Volume 2 - CH 17

After we finished clearing the Centipede Pit, Luce and I returned to the adventurers’ guild in La Colina.

Luce was seemingly constantly on guard, running her gaze between our surroundings.

Both her hands were clenched into fists.

The adventurers that passed us by all looked at us funny.

“….Luce, could you stop looking at everyone with distrust?”

“How can I not be distrustful at a time like this! We made a huge profit in the Centipede Pit just now!”

After giving a wry smile, I saw the adventurers’ guild building and narrowed my gaze.

First and foremost we are going there to exchange our magic stones, but that’s not our only business there this time.

An Evolution of a Dream Lord is not something that can just be ignored.

The Centipede Pit was still a pretty new Dungeon.

However, something like a Dream Lord’s Evolution should never have happened without considerable monster and adventurer losses.

If a tragedy like that happened, then it’s very strange that the Guild didn’t share that information with us.

That’s something that must be properly reported to the adventurers’ guild.

Luce and I entered the adventurers’ guild and called out to the receptionist lady at the counter.

“We would like to exchange some magic stones. After that, we would also like to speak with a high rank adventurer from the staff….or the Guild Master if at all possible. There is something terrible that might be happening right now.”

“Haah….D rank adventurers from the low level city of Rondalm, a Heavy Knight and a Clown, was it?”

The receptionist girl looked between my and Luce’s adventurer badges, then spoke down to us like that.

“I will convey what you say to the appropriate people, but please keep it short, you are blocking the line behind you.”

“W-what’s with that attitude! You could’ve said all that without that tone!”

Luce got pissed from the receptionist girl’s attitude.

“Well, you see….this is the City of Adventurers, La Colina. As the Guild staff of this city, we are proud of the many famous adventurers that we managed to produce.”

The receptionist girl started to explain, looking exasperated.

“M-mgh…..!”

Luce was pouting severely.

“Never mind that Luce, it’s fine. Leave this to me. If I explain it properly, then she should understand it clearly.”

I stopped Luce’s retort by holding out my hand.

“If you say so, Elma-san….”

The people of the City of Adventurers, La Colina, are exceedingly proud of their city.

I was also taught about this back at the Edvan Family.

I recall my father, Izas, grumbling about the Marquis of this territory, how Lord Howlod is a prideful, spiteful, and stubborn man.

By governing this territory, where high level Dungeons tend to spawn, in an effective manner, their family managed to amass a lot of profit and distinguish themselves.

“I’m aware that I’m asking for too much here. If I offended you somehow, then I apologize. However, I would like some of your time first to try to convince you. I’m afraid of this incident getting chalked up as simple hearsay if I don’t explain it in person. It might be a portent of something bad, that….”

“From our point of view, disturbing the Guild Master for some adventurers straight from the boonies doesn’t sit well with us. It would be a mistake to treat our Guild the same as a Guild from a remote place like Rondalm, the scale is entirely different. The number and quality of adventurers this place serves, and the amount of money that moves through here is a lot more than you would think. Even parties that tend to exchange multiple millions of gold’s worth of magic stones in one go are not that rare here. Anyhow, the Guild Master is a busy person, so we can’t fulfill your request to meet at this current time. This applies to all other adventurers that come from other Guilds as well….”

“I-I don’t think that the city of Rondalm or the territory of Count Edvan can be called boonies….! I give you that this place is somewhat more developed, but I don’t think there is a reason for saying something cruel like that….!”

I leaned on the counter heavily and snapped back in response.

“Please calm down, Elma-san! It’s not like you really have much of a lingering attachment for your family anymore, Elma-san! Right? Let’s deal with this calmly!”

“M-my bad, Luce. You’re right.”

No, it’s not because I still had some lingering attachments as the former Heir of the Edvan Family, the Edvan County was really not that rural.

Yes, it’s not because of hometown pride.

I just spoke the truth, that’s all.

“I should’ve taken this out right at the beginning.”

I pulled out the Death Armed’s magic stone from my Magic Bag and put it down in front of the receptionist girl.

The look in the receptionist girl’s eyes changed.

“T-that size….a level 60….no, from an even higher level monster….!? This matter is on the level of a B rank adventurer. Was it really you two who managed to obtain this? That’s not a monster that D rank adventurers could do anything about….”

“We got this from the Dream Lord when we cleared out the Centipede Pit. Something strange happened when we did. There is a possibility that a large number of people ended up dead somehow, so I would like to meet the Guild Master if possible.”

“I-I-I understand. I will ask right away. Sorry for my previous rudeness….!”

The receptionist girl started rapidly bowing her head.

The value of an adventurer is totally different depending on their rank.

It’s because the benefits they bring to a city are on an entirely different level.

It’s not just because of their ability to bring in any amount of magic stones from high level Dungeons, but because they serve as a bulwark against monster calamities.

The fervent admiration of high rank adventurers is especially rooted deep here, in a city that flourished due to the proximity of Dungeons.

“I should’ve done this to begin with. Also….I would like to exchange these ones too.”

I started lining up the magic stones from the Mythril Golem and the Smiles on the counter next.

Seeing all those at the same time, they should be quite a sum in total.

“W-w-w-what….is that quantity…? Did you really collect all this in the course of a single exploration….?”

The receptionist girl left her mouth open in a daze.

She was just bragging about how parties that exchange several millions of gold’s worth of magic stones in one go are not that rare, but it seems she was still surprised by this amount.

The original plan was to collect a few black steel items and return right away, so I didn’t think we would be able to get this much.

“I thought it might take a while to get all that money together, so I thought I would hand them over first.”

“O-of course we will be able to prepare a sum like this right away! Please wait a moment!”

The receptionist girl went red in the face as she answered, then moved to the back in a hurry.

“Your words just now, did you intend those as a small revenge?”

Luce was looking at my expression.

“That was not my intention at all.”

With Luce in the party, the money from exchanging magic stones is somewhat trivial.

Item drops are vastly more profitable.

――――――――――――――――――――

〈Venomous Centipede’s Short Sword〉：28 million gold

〈Mythril Ingot〉：25 million gold

〈Rune of Destruction〉：20 million gold

This is the total amount of gold we earned this time, which should end up around 70 million gold in the end.

Although, instead of selling all that, we intend to keep a few of the items to use as weapons.

I intend to keep the Rune of Destruction for now too.

I’m planning on hiring a blacksmith to make a weapon for me, so I will ask them to embed it then.

“Pardon me, but there is an adventurer here that wants to exchange 10 million gold worth of magic stones right now, so please make the arrangements!”

From deeper within the Guild, the voice of the receptionist girl from just now could be heard.

“10 million gold in total!? Then it needs to be confirmed and recorded in the paperwork….! Is the person that brought all this a famous A rank adventurer? Because in that case I can simplify the procedure….”

“He is a D rank adventurer!”

“D-D rank adventurer!? Hey, what kind of record does he have in this city so far?”

“Please just hurry up already! The dignity of La Colina is riding on this!”

….it sounds like they are having some kind of argument there. Will that be fine?

Either way, once we are done with exchanging our magic stones, we will have to meet with the Guild Master.