Gluttony Demon King with the Swampman ~A Man with No Magic Power Who Dreamed of Magic, Wielding Knowledge from His Past Life Through Steady Research and Hard Work to Become the Most Vicious Final Boss~ - Chapter 18: Adventurers’ Guild

Chapter 18: Adventurers’ Guild

“Thank you for everything, Lady Noiche, Lady Zaria, Master Haro…!”

“Good work out there. Don’t take any more shady jobs, okay?”

“Y-yes ma’am! I’ll carve that into my liver!”

Noiche finally released the coachman they had been using, and the three of us started walking through the city on our own feet. We headed straight down the cobblestone main street.

The city of Dura was bustling.

It was a classic trade hub. A rest stop for merchants who traveled the world, packed tight with street stalls and open-air markets everywhere.

Most of the buildings were stone, but the people were cheerful, so the atmosphere never felt gloomy. The air was dry and crisp, making it pleasant to be outside.

“There’s little rain, so forests don’t grow large. Stone is good against fires, and thanks to earth magic construction costs are low… Yeah, no need to rely on wooden buildings.”

“…You’re interested in geography too? You’re greedy.”

“No, well… It’s not quite motivation for magic.”

I was just getting lost in thought comparing it to the previous world. I wasn’t trying to study or anything.

“Haro’s curious about everything, huh~”

Zaria said it with a fond smile.

I got a little embarrassed and shut my mouth.

The place we were heading to now was the Adventurers’ Guild.

A guild is basically a trade association. The Adventurers’ Guild specifically handles things like mediating requests for adventurers, managing achievements, and providing information support.

So what are adventurers? The closest description is “jack-of-all-trades.”

Originally the term referred to explorers who traveled the world investigating dangerous areas, but nowadays they’re treated like freelance mercenaries who’ll take on anything—monster subjugation, bodyguard work, missing persons searches, even mail delivery.

I was heading to the guild now to become one of those adventurers.

The reason wasn’t to work—it was for identification.

When you become a guild member, you’re issued a guild card. That card is a fairly strong proof of identity, and at the very least it makes traveling between cities much easier.

Adventurers are a profession that jumps all over the world, so they get a bunch of travel inconveniences waived.

Cities also need to call in adventurers from outside to deal with nearby monster problems, so in that sense adventurers are welcomed.

“…Come to think of it, you two were already adventurers.”

“Yeah, pretty much. It’s convenient for traveling. There are annoying quotas, though!”

“We were using the guild in this city for about two months right before we went looking for Haro.”

So this had been their home base to begin with.

Nobles registering as adventurers is rare, of course, but apparently not unheard of.

Still, is it really okay for ducal ladies to do that? I thought—but I still didn’t fully understand what kind of position these sisters held.

While strolling around sightseeing, we eventually arrived at the guild.

It was a huge two-story building. The entrance was always left wide open, and the first floor looked like a gathering hall. Countless sheets of paper were plastered all over the bulletin boards—those were probably the request forms.

At tables scattered around, men in leather armor carrying weapons and looking every bit the warrior were chatting loudly and freely. There was even the smell of alcohol drifting from somewhere.

It was pure pandemonium.

I figured this must be the standard for guilds, but Zaria and Noiche seemed to think otherwise.

“What’s going on? It’s extra noisy today.”

“Something’s weird.”

The two nodded at each other. It wasn’t the usual atmosphere.

But if you listened to the conversations near the entrance, the reason for the commotion became clear immediately.

“The ice dragon Zivra that’s been sighted all over for years—was actually hiding in some backwater little mountain!”

“The nobles are in total panic. Apparently a troll smashed right through a mansion wall.”

“Normal citizens didn’t take much damage, right? Lucky break.”

“The monster swarm has scattered, but House Moscaneira still has an active distress request out. Here’s the request form—anyone participating, get ready by tomorrow morning!”

“Hah! Dragon species my ass! I’ll be the one to take it down!”

…

We looked at each other. Every single thing we heard sounded awfully familiar… In fact, it was probably the incident we had already resolved.

“…What do we do?”

When I glanced around, Noiche tilted her head with zero interest, and Zaria fidgeted awkwardly with her hair.

In the end it was Zaria who spoke up. She stepped into the hall and cut through everyone’s chatter.

“Hey, everybody, sorry to interrupt while you’re all excited—”

And the next words out of Zaria’s mouth brought the entire guild to a dead halt.

“—Sorry, we already killed it.”

For one instant, silence fell.

Everyone turned toward us with blank faces. Even the receptionist-looking woman who had been holding the request form high let it flutter from her hand.

The uproar started again a beat later.

“K-killed it? Who? What!?”

“Wait, aren’t those the Levi magician sisters!? No way they took down a dragon species with just the two of them…?”

“You’re kidding! We were just talking about scraping together a few dozen people!”

“No, hold on. Who’s the white-haired kid in the back?”

“Lady Zaria, Lady Noiche, you’re back! Come to think of it, we haven’t seen you around lately…!”

…It had turned into absolute chaos.

Still, Zaria and Noiche seemed surprisingly accepted by their fellow adventurers. Well, these sisters didn’t really act very noble—in a good way.

Pushing through the noisy crowd, the receptionist woman leaped in front of us.

“U-um…”

She looked around nervously and asked Zaria in a flustered tone.

“Lady Zaria, are you… perhaps joking…?”

“Why would I? I don’t really joke at times like this.”

We defeated the ice dragon—she stated it plainly and glanced at Noiche.

Reading each other perfectly, Noiche pulled the dragon’s magic stone from her pouch and handed it over.

“This is the magic stone. Appraisal will confirm it’s from a dragon.”

“Y-yes ma’am!? R-right away… I’ll handle it with care!”

The receptionist shouted toward the counter, “Appraisal please!” and passed the stone to the appraiser who came running.

“You two are as strong as ever… Wait, just the two of you?”

“Nope. Well, we did a little work, but the one who contributed the most is this guy.”

With that, Zaria suddenly pointed straight at me.

That was the moment every single gaze in the room snapped toward me. I could feel the confusion and suspicion on my skin.

…Ugh, this feels bad.

In this life I barely ever talked to people, so I’m so bad at communication my vocal cords might actually atrophy. I started fidgeting.

“N-no way, that’s gotta be a joke…”

“Are you serious? How old is that kid? Younger than Lady Zaria, right?”

“U-um, Lady Zaria? Who exactly is this white-haired boy…?”

The receptionist looked at me timidly.

To be accurate, the ones who landed the biggest blows on the ice dragon were the Levi sisters… but as if reading my mind, Noiche whispered in my ear, “Haro’s the one who broke the curse.”

“This is Haro. The magician who brought down and killed the ice dragon. We came today to register Haro as an adventurer.”

“Eh, a kid who isn’t even an adventurer killed a dragon!?”

…You’re making it sound way cooler than it is.

I’m not actually a magician or anything… but from the outside it probably looks the same, so whatever, it’s fine for now.

“Recommendation from me and Noiche. So—please handle the registration!”