure, the clerk girl just smiled. She said that they didn't need to compensate for the failed mission because the mission wasn't that important and was just a daily request from a client.
The beautiful and kind clerk girl also advised them to prepare their equipment before going on an adventure so that this failure would not happen again. She suggested that Bon and Jon take on a debt to the Guild to buy their equipment.
Bon then decides to follow the clerk girl's advice and gets a loan from the Guild to buy their equipment.
After that Bon and Jon received the same mission again, this time they went home with success and earned enough money to pay off some of their debt.
After that, they returned to complete mission after mission. Bon no longer borrowed money from the Guild after that, he saved his money and was careful not to damage their equipment.
With his shrewdness of speech, Bon gets the opportunity to learn with blacksmiths how to properly care for their equipment. They also don't take on missions that are too difficult that require them to buy a lot of antidotes and other potions.
In this way, Bon and Jon managed to pay off their debt to the Guild. The clerk girl rejoices with Jon and Bon's success in paying their debts. She advised them not to be too careful in taking the mission because the more difficult the mission is the higher the pay.
Bon and Jon were tempted by the clerk girl's offer. They finally went back to taking loans at the Guild and chose the difficult mission of finding a rare plant which was one of the ingredients for making [Mana Potion]. They bought new equipment and other potions that would be useful in the Bog forest.
But Bon wasn't that stupid, he knew there was no guarantee that the two of them would make it even with the new equipment and full potions. If they failed this time then the Guild would not forget the compensation payment like the previous mission.
Bon has the idea of creating a group of adventurers who will work with them on this mission. Bon goes to bars where adventurers usually hang out and spend their hard-earned money. With his shrewd language and words, Bon managed to gather many adventurers for this mission.
With renewed vigor and confidence that this mission will be an easy success, Bon and his group of adventurers enter the Bog forest.
But problem after problem befell them.
Their large numbers make their smell easy for mutated animals to smell, which causes them to be hunted by copper and iron tier danger mutated animals.
Their large number also makes the supply of antidotes and potions not enough.
They were lucky not to run into silver tier danger mutated animals otherwise they would all become fertilizer for this dangerous forest.
Eventually, Bon and his group were forced to return without ever seeing the rare plant they were looking for.
Just as Bon thought they had to pay compensation for the mission failure, Bon and Jon's debts grew. After that, they also had to pay the adventurers because Bon had previously promised the success of this mission. The young Bon and Jon learned an invaluable lesson back then the friendship between adventurers was anything but ridiculous.
But they haven't given up, Bon and Jon are starting from scratch again by carrying out easy missions with small pay.
The wages of the missions couldn't even pay off the interest in their debt to the Guild which was accumulating. But Bon isn't after money, he's after fame and prestige that all adventurers know.
The names of the duo Bon and Jon became known and talked about in all adventure bars. They are known as talented duos who always complete their missions unharmed, even though it's a mission with a small fee but it is a great achievement if it is completed by just two teenagers.
After learning that he's already famous, Bon returns to adventure bars and invites them to join him on a hefty fee mission. But this time Bon doesn't promise mission success, he just invites.
Even so, due to their fame, many adventurers want to join Bon and Jon.
Bon then selects adventurers who will join, he chooses those who have complete equipment such as armor, swords, and shoes. He also chooses adventurers who have their antidote and potions, Bon doesn't want the same thing to happen again.
From this selection, Bon chose 10 adventurers with the most complete weapons and their potions. Only then did he come to the Guild to accept missions with high fees. Once again they received a mission to look for rare herbs which are one of the ingredients for making [Mana Potion].
They went back into the Bog forest.
Their small numbers keep their smell from being smelled by mutated animals plus the deodorizing potion they previously installed makes their journey safe and undisturbed. Each of them has an antidote to heal wounds from poisonous plants. With complete equipment, they easily face attacks from the beasts or the monsters.
Bon and his group managed to find the rare plant they were looking for. They went home full of joy and stories that other adventurers could be proud of.
Bon receives his mission fee and distributes it to his group. Few of them accepted and left with a happy heart, many of them accepted and asked to be able to rejoin Bon and Jon's mission again. Bon accepts them and returns to work on the mission together.
Month after month, year after year, Bon and his group have completed mission after mission for a hefty fee. Bon and Jon's debt to the Guild was almost paid off and they were even able to save money to buy [Mana Potion].
They drank it and became a mage. Bon gets the elemental earth faction spell and Jon gets the material art skin faction spell.
With Bon and Jon becoming mages their group is growing in popularity and more and more adventurers have gathered wanting to join them. Bon and Jon's dreams of becoming mages come true.
Bon and Jon intend to stop being adventurers and start their own group. He wanted to break free from the Guild and do business buying and selling rare plants and mutated animals' mana organs.
For that Bon and Jon must immediately pay off their debt to the Guild. But they are not worried because their debt is low and will be paid off through their next mission fee.
Bon goes back to the clerk girl at the Guild. She still had the same sweet smile as the first time they met. There is an intention in Bon's heart to marry her after this mission is completed and the debt is paid off.
Bon envisions a bright future for himself and Jon after this mission ends.
The clerk girl gives a mission and says "bye-bye" to Bon.
Bon's steps stopped for a moment, he found it strange because the clerk girl usually said "see you again". But he ignored the strangeness and continued on his way. Maybe the clerk girl knew that Bon would stop being an adventurer. He can't wait to see how surprised the clerk girl is when he proposes to her.
Bon and his group went back into the Bog forest with light steps. Their hearts are full of joy thinking about a bright future and their happiness after.
However...
After that day Bon and Jon find out how far humans can suffer.