First Request
Poof "Hellooo~"
""""Whoa!!!!""""
When we teleported into the Guildmaster’s office, it wasn’t just the Guildmaster there—Jackal, Kodak, and Geese, whom we met the other day, were also present.
“S-she really teleported…”
“My heart hurts from being so surprised…”
“She really is on another level…”
From top to bottom, that was Jackal, Kodak, and Geese.
“Huh? Guildmaster, did you already spill the beans?”
I tilted my head with a smile… while holding a kunai in my hand.
“N-No no no, I-I got Stanley’s permission properly, I swear! Only told these three and Lily. So, please put the throwing knife away!”
“Oh, I see. That’s fine then.”
Satisfied, I reattached the kunai to my waist.
“So, I heard from Lily that you already made contact?”
“Yes. A party of four adventurers: the bear-man is Baird, the racoon-man is Kinuta, the monkey-man is Sharl, and the jutting-jaw man is Jarkul.”
“””“Pffft……!””””
Yeah, you’d laugh too, right? I mean, their appearances match their names perfectly.
Even I nearly burst out laughing when I first heard their names. I really want to praise myself for holding it in at the time.
“So, the monkey asked us to go on a request with them, but I turned him down. Then the jutting-jaw guy said they’d throw us a little celebration for our first request. Around the fourth bell, in the tavern downstairs.”
“H-Hey, Missy, you got their names wrong… well, whatever.”
“Guildmaster, you’re giving up already…?”
“… Anyway, Sarah and I will let them treat us. Then we’ll see if they invite us on another request, or just kidnap us right away…”
“You’re talking like it’s not your problem…”
Geese looked exasperated.
“But how are they planning to kidnap someone in a public tavern?”
“Kodak, there are plenty of ways. They could slip sleeping drugs into our drinks and pretend to help us out while whisking us away.”
“Joan… why do you know such things? Don’t tell me… you were a criminal in your past life—”
“I was not!! But I can at least imagine how it might go.”
““““True.””””
“But wouldn’t it be bad if they tried something today? Even with Sarah being a C-ranker.”
Geese raised a fair point.
“Wait!? Sarah, you’re a C-rank? That’s amazing!”
“No, I still have a long way to go.”
“You didn’t know, Missy? That whole mansion is full of elites.”
“I had no idea. I only really know about Grandmother, Nancy, my brothers, Arthur, Ben, and Mike.”
“No, no—Stanley, Gray, and Old Tom are all S-rank too.”
“Huh!? Even Old Tom?”
“Who’s Old Tom?”
Jackal asked.
“He’s our gardener. He’s the one who made this throwing knife.”
“………”
“… That lord’s mansion is seriously overpowered.”
Jackal muttered, and Kodak and Geese nodded in agreement.
“A-Anyway, we’ll go gather herbs and then head to the tavern. Guildmaster, while we’re out, could you contact my father? And also ask Nancy to monitor the tavern?”
“Got it. Take care out there.”
“Alright~”
And with that, we went to the forest to collect herbs.
Sarah taught me how to find and harvest medicinal herbs.
During the gathering, we found some mugwort. When I mentioned it could be used to make mochi, Sarah and Pearl got all fired up and started gathering tons of it.
How badly do they want to eat it? I mean, they’ve never even tasted it before… When I said that, they declared, “If you’re making it, it won’t taste bad!”
That made me genuinely happy. The kids in my past life just watched TV and never even commented on the taste of my food. I lost count of how many times I almost boycotted cooking because of it…
We continued gathering for about one quarter of a bell and collected lots of herbs, mugwort, and sansho pepper.
Since we only needed to turn in the required amount for the request, I stored the rest in my storage.
We went to the reception to report the completion, delivered the herbs to the back warehouse, and then headed toward the tavern.
When we pushed open the tavern’s swing doors, it was evening, so the place reeked of alcohol and was rowdier than usual. Many adventurers were eating, drinking, and enjoying themselves. All ten or so tables were full. The only open seats were at the counter.
But I noticed—aside from the suspect group, every single table was occupied by people we knew…
Whaaa~? There’s Father, Gray, Mr. Ken, Arthur, Ben, Mike, the private guard unit, and… huh? Even Old Tom?
The female adventurers over there are… Nancy, Mito, and Megan. The pair at the counter is… wait, that’s Nancy’s sister, Kate, and her husband, Greg. That other pair is… Mike’s parents, Kent and Yuumi? They’re back in town?
What about Nancy?
—Nancy’s behind you, Joan.
Pearl told me via telepathy.
“Ah—here, over here.”
The monkey-man Sharl stood up from a back table and waved. We walked over to the table and sat down with Sarah. Pearl stood quietly at my feet.
“Ah, are you sure it’s okay? Letting us eat for free?”
“Yeah, totally! So, how’d your first request go?”
“Yep! We found all the herbs. No problem at all.”
“By the way, what should we call you guys?”
The jutting-jaw man, Jarkul, asked.
“Oh, we didn’t say? I’m Joan, and this is Sarah.”
“Joan and Sarah, huh~”
“Come to think of it, are all of you from the Lampail Guild?”
“Nope. We’re from the royal capital’s guild. We’re a B-rank party, and we’re actually kinda famous. We’ve done a lot of requests around here too, so when we go back to the capital, we’ll definitely get promoted to A-rank. At this rate, we’ll hit S-rank soon enough. People are already calling us the future Dragon Hunters.”
Maybe because he’s drunk, Jarkul got really chatty.
“Pfft…”
“Gross, Stan. Wipe your mouth.”
“Ah—my bad.”
Apparently, Father, who was seated at a nearby table, had just sprayed his drink.
Seriously, what are you doing, Father?
"Oh, by the way, what's this 'Dragon Hunter' thing?"
"You don't know, Joan? It's even in picture books—a story about how, long ago, a party of four skilled adventurers and two sorcerers took down a dragon."
The tanuki-man, Kinuta, explained it to me.
"... That’s wrong. The picture books call them adventurers, but the truth is, they were a Monster Subjugation Unit."
The Bear-man Baird, who had been focused entirely on his food until now, spoke up.
"W-wow~ So they were a Monster Subjugation Unit strong enough to slay a dragon? That's so cool~"
I see. So that's why Father was so shaken.
Judging from his reaction... Father must have been one of those Dragon Hunters.
What do you think about this chapter?
