Episode 27 The Lone Silver Wolf Princess
The silver coins he received from the guild were three silver coins for completing the quest and six silver coins for the free hunt for the Griffin.
Originally, he would have received sixty silver coins as a reward for defeating the Griffin (which, by the way, is the minimum amount guaranteed by the guild and the lowest reward in the adventurer's market), but since Kian defeated the Griffin before the guild sent out the request to defeat it, he was rewarded with a free hunt, which is a lower reward. In addition to the free hunt, the reward was further reduced by the fact that Kian had not reached the appropriate rank for defeating the Griffin. The amount of the reward seems to be a bit of a rip-off. He knew this, so he had no complaints about it. He honestly felt that it was unavoidable since it was a rule.
The Griffin carcasses had been collected by the guild's strike force earlier that morning, and according to the agreement, he could buy back some of the materials if he paid the right amount.
Kian, of course, had no intention of buying them back.
The materials were useful, but if he had to spend a small amount of silver to acquire them, he would say no.
Unfortunately, he should give up on the Griffin material this time.
If Kian gives up, the Adventurer's Guild will get all the materials, and he can owe the Guild a favor. ...... (Although there is a good chance that he will be scorned for not being able to pay this kind of money.)
「However, ......, I thought I could get a little more for free hunts. I can't buy a sword with this.」
As he left the Adventurer's Guild, Kian looked at the silver coins in his wallet.
There were nine silver coins in total that he had gotten from this reward.
He has been living in the East End for more than ten years now, so he thinks he has a pretty good grasp of the prices of swords and armor.
Nine silver coins are not enough at all.
If he wants to buy a new sword, he needs 20 silver coins.
Even used swords require twelve to fifteen pieces of silver.
He might be able to find one for nine silver ......, but he thinks it's a little unreliable in terms of performance.
If he is going to go to the trouble, he should be a little more patient and buy new ones.
『Then what about the remaining four 7th class quests? Are you going to use a club and a wooden sword?』
「It can't be helped if I don't have any money. ...... And I can't spend all this silver on weapons. If I'm going on a quest, I'll need to stock up on painkillers, bloodletting ointment, and other tools, and my demolition knife is nearing the end of its useful life. If I don't buy a new one, I'll have trouble gathering materials. I also have to spend money to buy portable food to take on quests.」
『It seems that everything costs money. It's a hard world indeed.』
「I'll use a club as a weapon, but how will I make up for the lack of attack power? I can buy explosives and poison....... Hmmm, but is the very idea of fighting a battle a mistake? It might be wiser to buy tools to get out of the battle immediately.」
『What shall you do?』
「In the meantime, ......, I'm going to visit the clients of the four quests to find out more about where the quests will take place and what kind of monsters and beasts are likely to appear. How about ......, where I can use the information I get to figure out what kind of tools to buy?」
『The merchant asked for a quest to find treasure in the Rose Labyrinth. Can you find it?』
「Tell the merchant guild to get in touch with me. Even if the client is busy with work, I'm sure they'll send someone to fill in for them. I'll talk to them.」
『I see.』
「I should be able to use the whole day for questioning. Robert's request for an escort was done in one day, so I have a lot of time to spare.」
Kian took out the note he had scrawled on the request form.
「For now,...... let's go see the guards in front of the guild's training grounds. One of the requests is from this guard. Unless there's something wrong, he'll be standing in his usual place.」
『All right, go. Walk briskly. Or better yet, run. It's very boring while you're on the move.』
(It's nice and easy for you to just sit in my breast pocket and say whatever you want. ......)
Kian envied the glasses and began to run towards the east gate of the East End.
×××
「Three days ago, my brother John disappeared in the eastern forest. He was a mid-level adventurer and was apparently on a mushroom-collecting mission in the Eastern Forest. He's probably already dead, so I need you to go find his body and collect his belongings.」
Outside the eastern gate.
In front of the Adventurer's Guild training grounds.
The mustachioed guard gave this explanation to Kian, who asked about the request.
「Uh, you're not asking me to rescue John-san, but to collect his belongings since he's probably already dead?」
When Kian asked back, the guard clicked his tongue irritably.
「I told you so. You go and collect the remains, and you give it all to me. That's the end of the quest, and I'll give you at least a B.」
「He's your brother.........isn't he, this John-san? It seems pretty heartless to me that you assume he's already dead. If you'd sent out a search request earlier, you might have been able to save him.」
The guard snorted when Kian said that.
「How much money do you think I spend to send out a search request? Let me tell you, John was a scum. Why should I pay a shitload of money to save that guy's life?」
『But you're going to make sure his belongings are recovered.』
「Is there anything that you would like me to do with the belongings that I'll collect?」
「Something that shows at once that he's dead. Preferably his body parts. If I know for sure that John is dead, Matilda will have no choice but to fall for me. ...... Matilda should never have fallen for that scum. I know I'm a lowly soldier, but I'm a serious guard, and she should have fallen in love with me. I'm going to marry Matilda and give her lots of babies instead of John. Kukukukukuku!」
「O, okaay ......」
『So the brothers were fighting over this Matilda girl. What a silly request this is.』
The glasses said in a dumbfounded voice.
Kian runs his pen over his notes.
「This John-sab, is he on this quest alone?」
「Yeah.」
「Do you know where he went to pick mushrooms? Just a rough estimate is fine.」
「In the middle of the forest, in the northeast area. The area where Spoon Wing was recently spotted. On the map, it should be in this area.」
『He's being awfully specific. He must have had a very friendly chat with his brother before this brother went on his quest.」
「"Spoon Wing?"」
Kian muttered, ignoring the glasses.
The guard nodded his head.
「It's a sub-dragon with spoon-shaped wings, red compound eyes, and a mouth like a trumpet. It looks more like an insect than a dragon.」
「It's a monster that eats its prey by injecting digestive juices into it through the needles in its mouth and then sucking the melted contents out of its trumpet-like mouth. Why didn't you stop your brother?」
「I did. But he's a fool and he's gone, to the other side.」
The guards laughed lowly.
「 ...... I understand very well. I'll be sure to find your brother's belongings. Please wait for good news.」
「Yeah, I'm counting on you. Be careful not to get your contents sucked up by Spoon Wing like John did.」
With that, the guard turned on his heel and walked back to his friends.
「This is a difficult request. It would be nice if his belonging could be found easily, but ......, the surrounding area is a Spoon Wing's territory. I'm tempted to wait until someone else takes them down, but I'm not sure anyone wants to do the hard work of taking down a Spoon Wing. The rewards are probably not good either.」
『Oi, Kian. Did you hear what that guard said? He's most likely the one who killed his brother. He's the one who incited him into setting foot in Spoon Wing's territory.」
(Don't talk too much.)
Kian frowned as he switched to his mental voice.
How could something so sad as brothers killing each other be done so casually?
Kian thinks that the general consensus is that the guard was a good brother who clumsily requested the collection of his brother's remains.
『There is no such thing as pure goodness in people. You've been raised too well, Kian.』
「............. Well, I'll keep that in mind.」
If that guard tricked his brother into leading him to Spoon Wing's territory, then it's very likely that his brother has already been killed, and Spoon Wing is flying happily around his remains.
In other words, the key to completing the quest will be how to get to the location of his brother's body without being spotted by Spoon Wing.
He will have to find some way to fool the insect dragon that sips the bodily fluids of its prey.
『Hmph, don't be afraid. Just destroy them from the front.』
「If you can be an adventurer with such brainy thinking, no one will have any trouble. ......」
As Kian muttered this with a dumbfounded look on his face, he suddenly saw a figure coming out from the entrance of the guild's training ground.
Silvery hair.
Wolf ears and a bushy tail.
It was Serena――a girl from the Silver Wolf tribe.
Serena didn't seem to have noticed Kian and was having a clerical conversation with the guards over there.
It seemed that she had been wielding a sword earlier, and her short, natural silver hair was soaked with sweat.
She wiped the sweat off her neck and armpits with a towel she had in her hand as she walked over here.
He could smell the scent of the woman's sweat in the morning breeze.
She had opened the buttons on her chest and put the towel inside, and her face suddenly lifted up in front of him, looking pleasantly upbeat.
Her light blue eyes clearly caught sight of Kian.
「Ah, .......」
「Hello. Good morning.」
Kian smiled and greeted her politely, but Serena quickly lowered her eyes to the ground at the sight of Kian.
Her expression became gloomy as if the pleasant heat after the training had cooled down at once, and she turned her feet to avoid Kian's body.
Kian's eyes widened a little and he stopped her back as she tried to walk away.
「Ah, Serena-san!」
「......!」
Her feet quickened as she ran away.
Kian picked up a leather pouch that was lying on the ground and followed her.
「Serena-san, waaaitt!」
「............!」
For some reason, Serena finally started running.
Kian raised his voice to her.
「Stoooop! You forgot something ......!」
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