Ch 66 -- The Guild Master"s Requests

After I put the sacks full of gold coins into my Item Box we discussed the requests the Guild Master was wanting to offer to us.

"Well, we"ve got two outstanding high-ranked subjugation requests we"d like to offer you. The first is to subjugate a Metal Lizard and the other is the subjugation of a herd of b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bulls."

OK, I understand what he means by Metal Lizard since we just sold one to the Adventurers Guild but what sort of monster is a b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull? "Horns dripping with blood" doesn"t sound particularly gentle or meek to me. It"s called a "Bull", does that mean it"s something like a cow? "Blood dripping cow"... that"s an ominous name to give to a monster.

"The first request is a Metal Lizard. Its territory is at the foot of Pasquale Mountain, about two days carriage ride from here. It was probably attracted by the minerals located there but we"ve not been able to survey the area properly so we"re not sure." The Guild Master explained. "There are mines near this location but since the Lizard moved in they"ve been temporarily abandoned as the danger it poses is too great. The mine owners have requested the Metal Lizard subjugation. It is worth 238 gold coins." He shrugged. "I have been asking for this request to be dealt with for some time now. No Adventurers of suitable rank were available or they"ve been busy with other things. I even tried getting the reward increased but there still have been no takers."

A Metal Lizard shouldn"t be a problem for us. Fer didn"t have any difficulty dealing with the previous one after all. Fer is Da Man.

"The second request concerns a herd of b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bulls which have moved into the gra.s.slands to the west of the city and settled down there. That area was a common monster hunting ground for lower-ranking Adventurers and losing access to it means a lot of them can"t easily fulfil their own requests. They"ve been pus.h.i.+ng for the Guild to do something about the herd but our subjugation request still hasn"t been accepted by anyone. The reward for hunting them is 324 gold coins."

According to the Guild master a b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull is about the size of a wild cow with a temperament to match. As their name suggests they gore anyone who approaches the herd with their horns resulting in a bloodbath. A single b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull is only a B-rank monster but it usually takes four parties of A and B rank Adventurers to subjugate a herd of them since they are very aggressive and act in unison. Truly, herds of other-world cows that stab people with their horns are scary!

"So can you accept these two requests?" the Guild Master finished. Well, he asked me but it wasn"t really for me to decide.

"Hey Fer, you heard all that? What do you think, should we accept both of the requests?"

"Of course. I can do both of them easy." Yeah, I guessed you"d say that. I told the Guild Master we"d accept both requests.

"Wonderful. I"m so pleased." he said.

"b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull? That meat is delicious. I"ll go do that request right away." Fer interjected, drooling. It seemed Fer was keen to get started. So he reckons b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull meat is delicious, is it? I guess if it looks like a cow then it"s probably something like beef. I hope so, Orc meat is really tasty and so is the Rock Bird but it"s been a while since I ate any beef.

"Ah, can I ask that you deal with the Metal Lizard first, please?" the Guild Master said.

"Huh..." Fer grumped. Hey, the Guild Master asked nicely.

"Let"s do the Metal Lizard request first like the Guild Master wants, hey?" I said. "The b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull herd is living on the gra.s.slands, they"re not going anywhere in a hurry. Better to have some fun later." I teased.

"What sort of fun?" Fer asked, intrigued in spite of himself.

"Grilling b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull steaks, that sort of fun. Interested?" Fer"s head came up.

"Oh, that... ohhh..." Fer"s drool was now puddling on the floor of the Guild Master"s office.

"That"s right, you know I can grill meat just the way you like." I"d have to restock on sauces and seasonings from the Net Super beforehand, of course.

"Fuuu, it sounds delicious..." Heh, Fer"s love of steak made him easy to manipulate.

"Ah, the Guild will purchase b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bulls, won"t you?" I asked.

"Of course we would." the Guild Master confirmed. "As we agreed the meat from any subjugation requests belongs to Fenrir-sama but b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull meat is premium grade, very tasty and in great demand. The Guild would be happy to buy half of the meat from you at a good price if that"s agreeable."

Half of the herd for the Guild, half for us, that sounds reasonable. I don"t know how big the herd is but it"s got to be more than just a few individuals. Each one"s pretty big too so keeping just half of them, that"s a lot of meat.

"Right then." said Fer. "Let"s go and deal with that Metal Lizard."

"Hang on," I interrupted as Fer rose to his feet and turned towards the office door. "I know you"re in a hurry but if we head out now we won"t be back before midnight. The city gates will be closed and we won"t be able to get back in." Fer stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Let"s wait until tomorrow morning then we"re sure to be back before nightfall." I explained.

"Nuu, you think so?"

"Yeah I think so. Guild Master, is it OK if we delay subjugating the Metal Lizard until tomorrow?"

The Guild Master looked surprised. "I suppose it"s OK but will it only take you a day to do the job?"

"If it"s two days carriage ride to Pasquale Mountain then it"ll only take Fer and me a few hours to get there. Subjugating the Metal Lizard shouldn"t take very long... Hey Fer, how long does it take you to defeat a Metal Lizard?"

"Hmmph, I can deal with mere reptiles like that no problem."

"So- so that"s how it is... Fenrir-sama treats an A-ranked monster like it was a common lizard." The Guild master was amazed. "That confidence simply demonstrates his overwhelming and unfathomable power yet again. Our King was wise to extend a hand of friends.h.i.+p to such a being."

Hey Guild Master you wouldn"t say things like that so easily if you had to live with him all the time like I do.

"Right then, we"ll head off and subjugate the Metal Lizard first thing in the morning."

"Thanks. Please return to the Guild as soon as you"ve finished the request." the Guild Master said.

"If you"ll excuse us..." We left his office and headed downstairs to the Guild"s warehouse. Fer would never forgive me if I forgot to collect the meat waiting for us there. Johan had it all ready and I packed an incredible amount of meat into my Item Box before we left the Guild.

"Hey Fer, we"ve still got time, do you want to stop by Lambert-san"s store?"

"Is it that merchant"s place?"

"We"ve got money now and I"d like to replace Sui"s bag." I patted the cloth bag Sui was in.

"It"s really dirty-looking." Fer acknowledged.

"Well the bag was second-hand to start with and Sui"s been living in it for weeks now. It"s worn out and dirty so I"ve decided she deserves a new bag. Lambert-san told us his shop sells leather goods so we"ll take Sui along to check out what he"s got and we"ll buy her the one she finds most comfortable. Even if it"s expensive that won"t be a problem." Anything for Sui-chan, I won"t compromise. "Oh, Fer, if there"s anything you want there just say the word."

"The only thing I want is delicious meals, nothing else matters to me." Fer is remarkably easy to please in some ways.

"So you wouldn"t like a nice collar then?"

"Grrrr, I"ll bite you if you try and put a collar on me..."

"Don"t worry, no way I"d even consider doing something like that. Just kidding." Stop growling at me. Can"t you take a joke?