Chapter 3
Thanks to our shortcut through Ryobezar’s Forest, we arrived at the Neutral City of Shifrea a full day ahead of schedule.
“We have some time to spare, thanks to you, Kurt,” Diana said, sitting down on a bed in the inn room that had been arranged for us.
“The meeting with the Empire’s… Disaria Magic Academy is in three days, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Do you mind if I look around the city for a bit?”
“Be my guest.”
Sitting around the inn for three days straight would be boring, after all.
“If Kurt’s going, I’m going too!”
“W-Wait, I’m coming as well! Lara, you’re not allowed to sneak off alone with him!”
“Aww, and here I thought I’d finally get a date with Kurt…”
Lara and Marise attached themselves firmly to either side of me.
“Do as you like,” I sighed. It didn’t change my plans either way.
We left the inn and headed for the Shifrea Adventurer’s Guild. I had two goals: to see if there were any interesting rumors or quests, and to cash in the materials from the Hydra we’d defeated.
Luckily, the guild was right in the center of town, so we found it easily. We went inside, walked up to the reception counter at the back, and were greeted by a beautiful receptionist with a warm smile. “Welcome. How can I help you today?”
“We just arrived from the Royal Capital and would like to sell some monster materials we acquired on the way. Do we need to register for new adventurer licenses here first?” I asked, hoping to avoid the extra paperwork.
“Pardon me, but are you already registered adventurers in the Royal Capital?”
“Yes.” I remembered them saying our academy student IDs function as licenses back home. That should be sufficient.
“Oh, in that case, we have an agreement with the Royal Capital’s guild, so there’s no need to register all over again. Your existing licenses will work just fine!”
That was a relief. I didn’t want to waste any time.
“You mentioned you came from the Royal Capital… was the journey alright?”
“Why do you ask?”
“It’s just that a ferocious ‘Disaster-class’ monster has appeared near the city. We’ve dispatched several adventurer parties, but none have been able to subdue it.”
“Is that so,” I said, nodding. I’d like a chance to fight it.
“Well then, could you show me the materials? Are they already processed? You don’t look like you’re carrying… well, anything.”
“Yes, they’re processed. Though, to be honest, I just hacked it into manageable pieces.”
“Hmm? Well, please show me.”
I used my storage magic to retrieve one of the Hydra’s heads and placed it on the counter. I hadn’t bothered to drain the blood properly since it was a hassle, so the head was still dripping and caked in gore.
“…”
“Um, excuse me? Miss?”
“Kurt, I think she’s fainted… while standing up,” Marise observed, poking the receptionist’s shoulder. There was no response.
The receptionist, her face pale white, started to keel over backward. I quickly shot out a hand to catch her, but the sudden motion and noise made everyone in the guild hall turn to look at us.
“Whoa! What is that bloody thing!?”
“An adventurer might be used to it, but you can’t just drop that in front of a receptionist! Drain your kills properly before you bring them in, kid!”
The adventurers were in an uproar, and the guild staff was scolding me.
“Wait a sec…” one of the staff members muttered, leaning closer. “It’s hard to tell with all the blood, but this head… it looks familiar…”
“No way! Is that… a Hydra!?” an adventurer shouted.
As everyone realized it was, in fact, a Hydra’s head, the mood in the room began to shift dramatically.
“Wh-where did you…?”
“We came from the Royal Capital. We just killed it on the way here,” I said.
“J-just… ‘on the way’?” The guild staff who had taken over for the fainted receptionist stared at me, dumbfounded.
“This isn’t all of it. Should I bring out the rest? The counter’s going to get a lot messier, though…”
“Never mind the mess! You… you’ve done it! This is incredible!”
“Huh?” The staff grabbed me by the shoulders, his eyes wide with excitement. What’s gotten into him?
“This Hydra… this is the ferocious monster that’s been terrorizing the area near the city! We were at a total loss… I can’t believe adventurers from the Capital just… took care of it!”
“Oh… This was the one?”
“We were terrified it might even attack the city itself! I’m so sorry for yelling at you earlier. Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Apparently, I’d saved the city without even realizing it.
“I kind of figured,” Lara said.
“It’s not like there are multiple ‘Disaster-class’ monsters running around,” Marise added. They both seemed completely unfazed by now.
I proceeded to pull out the rest of the Hydra’s heads and body parts. My storage magic earned another round of shocked stares, but it was the same reaction I’d gotten back in the Capital.
“So, uh… how much is the reward?”
“There was a bounty of eight hundred gold coins on this Hydra! We set it that high assuming it would take a fifty-person raid party to kill it… I can’t believe just three of you did this!”
That’s a pretty hefty sum. I learned this back with the Behemoth, but it seems I’m really not going to have to worry about money in this world.
“That’s great. Lara, Marise, let’s split the reward.”
“N-No way! We can’t accept that!”
“She’s right! It wasn’t the three of us, you defeated it all by yourself, Kurt!”
They both flatly refused. I don’t really need this much money… Oh well. I’ll just save it as capital for crafting stronger weapons in the future.
As we waited for the appraisal to finish amidst the guild’s commotion, the doors burst open. A man stumbled in, gasping for breath.
“It’s… it’s a disaster!”
“What happened!?” a staff member yelled.
“The Payago Caves… near the city! The monster… the ‘Undying King’ has appeared!”
“What!?”
“The adventurers who were inside are trying to hold it back, but… it’s too much! They can’t handle it! We need help!”
This sounded urgent.
“Excuse me,” Marise asked, “is this ‘Undying King’ a strong monster?”
“It’s a monster that appears in those caves periodically,” the staff explained grimly. “The last time it showed up, twenty years ago, sixteen adventurers died trying to subjugate it.”
I see. So it’s a formidable opponent.
“Wait… you three!” The man who had run in suddenly spun toward us. “You’re perfect! Please, can you help?”
…Ah, I get it.
“Hey, Kurt,” Lara said, tugging on my sleeve.
“What is it?”
“Let’s go. We should help them.”
“Of course,” I agreed. In any case, I was curious about this ‘Undying King’ myself.
I glanced at Marise, who nodded with a serious expression.
“Alright. We’ll help,” I said. “Please take us there.”
“Th-Thank you!”
We hurried out of the guild and made our way toward the Payago Caves.
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