Due to the sudden influx of Travelers, Reynald had been absolutely swamped with paperwork since yesterday. On the bright side, it was the perfect excuse to push his noble-greeting responsibilities onto the head guildmaster.

Of course, Reynald still had his other responsibilities of managing the adventurers under him—which, considering that the Adventurers Guild had an unsurprisingly large number of adventurers in it, was still the lion’s share of the work.

Normally, a member of the guild staff would be able to handle a troublemaking adventurer on their own, and Reynald would simply read the report afterwards… In other words, Reynald had the distinct honor of dealing with every single problem that the rest of the guild felt was too troublesome for their paygrade.

“Yahoo, it’s me~” Menez knocked on Reynald's office door. “Are you free, guildmaster~?”

Reynald felt a headache coming on as soon as he heard Menez’s voice, like a bad premonition for his near future. Menez was supposed to be at reception—so her being there, at his office, meant that whatever she was bringing with her was going to be an extraordinary pain in the ass.

“Come in.” Reynald said anyways, against his better judgment.

As the door opened, Reynald saw Fenris and

“—Leave.”

“Welp, you heard him.” Louis agreed, immediately making a U-turn.

Reynald actually wouldn't have minded if they left just like that, but Menez gently spun Louis right back around again.

“Nope, sorry~” she smiled. “It's my job (and it’ll annoy Reynald), so you can't run away, ’kay~?”

Reynald, knowing that it was technically also his job to deal with the party, scowled.

“... Is payback for putting you on reception duty?” he asked.

“Whaaat~ I would never do something as petty as that~!”

Unfortunately, Reynald was that petty.

“One week, reception duty.”

“Ehhh…”

With some of his stress unloaded, Reynald turned his attention to the problem at hand—namely, Fenris. After letting out an impressively long sigh, Reynald said to him,

“So… you’re the Bloody Wolf.”

“I… what?” Fenris tilted his head.

“Earlier today, the guards reportedly saw a bloodsoaked wolf beastkin approaching the city from the east—and just half a bell ago, there was another sighting in the south.”

Gen, Lily, and Louis simultaneously exchanged a look.

With his suspicions all but confirmed by their reaction, Reynald let out an even longer siiiiiiiighhhhhhhhhhh.

“... In any case, rumors have been spreading—probably because those gatekeepers have too much free time on their hands—and people started getting worried about ‘the Bloody Wolf’ roaming the outskirts of town. We received a few requests to investigate, but… fortunately, there aren't many lunatics walking around covered in blood, so that narrows down the search by quite a bit.”

“Good luck with that.” Fenris said, not following the conversation at all.

“... It’s you. You’re the lunatic.” Reynald explained patiently.

“?? You found me.” It was good that they weren't searching for very long.

Reynald felt his eye twitch.

Menez, deciding that now was the right moment to interrupt, took out the slip that Flores gave to her.

“Ah, right! Guildmaster, I have something for you~”

“Haah? What's this?”

He snapped it out of her hand and read it.

“... Menez. One month, reception duty.”

“Ehhh?! Why?!”

Reynald, staring directly into her soul, simply said.

“You know why. (Did you really think I wouldn't notice? You were waiting until I was at my breaking point to pull that out; you were trying to push me over the edge. But you underestimated me. I have dealt with you—and people far more cunning than you—for days on end, for years; your tricks are nothing to me. However, since I am such a patient, forgiving person, I’m letting you off with just one month. But—mark my words—if you try anything like that again, I will make sure that not even the gods can help you.)”

Although Menez and Louis were the only ones who could clearly understand Reynald's unspoken words, even Fenris could sense the fury smoldering just underneath Reynald’s facade.

‘Nn, right… People should… eat when they’re angry.’

… And so, Fenris pulled a roasted fish-on-a-stick out of his inventory and presented it to the vice guildmaster, who glanced dubiously at the morsel before redirecting his glare back at Fenris.

“... What's this?” He asked.

“Fish.” Fenris replied with a blank expression.

Lily panickedly slapped Fenris’s back, causing his tail to shoot up in shock.

“Thisisn’tthetimeforthatFen?!”

However, Reynald simply snorted, his anger seemingly dissipating.

“... Oh, calm down. You’re not in that much trouble,” he chuckled as he accepted the fish, placing it on some apparently-not-very-important papers. “I still have to penalize you four, but there technically isn't a rule against gathering a request’s materials before formally accepting it..”

“... Hmm?” Gen seemed confused.” Why are we being punished if there’s no rule?”

Reynald raised an eyebrow.

“Because you’ve proven yourselves to be reckless idiots with no regard for your own lives? ”

““Ugh--”” Gen, Lily, and Louis were stabbed by his pointed words.

“Can’t you at least try to be polite about it, like usual…?” Louis complained, to which Reynald shrugged blithely.

“You people have already figured out my true personality, and I have no reason to show respect to any of you.”

“Man…”

“... Ah, no—there is one thing…” Reynald retracted his statement. Then, to everyone’s surprise, he lowered his head to them.

“Thank you. For completing that request.”

“I-it's not that big of a deal--” Lily started.

“But it is. Do you know how many requests go unfulfilled because nobody takes them?” Reynald interrupted her. “Adventurers need to make a living, and so they prioritize the most profitable work; there's nothing wrong with that, of course—but the fact of the matter is that requests are made because this town’s people need help. I humbly ask that you continue taking similar requests in the future… And, again—thank you.”

Reynald let out a sigh, his expression hardening once more.

“Now, with that out of the way—about your punishment.”

The other party members (not Fenris) stiffened.

“Since your party wasn't approved to take the request, you will not be receiving the reward this time (not that 300 geld split between four people is much in the first place). Furthermore, due to how quickly you’ve managed to cause a problem since registering, each of you will be required to attend a lecture regarding proper conduct. Aside from that… let me make this clear: if you ever ignore a guild staff’s warning again, I will hunt you down and personally kick your asses into yesteryear. Do you understand?”

They quickly bobbed their heads up and down.

“Good,” Reynald said as he stood up and grabbed his cane. “Well then—let’s go to the training field.”

Louis twitched.

“... I thought the ass-kicking was supposed to be next time?”

“Oh, no—it's happening now as well. We need to make sure you’ve learned your lesson, after all.”

““...””

Louis, Gen, and Lily exchanged a look.

“... Nope.” Louis immediately logged out.

“What--?!" Reynald exclaimed as Louis suddenly vanished without a trace.

“Ara, we can do that?” Gen did the same.

“Erm, uh…” Lily flusteredly looked around before following suit. “S-sorry, I’m leaving too!”

“...”

Reynald stood dazed for a few moments, his neck seemingly creaking as he turned his head to look at the only one remaining.

“...”

Fenris was staring back with his ears and tail perked expectantly.

“... You better make this worthwhile, you damned wolf,” Reynald finally sighed, causing Fenris’s tail to start wagging rapidly. “—Menez. You’re coming too.”

Menez, who was hoping to be forgotten, let out a sob.

“Please go easy on me…”

———

(EXTRA: Why was Fenris walking around covered in blood the entire time?)

Lily — Out of mana ⇒ fell asleep ⇒ too sleepy to think of casting [Clean]

Healer — Scary + Don't wanna get closer

Simon — Not my job

Gen and Louis — Don't know the spell

Fenris — Doesn't know the spell + Couldn't wash off in the river because he can't swim + Doesn't mind/care.

“This is why we tell everyone to take the basic spellcasting class,” Reynald grumbled as he cast [Clean] on Fenris. “There’s a reason why every experienced adventurer knows how to cast that spell.”

“Is it… because of blood?” Fenris asked.

“Yes, that's part of it.” Reynald sighed.