The next day.
Today the ojousama is at the mines again, putting to practice the things she learned yesterday.
As for me, Reinbach-sama asked me to take the monster subjugation request that will be posted at the adventurers guild. I suggested taking the ojousama along, but Reinbach-sama and the madam were against it.
I just found out about this yesterday, but it seems there's actually a big gap in battle experience between me and the ojousama, which translates into an equally huge gap in battle prowess. If the ojousama were to partake in the subjugation quest, not only would she be inefficient, there's also a high probability that she'd end up relying on me too much.
I wouldn't exactly refuse her were she to ask me for help, so I guess there's some truth in that.
Anyway, because of that I went to the guild, but as soon as I got there, the guild master summoned me to his office.
"You've come, Ryouma." [Wogan]
"You called. Is something the matter?" [Ryouma]
"Oh, it's nothing special. The duke's butler just submitted the subjugation request for tomorrow, and there's something I'd like to confirm. Did you go to the abandoned mine yesterday?" [Wogan]
"Yes." [Ryouma]
"Tell me about the monsters you came across. The area too. I got the necessary info from the butler, but the more info the better." [Wogan]
"Alright. The monsters I fought were the cave mantis and the cave bat. I also fought against the small mouse. I hear the ojousama defeated some slimes too. Other than that, there was also a metal slime.
The place was overgrown with weeds and messy as if no one's touched it for years. That being said, the tunnel I entered was firmly built, and I didn't hear anything about the ground falling or a tunnel caving in from the others either." [Ryouma]
"In that case, even a G Rank should be fine, but… You mentioned there was a metal slime." [Wogan]
"Yes. But I was on my own at the time, and I only saw it when it was given to me as a present. I formed a contract with it right there and then." [Ryouma]
"Oh, yeah. You've been gathering slimes, haven't ya? I hear you have over a thousand of them already." [Wogan]
"Yes, to be more precise, I currently have 728 sticky slimes, 323 poison slimes, 211 acid slimes, 11 cleaner slimes, 3,033 scavenger slimes, 2 heal slimes, 1 metal slime, 1 normal slime, which totals to 4,310 slimes all in all." [Ryouma]
"That's way too many." [Wogan]
It seems the number was a few times bigger than he'd expected, as he ended up wryly smiling.
"The reason I have so many scavenger slimes is because of the previous case. Because of that they ended up surpassing 3,000 in such a short time.
Fortunately, slimes only need water to survive, but if these were any other monster, I'd be at my wits end trying to feed them." [Ryouma]
"I see… Oh, right. A request to clean the latrine pits is out again. If you can, please take it." [Wogan]
I haven't decided what to do for today yet, so I don't mind, but isn't this a bit too fast?
"It's only been a few days, though." [Ryouma]
"It wasn't cleaned for ages last time, so this time we're posting the request early! Or at least, there's a lot of guys who think like that. They even threatened, saying we're going to be buried in complaints if it's left for a long time.
In the end, the public office wasn't able to convince the slum people. Some of their people were able to clean the pits a little, but they're originally an arrogant bunch, so the quality of their work is different from yours." [Wogan]
"I see… Alright then. How many should I clean today?" [Ryouma]
"All 30 of them. Can you do it?" [Wogan]
"The slimes can deal with the waste a lot quicker now than before, so I think I could manage if I use the entire day. There should also be less waste this time around…" [Ryouma]
"Good, then I'll leave it to you. The people from town are really annoying." [Wogan]
"Sure, no problem. Ah, what about the monster subjugation request? I haven't registered for it yet." [Ryouma]
"Don't worry. You can just register for it when you return. There's no limit to the number of people who can take it, and I'll be dropping them a note about you too." [Wogan]
"Well, alright. In that case, I'll be on my… Ah!" [Ryouma]
It suddenly occurred to me that I might be able to purchase the monsters subjugated during the job as feed for the slimes. When I got permission from the guild master, I happily left his office and went to the receptionist girl to have the papers sorted.
During the process I found out that the receptionist girl's name was Maelyn. Also, because I cleaned all the latrine pits last time when one latrine pit equaled one job, I unknowingly fulfilled the 20 job requirement to promote from G Rank to F Rank. As such, from today onwards I will be treated as an F Ranker.
The requirements for E Rank is the completion of over 30 jobs and one subjugation job. So once I finish the monster subjugation job tomorrow, I should be an E Ranker.
Promoting in a day seemed too fast, so I asked Maelyn-san about it, and this is what she said.
"It's fast, yes, but until E Rank, it's mostly just the strong picking on the weak even during monster quests. I'm talking about adults, of course. And there's a lot of jobs that almost anyone can do. Which is why this period is considered to be the observation period.
It's when the guild looks through an adventurer's records and thinks 'oh, this one takes a lot of jobs, but he fails too much' or 'oh, this one doesn't take many jobs, but he completes them every time.'
Honestly, the job you do doesn't really matter as long as you take your job seriously. And in your case, Ryouma-kun, you haven't failed a single job and all your clients were pleased, so you have nothing to worry about." [Maelyn]
I heaved a sigh of relief at that. It's good to know I have a good reputation.
As soon as I left the receptionist, she quietly muttered.
"Seriously, if they're just going to take on a job and fail horribly, then they should just take on the miscellaneous jobs like you do instead… Novices are such a pain…" [Maelyn]
I guess the hotblooded youth prefer something more thrilling, huh.
I should do those miscellaneous jobs from time to time, so I don't betray the trust I've built up till now.
As I decided that in my mind, I left the guild to do my work.
The next day.
Last night, I was able to successfully clean the latrine pits without any accidents and was able to sleep early. Because of that I woke up earlier than normal.
The time is currently 5 AM.
For the mean time, I think I'll go ready my stuff.
Unfortunately, I still had a lot of time left over after that. Men generally don't need long to prepare. If I were a woman, I would have taken longer, but… alas.
I killed some time by feeding the slimes after that, and then left the lodging a little later.
I walked leisurely toward the adventurers guild, but when I got there, the place was packed with adventurers and several carriages could be seen coming and going.
"That's way more than I expected…" [Ryouma]
All the carriages stopped in front of the guild were for the adventurers participating in the monster subjugation job.
The receptionist said I could ride a carriage for free if I show up before 8, but this is way more people than I'd expected.
If it's that crowded, maybe I should just run to the abandoned mine. There's time anyway. It would serve as my morning exercise, and they did say nothing really mattered as long as I got to the mines by 11…
While I was wondering what to do, a voice called out to me.
"Hey! Ryouma!" [Jeff]
"Huh? Ah! Jeff-san!" [Ryouma]
The person who called out to me was none other than Jeff-san.
Raypin-san and Cher-san were with him too.
"Good morning, Jeff-san, Raypin-san, Cher-kun." [Ryouma]
"Mornin'." [Jeff]
"Good morning, Ryouma-kun." [Cher]
"Good morning, de aru. I see you've undertaken this quest as well." [Raypin]
"Yes. I take it you are too?" [Ryouma]
"That old man nominated us, so yeah. We'll be participating. It's not just us. Miya and Asagi are coming too. They've gone ahead already though." [Jeff]
"There've been large-scale jobs like this before, but there are a lot of new faces this time around…" [Jeff]
"That can't be helped, de aru. Today's job can be taken even by G Rankers. Not to mention, this is a request from the feudal lord himself, so there's good money in it, on top of which, there's also the person buying monster corpses." [Raypin]
"I wonder who's buying the corpses. I checked the list of confirmed monsters, but not one of them has anything worth selling. They're all small fries, you know?" [Jeff]
"And there's too many corpses even for research, de aru. I won't complain since I'm benefiting here, but it does make one curious." [Raypin]
"Oh, it's nothing special. They're just going to be used as feed." [Ryouma]
"Do you know something, Ryouma-kun?" [Cher]
"But of course. After all, I'm the one buying the corpses." [Ryouma]
"You're the one buying the corpses? Ah, but if it's to feed that massive ooze of slimes of yours, then I suppose it makes sense, de aru." [Raypin]
"What do you feed those guys normally anyway?" [Jeff]
"I know they look like they eat a lot, but familiars are expected to cost a lot of money depending on the race anyway, so…" [Ryouma]
As we chatted idly like that, we rode the carriage.
We happened upon each other like this, so I figured I might as well ride with them.
A few hours later…
When we reached our destination, the coachman informed us that we would have to report to the reception desk that had been set up in front of the entrance of the mine, so we did just that and waited until we could finish our report.
When the clock turned 11, we gathered in that spacious area from last time.
"There are 264 adventurers participating in today's quest! For safety's sake, you are to form parties of six! There will be no scrambling for spoils! Those without a party have been grouped beforehand, so come here and look for your name! Now, go out there and make as much as you can!"
Voices rose at the guild master's simple speech, then the adventurers split and entered their respective tunnels.
…Huh? Is that it? I can't dawdle like this, I have to find my group.
When I checked my group, I found out that my party's members were Jeff-san, Miya-san, Wereanna-san, Mizelia-san, and Syria-san.
Every one of them was someone I knew.
Did the guild master do this?
Anyway, I should rendezvous with them.
As I looked around me, I noticed Wereanna-san leading the others toward me.
"Wereanna-san, it seems we'll be working together today. It's a pleasure. Everyone else too. It's a pleasure to be working with you." [Ryouma]
"Same here, Ryouma." [Wereanna]
"Same, nyaa." [Miya]
"Looking forward to working with you." [Syria]
"I have to guide you properly as your senpai, after all." [Mizelia]
"That might be too difficult for you, Mizelia.
It hasn't been that long since we parted, but yeah, looking forward to working with ya." [Jff]
"What did you say, Jeff!? That's rude, you know!" [Mizelia]
"You might have some skill, but you're still way too careless to be teaching someone." [Jeff]
"Excuse me!?" [Mizelia]
"The hell are you two doing? Sheesh.
Ryouma, just forget about these two. Anyway, what weapons do you use? The cave bat and the small rat [1] don't really matter much, but what about the cave mantis? Have any experience with them?" [Wereanna]
"Yes. I normally use the bow, but I can also fight with my short sword. There's my magic too." [Ryouma]
"Then you take care of the flying ones with your magic. There's no one else here who can use magic, so…" [Wereanna]
"It's not that we can't use magic, nyaa. It's just that we beastmen don't have a lot of mana, nyaa. So please don't rely on us when it comes to wizardry and the arcane arts and stuff, nyaa. Ah, but Syria has a relatively big mana pool…" [Miya]
"But I can only use healing magic. Sorry." [Syria]
"As for me and Mizelia, we suck at anything related to magic. We've abandoned everything but Body Reinforcement and Body Tempering [2]!" [Jeff]
"Don't lump me with you! I actually specialize in those two spells!" [Mizelia]
"…It's the same thing even if you use the word 'specialize', nyaa. Anyway, what attributes can you use, Ryouma, nyaa?" [Miya]
"I can use all of them, but mainly earth." [Ryouma]
"All attributes, huh. That's a rare one, nyaa." [Miya]
"But with that we can have more variation when fighting. By earth, I guess you can use earth needle?" [Weeranna]
"Earth Needle and Rock Bullet. As for the other attributes, the only ones that seem useful in the cave are Ice Arrow and Stun Arrow." [Ryouma]
"That's more than enough. Alright, let's go!" [Wereanna]
Like that our quest began.