Chapter 118
The day after experimenting with the fire whirl, Rei appeared in the adventurer’s guild once again . He came in between breakfast and lunch, so there were a lot less adventurers inside the guild . There were a few people who were already drinking at the bar in the morning as well as a some adventurers who were having an early lunch in preparation for taking a request in the afternoon .
……The few people that were drinking alcohol were probably either taking a day off or celebrating the completion of a request .
In the quiet environment of the guild, as if the morning rush was all a lie, Rei walked to the counters .
「Ah, Rei-kun . Have you come to take a request?」
Seeing Kenny, the receptionist, spot him and call out to him while waving her hand with a big smile, Rei shook his head .
Unusually, Lenora wasn’t at the counter today and Kenny was the only receptionist present .
「No, I would like to sell the monster materials and magic stones I stripped off yesterday and claim the rewards from proofs of subjugation . 」
「I see . Then, take them out……is what I would like to say, but how much is there? Because Rei-kun has an item box, you have quite a bit don’t you?」
Rei nodded with a sigh at Kenny’s perceptive questions .
「Ahh . There’s quite a lot . I doubt whether it will all fit on the counter . 」
「Is that so? Then I can appraise them in a different room . I have some free time now as well……」
「Hey, Kenny . What are you thinking . What will happen if there’s no one at the counter . 」
A voice came out from behind the counter . It was the voice of Lenora, who he had already become familiar with .
Apparently she wasn’t on holiday today and had simply gone to the back .
「In that case, Lenora can just come to the counter instead . 」
「Hey Kenny, you only just started your shift 10 minutes ago . Also, because you are too generous to Rei-san, you might overlook the quality checks and other things . I’ll will check for Rei-san . 」
「Wai-, that’s unfair!」
「I have permission from the boss . ……See . 」
For a moment, Lenora glanced towards an older man who was further back behind the counters .
The older man gave a small nod at Lenora’s glance .
「Like this, Epoca-san……so cruel . 」
「You act like this every day . Well then, Rei-san, on the second floor……could you go to the meeting room that was used for the Orc subjugation and your rank up test? I will check your materials and magic stones there . 」
「Ahh, I’ll be counting on you . 」
With that, he and Lenora went up to the meeting room on the second floor .
The meeting room didn’t seem to be in use and there was no one inside . In the meantime, Lenora grouped all the tables to the center of the room to make a place for the materials and another place to put the materials that had already been appraised .
「You look quite used to this . 」
When Rei said that unconsciously, Lenora spoke up as she moved the desks .
「Ehh . You’ll understand if you take a look at the counter but it’s not that big . Because of that, when parties with several members or several parties working together complete a request, we will use the meeting room to appraise the materials . That said, when you come to the guild with a cart or wagon full of materials, carrying them all up to the second floor starts to get very troublesome . ……The truth is that it is possible to make a larger space on the first floor just for that, but the higher ups in the guild seems to have rejected it every time it was suggested . ……Now then . I’m ready now, so you can start taking them out . 」
Listening to Lenora’s words, he took out the magic stones, materials and proofs of subjugation from the Misty Ring one after the other . Lizardmen, a Lizardman General, a Huge Spider, Water Monkeys, the rare species Water Monkey, an Ogre, a Spriggan and Emerald Wolves . That and the other monsters they had killed on the way to the dungeon and in the dungeon piled up on the tables .
Fortunately, most of the Water Monkeys and Emerald Wolves were still stored in the Misty Ring . Also, since some of the magic stones had been used to let Set and the Death Scythe acquire skills, there were a lot more materials and comparatively less magic stones, which would make the guild staff puzzled .
「I heard that you keep most of the monster meat to feed the Griffon……but why are there so few magic stones? Although they are mostly low rank monsters, there’s quite a lot of material . 」
「Ah, no . I actually started a hobby of collecting magic stones . I keep two of every from every kind of monster . I keep them for ornamental purposes . 」
「……Well, there are quite a few eccentric adventurers so I don’t mind . Still, a magic stone collection you say . That is quite a strange hobby . 」
(Was it a bit forced after all? But, it’s better than her suspecting why I would keep selling materials with no magic stone each time……at least that’s what I hope . )
「As you know, I have an item box . So even if the number of magic stones increases, I don’t have to worry about it at all . 」
「It’s quite convenient . Now then, I will appraise the materials . Ah, please put the proofs of subjugation on the table over there . It will be helpful if you could group them by type . 」
Following Lenora’s instructions, Rei sorted the proofs of subjugation and placed them beside the materials .
For a while, Lenora silently did her work before she unexpectedly spoke up .
「Rei-san, did you strip all these materials by yourself?」
「Hm? Ahh, I’m working alone after all . I can’t let Set strip the materials and risk destroying them . 」
「Isn’t is hard to strip this much material all by yourself?」
「Well, it is . Depending on the size of the of the monster, it could take up to 30 minutes to strip the materials from one . 」
Regardless of if they were small or large monsters, skinning them took a surprisingly long time . He had to do it carefully considering the quality the skins had to be in . It require more careful processing than other materials . Even if he had become more accustomed to stripping off material, his speed could only be considered average compared to other adventurers .
「But, as I said, there’s not helping it since I’m going solo . 」
(Although I can pass off the magic stones as being collected for a hobby, Set……the people here can’t know that he has skills a Griffon shouldn’t have . ……Yes, besides her . )
That moment, a beautiful girl with golden hair flashed through Rei’s mind . Elena Kerebel . Knowing the truth behind Rei and Set, she hadn’t changed her attitude towards them . If he partied with someone like that then he wouldn’t need to hide anything……
(Well, that wouldn’t happen normally . )
He thought of that simply .
In any case, she was a duke’s daughter, the General Princess, the symbol of the Nobles Faction, the largest faction in the Mireana Kingdom . Even though she was also an adventurer, other people would not permit him to form a party with her .
「I couldn’t possibly look for party member just to strip materials . 」
As he thought about that by himself, he spoke without thinking, to which Lenora responded .
「That is possible though? Of course it wouldn’t be a long term party . 」
「……What?」
Rei, who had been arranging the tips of the Lizardmen tails, the proof subjugation, looked towards Lenora unintentionally at those words .
Lenora was currently checking the fangs of the Emerald Wolves .
「I just said that it is possible . Ah, though it would be a party exactly . You could submit a request to recruit adventurers to help dismantle monsters and strip materials . 」
「……So that was a valid method . 」
In all honesty, being an adventurer up until now, he had only been aware that he could receive requests . It had never occurred in his mind that he could submit requests of his own . Certainly, this would drastically decrease the time and labour he would need to strip the materials from the monsters himself . But……
「I think there would be various problems though, what are your thoughts?」
Of course, to strip materials, other adventurers would need to get their hands on the monsters that Rei killed . That included shady adventurers, who weren’t few in number……
「Regarding that, I’m sorry but I can’t help there . It would be possible for Rei-san to interview the adventurers who took the request . However, if you have a good relationship with another party, it is possible to submit a nominated request without going through the guild……ah, please pretend you didn’t hear that just now . 」
「A request without going through the guild? Tell me more . 」
「……Fuu~ . I was the one who spoke too much, I guess there’s no helping it . 」
Lenora put the Lizardman General’s eyes into a case for preservation on the desk and gave a sigh before speaking .
「Occasionally, a client will not go through the guild and will request an adventurer directly . Of course, such a request is not a proper request . In some situations, it can be borderline legal and in other situations it can be a crime . As the reward for these kinds of requests are typically several to a dozen times greater than the rewards posted in the guild, Adventurers who aren’t aware of the conditions may get caught up in them . Well, in some cases, the client just doesn’t want to pay the fee to go through the guild……that does happen . 」
「I see . For now, I’ll definitely go through the guild for things like this . 」
「That is good . The guild can’t run if it doesn’t collect any intermediary fees . Because of that, Rei-san should be careful about these kinds of requests . 」
「Huh? Why me?」
Rei looked at Lenora with a blank face .
However, Lenora continued to explain with a serious expression .
「Listen carefully . It hasn’t been long since Rei-san has registered with the guild, but you are already the fastest adventurer to reach rank D in Gimuru . In other words, your skills are good . And although I’m not too familiar with your background……it seems you’re not that good at socialising . 」
「No, well . I can’t argue back if you put it that way . 」
「In other words, with your skills and lack of knowledge, it makes it easy for you to get caught up in criminal activities like the ones I mentioned earlier . ……Well, if it’s Rei-san, you would probably just beat them up once you realised what was going on . 」
She shook her head while sighing .
「Ah, but because Rei-san is always followed by a Griffon, you’re famous in the city of Gimuru in various ways . It may be hard for those people to try to invite you . 」
「……So, what should I do about it?」
「What? Well, that is each adventurer’s own responsibility . It’s fine to strip materials from monsters by yourself . It’s also fine to hire other adventurers to do it for you . Speaking of what I can do, I could also inform you about the reputation of the party that wants to take up the request . 」
「Is it okay to talk about the reputation of other parties?」
「There’s nothing unusual about that though? It is a normal service provided by the guild if interviews are required before the request . 」
Rei finished organising all the proofs of subjugation and nodded after thinking about Lenora’s words for a while .
「I see, then I might put out a request for that . After the appraisal is done, I would like to ask you about the procedures for that . 」
「Yes, I understand . The appraisal will take a bit more time . ……Still, the material that you’ve stripped has become much better in quality . 」
Lenora murmured in admiration as she appraised the fur of an Emerald Wolf .
「I had to do it all by myself . So I got better at it over time . I was also taught by Elk to some extent . 」
「Elk-san? Axe of the Thunder God? ……Ahh, speaking of that, you did become acquainted during the matter with the Orcs . 」
Speaking of top class adventurers in the city of Gimuru, Lenora recalled the personality of the mischievous kid who had since grown up . There was no doubt in his ability, but with his character, he would sometimes cause an uproar . Lenora had been caught up in those uproars several times herself as they had happened in the guild .
TLN: Woah, woah, this feels weird . Lenora is still pretty young but she remembers when Elk was young . Elk is now married with a teenage kid . I can’t even .
Lenora kept appraising the materials and magic stones while continuing the conversation, finishing up after about 30 minutes .
「I still can’t get used to this . 」
Looking at Lenora appraise the materials one after the other and disposing of the proofs of subjugation, Rei murmured .
At Rei’s words, Lenora gave a smile and a small nod .
「If you keep doing it, you’ll get used to it as well Rei-san . 」
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