Ch 100 -- The Earth Dragon Can"t Be Dissa.s.sembled.

As soon as we arrived at the Adventurers Guild the receptionist hurried off to fetch the Guild Master who then accompanied us to the warehouse where Johan-ojisan had been hard at work.

"Ah, you"re here? I"m done with the first lot of Wyverns for ya." Johan-ojisan looked tired but there was a smile on his face. He was someone who enjoyed his job, it seemed.

"Here"s seven lots of Wyvern meat, sonny, and two Wyvern skins and two manastones." Johan-ojisan scratched his bald head. "I dunno how you did it but it"s the first time I"ve dealt with monsters where the blood"s all been drained out. Made dismantling a lot easier though." Oh, bleeding. That was Sui"s work.

"Sui drained the blood." I explained. I patted the bag by my side and Sui popped out.

"Is that a Slime?" Johan-ojisan peered closely at Sui who peered back at the bald-headed old man. "I didn"t know Slimes could be used like that."

"Yes, Johan." The Guild Master chimed in. "If any Slime could do something like that then it"s probably that Slime there. It seems to be really special."

"That"s a shame." Johan-ojisan laughed. "If every party of Adventurers had a Slime that could drain blood it would make my job a lot easier." He shrugged. "Well, it doesn"t matter."

The mountain of Wyvern meat Johan-ojisan presented me with was huge as you might expect. Even with Fer and Sui to cook for I"d not be short of meat for a long time, and there was the meat from another six Wyverns to add to the reserve after this, of course. I also received two mana stones and two Wyvern skins from this first batch with three more of each to come once Johan-ojisan had dismantled the second batch of monsters.

I examined one of the mana stones closely. It had an strange feel to it, a flattened round stone about 20 cm in diameter with an odd dark colour. Mana stones are used to make magic tools and large ones like this trade for a very high price. I didn"t really have an immediate use for it myself but I planned to keep it in reserve in case I got into financial trouble later. I was incredibly well-off right now but who knows what the future might hold?

The Wyvern skin was unbelievably thin like nothing I had ever felt before. It was dark grey in colour, very smooth and attractive. I could see why Wyvern skin was popularly used to make cloaks with and I was pleased I had already arranged for Lambert-san to make me just such a cloak.

"Regarding the purchase price," the Guild Master said, "I"d like to wait until Johan here has finished dismantling the rest of the Wyverns to summarise and pay you in one lump sum if that"s fine with you?"

"That"s fine." I agreed.

"Oh, that"s right." the Guild Master said, remembering something. "I ought to give this to you now as a separate sum." He handed me 10 gold coins. "It"s payment for that advanced potion from the injured Adventurer"s party." The Guild Master laughed. "Well, since the party was a group of beginners it"s actually a loan from the Guild which they"ll pay back." He smiled and I suddenly thought of the payday loan sharks back home and I wondered what sort of interest rate he was charging them.

Potion? Oh, that was one of Sui"s Deluxe High-grade Potions I had given him to treat the Adventurer poisoned by a Wyvern"s sting. I completely forgotten about it. Was it really worth 10 gold coins?

"The potion you gave us was obviously much more effective than a regular advanced potion. The party are profoundly grateful to you for your a.s.sistance in saving their injured member. As for the price, I"m sorry I can"t pay you what it"s really worth but the party is, as I said, just beginners and I"d like to give them some help on this. They"d have to work for years to pay off such a big debt otherwise."

"No no, don"t worry about it." I said. "I didn"t pay anything for it myself after all."

"I"m intrigued as to where such potions can be got for free." the Guild Master said, furrowing his brow. Oops, perhaps I shouldn"t have said that. "But there is an absolute ban on prying into your affairs so I"ll let matters rest there." I would appreciate it if you did just that please. (Bitter smile). I can"t tell you that Sui just makes those potions with no effort. I tried to change the subject.

"How much does each kind of potion cost?" I asked.

"A basic potion costs 5 silver coins, an intermediate level potion is is 1 gold coin and a high-grade potion costs 10 gold coins. There"s also a special-grade potion above that costing 50 gold coins." the Guild Master explained. "Most Adventurers carry intermediate level potions at best, some higher-ranking Adventurers on a dangerous quest might take one or two high-grade potions with them. We usually keep a couple of high-grade potions in stock here just in case but it just so happened that we were out of stock when the Wyverns appeared."

"Doesn"t the Adventurer Guild store any special grade potions?" I enquired.

"They"re too expensive." the guild Master said with a frown. "The Adventurers Guild in the Royal capital might keep one or two in stock but nowhere else could afford to do so." Well, certainly 50 gold coins is a lot of money which would have to be repaid by any Adventurer who used such a potion. Beginning Adventurers wouldn"t be able to pay that much back and even experienced Adventurers would have difficulty. A special grade potion was very powerful, apparently they could even reconnect severed limbs if it was applied promptly.

"Right then, I"ll get out the rest of the Wyverns to get dismantled." I took out the remaining 6 Wyverns from my Item Box. Talking about the potions I had almost forgotten why I had come here in the first place.

"Hoi." Fer interjected. "Don"t forget to get them to disa.s.semble my last capture as well."

"Oh, that"s right." Fer was talking about the Earth Dragon. I had sort-of forgotten about it, for some reason. Like not wanting to remember, probably... I"d rather just leave it in my Item Box forever.

"Oh, has Fenrir-sama hunted something interesting?" The Guild Master inquired, obviously intrigued.

"Well, you see... the fact is... ummm, Fer captured an Earth Dragon..."

..................

............

....

"I"m dreadfully sorry," the Guild Master said after a long interval. "but my ears just stopped working properly. I could have sworn you just said "Earth Dragon" but you couldn"t have, could you?"

"Ah, yes I did." I fired off a death glare at Fer but it bounced off him without effect, as usual. Another long silence ensued.

"...Is it really truly an, an, an Earth Dragon?"

"Oh, yeah. Please see for yourself." I reached into my Item Box and pulled out the Earth Dragon.

"............"

"............"

The Guild Master and Johan-ojisan both stared at the Earth Dragon, stunned. I waited and waited for them to say something, anything. Finally the Guild Master shook himself as if waking up from a dream.

"T-that"s..." the Guild Master hesistated then his features firmed up. "Oh, my apologies, Mukouda-sama. I was shocked by seeing it." His voice was still a bit wavery though. I"m really sorry Guild Master, it"s all Fer"s fault really. The Guild master turned to his subordinate and smacked him on the shoulder. "Hey, Johan, are you OK?"

"...Oh, Oh, Guild Master, I"m dreaming, there"s an Earth Dragon lying there in front of me ha ha ha." I should have expected a reaction like that. I"m really sorry, Guild Master and Johan-ojisan, really really sorry.

"Well you see, uhhh, Fer told me Dragon"s meat is really delicious..."

"Umu, Dragon"s meat is definitely delicious." Fer announced. "Wyvern"s meat is tasty but Dragon"s meat is even tastier than that."

"...Dragon"s meat is delicious, of course..." the Guild Master said speculatively.

"Eh, I"d love to taste some Dragon"s meat myself..." Johan-ojisan chimed in, his eyes fixed on the Earth Dragon lying before him.

Huh? Dragon steaks are that good?

"Anyway, the last time a Dragon was subjugated, lessee, it was over 200 years ago ..." Johan-ojisan said, thinking hard.

"If you were a long-lived elf or dwarf, you might know about it from that time..." the Guild Master went on. From what I had been told before, the lifespan of High Elves seems to be about 1000 years while ordinary Elves live about 500 years to 600 years. Dwarves are also long lived, usually between 200 and 300 years. If the last Dragon subjugation did actually happen more than 200 years ago then no human alive now would have been around when it happened, just some Elves and Drarves.

"Purchase of the materials from this is... ummm..." the Guild Master said, thinking hard. "It"s too much for us to deal with, it"s like your Orthros and Chimaera, this Dragon is even more valuable and we wouldn"t be able to pay you for it."

Ah~ as expected. Well, that"s it.

"I understand but if it"s possible can you please just disa.s.semble it for us?" I asked. Fer wanted to eat Dragon meat.

"Mmmm?" the Guild Master turned to Johan-ojisan. "Can you manage that, Johan?"

"Impossible." the old man retorted immediately. "There"s nothing goes to waste when disa.s.sembling a Dragon, according to the records. Every part of the monster is valuable, from the blood to the internal organs, it can all be used. Not a single drop of blood can be lost." He shrugged, staring down at his hands. "I couldn"t even start doing something like that by myself and besides, we don"t have the necessary equipment." He gestured around the warehouse.

So they can"t even disa.s.semble this Dragon for us?

"If Johan says it is impossible for him to do it here then I have to agree with him." the Guild Master said. "However you might be able to get it done at the Adventurers Guild in the Royal capital or maybe the Adventurers Guild of a Dungeon City."

Johan-ojisan nodded. "There are a lot of experts specializing in dismantling in those sortsa places who could do it, I"m sure." So my alternatives are the Royal capital or a Dungeon City? It"s impossible for Johan-ojisan or anyone else in this city.

"Sorry Fer but they can"t disa.s.semble it here." I explained as I returned the Earth Dragon to my Item Box.

"That"s disappointing." Fer grumbled. "But I understand."

"Sorry kiddo." I thought Johan-ojisan would have liked to attempt it but he didn"t want to do a bad job being the sort of craftsman he was.

"No no, on the contrary I"m grateful you explained it all to me since I"m no expert." I bowed to him. "I thank you for all your hard work dismantling for me but I think we"ll be leaving soon."

Getting the monsters Fer had hunted dismantled properly was why we had stayed in this town for such a long time but Fer had said he wanted to go to the sea, so it was almost time to leave. Once we received the meat from the Wyverns and payment for their materials then we"d take a short break before going travelling again. I wanted to see more of this country after all.

"Uh, are you leaving this city soon?" the Guild Master said, surprised.

"Yeah, we"re thinking about going on a trip once we get payment for the materials and the meat from the Wyverns."

"Oh, I"m sorry to hear that but I understand." the Guild Master replied. "Before you leave could I have a little chat with you to discuss where you"re going?"

"Oh, you"ve got some high-ranking requests that we might be able to carry out for the Guild on the way?" I remembered our previous conversation about such requests if we were travelling around the Kingdom.

"Precisely." the Guild Master said. "Would you consider such requests please?"

"I think that"ll be fine but we"ve not decided precisely where we"re going to go yet." A sudden thought struck me. "Oh, would the Guild have a map of this country?"

"Oh, yes we do, it"s in my office. If you wish to see it then please accompany me and maybe we can discuss some future requests there as well." As I began to follow the Guild Master to his office Johan-ojisan called me back for a moment. He gestured at the large pile of Wyverns I had left behind for him disa.s.semble.

"Right then sonny, the rest of these Wyverns should take me no time to deal with since you drained the blood out. You can come round the day after tomorrow to pick "em up."

"I understand. I"ll come back again the day after tomorrow. Thanks for all your hard work."