Ch.22Chapter 22 – The Young Merchant Guild Leader

Getting permission from Haven and Ravi was very easy.

At first, they were hesitant, subtly refusing by saying it would be difficult with Seraphina.

“No, she’s a girl, you know.”

“But my living expenses are on the line?”

When I subtly asked if they were in any position to be picky, Seraphina lowered her head and stood up.

Then she demonstrated her strength by lifting a barrel of alcohol from the corner of the tavern with one hand.

“It’s not empty or anything, right?”

Naturally, Ravi and Haven were suspicious, but soon it was proven that the barrel was indeed full.

Thanks to that, the super-strong girl’s company was easily secured.

We decided to depart for the mine in about three days and left the Adventurer’s Guild.

Of course, I accepted a quest before leaving. Living day to day, I couldn’t afford to rest.

I was now walking briskly toward the gate with Seraphina, whose situation was even worse than mine, to earn today’s living expenses.

“…Mr. Kay.”

“What is it?”

Seraphina looked at me with slightly cold eyes.

“I’m a girl, you know.”

“Yes.”

“I won’t say much this time, but next time, please be more considerate…”

She seemed a bit hurt, even though she understood that her living expenses were at stake and she had no choice.

“I’ll be more careful next time.”

“Yes…”

I could hear Seraphina grumbling about how she’d never get married.

+

The next day, I woke up early in the morning and roused the sleeping Seraphina.

It was something she had asked me to do after we finished yesterday’s extermination quest. She had requested that I wake her up because she wasn’t confident she could get up early on her own.

“Good morning… I guess.”

She came out yawning.

After a simple breakfast, we headed to the guild, enjoying the morning air.

“Are you going on an extermination quest today, Mr. Kay?”

“No. I’m taking a break from extermination today because I have somewhere to visit.”

I explained this while accepting a quest to do odd jobs with Seraphina.

“Somewhere to visit?”

“A place called Ravencha Trading Company.”

Though quite some time had passed, I was planning to visit today to ask if I could receive payment for the troll blood.

However, Seraphina seemed to interpret it differently.

“A trading company… You must already have connections with such places. You must be quite promising, Mr. Kay.”

She apparently thought I was impressive enough that a trading company had reached out to me.

“Well, I do have connections, but it was just a coincidence.”

I do know the company’s owner, Ive, since we traveled together for a while.

Seraphina sighed and said:

“I wish I could find a sponsor or something too.”

“It’s not exactly a sponsorship…”

Soon, Seraphina tapped her cheeks three times and said:

“Well, let’s forget what I just said and focus on earning today’s living expenses with enthusiasm.”

She then began sorting the packages for delivery.

When I divided them by district and location, Seraphina started loading them all onto her back.

As she did so, there were so many packages that she began to disappear behind them.

Similar to a backpack with legs, this time it was delivery items with legs.

The pile of packages spoke to me.

“Where should we go first?”

“…Let’s start with this area.”

I left the guild with Seraphina, carrying my share of the packages.

I spent that morning guiding Seraphina, who was attracting attention because of the excessive number of packages she was carrying.

After lunch, leaving Seraphina behind with her remaining deliveries, I headed toward the Ravencha Trading Company.

‘Hmm, should I buy some fruit?’

I thought I should bring a gift as a courtesy, even if I couldn’t meet Ive.

Perhaps with her unique ability, she already knew I was coming.

I walked through the alleyways, stopped by a fruit shop to buy some snacks, and then headed to the Ravencha Trading Company.

When I entered the building entrance, an employee recognized me and spoke:

“Welcome. Please go upstairs.”

“Pardon?”

Confused by the immediate instruction to go upstairs, I asked, and the employee replied:

“You’re here to see the company owner, right?”

“Yes.”

Without me even saying anything.

But thinking about it, this was Ive we were talking about.

As I had guessed, she must have sensed that I was coming.

I nodded lightly to the employee and went in, gently knocking on the reception room door I had entered before.

Or rather, I was about to knock.

“It’s open, please come in.”

She even knew I was going to knock.

I opened the door and saw Ive signing something with a pen.

Soon she put down her pen upon seeing me and smiled.

“It’s been a long time.”

“Yes, it has been a while.”

Somehow, a fruit knife was already prepared on the reception room table.

“First, congratulations on your promotion to E-rank.”

“I suspected it earlier, but you saw it, didn’t you?”

“That’s right.”

Ive smiled as she peeled the fruit.

‘She peels it so beautifully.’

That was my thought as I watched the evenly sized fruit pieces being arranged.

“Well, I finished all my work early because I knew you were coming.”

“Were you working until just now?”

“That was the last bit. Being able to see the future makes time management easier.”

Ive said proudly, and I just smiled in response.

More than that, I was curious why she bothered to meet me at all. She could have just avoided me or left the money with an employee.

“You were thinking I could have just left the money with a first-floor employee, weren’t you?”

“You saw that too?”

“No, that was just my guess.”

Ive said with a smile.

“Let me tell you in advance, I’m not that cold-hearted. We almost died together in the New Kingdom—how could I turn you away?”

“Thank you.”

I took off my helmet and bit into a piece of fruit as I spoke.

Ive also smiled and picked up a piece of fruit to eat.

For a moment, only the crunching sound filled the reception room, then Ive spoke:

“But, appearances aside, I was a little disappointed in you.”

I tensed up slightly, hearing those words from someone it would be troublesome to offend.

“May I ask why?”

Ive smiled and said:

“You’ve been in the capital for quite a while, and I’ve had the money from the troll blood ready for some time. I’ve been wondering when you’d come, if you’d forgotten about me, or if I should haul my heavy bottom over to find you myself.”

“You didn’t need to do that…”

Hearing this, Ive put down her fork and said:

“Yes, I did.”

She spoke seriously.

“I’m here now thanks to you.”

After saying that, Ive continued:

“So I was quite surprised. I never thought you wouldn’t visit even once.”

“Well, that’s…”

“If you were doing odd jobs, I thought you might have had time to stop by and keep me company for a bit. I was quite hurt. Am I that unappealing to you?”

I sighed as I listened to Ive’s words.

“Please, don’t tease me so much.”

I surrendered quietly.

“Hmm, did I tease too much?”

Since she had maintained the same expression throughout, I figured she was just joking.

I had thought that visiting the owner of a trading company might be an inconvenience, but now I wondered if I should come by at least once more, even if just to humor her.

“Don’t feel burdened. You’re welcome to come by just to say hello.”

As if reading my mind, Ive smiled and said.

“Well, let’s leave it at that. Shall we go?”

“Where to?”

Ive smiled and said:

“We should celebrate your promotion to E-rank, shouldn’t we?”

She put on her coat and continued:

“Let’s have a meal together to commemorate it.”

It was just past lunchtime now.

Having no particular reason to refuse, I followed her outside.

We walked out onto the street and entered the restaurant Ive had chosen.

‘…Is it okay for me to be here?’

As we entered a rather upscale establishment, I was inwardly nervous, and Ive laughed.

“I’m paying for everything, so don’t worry too much.”

“No, it’s not that…”

“Many adventurers come here too, you know? Though none are here right now.”

At this hour, most adventurers would be out working.

Soon the food arrived according to Ive’s order, and we began eating.

“Mr. Kay, you should take off your helmet to eat.”

“No, that’s…”

“Oh come on, I’ll just take it off myself.”

Ive reached out and undid the lock on my helmet, removing it.

“No, if you do that…”

“The burn? I’ve already seen it and it doesn’t bother me at all.”

Though Ive said this, I heard slight gasps from people around us who had seen my face.

“…This burn is quite hideous, and people tend to dislike it.”

“It doesn’t bother me at all.”

Ive said as she elegantly cut her steak.

“Of course, I think it would be nice if the burn healed, but that’s only because it looks painful and I wish you’d get better soon.”

However, Ive added:

“You don’t need to feel self-conscious just because the burn makes your face look unpleasant. To me, you’re just you.”

“…Thank you.”

I replied while clumsily cutting my steak.

Soon, the people around us seemed to lose interest in me and said nothing more.

“By the way, you’re going to the mine, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then I should give you some good information.”

Ive added that this was also to celebrate my E-rank promotion.

“You’ll probably encounter monsters called Rock Turtles there. When you defeat them, I recommend examining their shells carefully.”

“Why is that?”

“These monsters eat rocks, and sometimes they eat gemstone ores.”

Ive said as she put a piece of steak in her mouth.

“So occasionally, gemstone ores get embedded in the Rock Turtles’ shells.”

“Oh…”

Speaking of shells, I remembered Seraphina had shown interest in them as alchemy materials.

If I were to discover gemstone ores, it could be a windfall.

Though life isn’t usually that easy, so the chances of finding nothing were probably higher.

“If you find any ores, bring them to our trading company. We’ll buy them at a good price.”

“I’ll remember that.”

We continued eating.

The food was delicious, which explained why Ive had chosen this place.

“When I look at you, I’m reminded of my past.”

“Your past?”

“Yes.”

Ive smiled, and I honestly shared the thought that came to mind:

“It’s hard for me to imagine, honestly.”

“I also struggled a lot to get where I am now.”

“I’m curious about your age, Ms. Ive.”

It was a thoughtless comment born from curiosity about her age, as it seemed like we were about to hear a young CEO’s success story.

“Mr. Kay.”

Ive’s expression became serious.

“I’m not that old.”

“…Yes.”

Can this woman read minds too?

“You seem to have quite rude thoughts inside, despite your appearance.”

Ive was smiling, but the pressure in her words made me bow my head.

A person should know when to bow their head.

It’s foolish to stick your neck out when swords are flying everywhere.

To escape this atmosphere, I tried to change the subject.

I wasn’t scared or anything.

“You must have been even younger than now when you started working as a merchant?”

“That’s right. That’s why it was even harder.”

Building a trading company of this size means her abilities must be exceptional.

Her ability probably helped, but since she said it doesn’t activate at will, most of her success must be due to her own capabilities.

I watched quietly, finding it slightly amusing how she sounded like an old soul as she casually shared stories of her difficult times while we ate.

Perhaps her hardships made her seem more mature than her actual age.

“Are you having disrespectful thoughts again?”

And perhaps she’s developed an intuition that seems like mind-reading.

We continued eating.

“I hope today can pass peacefully.”

Ive also said this with a relaxed expression.

And immediately after, the restaurant door was roughly opened.

As everyone around turned to look, two men wearing priestly robes entered the restaurant.

The priestly robes looked very familiar.

‘…The Emiris Order.’

Those men wearing those detestable clothes were entering the restaurant.