Chapter 45
"Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Longdagger-san?"
Lana, a staff member of the Adventurer's Guild, asked twice to confirm.
Her face was somewhere between desperate and pleading.
"Kidding or not, it's right in front of you, isn't it?"
I pointed with my gaze to the Forest Dragon's magic stone sitting on the table.
But Lana didn't even glance in that direction.
"It was fun to hear the amusing joke about defeating the Lord of the Grassland, so please tell me the truth. What kind of magic stone is this?"
"Forest Dragon, the designated target of the grassland."
"I'm not asking for dramatic phrasing!"
Lana shouted, quite the noisy woman.
I wish she'd learn a bit from Erika's always-calm demeanor—even if not a tenth, maybe a hundredth would do.
We returned to town quickly after achieving today's goal, but here's Lana making a fuss.
It was just past noon, so the Adventurer's Guild was nearly empty, though there were still some adventurers and guild staff around.
Making such a commotion inevitably draws attention, doesn't it?
Thinking so, I looked around, but for some reason, no one was looking our way. Or rather, it felt like they were deliberately averting their eyes.
What's this about?
"Is this really the magic stone of that thing from the grassland?"
Lana asked tiredly, furrowing her brow as if enduring a headache.
Her face seemed to say that if she uttered its name, it would become an undeniable fact.
When I nodded silently, Lana let out a short groan.
"Fine, fine then."
Lana's muttering was a bit unsettling.
"It will take some time to confirm the defeat of the designated target, but we can handle the purchase of the magic stone right away. What would you like to do?"
For some reason, Lana asked with a suddenly flat expression.
Why is it that, except for Erika, the women around me seem to have such intense emotional swings? Is there some rule about that?
"Please go ahead with that."
"Understood. Once the defeat confirmation is complete, we will pay the reward separately, so we'll notify you when it's ready."
"By the way, did I do something wrong?"
"Not at all. It's just that I'll be busy arranging adventurers for confirmation and preparing the reward, which means overtime is guaranteed."
Ahahaha, Lana laughed.
"For some reason, whenever Longdagger-san enters the Adventurer's Guild, I'm suddenly assigned to the counter. Why is that? And even though there are other counters, why do you always come to mine, Longdagger-san?"
Is it some system where all the miscellaneous tasks for the adventurer you handle become the guild staff's responsibility?
"That's... sorry about that."
I instinctively chose Lana's counter because I saw a familiar face, but it seems to have been quite a hassle for her.
"No, no, it's fine. A portion of the commission goes into my pocket, after all. It's just that a Forest Dragon's magic stone is headed for auction, so the effort doesn't quite match the reward. But really, it's fine—money is never a bad thing to have."
Saying that, she laughed ahahaha.
"I had just finished dealing with the matters of the Golden Ogre's magic stone from last time!"
For some reason, while looking up at me as if peering into my face from below, Lana handled the purchase procedure for the magic stone with a pleasant smile.
As I was leaving, she greeted me with a smile, saying, "I'll be working overtime now, though!"
Seriously, I'm sorry.
*
The Forest Dragon's magic stone was worth more than three Golden Ogre magic stones combined.
Even split in two, it was more than the reward from last time.
Shara, who had it casually placed in her palm, looked bewildered.
Her face, which had shown a range of deft emotional expressions before, now bore a simple look of confusion, as if she didn't understand what she was being handed.
"What is this?"
"Half of the money from selling the Forest Dragon's magic stone."
When I said that, Shara let out a scream.
"I don't want it!"
It took longer than expected to appraise the purchase value of the magic stone, so we decided to have an early dinner at a diner.
The stares from the staff and customers were painful.
Since Shara was with us today, we chose a diner used by regular townsfolk instead of one for adventurers.
As a result, unlike diners for adventurers, the response to commotion here wasn't as cold.
"Even if you say you don't want it, we fought together, so splitting the reward is the basic rule."
"Even so, splitting it in two is ridiculous. No, I'd refuse even if it were split in three. We of the Church don't defeat monsters for money, so I can't accept this."
Saying that, she placed the bag of money on the table and gently pushed it toward me.
Still, it's surprising she can make such a serious, sisterly face.
It seems I have a strong initial impression of Shara, and it's created a weird bias. Being surprised just because she made a serious face is kind of rude.
"In that case, let's call it a donation to the orphanage."
While I was marveling at how Shara can make a serious face too, Erika quietly pushed the bag back toward Shara.
"Are you trying to give me trauma again?!"
"It's the second time, so it should be fine."
Erika laughed off Shara's protest.
"Besides, there's still the reward for the defeat to come, so isn't it easier to take it now while it's less?"
At those words, Shara groaned a few times before cautiously lifting the bag of money, as if touching it might cause an explosion.