episode_0036

After finishing the reports, the receptionist lady quickly crumpled up the results report while pressing firmly on her temple with her left hand.

“A ghost spider. It’s not typical for monsters like that to appear in such places… Why on earth…?”

“I have no idea. Could there be a dungeon beneath the gangway?”

I replied, tilting my head sideways.

Perhaps the dungeon’s energy carried the grudge and transformed the deceased old man’s soul into a specter, which then enveloped the body of a giant spider. Personally, I thought it might be something along those lines.

“Like the Abyss Priest incident last time, it seems like incidents and accidents around Hilde keep happening without end…”

The receptionist lady let out a faint sigh. Since I was entertaining similar thoughts, I had no grounds to refute her.

“Oh, by the way, what happened to the Abyss Priest? Was he subdued?”

Wasn’t he the “Butcher of the Lower Class,” slaughtering weakened villagers on a village-wide scale to create undead? I had reported his traces from the dungeon I visited at Amy’s request, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the subjugation had already concluded.

“Well, about that…”

However, as the receptionist lady hesitated to speak, surprisingly, the scoundrel’s subjugation ended in failure.

The church dispatched knights and priests to attack the dungeon where he was hiding, the “Crude Catacomb”…

“It seems the number of undead surpassed expectations. Several undead even exceeded wights in strength.”

Is that what an Abyss Priest is? It was said that he had created an army of undead on the dungeon’s fourth floor. An endless battle, it seemed.

“So, for now, they’ve retreated and sealed off only the entrance to the dungeon, requesting a large-scale recruitment of personnel from our guild.”

Ah, perhaps that’s why the guild seemed oddly chaotic. If it’s a commission from the church, the rewards and compensation would be substantial.

With a large-scale recruitment, at least dozens of people would be mobilized, so the risk burden wouldn’t be too great.

“When does this commission start? What are the participation requirements?”

“Three days from now. At least three adventurers of the Iron-tier or higher are required. It shouldn’t be a problem for Hilde, but it might be difficult for Kikel to participate.”

Seems like they don’t accept wishy-washy types like shield or buckler. A bit disappointing.

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it. I guess we’ll have to find two more Iron-tier adventurers then…”

“Oh, Hilde! Is that you, Hilde?”

While scanning the guild for anyone suitable, a familiar voice reached my ears, causing me to turn in that direction.

“It is indeed Hilde!”

A red-haired sorceress with light freckles. Amy was waving at me with the Iron-tier adventurer badge around her neck.

…Alright, looks like I’ve found one person for now.

“Long time no see, Amy.”

I nodded with a smile as if to express my delight. Amy chuckled and casually sat down on the chair next to me.

“How have you been? Seeing you with the Iron-tier badge, I guess you’ve been recognized as an official sorceress now.”

“Yeah. As soon as I got rid of the apprentice tag, I immediately registered as an adventurer. Now I’m a respectable sorceress and an Iron-tier adventurer, huh?”

After asking the receptionist for permission, I chatted briefly with Amy.

Have you heard about the Abyssal Apostle?

Do you consider taking on the guild’s request?

How did your armor end up in such a state?

Those kinds of things.

“A spirit spider…? Impressive. It’s not a monster that a swordsman can take down alone.”

As expected, Amy also couldn’t contain her amazement and expressed her admiration while lightly covering her mouth with her left hand.

Where does this admiration end?

When I explained that I planned to sell off the byproducts of the spirit spider to buy new armor, she offered to take responsibility and sell everything at the market for me.

She suggested that I could get 30% higher value than if an adventurer not affiliated with the market were to sell them.

She asked for only a 10% cut for herself, and since it was a deal where I would still make a huge profit even after giving her the cut, I readily agreed.

◆◆

After completing our party registration with Amy, we posted a notice seeking one additional Iron-tier adventurer and left the guild to head towards the city.

Turning in the head and journal of the spirit spider to the church, I accused the village chief’s involvement in the murder and sold the loot at the tower to equip myself anew.

Of course, Wolfgang had no stake in the spirit spider’s loot, so as soon as he took on a new request, he simply received his commission and parted ways.

“Hmm. It was truly delightful to meet such good comrades. I hope we can meet again next time.”

How could he say “let’s meet again”? It was a chilling remark.

Afterward, we went to the tower and sold all the products of the spirit spider, except for the head, which we kept as evidence.

“The exoskeleton and venom sac of the spirit spider… Hm, you’ve brought quite rare items.”

Thanks to Amy, we were able to make a substantial profit.

Selling off all the products from the giant spider and the spirit spider brought in nearly 50 silver, and even after sharing with Amy and Route, 25 silver remained.

Route insisted on reporting to the church himself and left with the head and journal of the spirit spider, while Kikel also returned to his lodgings, citing the cold weather.

Thus, only Amy remained by my side.

Even after selling off the spirit spider’s products, she suggested we have a drink together since it had been a long time since we met…

“Sorry, not feeling up to it today.”

I declined, feeling too tired to drink and knowing I needed to change my armor first, especially with a battle against undead forces looming just three days away.

“I see… Well, what can you do? There’s always another day.”

Amy sighed lightly, seeming disappointed, but nodded understandingly and left.

After seeing Amy off, I headed to the armor shop in the marketplace to request repairs and reinforcement for my quilted armor. I also purchased a new pair of leather pants and then went to the blacksmith to exchange my broken armor and sword for new ones.

“What happened to this sword…?”

The blacksmith sighed in disbelief as he looked at the nearly destroyed sword.

“It was absurd. The sword, which I had recently bought, had been turned into scrap metal after just one request.

“Did it at least break a wall or something?”

“Something like that. Anyway, it seems like we’ll need a much sturdier sword than this.”

“Hmm… I’ll melt it down again and mix in some black steel to forge it anew. It’ll be much cheaper than getting a new one altogether.”

Was it thanks to the large sum spent on refitting the entire armor, or was it because of the gossip about my recent promotion to the Bronze-tier?

For a merchant in this city, the offer was surprisingly generous.

“Yes, please do that.”

I handed over the scrap-like longsword and armor, receiving the new armor in return, which I put on.

It would take about a day for the sword to be completed. Fortunately, I wouldn’t be late for the request.

◆◆

And the next day,

“Oh, Mr. Hilde. There’s someone who wants to join Mr. Hilde’s party.”

After dozing off all morning, I went to the request office around noon, where the receptionist handed me a note from the Bronze-tier adventurer who wanted to join.

“Not a martial artist, are they?”

I asked first.

“Hehe. No, they’re a swordsman who wields a greatsword.”

A greatsword wielder. That was a good addition. Anything was better than a martial artist.

“So…”

The receptionist continued with more details.

An adventurer from the neighboring city of Levant, a four-day journey from Vespyr, came to register as a Bronze-tier member at the Vespyr Guild. If it were a shield or a buckler, they would have had to start from scratch, but being a Bronze-tier warrior, they were immediately recognized as such upon registering at the Vespyr Guild.

“It seems they were quite promising in the Levant guild. Their promotion speed even surpassed yours, Mr. Hilde, and they were given a nickname up to this point.”

Their skill is definitely solid. Given their swift promotion, it seemed there were no disqualifying factors in terms of character either.

The introduction naturally carried a sense of anticipation. It seemed like a better reinforcement than I had expected.

“What’s the nickname?”

Given the positive tone of the explanation, it probably wasn’t something like ‘Ironhide’ akin to my own nickname. If that were the case, having a nickname attached itself would be a noteworthy advantage.

“Um, just a moment….”

The receptionist, after flipping through the pages of the documents on her desk as if searching for something, nodded slightly as if she had found what she was looking for and replied, “Ah, here it is. So… ‘Raven’…?”

Raven? What’s that?

“Yes? Raven?”

It was quite an odd nickname. No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t seem like a compliment.

“Yes, Raven. Sigfried. She’s been given that nickname because of her uncommon black hair.”

Black hair.

Indeed, in the land of Herbor, it was an extremely rare hair color.

While black hair was widespread in the far eastern part of the continent, it was mainly due to the fact that the residents there were entirely different in race from those here.

Seeing a human with black hair outside of the eastern part of the continent was not an easy thing to come by.

In the original work, weren’t there about eight people, including the protagonist Kim Seungwoo, who had this rare hair color?

Given such a rare hair color, it was somewhat natural for a nickname like “Raven” to be attached.

“So, you mentioned Sigfried, right? Judging by the name, it seems like it’s a woman. Where is she now? I’d like to meet her.”

“Oh, just a moment. Miss Sigfried!”

The receptionist, glancing around, pointed to a table in the corner and called out.

Naturally, my gaze followed hers.

“…”

A shaded corner without a spot of sunlight.

A woman, her face hidden beneath a worn cloak with a hood, sat quietly there.

Clad in leather with added metal armor, a protruding hilt of a greatsword caught the eye.

Under the hood, close-cropped black curly hair resembling a scattered mountain range. The glimpsed eyes were a deep golden hue.

“Seems a bit petite, doesn’t she…?”

I furrowed my brow slightly, tilting my head.

Even seated, she seemed rather small for a knight. The greatsword she wielded appeared longer than her stature would suggest.

With that, I couldn’t help but wonder if she could even swing the greatsword… Well, perhaps she possessed some kind of extraordinary strength or ability?

“Miss Sigfried?”

The receptionist once again addressed the unresponsive woman.

“Ah. I, I’m sorry.”

Sigfriede seemed to have just come to his senses and quickly got up from his seat, walking briskly towards us.

He took off the hood he was wearing, revealing his face.

“A kid…?”

For a moment, he looked so young that it was easy to mistake him for a child.

“Um, well, I’m actually twenty years old…”

Sigfriede defended himself, slightly lowering his head. His cheeks turned a little red as if to hide them.

“Oh, I’m sorry. You just looked so young, that’s all.”

I immediately offered an apology and glanced up and down at her.

A petite figure that seemed about 10cm shorter than me. Sharp yet large eyes. Even long unkempt hair that seemed to have forgotten the concept of a haircut.

She looked like a well-groomed orphan girl.

…This is supposed to be twenty? Really?

Otherworldly aura. If she’s twenty, she looked about five years younger than someone like Brunhilde who is the same age.