“Well then, shall we hear the report… although most of us already heard it yesterday.”
The banquet had been held all night, and we had left in the middle of it to rest at an inn. As an adventurer, once you start an adventure, it’s hard to find opportunities to return home, so I don’t have a house. I can sleep anywhere, but I didn’t want to impose on Milim, so we stayed at an inn. The next morning, we went to the guild to report again.
“Most of it is as I said before…” Milim and I explained what had happened that day.
“During the investigation, there had been no abnormality. Later, someone had manipulated the miasma, and the Dragon Zombie had been resurrected. We had barely won the battle against the Dragon Zombie.”
“That’s it, huh?”
“Kyu..”
I immediately made Earl visible and let him greet. For some reason, despite being a former evil dragon, he was friendly and made cute noises.
“Well, with this appearance, there’s no need to worry, but it’s probably better not to make it public.”
“I guess so.”
“Sorry for keeping more secrets.”
“It’s not your fault Gihren-san.”
“Well, even so, Milim’s situation has become somewhat of an open secret already…”
“Actually, there is one additional piece of information. During the battle in the forest, I heard screams. Someone was there.”
“Why were they there in the first place… Do you know the details?”
“Well, Milim and I couldn’t find them even after using our skills. But, judging by the nature of the dragon’s attack, the person is probably…”
“That’s terrifying… I’m glad we didn’t go there.”
It was truly a relief that they hadn’t come there.
“Anyway, that’s all for the report.”
“Understood. Now, about the reward… Oh, before that, I should mention that it’s related to the reward.”
“Related to the reward…?”
Suddenly, Gihren mentioned the name of an unexpected person.
“Cecilm-sama would like to meet the new S-Rank party. What will you do?”
It was something big.
“I mean… what can we do? We can’t refuse, can we?”
“Cecilm-sama…?”
Milim tilted her head curiously, so I explained that Cecilm-sama was the margrave who defended the southeast part of the kingdom.
“Oh… the margrave… one of the highest-ranking nobles in the kingdom, right?”
“That’s right.”
Except for the royal family, he was the highest-ranking noble.
“So, why does he want to meet with us?”
“Well, first of all, it’s a courtesy visit. The incident with the dragon’s graveyard was already a matter of concern for Cecilm-sama. Since this area is not so much a virtual enemy country as it is a main line of defense against monster threats, we received this much budget,” he said, as he placed a leather bag carelessly on the expensive-looking desk in the reception room.
“Is all of this… gold coins?” Milim asked in disbelief.
“No, some of it is rainbow currency,” he replied.
“Rainbow currency!?” Milim exclaimed. One piece was worth 100 gold coins!
“I see… so this incident was a big deal. The Cecilm family was there to deal with that dragon zombie. If it’s gone, the politically savvy members of the Cecilm family can move their base to the capital. Considering that, this amount of money might not be that big of a deal.”
Milim couldn’t comprehend the vast difference in their worlds.
“Well, that’s it. It’s not a bad deal. Go and come back,” he said.
“Understood.”
“I don’t really understand, but I got it.”
“This might be good for Milim too,” he added.
We decided on our next task. The Cecilm family’s estate was about the same distance as the dragon’s graveyard, but this time we had a faster means of transportation called “Earl.”
Since it would be inconvenient to go there suddenly, we decided to take a week off before heading there.
