CH 56

9-12 minutes 18.07.2022

For starters I head to the guild together with Sword. The little brother of the stall boy followed us as well, but why is he glaring at me?

“…? Boy, is something wrong?”

“Shut up! Aren’t you a boy yourself!?”

What is he saying while having such a beautiful girl in front of him? Or is he possibly embarrassed?

“Boy, I can fully understand you being embarrassed when having such a beautiful girl in front of your eyes, but at this point even I’ve had enough of being ridiculed as a boy? Can’t you use another way to address me?”

“Haah? Are you a nutcase or something?”

For some reason, I was treated like a lunatic. Sword laughed at that.

“No, I’m very normal. …Now, now, there’s no need for you to be so bashful.”

“Listen, I’m not bashful! Why would I be in the first place!?”

Pubescent boys sure are moody.

Sword simply ignored the exchange between me and the boy, entering the guild. Then, he showed his card.

“I’m Sword of Allrounders. I’d like to speak with the guildmaster.”

And thus he was led inside the guild. I tried to go after him, but got held back by the receptionist.

“Huh? …Why?”

The receptionist smiled sweetly, “I’m really sorry. I get it that you adore Sir 【Thunderclap Whitefang】, but he’s currently busy and needs to talk with our guildmaster. Since you’d only get in the way, could you go back for now?”

Eh? …Is she saying this to me?

Sword looked back and sighed, “Indra, show her your card.”

I rummage through my bag in a hurry while answering, “O-Okay.”

Once I took my card out and showed it to the receptionist, she froze.

“I’m Indra. I’ve formed a party with Sword. Given that it’s me who has business with the guild to begin with, I don’t think it’d be good to leave everything to Sword, so I want to go with him.”

“E-Excuse me! Please, come this way!”

And thus I was let through.

“But true, it’s wrong for me to keep leaving everything to you, Sword. I’ll keep in mind to properly show my card from now on.”

“Nah, you were just unlucky this time. You can let me handle this kind of stuff. …Hey, you don’t belong to us, so get lost.”

Hmm?

Ah, the boy has followed us.

The receptionist stopped him in a hurry, “I’m terribly sorry for all the troubles. ―Hey, Serge, you hanging around like this made even his partner think that you’re one of us, didn’t it!? Go back home at once!”

Serge scowled at me with a face, clearly telling anyone that he’d pick a fight with me if I rubbed him the wrong way. And while at it, he seemed to be on the verge of tears.

“I’m sorry, but I plan to stay single, and thus I don’t plan to have any lovers. Boy, take a look around you, and you’ll easily find other girls to offer your love.”

“No, that’s a misunderstandin’ based on your conceit. Ain’t like that boy fell in love with you or anythin’.” Sword retorted calmly.

＊

“…With that said…we wanna catch one…no, I guess that’s too little…two or three of ’em for research purposes.”

Sword introduced me as a skilled mage and sorcerer, and while at it, also as a researcher on a quest to improve the cooking of this world. When he requested to catch the monsters for research since I had taken interest in the milk of this city, the guildmaster pulled a troubled face.

“No, the adventurer guild, you see, isn’t that fussy over those monsters, so it’d be alright with me, but…although you could call it a special local product, it’s not like it’s possible to export it. We don’t have any visitors coming to this city just for the milk, and even if you buy it, it doesn’t last long. However, since many people are making a living by selling milk, I’d like you to take their circumstances into account as well.”

“Don’t worry, I have no plans to popularize milk. And even if it did spread, there are measures you could take, so I’ll inform you about those as well.” I asserted powerfully, but the guildmaster’s face remained as troubled as before.

“…Really…?”

Hmm, I couldn’t get him to believe me.

“…No choice. First I’ll let you see some of my research results. I’d like you to consider my request after tasting them.”

I took out my wine. And he immediately bit.

“…T-This? Wine? Huh? You’re making wine?”

I grinned broadly, “In reality no one besides me can make it since it requires you to have a good command of magic. Sword is regularly drinking it as well, you know? …Won’t you give it a little test?”

While at it, I also took out a side dish. An open sandwich with pseudo-butter and ham made out of monster meat, using thin slices of bread as base.

“Please gimme some too?”

Yep, I had expected you to say that, Sword.

A drink tasting meet.

“This is great! It seriously rocks! I’ve never eaten and drunk anything like that! It’s way too good.”

“I see. …These are results of my research, but I haven’t publicized them. After all, I’m the only one who can make them. Well, it’s possible that the sale has started at our base, but…it’s very likely sold out by now.”

“Eh…?”

The guildmaster looked devastated. I took out a bottle and offered it to him.

“I’ll give you one as a present. …I assume I can get you to agree with that, guildmaster, but the problem lies with the merchant guild, you see. I’m not sure whether we can get them to go along with this, so could you somehow put in a good word for us?”

The guildmaster energetically nodded his head.

“Please leave it to me.”

He stood up, called the receptionist and spoke about something with her.

“Please wait a moment.”

＊

Ten minutes after she said so – in the meantime I had provided some more wine and side dishes…making this whole thing look like a party, but is that okay with his work? – the door was opened after knocking.

“Hey! You had me called over because you supposedly had something to talk about, and yet…what’s with the drinking bout here!?”

He’s got a point. Anyone would be upset if they ran into a drinking party after having been summoned for business, right?

“What is it? Hurry up and tell me!”

Oh, he’s not angry. Rather, he looks happy.

While completely ignoring what he said, the adventurer’s guildmaster introduced Sword.

“Oh, there you are. Over here we have the famous 【Thunderclap-”

“It’s the S-Rank party Allrounders. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” Sword butted in, introducing us.

“Oohh! I already heard the rumors in the town. You’re that famous 【Thunder-”

“It’s Allrounders!”

Sword smiled. His ears gradually turning red was apparent proof of himself feeling embarrassed about his pitiful nickname.

The guildmaster then pointed at me, and gave an introduction, “And this is his partner, Lady Indra.”

Ah, now I’m a Lady, huh? I dare say I leveled up in esteem thanks to the wine.

“Hello, I’m Indra. As a matter of fact, I was just in the middle of consulting with the guildmaster as I had a request.”

Then Sword gave the merchant guildmaster the same rundown as he did for the adventurer guildmaster before. The merchant guildmaster listened while pulling a face as if asking, “Eh? I don’t get any wine?”

After he finished listening, his face screwed up into a grimace.

“Yeah, well, if it’s that, it’s difficult to object, but… I worry that there might be a drawback in the worst case. If we had some kind of gain out of it, it’d be easy to persuade people if something happens.” He croaked with his arms folded.

But, it doesn’t look like he’s that much against it either.

“So you’re saying, as long as there’s a gain, it’ll be okay?”

“…Yeah, but what could you offer?”

“For starters, have a taste of some of my research results.”

“Yes! Please let me try them by all means!”

The merchant guildmaster jumped at it as if he had only waited for this.

He drank a glass of wine, just to cry out, “What the hell is this!?!”

“It’s a wine brewed by me.”

The guildmaster’s eyes flew wide open, “Y-Y-Y-Yo-You made this…? It was brewed…by..you, Lady Indra?”

The merchant guildmaster also started to address me as Lady. 1

“Correct. I’d like to research milk in a similar way. Going by my intuition, it should be quite possible to make something wonderful out of the milk…ah, it won’t be any liquor, though. I’ll hand over the results of that research to you. I think it’d be a great idea to use that as a local specialty. As milk doesn last long, it’ll be impossible to reproduce it elsewhere unless you can freely use high-ranking magic to increase the durability of milk and its products. In other words, it’ll be impossible for anyone other than me, but instead you’ll be able to drink it just like that, and if you process it into exceptional foodstuff, that in itself will become a boost for the development of this town, don’t you think? After all, it’ll be 『dishes that can only be enjoyed over here』.”

The merchant guildmaster audibly gulped down his spit.

“The cream on the bread is something I created to substitute a 『certain foodstuff』 that’s made out of milk. ―Well, this is also great, of course, but I’d also like to eat the one made with milk. Therefore, please give me permission to catch some Charge Cows for taking them back with me.”

The merchant guildmaster bit into the bread, and after chewing on it, he looked at me and nodded.

“Very well, you’ll get your permission. I’ll suppress anyone speaking against it.”

Yahoo! With this, I’ll be able to get my hands on milk!