Chapter 326:
It’s the Same Everywhere
“Whoa, now, just wait a gosh darn minute!”
We were at the adventurer guild office to tell them about the illegal dump in the forest and the monsters that had gone berserk from the magic energy there. The more we talked, the bluer the guild member’s face grew. When we finally finished explaining everything, he ran off in a frenzy. Since Druid had warned me that our news would probably cause a stir in the adventurer guild, I wasn’t too surprised by the reaction, but the sight of the bluing face gave me a good shock.
“I didn’t know people’s faces could turn blue that quickly,” I said.
“Yeah, that was impressive. But it was a natural reaction: Villages can easily fall to ruin if a berserk monster is on the loose.”
Berserk monsters were indeed terrifying. Even though I knew Ciel was truly powerful, I was always scared it would get hurt whenever other monsters showed up.
“I’m sorry, but could you please come this way? The guild master wants to hear more.”
Druid and I exchanged weak smiles. It seemed our news really had caused quite a stir. Even the other adventurers around were staring at us warily.
“Yes, of course,” Druid answered the guild staffer, and we all climbed up the stairs together.
“Excuse me, sir.” The staff member opened what I assumed was the door to the guild master’s office, and we found a sturdily built lady in the room.
“Ahh, thank you,” she said. “And just who might you folks be? Sorry to call you up here like this.”
Hatahi’s guild master is a lady? I looked around the room, and she was the only person there. As I was studying her, she turned to look at me.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Lish, guild master of Hatahi Village.”
Guild Master Lish was confident and down to earth. She was a bit shorter than Druid, but she was very muscular for a lady.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Druid.”
“And I’m Ivy. Nice to meet you, ma’am.”
“She your daughter?” Guild Master Lish looked back and forth between us in confusion. She probably thought it was strange that we didn’t look alike.
“No, but she’s like a daughter to me.”
Druid’s answer made my cheeks burn. It took everything I had not to melt into mush while I gave Guild Master Lish a little nod.
“That so? Anyway, hate to get right to it, but can ya tell me a bit more about those berserk monsters?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Druid pointed at the map and showed her where we found the monsters. We’d spent a few days checking the map to make sure we knew exactly where it happened so we could provide a good explanation to the guild. And Ciel had helped us part of the way through, so our calculations should have been right. Then again, Ciel’s help didn’t really amount to much since the creature couldn’t read maps.
I looked around the office and saw that the shelves were piled with books. Curiosity getting the better of me, I had a closer look and noticed that most of them were about monsters.
I wonder if she has any books on slimes? I’ll have to ask later.
“Okay, so you’re sure you saw them at this rocky boulder, then?”
“Yes, we’re certain of it.”
“Arrgh, what a hassle. I keep telling those brainless adventurers to be careful.” Guild Master Lish sighed heavily. “Since you don’t know how many there are, guess we’ll hafta send out a cleanup party. Wanna be a part of that?”
“Er, no thank you,” Druid shook his head.
“Too bad.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Druid said. “Well, we’d better be on our way.”
“All right, lemme know if ya change your mind. Oh, and can I see your bank card for a bit? I wanna pay ya for that tip.”
Druid handed our family account card to Lish. She pressed it to a magic item, then gave it back to Druid.
“Um, ma’am?” I said.
“What’s up, my dear?”
“I noticed you have a lot of books… Are any of them about slimes?”
“Slimes, you say?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I nodded.
Guild Master Lish walked over to one of the shelves and pulled out a book. “For slimes, this is the best book I’ve got.”
Looking more closely, I saw it was the same book I’d bought. “Oh, I have this book!”
“Do ya? You’ve got good taste, my dear. All the other slime books are half-baked compared to this one; no point in reading ’em.”
Oh dear. That’s too bad.
“If ya wanna learn about slimes, does that mean you’re a tamer, Ivy?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Since hiding my skill just made people nosier about it, I had decided to say right away that I was a tamer whenever I was asked. I was a little worried people would ask to meet my slimes, but anyone stupid enough to ask to see someone’s tamed monsters was fair game to ignore. Druid said we could even take legal action if people got too inquisitive.
“Aha. Are ya gonna keep traveling past Hatahi?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said as Druid nodded beside me.
“Hmm, too bad. I’d actually love to have a slime tamer stay here for a while.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am.”
“Ha ha ha! Don’t apologize, my dear. Still, lemme know if ya change your mind. I’ll make it worth your while.” Guild Master Lish smiled, looking straight into my eyes. For some reason, the strength and confidence in her expression was infectious. I somehow managed to look away and turn her down again. “What a pity,” she answered.
We left the adventurer guild and headed to the merchant guild next. We were going to sell the magic stones, fruits, and nuts we’d found in the forest.
“It won’t be a problem if we sell all our magic stones, right?” I asked.
Druid had figured out that they were about level seven or eight, all the types of magic stones you’d see in normal circulation.
“Yeah, they’re low-level enough for us to sell them all without drawing attention.”
We had mined thirty-eight magic stones in total, and we could sell all the low-level ones at once without any problems. We decided to sell the diamonds two at a time. The only thing we weren’t so sure about was the fruit we’d foraged in the forest. Then again, we’d eaten most of it anyway, so we only had three pieces left. It was just fruit…and there were only three of them…so they probably wouldn’t give us any problems.
We entered the merchant guild and headed straight for the front desk, where there were two women and one man. Druid headed for the older of the women.
“May I help you?” she asked us.
“We’re here to sell some magic stones and some tree nuts and fruits.”
“All right, please show us your guild card.” Druid took out his merchant guild card and she pressed it to a magic item. “Looks good to me. Go ahead and place your items on the counter.”
The lady placed a long white board onto the counter—I wondered if it was a magic item. I was excited to see what it did, since I hadn’t seen anything like it at other merchant guilds. Druid took everything we were selling out of the magic bag.
“Your magic stones all look fine to me. The pharmacy will love your tree nuts. Now, what have we here… Ooh! What a rarity.”
Each time a new item was placed onto the white board, we got an immediate reaction from the lady. Apparently the board told her the item’s classification and price.
“This is…incredibly rare. It’s from the baronial tree, and they only bear fruit once every several years.”
The baronial tree? And it takes years for the fruit to grow? Agh, we ate up twenty pieces without realizing it!
“We’ve never heard of it,” Druid explained. “We just happened to find a tree in the forest.”
“Oh, really? Well, you can only find baronial trees on the outskirts of Hatahi, so that makes sense.”
So it was native to Hatahi. I guess we couldn’t help not knowing what it was.
“Every year aristocrats in the capital send word asking to buy any fruit we happen to find.”
They get requests from aristocrats in the capital? Better not tell anybody we ate the fruit. I glanced at Druid and saw he was thinking the same thing. Our eyes met, and we nodded.
“Bringing us three whole fruits sure is a big help,” the lady said.
Sorry…it should’ve been more than three.
“Don’t mention it. Also,” Druid pulled out the diamonds, “we have these.”
The lady was even more surprised by them than the fruit. She even let out a soft gasp as she said, “What a treasure… Thank you so much. Anyway, this is what we’ll pay you for everything.”
Instead of saying the number out loud, the lady jotted it down on a receipt so only we would know. Druid nodded in agreement, and the lady ripped up the paper and threw it away. When I gave her a surprised look, she laughed and said, “It’s to keep everyone else from getting stupid ideas. How should we transfer your money?”
Stupid ideas? Like what?
“Deposit it in our account, please,” Druid answered, handing her our family account card. She took it and performed some operation on it.
“Have a look; it’s all transferred. Thank you very much for your business.”
Wow, that was the fastest transaction in my life.
We thanked her and left the merchant guild.
“That was so fast,” I told Druid.
“Yeah, I was right to pick her.”
“Um, what did she mean by ‘stupid ideas’?”
“She didn’t want the adventurers around us to hear how much money we got and then be tempted by the allure of crime.”
Tempted by the allure of crime?
“Lots of adventurers are low on funds this time of year, so money clouds their judgment. Well, it’s complicated.”
Now I get it. I’ve always thought of spring as a nice, warm time of year, but I guess it’s also a season when you have to be extra vigilant.
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