**Day 20: Early Afternoon – The Depressing Guild**
I mean, come on, this is another world, right? An adventurers' guild in another world, right? Life-or-death work, right? So why are all the requests so boring and mundane? Why are they all so ridiculously practical? Where's the dream, the hope, the generous pocket money? Is this just the Hello Work employment office? These are the natural enemies of shut-ins!!
Civil engineering jobs—I don't hate them, but the daily pay is terrible.
Transport work—same thing.
Escort missions—the duration is long and the pay is still low?
Pest extermination—goblins, wolves, low rates per head. Guess you just grind numbers?
Normally there should be something like "Eeeeh!? There are dragons in this world!?" or "Kuh, what kind of monster is this!?"—some big, flashy, get-rich-quick request full of dreams. But there's no dream here. They even list the working hours. What is this?
"Haruka-san, why are you staring at the request boards like that?"
Ah, this is one of the more sensible receptionists. Not the kind who gets yelled at, but the kind who does the yelling. The receptionist class rep, maybe?
"I'm broke, so I was thinking of secretly taking down some monsters from the requests and quietly selling the materials to the girls?"
Wha—! This receptionist also has the deadpan glare! So she really is the receptionist class rep!
Morning: class rep's glare.
Afternoon: receptionist's glare.
Night…? Where do I go for the night version? Some shady nighttime establishment? Will there be a wonderful, mature, high-school-boy-meaning glare there? I seriously want to go.
"Please, if you're only going to talk about it, at least do it secretly. You're standing right in front of the board without even caring who sees."
"No? I mean, no one in this guild is even looking this way, so there's no one watching, right?"
Yeah, I look around and nobody makes eye contact. No glances, no attention. Conclusion: no problem.
"Besides, didn't you receive eight million ele yesterday…? Don't you have it anymore?"
"Ah— that? After that, the spear old man said there was a good shop and dragged me there, and by the middle of the night all eight million was gone? Something like that?"
For some reason, the spear old man who just walked in got grabbed by the receptionist and dragged off to the second floor. What did he do? Troublesome old guy.
To leave town you need identification. Without it they charge you an entry fee again. But I couldn't become an adventurer, so I don't have a guild card. I don't live here, so no resident card either. Of course I'm not doing business, so I can't join the commerce guild. What am I supposed to do as a shut-in?
No ID means I need money to get back in. I want to go hunting because I have no money, but they take money to let me out. I don't have that money so I can't go hunting. I can't hunt so I have no money. It's a shut-in spiral.
I can't leave town, I can't hunt, I have no money, my allowance is tiny. Town life really is harsh.
Alright. I'll sneak out and sneak back in. If they don't notice me leaving, it shouldn't be weird that I'm inside.
The town is surrounded by a wall a little over two meters high. I can fly over it quietly with Air Walk.
The problem is getting caught and yelled at. After the gate guards yell at me, the class rep will yell at me even more. And I don't have any dried fruit left.
The mantle I'm wearing right now has the "Concealment Mantle – Makes it hard to recognize your presence" that I bought the other day merged into it.
I don't fully understand the effect. It doesn't make me invisible, but it makes me less noticeable and harder to pay attention to. Maybe my presence gets thinner?
If I'm sneaky, I won't be noticed. If I'm quiet, I won't be caught. I'll just pop out for a bit and come right back. Thirty-second rule, long version.
I activate Presence Block and Stealth, pull up my hood, and put on the "Black Hat – Defense +30, Presence Block, Stealth Up" as well. Then—
"Haruka-kun, are you a suspicious person? Should I report you? Why are you sneaking out of town instead of sneaking in?"
"Uwoah!? Oh, it's the Febreze girl. Don't scare me like that."
It was the rhythmic gymnastics girl and volleyball club A and B. Huh? The swimming club nudist girl isn't here? She's part of the muscle-brain four heavenly kings, right? Was she the weakest? Did she get taken out early? She was happily asking for seconds on stew last night, though.
"Forget about Febreze! And don't call us telephone poles or you'll get burned."
Volleyball A and B are glaring hard. Apparently they're still mad about being called Twin Telephone Poles on TV.
Seriously, don't give weird nicknames to sensitive high school girls in their delicate phase. It's pitiful… Wait, why am I the one being glared at?
"Where's the nudist girl today? Did she finally get arrested for public indecency?"
"No, we're looking for her too… And I don't think she got arrested because she hasn't stripped inside the town."
With Presence Detection I can vaguely sense the girls now, but I still can't tell exactly who is who.
The closest one is… that one?
"She hasn't stripped yet, but it looks like she's about to."
At the clothing store, she's grabbing clothes and running around. A bargain sale? Outlet? At least she has the decency not to change in front of the store. I'd like some of that decency in front of me too.
"Nudist girl~! You're buying clothes to take them off? Even though you're a nudist? You need them to strip?"
"Don't say it in a way that sounds so bad~! I'm not a nudist! I'm wearing clothes… I'm wearing them!"
Ah, right—she has trauma. She mentioned getting arrested for public indecency or something.
"Ohh, that outfit's cute. It'd probably look good on you."
Her eyes are dead, so I change the subject. No, seriously—for clothes in this world, they're pretty cute. She's holding two outfits and pacing back and forth, and both look nice.
"R-really? You think so? Do they… suit me?"
I see. She found cute clothes, took a detour, but the fitting room was full so she was panicking. Close call. If I hadn't found her, she was probably seconds away from stripping.
"I think both would look good on you. Can't decide?"
"Two is over budget! I can't choose between them, the sizes are perfect, and I have no idea what to do, so I was going to try them on but the fitting room never opens!"
She wasn't checking sizes—she was worrying about which one looked better on her. Classic girl.
"Just buy both. I'll lend you the money? Ten times payback?"
"That's way worse than ten percent interest! Definitely the kind of loan you shouldn't take! D-don't tell me… if I can't pay it back I have to use my body!? You're after my body!!"
"No pressure at all."
"See… I knew it… There's no value even in the interest…"
She looks like she's about to die, so I lend her one silver coin and let her buy the clothes. The other three also rush into the bargain area. I lent them money too.
"Alright, now work to pay back the debt~"
""""See! We knew it! You're going to sell our bodies to some shady shop!?""""
"It's fine. Even without selling you to a shady shop, the nudist girl is plenty suspicious just by being called the nudist girl."
"I've been thinking this for a while, but Haruka-kun, whenever you say 'it's fine' it's never actually fine, is it~? And I'm not a nudist~ I bought clothes."
The way she says it makes it sound like a nudist came to buy clothes while naked. She'll get arrested for real.
After that I help the four of them leave town. Of course they have guild cards so there's no problem. I sneak out behind them. Since I'm sneaking, there's no problem.
""""How come no one noticed you?""""
"Because I snuck out so no one would notice, obviously?"
""""You were just walking normally! With a completely innocent face!?""""
And so we left town to hunt for pocket money. Preferably a whole herd of pocket money. A massive amount. Pocket money genocide.
Found some. "Goblin Lv 2." Lame.
No good. This one's only worth about five hundred ele at best, and it's just one. "Bonk!"
I need higher-value pocket money. Has to be a whole herd. "Bonk! Thud!"
I wanted to test the new weapon's effects too, but there's no decent opponent. "Thud! Crunch! Crack!"
At this rate even the muscle-brain four heavenly kings won't be able to pay back their debts. "Doga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-gaah! Ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga! Ga-ga-ga!"
Around the town it's mostly Lv 1 to 3. Just goblins and green wolves. "Begyaa!! Gubaa! Gigya! Gago!"
Even split five ways it won't be enough for pocket money. "Gugya! Geguu! Gii! Gaaa! Giii! Guuu! Geeh! Gooooh!"
That was last night. "Giii! Gubaa! Gigya! Guuu! Geeh! Gusha!"
I tried merging the newly bought staff with the "Tree Staff?" "Gago! Geguu! Gii! Gaaa! Begyaa!! Gubaa! Giii! Guuu!"
While I was taking the staff out of the item bag, "Begyaa! Giii! Guuu! Geeh!! Gubaa! Giii! Gigya!"
I accidentally used the "Magic Power Blade" that I bought because it looked cool even though I couldn't use it. "Doga-gaaa! Ga-ga-ga! Ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga! Ga-ga-ga!"
The moment I held it, it merged with the "Tree Staff?" Even though it's a blade? "Gubaa! Giii! Gigya! Geguu! Gii! Gaaa!"
It required Lv 30, but maybe I can use it now? "Begyaa!! Geguu! Gii! Gubaa! Gigya! Gago!"
Yeah, it seems usable. Just pouring magic power into it cuts things cleanly. "Gugya! Geguu! Gii! Gaaa! Giii! Guuu! Geeh!"
Even though it's a "Tree Staff?", it slices smoothly. "Gaaa! Geguu! Gii! Gaaa! Giii! Guuu! Geeh! Bonk!"
The Tree Staff? has no level requirement, so merging it probably removed the Lv 30 requirement from the Magic Power Blade. "Doga-ga-ga! Ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga! Ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga! Ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-gaah! Ga-ga-ga-ga! Ga-ga-ga!"
People are trying to think here and it's so noisy. Can't they get slaughtered a little more quietly?
"Hmm, I really want to test it properly, but the opponents are so… I need something with a bit more… feedback, you know? Something more…"
""""Stop muttering to yourself while massacring monsters! We can't keep up with collecting the magic stones!!""""
I got yelled at. It really must be an issue with favorability toward the opposite sex. Looks like I'll have to buy that "Pheromone Ring" after all… for 2.6 million… Maybe I can haggle!?
In the end it didn't even come to twenty thousand ele per person… I wonder if I can negotiate the price down?
Just small fry, so levels didn't go up at all, of course.
The debt was repaid the same day. Apparently they can't go to shady shops. Well, I'm not selling them, but… even without selling, she'll probably strip anyway… That's pretty suspicious, isn't it?