CH 30

Upon my return to the city of Rendark, I immediately visited the Adventurer's Guild.

The time was just before dusk, and in a few hours, it would be crowded with adventurers to report their requests.

When I headed for the reception counter, I found that it was not Mirian......who was there.

She was a girl in her mid-teens in age, more of a charming and pretty girl than a beautiful woman.

However, judging from the serious atmosphere in the air, she was probably the same type of person as Marian, who was at the adventurers' guild in Laresta.

“Welcome. How can I help you today?”

“Ah, I'd like to report a request.”

“Then please present your guild card.”

She prompted me to present my guild card and start checking out the request. Apparently, as a receptionist, she was fine.

“Well, Rolando-san. I'm sorry, but where are the Dashboas that were requested? From the looks of it, you don't have it with you.......”

She was suspicious that I didn't carry a single Dashboa, which was the proof of the subjugation, but I explained it to her as I patted the magic bag I had hanging from my shoulder to my waist to dispel her suspicions.

“It's in here.”

“Oh, a magic bag. It's not every day you get to have a magic bag at such a young age.”

“I was lucky enough to get it in the last town I was in.”

I responded by emphasizing that I happened to get it, wondering if it was an unworthy item for me, with the appearance of a twelve-year-old boy.

She could not pursue the matter either, so she began to talk about the Dashboa I had defeated as if to divert the topic.

“Now, would you please give me the fangs to prove the subjugation?”

“Is that enough? Also, there are about five Dashboas that I haven't been able to dismantle, and I was wondering if the guild would be able to do it for me.”

“I understand. Then, please come this way.”

The girl at the reception desk said so and led me straight to the guild's dismantling place.

The dismantling place was located on the right side of the guild entrance, further in through the training grounds.

Because of the dismantling, the smell, and other issues, they wanted to keep as much distance as possible from the guild's main building. ......No one wants to smell something like that.

With these thoughts in my mind, we arrived at the dismantling place.

As one might expect, the dismantling place was filled with a rather gory smell, so strong that I involuntarily covered my nose with my arms.

I instantly put wind magic around my body to shut out the unpleasant smell. Because it couldn't be helped, it smelled so bad.

As I approached the dismantling place, a large man approached me and approached the girl at the reception desk. Apparently, he was in charge of this dismantling place.

“Oh, isn't it Nicole's daughter? What's up?”

“Roland-san here has hunted down some Dashboas, and he wants Bold-san to dismantle them for him.”

“Wait, Nicole!? Uh, Bold is .....”

The moment the man said the girl's name, I couldn't help but look at her.

Apparently, the name Nicole was a common name in this world, like Taro or Hanako, and I asked her in passing, but she replied that she was not related to Nicole, Laresta's tomboyish receptionist, by blood or anything else.

“It's extremely unpleasant to share the same name with such an unserious girl.......”

“...... and by the way, is that old man over there named Bold?”

“I'm Bold, and I'm in charge of this dismantling place. Nice to meet you, kid.”

“......”

After confirming the man's name, I couldn't help but stare at a certain point at him.

There was nothing there that was supposed to be there, but it was shiny and glossy. Yes, Bold had no hair.

Perhaps it was his skinhead haircut (?). But whether a skinhead should be classified as a bald man or not was irrelevant at this point.

“Certainly the old man is Bold.”

“Hm? What do you mean by that, kid?”

“Well, nevermind. Anyway, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Rolando, and I am a novice adventurer with the lowest rank of F.”

Several shocking things happened in a short time, but I managed to keep my composure and made a brief self-introduction.

Then I got to the good part where I took the five Dashboas out of my magic bag to ask them to dismantle the Dashboas.......

“Boy, did you actually drain the blood out of this thing?”

“I really wanted to dismantle it myself, but I didn't have time. I just drained the blood so that it wouldn't lose its freshness.”

“N-no, it's absolutely fine. The wounds from the draining of blood have been minimized. I mean, what the heck is this Dashboa? Everything's strange!”

As soon as Bal......Bold, saw the Dashboa I took out, his face changed color. He said that the Dashboa I hunted was unusual and started to make a fuss.

He was suspicious about how the monster was killed because he could not find any wounds caused by magic, swords, or other weapons when the monster was hunted.

“The only wound that looks like a wound is the blood drainage that the boy did. Even though the Dashboa is a monster that even a novice adventurer can hunt, this is strange.”

“Well, adventurers come in all shapes and sizes. If you've been in this business long enough, you know what I'm talking about.”

“You're just starting out, but you've got a lot of nerve talking like that. Well, you're right.......”

Bold asked me how I hunted the monsters, but I decided to keep it vague like other adventurers.

There might not be a problem if I told him, but rumors spread faster than one might think. For that reason, it was best not to let them know what they didn't need to know.

As we were smiling at each other with a hint of a smile on our faces, the other person in the room opened his mouth in disgust.

“Can't you two stop checking each other's friendships and get to work? Bold-san.”

“Oh, sorry, sorry. Then I'll take responsibility for dismantling these Dashboas. Just come back tomorrow morning and I'll make sure it's ready.”

“I understand. And what do I do with the Dashboas I dismantled at the hunting grounds?”

“Let's go back to the guild and we'll check on that. Well then, Bold-san. Please take care of the rest.”

“...... wait a minute.”

Just as I was about to return to the guild's main building with Nicole, Bold unexpectedly stopped us from behind.

When I turned around to see what was going on, he had a serious look on his face and asked me for a favor.

“If you don't mind, could you show me some of the material you dismantled boy?”

“Ah, that's fine. Here it is.”

“Ah, hey, Roland-san!”

The moment I took my dismantled materials out of my magic bag and handed them to Bold, Nicole shouted to stop me, but it was already too late and the materials were already in Bold's possession when she tried to stop me.

“….”

After looking at the materials seriously for a while, Bold suddenly walked up to me, put his hands on my shoulders, and said.

“Boy, would you like to come work for us?”

“What?”

“We're actually short on staff, and we're in need of someone with your dismantling skills.”

“No, even if you suddenly say that.”

“I'll play you for a salary. I'll double, no triple the market price! So—“

“Wait a minuuuteeeee!”

As if to interrupt Bold's words, Nicole cut in. She then physically intervened between me and Bold, and with a stern look in her eyes, she told Bold.

“What are you doing!  How many times have you done this!?”

“Because, you know. I don't have a choice.　I want to keep the best people as well as the guild.”

“I am firmly against it! I can't stand to see any more capable adventurers taken away for dismantling!”

“The kid's perfect for the dismantling job! It's better than being an adventurer who might die at any moment!”

“No, Rolando-san, an adventurer suits you. There are not many adventurers who can single-handedly hunt this many Dashboas on their own! So, Rolando-san should be an adventurer!!”

“No. He should do the dismantling. This is what a naive little girl like you needs to know.”

“I don't want a bald old man telling me what to do!”

“Huh!? I ain't bald! This is just a haircut!”

From that point on, the exchange of sales words and purchases, more like a child's quarrel than a discussion, continued, and I grew weary of just listening to it.

I thought about taking my mind off their conversation and waiting for them to stop fighting, but I came to the conclusion that it would be better to intervene if I had the chance.

“That's enough of that, both of you. Don't leave me alone and start fighting.”

“Muu, in that case, I'll go directly to Mirian, or rather Daren, and ask him to—“

“Don't involve the guildmaster in pulling out a single novice adventurer!”

“….”

Wait a minute--wait a minute--bald old man. What do you mean you're going directly to the guild master?

......Oops. The event happened so much that I started to get the old comedian's story. Forget about that now....... (TLN: No idea.)

More important than that was what Nicole said.......guildmaster? It was indeed a poor idea to get involved with a guild master when I was just starting out.

If at all possible, I would like you to wait until I accumulated a few more achievements before getting involved with him. I didn't want to meet the head of the guild out of the blue.

It might seem like a good thing to get involved with a guildmaster before one achieved any status or accomplishments as an adventurer, but the lack of accomplishments could lead to some unreasonable demands.

After all, I was just starting out as an adventurer. If I were to be crushed by their reckless demands, I would be dismissed as having only that level of ability.

Therefore, meeting someone in power while low in rank should be avoided if possible. To avoid being made into a tool for their use.......

After quieting them down as they were about to fight again, I returned to the guild's main building to receive the purchase of the Dashboas materials I had dismantled myself and the reward for the request to take down the Dashboas.

Since the total number of Dashboas killed was eight, it was decided that the request to kill them would be processed twice, and together with the purchase of the materials, it amounted to two small silver coins. I got 2,000 yen.

With nothing more to do at the Adventurers' Guild, the day was over, and I returned to the inn and went to sleep.

I told Bold that I was not interested in doing the dismantling work, and he tried to talk me out of it, but when I explained to him that my purpose was to go sightseeing in various places, he agreed, albeit reluctantly. I think ...... Nicole's knuckles may have played a part in persuading him.