Chapter 187: The Adventurer’s Guild of Fairy Valley
By the time we arrived in this town, Ivan’s adventurer rank had already risen to E Rank. He had been tackling monster extermination quests beyond those offered by the Guild, so his status had seen a decent increase. Well, it seemed like he was just getting started.
“It’s pretty close to the inn, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
We left the inn and headed towards the Adventurer’s Guild together. Following the river downstream, we soon spotted it. The Guild was situated right next to a bridge that connected both banks. Unlike ordinary towns, I was quite curious about what awaited us in this canyon town.
The entrance to the Guild appeared to be perpetually open, so we simply walked through the door. It wasn’t a particularly large Guild, but there were quite a few people inside. I didn’t sense any powerful presence through my Presence Detection, so I decided to scan the room. As expected, there were no adventurers with status scores exceeding five digits.
Ignoring the usual curious glances directed our way, I made my way to the request board first.
“…Oh, look, there’s an Escort Request to the top of the slope.”
“You’re right. Most are B Rank, but there are some A Rank requests too.”
“I wonder if troublesome monsters will show up.”
“Maybe.”
It seemed like an interesting request, but an escort mission… Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to climb up there just to scout the area, regardless of any requests. There was also the monster extermination quest along the old road leading from the valley floor. This one was also a C Rank request, which was relatively high. While E Rank adventurers could participate in monster extermination, it seemed there were no such requests available in this town.
“Ivan-nii is looking at gathering requests.”
“Haha, that’s right.”
The illustrations posted on the board provided a rough idea of the request types, whether they were for gathering or extermination. Phonia, who still couldn’t read, seemed proud of her growing understanding of how to interpret the request board.
“Hey, what kind of nerve do you have bringing a kid to the Guild, huh?”
Just then, a bald giant who had been blocking the request board turned around and began to intimidate Ivan and Phonia. I had kept Nil close to Phonia to prevent such encounters, but it seemed that someone had finally decided to speak up.
“Yeah, there are scary-looking bald guys in the Guild, you know? It’d be a shame to scare her.”
Another figure, a lizard-like beastman, chimed in. When I scanned him, he turned out to be a Lizardman. I had never seen one before, but he certainly looked intimidating compared to most humanoid figures.
“What did you say?! Who’s bald?!”
“That’s you, of course.”
“Gyahahahaha!”
It sounds like they have foul mouths, but if you listen closely, they might actually be worried about Phonia?
I think so too.
Let’s see how Ivan handles this.
Hehe, let’s do that.
Although I had entered the Guild with Ivan and the others, I decided to observe from a distance, pretending to be a stranger. Since Nil was by my side, no adventurers had approached Ivan until now. This might be a good opportunity.
“Huh? What did you say?”
Upon hearing “kid,” Ivan immediately turned his gaze toward me.
…No, it’s not me.
When I glared back at him, he hurriedly checked on Phonia.
Sure, there were adventurers who treated me like a kid since Nil wasn’t with me. But it was clear that the current target of their attention was Phonia.
That said, Phonia herself was tilting her head, alternating her gaze between the bald giant and the adventurer teasing him. It was no surprise, considering she had charged headfirst into a four-armed beast to protect Ivan. She didn’t seem frightened of the adventurers at all.
I had heard that she had suffered abuse during her time as a slave, which had left her mentally scarred, but perhaps her mindset had changed since her tail had grown to five. In any case, it was far better than being overly fearful.
“You guys aren’t scary at all, you know?”
Tilting her head, she addressed the bald giant and the other adventurer.
“Bwah!“
The adventurers around them burst into laughter simultaneously.
“Ahhahaha! Hagen, she says you’re not scary!”
“Darts never had such a fierce face to begin with!”
Other adventurers chimed in with jeers, but the bald giant merely hung his head, shaking his shoulders in amusement.
Hagen and Darts… their names were almost reminiscent of some famous ice cream brand…
“Bald Hagen, huh…”
Ivan seemed to want to make a quip about it, but he was managing to hold back since it was their first meeting.
“Bwahahaha!”
As I watched, Hagen burst into hearty laughter.
“I see, I’m not scary, huh! That’s good to know! Then I can come to the Guild without any issues!”
Surprisingly in high spirits, he began to ruffle Phonia’s hair roughly.
“Whoa! You’re not afraid of the mighty Hagen? That’s impressive, little lady! I mean, I’m not scary either, so this is great!”
Though his lizard-like appearance made it hard to tell, he was probably smiling.
I had intended to observe Ivan’s response, but it seemed I had misjudged the situation.
I’m surprised Phonia is holding her own better than I expected.
Right? It seems like having five tails really does make a difference.
I think so. There might be some higher-ranked requests available, so it could be a good idea for Phonia to start training seriously.