Sword, Magic and Academic Society

As it was already evening, just the time for others to return from their tasks, the delivery point at the Royal Capital's Eastern Branch was heavily crowded with lines of people to sell their goods.

I had mainly done miscellaneous tasks related to F-rank and below in the last two weeks, with all of them confined within the Royal Capital, so it was also my first time here.

It was quite an exciting sight to see veteran-looking men and women carrying monsters I had only seen in the Canardia Monster Encyclopedia, and I was thoroughly impressed.

As soon as the Boss entered the warehouse shouldering the body of Greateus Snake again, he immediately became the center of attention. People whispered among themselves while shooting glances our way.

<Look, it's the 'leader of Apple House'. That thing is huge, right? He rarely comes out of his ‘Apple House’, so did that massive Greateus Snake appear around here?>

<Truly a leader… But who's that brat carrying a 'Vulture' behind him? A new face?>

<Ssh, idiot. I believe he should be the 'Mad Hound' that has recently joined 'Apple House'. There's no way a vulture would have been able to approach Lynd, maybe that guy took it down with his short bow...?>

<Huh, that's him? But he looks like a sheltered brat of a civilized family, and he gives off a country bumpkin vibe… So he's an archer? He should be quite skilled to have taken down a vulture with a short bow.>

<Ah, no doubt. That Benza from Gold Rat was put in quite a sorry state by that kid just the other day. Don't be fooled by his sheltered appearance. I heard that if you tried to annoy him, he would turn into an unstoppable brawling machine that would not stop unless he saw the blood of his opponent. Lynd, his guardian, isn't someone to mess with either. Don't just try to fight him, alright?>

Who the hell is 'Mad Hound'?... Seriously, I wasn’t my elder sister.

I mean, I just politely taught them some manners since they were being so illogical, but I had never randomly picked fights or gone on a rampage. At most, I just got a little angry.

So that fatty's name was Benza, huh?... I don't think I would ever forget his name since it reminded me of toilet seats. Not that I would want to remember that...

The Boss didn't mind the whispers and gallantly strode forward, heading straight for the window with the 'Large-Scale' sign which seemed to not be catering to anyone at the moment.

Cool. We arrived at the window without having to wait in line where a 40-ish-year-old middle-aged lady, who seemed to have spent a good enough time in this trade, greeted us. I guess there weren't that many people who delivered huge monsters in the Royal Capital.

The middle-aged lady should be a bit younger than the Boss as she called out to him.

"Oh, if it isn’t Lynd. It's so rare for you to come here. Also, the boy over there. Put that Low Vulture on the platform. I’ll appraise it as well while I’m at it."

"Saki, it's really been a while since I’ve come here, no? Well, not counting the time I had a drink with Shell three weeks ago, I guess? Well, I wasn’t going to hunt today with the kids around but this guy happened to come out into the Eastern Rune Plains chasing after a group of Meadow Maras. It was almost a mess."

"Oh, really? This guy must have had the bad luck to meet you, then. My, you even finished it off in one blow. That's some craftsmanship coming from you. I guess that boy helped out in dealing with the Maras, huh? He has some prospects if he manages to pull that off without wetting himself."

Saki-san immediately grasped the situation as if she were present there.

"I couldn't agree more. Many of the kids would have been injured if he wasn't with us, to say the least. He not only annihilated the horde of 20 Maras in 10 seconds, but he even promptly rushed over to back me up. Well, he looks like a brat, but he god darn has some skills with the bow."

"...Boss, they were 14."

"Huh? Who cares about the extra."

"No, 14 and 20 are wildly different numbers… It's not easy work to achieve that."

In the past two weeks, I had keenly realized that shortening the rapid-fire rate even by 0.1 seconds like in the beginning was a monumental task to achieve and was easier said than done.

"Kyahaha."

Saki-san burst out in laughter as she straightened the Greateus Snake, which had been rounded like a hose, on the platform in one breath… Woah, this aunty sure is strong.

"This must be it."

She immediately peeled off a scale from the body — which seemed to be about 8 meters excluding the head — that my arrow had scratched.

"What was your name again, Boy?"

Saki-san asked for my name while twirling the peeled-off scale between her fingers.

"Huh? Ah… Please call me Ren."

I hesitated for a moment but presented my explorer's license and gave out my alias. Either way, I would still have to show my license if I want to use the warehouse afterward anyway.

Seeing my name on the license, Saki-san's eyebrows shot upward with a complicated expression.

"......I see. Have you informed Shell yet?"

"...Not yet. Shell wants to see with his own eyes, it's just a matter of when."

"Hahaha. Boy… No, Ren. You can just come to this large window next time. You have some 'circumstances', right? I’ll usually be here, and will inform the others so that you can use it even if I’m not present."

......Oh. So, she, too, is a drinking buddy of the Boss along with that Shell person? I guess the Boss purposefully brought us here to introduce me to her, considering my situation.

It was a pinch. I would want to refrain from taking any special treatment, but then the fact that I’m a student of the Royal Academy would spread in no time, considering I would have to show my license at another time as well.

I accepted their favor for once. Seeing me nodding, Saki-san started appraising.

"I guess that's enough idle talk, let's start with an appraisal. Greateus Snake's 20,000 rea. Its head and meat are 10,000 rea. The rest of the material like the fangs and internal organs are 5,000 rea. The Low Vulture seemed to be a non-elemental one, so it would be 2,500 for the feathers that can be used to make feathered arrows and its meat is 1,000 rea. Mana stones of the Meadow Mara are 100 each. Sign here if that’s okay with you."

Since I had no idea about the market price, I left it to the Boss.

"...I don't have any complaints over your appraisal, but are you sure about the snake? The scales might really be worth that much, but I think the prices for the others are quite high, no?"

"Fu~. I believe you’ve heard the suspicious rumors floating around lately. Its meat is popular, but it’s also a material for stamina restoration medicine, especially the head part, so the market price has been increased by 30% right now. I would have quoted a regular price for its internal organs since it doesn't have a poison sack. But we just happened to have a buyer through our connections. And with demand, the price naturally goes up."

When I heard that, a question suddenly came to my mind.

"...Are snake organs delicious?"

"Hahaha. If it's delicious, the price naturally goes up. Worry not, it doesn't stink nor is it bitter or inedible, haha."

Saki-san grinned impishly.

This expression… She must be a buddy of Sora for sure, and it seemed like she had heard about me as well.

I guess I can look forward to tasting it in the morning breakfast lat— on another note, I might not be looking forward to it that much.

But just in case, I asked the Boss.

"I don't mind either way, but are you sure you wanna sell the meat?"

"Of course, we already have two sheep, after all. Any more would just be excessive and rot. It's better to sell it for money in this case. Saki split the payment between us."

When I heard that, I immediately turned down his offer. I had indeed taken down the Low Vulture, but I barely did anything against the Greateus Snake besides shooting an arrow to distract it.

"You shouldn't, Boss. I haven't done anything against the snake. In fact, I should be thanking you for protecting me. It would be presumptuous of me to receive money for that. I know the rule is to basically split the reward in half among the explorers if there's no prior discussion, but please put the snake's tab on yourself or maybe 'Apple House’."

However, he immediately shot down my request, showing a stern expression

"Out of question. This will be 'charity' to Apple House and I don't think you would want me to be indebted to you, right?"

After seeing I had no words left to say after seeing his attitude, the Boss then laughed.

"Besides, you’ve done well as the rearguard of the party. Just taking down an enemy doesn't make you great, you know? This is your reward for your contributions. You should be upright at this moment."

"Kyahaha. I’ll take it as you guys are settled then. Now, scoot off from here. I have work to do."

The two concluded their conversation in perfect harmony.

I was delighted that the Boss truly recognized my contributions. So, I decided not to argue any further.

Though, 20,000 rea huh…? That's an unexpected windfall.

Fufu, I can splurge a bit more tonight then. What should I choose? Pumpkin tempura along with Soba sounds good. Ah, but squid tempura sounds good too... Guh, what a delicious pinch!

◆◆◆

After that, I went with the Boss to the quest-purpose window and submitted the delivery certificate given by Saki-san.

Normally, the purchasing and selling could be concluded at the delivery point window when they weren't related to quests, but monsters like Greateus Snakes that were a threat to the explorers that hunted in the plains near the Royal Capital's vicinity, Low Vultures that target other explorer's spoils, and elemental Meadow Maras were all included in permanent requests.

And there, I was informed of my promotion to E-rank.

There was no way this was a common thing. I made sure to object quite strongly this time, however, an old lady, who seemed to be a superior, claimed that it was the rule that anyone who met the requirements must be promoted and refused to listen to anything I had to say.

Then, even the Boss pushed from behind, saying "You shouldn't be sitting on F-rank to begin with, so give up. I understand why you would want to do that, but remember that choosing to do so means that a capable guy is taking the work of incapable people."

I could only reluctantly accept it then.

There were no jobs I couldn't take on in F-rank, but I couldn't say the same about the E-rank. So it was a bitter decision. Though I may have yielded this time, at least I now knew this was definitely Satowa’s doing, intentionally pulling strings behind my back. I decided I would raid the headquarters next time to protest if it happened again.

However, aside from the hunt, I noticed one more thing.

The spearmanship of the C-rank adventurer Dio from the countryside, who had served as my spear training partner during my trip to the Royal Capital, apparently was on par with the Boss, who is said to hold qualifications to reach A-rank. I mean, I wouldn't claim to be knowledgeable about the spear, and Dio was also holding back in our spars.

If I had to say, the Boss would win in power while Dio was better in terms of skill, I guess?

Maybe strength alone didn't represent everything in rank. Still, why would a person like him prefer to rot in the countryside...

T/N - Benza means toilet in japanese. The classic joke by Sunohara in the clannad if you have watched (benza cover - toilet seat).