Chapter 29

A job is a job; even if it seems trivial at first glance, mistakes aren’t permitted.

For instance, if I’ve confirmed an Orc sighting alone, I can’t report the situation through a game of “telephone.” Since only one person saw the scene with their own eyes, there’s only one person who can answer questions when the specifics are interrogated.

After warning Nagi and the rest of the militia not to underestimate Orcs, I made a promise to regroup with them later and decided to leave the area.

“…So, it’s a pain, but I have to head back to the Knights for a bit. I need to write up a brief report, among other things. Can we talk again later?”

“You’ve got struggles the militia doesn’t, I guess… Fine, let’s meet in front of the Master’s place after noon. Don’t keep me waiting too long, Varna-kun? I’ve got things I want to talk to you about.”

Nagi accepted my proposal readily.

Fortunately, it seemed he had been convinced by my reasoning to some extent.

“What a coincidence. I have things I want to ask you, too. Let’s talk over a meal after I finish my report.”

“Good luck with work!”

That approachable side of him might actually resemble Senior Garmon in a way.

Still, I wondered what he wanted to talk about. I just hoped he wouldn’t start demanding something impossible like “stay out of this matter,” though such a request wouldn’t be surprising depending on how the people around him were feeling.

From what I could see, Nagi’s strong sense of responsibility was also inherited from his brother.

Otherwise, why would he bother bringing lunch to his underlings?

‘It’s not exactly self-loathing… but I’d really like these brothers to get along by the time this mission is over.’

I tucked away my cheap pen and the notebook where I’d jotted down the scene’s details, then began walking toward my second home for the day.

It was busy going back and forth, but this was a job that only I could do right now.

‘…Since I’m at it, I should probably show my face to Nonoka-san. She might still be holding a grudge about yesterday, and since she’s likely free now, I’ll write my report at the Recovery Squad station.’

Nonoka-san wasn’t a child, but she was still a textbook case of a fickle maiden.

If she got all puffed up and angry because I “stood her up,” I’d be in for a rough time later.

“The naughty, naughty Varna-kun who ditched his promise with Nonoka to drink the night away in town? Are you reflecting on your actions?”

“I am reflecting more deeply than the ocean is deep, my Princess.”

As expected, she was mad. The sin of a man who breaks a promise to a maiden is heavy.

That said, it was a cute kind of “Hmph!” anger, so I figured I’d be fine if I pampered her a bit.

Currently, I was undergoing a punishment game: writing a report while sitting in a chair with Nonoka-san on my shoulders. It looked easy enough, but it was surprisingly difficult. I had to finish the report without letting my handwriting waver while carrying a human whose movements were unpredictable.

If Bevion were the one receiving this, it would be a moment of pure bliss, but I had a feeling I was the only one whose day for this specific punishment would never come. While I was distracted by idle thoughts, Nonoka-san, grabbing my head with her small hands, started moving.

“Your remorse is looking a bit thin! Take this! And this!”

“Whoa!? Hang on, Nonoka-san, shaking me is one thing, but covering my eyes is foul play!?”

“Hmph! This Recovery Squad station is Nonoka’s stronghold! My word is law here!”

“It’s a dictatorship! I’m starting a revolution!”

“Ufufu… You’re planning to overthrow and subjugate Nonoka? What a bold strategy… ♪”

The reason that sounded vaguely erotic was probably because my puberty hadn’t quite ended yet.

The soft weight pressing against the back of my head and the whispering in my ear made Nonoka-san seem unnecessarily seductive.

However, now that her movements had stopped, it was my chance. I finished writing the report in one go.

“…Alright, report finished! Now, the punishment game is over!”

“Ehh, just when things were getting exciting! Honestly, Varna-kun, you really can’t read the room at times like this!”

Since the punishment lasted until the documents were done, Nonoka-san obediently climbed down.

The fact that she didn’t get stubborn and genuinely sabotage me showed she didn’t actually want to get in the way of my work. Understanding this distance and settling for a moderate tantrum made Nonoka-san a mature woman after all.

After getting off me, she skillfully slipped into her usual Platform-Uppers and sat in the seat opposite me, staring intently. That gaze likely meant—it was time to fulfill my promise.

“Well then, shall we have Professor Varna teach me why the guild system doesn’t work out in this country?”

I shouldn’t say something cliché like, “You’re quite an old student,” or “Aren’t you more of the teacher, Nonoka-san?” When I’d said that before, she’d gotten grumpy and added two more punishment games. The subtleties of a maiden’s heart are truly a mystery.

“A teacher is happy to have such a studious pupil… Well, it’s not that complicated a story. Class is now in session. Stand! Attention! Bow!”

“Looking forward to it!”

This person is such a good sport. Although, she bowed so enthusiastically that her forehead hit the table with a loud thud, and now she’s clutching it. …I take it back, she really isn’t a mature woman. Stop looking at me with teary eyes; you brought that on yourself.

—Now, to the main point.

While it doesn’t exist in this country, an organization known as a “Guild” exists in foreign lands.

Guilds are national institutions founded by people across the continent to combat monsters. Their primary job is to accept and mediate requests from the state or civilians for tasks like monster extermination, escorting, or tracking down criminals.

The Guild accepts the request along with a fee, passes it on to the skilled warriors registered with them, and once the problem is solved, pays out a reward from that fee. It’s an efficient way to handle issues, contributes to public order and safety, and because it’s a massive organization, the network is robust.

It’s precisely because of this Guild system that the average citizen on the continent can live in safety.

…Well, money issues always crop up, and there are systemic flaws, but I’ll set those aside for now.

“Certainly, if this country had a Guild, we could exterminate Orcs without the Knights being jerked around this much,” Nonoka-san remarked.

“Right, right? We should definitely switch to a Guild system!”

“But there’s a catch—circumstances are a bit different here in this Kingdom.”

The most notable point is that no monsters other than Orcs have been confirmed to exist in this Kingdom.

Generally, monsters rarely exist as a single dominant species due to territorial disputes with other types, but in this Kingdom, where there are no natural predators other than humans, Orcs sit at the top of the natural ecosystem. One could even say that Orcs were able to breed to this extent precisely because of the abundant food and stable climate here.

“The size of the Orc colonies in this country is, on average, more than double the scale of those in other nations. Because they’re so large, they act much more boldly than they do on the continent, intruding shamelessly into areas managed by humans. In other countries, Orcs are pushed back to places where it doesn’t matter much if the land is tainted by their blood, but in this country, they occupy areas where contamination is a serious problem.”

“Well, that’s true. On the continent, there’s a natural cycle that breaks down those toxins, and the absolute number of Orcs is small to begin with. That’s why in this country, we have to go as far as collecting the blood and purifying the area.”

In fact, there are records from the early days of the Royal Foreign Hazardous Species Countermeasures Knights—back when they lacked the know-how—where they spilled too much Orc blood and ended up turning entire mountains barren. Nature simply couldn’t purify the Orc toxins on its own.

“In short, exterminating Orcs in this country requires specialized knowledge and a significant amount of personnel. Under a Guild system, since a certain quality of work is a prerequisite for mission success, you’d end up with a lot of ‘unprofitable jobs.’ Moreover, the only work a Guild would have in this country is Orc hunting. There aren’t many ‘skilled warriors’ who would actually want to work in a place like that.”

Even if it’s for the money, those who take Guild requests are proud warriors. They wouldn’t willingly choose a place where they do nothing but hunt Orcs day in and day out; they have the pride of wanting to do work suited to their actual abilities. In a Guild system, where the final right to choose a mission rests with the individual, these kinds of requests would be classified as “duds” that nobody would touch.

“Hmm… Oh, I know! If you jack up the reward, eventually someone will take it, right?”

“Even we Knights hunt Orcs with a group of nearly a hundred elites, you know? If you gathered a hundred people through a Guild, you’d just get a bunch of warriors with insufficient knowledge showing up for the reward and doing a sloppy job. If the farmland or mountains are destroyed as the price for wiping out the Orcs, this country won’t survive.”

“Ugh… It’s so frustrating that we can’t just wipe them out and be done with it.”

“It is. Apparently, there was a plan to hire professional mercenaries, but it was rejected due to external issues.”

The reasons for the rejection were twofold: the massive cost of keeping mercenaries on retainer until the Orcs were fully exterminated, and the desire to avoid the terrible public image of being a “weak Kingdom that couldn’t even handle its own Orcs and had to cry to foreigners for help.”

In this case, you can’t just dismiss it as “silly pride.”

It’s not just about the Knights’ reputation; it could potentially become a diplomatic weakness.

“Well, for those reasons, a Guild system is impossible. In the future, we’ll either have to expand the scale of the Knights or prepare another plan, but thinking about that long-term vision is Beard’s job. All we can do is what’s right in front of us. And with that, class is dismissed!”

“Whoa, Nonoka didn’t know all those details since it’s outside my field… Please teach me again if I run into something I don’t understand, Sensei!”

“Ah, well, as long as it’s within what I know… Actually, wouldn’t Senior Bevion teach you if you asked him?”

“It’s better to have Varna-kun teach me! ♪”

I got the feeling it wasn’t so much that she preferred me, but rather that she hated the idea of learning from Bevion, but I chose not to say it aloud. I didn’t have the confidence to avoid giving Bevion a look of pure pity if that reality were confirmed.

With the report in hand, I waved to Nonoka-san and left the Recovery Squad station.

‘If I can get the cooperation of the locals who are being attacked by Orcs, we can at least make our work more efficient than it is now. For us, pursuing that is more constructive than dreaming of a Guild system.’

The discovery of the “Orc secret passage” indicated by the information in this report made the cooperation of the townsfolk indispensable. And that held many times more significance than reinforcements that might never arrive or couldn’t be relied upon in the first place.

Steady progress through small steps, and once a decision is made, follow through thoroughly.

That is the way of the Royal Foreign Hazardous Species Countermeasures Knights.