Alphonse and Oslo went to the guild for reporting the matter related to the quest. Since it had been completed, Oslo directly went to the front desk and told about it to the receptionist. She then nodded and said,
"Do you have any evidence that it was indeed completed? If you have, then let me see them. A limb of a goblin or the belonging that solely represents it's kind is fine."
Even if he had completed the quest, if he had no evidence of the completion then he wouldn't be compensated or rewarded. Oslo who didn't know of this rule frowned.
Belonging? He then finally showed the dagger on his waist to the girl and said, "Is it ok?"
"No," She shook her head, "Anybody can possess a dagger like that and it is also a weapon that doesn't represent the goblins. So, it doesn't count as evidence."
Alphonse having finished explaining the situation to the guild leader stepped forward and in the table, the corpse of goblin king appeared out of nowhere.
"I guess this will be enough. Even a hand would have been enough but I thought I would bring back the corpse, since it was my first quest."
"Hmmm..." She carefully examined the corpse and said, "It is enough. I will provide you with the reward then. Also, would you like to sell this corpse? We can buy it for twenty silvers."
"Twenty silvers?" Alphonse frowned but after he saw that Oslo who had his eyes already lit up, he laughed.
"Alright, twenty silvers it is." He said that because what he wanted right now was to earn Oslo's trust. If he couldn't earn Oslo's trust then no matter what happened, he wouldn't be able to convince Oslo to go in another quest with him.
She then did something similar like Alphonse which made a pouch filled with coins and two skill books appear in the desk. She then took out the register from the drawer and started turning its page.
Each rank had its own register which recorded the information related to the quests and the people involved in its completion. What Oslo had taken was a C-rank quest and was given the register that recorded the information related to the C-rank quest and only that.
With her index finger, she pointed out at a blank place and said, "Here, sign in this place."
The place was where the quest he took was written alongside a blank space where his name should have been. Last time when he had been the guild, he had stood out in front of the girl and she had remembered him from then, so it didn't take long for her to point his quest out.
Easily finding his quest, Oslo burrowed a pen from her and signed in the register so that it would act as the verification for the quest he had completed.
Beside him another tall man with brown and wavy hair stepped forward and talked to the receptionist. The man then took out a part of some monster which was very dirty and seemed like a horn. Oslo guessed that this man was also here for selling his stuff.
But his stuff seemed cheap and dirty and with holes in the horn, it seemed like a defective product. The girl then took a good look at the mans's item and carefully examined it.
"This nail is indeed genuine. We can buy this nail for the cost of hundred golds." She said with a smile.
The man then grabbed his item and said, "Hundred golds? Do you think i was born yesterday?"
The receptionist sighed and said,"Alright three hundred golds, not a single copper more. Take it or leave it."
A smile formed on the man's face as he left when the exchange was completed and he received his golds. Meanwhile, on his side, Oslo's jaw nearly hit the ground.
Oslo was dumbfounded. It wasn't a horn but a nail? And it sold for three hundred golds? Whose dirty nail was it? A God's? Even full corpse of the goblin king was inferior to that dirty nail.
After Alphonse as well finished leaving his signature on the register, the girl handed both of them a skill book each and gave Alphonse the pouch of silvers. Alphonse then handed the pouch to Oslo,
"I don't need the pouch because it was you who killed the beast after all. You can take it."
"Don't mind me if i do then!" Oslo immediately took the pouch and kept it inside his pocket.
Too fast! Alphonse had hoped that Oslo would deny the money like when he had done it inside the dungeon with those magic cores but who knew that Oslo would just take it as if nothing. He felt that if he got some silvers back then he would deny it and try to win Oslo even more but now it had failed.
His plan was laid to waste by Oslo's sudden change in behavior.
Well Oslo too wouldn't have taken something which was not his that immediately but since the goblin king was killed by him, he didn't stand on ceremony.
With a sour mouth, Alphonse took out three black cores and showed it to the girl. He then said with a sigh, "I'll like to sell these."
The girl then took the core into her hands and replied, "Mana cores of low quality. It'll only give you thirty silvers, how about it?"
Thirty silvers? Although it wasn't much, it was more than Oslo's twenty silvers. He respected Oslo but had a competitive feelings as well. He too was a proud man, so why wouldn't he want to show off at every chance he got.
"Its ok!" Alphonse said with a grin and looked at Oslo with those eyes saying 'I beat you this time'. He now had thirty silvers which was more than what Oslo had in his pocket but what made him squint his eyes was that Oslo appeared emotionless seeing that.
It seemed as if Oslo was in deep thoughts about something and hadn't paid any mind to his environment at all.
Oslo had almost forgot that he too had received a magic core from the goblin which had killed the village elder. If not for Alphonse showing those cores, it was unlikely that he would have remembered that there was also a core of a goblin in his pocket.
If he were to calculate the value of core from what Alphonse had received in return then it was more likely that one core had earned ten silvers for Alphonse. This price is reasonable I guess, Oslo thought.
He then as well took out the green magic core he had in his pocket and slammed it in the desk with a sinister smile.
"I will like to sell this!"
If he as well earned ten silvers from this then he too would have thirty silvers like Alphonse. Looking at Alphonse, Oslo gave an odd look of 'If it's a competition you want, then it is a competition you will get'.
The girl again examined the core and nodded, "Alright four gold coins!"
Alphonse almost coughed blood when he heard that. He then looked at the receptionist and said, "There must be some mistake. How can one compare to three cores and even win?"
The girl then shook her head and said, "The core you provided was of low quality and if i were to guess, then it probably belonged to a D-rank magic beast, but what he provided just now probably belonged to a C-rank magic beast which has the higher density of mana inside it."
So, it all depended on the quality and not the quantity...but, what did she say? It was obviously the core which belonged to the goblin of D-rank and she just said that it probably belonged to a magic beast of C-rank? But Oslo didn't think too deep into it as it might have been a coincidence, money was money, after all.
Oslo immediately took his money and put it in his pocket giving a mocking glance to Alphonse. With a swipe of her hand the cores along with the corpse of goblin king disappeared from the table and it was clean as if nothing was kept in it before.
Alphonse sighed and accepted the lost. It was his lost again and looking at the figure made him feel that he was never going to catch up to him. The more he tried to catch up...the more far, he would become. But it didn't disappoint him in the least and on the contrary, he was inspired. Next time I'll win for sure, Alphonse clenched his fist and made up his mind.
Just as Oslo packed up his things and was about to head home, a voice of a girl called him from behind.
"Excuse me, would you like to make an exchange with me?"
It wasn't the voice of the receptionist but someone else. It belonged to another girl who was standing behind him and from her attire he could guess.
'Another rich girl!'
Do I have a nag for attracting riches? Oslo turned toward her and shook his head, "Actually, I sold everything i had in my possession just now and I don't have anything else on me right now that is valuable."
"Um...I'm not talking about the cores or corpses. I'm talking about something different." She said with a gentle smile.
Oslo didn't remember if he had anything else on him that he wanted to sell, so he asked in confusion, "What is that thing?"
"I want that pendant of yours." She said without hesitation and a smile on her face all the same, "When you were signing on the register, I happened to glance upon that beautiful green pendant you had been wearing. I want that pendant and can give you five golds for that beautiful pendant."
Want to buy the pendant? Do i look that much of an idiot to them?
Oslo didn't even gave a second glance before he started walking again.
"Hey, don't push your luck. Just take the five golds and leave that pendant. If you were to apologize for just disregarding me just now and start giving me some face then, I might even give you six golds." The voice directly rang in his ears and on outside no one could hear it.
That's a neat trick. I should also learn how to use this trick, he thought. But now since he didn't know such tricks, he replied the girl with his mouth.
With a smile still on his face, he looked at the girl who was about thirteen and said, "Listen little girl, that thing you mentioned is not for sale!"
Saying that, he walked out of the guild without thinking much of the threat. What giving face? If he was just being blindly robbed then why would he allow it?
The girl was fuming mad but Oslo didn't even gave her another glance, no matter how much her voice rang inside his ears. The girl thought that he was some naive low class and seeing him not giving her any face...it enraged her.
Oslo might not have known many things but about the pendant he was wearing, he knew very much. It was the belonging what he cherished very much like his skills, so he wasn't just going to had it over to some random girl who was just trying to rob him blind and wasn't even going to pay a fair price.
Reaching at the portal, Oslo stopped as Alphonse behind him halted at the same time. Oslo had happened to glance upon someone and it was the reason for him to stop. As he walked to the person, he mumbled,
"Looks like I have a work to do..."