Chapter 327

(327) Request from the Mercenary Guild guild master

Translator: Tseirp

The next day, I went to the Mercenary Guild the first thing in the morning .

I greeted the receptionist lady that I met yesterday .

“Ichinojo-san, you have not departed for the dungeon?”

“Actually, I’ve been to the dungeon, defeated the boss and returned last night . Here, the requested boss drop item . ”

“Eh? No way, it would take an entire day to reach the dungeon even with a fast horse . And what’s this gourd?”

“That dungeon has two different boss rooms and we found that in the other boss room . It contains alcohol . ”

The receptionist lady heard my reply and first opened the wine jar dropped by the snake and scooped out its contents for a sip .

Are you sure you can do that while on duty?

“ … The taste of snake has not fully blended in with the alcohol, a young brew . This is definite proof that this is a recent drop . What about this gourd?”

This time she opened the gourd and drank the contents .

“Such a mellow taste . Rice wine? Its sweetness spreads throughout the mouth even though not a single fruit was used . I have not drunk such a wine before . ”

Where did this wine critic come from?

How does she know these things?

“Ichinojo-san, I will pay additional rewards so please tell me in detail the experiences you went through to acquire this golden gourd . ”

“All right . ”

I explained about the illusionary wall, the pitfall, and the side path .

And I talked about the boss as well .

“That’s dangerous . We have records of that monkey . Torch Kill . It is a monster adept in erasing its presence but said to be weak to cold and unable to activate its hiding specialty in places where the temperature is low . It was not known where it lived but we had never expected it to be in such a place . ”

I see . So that was why I didn’t see the monkey from the beginning .

I had no comments on the name Torch Kill .

“Erm, so with this, am I able to meet the guild master?”

I didn’t mind even if she refused . I had already acquired the Nectar after all .

I wanted to say that but since I requested to meet the guild master, I was afraid what others would think if I just dropped my request .

“Yes, no problem . In fact, looking at the evaluation now, we can’t let you return without a meeting . This way please . ”

There was no problem .

And so I was led to the room at the back .

The guild master room of the Mercenary Guild . I wondered what kind of person were they .

I was nervous .

The receptionist lady opened the door without knocking and entered .

I followed after her .

The shelves were filled with alcohol bottles . There were tons of alcohol in the dwarf village as well but the focus was on the quant.i.ty available to drink . In contrast, there were a lot more variations here but all of them were in small bottles .

And more importantly .

There was n.o.body in the room .

Was the guild master out?

As I was thinking, the receptionist lady sat on the leather chair .

“Congratulations on pa.s.sing the test, Ichinojo-san . I am the Mercenary Guild guild master, Stefania . ”

“ … So you’ve been lying to me from the start . ”

“Didn’t I say it? ‘I’ll apologize in advance’ . Furthermore, I never said that I was not the Mercenary Guild guild master so it’s a little harsh to say I lied . Well, I do receptionist work because I like to see that expression . Ah, right right . You’re forbidden from telling others that I am the Mercenary Guild guild master . ”

Did she change her tone from a receptionist to the Mercenary Guild guild master?

Well, her frank tone made it easier for me to speak as well .

I see . So her words were not meant for the letter but an apology for faking her ident.i.ty .

“But won’t an intelligent person realize immediately? After all, I knew the contents of the letter that Ichinojo-san brought . ”

“You said that you looked at the letter before it was torn . ”

“Even if it was a doc.u.ment to be torn, a mere receptionist wouldn’t be able to read the contents of a letter addressed to the guild master . ”

Ah, that’s true as well .

So she was testing me on that aspect too .

Carol probably would have noticed if she was with me .

I would have seen through her lies if I used Thought Trace but it was not as though I had it activated all the time so I ended up completely believing her and did not notice anything amiss .

“First, this is the reward for this request, with the additional reward added in, 3 million Goats . I’ll prepare it now . ”

“3 million!? You said it was 70,000 Goats . ”

“That is just how valuable the information Ichinojo-san brought to us is . Personally, I feel that is too little but if I give any more my subordinates will make noise . It’s a ha.s.sle . ”

Her words were sketchy but I could understand it a little .

That was probably her true nature .

“Ha …… “

She was delighted that she found precious alcohol ─ ─ I guess I could interpret it that way?

I looked at the alcohol bottles that lined the shelf .

Eh?

There was a drawing placed between the alcohol bottles .

A portrait?

It was probably drawn with a Portrait skill or something similar as it was as detailed as a photo .

A burly man, a toned man, and a small girl were ill.u.s.trated .

“Eh? I feel like I’ve seen that person before . ”

“Good job noticing, that girl is me when I was a child . ”

Stefania-san said as she took the money out of the safe .

But I was not referring to the child .

I was talking about the burly Pugilist man .

“That Swordsman is my father . And that Pugilist-san is father’s partner Marg-san . The two of them were a legendary mercenary combination known as the Steel Brothers . ”

“Heeh … hn?”

Wait, I’ve seen the steel sword that the toned Swordsman is holding before .

Where did I see it? It was definitely in this world .

Marg … Marg .

“ ─ ─ !? Aah, so that’s it . ”

The Pugilist seemed familiar because isn’t it Margaret-san!?

I see, so his real name was Marg . Although I knew that Margaret was not his real name .

And the steel sword the Swordsman was holding was the steel sword I borrowed and ended up snapping when fighting the Mountain Bandit .

“Eh? What do you mean?”

I suddenly raised my voice so Stefania-san asked suspiciously .

“Ah, sorry . That Pugilist is my benefactor . ”

“Really!? You met Marg-san!? When!?”

Stefania-san leaned forward to ask me .

“About two months ago on the Western Continent . I’m probably not mistaken . ”

I see . Margaret-san mentioned that he liked his partner but so his partner already had a child .

“I see, so Marg-san is still alive . Marg-san was very kind to me when I was a child . Marg-san once asked me if I wanted to become his actual daughter . I kind of yearned for a father like Marg-san . Of course, I refused in the end . ”

… She mistook his question .

I believe Margaret-san wanted to become your mother .

“When father died, Marg-san actually wanted to take care of me but my mother took me in and she hated Marg-san . Perhaps she was jealous that Marg-san was always traveling the world with my father for battles . Ahaha . ”

Stefania laughed .

I think she actually was jealous .

She probably felt it with female intuition .

Stefania-san seemed to hold a strong sense of admiration for Marg-san .

But Marg-san’s current appearance ─ ─ I probably shouldn’t talk about Margaret-san . It’s best to leave a dream as a dream .

“So where is Marg-san now?”

“Erm, sorry . I met him during my journey so I know he is on the Western Continent but I don’t know where exactly . ”

“I see … that’s a pity . ”

I felt sorry for Stefania-san but I still felt that it was better to change my story for her sake .

“And so, I have a request for the Mercenary Guild’s guild master . ”

“Yeah, I know . Nectar . If you are all right with just the information we know ─ ─”

“Ah, sorry . I don’t need to ask about Nectar any longer . ”

“Eh? You don’t?”

“Yes”

I no longer need it .

“That’s troubling ─ ─ There was a request I wanted you to accept … do you need any other information?”

“Nothing in particular . Unless you can teach me the place to acquire a Dragon Core . ”

“Dragon Core?”

“I guess it’s an impossible request after all . ”

I replied but for some reason, Stefania-san grasped my arm .

“Coincidentally I have a request to obtain a Dragon Core! Please take it!”

“Eh?”

A request to obtain Dragon Core?

There’s actually such a pinpoint request?

I couldn’t help but be surprised at the convenient development of events .

It didn’t feel like she was lying to me .

“Can I have the details?”

“There have been talks of a dragon appearing at Lake Landau on the west . ”

“Lake Landau? By any chance ─ ─”

“It’s not an Ancient Dragon . It appeared after you defeated the Ancient Dragon . It’s that . The eyewitness account came from Marquis Utings’ soldiers when they went to collect the Ancient Dragon’s materials so it should be trustworthy . ”

“By any chance, is it ─ ─ ”

“Yes, a wild Demon Lord Dragon . There should be no doubt about it according to its characteristics . ”

A Demon Lord Dragon in that Lake Landau .

Why this timing?

Because I defeated the Ancient Dragon?

Even if it was not related to the Dragon Core, I would have to accept the request no matter what .

“All right, I accept . ”

“Thank G.o.d . A party of adventurers and a skilled mercenary has already accepted this request . Please gather here tomorrow before setting off to the destination . ”

“I wish to travel with my party alone though . ”

“This is to increase the rate of success . Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to prioritize handing the Dragon Core to you from among the Demon Lord Dragon’s materials . I’ll talk to the other members as well . ”

That was not my main reason . I don’t want others to know so much about my ability .

If worst come to worst, I thought of breaking away from the group and traveling to Lake Landau on my own but it seemed that it showed on my expression .

“You can’t travel there on your own . From the point of accepting the request, taking arbitrary actions will be a punishable offense . ”

I was warned .

I guess there was no other way .