Chapter 111: Rumors
“Well, it’s truly unprecedented for someone from the Commercial Guild with an initial rank of G to suddenly submit items to the Mithril Section at an auction.”
“Indeed. I can hardly imagine how much their guild rank will rise…”
“Is that so?”
I found myself having lunch at a stylish café with Ramond, the head of the trading company, and Fleur. Now that I think about it, I don’t really understand how the Commercial Guild operates. I only heard it was necessary for patent-related matters.
“Ah, in the case of the Commercial Guild, unlike the Adventurer’s Guild, your rank increases based on the taxes you pay to the guild,” Ramond explained, taking the opportunity to elaborate.
Most people start by opening street stalls or engaging in peddling, but as their rank increases, they can own stores at lower costs or even open branches.
“Also, as in this case, once you reach a certain rank, you can submit your products directly to the auction without going through another trading company.”
It seems that once you reach rank F, you can enter the Gold Section; at rank D, you can access the Platinum Section; and only at rank B can you directly submit items to the Mithril Section. Typically, adventurers would request a trading company to handle their auction submissions. Even though there are fees involved, I doubt anyone would want to go through the trouble of registering with the Commercial Guild to do it themselves. Still, since we are also at rank G, we have to rely on the Rashiyu Trading Company for our submissions.
“Ha ha ha! Well, if you don’t go through our trading company, we won’t make any profit from the fees,” Ramond chuckled.
“Since our goal this time is to receive support from the Rashiyu Trading Company for other workshops, we would be in trouble if we were charged fees,” I replied.
“Ha ha ha! Then it’s all good!”
Ah, well, I don’t quite understand everything, but they seem satisfied, so that’s fine.
Before long, our ordered dishes arrived. They looked incredibly delicious. Time to dig in.
I clasped my hands together in my heart and picked up my knife and fork, ready to cut into the meat. When I sensed someone staring at me and looked up, I found Ramond watching me intently. Since he brought me to this restaurant, perhaps he was curious about my reaction.
“It’s delicious!”
I had anticipated it would taste good based on its appearance, but it exceeded my expectations. The moment I took a bite, an explosion of flavor filled my mouth.
“See? I told you so!”
Ramond, looking satisfied, also began to eat.
“It really is delicious.”
I had assumed that as the head of the trading company, he would be quite the shrewd businessman, but after talking with him, I sensed none of that atmosphere. Perhaps he was just putting on a façade, but for now, that was fine.
“Well then, the request for transporting and guarding the goods has been completed. Thank you very much.”
After some light-hearted conversation, Fleur handed me the Completion Certificate.
“Thank you as well.”
The two of them mentioned they would be returning to the trading company headquarters. We decided to head to the Adventurer’s Guild to collect our reward.
“See you tomorrow!”
“The Adventurer’s Guild in the Commercial City is quite expansive.”
“Yeah, and there are so many people.”
The Adventurer’s Guild is located on the west side near the central plaza. It seems every town has a central plaza, doesn’t it?
With the auction starting tomorrow, many people must be here for that reason. However, it seems unlikely that those people would be taking on new requests right now. The counter wasn’t too crowded, but the discussion area was bustling with activity.
“Yes, this is a report for the completed request. Please wait a moment.”
After handing the Completion Certificate and Guild Certificate to the staff at the counter, they disappeared into the back. After a short wait, a muscular bald man emerged.
“Hey, you two must be the rumored Shu and Rio.”
He placed our Guild Certificate and the reward for this request on the counter, fixing us with a sharp gaze.
…Did we do something wrong? I have no recollection of any misdeeds. What rumors are they talking about?
“Ah, sorry about that. No need to be so tense. I’m Jared, the Guild Master here. I heard a bit from the Guild Master of Raven and thought I should at least see your faces… Wait, you don’t have your Tamed Monster with you?”
Oh, I see. It’s good that the Adventurer’s Guilds share information, but personal privacy… well, I guess that’s not a thing in this Otherworld.
“Nice to meet you. My Tamed Monster, Nil, is waiting at the inn.”
“I see. I wanted to take a look, but it can’t be helped. Here, this is your reward for the request. It includes the amount for selling the bandits as criminal slaves, so please check it.”
Counting the money, I found around 4.5 million Fron inside. That’s more than I expected.
“Confirmed.”
“Alright then. Good work.”
With just that, the Guild Master quickly retreated into the back.
That Guild Master certainly made an impression with his appearance.
Listening in on the surrounding conversations, I could hear kids asking what the Guild Master wanted with us, and I couldn’t help but agree. Was it really just to see our faces…?
There were also many discussions about the auction starting tomorrow.
“I hear there are some incredible treasures being put up for auction.”
“Oh? What kind of treasures?”
“Listen and be amazed. They say there will be a bounty of Dragon-type items this time.”
“No way, really?”
Wow, the rumors are already spreading. That was fast.
“Also, there are whispers that S Rank Adventurers might participate in the auction.”
“Well, high-ranking adventurers are bound to show up, but S Rank too?”
“I wonder what they’re after?”
Hmm, S Rank, huh? I’m a bit curious about how strong they are. They must have a ton of Skills.
“Hey, did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“They say the Royal Castle of the Arclight Kingdom was destroyed by someone.”
“What? I thought it was just a story about a disaster-level lightning strike due to bad weather?”
“Pfft.”
I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the rumor I overheard.
“Hey, Shuu!”
“Sorry, sorry. Alright, now that our business is done, let’s head home.”
I returned a wry smile to Rio, who was quietly admonishing me, and hurriedly exited the Adventurer’s Guild.