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Chapter 9  –  Vaana
Maybe it should have been expected of a border town, but Vaana was a very lively place.
Our next destination was the adventurers’ guild: since it was on the way to the trading company, we rode the carriage halfway.
We were saying our goodbyes when Bacchus apparently recalled something.
“Oh yes, Mr. Haruto. I already made arrangements for you to use our trading company’s lodging for free in this town, so please use it. Barnar and his party are welcome to stay too, of course. What do you say?”
“Can I really? You already did so much for me in Waxe, I don’t want to impose…”
“We can really stay there too?”
Bacchus nodded to both of our questions.
“Yes, please do not worry. You really saved me on the way here, this is nothing in comparison.”
Bacchus smiled warmly, so I decided to accept his kindness again.
We asked about the location of the lodging, then headed to the adventurers’ guild as planned.
On our way there we were bombarded by delicious smells, wafting from all directions, but resisted the temptation and made a beeline for our destination.
The adventurers’ guild building in Vaana was even larger than the one in Waxe.
Inside it was no different: there was much more hustle and bustle than what I saw in Waxe.
We headed to the counter first, to hand in our adventurer cards and report the request had been completed.
“…confirmed, thank you. The request has been marked complete. This is your reward.”
“Thank you. By the way, we have some materials we’d like to sell…”
The receptionist smiled at me and replied.
“Very well. We can buy materials at this counter, so please place them on this table.”
We complied and took out the materials obtained from the Goblins and Greywulfs.
Barnar then asked me a question
“What should we do with that?”
“That? Aah, yeah, that…hmm…”
I didn’t know when I would get another chance to sell it, so I might as well take it out here.
The receptionist probably found our exchange suspicious, so she tilted her head to the side and inquired about it.
“Is anything wrong?”
“Yes, well, we have something else to sell, but it’s too big for this table. What should we do?”
The receptionist glared at us, then continued with a displeased impression.
“…I see you have a Magic Bag, but you can’t have something so rare it can’t be put on the table, can you…? This guild is very busy, as you can see, so I would like to ask you to refrain from such jokes…”
The receptionist’s tone caused the surrounding adventurers to focus their attention on us.
The mood felt rather awkward, so I glanced at Barnar.
He looked back at me with a helpless impression and shrugged, implying I should just take it out for her to see.
“…okay then, I will take it out here, but please don’t make a fuss.”
“Yes, yes, of course, please go ahead quickly.”
I couldn’t fault the receptionist for not believing me, so I disregarded her rude behavior and turned my back to her.
I opened my dimensional storage and took out the Black Tiger and Grizzly Bear, then put them down on the floor.
Their size was so massive they almost reached the ceiling: under the weight, the floor also made ominous creaking sounds.
The receptionist and the surrounding adventurers froze in place, speechless.
After about one minute of silence, the receptionist finally thawed and raised her voice.
“W-what is that!?”
She looked at us with shock all over her face, so I explained as politely as I could.
“A Black Tiger and a Grizzly Bear, as you can see.”
“Y-you must be joking.”
“They’re here in plain sight, though…anyway, we want to sell these too.”
Once again, the receptionist froze.
The other adventurers came back to life one after the other too, commenting things like “Whoa, it’s my first time seeing a Black Tiger!”, “I’ve never seen a Grizzly Bear corpse with so little damage either” and the hall gradually became louder.
After another minute, the receptionist regained her consciousness.
“Ah!? What was I doing…!? I think I remember a weird adventurer coming…saying they wanted to sell a Black Tiger and a Grizzly Bear…?”
The receptionist was looking down, doubting what she had seen, but when she raised her head again our eyes met and she froze for the third time.
A pretty funny person, I had to say.
That moment, a loud voice was heard from upstairs.
“Pipe down, you lot!! Would you keep quiet! …what’s with these corpses? Who brought them here?”
The loud voice came from a man, probably in his fifties, coming down the stairs.
The receptionist pulled herself together and pleaded for his help.
“Guildmaster!! Please do something about this…!”
So the old man is the guildmaster.
“Rona, what happened? Explain this situation.”
“These adventurers said they want to sell those corpses!!”
So, the name of the receptionist was Rona.
I was engaged in such pointless thoughts as the guildmaster looked at the Black Tiger and Grizzly Bear bodies, then us, and finally spoke again.
“…you lot, come up to the guildmaster office.”
Wait now, why are you acting like we’re the bad guys!?
I was going to protest, but Barnar spoke first.
“Please wait!!”
Oh, as expected of a veteran adventurer! Always reliable in a pinch!
“Our party has nothing to do with those corpses. This guy took them down on his own!”
“Wait, what!? Barnar!?”
Shocked, I looked at Norkas and Oorde, but they both nodded with conviction.
“Yes, we’re just rank C after all.”
“There’s no way we could defeat a disaster class or a class A monster.”
“You too!?”
Shit, was I an idiot for relying on them!?
I glared at Barnar and the others, but they leisurely walked out of the guild, whistling awkwardly.
The guildmaster looked at them go, then fixed his eyes on me.
“You come, then…by the way, do you have a Magic Bag?”
“…y-yeah…”
“You look pretty young, but you have a Magic Bag that can fit something so huge…? Okay, pack them in and follow me. I don’t like the sounds the ceiling is making.”
I duly complied and headed to the guildmaster office.
As soon as I sat down on the chair prepared for guests, the guildmaster spoke.
“I am Ballard, the guildmaster in charge of this town’s guild. Is it really true that you defeated those monsters on your own?”
I decided that it wouldn’t be wise to dodge the topic, I answered honestly.
“Yes, that’s true. Oh, I also have something for you from the Waxe guildmaster, Dass.”
“Dass?”
I handed the recommendation letter Dass gave me to Ballard.
“Oh, this is…I see, I see. So you’re the Haruto guy Dass told me about.”
“Hm? Dass said something about me?”
“He sent a message via horse about you: “I’m sending an adventurer recommended to rank A, so take care of the necessary procedures”, it said.”
Oh yes, Dass did tell me he would send a horse messenger.
I recalled the fact and nodded, then Ballard continued.
“I have received the recommendation letter and if you defeated a Black Tiger and a Grizzly Bear, there are no qualms about your abilities either. I’ll go ahead with the formalities…the card will be ready the day after tomorrow, so come back then. We’ll also buy the corpses, so leave them in the back of the guild. Can we pay you when you come pick up the card?”
I received the escort request reward in cash, so I shouldn’t have any problems until the day after tomorrow.
“Very well.”
Ballard nodded, satisfied, then asked me a question in a curious tone.
“Pretty impressive to take down a disaster class monster on your own, though. If you’re so skilled, why didn’t you register as an adventurer before?”
“I lived in a really remote village, and finally managed to get out recently.”
That’s the reason I chose to use.
“…well, I’m not going to pry any further. I have to report about this to headquarters, though. I have to report about all promotions to rank A, and I need a reason too. I trust it’s okay with you?”
I assumed it was inevitable, so I sincerely nodded.
“Sorry for the trouble. Come again in two days, then.”
“I will, thank you for everything.”
I left the guildmaster office and went to the back of the guild.
The guild staff there hadn’t witnessed the commotion at the counter, so they reacted with pure amazement when I took out the Black Tiger and Grizzly Bear corpses, which was pretty entertaining.
~
It was finally time to eat! Those three traitors…they were going to pay for leaving me behind…!
I left the guild and after walking around a bit, I found Barnar and the others pretty quickly.
They were in a restaurant with large glass windows, which made it easy to see inside, eating merrily. It looked like they hadn’t noticed me yet.
You ditch me and then go eat without a care in the world, huh…? There’s a steep price to pay for that…
I went inside the restaurant, careful not to let them see me.
I guess I might as well give them the surprise of a lifetime.
I used All Creation to make a skill to hide my presence and make myself invisible.
<<Skill “Conceal Presence”, “Stealth” acquired. Skill level reached 10 for all skills. “Conceal Presence” added to Martial Unification, “Stealth” added to Magic Unification.>>
I activated both skills and sneaked behind Barnar and the others, then spoke.
“You’re eating some really good stuff, aren’t you!”
Barnar and the others looked left and right, but couldn’t see me anywhere.
“Hey, I think I just heard Haruto’s voice…”
“Yeah, me too…so it’s not my imagination?”
“I heard it too…”
Barnar and the others kept looking for me everywhere, then I deactivated the skills.
It was like I appeared out of thin air for them, so they screamed as soon as they saw me.
“WAAAHHHH!!! GHOOOST!!”
The whole restaurant’s eyes turned on us, so I smacked their heads to shut them up.
I sat down at their table and ordered the same dishes as Barnar’s party from a nearby waitress.
Until my food arrived Barnar and the others were trembling in their seats, without saying a word or even looking at me.
“Thank you for waiting, here is your Vaana steak.”
After waiting for a while, the waitress came back with a thick steak emanating a spicy aroma of herbs. What kind of meat was it, I wonder?
“Er, erm…Mr….Haruto…?”
Barnar timidly called out to me, so I replied while cutting the thick steak.
“What? Ah, you guys ditched me in the guild by myself, so you’re paying tonight.”
“Kh, can’t say anything to that…! Well, we have to repay you for the weapons too! Eat as much as you want!”
Satisfied by his answer, I chomped down on the meat without compliments.
The surface was grilled crisp and aromatic, the meat underneath tender and juicy, so I couldn’t help but smile as I ate.
It wasn’t too fatty, nor did it have the unique smell of game. It felt like it was melting on my tongue.
“Too good!!”
Barnar and the others grinned proudly at my comment.
“Right? We found this restaurant after a long and grueling search, you know!”
“It was pretty hard, but this place is the best.”
“It’s pretty well known too, they say.”
I see. That explains the delicious flavor.
We proceeded to eat most if not all of the menu, as a celebration for completing the request.
After enjoying ourselves enough, we went back to the lodging Bacchus introduced us to.
It was a pretty large facility, complete with a large bathhouse.
I hadn’t taken a proper dip in a bathtub after coming to this world, so I gladly took this chance to relieve my fatigue.
“Phew…I’m still Japanese after all, I need a long bath at the end of the day…”
“What was that, Haruto?”
“Nothing, never mind.”
Barnar looked at me curiously, but I acted as if nothing happened and continued to enjoy the bath.
The bath healed all of my fatigue, so I had a very good sleep afterwards.