CH 43

Episode 43 – A New Life Without Much Change 

It was the next day after I saw off the [Azure Alliance]. After I saw them off in the morning, I felt like an empty shell, completely sapped of emotional energy. I went back to the rundown inn and spent the rest of the day lazing around in bed spaced out, reminiscing about the good times I spent with the [Azure Alliance]. I declared such fiery words of determination to Ahmed that morning, but I pretty much wasted the entire day after that… oh well, I couldn’t really help it. That was how important the [Azure Alliance] was to me.

But from today, I had to start moving as normal again in order to quickly fulfill my promise to become stronger. With renewed conviction, I went about practicing the special sword training method I learned the day before yesterday. After practicing sword swings for three hours at the front of the rundown inn, I went to the Adventurer’s Guild. Even after those three days of playing around with the [Azure Alliance] and buying each of them presents, I still had a lot of financial leeway left thanks to the compensation I got from the Adventurer’s Guild. I needed to put in an escort request not because I needed money, but because I simply didn’t have enough Magical Grass on hand to continue quickly improving my magical power capacity. I still had about 20 gold coins to my name, but because the price of Magical Grass was about 1 stalk for 2 copper coins, I still felt the need to budget my money and save. On Mount Cornello, I made the mistake of thinking that I had way more Magical Grass than I needed, but now I was in the situation where I had already run out.

I was still living in the rundown inn, which had a cost of 3 copper coins a night. I was so used to living on the edge of poverty that I ended up developing the habit of always tending towards frugality. Well, it was by no means a bad thing to save where you could.

Somewhat lost in those thoughts, I arrived at the entrance of the Adventurer’s Guild. I was about to enter the guild, but first… I had to check if [White Feiler] was around. Ahmed declared with “absolute” confidence that I would not be encountering anyone from [White Feiler] around these parts, but I couldn’t be too sure. It still worried me a tiny bit nonetheless, since I didn’t have the backing of [Azure Alliance] anymore. I had to be more careful than ever. Well, the Adventurer’s Guild did say they were working to arrest the people from [White Feiler], so there was no way they would be inside. Realizing this point, I walked over to the quest commission reception desks with light strides.

“Welcome. This is the reception desk for putting in quest commissions, how may I help you?” (Receptionist Lady)

“Yes. I came to put in a quest commission.” (Lewin)

I hastily responded to the usual receptionist lady’s words a little too loudly. She looked a little taken aback. I got a little ahead of myself when I thought about not having to worry about the handling fee, so I was surprised at the volume of my own voice just now too. The 10% handling fee applied to not only the business transactions but also to putting in quest commissions, so waiving the handling fee was a really big deal for me.

It would be so audacious if every time I had to introduce myself to the receptionist by saying, “Hello, I’m Lewin, the guy who got abandoned mid-quest that one time and now doesn’t have to pay a handling fee!”

While I was having such ridiculous thoughts, the receptionist lady, who was filling out the paperwork, looked up with a surprised expression on her face.

“Lewin Jade-sama, was it? Thank you for coming as always. Also… I am terribly sorry about what happened that other time. The Guild Chief has already given me firm instructions on your situation, so I am at your command.” (Receptionist Lady)

The receptionist lady, who always had a business-like smile plastered to her blank face, had a sudden change in demeanor. She was always acting like she was going by the manual, but now she had a friendly grin as she talked to me in a slightly more animated manner. Still… what was that about being at my command? Wasn’t that overdoing it a bit?

“No no, I am grateful for your courteous treatment. As promised, as long as you can arrange a good adventurer party for me with no handling fees, I don’t mind if you go by the normal conduct. After all, if you act that cordially towards me, I won’t really know how to respond, so it’s fine.” (Lewin)

When I told her that in a small voice, the receptionist lady’s mouth hung open a bit. After a short delay, it seemed she understood what I was saying and replied immediately.

“…I understand. Then I will respond as usual. Proceeding with the conversation, the Guild Chief himself went through and handpicked excellent adventurers at each rank for you to choose from, so I will introduce them to you. Which rank would you like to hear about?” (Receptionist Lady)

Ooh! I appreciated this gesture a lot, since the adventurers recommended by the Guild Chief were probably all dependable choices. But which rank should I choose? The price likely varied depending on the rank. Since it was just an escort to Mount Cornello, anything C-rank and higher was probably overkill.

“Could you please introduce me to an adventurer party between F-rank and D-rank?” (Lewin)

“Certainly!” (Receptionist Lady)

Thus, I was introduced to various adventurer parties by the receptionist lady. As she prepared to tell me about the adventurer party options, I wondered whether or not the party selected would be reluctant to go on an escort request, but… perhaps they’d handle that as well.