I, the Villainous Prince, Buy the Ruined Villainess with Money

Chapter 64: The Adventurer’s Role

So here I was, getting another explanation about the adventurer guild.

There was no way the arrogant and haughty Alvis Mistlutin would know anything about it. To begin with, nobles pretty much never get involved with this stuff.

They just see it as work for low-class people, y’know.

Even when you actually hear about it, sure, it doesn’t totally feel like “low-class work,” but from a noble’s point of view, a ton of the jobs are just unbearable.

Like, for example, cleaning the client’s room, carrying their luggage… and the really nasty ones include stuff like cleaning the sewers, apparently.

“So, um… yeah, that’s pretty much the main work of the adventurer guild. Like I told His Highness the Crown Prince too, the flashy jobs are super rare. When your rank is low, almost everything is just odd jobs or grunt work. The ranks go from top to bottom like this: Platinum, Gold, Silver, Steel, Copper, Iron, Stone. So yeah, when you’re at Stone or Iron rank, that’s exactly how it is.”

“That’s obvious, isn’t it? So I’m starting at Stone rank, huh?”

“Y-yes… that’s how it works… I’m sorry, but we can’t do any rank skipping or anything like that, so please understand.”

“Hmph. You think I’d do something that cheap and sneaky?”

If I did that, it’d be boring as hell.

Even in my previous life’s games, I never used cash to skip ranks—I always grinded them up the normal way.

That process itself was half the fun.

“Ah, my deepest apologies. Goodness… my information network has really gotten dull, hasn’t it?”

“What’re you talking about? Did you try something again?”

“No, no, forgive me. That’s not what I meant. It’s just that some nobles demand we bump their rank right from the start…”

Ohhh… yeah, those guys would totally say that.

Like, “We people of such noble blood—why the heck are we stuck at the lowest rank?” or whatever.

Seriously, it’s pathetic.

“So that’s what it is. Guys like that don’t deserve to call themselves adventurers.”

“Exactly, you’re right. But like I said earlier… the truth is, this really isn’t the kind of work nobles usually do.”

“What’re you saying? It’s precisely because people are willing to do these jobs that nobles get to live safe, clean lives.”

My memories from my previous life are all fragmented, but that’s how society kept turning—thanks to people doing those jobs.

It’s probably the same in any world.

It’s only because somebody’s out there doing the stuff nobody wants to do that the rest of us can live normal lives.

“Whew… this is… even for someone who’s supposed to stay neutral, this level is kinda on another plane, huh?”

“It’s not something to be that surprised about. More importantly, I wanna get started on work ASAP, so can we hurry this up?”

“Yeah, I don’t have anything else to say. I’ll finish the paperwork right away, so please wait just a moment.”

The guild master stood up and left the room.

I figured that was finally settled, so I turned around… and saw Crown Prince Kyle and Yulia Forseti whispering to each other.

Both of them were smiling, and they looked like they were having a good time.

“I see. So he really is a weirdo, huh.”

“Hehe, yeah, that’s right. I think he’s probably just really shy.”

“Kukuku… but that’s how it has to be. If he’s someone I’m gonna acknowledge as my master.”

“I’ve gotta step up my game too.”

No matter how you look at it, it was straight-up Beauty and the Beast vibes.

And honestly? It made for a pretty nice picture.

…Wait—hold up! Is this the type my fave goes for!?

“Guh… should I start lifting weights too? No, no, it’s not like I’m thinking some shady thought about getting my fave to like me or anything…”

“Hey, why’s Master muttering to himself over there?”

“Hehe, he does that sometimes.”

“Hm. So he really is a strange one.”

They were saying something behind me, but it barely registered.

Right now my brain was completely taken over by thoughts of putting together a muscle-training routine.

—

Chapter 65: Picking a Request

Looks like I was really lost in thought for a while there.

When I finally snapped out of it, the guild master had come back and was holding some gray plates.

The word “Stone-rank” was carved on them, along with Alvis’s name.

Of course, there was one prepared for Yulia too.

“These are gonna be your adventurer proofs. If you lose them, you’ll have to pay to get them reissued, so be careful, okay?”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Making these can’t be free either, right?”

“Thank you so much. I’ll leave the rest to Kaizel, so feel free to ask him anything you need.”

“Got it. Sorry for bothering you when you’re so busy.”

“No, no, I actually had a really meaningful time. If possible, I’d love to keep working with you guys for a long time.”

“Yeah, if I’m doing this, I’m aiming for the top.”

And just like that, me and the guild master shook hands.

For some reason though, the guild master was giving this苦笑… like he wanted to say ‘uh, that’s not exactly what I meant’ or something.

I didn’t really get it, but it didn’t feel like he was making fun of me, so whatever, I let it slide.

After we left the room, I followed Kaizel and we ended up in front of the request board.

“Ahem… Alright then, as your senior, let me explain. You can see the requests are lined up from left to right, starting with Stone-rank and going up to Steel-rank, right?”

“Yeah… oh, and by the way, I’m not here to throw my status around. So from now on, drop the polite speech. Honestly, if anything, I’m the one who should be using polite language with you.”

“…Me? A beastman?”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s just a little difference in how we look, that’s all.”

The old Alvis might’ve felt differently, but I’ve got memories from my previous life.

Sure, beastmen didn’t actually exist back there, but I grew up seeing them in games and stuff all the time.

If anything, I think they look pretty cool.

“Coming from a prince, huh… I’m liking you more and more… Fine, from now on we’ll talk normally.”

“Good. So why aren’t there any requests past Steel-rank up there?”

“Starting from Silver-rank, most of the jobs are high-confidentiality stuff. So the receptionists or the guild master hand those out directly.”

“Makes sense. Logical. Alright then, let’s take a look at the Stone-rank ones.”

There were tons of Stone-rank requests, all kinds of different jobs lined up.

But just like the guild master said, almost everything was basically chores and errands.

Each request had the reward money and points written on it.

“By the way, if you fail a Stone-rank request three times, you lose your qualification.”

“That’s fair. Means you’re just not cut out for it.”

“Exactly. And normally, you save up the points listed on the requests, then take the exam to rank up. For now, veterans get assigned to two requests—one subjugation type, one chore type. So first, you two pick.”

“So the basics are those two, huh. Yulia, anything catch your eye?”

I asked Yulia, who’d been super quiet the whole time, and she just went blank.

Her eyes got all big and round, and she stared at me with those gorgeous eyes of hers.

…Bro, I’m about to ascend or something!?

“M-Me?”

“Who else would I be asking? We’re gonna be partners, so of course I’m gonna wanna hear what you think.”

“Partners… A guy actually asking for my opinion… hehe.”

“What’re you smirking about?”

For some reason Kaizel next to me was smirking too… What the hell?

“Oh, nothing. Um… I was kinda looking at this one request that’s got a lot left over.”

“Hm? This one… Oh, sewer cleaning, huh.”

“That’s the least popular one. It stinks, you get filthy, and sometimes monsters even show up.”