DSK

I wish you a happy new year 🥳

I wait for a while before the door opens and Aya enters the room together with a man who seemed to be in his mid-forties. He was a bald, muscular man and I could tell that his muscles were not for show. I analyzed him. His level is 48, and he had a Rank B Proficiency for war axes and could use Body Strengthening. This guy is strong.

“So you’re the guy who entered the Cursed Forest, huh?” are his first words towards me. I am curious what he is thinking, but for now I just answered him, that I indeed entered the Cursed Forest.

“I heard a bit about your circumstances from Aya. I am Travis, the guildmaster. So I understand you want to use the Lord’s influence to get an Identification Card. But still, you seem to know what people tell about the forest and you yet entered it. Even if you need an Identification Card, I wonder if it is something you would risk your life for?” He is definitely suspicious of me. I do not know where this conversation is leading. It is difficult to read his expression.

“I guess you might think so. But when I woke up without my memories, it was inside the Cursed Forest. And I could leave it without problems. So I think it was a calculated risk to enter the forest again. It is more inconvenient for me to not have an Identification Card.” When I tell them, both of them widen their eyes. It takes a moment before the guildmaster talks again.

“I see, so you lost your memories because of something inside the Cursed Forest and you still entered it again, just to get an Identification Card. But I can see how it inconveniences you.”

“I guess that might be true, but since I don’t remember anything…”

There is silence again and we just sit across from each other. What is he thinking? Will he help me? I guess I have to be patient. After about two minutes of thinking, the guildmaster finally says, “I am still not sure if I can trust you. But for now, I think this is a deal where we both will profit, so will help you. Aya, could you please send a messenger to the Lord’s mansion?”

Aya answers with “Yes, guildmaster.” and left the room to send the messenger, and the guildmaster turned to me again and says, “Would it be okay for you to wait until we receive an answer from the Lord? Because when they hear about the Crystal Flower, they might send someone immediately.” I accept and Aya comes back to report that she sent the messenger. The guildmaster then leaves the room after asking Aya to get me something to drink.

Now I have to wait again, but at least I got the support from the Guild. I had to wait for about half an hour before someone barged into the room. I recognized he was the same Mr. Noble who interrupted me while I was trying to sell my hunting spoils. In other words, he was the Lord’s son.

“You’re the one who tries to extort my brother’s situation to get even more money from our family? Do you even realize that my father is the Lord of this city? Do you think it is appropriate to take that attitude against the Lord’s family?” Huh? He continued to rant for a bit, but I don’t know what is going on. Aya is standing behind him with an apologetic expression. And when he pauses for a moment, I immediately use that chance to ask, “Uh, Isn’t there some kind of misunderstanding?”

“Huh? What do you mean? Didn’t the guilds messenger say that you want to negotiate about the reward? Can you really call yourself an Adventurer with that attitude? Why does the guild even support such actions?” Ah, I see, where his misunderstanding comes from, but will he really be alright when he jumps to such conclusions?

“It’s true that I want to negotiate, but it’s not about money. Also, I am not even an Adventurer in the first place.”

He has a flustered expression, and his face turns into a deep shade of red. That was when the guildmaster finally joined us and said, “Well, as he said, I guess there is a bit of a misunderstanding. So how about we forget what just happened and take a seat to talk about the topic at hand?”

Mr. Noble muttered something I couldn’t understand, but he takes a seat opposite of me and the guildmaster sits down next to me. He then started with the introductions, “As you might now, this is the first son of this city’s lord, Albert Gilicia. And this is Benji. As he already said, he is not an Adventurer. I guess you called yourself a monster hunter, right? After hearing him out, I still decided to work as an intermediary, because of his special circumstances. Do you want to explain it yourself?”

“Yes. As the guildmaster said, I have some special circumstances. This is actually the reason I wanted to negotiate. Instead of money, I would like to ask for the Lord’s help.” With that I explain to the Lord’s son how I lost my memories and that don’t have an Identification Card and that it is impossible for me to get one issued. That’s why I thought that this would be my best chance after I heard about this request.

“I see. First, I want to apologize for my shameful display from before.” Oh, he really apologizes. He didn’t bow his head. He is still a noble, after all. But he still seems to be very prideful. “Unfortunately, that is not a decision I can make for myself. I have to talk to father about this, but I guess it should work out somehow.”

Well, it is about the Lord’s second son. So I don’t think he will refuse me right off the bat. But since it is already late, we decide to continue the talks tomorrow and Albert is going to explain everything to his father.

I tell them which inn I was staying so they can contact me and then leave the Guild.

The next day I wait in my room at the inn. I already told the receptionist that I was waiting for a messenger of the Lord. She was really shocked to hear that, but told me she will inform me when the messenger arrives. I was just before noon, before the messenger finally arrived.

The messenger leads me to the Lord’s mansion. It was a really impressive building, compared to the rest of the city. When I enter the room, there were already three people waiting. One was the guildmaster and one was Albert. I didn’t know the third person, but he resembled Albert. He was just a lot older than him. I guess he is in his fifties, so it was safe to assume that he was Albert’s father, which made him the lord of Gilicia.

“Welcome. Thank you for coming. Please take a seat.” The Lord tells me and pointed to a place next to the guildmaster. I introduce myself and thank him, before I sit down and he continues, “My name is Count Harris Gilicia. I am the lord of Gilicia and Albert’s father. Before we begin, could you show me the Crystal Flower?”

“Of course.” I take out the Crystal Flower and place the flowerpot on the table in front of me. All three of them look at the flower in awe.

The lord then continues to talk to me, “Thank you. I already heard about your circumstances from my son, but before I can accept your wish, I have to ask you some questions. I have to make sure what kind of person you are, before I use my name to get you an Identification Card.” He then asks me a lot of questions about my background, which couldn’t answer most of the time. Then he asks me what plans I have for the future and how I would use the Identification Card, to which I answer, that I want to officially register as an Adventurer and then travel to see a lot of places.

After he finished questioning me, he calls for an attendant to bring him something. When the attendant returns, he gives me a letter and a small pouch. The letter has a seal on it, which I guess is the Lord’s seal. The pouch contains 10 Big Silver Coins, which actually equals 1 Gold Coin. It’s the original reward of the request, which is incidentally equivalent to the average reward of an S-Rank request. Obviously, I am confused.

“Please take this letter and show it to someone in the city office. With this, they should be able to issue an Identification Card for you. Also, please take the money. After all, you saved my son’s life. There is no way I can reward with just a letter.”

“I see. Thank you very much. I don’t really need the money as a reward, but if you want to give it to me, I am not going to argue.” For me, the Identification Card would have been enough. But I am not a fool who is going to decline a higher reward than expected.

With this, I finally achieved one of my goals. Of course I can’t be sure, before I actually get the Identification Card, but I don’t think of him as a person who would break his word. So we all say our goodbyes and I leave the mansion and head to the city office. But before that, I want to have lunch.