Chapter 51: Even those who throw their weapon have ordinary worries

Chapter 51: Even those who throw their weapon have ordinary worries

After Real left, we ate some late breakfast before heading to the guild.

We had the misfortune to encounter an unpleasant event right after waking up. Fortunately, there’s a fortune inside that misfortune. The awkward atmosphere I expected is no longer drifting between us as I’m now able to talk candidly with Chloe.

However, the incident made me ponder over my own feelings.

ーーー I still don’t know much about Chloe but at the very least, I don’t dislike her. That much is obvious since we are already in a physical relationship. But, if I was asked whether romantic feelings is present or not, I honestly don’t have the answer to that.

I do consider her a close friend but do I want to be her lover?

Pondering that self-imposed question made me tilt my head. As insincere as it may sound, it’s what I really think, so I can’t help it.

Our physical relation started off under the pretext of her returning a favor but I’m not dense enough not to notice Chloe’s budding love. Even in the absence of it, she fawns over me. She’d probably agree to it easily if I ask her to be my lover.

The thing is, every time I imagine being in a romantic relationship with Chloe, Real’s face flash in my mind. It happens despite me avoiding having the same imagination with her as a partner.

『To begin with, our standing is too far apart.』

Although not explicitly stated, Real is probably a noble or someone closely related to noble society. That Becht arrogantly announced his [noble] standing and with such person under her command, one can expect her own position in the noble society to be much higher.

On the other hand, this lowly me is just a nameless country bumpkin hailing from who knows where. Even without that setting, I’m just an ordinary guy from another world. If I’m at least at the level of Yuuzuki, we could somehow be a match but for the incompetent me, it’s an impossible story.

『………In the end, it’s all just a big excuse.』

This is the limits of a man who has never experienced romance.

In the first place, I’m currently moving forward with the intention of returning back to earth. If I ended up with a lover in this world, we are bound for separation in the future. Either that or I decide to give up on returning to the real world in favor of staying with her in this fantasy world. Or maybe I can persuade her to leave this world and migrate to earth by my side.

That was all under the assumption of Chloe accepting my confession. Without Real’s company, I ended up thinking about Chloe far too much. While I do favor her to some extent, our time together is still far too short for us to get better acquainted.

It’s likely that further interaction with me from here on out will exhaust her favor. The favor that arose from suspension-bridge effect of me being her [lifesaver]. I can’t honestly accept admiration for something I did on a whim.

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With those thoughts swirling in my head, we had arrived in front of the guild unnoticed by me.

I put on a lid on my worries for now and enter the building.

As soon as I speak to the no longer unfamiliar receptionist, she directs me to baa-san’s office.

「I do feel bad summoning you again after yesterday’s debacle ne~」

「No prob. More importantly, baa-san knew Real, didn’t ya?」

「Are we now?………Did the girl herself told you this?」

「Eh? Your not acquainted?」

「………I see. It seems that you haven’t heard any details yet. Well, it’s better to hear it from the girl herself rather than me. For now, have a seat first.」

Me and Chloe sat down on the sofa intended for guest use, same as yesterday. Same goes to baa-san.

「You’ve been through a lot yesterday ne~. More importantly, you managed to win safely.」 Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

「After all that, what happened to botchan de gozaru ka?」

It’s only natural that we don’t know what happened after we left since we dumped all the post-processing to the guild.

I’m especially curious about his nose.

「Botchan’s nose was restored by healing magic. ………I would like it if you cease that disappointed look. I believe I told you yesterday, any injuries sustained during the duel will be healed.」

tsk That ikemen face makes a comeback huh.

「Anyway, he was dribbling in dissatisfaction at my decision but I managed to talk him down for the time being. The incident hereafter will not cause you any further complications.」

「Will it really be fine de gozarou ka?」

「It can’t be helped that both of you still worry about it. ma As a precaution, I did send a letter to his houseーthe Duke’s household. I told you that in hopes of alleviating your worry, if only for a bit. I might not have said it before but that botchan’s father and his eldest brother both have upright personality, despite how frivolous that botchan may appear to be. Once my letter reaches their attention, that botchan will be reprimanded severely by his family ne~」

「Is that so de gozaru ka…………This one is relieved de gozaru. Now this one can endeavor to work on debt repayment with a peace of mind de gozaru yo.」

Chloe pats her chest in relief.

Since she was one of the reasons for that incident, she was filled with self-reproach. It’s more or less resolved now. Maybe what happens last night was not only because of excitement from winning and intoxication from our celebration later on but also because of her anxiety.

「That’s all from me. I have nothing more to add. Sorry for the trouble ne~」

「Please don’t mention it. We also troubled you de gozaru yo. For all the accommodations provided to us, we are very much grateful for it de gozaru.」

「Adventurers Guild owes its existence to adventurers. The loss of talented adventurers due to foolish reasons would be a tremendous blow to the guild and that is a matter of life and death for the existence of the guild as a whole. It was not done purely out of good will, you see.」

「Still, that doesn’t change the fact that you’ve helped us a lot. At least, please let us convey our gratitude.」

Me and Chloe bow our heads together to show our sincere gratitude.

「………I’ll be embarrassed if you express it that formally ne~」

Baa-san laughs a bit while scratching her cheek.

When I asked her to be my liaison for contacting Real, she gladly accepted. Afterwards, if I have any letter for Real, I’ll just hand it over to the receptionist and it will be delivered to Real via baa-san.

Having connections are important. I was made aware of this fact once again.

ーーIt goes without saying that, in the future, I will be wracking my brain out due to the background of my connections. It also goes without saying that I have no way of knowing the upcoming major upheaval at this point of time.

Now that our concerns has been resolved, we can now work hard as adventurers.

Delicious magic beasts are waiting for me~~~!

…………That sentence was not uttered by a dangerous person.

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I part with Chloe at the guild lobby and head to the reception counter by myself. The [rock comb lizard] that botchan went to hunt with Chloe kinda piqued my interest. It’s treated with the same evaluation as a horn rabbit, in terms of an ingredient. It’s also considered a luxury meat for a commoner’s household.

Before I could enquire the female staff about any available rock comb lizard request, I suddenly remember one thing that bothered me.

「Come to think of it, I still don’t know your name shokuin-san.」

「………That is certainly true. And if we consider your involvement with Lydeal-sama, we will interact more often in the future as well.」

The reason for her pause was probably because of her experience in dealing with people asking her name for reasons other than [purely a question]. Precisely because this is a front for the guild that most of the receptionist are women. On top of that, each of them are beautiful in their own right. Adventurers interacting with receptionists not as a [receptionist] but as a [woman] is only a matter of course with those prerequisites checked.

Anyways, the guild staff I’ve conversed with the most in this guild goes by the name Cindy. She has the ambience of an OL.

After finishing our light self-intro, I immediately ask Cindy-san if there’s any leftover request for rock comb lizard hunting. She took out a bunch of documents and stopped perusing after she reach a page.

「Apparently a new request had been posted this morning. Detail of the request specifies the rock comb lizard’s corpse to be preserved adequately for consumption purposes. The number required is four.」

A request paper with a picture of a lizard was shown to me.

「If I’m not mistaken, its nearest habitat is the rocky area one station away from Draknil, right?」

「Yes and since Kanna-san has just become an adventurer, I will provide further explanation. Due to the nature of some request, adventurers may need to travel to their destination using magic train. On that occasion, should the adventurer possess a train ticket specially issued by the guild, they can ride it for free or at a low price.」

After listening to her explanation, I signed the request acceptance certificate and got a train ticket that she just talked about.

「………By the way, does it take a long time to cook this rock comb lizard?」

「It depends on the menu but the biggest highlight of the lizard is its rock-hard cockscomb. The best way to eat that part is to stew it for a long time to make it thoroughly tender. However, I must remind you that that it will take at the very least half a day of simmering to achieve that result.」

「Then, if I bring to the diner next door, I can only eat it after half a day or possibly the next day huh……… Ah right, Cindy-san. Is there any list of delicious E-rank magic beast?」

「I am concerned about Kanna-san focusing only on [delicious]………… In any case, would you consider purchasing a magic beast encyclopedia sold by the guild? Its only for 5 pieces of copper coins. If you are going to undertake various hunting requests in the future, understanding the ecology of magic beasts would be the minimum necessary knowledge required in order to work as an adventurer.」

I bought the book instantly.

It will take time to read it in the entirety but I want to cover at least E-rank magic beasts as soon as possible. In the unlikely event of me encountering a high-rank magic beast, prior knowledge will definitely be useful for escaping immediately.

Encountering a super dangerous magic beast while thinking it’s a small fry isn’tt gonna be a funny joke. Or maybe I could even ask Chloe for help in reading this book.

「………Just between you and me, this request is actually for cleaning up the mess caused by yesterday’s problematic noble.」

Cindy-san said so apologetically. Even if she didn’t say the name, the perpetrator’s identity is obvious.

「Goes without saying, it’s that botchan huh.」

「Yes, that obotchan.」

It was originally a request I wanted to undertake as an excuse to hunt for ingredients but it seems that the corpse of yesterday’s rock comb lizard which botchan handed in had a lot of unnecessary damage.

His hunt was only for the sake of killing, with no regard for the materials.

As a result, even with his four carcasses combined, barely one carcass worth of edible meat was able to be extracted. In the end, the client requested for another batch and the guild responded with an apology alongside a cheaper commission fee.

「That botchan causes problem no matter what he does huh………」

「Kanna-san also, please be careful. Your achievement as an adventurer includes not only the end result of a request, it also takes note on your method of completing it. In the case of completing a request with questionable methods, an adventurer may be barred from taking promotion test.」

How will an adventurer complete their request huh. Taking consideration for that matter is also one of adventurers’ main concern.

[Just take a random request and let’s go] is also not feasible. For example, two different adventurer picking the same single available request by chance. In addition to damaging their chance to take promotion exam, there is also the possibility that their subsequent order request for the same grouping may be denied.

「Incidentally, the client for Kanna-san’s last request was very pleased with your result. The praise goes not only for the horn but also its meat. The carcass was said to be processed skillfully, creating a practically flawless meat.」

Conversely, if a request gets completed in the best possible form, an adventurer will score higher points in their achievement record and that enables them to take a promotion exam earlier than usual.

It’s not like I’m particularly interested in ranking so I don’t have to worry about it that much.

And then, I completed the order processing for hunting rock comb lizard request and left the guild.

If I go and board the train to go hunting it now, at the latest, I’ll be home by nightfall.

According to that schedule, I’ll only be able to eat rock comb lizard dish for dinner the next day.