CH 179

Today, I’m in the merchant guild with Hikari.

As always, I’m not allowed to do anything by myself.

“And I want to renew it.”

I’m about to leave after renewing my rental of the house, but someone stops me.

“H-hum, is it true that you have been exploring the dungeon?”

This isn’t the first time we’ve talked, so why am I being asked that now?

“I have a favor to ask if you’re going to these floors.”

They’re quests to pick things and gather materials. Mostly to gather food on the fifth floor, and materials from rock birds and tigerwolves.

“I put these out in the adventurer guild too, but they don’t send them here.”

And so you’re talking to me about it directly. Doesn’t the merchant guild pay less to people not affiliated with it? I think it was like that in the holy kingdom.

I ask that, but just get a look of confusion in return. Is it different depending on the country?

I guess that makes sense. No one would bother bringing materials to the commercial guild otherwise.

“I don’t mind bringing you materials if I have the chance, but should I take the monsters apart?”

“We have our own facilities, so you can bring them as they are. As for the service fee… It won’t be waived, but we can give you a discount.”

I’m also asked to please tell this to adventurers I know.

Adventurers I know… I get the feeling that I know a few, but at the same time, not really. I guess Fred and the others count?

I don’t know if thinking about them caused it to happen or what, but we just happen to bump into Fred on the way home. And he’s with people I haven’t seen in a while.

“Hey, Sora! Are you taking the day off!?”

Says Fred, attracting the attention of the other adventurers around.

“Fred…? Are you recruiting new party members?”

“Yes, they just got here recently. We started talking and hit it off… What’s wrong Siphon?”

“Sorry, it’s just that hearing that name surprised me.”

“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Sora, a traveling merchant.”

Something feels off compared to before. Wait, did I get taller?

“Watch out, him being a merchant is basically just a trick. If you mess with him he might roast you with magic.”

What do you mean by that?

“Magic? He also used…”

“He’s a member of a party… Well, a party that I followed around while they explored the dungeon. By the way, this young lady is strong too.”

Hikari looks bored. He’s talking about you, you know?

“Hn? So you’re starting from the first floor again?”

“Yes. We reached the fourth floor last time. How far did you go, Sora?”

“We just beat the boss on the twentieth floor. It really made us realize we have a small party.”

“With six people?”

He asks like he doesn’t believe it. Now I understand that it really was pushing our luck.

Then I tell Fred what I just heard in the merchant guild.

“So there are quests like that too. We’re going to the fifth floor, so we’ll look around if we can. I saw you gathering food, so I tried it too and it was actually good.”

Fred is going to show Siphon and the others around, so we say goodbye.

I should tell Rurika and Chris that Siphon and his party are here. I don’t think they’ll talk about me anyway, but I don’t want them bumping into them and being caught off guard.

When we go back home, Rurika and Chris are surprised to hear they’re here, because they said they were going to the dungeon in Prekes.

When it’s time for my afternoon appointment, Leila takes me to a house. A mansion to be exact.

I’m getting the feeling from inside a wagon that we’re going to a high-class residential district, and it turns out I’m right.

“Welcome back, lady.”

I hear when the wagon stops and someone opens the door from the outside. When we enter the mansion, we are greeted by servants lined up.

They exchange just a few words, and we’re taken to a room.

“You don’t look very surprised.”

“Well, I sort of got that feeling from the way people look at you in this city.”

By using Appraisal, I can see her name is Leila Alexis. Is that a middle name? Family name? It’s rare for people here to have them. Ordinary townspeople only have their first name.

Still, I didn’t think she was the daughter of the feudal lord of this city. I never check the name of the feudal lords and stuff like that in the places I visit.

But that also explains why Leila and her party were so calm back when we went to Yor’s place. There’s the fact that it was their friend’s house, but also that they’re used to being around Leila on a daily basis.

“That’s too bad. I was looking forward to seeing your reaction.”

Uh? Casey looks a bit surprised too. I get the feeling sometimes she says things that were supposed to stay in her head, but is it just me?

“Then let me introduce myself again. My name is Leila Alexis, and I am the daughter of the feudal lord. You can keep calling me Leila. Ah, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t start treating me differently.”

Now that I think about it, those people from the academy seemed to look up to her, and treat her in a sort of reserved way. It was like they idolized her.

“Well, you’re still you. Things didn’t change that much with Yor, right?”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true. Maybe you’re just special that way.”

It’s more that what’s common sense in this world doesn’t match what I’m used to. And that I don’t know the proper way to speak anyway.