Hugo

And there she goes again… grinning on her own while having this starstruck look on her face.

I never quite know what that girl is thinking, really. I can certainly see why Anne gets annoyed by her so often.

Well, I’m just glad that she’s fine. I don’t think she’s really suited to be an adventurer, but she’s a pretty good mage and thanks to Anton’s leadership, she has been able to perform well in said role. I have a feeling that she won’t be able to survive well at all if she has to go solo like me though.

---------

Anne

And there he goes again, bragging about how strong he is to her. Hmph! Does he think he's fooling anyone, pretending to be all humble like that?

He knows very well how strong he is. Those feathers were never a problem for him from the start. And yet, he played it all coy, pretending that he only barely managed to parry them all.

Annoying. It's really annoying. It's like he's looking down on us!

He's probably doing it to impress that noble brat. He's a noble too after all. Nobles like that kind of stuff, right? Playing the knight in shining armor to woo the ladies? That brat might be fooled, but I sure am not! Even if he saved me that one time!

---------

Hugo

To my pleasant surprise (and our entire caravan, naturally), we went through the rest of the valley safety. No other monsters popped up and before we knew it, we were already out on the plains and back on safe roads.

And finally, in ten more days, we arrived at our destination. The town of Keirnes.

It was a small town, all things considered. It wasn’t located in the main route traders and merchants would take to move around their merchandise. Even so, at least according to our employer, it was important enough to the Rinea Corporation, or rather, its trading subsidiary, to set up shop here. Apparently, it was the center of trade for the eastern part of the kingdom, so they would lose out if they merely abandoned the place to other merchants. And it was also a town where adventurers liked to use as their base of operations. The region was still mostly wild, filled with monsters that needed to be taken care of. And a lot of them were quite strong too, to the point that high-ranked adventurers would come here in search for the high-ranked quests that they wanted.

“In short, you’re selling to adventurers?” I asked him.

“Well, some of the goods here are indeed for them,” he replied with a smile. “Not just weapons and armors, mind you, but magical items as well.”

I asked him about the Dream Orb afterwards. He had heard of it, but he had never gotten his hands on it. “That thing is so rare, you can buy a whole house and land with it! Or maybe even more!” he exclaimed.

I gulped. So buying it is pretty much not an option. I have to get it myself.

Once we arrived, our employer thanked us for our service with a bright smile on his face. He gave us the completion notice that we could take to the Guild afterwards to report our quest and then get our payment there. This was done so that the adventurers would have no incentive to just kill the quest owner and rob him of his money. You don’t necessarily have to do it though, as you’re perfectly welcome to pay them on your own.

Although, in his case, I’m pretty sure we can get a huge sum of money if we take all of his merchandise. If we can sell it, that is. I have a suspicion that no merchants will be crazy enough to buy goods stolen from the No.1 trading company in the continent.

He mentioned it by the way, how if we tried to rob him, there would be no merchants in the Holy Continent that would buy his merchandise off our hands and we would be fugitives for the rest of our lives.

Yeah, he didn’t trust us when we first met. But now, I think his attitude already flips 180 degrees, to the point that he actually offered us to be his permanent bodyguard, as part of the Rinea Trading Company. We refused. The Flaming Arrow trio didn’t want to be tied down and I obviously had my own goal in mind.

And thus, we entered the town’s Adventurer Guild with proud smiles on our faces for a job well done. And the knowledge that we would be paid a lot of gold very soon. Yeah. That must contribute to our good mood well enough.

The Adventurer Guild located in the town was surprisingly pretty big for a small town like this. Perhaps it was thanks to how many adventurers frequented the region. The receptionist lobby was big enough that it could hold fifty or more adventurers at once, which was the exact situation that we encountered as we stepped into the building.

“Hey, what’s with all the commotion?” I asked the nearest adventurer once we entered.

“Oh, newcomers? Haven’t seen your bunch around here before,” he replied with a smile. He was a lanky middle-aged man with a barely noticeable stubble on his chin. “As for your question, those guys are currently gathering up their members for they’re going to depart on a big S-rank quest."

My eyes traveled to where "those guys" were located. Sure enough, they seemed to be celebrating about something—regaling the tale of their adventure with some dramatic reenaction to the other adventurers there.

"Those folks are the Quiet Slayers, a famous S-rank party in the region. Not only that, but they're the leader of the Emerald Exodus, a clan consisting of their party and several other A-ranked adventuring parties. This time around, they’re going to utilize the power of the entire clan to do the quest.”

Whoa, S-rank? Does that mean they're as strong as Father and Mother?

The Quiet Slayers though… they're not really being quiet at all…

“What kind of quest takes that much manpower?” I asked him, out of pure curiosity.

“Heh, you wanna know, kiddo?” He grinned. “Dragon slaying, kiddo. Dragon slaying. A frost dragon has been spotted on the peak of a mountain in the region, and this town’s mayor has put a really lucrative quest to take care of it. Precautions, you know. Why wait until it descends down the mountain and starts killing people before putting it down?”

“Ah, I see,” I replied. Dragon slaying, huh? Certainly, dragons are S-rank monsters. And not only that, they’re said to be the strongest monster in the entire Holy Continent. Makes sense why they would want so many people. Strength in numbers and all that.

"Oh, by the way, kiddo." He looked straight at me as he said it. "What rank are you?"

"Eh? Just a humble C-rank, nothing more," I replied with a polite smile. No reason not to be nice.

"And your party?"

"Oh, they're not my party. I'm just—"

"Oh no no no no, he's totally with our party, right, Charles?"

Munyu~♥

Before I could answer, Amelie already interrupted me while grabbing my arm, making it touch her soft chest. I really didn't know if she did it intentionally or not, but I certainly appreciated the sensation.

"Hey, knock it off!" Anne interrupted, before giving a look towards the man. "Look, he's never been part of our party. He's travelling on his own and it just so happens that we took the same escort job so we're stuck together."

"What?! Don't tell me you're against him joining us!" Amelie whined.

"It's not about that! It's just that if he wants to go party up with other people, then we shouldn't be spreading around the news that he's a permanent member of our party! That wouldn't be right, would it?"

I couldn't help but smile. Heh, I guess she does care about me. Even though she never seems to accept me being around her that well.

"Anne's right." Anton finally spoke up, putting his hand on Amelie's shoulder. "Charles is not obligated to be with us. After all, he wants to go to the Demon Continent. He can't stick around with us forever, can he?"

I already told them about my destination. As for the reason, I simply told them that I had a friend I wanted to meet there. No need to tell them anything further.

With a sad look, Amelie released my arm from her grip.

We then walked to the only open counter. We gave the receptionist there our quest proof and she immediately accepted it, adding the quest completion to our cards. Really, if you think about it, those cards are amazing inventions if you consider the general technology level of this world. It's almost like an electronic data card with those chips in them. I heard they were invented by some legendary magic item crafter years ago, but I'm not sure on the details.

Afterwards however, instead of handing us the gold, the receptionist each handed us a piece of paper.

Let's see here… To be redeemed at the nearest Rinea Corporation Bank… Huh?

It wasn’t just me that was surprised. The entire party, judging by their befuddled expressions, were taken aback as well.

“Hey, what is the meaning of this?” Anne was the first to lash out. “You’re not going to give us the gold?”

“Apologies, Ma’am, but for the sake of security, this branch of the guild has partnered with the town’s Rinea Mercantile Bank to provide any large amount of payments through them. You simply have to bring those papers to their receptionist and they would immediately pay you per the amount stated.”

Bank notes. This is basically what these papers are. To think that things like that would already exist in a fantasy world like this. Then again, if I recall correctly, even in medieval Europe, there were already banks, though they mostly served merchants. And judging by the “mercantile” part, in this world, it’s probably the same as well. Before modern era paper money became widespread, bank notes were the progenitor. Merchants use them to exchange gold instead of lugging actual gold bars around, which would be far more cumbersome (not to mention dangerous as well). And judging by how Anne reacts, it seems she probably has never even heard of it before.

“It’s fine, Anne,” I told her. “I don’t think Miss Receptionist is lying.” I tried to put on a reassuring smile. I don’t really want her to embarrass herself or the rest of the party by going on an outburst from her ignorance.

“Hmph, fine!” she replied. “But we’re coming back straight here if they end up not giving out our money, got it?” She gave a threatening finger point towards the receptionist. The young lady simply smiled in response however. Truly the mark of a professional customer service employee.

“Hey, hey, what’s going on here? Why are you yelling at her like that?”

Before we could leave however, someone decided to butt in into our conversation.

It was the guy that stood in the middle of the crowd from before.

“Now you hear me, little girl.” He was speaking to Anne here. “Don’t harass Miss Sylphia here. She’s our No.1 receptionist around here and if you ever be a bother to her, I’m going to teach you a lesson you’ll never forget.”

Now that I got a close-up look at him, I could confidently describe his appearance. The man was in his mid-twenties if I had to guess, and he was wearing leather armor with a large sword on his back. That was enough to tell me that he was just like Father, a frontline offensive swordsman who preferred mobility over defense. He was tall and well-built, though not to the extent of him. And his face wasn’t bad-looking either. It’s hard to describe his charm, but if I had to say, he was halfway being a pretty boy-type swordsman and a rugged, gruff-type swordsman. He had blonde hair with blue eyes, and I could easily imagine him being the type to be popular with the females. And seeing how he’s part of an S-rank party, that only adds to his attractiveness. Girls love strong men after all.

Me? I guess I am pretty strong. Unfortunately, I can’t really show it off since thanks to my young age, it’s going to be really obvious to any one chasing after me that it’s me. I doubt there are any other young boys of my age who're this capable in magic (not to brag, of course). And I’m not just talking about the Magocracy. Fiora’s political opponents might also decide to make me their target next after realizing they can no longer reach her.

Not to mention that me going around picking up chicks will no doubt anger Sherry. Though I guess just being adored is fine. Yeah, that’s perfectly fine. I can be a show off here and there. Maybe having a flock of fangirls. Yeah, that sounds nice alright…

“Hey! I’m not bothering her! I’m just asking her a question, that’s all!” was her retort.

“Anyway,” he seemed to opt to ignore her altogether now as he faced Anton. “You guys are new here, right? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around. Name’s Arcturus, an S-rank adventurer.” He gave a grin as he offered his hand towards him. He probably assumed (correctly) that he was the party leader.

“Greetings,” Anton replied with a smile, returning his handshake. “I’m Anton, and I’m a B-rank adventurer.”

“Ah, B-ranks, huh? Shame. Would recruit you guys to our clan but you guys need to be A-ranks first.”

“You people are really going against a dragon? That's awesome!" Amelie asked with a disbelieving yet perfectly excited expression.

"Oh? Didn't see you there, Miss." He turned to face her with a smile. "And yes, you are correct. We are indeed going up against one. Wish us luck, alright?"

Yep, he seems to be the smooth, womanizing type, alright.

After said short conversation, he excused himself and returned back to his group. Turning back my attention to the receptionist, the young lady was so very obviously blushing. Damn. That's what being a famous S-rank adventurer gets you, huh?

We then left the Guild building, heading straight towards the bank the receptionist had mentioned. Unlike the Guild, it was located on the wealthier side of the town. It was pretty easy to find, as the building itself was quite large. Not to mention the large sign it put up on the front, saying “The Merchant Bank of Rinea” clear and loud. Two fully armored guards stood tall on the entrance, with spears at the ready. I noticed the discomfort of the trio as we walked up the steps to the entrance. Yeah, this building certainly doesn’t have the most welcoming look.

When we entered, the atmosphere we got was far different from what we just experienced from the Guild. It was awfully quiet, as if the very air itself had been jinxed with a charm of silence. It wasn’t like there weren’t other people around. In fact, there were a decent number of them. However, they all spoke in hushed tones, as if they didn’t want others to hear their conversations. It’s awfully different from the loudness and merriness adventurers were well-known for.

We walked over to the nearest receptionist that wasn’t occupied. Unlike the one we just met, this lady was certainly more well-dressed, with a neat and tidy uniform that just screamed “bank employee” to you. The one in the Guild wore a uniform as well, but her collar was open and her posture was far more relaxed than this woman we were currently facing.

“Can I help you, Sir?” She spoke to me as I had taken the lead to arrive at her counter first.

I gave my note to her, as well as the others. Judging by her expression, she probably already knew what we were coming here for, just from the way we were dressed. I imagine adventurers would only come here to get their payments and nothing more. How would you lend a loan to a group of people who can just skip town anytime they want?

“Very well. Everything seems to be in order. Please wait for a moment.”

She then rang the small bell that was placed on her desk. A man then appeared from the room behind her. She said some words to him, away from the reach of our ears, and then the man returned back inside said room.

The next five minutes was pure torture, at least for the trio. Like people who had never used a service like this before, they kept glancing around in the most awkward and guilty manner, to the point that I was starting to get embarrassed by them. Me though? I kept my cool perfectly, even having a little chat with the receptionist while we waited.

Once the timer was up, the man returned, bringing four leather pouches that were filled with ten gold coins each. That was our payment each, which was a lot, considering how our escort quest was just a B-rank quest. The longer a quest would take, the more it would pay, even if the rank didn’t change.

Only after we left the building that the trio could take a long breath of relief.

“Well, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” I noted with a small grin.

“Charles, you’re amazing!” Amelie exclaimed with glimmering eyes as she grabbed my hands. “How did you do it, keeping your cool throughout the entire thing?”

“Well, I’ve been here before. Not here, as in this bank, but a different one back at Frastelleren,” I lied. Of course, the answer was that it was something I would often do back in my old world, as a working adult and all.

“Wow, really? That’s so cool!” she replied, grabbing my hands even tighter. This girl really needs to learn what a personal space is. Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

"Hmph! It's not a big deal, is it? That just means he isn't as sheltered as you," Anne commented, folding her arms with her huff. She always reacts like this everytime Amelie praises me for anything. Well, it's nice to keep me from getting a big head, I suppose.

And now, I guess it’s time for me to say my goodbye.