The day after experimenting with the fire whirl, Rei appeared in the adventurer’s guild once again. He came in between breakfast and lunch, so there were a lot less adventurers inside the guild. There were a few people who were already drinking at the bar in the morning as well as a some adventurers who were having an early lunch in preparation for taking a request in the afternoon.

……The few people that were drinking alcohol were probably either taking a day off or celebrating the completion of a request.

In the quiet environment of the guild, as if the morning rush was all a lie, Rei walked to the counters.

「Ah, Rei-kun. Have you come to take a request?」

Seeing Kenny, the receptionist, spot him and call out to him while waving her hand with a big smile, Rei shook his head.

Unusually, Lenora wasn’t at the counter today and Kenny was the only receptionist present.

「No, I would like to sell the monster materials and magic stones I stripped off yesterday and claim the rewards from proofs of subjugation.」
「I see. Then, take them out……is what I would like to say, but how much is there?　Because Rei-kun has an item box, you have quite a bit don’t you?」

Rei nodded with a sigh at Kenny’s perceptive questions.

「Ahh. There’s quite a lot. I doubt whether it will all fit on the counter.」
「Is that so?　Then I can appraise them in a different room. I have some free time now as well……」
「Hey, Kenny. What are you thinking. What will happen if there’s no one at the counter.」

A voice came out from behind the counter. It was the voice of Lenora, who he had already become familiar with.

Apparently she wasn’t on holiday today and had simply gone to the back.

「In that case, Lenora can just come to the counter instead.」
「Hey Kenny, you only just started your shift 10 minutes ago. Also, because you are too generous to Rei-san, you might overlook the quality checks and other things. I’ll will check for Rei-san.」
「Wai-, that’s unfair!」
「I have permission from the boss. ……See.」

For a moment, Lenora glanced towards an older man who was further back behind the counters.

The older man gave a small nod at Lenora’s glance.

「Like this, Epoca-san……so cruel.」
「You act like this every day. Well then, Rei-san, on the second floor……could you go to the meeting room that was used for the Orc subjugation and your rank up test? I will check your materials and magic stones there.」
「Ahh, I’ll be counting on you.」

With that, he and Lenora went up to the meeting room on the second floor.

The meeting room didn’t seem to be in use and there was no one inside. In the meantime, Lenora grouped all the tables to the center of the room to make a place for the materials and another place to put the materials that had already been appraised.

「You look quite used to this.」

When Rei said that unconsciously, Lenora spoke up as she moved the desks.

「Ehh. You’ll understand if you take a look at the counter but it’s not that big. Because of that, when parties with several members or several parties working together complete a request, we will use the meeting room to appraise the materials. That said, when you come to the guild with a cart or wagon full of materials, carrying them all up to the second floor starts to get very troublesome. ……The truth is that it is possible to make a larger space on the first floor just for that, but the higher ups in the guild seems to have rejected it every time it was suggested. ……Now then. I’m ready now, so you can start taking them out.」

Listening to Lenora’s words, he took out the magic stones, materials and proofs of subjugation from the Misty Ring one after the other. Lizardmen, a Lizardman General, a Huge Spider, Water Monkeys, the rare species Water Monkey, an Ogre, a Spriggan and Emerald Wolves. That and the other monsters they had killed on the way to the dungeon and in the dungeon piled up on the tables.

Fortunately, most of the Water Monkeys and Emerald Wolves were still stored in the Misty Ring. Also, since some of the magic stones had been used to let Set and the Death Scythe acquire skills, there were a lot more materials and comparatively less magic stones, which would make the guild staff puzzled.

「I heard that you keep most of the monster meat to feed the Griffon……but why are there so few magic stones?　Although they are mostly low rank monsters, there’s quite a lot of material.」
「Ah, no. I actually started a hobby of collecting magic stones. I keep two of every from every kind of monster. I keep them for ornamental purposes.」
「……Well, there are quite a few eccentric adventurers so I don’t mind. Still, a magic stone collection you say. That is quite a strange hobby.」

(Was it a bit forced after all?　But, it’s better than her suspecting why I would keep selling materials with no magic stone each time……at least that’s what I hope.)

「As you know, I have an item box. So even if the number of magic stones increases, I don’t have to worry about it at all.」
「It’s quite convenient. Now then, I will appraise the materials. Ah, please put the proofs of subjugation on the table over there. It will be helpful if you could group them by type.」

Following Lenora’s instructions, Rei sorted the proofs of subjugation and placed them beside the materials.

For a while, Lenora silently did her work before she unexpectedly spoke up.

「Rei-san, did you strip all these materials by yourself?」
「Hm? Ahh, I’m working alone after all. I can’t let Set strip the materials and risk destroying them.」
「Isn’t is hard to strip this much material all by yourself?」
「Well, it is. Depending on the size of the of the monster, it could take up to 30 minutes to strip the materials from one.」

Regardless of if they were small or large monsters, skinning them took a surprisingly long time. He had to do it carefully considering the quality the skins had to be in. It require more careful processing than other materials. Even if he had become more accustomed to stripping off material, his speed could only be considered average compared to other adventurers.

「But, as I said, there’s not helping it since I’m going solo.」

(Although I can pass off the magic stones as being collected for a hobby, Set……the people here can’t know that he has skills a Griffon shouldn’t have. ……Yes, besides her.)

That moment, a beautiful girl with golden hair flashed through Rei’s mind. Elena Kerebel. Knowing the truth behind Rei and Set, she hadn’t changed her attitude towards them. If he partied with someone like that then he wouldn’t need to hide anything……

(Well, that wouldn’t happen normally.)

He thought of that simply.

In any case, she was a duke’s daughter, the General Princess, the symbol of the Nobles Faction, the largest faction in the Mireana Kingdom. Even though she was also an adventurer, other people would not permit him to form a party with her.

「I couldn’t possibly look for party member just to strip materials.」

As he thought about that by himself, he spoke without thinking, to which Lenora responded.

「That is possible though? Of course it wouldn’t be a long term party.」
「……What?」

Rei, who had been arranging the tips of the Lizardmen tails, the proof subjugation, looked towards Lenora unintentionally at those words.

Lenora was currently checking the fangs of the Emerald Wolves.

「I just said that it is possible. Ah, though it would be a party exactly. You could submit a request to recruit adventurers to help dismantle monsters and strip materials.」
「……So that was a valid method.」

In all honesty, being an adventurer up until now, he had only been aware that he could receive requests. It had never occurred in his mind that he could submit requests of his own. Certainly, this would drastically decrease the time and labour he would need to strip the materials from the monsters himself. But……

「I think there would be various problems though, what are your thoughts?」

Of course, to strip materials, other adventurers would need to get their hands on the monsters that Rei killed. That included shady adventurers, who weren’t few in number……

「Regarding that, I’m sorry but I can’t help there. It would be possible for Rei-san to interview the adventurers who took the request. However, if you have a good relationship with another party, it is possible to submit a nominated request without going through the guild……ah, please pretend you didn’t hear that just now.」
「A request without going through the guild?　Tell me more.」
「……Fuu~. I was the one who spoke too much, I guess there’s no helping it.」

Lenora put the Lizardman General’s eyes into a case for preservation on the desk and gave a sigh before speaking.

「Occasionally, a client will not go through the guild and will request an adventurer directly. Of course, such a request is not a proper request. In some situations, it can be borderline legal and in other situations it can be a crime. As the reward for these kinds of requests are typically several to a dozen times greater than the rewards posted in the guild, Adventurers who aren’t aware of the conditions may get caught up in them. Well, in some cases, the client just doesn’t want to pay the fee to go through the guild……that does happen.」
「I see. For now, I’ll definitely go through the guild for things like this.」
「That is good. The guild can’t run if it doesn’t collect any intermediary fees. Because of that, Rei-san should be careful about these kinds of requests.」
「Huh? Why me?」

Rei looked at Lenora with a blank face.

However, Lenora continued to explain with a serious expression.

「Listen carefully.　It hasn’t been long since Rei-san has registered with the guild, but you are already the fastest adventurer to reach rank D in Gilm. In other words, your skills are good. And although I’m not too familiar with your background……it seems you’re not that good at socialising.」
「No, well. I can’t argue back if you put it that way.」
「In other words, with your skills and lack of knowledge, it makes it easy for you to get caught up in criminal activities like the ones I mentioned earlier. ……Well, if it’s Rei-san, you would probably just beat them up once you realised what was going on.」

She shook her head while sighing.

「Ah, but because Rei-san is always followed by a Griffon, you’re famous in the city of Gilm in various ways. It may be hard for those people to try to invite you.」
「……So, what should I do about it?」
「What? Well, that is each adventurer’s own responsibility. It’s fine to strip materials from monsters by yourself. It’s also fine to hire other adventurers to do it for you. Speaking of what I can do, I could also inform you about the reputation of the party that wants to take up the request.」
「Is it okay to talk about the reputation of other parties?」
「There’s nothing unusual about that though?　It is a normal service provided by the guild if interviews are required before the request.」

Rei finished organising all the proofs of subjugation and nodded after thinking about Lenora’s words for a while.

「I see, then I might put out a request for that. After the appraisal is done, I would like to ask you about the procedures for that.」
「Yes, I understand. The appraisal will take a bit more time. ……Still, the material that you’ve stripped has become much better in quality.」

Lenora murmured in admiration as she appraised the fur of an Emerald Wolf.

「I had to do it all by myself. So I got better at it over time. I was also taught by Elk to some extent.」
「Elk-san?　Axe of the Thunder God?　……Ahh, speaking of that, you did become acquainted during the matter with the Orcs.」

Speaking of top class adventurers in the city of Gilm, Lenora recalled the personality of the mischievous kid who had since grown up. There was no doubt in his ability, but with his character, he would sometimes cause an uproar. Lenora had been caught up in those uproars several times herself as they had happened in the guild.

Lenora kept appraising the materials and magic stones while continuing the conversation, finishing up after about 30 minutes.

「I still can’t get used to this.」

Looking at Lenora appraise the materials one after the other and disposing of the proofs of subjugation, Rei murmured.

At Rei’s words, Lenora gave a smile and a small nod.

「If you keep doing it, you’ll get used to it as well Rei-san.」

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