Chapter 598: Bad People Everywhere

Naturally, I caved under the Guild Master’s glare and revealed everything.

“… so, that’s what happened…”

After having verbally spilt my guts, I looked nervously at the Guild Master. He was rubbing at the creases between his eyebrows and sighing deeply.

Behind us, the High Elves were talking to each other.

“Oh, were they talking about us?”

“Yeah, I think we accidentally revealed ourselves.”

“Wait, they know that we’re High Elves?”

“What do we do now?”

“Why is that a problem again?”

“Oi, what are you guys talking about?”

The Guild Master was staring at the High Elves with his mouth open.

Sh-should I help him a little?

“Hey, so…”

“I don’t care. I don’t know what happened, but I expect that these six people are planning to become residents of Carelina for a while, am I right?”

“That’s right, we plan to stay here for a while under the employ of Mukouda,” said Jorgen. The rest of the High Elves nodded behind him.

“If that’s the case, you and your… employer, must listen to what I have to say carefully,” Willem-san said in a solemn voice. “We have received rumours that High Elves were found living within various large cities, disguised as regular elves…”

[1] I turned to look at the six High Elves with me, then at Willem-san who sighed and continued, “Well since the Elves and High Elves are similar looking, it is difficult to discern their species except through age and and status.”

Since Willem-san paused here, I nodded seriously to indicate that I was listening. This is my listening face, Willem-san!

“That’s right, although there were no significant differences in terms of looks, High Elves were reputed to be ‘n.o.ble and beautiful beings with powerful magic hidden within the deep forests’.”

[1] I still had no idea where Willem-san was going with this, but I nodded anyway. The High Elves looked at each other and seemed to preen at being called ‘n.o.ble and beautiful beings’.

“What do you think would happen once people got word that these rumours were true?”

“Uh,” I said, feeling like I was being grilled at a HR meeting. “They would… be very excited?”

“That’s right, they would be very excited. At the same time, a certain group of people would also be very interested in this information.”

[2] “A… certain group?” I echoed. Not entirely sure where this was going, but had a feeling that it had to be something Not Good.

“Hey, you,” Willem-san growled at me. “What do you think of this country?”

“Uh, it’s a good country? Relatively peaceful and safe…”

“You would think so, eh? While it’s true that we are a relatively peaceful country, do you know that kidnappings still happen?”

“Eh? Um, of children?” I hazarded a guess.

“Hahh… we get about 20 reports of kidnappings just in this city alone. I believe there would be more in larger cities like the Royal Capital or Doran. If you include those unreported kidnappings from rural areas and smaller towns… there is no way to really know just how many people are affected.”

[2] I nodded uncertainly. While this was kind of shocking, it was not… really that shocking? I figured that in a lawless place like this other world, kidnappings would be the least of it.

“While the majority of the victims are human, especially good-looking humans, there were a great many Elf victims as well.”

“Wait, what, seriously?!” okay, this time I was really shocked. While it was unfortunate that good-looking humans were kidnapped, but Elves? Aren’t they supposed to be quite strong?

“Indeed, if they receive confirmation that there are High Elves here, what do you think would happen?”

“Uhhh… the kidnappers would be incinerated?” I hazarded a guess. [2]

[2] Willem-san’s face suddenly turned purple, so I’m guessing my answer was not what he wanted.

“Excuse me,” said Jorgen. “All of us are aware of this. However, as Mukouda alluded, we are strong and are not so easily defeated or kidnapped. As you said, though we are High Elves, this cannot be easily known through sight alone.”

“That’s right,” said Adela. “It’s not like this is the first time we enter town posing as regular Elves.”

The rest of the High Elves nodded imperiously at this. I… had to look away because Willem-san’s face had turned almost black with anger.

“Fine, whatever, I have done my duty as a Guild Master to advise you on the current situation of this country. You may take my advice or leave it as you please.”

Instead of responding harshly to Willem-san’s rough tone as I had expected. The High Elves graciously stepped forward with one right fist over their chests and said in unison, “We thank the Guild Master for his advice.”

Oooh, nice move.

[1] I guess these High Elves really had been interacting with humans for a long time, especially since they knew exactly how to appease someone like Willem-san. Something which I had been failing to do so recently despite my best efforts.

“Ahem,” Willem-san actually looked a little embarra.s.sed as he scratched his cheek, “Well, it’s good that you know. Hm, the world is filled with bad people out to take advantage of others. So, it’s best to be a little more careful.”

[3] “Wow, why did you never say anything to me about kidnappers before?” I asked. “Surely I’m a prime candidate for kidnap victim?”

“Well, I figured that you would be well protected,” said Willem-san as he eyed the creatures behind me.

[3] “Haha…” seriously though, I should be the one worrying about being kidnapped. In fact, I still remember back when I first came to this other world with my [Net Super] skill. My greatest worry then was being kidnapped by some unscrupulous organisation and forced to churn out all kinds of goods for them…

[3] Instead, I now only have to cook three meals a day, every day for my Gluttonous Quartet, the Six High Elves as well as the weekly/monthly offerings to the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses…

“… …” what am I even doing?

While I was busy suffering from my little crisis, Willem-san and Johan-san were examining the goods on the table. To be specific, they were looking at the Green Dragon parts that Verde had so skilfully dismantled.

“You should understand that although we wish to purchase this, I regret to say that we cannot do so,” said Willem-san. “We’re… still paying off the Dragon Turtle parts we have gotten from Mukouda.”

[4]

“Still, this is my first time seeing such wonderfully clean cuts,” said Johan-san. “I swear, it’s almost like an art form.”

“Heh,” Verde, rubbed his nose embarra.s.sedly.

“And this skin! It’s all in one piece! Even though dragons are notoriously difficult to dismantle, I cannot believe you actually managed to get such an intact piece!”

While Willem-san was slowly breaking down in a corner, Johan-san was cheerfully inspecting all the Green Dragon materials on the table. They could not buy a single thing, of course, since a single vial of dragon blood cost, like, a lot of money and the Guild still owes me money…

“You must come and have a drink with me one day and tell me just how you manage this cut…”

“Ahem, speaking of which…” I cleared my throat and, wow, Willem-san just leapt out of his corner as though bitten by something.

“What? What is it now? You had better not say anything troublesome!”

“Ah, that is, I believe Verde-san, that is, this person, would like to find a job as a dismantler…”

“Oho! Excellent! Guild Master, you must hire this person!” Johan-san crowed happily.

“Umu… I supposed…” Willem-san began, “We have been getting a lot of work lately.”

“Oh?” I said.

“Yes, the Adventurers around here were… inspired by a certain S Ranker and had gotten quite active when it came to monster hunting. The number of Monster Tamers have increased too…”

“Ah, eh? Ah!”

Johan-san nodded, “Thanks to that, the dismantling department has been really busy lately. It’s not a bad thing, but quality dismantling requires great skill, especially for rarer monsters.”

“Well, how about it?” asked Willem-san. “It’s better for you to be registered here as part of the Guild staff, for your safety if nothing else. As for the payment…”

The High Elves converged to mutter between themselves. Finally, Jorgen stepped forward to say, “We can accept the standard pay for regular dismantlers. However, we came with Mukouda intending to be his exclusive dismantling team. If you promise that of Mukouda’s dismantling job is our priority, we can accept standard pay.”

“Wait, really? Ahem, I mean, that’s fine with us, of course. If it’s fine with Mukouda…” said Willem-san.

“Oh, no, no, that’s all fine with me. I had been wondering what kind of job I could give them during their down time-”

“Excellent! Let’s talk business! Come to my office!”

The next thing I knew, the High Elves were herded away by Willem-san.

“Eh?”

“… Well, I’m sorry to say this, Mukouda-san, but we can’t take the Green Dragon parts…” said Johan-san. “It’s, well…”

“Right,” I said, and took back all the Green Dragon materials which I had taken out earlier to show them. Well, at least they get a glimpse of Verde’s dismantling ability. Which leads them to being hired. It’s a good thing, right?

Willem-san ought to be happy about this at least, right?

After putting the last of the Green Dragon bits away, I followed them to the Guild Master’s office.

[4]

[Gumihou: Ugh, I worked hard to make this chapter interesting]

[1] Add details

[2] Just ‘bad people’ seemed kind of juvenile, so let’s go with ‘a certain group’

[3] Expand the topic of Mukouda’s possible kidnapping and bring back some of his original before Fer fears

[4] Make the interaction re Verde becoming a dismantler more interesting