Baggage Carrier 13
Since I’m the Baggage Carrier, I carry some of Hoss-san’s luggage.
Given my physique and stamina, carrying all of it is impossible.
“I’m sorry. Even though I’m the Baggage Carrier…”
“Don’t worry ’bout it.”
“Do you always bring this much?”
“This time’s a bit more’n usual, yeah.”
“Is it because I’m here?”
“That’s part of it. Don’t worry ’bout it. I’m the cook. Can you cook, Wof?”
“Yes. Just basic home cooking, though.”
“That’s reassurin’, y’see. Those two don’t cook.”
“I’m very interested to see what kind of meals you make.”
“Then I’ll have ya help me out.”
“Yes!”
Dungeon cooking. I’m looking forward to it.
Incidentally, when I offered to carry Mineha-san’s luggage, she politely refused.
She glared at me, asking if I was some kind of pervert for wanting to carry a maiden’s belongings.
But that’s my job, I thought, though I could somewhat understand her point.
How much time had passed since we departed?
Eventually, a forest came into view. We took a break nearby.
“The Dungeon we’re investigating this time is deep within this forest,” Ax-san said.
“Hey, does it take long to reach the entrance?” Mineha-san asked, sitting down on a nearby rock.
Notably, she hadn’t walked or flown the entire time.
She had been sitting on my shoulder the whole way. There was a reason for this.
Given her size, walking alongside us would be difficult. Our speeds are different too.
She can fly.
However, flying continuously for long periods apparently consumes a lot of stamina.
Having someone carry her is the best option.
And among the party members, I’m the only one who can do that.
I could never say this out loud, and she hasn’t noticed either, but…
The softness of her bottom touching my shoulder made my heart pound a little.
Also, I can’t say this either, but she was heavy sitting on my shoulder.
Still, for someone in armor, she wasn’t incredibly heavy.
That armor… it doesn’t seem to be made of iron.
If it were iron, she wouldn’t be able to move either.
She was heavy, but it was offset by the softness of her bottom, so I didn’t feel it much.
A girl’s bottom is a great thing. I think that’s pretty close to the truth.
Ax-san looked up at the sky and answered.
“It’s about noon now, so we should arrive sometime before evening.”
“That long, huh. So, you’re going to tell us about this Dungeon Exploration now, right?”
“Ah, right. First, this Dungeon is one of the countless dungeons that appeared after the anomalous earthquake. It’s small in scale, only about three floors underground. This will be the third exploration.”
“What do you mean, the third time?”
“It’s been decided that different Seekers will explore it each time. Four times in total.”
“Is that a Guild request?”
“It is.”
“Um, by the way, what were the results of the previous two explorations…?”
“Apparently, there was nothing particularly unusual found in either of the first two explorations.”
“Doesn’t that sound like something that could have been settled after the first time?”
Mineha-san frowned as if thinking it was foolish.
Ax-san gave a wry smile.
“You’d think so. But the Guild decided on four times total. It’s already set that another Seeker party will explore it just like us after we’re done.”
“I don’t get the point at all? We already have the results, don’t we? Why are they making us do something so pointless? Even if Dungeons are a threat, surely you know they don’t change that much.”
“I can only agree with that opinion.”
“Heard it before, hearin’ it now, still sounds like a waste’a time t’me.”
“…Yeah, it really does…”
A heavy silence fell for a moment. Everyone felt the irrationality and incomprehensibility of it.
And why wouldn’t they? Anyone would agree it was meaningless and wasteful.
Thinking it couldn’t be helped, I opened my mouth.
“It’s probably to use up the budget.”
All eyes focused on me at my statement.
“What do you mean?” Ax-san asked.
“Budget? What’s that?” Mineha-san inquired.
“Hmm. Interesting,” Ax-san mused.
“What’s a budget?” Hoss-san echoed Mineha-san.
Their reactions are identical.
This is just speculation, but… I prefaced before speaking.
“The Seeker Guild isn’t state-run, but it receives substantial Subsidies from the country. It allocates these as a Supplementary Budget to each branch. Then, incorporating that Supplementary Budget, they issue various Guild requests.”
“Supplementary Budget…?” Ax-san repeated.
“Hoh. So you’re saying this request also incorporates that Supplementary Budget?”
“…We get money from the country, huh. Makes sense, yeah. It was originally a state agency.”
“How does that relate to the pointless requests?” Mineha-san asked.
“This Supplementary Budget, whether it’s annual or not, has to be completely spent. If there’s any leftover, the budget gets reduced the next time.”
“What’s that? So if you manage things efficiently, you get less?”
“They probably reduce it because you can manage. It proves you can do it with less,” Ax-san reasoned.
“Doesn’t seem right t’get punished for doin’ a good job.”
“—So, there are requests that seem pointless just to use up the budget, is that it?”
I nodded at Ax-san’s understanding.
“That’s right. And incidentally, it’s not that there’s a budget because there’s a request. There’s a request because there’s a budget. In other words, they decide how much budget to spend first, then create requests that fit that budget.”
“What is that? Isn’t it usually the other way around?! That’s not thinking about the Seekers at all!”
“It’s likely because they aren’t thinking about us. These requests exist solely to spend the budget,” Ax-san stated grimly.
“That’s a shady, terrible story, y’see.”
“…That’s a truth I’d rather not have known.”
Everyone was, to varying degrees, shocked.
“Indeed,” I agreed.
It’s a story devoid of dreams or hope.
“Hmm, hmm. So that’s why Guild requests are often wasteful, like my third sister.”
“My master used to complain about weird requests too,” Mineha added.
“No wonder folks dislike ’em.”
“How rude. My third sister is not disliked,” Ax-san retorted.
“That’s not what we’re talkin’ about,” Hoss-san sighed.
“It’s just speculation, remember,” I reminded them.
But it was probably mostly correct.
I knew the Guild requests had a bad reputation.
Hearing the details of a few, I often wondered how wasteful and nonsensical they could be.
Doing a little research, I learned they were subsidized by the country.
Subsidies… meaning Subsidies. I understood.
That’s why I had formulated this hypothesis quite some time ago.
“Damn it, if they’re gonna do that, they should just raise the request fees!” Ax-san grumbled.
“Exactly,” Mineha agreed.
“Hearin’ that makes the pay seem even less fair,” Hoss-san added.
Ax-san and the others were getting irritated.
I became curious.
“Are the fees really that low?”
“Low request fees are the number one reason Guild requests are disliked,” Ax-san explained.
“Of course. This request fee is low too. About half of what a similar request would normally pay,” Mineha confirmed.
“Eeeh… Then why did you accept it?”
“It looks good for promotions,” Mineha answered.
I understood instantly.
“Ah, so that’s how it is.”
Promotion decisions are based on contributions to the Guild?
How does that work? Isn’t it dangerous not to decide based on meritocracy?
“Still, you sure know a lot about strange things,” Mineha said, looking at me with a mix of admiration and exasperation.
“You know too much, if anything. Are you really thirteen?” Ax-san asked.
“It was wonderful, like my eighth sister. Good knowledge gained.”
“For me, it was a reality I didn’t wanna know,” Hoss-san muttered.
“Hahaha… I read about it in a book before,” I lied.
In truth, my past life memories knew it.
Whether I was a bureaucrat or not, I don’t know, but I certainly wasn’t a child.
Our break ended, and we entered the Forest.
Encountering very few Monsters, we arrived at the Dungeon entrance.
It was a gaping hole that opened up abruptly within the Forest.