Volume 2 - CH 2.2

“That pigheaded king!”

“Oh, my,” Gloria gasped. “I think that was a little too far, Sir Unken.”

“What? Are they going to arrest me for disrespecting royalty? That would be hilarious. You can only disrespect someone who’s worthy of respect. What is this incompetence?!”

They were in the guild’s special room open only to guild staff. Unken tapped on a document. It contained the decision to abandon Cotton-elka, sent through a long-distance transmission using magic items.

“The decision can’t be reversed, can it? Then there’s only one thing to do,” Gloria said.

“…I know.”

“Mr. Pippin is waiting on the first floor.”

Unken exited the room with his hand on his temple. Gloria followed him and locked the door. Many adventurers were gathered on the first floor of the Adventurers’ Guild, curious to know how the guild would deal with this incident—monsters surging out of a dungeon. The decision would affect them as well.

Pippin, sitting in a chair in the lounge, lifted his head. Next to Pippin was Freya, who should have been preparing for lodging. Behind them were Paula, Pia, and Priscilla.

“I have bad news,” Unken said. “The army will not be mobilized. The guild has also received a directive not to deploy any adventurers above Rank C. All I can do is issue a special commission to adventurers to evacuate the people of Cotton-elka to Pond.”

“Wait, what? The government won’t do anything?!” Pippin exclaimed. “Evacuate to Pond… Are they telling us to abandon our village?!”

“So they’re just ditching us?!” Pia snapped.

Unken noticed her for the first time. “Who are you?”

“We’re from Cotton-elka too.”

“I see. Then you can help with the evacuation.”

“That’s not what I meant! Everyone in the village is a farmer. Leaving the village means throwing away everything we own. It took decades to cultivate those tomato fields!”

“Human lives are more important.”

“I know that! So why won’t they help us?! Isn’t the army supposed to help in times like these?!”

“I can’t answer that question.”

“You old…” Pia swung her arm.

“Pia, no!” Paula grabbed her friend. “Causing a scene won’t solve anything.”

“Paula is right,” the calm Priscilla agreed.

Pia ground her teeth. “I’ll kill the monsters, then.”

“What?”

“Adventurers protect people from monsters. I’ll fight. Fortunately, I’m not high-ranked or anything.” She smiled cynically.

“I-I would advise against that,” Freya interjected. “It’s too dangerous. You’re all only Rank G!”

Rank G was the lowest adventurer rank. Paula and her friends had only been adventurers for a short time, and had only completed small commissions. They were currently still at the lowest rank.

“Entry to the Forest of Deception is only allowed for adventurers Rank E and above,” Freya added.

Rank E monsters appeared on the first level of the dungeon, hence the requirement.

“I don’t plan to enter the dungeon. I just want to protect Cotton Elka. Paula, Priscilla. What about you guys?”

Paula noticed Pia’s fingers trembling slightly. She was scared. Like Freya said, they were novice adventurers. How could they possibly fight dungeon monsters head-on?

“I’m coming with you.” Paula’s decision was quick.

“Me too,” Priscilla added.

“Y-You can’t go!” Freya said. “The Adventurers’ Guild won’t authorize it. Sir Unken, please say something.”

“They’re not violating any code. I cannot stop them.”

“But Sir!”

Paula and her friends left the guild. Pippin, also from Cotton-elka, chased after them.

“Sir, they’re leaving.”

“You’re wasting your time. Suicidal people don’t listen. We should focus on—”

“The special commission,” Gloria said. “Kill commissions limited to ranks D and E, and escort commissions for ranks F and G. Please verify them.” She brought the forms over.

“Good. You’re always one step ahead.”

“Thank you for the compliment,” the receptionist said.

“Now you’re just getting ahead of yourself. Dial it back a bit.”

Unken began reading the commission form. Freya’s expression brightened when she realized that he wasn’t abandoning the villagers.

“It’s too early to celebrate, Freya. With the guild’s current budget, we can only afford five adventurers to fight the monsters and ten for escorts.”

Five adventurers for combat was too few. Clearing out the Goblin settlement that Hikaru discovered the other day required sixty adventurers, with the reward for the commission paid out of Pond’s budget. Ignoring the Goblins would have rendered the roads near the town unusable, impacting Pond’s economy negatively.

But in this case, the guild had no excuse to do the same.

“What about the royal capital’s guild? Maybe we can use their budget…”

“Don’t get your hopes up too high. I doubt they’ll disburse funds. I will still contact them, nevertheless.”

If the guildmaster himself believed that, then they couldn’t expect much help.

“Anyway, is there anyone from this guild willing to go to Cotton-elka? We’re issuing commissions now.”

The faces of the adventurers tightened.

A huge figure collapsed with a loud thud. Standing over three meters tall, it had four inhuman arms, but no matter how much power it had, it could no longer grab, lift, or destroy anything.

Its pulse had stopped.

“Well?”

“I think it went up.”

Lavia, her hand on her chest, breathed out. She had felt an itchy sensation rising from deep within her body that made her want to scream out. Her Soul Rank had increased.

They rode a horse to get to this forest to grind for levels. Powerful monsters inhabited this area, like the one Hikaru just took down, a green-skinned giant—the Forest Barbarian, also known as the Keeper of the Woods.

They often worked in pairs, and two of them were lying here. The moment they spotted a human, they would sprint at a speed belying their huge physique, tear off the person’s limbs, and eat them. As such, fledgling adventurers feared these monsters.

Forest Barbarians were Rank D monsters, but with Hikaru’s Stealth, they weren’t much of a threat. He sprang at them from behind and stabbed their spine, killing them with a single blow. He told Lavia to hide behind a tree while he engaged them. Even then, it was enough to get her Soul Rank up.

“What’s my Soul Rank at the moment?” Lavia asked.

“Hmm… 8. You started with 6, so it went up by 2. The goal is 11, so let’s keep going.”

“So I don’t have to kill them myself.”

As long as she was with Hikaru, the energy that was released when a monster died also entered Lavia, increasing her Soul Rank. Hikaru didn’t know how it worked exactly, so he just accepted it.

“All right. Time to chop ‘em up.”

Hikaru took out a butchering knife. He could just let the animals in the forest eat the Forest Barbarian’s corpse, but there was a part of it that was valuable: the skin on its back.

“Ugh, it’s tough.”

The skin was so tough that a butchering knife couldn’t pierce it. It was smooth and green, but once treated, it turned into a deep-blue, which was then used as raw material to create leather armor.

It would be even better if he could bring back the entire body, but even he couldn’t carry a three-meter giant back to town.

Lavia was looking around restlessly. They were deep in the woods, where the only sounds were the trilling of insects and the chirping of birds.

“You can calm down,” Hikaru said.

“Sorry. It’s my first time in a place like this.”

Lavia had been excited since leaving town.

“Let’s take it slow.”

“Don’t I have to use my magic?”

“You mainly use fire magic. While it doesn’t spread, the smell of smoke draws attention.”

That day and the next, Hikaru and Lavia grinded for levels in the forest. Their efforts paid off, and Lavia’s Soul Rank increased to the goal of 11.

During this time, Hikaru didn’t show up at the Adventurers’ Guild. He had found a peddler at a lake near the forest, who was buying monster parts. The prices were low, but Hikaru sold the items to them anyway as he didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention to himself in the guild. Herbs and monster parts that fetched for high prices he sold to the Thieves Guild instead, an organization with a base in the sewer systems underneath Pond, away from the eyes of the authorities.

Though it was publicly known as the Thieves Guild, it actually had a different name that Hikaru didn’t bother finding out, partly because anyone who knew it were identified as members of the underworld.

The organization didn’t steal or kill, but took on commissions that barely violated the law, or selling shady goods on the black market.