CH 15

Frau shook her hand, trying to get rid of the numbness from crushing the Gold hobgoblins skull with her morning star.

“It seems that the double damage from the Flying Swallow ability also increases the blade’s sharpness.”

Ellis nodded as she threw aside a piece of the goblin’s golden body hair that had been cut through like a piece of paper. Ellis was happy with hobgoblin’s death, but at the same time, she was dissatisfied. She looked at Frau and Reeve who were full of vitality with smooth, glossy skin from all the energy they sucked out from killing the Gold hobgoblin. Meanwhile Ellis had spent the whole adventure by herself, cancelling the traps on chests and doors and watching the fights from the shadows one step away.

While Ellis was brooding, Reeve mirrored the motion she had been doing in every previous room and swung the torch over the chest she had found in the back of the room.

“I understand. Let me do it.” Even while complaining about her role, she still approached the trap cautiously and prudently to release the trap. When she finally managed to open the treasure box, there was a glowing silver ring along with a few coins.

Sleep ring–Puts one target to sleep. Required MP: 3. Command word: {You are sleepy}

To be honest, the ability was underwhelming. After all, the Ice ring was already able to confine an enemy for a certain amount of time.

“Ellis, what type of abilities does the ring have?”

“It’s a Sleep ring.”

Frau looked surprised.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s just that this is a very rare item to find in this labyrinth. If it is a Sleep ring, we can sell it for 500,000 ril at the adventurer guild.”

Apparently the Sleep ring had a similar demand as the Silence rings that were seen at the magic tool store before.

“Unfortunately it is useless for us.”

But Reeve disagreed with Ellis’s judgement. “I think it will be a great help to be able to disable opponents without hurting them.”

Oh, now that she mentions it, that’s right. Freezing the opponent will do 10 basic damage to them. In the case of freezing, the target will be immobilized, but if it’s asleep, we can rob the opponent of their consciousness.

“Well, it is just as you said Reeve. Let’s be sure to use it properly.”

Afterwards, the three began to collect Aida mushrooms from the corners of the room. When they were finished, they had collected 25 of them. Since each one could be sold for 4 thousand ril, they would make 100 thousand ril on the request alone.

“We got a good haul.”

Frau was clearly happy with the end results of the exploration, but Reeve was left standing to the side muttering to herself about how boring it had been.

“Next time let’s go someplace with more monsters.”

Ellis couldn’t help but agree.

Ellis decided to duplicate the ability from the Sleep ring onto one of her spare rings and sell the original to the adventurer guild. She slipped the new one onto her finger before turning back to Reeve and Frau.

“Well then, should we head back?”

After confirming that Reeve and Frau were both ready, Ellis activated the Ring of return, and they returned to the adventurer guild.

The three of them ended up being teleported to a stage set up in a corner of the guild hall. When they tried to make their way over to the reception desk, though, they were stopped by three unfamiliar men.

“What a surprise! Warren has little girls like this as explorers!”

“They are pretty cute. Why don’t you three come play with us?”

“Little girl, how about feeling good with this uncle?”

Since they are making passes at Frau, who is the daughter of the Adventurer Guild Master, they were probably newbies.

On the surface, Ellis calmly analyzed the three even though on the inside, she was absolutely disgusted with the three old men.

They are wearing the same equipment. Are they private soldiers from somewhere?

The men, misunderstanding the girls’ silence for shyness, began to grow excited and a slightly crazed look entered their eyes. One of the men took a step forward and grabbed Ellis’s arm.

“Don’t be shy little missy. This uncle won’t bite.”

Everything moved at once.

Frau suddenly cried out, “Appropriate Defense Confirmation Application!”

Almost immediately a worker from behind the reception desk responded, “The guild has confirmed the application as legitimate self-defense!”

In an instant, Ellis activated her new Sleep ring and knocked out the man clutching her arm. Reeve moved behind the first man who had called out to them and struck the back of his head with her shamshir’s handle and knocked him out as well. Frau was much less gentle and bashed in the face of the last man with her kite shield, knocking him flat on his back.

To that sight, everyone eating in the guild hall started to cheer and laugh. A guild official came out from the back of the hall during the ruckus and looked down at the three unconscious men.

“So, what are you going to do to them?”

Ellis thought about it for a moment before a brutal smile crossed her face. Reeve was also thinking up some mischief and crossed her arms in front of her chest while considering various punishments. It seems that since this used to be Frau’s home, they would allow just about anything.

After gathering together and debating about it amongst themselves, the three finally came to an agreement over a punishment that would satisfy all of them.

The Adventurer Guild Master, who’s precious daughter was also attacked, signed off on the punishment while laughing.

First, the three men’s clothes were peeled off of them, and when they were completely naked, Ellis tied them up with a rope. After that, they were hung upside down on the guild’s eaves outside and had reddish dye thrown on them from up above. A butterfly knot with gold, blue, and red ribbons was carefully tied to them, and it was decided that these people would be left in this embarrassing position for a whole day.

This sight would eventually become a specialty of this city, but that is another story.

The three women made their way to the reception desk and began to arrange their spoils from the exploration. Besides the mushrooms they picked, they also had to set out the cash from the treasure chests and the Sleep ring.

The receptionist turned to Ellis. “Did you appreciate the ring?”

Frau jumped in and answered on Ellis’s behalf. “I appraised the ring. It is a Sleep ring.”

“Alright. Just to confirm, can you please tell me the command word?”

“You are sleepy.”

The receptionist nodded and then began to liquidate the gathered loot from the countertop.

“The sum of the mushrooms and the ring is 600 thousand ril, but the three suspended men outside had their equipment confiscated from them and it was all bought by the guild. The total amount was 150 thousand ril which will go to you, so the reward will be 250 thousand ril per each person.”

Ellis was starting to feel a little grateful to the disgusting old men outside.

“By the way, I am a thief adventurer, so could you issue a payment certificate to the thief guild for me?”

“Of course.” The receptionist quickly filled out and signed a document before handing it over to Ellis.

With the payment certificate of 250 thousand ril, the three girls next headed over to the thieve’s guild.

“Ellis, it’s been awhile, nya.” Katie was at her usual spot behind the receptionist’s desk and greeted Ellis at her arrival.

“I’m here to pay my dues.” Ellis gave Katie the payment certificate along with the ten percent cash payment of 25 thousand ril.

“They look like they’re having fun, nya.” Katie unintentionally leaked her soliloquy watching Ellis’s back as she happily chatted away with two beautiful women.

“By the way Katie, is the guild master in today?”

“I’ll go check, nya.”

Katie took Ellis’s payment certificate and cash to the back of the guild, but she returned almost immediately afterwards and told her that the master was indeed in the back.

“Thanks, Katie. Then Reeve, Frau, please wait for one moment.”

Ellis moved past the receptionist’s counter and made her way to the far back of the guild house into the guild master’s office.

“Oh, I heard you were here, Ellis.”

“Yes, master.”

Ellis sat down across from the master and made two reports.

The first was about the the odd men she had hung up earlier. If they were just new adventurers it would be fine, but it could get messy if they were mercenaries or soldiers from some place.

But the guild master told Ellis not to worry about it with a large laugh. Even if they were from somewhere, there is no way they would report that they had been beat up by some young girls, strung up naked, and had ribbons tied to them like some landmark. It would just end with the adventurer guild giving them some hemp shirts, and they would be on their way.

“It sounds fun though, so I will be sure to go take a look later.”

Ellis noticed that the master was in a good mood and decided to ask him about another problem she had. This was about the opening of the women’s bathhouse that she was currently working on. Ellis thought that this facility shouldn’t be dedicated for her exclusive use, but rather be opened up to the public for a small fee. But from the viewpoint of security and safety, Ellis figured it would be better to just have the thief guild take care of it.

The Guild Master listened to Ellis’s business proposal with great interest, and when she finished, he immediately responded.

“We’ll do it for 50% of the sales, and I would like one person from the thieve’s guild to work there as a teller.”

“50% of sales, not profit?”

“Of course. We will also send in an extra dispatch fee for the teller.”

It was a classic case of profiteering, but Ellis did not intend to make any profit off of the business anyway, so she readily accepted. With this, the bathhouse would gain the Thieve’s guild as its bodyguard.

“Well then, thank you for your time.”

“Yes, feel free to visit the guild in the future.”

As Ellis made her way back to the two girls waiting for her, Frau had an epiphany and suddenly shouted out.

“I forgot to prepare Claire’s lunch!”

The three of them had eaten a mobile meal that was included in the exploration set, but Claire was left without. She had probably starved by now.

It was not a good idea to have Frau go out and buy groceries or visit a butcher shop while wearing her thick armor, so Ellis bought some sandwiches and fruit from stalls as they made their way back to the mansion.

“We’re home!”

As soon as Ellis had entered the mansion, Claire jumped out of the guest room as if she had been waiting for them.

“I’ve been waiting for you. I have the overview design done!”

“Claire, what about lunch?”

“I forgot!”

Claire came running down the steps with a momentum that would not have suggested that someone hadn’t eaten anything all day.

“Wait a moment Claire. We are kind of sweaty from the labyrinth, so before looking over the design, let’s take a bath and eat something first.”

“Alright, let’s take a bath!”

Claire raced ahead of Ellis and made her way to the washroom. By the time the other three had taken off their equipment and made it there themselves, the already naked Claire was waiting for them. They were rushed by the excited Claire to finish bathing and changed into their sleepwear. Then while eating some sandwiches, they looked over the general design that Claire had drawn.

After a bit of time, the three of them became as excited as she was.

“Great, Claire!”

“This looks fun!”

“I can’t wait!”

Claire basked in the praises of her roommates and then placed her finger on one part of the drawing. “This is the part that I would like to consult with all of you about.”

Claire wanted to confirm with everyone about where the entrance of the bathhouse would be and the location of the changing room. At Ellis’s suggestion, a reception counter would also become necessary. Furthermore, because she could only install so many toilets due to the amount of water drawn from the stream, she wanted to know where to put those as well.

The four girls gathered around the design and each one put forward their own ideas for the bathhouse. Ellis suggested that they keep one toilet separate from the customers for the family’s private use. Even if it was probably said unconsciously, the other three became overjoyed over her use of the word ‘family.’

“If I set up the building so that it is adjacent to the east side of this mansion, I can set a toilet that can only be entered from over here, and if I make the toilet for the customers at a place next to it but separated with a wall, there would be no waste.”

Reeve asked just for confirmation. “Do we also enter from outside?”

Claire pointed to a part of the mansion. “If I set up a door in this part of the mansion and put an aisle to this side of the reception counter, we can use it like an employee entrance.”

“Then it would be best to put the customer’s changing room on the opposite side of the door.”

The four people forgot the passage of time and continued to voice their opinions for the design. Once all the ideas came out, Claire stood up with the drawing and declared that she would redraw it. She then hurriedly made her way back to her room.

After seeing her off, Reeve and Frau looked at each other.

“We also have to maintain our armor.”

“Yes, and I’d like to get rid of any blood that might still be stuck to my weapon.”

In the state of these three people, Ellis decided to take a rest this evening. Each of the three returned to their own respective rooms, and Frau turned off the lights in the living room.

For Ellis, it was the first time in awhile that she had been alone. Ellis laid on top of her bed and imagined all the different events that had happened that day in order and sighed.

………..

One person is lonely.

Feeling quite a bit of embarrassment, Ellis quietly left her room and made her way to the next room over.

“Hey Reeve, can I have a knee pillow?”

Ellis walked into Reeve’s room and asked her that question while Reeve was applying wax to her armor on the carpet.

“Are you asking as a girl, or as my mistress?” Reeve gently smiled at her.

Ellis’s cheeks became a slightly darker shade of red as she murmured, “As a girl.”

Ellis did not get in the way of Reeve cleaning her armor and set her head on top of Reeve’s knees.

“Good night, Reeve.”

“Good night, Miss.”

Ellis had a long sleep for the first time in awhile with a warm knee as her pillow.