The B-Rank Adventurer (?) And The E-Rank Adventurer (?)

The Eto Branch of the Adventurers’ Guild Hall—

We collected a total of ten Saber White Wolves inside Storage Balls and visited the Monster Exchange located on the Guild grounds.

They bought things like the fangs, hides, and meat of defeated monsters here.

You might expect a place like this to stink of blood, but the counter area was actually kept quite clean.

I handed the Storage Balls to a young bespectacled cat beastman working there, and after nodding, he disappeared through the door behind the counter.

That door led to the dismantling workshop.

A little while later, the young cat beastman came back with his already-large feline eyes opened even wider than before.

“U-Um… did the two of you really defeat all those Saber White Wolves by yourselves!?”

“Yeah, we did.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what are your ranks?”

“B-rank and E-rank.”

“…”

The young man stared at us suspiciously for a while, then disappeared through the door again.

Maybe he was going to consult his superior?

He might even have been questioning whether the monsters themselves were genuine.

A short while later, his superior, an elderly dwarf, opened the door and came out. The moment he recognized me, his face brightened.

“Oh, it’s Roylotte. If it’s you, then taking down that many Saber White Wolves makes sense.”

“Yeah, though she helped this time too.”

“She did? Is she your wife?”

“No! She’s my work partner.”

I denied it with my face turning bright red… Maybe I’d gotten a little too worked up.

Yuri, standing beside me, lowered her head in embarrassment too.

“Roy the Lone Wolf finally has himself a partner, eh…”

Don’t grin at me like that, old man.

What exactly are you trying to imply?

Just as I was starting to feel oddly self-conscious, the young beastman came back out and timidly addressed the old man.

“Um… did these two really defeat those monsters?”

“Listen up, rookie. Remember this well. This guy calls himself B-rank. Truth is, he’s stronger than that, but he’s too lazy to bother taking the promotion exams.”

“R-Really!?”

“There are occasionally people besides him whose stated rank doesn’t match their actual ability. Learn to judge people properly.”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

Yuri’s eyes widened in surprise as she listened to their conversation.

Then she scratched her cheek and asked.

“Um, Roy… what rank are you really?”

“I don’t know either. Don’t worry about the little details.”

I’d never taken a promotion exam beyond B-rank, so even I had no idea what rank my current ability would correspond to.

That was the only answer I could give.

The elderly dwarf and the young beastman returned to the workshop and began appraising the Saber White Wolves.

While we waited, we sat on a bench inside the shop and drank tea served by a female rabbit beastman employee.

Around the time we finished our tea, the young beastman returned carrying a notebook.

“We have ten Saber White Wolves in total. We can purchase the hides for six hundred thousand Xenos… and the fangs for five million Xenos.”

Xenos was the currency used in this world.

There was a theory that the name came from the “Xeno” in the god Xenoric’s name, though apparently there were several competing theories and nothing had been confirmed.

In any case, the hides and fangs sold for a high price, so we’d earned a considerable sum.

“A total of 5.6 million Xenos isn’t a bad price.”

“Yeah.”

It seemed Yuri had visited Monster Exchanges before while traveling with the Hero’s party.

She wasn’t some sheltered young lady ignorant of the world, so that made things easier.

We decided to split both the request reward and the money from selling the Saber White Wolves evenly.

From her share, Yuri paid me back for the lodging, the clothes, and even the sword. I’d intended to give her the sword for free, but she insisted that would be far too much to accept, so in the end I took payment for it as well.

“U-Um… I’m looking for somewhere to live. Are there any rooms available?”

Yuri asked Erin-chan at the Guild reception desk.

Erin-chan nodded, brought over some rental property documents, and started checking them.

Even after paying me back for the sword, lodging, and clothes from her reward and monster-sale earnings, Yuri still had plenty of money left.

She could also rent a room in the dormitory inside the Guild Hall. She’d probably be able to live there for a while.

That said, she couldn’t stay there forever.

Eventually, it would be better if she could afford a proper home of her own.

Maybe I should keep hiring her as my partner for a while, at least until her life became more stable.

While I was thinking that, Erin-chan, who had been studying the housing documents, spoke apologetically to Yuri.

“Yuri-san, I’m sorry. There aren’t any vacancies in the Guild dormitory right now. And none of our affiliated boarding houses have open rooms either.”

“I-I see…”

Yuri’s shoulders slumped.

The Guild dormitory was popular because it was clean, well-equipped, and cheap.

And if there weren’t any boarding houses available either, she’d have to stay at some inexpensive inn for a while, but those tended to be in districts rough enough that I’d feel uneasy leaving a girl there alone.

Yuri was an adventurer, and she’d probably stayed in cheap inns plenty of times before, so maybe she’d be fine.

Then Erin-chan and I made eye contact, and she smiled pleasantly at me.

Huh? What’s with that face?

“So, Roy-san, I’m counting on you.”

“Huh?”

“You complained before that your house was too large for one person, didn’t you?”

Did she mean Yuri should board at my house!?

Erin-chan clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture.

“Please look after Yuri-kun for a while.”

“…”

Erin-chan still thought Yuri was a boy. She was currently wearing a breastplate over her tunic, after all.

I started to open my mouth to explain, but Yuri tugged on my sleeve.

When I turned toward her to see what she wanted, she stared up at me with pleading eyes like an abandoned puppy.

Ugh… Don’t look at me like that.

Y-You’re really okay living together with an old guy like me!?

I’m warning you, my place couldn’t be any more bachelor-like.

And my carefree life alone would be… no, seriously, stop looking at me with those watery eyes.

Hmmm… I couldn’t exactly abandon her now.

If a girl this cute ended up sleeping outdoors, she’d become prey for hungry wolves in no time, and I absolutely couldn’t let her wind up staying at the home of some good-for-nothing bastard.

“Fine. You can stay at my place for a while.”

“R-Really?”

“But we’ll take turns cooking. Cleaning too.”

“Th-Thank you!! I’m inexperienced, but please take good care of me.”

D-Don’t say “I’m inexperienced” in such a formal tone like you’re a bride marrying into my household!

And stop getting all hot in the face at your age, me.

And so, I ended up saying goodbye to my carefree life alone… but what was this restless feeling in my chest?

Was I actually happy about it?

If I wanted to continue my peaceful, inconspicuous life, I probably shouldn’t get too deeply involved with someone who used to travel with the Hero.

Even so, when I saw Yuri smile, part of me felt that I didn’t care what happened from here on out.