And so they all went their separate ways, fortunately, or unfortunately, most of the jobs in town didn't take too long so they were able to do most of them in no time.
They helped cut and bring wood for a couple of houses, deliver groceries for people that were either too old or sick to be able to go and get them themselves.
Each time they arrived at a new place the person who opened the door was shocked to see the two of them, regardless the people paid with whatever money or items they had.
Unfortunately, most of the work in the town was done so they had no choice but to go back to the guild and change the stack of papers for another one, according to Guild girl the other knights had already finished with their first stack of low-level work and were already starting with their next one.
It was only now that he and Asuna exchanged their stack of papers with Guild Girl for another stack that they both realized that the guild staff had placed the stacks in a way that the players had no choice but to do the jobs in or near the town first.
Kirito was about to walk out of the guild house when Asuna signaled to him that he should take another stack, there was no reason for him to refuse so he did what she asked.
The days that followed were boring they had to either cut the grass and open a path to a village that didn't exist anymore, help farmers herd animals, build a barn or a house in an area where there weren't any people.
A lot of the jobs they were given had already been done by someone else or made them walk to places where no one lived anymore, regardless the two of them had been given a job to do so they did it.
Kirito and Asuna knew that wherever they went and found someplace abandoned that something terrible had happened there because when they were rebuilding a wall that had been broken they found a lot of skeletons that belonged to Human children.
They fixed abandoned hoses that were in the center of a town that had long since burned down.
Before either of them knew it, all of the stacks of papers were done and they had little to nothing to show for it, how would they, after all, the only thing they had done was do everyday things that most people wouldn't be bothered to do.
Regardless they got what they wanted not only had they mapped out the nearby area, but they had done it in a more detailed way than what was shown on the maps that the guild had given them.
So after buying something to eat they both headed back to the fortress.
Kirito had to admit that he was excited to see how the place had changed after being away from it for a month, Asuna on the other hand wanted to take a hot bath and lay down for an entire day, just doing nothing.
Thye knew that the rest of the teams were already heading back to the fortress because one of the guild girls had told them when she gave them their reward, so neither of them was too worried about anything dangerous showing up along the way.
Neither of them knew of the events the Player's actions had unwillingly set off.
In the center of several villages - towns and cities, an announcement was being made.
Several villages and towns that had once been lost had been recovered and as such whoever wanted to live in the frontier could do so, and so the settlers gathered around the men.
They did so either because their lives had gone wrong and they wanted a fresh start or because they believed that they could succeed where others failed.
Some were even made to leave by the people around them, regardless of the reason they people began to move towards the abandoned towns and villages, never knowing of the fate that had befallen the people that once lived there.
Kirito and Asuna entered the fortress and the two of them immediately headed towards their room, Kirito poured hot water into a tub and immediately laid in it.
He enjoyed the sensation of the hot water covering him and he loved the fact that Asuna had decided to join him.
The fortress hadn't changed much during the month, the only real difference was that all of the grass around it had been cut and some of the trees had been cut down to make a defensive wall around it, other than that there was nothing new.
The first part of the plan had gone off without any problems, they managed to look around and see what was going on, and although the two of them had ended up with the boring jobs, they had gathered some important bits of information.
Something out there was killing entire towns and unlike the two of them the other teams did end up meeting a lot more people, who told them about the monsters in this world.
There were dragons- trolls- golems wizards- slimes and all sorts of common creatures one expected to find in a fantasy game.
Except there was one big difference.
From what the other teams said, the people that lived outside of one of the larger towns all feard Goblin attacks because the creatures were known to kidnap people and if the person they took was a boy they would torture and eat the boy, but if it was a girl they would rape her make her have goblin children and when she was dead they would eat her.
"Goblins were supposed to be the weakest of all of the creatures, alone they were nothing anyone could beat, but in a large group..." Kirito thought to himself before the realization set in
All of those towns and villages he and Asuna had visited and worked in were all abandoned because they were the result of goblin raids.
Granted his conclusion had little backing it up but if he was right then that meant that a lot of the rules the players were familiar with didn't apply anymore
He sent the information to the guild leaders and let them handle the rest he brought Asuna closer to him and began to enjoy the rest of his day.