Chapter 144: Designated Request from the Guild Master
“Could you tell me more about it?”
The figure that appeared in the room was none other than the Guild Master, Curtis. With his white hair and beard, he looked quite aged, yet his robust physique and muscles exuded an intimidating presence. Beside him sat the Guild Staff member from earlier, who had prepared tea for four and was now ready with writing tools to take notes.
“…And that’s the situation.”
I recounted the details I had just explained to the Guild Staff at the counter.
“Hmm…”
The Guild Master stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“Do you know the direction and distance of what you saw?”
“It was directly south at the tip of the cape. As for the distance, I’m not quite sure.”
“I see… It seems like an investigation is necessary, but it might be a bit far.”
I hadn’t been particularly attentive, so I hadn’t enhanced my vision or used Presence Detection to scout the area.
“Why not take on this investigation request yourselves?”
“Eh? Us?”
Even though we were C Rank adventurers, we had just arrived in this town. I didn’t think we had earned the Guild’s trust yet, but perhaps this rank held more value than I realized.
“Indeed. You must be curious about the anomaly you discovered, right?”
“Well, yes, that’s true.”
“Of course, I will also send out investigation requests to other parties. There are some suitable candidates among them.”
“What do you think?”
I turned to Rio, and she nodded without any hesitation.
“I think we should accept it.”
“Then let’s take it on.”
“Yeah.”
“Then it’s settled. I will issue the request as a designated one. Since we need to arrange for a ship, please come back to the Guild tomorrow.”
Oh, right, this was about investigating the unidentified object at sea.
“We don’t need a ship.”
“Exactly. We’ll just head out right now.”
“Huh? No, it’s on the ocean. You don’t mean you have your own ship, do you?”
I see, so that’s the assumption. They probably don’t expect us to be able to fly.
“Ah, well, we have our own means of transportation, so don’t worry about it.”
“I-I see. If you’re heading out now, I’ll issue the request immediately.”
“Understood.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
After giving instructions to the staff member who had been taking notes, the meeting came to a close.
After having lunch and returning to the Guild, the designated request was already prepared.
“Are you really sure you don’t need a ship?”
“Yes, it’s fine. We’ll be back by this evening.”
I smiled wryly at the staff member’s insistence and headed towards the sea, ready to embark on our investigation. I aimed to approach from a less populated area, so I returned to the cape, but there were already two adventurers there.
“What is that…?”
“Indeed… I can see a shadow…”
They seemed to be the ones who had overheard our conversation at the Guild.
“What should we do, Shuu?”
“What do you think? …Well, it’s fine if they see us. If they can testify that we don’t need a ship, it might actually be beneficial for us.”
“Ahaha. Then let’s approach them confidently.”
As we got closer to the adventurers observing the distant shadow, we walked past them to the edge of the cliff.
“Are you here to see the island everyone’s been talking about?”
“No, we’re here to investigate that.”
“Oh? Has a request already been issued?”
“Yes, it has.”
“Good luck!”
They waved us off lightly. One of them raised a hand, and I returned a slight bow.
“Alright, we’re off.”
I gently lifted off from the tip of the cape. When I confirmed that Rio was floating beside me, we exchanged nods.
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
We left the bewildered voices of the adventurers behind as we accelerated towards the island. Nil kicked off the air and followed closely behind. We weren’t going particularly fast, but after about five minutes in the air, the island gradually came into view.
“I think we’ve come quite far out, but how far can you see to the horizon…?”
I paused in mid-air and asked Rio.
“I’m not sure. The distance to the horizon depends on the size of the planet, doesn’t it?”
“Now that you mention it…”
Looking back, the land was barely visible, with only the cape in sight. We had marked the designated coordinates with Spatial Magic, so we wouldn’t get lost, but it would be frightening to lose our direction over the empty sea.
“Still, is that really an island?”
“…It doesn’t feel like it.”
“Grururururu.”
“Nil seems to be on alert.”
“If it’s not an island… could it be a monster?”
“…No way, that’s way too big, right?”
I tried to appraise it, but it didn’t respond, perhaps because we were still too far away. When I enhanced my vision, I could only see what looked like rugged rock surfaces, nothing that screamed ‘monster.’
Expanding my Presence Detection range—
“—!?”
“What’s wrong?”
“…There’s a presence of monsters coming from the entire island.”
“Eh? …Are there a lot of monsters on the island?”
“No…”
I didn’t sense a large number of monsters. There were indeed some monsters present, which wouldn’t be surprising if that was just an island. It was reasonable to assume there would be a few scattered monsters on land. However, the entire island radiated the presence of a single monster.
“Based on the feeling of that presence, it might surpass the Earth Dragon we fought before.”
I sensed Rio’s breath catch at my words.