Volume 5 - CH 3.1

Chapter 3 – Request in the Holy City

The day after arriving in the capital, I, Haruto, along with everyone else decided to take a stroll around the city in search of local specialties.

There weren’t that many food stalls in the city, but quite a number of accessory stores.

I went into the nearest accessory store that caught my eye, and found that expensive items were displayed in showcases, while other reasonably priced items were placed so that I could easily pick them up and take a look at them.

The average price was about a thousand gold, a reasonable price for an accessory.

The more expensive accessories have various effects enchanted to them and are priced accordingly.

“Guys, let me know if there’s anything that catches your attention!”

“Well, there are some pretty cute ones, maybe I can get some of them. Not as a souvenir or anything though…”

Finne picked up a small accessory and started checking it out.

“How about Iris?”

“I think I’ll have some too. Since we’re all here, it would be nice to have something to commemorate our visit, like Finne said.”

“All right, y’all take whatever you want, on me.”

“Sounds good!”

The ladies are all right, but what about Zero?

His outfit is pretty much that of a butler, so I’m not sure if there are any accessories in the store that would suit him…well, if there aren’t, I’ll make one for him later.

With this in mind, I waited for everyone to choose what they wanted, but for some reason, they all stared at me without choosing.

Are they perhaps telling me to choose?

Guessing the meaning behind their stares, I looked at the accessories.

I agonized for a while and then decided on the perfect one for each of them.

A bracelet with small sky blue gemstones for Finne, a bracelet with small scarlet gemstones for Iris. I bought a crimson hairpin for Kusel, a bracelet with inlaid jade-colored gems for Ephyr, and a cherry-pink bracelet for Suzuno.

For Asha, a necklace with inlaid small yellow gems that would not interfere with her work, and for Zero, a pair of black earrings.

Everyone was happy with their gifts, saying “thank you” in unison. Iris was like, “This is love!”, Finne heard that and turned all red trying to make out the word, “L-Love…”.

Asha was hesitant to accept the gift at first, but when I told her it was a token of my appreciation, she took it.

We then spent a fulfilling day touring the various stores and finding the specialties that we had been looking for.

The third day after arriving in the holy city.

Today was a free day for everyone, so I chose to relax at the inn.

I was sure everyone was tired, and since we had already enjoyed the best parts of the trip, like the most popular tourist attractions as well as the delicious food, it was about time we took a rest.

As I was relaxing on the first floor of the inn, Asha approached me.

“Master Haruto, are you free today?”

“Oh Asha. Yeah I am…wait, is Iris not with you?”

“Lady Iris went to see Lady Ilmina, and Finne, Suzuno and Ephyr all offered to be her escorts. And Lady Iris said to me ‘Asha, you should also take it easy once in a while’.”

I see.

Then she could just do as told and take it easy, but the fact that she came to me means that…

“But you don’t exactly have anything to do, huh.”

Asha nodded.

“Should we try visiting the adventurers’ guild, see if we can take one or two quests? I was about getting bored myself.”

“Is that okay?”

“Sure.”

Then Kusel came down the stairs.

“I heard something about a quest?”

Sheesh, what keen ears…

“You want to come with, Kusel?”

“Can I?”

Hearing Kusel’s reply I returned my focus and Asha nodded.

“I’m okay with it.”

“Okay. I’ll join you then.”

Kusel said merrily.

I guess it’s us three today…speaking of which, where is Zero?

As I was thinking that, the door to the inn opened and Zero entered.

It seems he was out.

Zero looked at me and tilted his head.

“Master Haruto, are you going out?”

“I thought I’d go and see if there’s any decent quest I could take.”

“Oh, I see. Then, let me go and get ready.”

Then I noticed the books Zero was carrying.

“Did you buy all those?”

“Yes. Some of them seem kind of interesting.”

“Then I presume you can’t wait to read them, right?”

“Not really…”

Zero denied it, but I could see it in his expression.

“You’re free today. Spend your time doing what you want.”

“…I understand. It seems that there’s no use hiding anything in front of you, Master Haruto.”

“You bet, it’s written all over your face. When Finne and the others return, tell them we’ve gone to take on a quest.”

“Got it.”

So, after getting ready, Asha, Kusel, and I left the inn and headed for the adventurers’ guild.

As soon as we arrived in front of the guild building, we could hear the hustle and bustle through the door.

It’s so noisy that it almost passed for lively…

Opening the door, we finally realized what the bustle was all about.

“Sunnavabitch! I got in here before you!”

“Huh?! Keep dreaming, I clearly came in before you!!”

“The hell you did, muddafucka!?”

“What, you wanna go?! With that mug of yours that look like a goblin’s!”

“Who ya callin’ a goblin? Look who’s talkin’ when ya the one who looks like a goddamn ogre!”

Two adventurers were bickering with each other.

They looked like they could start throwing punches at each other at any moment, but no one around them was paying them any mind…rather, more like they’re steering clear. They are acting as if it’s a normal thing.

Few people gave us a second glance as we entered.

“…It’s the adventurers’ guild, alright.”

“Yup. I guess the adventurers’ guild is the same everywhere.”

“I guess so.”

The three of us, me, Asha, and Kusel, all said different things, but it seemed we were all thinking the same thing.

As we were about to pass through the two bickering people, we were approached by a voice.

“Hey there. You saw who joined the line first, right? Was I not the one?”

“I was clearly the one, right?”

Wait, we just came in here, so how should we know.

We looked at each other once, and then…

“““No idea.”””

We said that and got in line at the reception…passing by the two dimwits.

Right after that, both of them grabbed me by the shoulders at the same time.

“Hey, you’ve got some balls jumping us both, must be pretty huge?”

“We were first in line, remember?”

I turned around——

“Huh?”

I lightly released a burst of intimidation toward the two of them alone, and they both let out a small scream “hieek?!”.

“Listen, the line isn’t moving no thanks to your squabbling. Now that you know, you can take it outside if you want to fight.”

““We’re sorry!!””

The two stopped fighting and lined up behind us.

Good. This is better.

“Master Haruto, we’re actually jumping the line, aren’t we?”

“Asha, don’t say that.”

I paid no heed to Asha’s words as she stared at me.

Things went smoothly from there, and then it was our turn.

“How can I help you today?”

I told the receptionist what I wanted.

“Can you find me a quest that the three of us can take on and be done by late afternoon or early evening?”

“Understood. May I please see your adventurer cards?”

Asha, Kusel, and I presented our adventurer cards.

Asha, who was a C-rank adventurer, presented hers, followed by Kusel, who was an A-rank adventurer, which I guess caught the receptionist by surprise and she whispered, “Wow, you’re an A-rank adventurer?!”.

Finally, when it was my turn to present my card, I told her, “Please try not to be surprised”, before handing her my adventurer’s card.

Somewhat predictably, the receptionist’s reaction was anything but surprised.

She froze as if time had stopped.

“It’s your fault, Master Haruto!”

“Yup, it sure is.”

Asha and Kusel were blaming me, but I couldn’t argue with them because they were right.

I couldn’t just leave it at that, though, so I called out to the receptionist who was still frozen, then she snapped out of it and hurriedly apologized.

“M-My apologies, sir!”

“Oh come on, you don’t have to apologize…anyway, so, any luck with the quest I asked for? Even if it’s on the risky side, I’ll be participating as well so don’t hold back. So please find me something good.”

“A-All right! Right on it, sir!”