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“Give me something fun and useful.”
Kate burst out laughing when she saw me with Shia sitting on my shoulders.
“Did you already register a quest?”
I smiled at her lively reaction.
To be fair, this attitude was only possible because she thought my level was just a bit higher than hers—around top-tier Aura User or barely into Blaster.
If she knew I was Master-class or higher, she’d be acting far more carefully right now.
My mind drifted to Commander Reload Beersiltra of the Totum Mountain Knights, who had switched his attitude instantly the moment he realized my true level.
‘…This is exactly why I have to keep my strength hidden. The moment I reveal it, everyone’s behavior flips completely.’
“Anyway, just pick something good.”
“You know, I think only you and Miss Shia over there choose quests like this.”
She shrugged helplessly, then pulled out a quest book and started flipping through it.
“You’re wearing a Silver badge right now, correct? Should I match it to that?”
Shia answered from above my head instead.
“The rank does not matter.”
“Hm… then I should be ready to issue a Gold badge pass just in case. Alright, got it. Let’s see… fun and useful…”
She scanned the pages for a while before her hand suddenly stopped.
“…How about this one?”
I took the request form she handed me and skimmed it.
“This isn’t a labyrinth quest, it’s a field quest. And it’s only three and a half stars? The last ‘golden problem child’ quest was four stars, wasn’t it?”1 “Isn’t this a newbie-level job?”
At my muttering, Shia tugged firmly on my hair.
“It doesn’t matter. By your standards or mine, three stars or six stars are all the same. As long as it is fun, that is enough.”
“Well… I guess that’s true.”
The contents were extremely simple.
Near a small village called Cops on the outskirts of District Three, goblins and kobolds had built a nest. The request was to exterminate them.
The reward was fifty thousand sel.
Recommended manpower: two Bronze-rank parties (six people) plus extra, or two Silver-rank adventurers plus extra.
“What does the ‘plus extra’ mean here?”
“It means unexpected variables might come up, so it’s better to secure more people. That’s why it has the extra half star.”
“I see. Still, fifty thousand sel… that’s brutally low.”
For reference, even though it was called District Three, that single district alone was nearly ten times the size of Seoul.
Since the village was said to be on the outskirts of District Three, even after preparing, the round trip from the district’s central area would take at least a week.
“It won’t take a full week. ‘Outskirts’ doesn’t always mean the very edge of the district. About half that, I’d say.”
…Correction. Three to four days.
Then there’d be time spent gathering information from the villagers and planning.
‘That alone already pushes it close to a week.’
And there was no telling how long the subjugation itself would take. Even if everything went smoothly with no surprises, it’d be ten days.
With six Bronze-rank members, that came out to roughly 830 sel per person per day.
Bronze rank usually meant a Novice-level body cultivator or a second-tier mage. For people at that level, moving around and putting in that much legwork for such pay was clearly not worth it.
Seeing my expression, she nodded like she knew exactly what I was thinking.
“It’s a backwater village with barely seventy households. Even if they scraped together everything they had, it wouldn’t be much. A guild that couldn’t stand seeing it added thirty thousand sel on top, so it barely reached fifty thousand.”
“The guild added thirty thousand?” I frowned. “That sounds strange. Maintaining security in each district is the Adventurer’s Guild’s basic duty, delegated by the local lord, isn’t it? Talking like they did a favor for doing their job feels a bit shameless.”
She scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“Haha… well… you’re not wrong.”
I paused in thought, then asked her,
“Even so, isn’t the reward still too low? I feel bad for that village, but I’m not here to do volunteer work.”
She tilted her head.
“You said fun and useful was enough, didn’t you?”
“That wasn’t me saying I wanted to be a sucker. At the very least, the pay should match the labor.”
“I’ll give you a really generous amount of merit points. We’ve gathered about seven applicants already, and none of them are here for the money—they’re all in it for the merit points.”
“I’ll pass.”
“…Pardon?”
“If I asked for a Gold rank right now, you’d give it to me, right?”
“Uh, y-yes. I mean… yes.”
“Then what about Platinum?”
“…Ah, probably? You’ve done a lot for the guild already, and from our perspective, someone like you, Sword God, is talent we absolutely want to keep.”
“Merit points are what you need to move up the ranks, correct?”
“…Yes.”
“Then do merit points actually mean anything to me?”
“…….”
She fidgeted with the horn at her temple, looking awkward, then glanced at my face once—and then gave my body a slow once-over.
After that, her face flushed slightly as she leaned in and whispered.
“…Th-th-then how about three date coupons with me?”
I answered without hesitation.
“No thanks.”
“……!”
The dragonkin girl looked like the sky had just fallen on her.
If this were a comic, there would’ve been dramatic speed lines and a huge KWA-BOOM! sound effect exploding around her.
‘Uh… j-just so you know, among District Three adventurers, I’m literally called the “Queen” for my looks, okay? There are enough people begging just to eat one meal with me to fill the Hatji River (the river that runs north–south through Seol, forming the boundary between East and West).’
“Hm….”
I only moved my eyes as I took another look at her from head to toe.
True to a dragonkin whose average height far surpassed other races, she was tall, with long, straight limbs. On top of that, she had gentle curves and strikingly beautiful features.
“Well, I’ve thought for a while that you’re a stunning beauty. I’ll admit that.”
“Right?”
“But that’s only within the category of ‘people.’”
“…Excuse me?”
“Come to think of it, Miss Kate, you’ve never really seen Shia properly, have you?”
“Properly… seen her? What do you mean?”
I scratched my head briefly, then lifted Shia down from my shoulders and held her in my arms.
I spread my coat to block outside view, then lightly tapped her cheek.
“Hey. Shia.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Take off the Black Mountain Earring.”
“Huuuh….”
Still in my arms, Shia casually unclasped the earring hanging from one ear.
In that instant, her brilliance bloomed like a flower.
“Take a look.”
Kate’s eyes widened to the point they looked ready to tear as she stared at Shia’s true appearance.
“W-wha… wow… th-this is insane. How can someone look like that…?”
I let out a chuckle at her perfectly expected reaction.
Even I—someone who had long since gotten used to it—still flinched every now and then at that final-boss-level beauty. So there was no need to explain how a first-timer would react.
“I spend all day staring at this face.”
Strictly speaking, I also half-hugged her like a pillow when I slept, but that was touching, not looking, so it didn’t count.
“…….”
“Oh, and for reference, I’ve got a female friend named Yuribel who’s about on par with her—ow. Don’t pinch me. I get it, I get it. Anyway, every time Yuribel comes up… long story short, among my female friends(?), there’s even one who’s just sliiightly below Shia, you know? So do you think my standards are high? Or low?”
“U-uhh….”
Hey, don’t glare at me just because I said ‘female friend.’ What else am I supposed to call Yuribel to a third party? An angel? A kidnapper? A scammer? Baggage? A chicken?
‘Female friend’ was the most reasonable option.
“…….”
…Come to think of it, this was the first time in my entire life I’d ever called someone a female friend. Wow. Go Geom-shin. You’ve really made it.
When I put the earring back on Shia’s ear, the dragonkin girl finally seemed to snap out of it and muttered with a completely deflated face.
“…Ah. My self-esteem. My pride. I want to die. I really wish I’d just drop dead.”
For some reason, that last line felt less like self-deprecation and more like it was aimed at someone else… Probably my imagination.
“It’s just that your opponent was bad. Don’t be too discouraged.”
She puffed out her lips in a sulky pout.
“…I really wish she’d drop dead. Fuck.”
Hey. No need to confirm the kill.
…
“…Anyway. Don’t try to settle this with something trivial like dates. Put up proper compensation.”
“Honestly, there’s nothing I can really give you….”
“You’ve got money. Break your savings.”
“…My monthly salary is only fourteen thousand sel, you know? And that’s before taxes.”
“I was joking. Heh…”
“Phew…”
I asked her as she struggled awkwardly,
“Is manpower really that scarce?”
“To be honest, we technically met the required numbers. Like I said, we only gathered seven people, but one of them is Silver rank—and a real veteran at that. Three of the remaining six are Bronze rank, so on paper, the numbers check out.”
“Then?”
“…I’ve got a bad feeling. This quest was posted two months ago. Two months ago, it was still winter, right? Goblins and kobolds aren’t creatures that handle cold well. Even if they settled there, it’d be normal for them to start moving only after spring.”
“I see.”
I felt a twinge of guilt for teasing her earlier. From her tone, I could tell she genuinely cared about the people of Cops village, not just doing her job.
“When irregular factors like that come up, it’s better to add more people for risk management. But if we try to recruit more now, the date might get pushed back even further while the village is already suffering… and we can’t raise the reward… and we can’t exactly strong-arm adventurers either….”
“Hm….”
“And on top of that, we even dragged in that otherworlder crazy dog…”
I flinched and looked straight at her.
“Wh-what? Why?”
“What did you just say?”
“Huh? That we can’t strong-arm adventurers—”
“No, not that. After that.”
“…that otherworlder beast?”
“By otherworlder, you mean a hero from another world, right?”
“A hero? Y-yes. The church does call otherworlders ‘heroes.’”
“Is the veteran Silver-rank adventurer participating in this quest that hero?”
“Ah, yes. But why?”
Huh. This just got interesting all of a sudden.
“…Alright. I’ll take the quest.”
She jumped in surprise at my sudden change in attitude.
“Why all of a sudden?”
“I want to see that hero—no, that otherworlder—for myself.”
Yeah. I’d wanted to meet another hero besides myself at least once, to see how they were different from me and how they were living in this world.
If they were from Earth like me, even better.
“You say that like you’ve never seen an otherworlder before. They’re rare, sure, but it’s not like you can never run into one.”
“Just handle it that way. Oh, and I’m not doing this for free. Put it on the tab.”
“A tab, huh. Honestly, that sounds scarier than breaking my savings.”
“It’s the guild’s debt, not yours, Kate. What’s the problem?”
“Well… when you put it that way. Deal?”
“Okay. Deal.”
Her expression brightened a little as she added,
“Thank you. I’ll throw in the three-date coupon as a bonus. I’ll make time right after the quest.”
“No, I don’t need that—”
She sprang to her feet before I could finish.
“Mr. Kiers! This gentleman is joining the Cops Village quest! Please get his signature and give him the briefing over there!”
TL/N: literally “golden child,” is slang for a troublesome but high-risk quest. ↩️
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