Chapter 40

-Collect five types of medicinal herbs from Mount Haren.

-Inspect and report on the sealing wards of an unapproved labyrinth entrance in District 3.

-Investigate monster ecology on Mount Gilphon.

For reference, the seal inspection quest was one of those routine jobs issued ten at a time every month. Hardly anyone liked taking them since the pay was awful, but Shia thought it might be fun, so we picked it.

As for the Gilphon survey, someone had reported running into a goblin pack there recently, and the guild wanted to confirm whether that was true. Normally, a handful of goblins wouldn’t be a big deal, but Mount Gilphon was right along the western road connecting Districts 2 and 3.

If monsters were crawling around there, it wasn’t something you could just laugh off.

“These are the three quests we’d like to take.”

The horned beastkin girl glanced at the slips I handed over, then gave me an awkward smile.

“You really did pick nothing but apprentice quests.”

“Well… I am an apprentice, aren’t I?”

“……”

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

“N-no, nothing. Very well, I’ll register them for you.”

A week later.

As expected, we returned without any trouble at all, ready to submit our reports and collect our reward.

“Names… let’s see, Go-u Gohn Sihin , and Miss Shia Akata (alias), correct? Ah, yes. Manager Kate mentioned you two. I’ll let her know right away, so please wait just a moment.”

Kate—the horned receptionist from our first day.

“Hmm? I heard apprentice quests can be reported to any counter clerk.”

“That’s true in general, but the two of you have been assigned to Manager Kate personally. From now on, most of your guild-related work will go through her. It’s unusual—normally you don’t get a personal handler until at least Silver rank, you see.”

Five minutes later, Kate appeared at the top of the stairs, smiling brightly as soon as she spotted us at the table.

“Ah~ finally! I was wondering when you’d show up.”

Finally?

“It’s been a week. Please hand me your quest reports.”

“Eh, apprentice quests? You obviously handled them fine.”

Without even skimming the papers I gave her, she stamped them all in rapid succession and shoved them aside.

Then—

“Heheh. Actually, the timing is perfect. There’s a quest I’ve been saving just for you two… why not take a look?”

She pulled out a parchment trimmed with silver edging from her drawer and slid it across to me.

“…Hm?”

It was a four-star quest slip. In other words, the kind that required at least one Silver-rank party.

For reference, Silver rank usually meant mana users among body-strengtheners, or third- to fourth-rank mages.

“…A four-star quest, huh. Why are you handing this to us apprentices?”

“What, you’re seriously going to keep doing apprentice chores?”

“Well… I am an apprentice. What else would I do?”

“Oh, come on. You’ve done three already, that’s more than enough. How many weeds do you need to pull before you’re satisfied? This quest, I pulled it aside specifically for you, Mr. Geom-shin. Just read it.”

…What the hell? Since when were we on such familiar terms? This is only the second time we’ve met.

When I gave her a lukewarm look, she seemed to realize she’d overstepped. Clearing her throat with an embarrassed cough, she continued.

“…Forgive me, I got carried away. But honestly, apprentice-level jobs? There are hundreds of rookies who can do those. The higher you go, though, the fewer there are, until high-rank quests like this get left to rot. Just like this one.”

“Hm….”

“But seriously, someone who’s obviously dangerous with a blade, insisting on playing apprentice—writing observation notes and pulling weeds? As a guild employee, I couldn’t just sit by.”

“Dangerous with a blade, you say… what gave you that impression of me?”

For the record, I’d never told her about my strength—or even that I was a mage or priest. Apprentice registration didn’t require more than the bare minimum.

“Heh. You’re underestimating reception, aren’t you? Do you know how many adventurers I’ve sized up here? From loudmouth nobodies with nothing to their name, to people like someone right in front of me—predators pretending they’re harmless little herbivores. It’s obvious.”

I kept a straight face.

“So, basically, just your intuition.”

“Then how about this?”

She picked up the blunt paper knife used for trimming documents.

For a moment, mana leaked around the blade—then, with a sharp ching! it flared into dense light.

I let out a quiet whistle.

“…Wow. Aura.”

“I’m actually quite handy with my body. And with that, there’s no way I’d fail to recognize another aura user.”

“Still just a guess.”

She smirked, then suddenly slashed at my throat with lightning speed.

Swish!

It was clearly meant to test me, not kill.

But trying that kind of stunt meant she was confident I was weaker. In this brutal world, pulling something like that against someone stronger usually ended with a steel partition installed between your left and right brain.

Cheeky little…

In the slowed-down time of heightened focus, I simply—

Slip.

—snatched the knife from her hand. Then—

Thwack!!

“Kyah!!”

The hilt smacked her forehead, and she yelped before realizing what had happened. Her eyes went wide.

“…Wh-what? How is that in your hand…?”

“For a test, that was pushing it. If my temper were even a little worse, this wouldn’t have ended so gently. You know that, right?”

Her face flushed red.

“Ugh… I-I’m sorry. You’re far more skilled than I thought. I figured I had the edge, but… I overestimated myself.”

“…So you mean if I really was weaker, you wouldn’t be apologizing at all?”

“Eh? Of course not. Isn’t that obvious?”

Good grief. If she isn’t the perfect example of a guild type… pure machismo.

“…Leaving me aside, isn’t it a waste for you to be stuck at a reception desk? With aura like that, you’d be at least Gold rank.”

She rubbed her sore forehead and gave a wry laugh.

“Reception needs strength. Our job can be as dangerous as any dungeon run. We’re the first line against troublemakers—and not just random riffraff, but aura users, mages, you name it.”

“And the other receptionists?”

“Most are at least mana users. A couple are aura users just below my level.”

“…A den of beasts, huh. No wonder the Adventurer’s Guild lives up to its fearsome reputation.”

“There’s even an apprentice who beat down an aura user. Compared to that, is this really surprising?”

I only shrugged. She flicked the silver-bordered quest slip at me with a snap.

“Anyway. Now that you can’t use ‘lack of skill’ as an excuse, you’ll take this quest, right?”

“…Sigh.”

Reluctantly, I took the request slip from her and skimmed through it.

The contents were straightforward.

Baronet Aduhn’s second son, Hank Aduhn, had recently registered as an adventurer in District 3 and formed a party to explore the labyrinth. The job was to join his party for a month—pretending to be a teammate—and act as his babysitter.

“…So basically, you want me to join as if I were a comrade, but in reality just guard him?”

“Yes. Exactly.”

“Hm…”

“Please. For this one job, there’s no one more qualified than you.”

Two days later.

“Hmph… an unfamiliar face. I am Hank Aduhn, leader of Hank’s Party. So? You there, you’re the one Miss Kate mentioned—the new recruit?”

…Look at this brat. Just barely had his coming-of-age ceremony, and he’s talking like that? I’ve eaten a thousand bowls of rice more than him, and he dares call me ‘you there’?

I could feel the Confucian Dragon inside me stirring, and I recalled the story the draconian receptionist girl told me about the quest’s background.

“Baronet Aduhn is fairly well-known in District 3. His manor is huge—almost three thousand people live under him.”

“Three thousand? That’s enormous for a single estate.”

She nodded and continued.

“He has three children—two sons and one daughter. This year, the second son reached adulthood…”

I didn’t need to hear more to understand.

“Ah, inheritance trouble, right? The eldest inherits the manor, and having the second son hanging around complicates things.”

“Hehe. You catch on quick. So the Baronet decided to send his second son out to become a famous adventurer. The boy himself is eager, and in a marquisate like this, becoming an adventurer is one of the fastest ways to climb socially.”

“…I see.”

“But here’s the problem—Hank Aduhn’s personality is a nightmare.”

“A nightmare?”

“Born and raised in a tiny backwater, spoiled rotten all his life… he has no sense of danger, no awareness of his own limits.”

“Ah, I get the picture.”

She sighed deeply.

“Normally, apprentice adventurers have to take a course on the labyrinth’s upper floors—levels 1 through 10. Graduates of that course survive at a rate more than 20% higher than those who skip it. But that idiot and his party… they went straight into the labyrinth without attending.”

“…I didn’t take it either.”

“You’re different. The upper floors are for Silver-ranked or lower adventurers. At your level, nothing there could even scratch you. If you’re really interested, you could try the courses for the middle (11–20) or deep (21+) floors—but those are paid, just so you know.”

“…Right.”

“Anyway. Despite their recklessness, they’ve survived so far—mostly because they’re not complete trash. But at this rate, it’s only a matter of time before something happens.”

“Something?”

“Accidents. Right now, Hank is carrying a Silver plate, and the rest of his team are Bronze. At best, that kind of party can handle floors 4 or 5. We’ve warned them repeatedly not to go deeper, but the way they’re acting, it’s only a matter of time before they do.”

“Sounds like you’ve done your part. Why not just let them die?”

“Believe me, I’d love to. But because of who his father is, the District 3 guild can’t ignore it. We warned the Baronet his son would likely die soon if nothing changed, and in response he dumped a mountain of money on us and formally requested protection.”

“And that’s this quest?”

“Yes. Big payout. Just keep his son safe.”

When she mentioned the reward, I was honestly shocked. The amount was massive—far too much for a 4-star request.

‘A month’s duration is annoying… but with that payout, it’s worth it. I can’t live off selling feathers forever.’

“But hold on. With an estate that size, surely they’ve got plenty of knights. Why not send them along instead of hiring outsiders?”

“…Because that idiot’s pride is absurd. He refuses to be guarded. He insists on achieving everything with his own strength. Same reason he won’t accept teammates stronger than him.”

So that’s why the guild needed someone to slip in disguised as a party member. Babysitting a spoiled noble brat without hurting his ego. What a headache.

“No wonder this juicy quest has been sitting unclaimed.”

“Exactly. There wasn’t anyone suitable… until now.”

“And since I’m still unknown around here, I can hide my strength, blend in, and join his party?”

“Yes. With my introduction letter, you’ll have no trouble. They’re already looking to recruit more members, so the timing is perfect.”

“…I see.”

The draconian girl gave me a mischievous little smile.

“So… you’ll take it, won’t you?”