Lottery

When we returned to the town, we attracted a lot of attention on the way from the gate to the Adventurer’s Guild. The reason being that there were nine Pastel Rabbits on the heads and in the arms of the children.

(……)

As soon as we entered the Adventurer’s Guild, the noisy place became quiet.

“So it turned out like this, after all~”

“Indeed. It was within my expectations, but…”

Evan-san and Scott-san let out a sigh.

“Evan! Scott!”

“N? Oh, it’s you, Old man.”

“Meredith-san, what is the matter?”

“What is the matter, you ask… I want to ask that! They are your companions, right!? Why are they like that!”

An adventurer who seemed to be an acquaintance of Evan-san and Scott-san approached us, as he apparently couldn’t overlook Allen and Elena.

“”Muu! You shouldn’t point your finger!””

As I often warn the children about this, they warned the other party about his pointing finger too.

“S, sorry.”

“It’s okay~””

I’m not sure if it’s because Allen and Elena warned him so vigorously, but the adventurer, Meredith-san, apologized honestly. Or rather, he seemed to be a bit overwhelmed?

Seeing him like that, the twins quickly forgave him and smiled.

“Old man, were you asking about the Pastel Rabbits?”

“Yeah, right. I have been looking for them for a period of time as well, but never found any. That’s why I concluded that there weren’t any in the area. Despite that, what the h.e.l.l is this!?”

“What’s up, Old man? Are you in a debt or something? Is that why you were aiming for the big bucks?”

“Of course not. I complete requests steadily every day, I lead a simple and modest life! It’s because my daughter wanted one that I picked up some requests to search for them!”

“Ahh, come to think of it, you have a wife and children. I forgot.”

“Don’t forget that!”

It seemed that Meredith-san was looking for a Pastel Rabbit for his daughter.

Evan-san seemed to be very close to Meredith-san.

“Umm… Evan-san?”

“Ah, sorry. Tak.u.mi, this old man is Meredith, an adventurer in this town. We occasionally drink together.”

“Heeh~ so you are drinking friends?——h.e.l.lo, nice to meet you, I’m Tak.u.mi. These children are Allen and Elena.”

“”Best regards~””

“O, ou, I’m Meredith.”

I interrupted Evan-san’s conversation to say h.e.l.lo and quickly asked what Meredith-san wanted.

“So, Meredith-san, you want a Pastel Rabbit?”

“I certainly do want one, but I don’t have enough money to get one for ourselves unless I complete a Pastel Rabbit request. That’s why I thought of asking you for a place where I could find them.”

A request for capturing a Pastel Rabbit requires quite a lot of cash, so it’s really only the wealthy who issue them.

“Ahh, so it’s like that. I don’t mind telling you about the place, but…”

“”Nniyu?””

I observed Meredith-san carefully and then looked at the twins.

“N~ it’s okay? Then, wait for a moment please. No, please come with us.”

Since he is a good friend of Evan-san and Scott-san and the children were not at all wary of him, I asked Meredith-san to accompany us to the reception desk.

“Excuse me. Could you collect all the requests for Pastel Rabbits?”

“Sure, please wait a moment.”

I asked the young lady at the reception desk, who was vacant, to collect the request forms for me, and she gladly accepted.

“Thank you for your patience. There are thirty-four requests in total.”

Moreover, she worked quickly and came back with the request forms.

“Thirty-four!? That’s quite a lot~ Ah, can you create a request for us? The client is Meredith-san here, the contents of the request is Pastel Rabbit capture, and the reward money is the least amount possible.”

“O, oi, what is this about?”

“Why don’t you try your luck?”

“My luck?”

“Yeah, anyhow, please create the request.”

“O, ou…”

In response to my insistent att.i.tude, Meredith-san started to write the request form as he was told.

In the meantime, I briefly checked the request forms, and there seemed to be no particular problems.

“What are you starting, Tak.u.mi-san?”

“There are many requests for the Pastel Rabbits, so the children are going to choose which ones to accept.”

“N? You would normally pick the ones that give the biggest rewards, right?”

“That’s normally the case, but in our case, we have to choose clients who are going to love the Pastel Rabbits properly.”

“You won’t be able to tell what kind of owners the clients will be just from the request forms though, no?”

Evan-san and Scott-san were very curious about what we were about to do.

“Yes, that’s right, but… my children are very good at drawing.”

“… Ah, right.”

“… I see. It’s no exaggeration to say that.”

Both of them looked a distant look on their faces after hearing my words.

It seems that they were able to realize this after working together for two days.

“I’m done.”

“Thank you very much.——Then, Evan-san, could you please shuffle the requests a bit?”

“I will do that then. Roger that.”

As Meredith-san’s request form seems to be ready, I ask Evan-san to shuffle the request forms.

“Is this enough?”

“Yes, thank you. Scott-san, could you please turn the request forms over and line them up on the counter? Oh, and if you could, I would appreciate it if you could s.p.a.ce them out a bit by ten pieces for clarity.”

“Understood.”

Then, I had the request forms lined up on the counter and everything was ready.

“Okay, starting from the left, there’s thirty-five in total. Allen, Elena, are you ready?”

“”Yeah!””

“Then you pick nine in total. What’s the first number…?”

“”Eighteen!””

The children shouted a number in unison.

“So you meant this by drawing! Eighteen… this is the one. What! Seriously!?”

Evan pulled out the eighteenth request form and flipped it over, giving me a shocked look.

“This is the Old man’s request!”

“Oh my?”

“Eh?”

“What!?”

It seems that they chose Meredith-sans request form first.

Scott-san and I were surprised, but Meredith-san was the most surprised of us all.

“Ah, Evan-san, the order will get messed up if we pull the form out, so please shift it back for a while. Allen, Elena, choose the remainder.”

“”Got it~””

“Then, three!”

“Next one, twenty-four!”

Allen and Elena took turns saying the four numbers each, and selected a total of nine request forms.

“Alright, please process these nine requests for us.”

“Y, yes, certainly.”

The receptionist, who had been quietly watching us, was surprised, but she quickly began to process the request forms.

“That being the case, it seems that you are a person with good luck, Meredith-san. As the special privilege for being present, you can choose a Pastel Rabbit of your liking.”

Meredith seemed like a good-natured person who would be a good owner for a Pastel Rabbit, but I wasn’t close enough to him to give him a Pastel Rabbit unconditionally, so I let him get mixed up in the lottery just for fun. The result was that he was chosen first.

“Eh? Ehh?”

“”Which child do you like?””

Allen and Elena forced Meredith-san to choose while he was confused.

“Hah? Is this seriously alright?”

“It was an official request, so it’s fine.”

However, this might be also my fault, but since it is now known that they were keeping a Pastel Rabbit at Meredith-san’s house, I advised him to take some safety measures. It would be dangerous if someone tried to steal it.

While Meredith-san was choosing the Pastel Rabbit, I quickly completed the formalities and received the rewards.

“You guys really do unthinkable things, Tak.u.mi.”

“Isn’t it fine, it was amusing.”

“It might have been novel, but it was interesting, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, quite a lot. Shall we have the requests we took on processed next?”

“Let’s do that.”

We also processed the requests for the Jumbo Elk, Luminous Mushrooms, and Flare Tortoise that we had received, and received our rewards. The reward was half of the request fee each as planned.

We decided that we would only submit the minimum amount of Luminescent Mushrooms that were requested, and that we would each sell or keep the other amount that we collected. Evan-san and Scott-san seemed to be selling them, but I decided not to. I didn’t want to sell too many at once.

Also, we talked about the Crystal Elk antlers on the way back to town… To put it simply, they were completely forced on me. Or rather, they were afraid of getting involved and refused with all their might.