78 - before a new journey

"Congratulations on your promotion to the hard white level, Mr. Thor.

Thor scratched his chin lightly as Enna, the receptionist, smiled at him.

The woman in the green uniform waited for a moment, but that seemed to be the only response she gave.

Enna's eyes, filled with amazement and admiration, turned to the two men sitting on either side of the unresponsive man.

"Congratulations on your promotion as well, Sora-san and Mumu-chan."

"Yes, thank you!　Yay, another promotion, Thor."

"Maybe this is because Mu worked too hard. Should I cut back more?　Tor-chan."

A young girl with softly shaking black hair and looking happy and excited, and a young child with expressionless but sparkling purple eyes.

Enna finally smiled from the bottom of her heart when she saw the response she had envisioned.

"Mumu-chan in particular is the youngest and shortest time to be promoted, and she has broken the record of the authorities by a wide margin.

"Oh, don't praise him too much, Mr. Enna. You'll get on my bandwagon too quickly.

"So, because of Moo, Sola is the second... I'm sorry, Moo..."

"Look, I'm on it! Oh, my God!"

Reaching out, the girl grabbed Moe's cheek, who was sitting on the other side of the tall, and tugged lightly.

The child lets out a small laugh and falls into the lap of the man next to her.

Moe, with his head resting on Thor's thigh, lifted his hand and began to touch his chin, which was covered with sparse stubble.

"Itchy here, Tor?　Moo will scratch you."

"Hey, Mr. Mumm, you're not behaving yourself."

The child rises vigorously at Yuril's gentle reminder and now buries his face in her ample bosom.

The beautiful woman, her long silver hair shaking in the air, smiles at him in a troubled way.

Today Yuril has her hair on the side in a thin braid tied lightly behind her back, which accentuates her long ears.

Thor lightly stroked the restless little girl's curly hair and encouraged the receptionist, who looked at him with interest, to continue.

"Now, be a good boy. So, what do you want to talk about?"

Thor and his group are currently in a corner of the Adventurers' Bureau lobby.

It was a private room, screened off from the rest of the room by a small stand.

On the other side of the oak table sits Miss Enna, and in front of her sits Thor and his friends.

It was almost summer, and the sun was shining strongly through the windows.

"Yes, first of all, I would like to talk to you about the most important point, since you have been given the rank of D."

"Well, the mindset of an adventurer, isn't it?"

Sola's off-the-cuff response brought a look of surprise to the receptionist's face.

Thor had the same look on his face, and Ulrich looked at the girl's newfound love for her.

The girl continued her words in a panic at the unexpected reaction of the three of them.

"What? But it's important, isn't it?

"I'll leave that part up to Thor, won't I? Today's important topic is the rights and obligations of D-rank and above.

The receptionist, having said all this clearly, takes a breath and returns to the conversation after confirming that she has drawn enough attention to the situation.

"Which would you like me to explain first?"

"Duty first."

"Yes, you mean from the not-so-funny stories. There are two main types of obligations: duties and taxes. The duties include escort, search, investigation, and so on. These are in the form of requests, and you can refuse them. However, if you decline repeatedly--"

"It will affect the results of the assessment, and if it's not good enough, you'll be demoted."

"Yes, please be aware that all circumstances will not be taken into consideration.

When you are working in a group (party) of several people, you cannot always keep in step.

It is a good advice to do what you have to do while you can afford to do it.

"Next, the tax payment, this is a story only for Mumu and Yuril.

"Oh, you don't have me and Thor?"

"Yes, since you two don't know what temple you belong to: ....... Mumu received a request for dedication from the Court Temple, and Uriel received a request for dedication from the Exploration Temple.

The tree of skills given to Thor and Sora is said to be the blessing of the god of time and the god of the sky, according to the girl's grandfather.

Although they are worshipped in the countryside of the central part of the country, they are not big enough to build a big shrine, and they are almost unknown gods.

This is probably due to the fact that there are only a few people who have the skill tree.

On the other hand, temples of the six great gods, such as Gigilo, the god of thunder, and Stragin, the god of ice, are so widely worshipped that it is said that there is one in almost every town.　

However, it seems that the policy is to take a large amount of money from those who are benefited by the temples, probably due to the fact that the maintenance and management of the temples cost a certain amount of money.

Incidentally, those below E rank, who have only lower branch skills, are treated as if they are indistinguishable from ordinary believers.

"Also, I have received word that I will be conferring the rank of priest, and that you should visit us in the near future.

Yes, I understand. Thank you very much for coming.

When there was no reply, Thor looked to the side and saw Moe buried in Yuril's chest, letting out a small sniffle.

The receptionist looked at him and motioned for him to leave the situation as it was.

When Thor nodded, the corners of his eyes lowered slightly and Enna continued her story.

"Now, as for your rights, we are offering a discount or free use of the facilities of the Adventurers' Bureau to D-ranks and above. Please take advantage of it.

This means that the rental fees for magical stone tools, carriage fares, etc. are reduced or free.

For example, it used to cost one silver coin per person to go to the hunting ground on the bloody river, but it is now free.

However, to go to the next hunting ground, the wilderness of the broken wind, you can rent a wagon and a driver as a set, which costs five silver coins including a discount.

Other discounts are also available in small ways, such as half-price in public bathhouses and discounts at stores authorized for adventurers.

After the discussion of rights and obligations, Enna, with a somewhat troubled look on her face, brought up the next topic of discussion.

"By the way ......, Thor-san, are you going to move on to the next hunting ground?"

"Yeah, that's the plan."

While Rorolf and the others who had built the bridge with him were still staying in the upper reaches of the Bloody River, Thor and the others were ready to cut the river-horse hunt short and move on to new hunting grounds.

This would finally allow them to be together with Ulill, who had been waiting for them for a long time.

Miss Enna, who had been through a lot in the past few days, looked relieved and hurriedly resumed the conversation.

"Now then, let me tell you about our next hunting ground.

The previous location of the blood-spilled river was at the end of a northerly detour through the forest of small demons.

This time, the wilderness of the winds of ruin is said to be southward, about seven or eight hours eastward by wagon.

Hey, Thor, is that the only place we can hunt?　It's getting farther and farther away from the city, isn't it?"

The closer you are to the big hole, the stronger the fish will be.

"But the noxious area is so big, shouldn't we go somewhere less crowded and more full of monsters?"

"That's the thing, Mr. Sola. I'll explain it simply. Monsters tend to occur in certain places. We call them "points of occurrence", and there are currently four confirmed locations: the forest of kobolds, the river of bloodshed, the wilderness of broken winds, and the miasma of miasma. If these are not included, the other border towns will be under the jurisdiction of the other border towns in the vicinity.

"Well, is that all?"

"Of course, there are other places where it occurs, but they are few in number and rarely move out of their territory, so they are basically left alone. Of course, you are free to hunt them, but I don't recommend you to hunt them since I heard that only a few were found after a day's ride in a horse-drawn wagon.

"Yes, all right. Well, there are not so many easy paths.

"Well, let me give you a detailed explanation: ......"

After an hour or so of detailed lectures on the new hunting grounds, Thor and the others were able to get a rough idea of what to expect.

Unlike the time at the river of bloodshed, the information was given to us in advance, which was probably due to the high expectations of D ranks and above as a fighting force.

However, the fact that the knowledge of the monsters was somewhat blurred was, as usual, a severe blow.

"This concludes the explanation. Did you get the general idea?

"Good night, thank you very much for the detailed information."

"Yes, Mr. Enna. I've got it all!

"You did a wonderful job. I would like to give you a double circle.

Miss Enna, who had been praised so much, smiled shyly and took out a booklet.

Keeping her smile, she quickly unfolds it on the table.

"Now that you fully understand the dangers of the wilderness, we will conclude with this story.

The receptionist pointed to a headline that danced with the words "Safe and Secure Adventurer's Insurance.

Below that was a list of what looked like a price list.

"Is this ......?"

"This is the support we can offer to adventurers who fight through tough situations, an invisible shield, so to speak."

"...... seems like there's a fee."

"Yes. How can I trust you if you say you will support me for free?　If you really want to support us, you need to pay us, Mr. Toll!"

"Well, you're right, but ......"

"Here is my recommendation for you, a vanishing insurance policy. The Adventurers Bureau is always aware of your whereabouts and will dispatch a search party immediately if we detect anything out of the ordinary.

Seems pretty expensive, doesn't it?

Yes, in order to take all possible precautions, we have requested a higher rank, so the price is a little higher. Oh, the warranty period is short, but you can save a lot of money if you pay on the policy.

"Will you let me think about it for a minute?"

"People seem to be very reluctant at first. However, in such cases, we have prepared this armor insurance for you to start with something familiar. This is also highly recommended.

After that, he also recommended medical treatment insurance with support from the temple of treatment and carriage insurance.

However, almost all of them were unnecessary due to Thor's skills, so I ended up refusing them.

"......I'm sorry, but Thor and his family are special, so I can't help it."

"I'm sorry. If I think I'm needed again, I'll talk to you."

Yes, we will be waiting for you. I wish you all the best in your adventures.

At the table after the briefing was over and the four had left, the receptionist reflected anxiously as she put away the materials.

The next place they were going to, the Wilderness of the Breaking Wind, was quite a difficult place and was called by an ominous alias.

--The Wilderness of Disappointment.

In less than two months since their formation, Thor's party had become something of a talking point.

Although he has been in the lowest rank for more than 20 years, he is actually skilled enough to easily defeat a B rank.

A beautiful girl who uses a mysterious magical technique appeared out of nowhere.

At only nine years old, she is a lightning prodigy who is said to have single-handedly slaughtered a swarming armored boar.

And a beautiful woman of great skill, who appeared and suddenly joined the rank of C.

In addition to the appearance of these beautiful women, their accomplishments were also the subject of numerous rumors.

They are said to have destroyed nearly a hundred hobgoblins by themselves, or to have iced an entire horde of rampaging river horses.

The fact that he had been promoted three ranks in such a short period of time, and that all those who had been in charge of the bloodstream had been removed from their posts, added credibility to the rumors.

However, contrary to his reputation, Thor's actual attitude remained unchanged from the days when he was called a mud fisherman.

And then there is Sora, who is cheerful and friendly, Mummeme, who has a smile on her face, and Euril, who has a kind look in her eyes like a loving mother.

Thor and his friends, who are so far removed from the glaring-eyed high-ranked adventurers, are secretly gaining fans among the receptionists, and Enna is proud to be a leader in the field.

So she at least tried to recommend various insurance policies, but they didn't seem to be of much help and the receptionist let out a sigh secretly.

Well, there was also the matter of quotas, but we put that aside for the moment.

Enna's face is gloomy, but she regains her composure when she remembers that Thor and the others fit one of the jinxes she believes in.

The party that chose to do the troublesome thing first in a choice between right and duty had so far almost all of them come out alive.

As if to drown out her earlier sigh, Enna mutters with all her might.

"Please come back again in good health, everyone."