CH 196

Episode 196 – Party Fill Guild Employee

Three days had passed since my recruiting fiasco with Aruna. For the past three days, I had been carefully examining the information I had received from Tobias and had been checking the route against the information in the Dungeon monitors. Today was the day that I was supposed to meet up for the first time with Aruna and the Guild employee who would be filling in. I hadn’t heard what kind of person would be filling in for our party, so I was honestly a little bit worried.

I had told Aruna that I had asked a Guild employee to fill in for our party, but since she said she wouldn’t want to join the party if the Guild employee ended up being a strange man, I was frankly feeling nervous about this meeting.

In order to have everything go smoothly, I was really hoping it would be a woman coming to fill in for our party… Considering the ratio of the Guild employees, the probability of it being a man was much higher.

But in the case that it ended up being a man, I had made up my mind to terminate the party fill contract with the Guild and stay in a party with Aruna. Aruna said she didn’t mind if it was just the two of us challenging the Dungeon, so I intended to prioritize challenging the Dungeon even though the stability of our party would take a hit.

Carrying a great deal of unease in my heart about the party member situation, I made my preparations and headed off to the Adventurer’s Guild to meet up with Aruna. As I passed the Dungeon monitors, I cast a sidelong glance before entering the Adventurer’s Guild and saw that there were still not many people there since it was still pretty early in the morning.

It was still earlier than the appointed meeting time, but I was a bit scared to keep Aruna waiting. After looking around the Guild to make sure Aruna wasn’t here yet, I took a seat where I could see the entrance and waited quietly for her arrival.

Several tens of minutes later, just as the appointed meeting time was about to pass, I saw Aruna enter the Guild through the main entrance. Instead of the suit she had been wearing when we met before, she was wearing a green leather uniform with the same sword she had strapped to her waist last time and a bow slung across her back.

She was fully equipped and armed to the teeth, but her fluffy ears were drooping, making her seem really tired. Even still, she seemed a lot stronger now than when I had first met her in her suit.

“Good morning, Aruna-san!” (Lewin)

In a loud voice, I greeted Aruna, who had stopped near the entrance without showing any signs of having looked for me. Aruna’s ears perked up and her body trembled for a moment as if she had been startled by my voice, but after she had quickly turned around and noticed that it was me, she instantly went back to her listless expression.

“…..Morning. It’s irritating to be so loud this early in the morning.” (Aruna)

“Sorry! I was trying to get you to notice me, so I accidentally raised my voice a bit more than I should have.” (Lewin)

“You’re really energetic all the time.” (Aruna)

“Well, you certainly seem less energetic than the last time I saw you, Aruna-san.” (Lewin)

At the end of our last meeting, she also had this kind of exhausted, listless expression on her face, but for some reason she was already looking like that even though we had only just met up. I was a bit concerned about her attitude, so I brought it up.

“It’s because I came here straight after work. I regret not asking you to move the date.” (Aruna)

“I didn’t know that… But we’re only planning to have a face-to-face meeting today, so I think you’ll be fine.” (Lewin)

“You really don’t know what’s considered fine, huh? Face-to-face meetings are the most bothersome. I told you last time… but if this person is weird, I’m going home right away,” Aruna told me in a detached manner.

The hardest part of setting up a party might not even be the Dungeon itself but just communicating with Aruna…

I felt that way all over again after conversing with Aruna, who was expressionless and taciturn.

“Even if it’s just the two of us, I’m planning on challenging the Dungeon tomorrow, so if you could stay that would be great.” (Lewin)

“…..Mm. I’ll consider it.” (Aruna)

Leaving it at that, I headed to the reception desk with Aruna, who had clearly completely lost interest in any further conversation. There was no line at all, probably because it was so early in the morning, and in no time at all I was standing in front of the reception desk where I had been helped last time.

“Welcome. This is the reception desk for quest commissions, is that alright with you?” (Receptionist Lady)

“Yes, that’s alright.” (Lewin)

“Understood. First, could you please provide me with your name, age, occupation, and the nature of the quest commission you would like to request?” (Receptionist Lady)

“Ah, umm… Actually, I requested a Guild employee to fill in for my party, and I was told that they had finished preparations, so I came to ask about that… Are you aware of this situation?” (Lewin)

When she asked me for my information yet again, I informed the receptionist lady of my purpose for visiting. ‘Party fill’. The receptionist lady’s eyes widened slightly for a moment when she heard these words.

“……..Yes, I have heard of your situation. May I ask your name, just to be safe?” (Receptionist Lady)

“My name is Lewin Jade.”

“Okay, that’s fine. I will go call the person in charge, so please wait a moment.” (Receptionist Lady)

“Okay. Thank you very much.” (Lewin)

After the receptionist had disappeared into the back room, I waited for a while.

Instead of the receptionist lady, the person who came back out was a well-dressed man with a dark complexion, followed by a short woman walking closely behind him.

Which one is the Guild employee that is going to fill for us in the end?

Honestly, it was clear as day that Aruna would be a total no-go with the dark-skinned man. However, from the way the woman was walking awkwardly like a scarecrow and the violent trembling of her body that was clear even from afar, I couldn’t help but feel that I shouldn’t expect much from her with regards to combat.

With these kinds of doubts surfacing in my mind, the two of them came to stand in front of me. The dark-skinned man gave a kind smile before introducing himself in a soft manner.

“Thank you very much for your patience. My name is Alex, and I am the Vice Guild Chief of the Landaust Adventurer’s Guild. And this is…”

“I-I am! T-The one f-f-filling in f-for y-your p-p-party, sir! R-Ro-ze…!?”

After the dark-skinned man introduced himself as the Vice Guild Chief, the stiff, anxious woman began to introduce herself. She was stuttering out a storm, probably because she was quivering so much.

As the woman stood there with both her hands held over her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes, Alex was leveling a cold, unchanging gaze at me, which was a bit scary. I couldn’t help but feel uneasy with the fact that this woman was going to be filling in for our party.