Volume 2 - CH 5

‘What… the hell… happened?’ Alina’s parched voice echoed through the quiet reception. Reception hours were over before she realised. Beyond the window, the sun was about to dip below the horizon, and the reception, lit in twilight-orange, was in a wretched state. Benches thrown a considerable distance from their original positions, chairs flipped upside-down, commission forms that should have been neatly stacked atop the counters scattered like fallen leaves—and speaking of leaves, the ornamental plants were left abject and denuded.

‘I… I don’t know.’ said Laila, her aspect equally one of blank bewilderment, her appearance similarly dishevelled.

After checking that the front door was locked, Alina slumped over the counter as if her spirit had fled her body. She could hardly remember what had happened. She wasn’t even sure whether she had eaten lunch or not. She had been working on reflexes and muscle memory alone, and hadn’t had time to think about what the hell could’ve caused such carnage. Forced to deal with the hordes of adventurers who swarmed the place from sunrise to sundown, she naturally didn’t get around to finish processing a single commission form. The other receptionists likewise sat listlessly at their desks, exhausted and befuddled, blankly staring at the mountains of paperwork more than twice the normal size.

‘Did the Guild raise the rewards earlier than previous years? No, they would’ve memo’d us if they had. Besides, the rewards were the same as always. No new dungeons have been discovered, nor is one about to be captured. To begin with, there wasn’t an obvious trend in the type of quests…’ Alina muttered to herself, curled up underneath the counter, trying process the situation. Nine times out of ten, a commission rush is caused by either a new dungeon being discovered or an old dungeon almost being captured. Even if, hypothetically, the reception staff weren’t privy to either of these cases, as they served the adventurers they would notice that everyone was choosing the same quest and could easily make an educated guess. But Alina couldn’t figure out what was behind today’s rush.

‘I don’t get it either. It all happened so quick…’ Even the gossip-loving Laila, who usually had the latest information at her fingertips from god knows where, was stumped when she failed to identify the cause. ‘I was too busy to ask the adventurers. Besides, didn’t their eyes look, like, super scary to you? They were… how do I put it… they were glistening like hungry wolves.’

‘Adventurers are only like that when there’s some juicy prey dangling before their eyes. I tell you, they don’t have a single brain cell between them.’

‘You’re too mean, Alina.’

The senior/junior pair staggered to their feet and, after uprighting the benches and putting the potted plants back in their place, took their seats at their respective desks, where they were greeted by a sight of even greater carnage than had been the reception area, though they were loath to look at it directly. The “outstanding bins” were filled to the brim with paperwork and stacked atop each other like mountains in some places, carelessly strewn about in others. Some of the mountains had collapsed, sending an avalanche of commission forms cascading down their flanks. They hadn’t even had the time to tidy up.

‘Eek. What’s with this volume? It’s monstrous.’ Laila muttered in despair. She was already exhausted from dealing with the incessant horde of adventurers, and now she had to deal with all this as well. Alina, too, faced the horrible reality once more and stood in stunned silence for a while. When some time had passed, she pursed her parched lips and told Laila in a hushed voice: ‘Laila, I’m going out for a moment.’

‘Eh!?’ Laila’s eyes widened at the sudden announcement. ‘You’re going home and leave all this behind!? What about the Century Festival!? Don’t tell me you’re giving up on the Century Festival!’

‘Of course I’m coming back. I promised myself to not have any leftover work until the day of the festival, and I intend to keep it. But this situation is clearly abnormal. To call it unexpected doesn’t begin to describe it! If we don’t do something about it, then this year—’

This year too, her hopes of going to the Century Festival would be crushed under the weight of overtime.

Alina couldn’t bear to think about it, so bleak was that future. But the way things were now, there was a good chance it would come to pass.

‘I can’t let that happen!’

She had to know what was behind this and eliminate the cause with the utmost urgency. Alina gritted her teeth and stormed out of the reception.