Volume 7 - CH 3

Amiyu took me to a large, old bulletin board in a corner of the guild.

There were brown papers with something written on them, pinned up in various places.

“You can also send requests to the guild.”

Amiyu explains.

“Since it is posted like this, if the adventurer accepts a request that they like, they will receive a reward from the guild if they complete it.”

“Huh. I didn’t even know there was such a place.”

“I don’t think there are that many adventurers who will accept quests in Lakana. If there is a large dungeon nearby, it will be more profitable to defeat monsters there and collect materials.”

“No wonder, I’ve never heard of a bulletin board before.”

Amiyu continues.

“Since dungeons are a part of nature, anyone can go into them as long as the guild does not restrict entry, but many requests cannot be accepted unless they are of a high grade. Especially if the reward is good. If you’re in Lakana, you don’t have to worry about grades, but if you live in another town, it can be directly connected to your life.”

“Well, how about fifth grade. Amiyu.”

When Mabel asked, Amiyu hesitated a little before answering.

“It’s about average. If you don’t pick and choose, you won’t have any trouble getting a job.”

“Right.”

“Hey, what kind of requests do you get?”

“Anything. Really anything.”

Amiyu answered Ifa’s question as she recalled it.

“The simple ones are to fetch medicinal herbs or ores. Other things we do include escorting merchants and, in more unusual cases, searching for lost items. It’s not a very cheap job, though, because yo have to come up with a fee for the adventurers and a posting fee for the guild.”

“I hear that new adventurers are often asked to exterminate slime in the underground tunnels, but is that also a request from the city council?”

“I guess so. I’m not sure if it’s the same as the dungeon, but they’re always looking for people to join them. Other than that, you remember the adventurers who hung around for security for a while after the demons were released at the entrance ceremony of the …… school?　I think they were hired by the Rhodonean branch of the school.”

“I see. So there was more to this than we thought.”

Amiyu continued.

“But most of the requests are for monster extermination.”

“You mean they want us to get materials for them?”

“There is that, but there are also a lot of people who simply want us to go out near villages and roads to look out for them, or to reduce the number of monsters in the forest on a regular basis. Representatives of the village or town will ask for such things.”

“Hmm.”

“Here’s …….”

Amiyu looks at the papers posted on the bulletin board.

“There don’t seem to be many ordinary requests. Adventurers kill all the monsters in the vicinity, and they also get medicinal herbs and ores and sell them without being asked for them. The only requests we get are from far away, and the ones that pay well. All of these requests are copies of the ones that were sent to other branches. The hard-to-accomplish requests are sometimes posted in other cities as well.”

Let’s see ……

I also looked at the requests on the paper.

The requests are all in faraway places. It was a distance that could be reached by horse-drawn carriage. The rewards are high, but many of them seem to have a high degree of difficulty.

“Is it the qualification that says, “Fifth level or higher,” or “Fourth level or higher,” that qualifies you to take on a request?”

“That’s right. If the person receiving the request does not meet the requirements, the guild will not be able to ask for the details of the request.”

“Does it matter how many people are in the party or what grade the party members are?”

“The guild usually doesn’t interfere with the details of a request, because they can gather people after the request is accepted. But adventurers usually stick together with other people of about the same grade.”

I guess that’s true.

“Hey, hey…”

At that time, Ifa pointed at the bulletin board and said, 

“How about we take one of them ……?”

“I’d like to try it”

Mabel nodded in agreement.

Both Ifa and Mabel are surprisingly active in spite of their appearance. They might be bored because they have been confined to Lakana without going to dungeons since the Stampede.

But I was naturally reluctant to leave Lakana.

“Are we going to leave Lakana…”

It’s almost as if we’ve forgotten about it, but we’re sinners who fled after destroying the imperial castle.

Well, I’m the one who destroyed the imperial castle, and Amiyu is the only one who’s escaping. 

I’m sorry for the two of them, but we shouldn’t go.

“Hey, come to think of it, you got a letter from Fiona, right?”

Before I said I was against it, Amiyu asked me that.

“Oh, I got it.”

“There, um… was there something written about the pursuer?”

Amiyu asked with a slightly uneasy expression.

After being taken aback for a moment, I answered honestly.

“No. It wasn’t like that.”

“yes”

After she mutters in relief, Amiyu laughs and says.

“Then, I wonder if it’s okay. I want to go on an adventure again soon.”

The words made me think.

I see. If there was such a move in the court or among influential people, naturally Fiona should also try to tell me about it. If she hasn’t touched it at all… at least there’s no movement that Fiona can detect so far.

In that case, it should be okay for a while.

“… that’s right. If it’s a request for a place that’s not too far away, maybe we can accept it.”

When I say that, Ifa’s face lights up.

“Great! Which one should I choose, Mabel-chan?”

“Hmm……”

I watch them from a step behind as they compare the papers on the bulletin board and start to argue about which is better.

“Actually, we can take almost any of the requests we have here. Seika is first class.”

“Then this one?”

Mabel pointed to a faded piece of paper in the upper left corner of the bulletin board.

I looked over there.

“Let’s see, the request is …… ‘Defeat the Hydra that dwells in the Underworld Mine Mountains.”

It’s a pretty heavy request. 

And, putting aside the distance, it’s quite an unexplored region.

“The most rewarding. But Seika-kun, you can take it, can’t you?”

“Oh, no, you can’t do this!”

Amiyu frowned and objected.

“We’re in over our heads.

“Yeah, I know. ……”

“I’m just saying.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s a problem.　We can beat it if we want to.”

Before, I would have avoided it because it would stand out, but now that I’ve defeated the monster worm and saved the stampede, subjugating one or two additional sub-dragons doesn’t matter anymore.

But Amiyu said angrily.

“You’ll have to do everything by yourself until you blow the Hydra away and carry the corpse to the city. What are we going to do? Just follow?”

“Ah, sure…”

“That’s right, Seika-kun. We have to take a request that everyone can do.”

“We agreed that Seika would be a healer.”

“Come to think of it, that was the arrangement.”

At this party, I am a healer and a porter of the recovery class. Shouldn’t the battle be a request that can be entrusted to them?

I silently stare at the three of them as they speak in front of the bulletin board.

“People are strange things.”

Suddenly, Yuki whispered in my ear.

“Even though the world is different… all the children of man try to leave Seika-sama’s hands on their own, don’t they?, While being sheltered by a great, indestructible power, trying to live in this cruel world alone , without relying on it…. it’s something Yuki can’t understand.”

“…”

Yuki must be remembering the disciples from my previous life.

The disciples I took care of eventually all left my mansion. They went on to lead various lives, but not one of them, without exception, asked me to take care of them for the rest of their lives.

It is a human instinct to leave one’s parents.

Even for me, who had exceeded my lifespan and possessed extraordinary power, it seems to be the same.

But it was probably right.

I muttered in a voice that even Yuki couldn’t hear.

There is no such thing as a doomless existence.

In fact, in another world, I was defeated.

Even the great Onmyoji, who had eternal life and made even the gods fearful, could not escape the doom of perdition.

It is because they realize that they cannot rely on my power forever that they try to live on their own.

It’s a clear-cut observation.

“Oh, how about this?”

At that moment, Ifa pointed to a piece of paper.

I approached and looked at it with everyone else.

“What is it, …… Defeat Almiraj: 50 Animals”?

“Almiraj is a rabbit monster with horns on its head.”

“They are ferocious even though they are rabbits, and they will attack you if they see you.”

“The reward is high. The location seems to be in the forest near …… Keltz. It’s not that far.”

“Where is it?”

“It’s a pretty big town north of here. It’s about a three-day carriage ride.”

“They say the minimum requirement is a fifth class. I think we can handle it.”

“Are you sure this is what you want?”

I interrupted.

The Almiraj is not a small fry, but it is not a strong monster either.

Fifty of them is a good number, but it seems to me that it is not enough for these kids, who can defeat even the top-ranking monsters.

“There are more challenging ones in the vicinity, such as defeating this Huge Boa or the Evil Torrent,……. It might be interesting to pick up the Vermilion Gold Grass. It seems to be a very rare medicinal herb.”

“Yeah, it’s going to be tough.”

“I’m not in the mood”

“We’re not in trouble with money, and it’s an unfamiliar land, so a simple request is fine. Let’s go hunt some horned rabbits, and then relax in Keltz and go home.”

I was opposed by everyone.

It seems that these children didn’t really intend to go on adventures that far.

But I pointed to the request form and said.

“But this request says that six or more people are recommended.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry too much about that.”

“Amiyu says it’s no big deal.”

“Things like this are decided by the guild staff, but there aren’t many of them who have actually been an adventurer, so to be honest, you can’t rely on them.”

“Hmm. Is this request okay for four people?”

“Isn’t it okay? It’s Al Mirage, so there’s no danger. Fifty is a lot, but I’m sure it’ll be over in a day.”

“Then it’s fine.”

It’s what they said, so let me leave it to them.

“Amiyu-chan. What should I do with this request?”

“This is a request that came to the Keltz branch, so you can’t officially accept it here. That’s why…”

Amiyu explained the process to be followed.

Thus, we received one request.