Early morning. As always, the guild was crowded with adventurers. One person in a robe, Rei, came in, accustomed to the scene.
By the way, because Set had still been sleeping when he headed to the guild, only Rei had gone to the guild.
Rei wasn't recognized by many people as it had only been a few days since he registered, with his low height and seemingly delicate build, several adventurers tried to mess with him. However, their cheeks cramped when the surrounding people told them about what had happened to the Claws of the Hawk and they pretended to have not seen him
About the time he was moving to the front of some adventurers to look at the F rank request board...a loud voice echoed through the guild.
「Please listen, there is a recruitment for an emergency request! As for the contents of the quest, there is an Orc settlement about a days distance from Gilm, the settlement must be annihilated. For the reward, 5 gold coins will be given before hand. Two platinum coins will be rewarded upon the success of the quest. Separate rewards will be given based on degree of contribution. Moreover, though the reward for the the right ear of an Orc is usually 3 silver coins, it will be changed to 5 this time. In addition, though Orcs are normally D rank monsters, they are treated as C rank when in a group. Only people who are judged to be capable are able to participate. Needless to say, the minimum requirement is the ability to defeat an Orc by themselves. The applicants will be judged in the meeting room on the second floor of the guild in an hour, after registering with a receptionist.」
It might have been a former adventurer. The voice of the man who was missing half his right ear resounded in every corner of the guild.
「How many Orcs!?」
A man who was in front of the C rank request board asked loudly.
「Unknown. However, we are certain that there is a minimum of 50.」
50. As soon as the number was said, the surrounding adventurers became noisy.
「Hey, the lowest number is 50 Orcs.」
「Ah. There's no doubt that there will be a rare species or higher species leading. The possibility of Orc mages mixed in with the group is likely to be high.」
「...What will you do?」
「It's going to be big. After all, it's two platinum coins with 5 gold coins just for participating. But, naturally, if we are generously rewarded, the danger will be accordingly. ...」
「I'm not going. My party was once partially destroyed by 3 Orcs.」
「I'm participating. The reward is huge. A settlement of Orcs a day from here, the damage will spread to Gilm if nothing is done. 」
While listening to such talk, for the first time in a long while, Rei brought out the information about Orcs from Zepairu's knowledge.
『Orc』
The name of a generic demi-human monster with the face of a pig. It's height is the same as the average adult male. They can use swords and spears but prefer close combat with clubs, there are Orc mages and Orc archers that use magic and the bow, there is also a higher orc species with better abilities called an orc general. However, the number of higher ranked orc species is small compared with the normal orc population.
Though it's combat technology isn't high, it's strength is considerable and it fights with brute force.
The race of Orcs is basically male, females from other races are used to breed. At this time, mostly human women are used.
Horde, it might be a instinctual thing but they lived by grouping in tens or more.
However, it's not uncommon for a horde of 100 to appear and gather more and more if a rare species or higher species appears.
(There is indeed knowledge of Orcs. Well, it is a basic monster of a classic fantasy setting.)
Drawing from Zepairu's knowledge, a satisfied smile floated onto Rei's face as he found the information.
(Now then, what should I do...well, I shouldn't have any problems participating. Anyway, the contribution to the guild should be great as it is an emergency request. Likewise, the reward is exceptional compared to other quests. It's also hard to find a quest that rank isn't a condition for participation. It's not a bad idea to improve my fame in case a high rank monster subjugation quest appears in future. My fighting power being known to a lot of people is a negative factor...well, it's too late to keep it secret after fighting Goblin Drool. However, I should consider the annoying possibility of increased solicitation after this request has been completed.)
From the Lord to the Guild Master and from the Guild Master to Lenora who was an acquaintance. Because Rei didn't know that if he was tangled up with adventurers they were to be notified immediately, he was weighing up the merits and demerits of receiving this quest, and the merits clearly outweighed the demerits.
Giving a small nod, he went to see Lenora, the receptionist with the ponytail who was in charge when he registered and who he subsequently submitted requests to.
「Ah, good morning Rei. Do you have a quest? 」
With a smile, Lenora asked, Rei nodded and smiled. Though the receptionist who looked like she was from the cat family of beast people turned her gaze to Rei for a moment while processing the request forms of other adventurers, Rei didn't notice it.
「So, the quest is?」
「I would like to apply for the Orc quest from a little while ago.」
Orc subjugation. Lenora took a few seconds for the words to set in.
「So, Rei. I'll say this for now but although Orcs are D rank alone, when they group together they are C rank. As expected of rank G, I can't recommend you.」
「The recruitment conditions of the request said that you need to have the strength to beat an Orc right?」
「That, well, that's right...」
「Then I won't have any problems. Though it's only a bit, I have the ability to kill a Water Bear in the Forest of Magic.」
「Water Bear!?」
Although Lenora almost involuntarily shouted that out, she shut her mouth immediately.
「The Forest of Magic...why did you go to such a dangerous place. Do you mean that you went to the Forest of Magic instead of the guild?」
「No, ah, well, Because it's a long story, I'll tell you about it if I have the opportunity. So about the matter of the Orcs?」
「...Well, even though there shouldn't be any problems if you have the ability to beat a Water Bear...However, as Rei is a G rank, any mistakes you make will stand out if you participate in this quest. There will also be people who will pick a fight with you like the Claws of the Hawk.」
Though Lenora said so anxiously, a smile floated onto Rei's face.
「At that time, I'll have a match with a bet again.」
「...Please stop it if possible...」
To Rei's words, Lenora wrote Rei's name onto the documents in her hand while releasing a sigh of resignation.
「The reception has accepted you to the Orc subjugation quest. Please wait in the meeting room on the 2nd floor for now. A detailed explanation of the quest will be given there.」
Nodding to her words, he headed towards the stairs leading to the second floor of the guild.
The guild meeting room, unlike Japan though, there's no projector or black board. It was only a room with chairs placed disorderly around in the large space. As for the large table that was originally placed in the center of the meeting room, it had been moved to the corner.
Registration had already finished. About 20 adventurers had already gathered into the room.
They had probably formed parties, the people gathered in groups of 3-5, talking about how it was necessary to push forward the Orc subjugation. Rei stepped inside to this.
While the other people were in several groups, a little boy dressed in robes walked in alone. Naturally, his figure was very noticeable and gathered all the gazes of those who were in the room.
Gata~! Among the people looking at him, several people abruptly stepped back, out of their chair, the sound echoing into the meeting room.
「Oi, what's wrong?」
「...No, nothing at all.」
「Did something happen with that fellow? You could tell us the story.」
「Stop it! Don't mess with that guy!」
The party near the window had such a conversation. When Rei entered the meeting room, most of the people found it amusing and talked about it to their friends. All except one person. That is, a member that could use magic.
Though Rei didn't understand, because he only specialized in fire magic, there are some magicians who could sense the magic power in other people. And that magician who had that ability sensed a magic power that could be called overwhelming present in Rei's body.
(...What? Is there someone who noticed the value of the Dragon Robe?)
Because didn't know of that ability, he misunderstood and thought that someone noticed the value of the Dragon Robe he was wearing and thought that they were surprised to see it.
Because he though that it would have been distracting if he took the Death Scythe into the meeting room, he stored it inside the Misty Ring before entering the guild meeting room.
(Well, okay. I assume that we have to wait until the meeting starts)
Muttering to himself, he sat down in a vacant chair in the corner of the room and observed the other adventurers.
「Oi, that's right.」
「Ah. Is it the guy that defeated the Claws of the Hawk? I also heard it today.」
「But, if that's true, isn't he still G rank? Isn't it too soon for Orc subjugation?」
「Well, if he can knock down Vargas head on, then I don't think you need to worry. If you only judge combat power, he may be rank C. ...So a muscle brain.」
「Though he may be a combat force...I don't want him to slow us down.」
「Come to think of it, the Claws of the Hawk? Aren't those guys participating in the Orc subjugation. 」
「I understand that they had all their weapons and cash taken away when they lost to that kid and they have debt with the guild so they have no time.」
「They should participate in the Orc subjugation quest if they have debt. They'd certainly be able to earn money.」
「As I said, their weapons were taken away. They're using spare weapons at the moment. With such weapons, do you think they can fight an orc, let alone a horde led by a rare species or higher species?」
「...Well, I more or less understand.」
An adventurer group of 4 men were talking in low voices a little distance from Rei and he overheard them
(Debt....looks that arrogant person has to pay. Well, the guild probably has some ideas.)
Recalling the face of Vargas for a moment, he erased it from his mind the next moment and observed the state of the other adventurers.
As expected, as all the adventurers gathered in the room were here for the Orc subjugation, there was quite intense atmosphere. The male to female ratio was roughly 7:3, the number of women wasn't as small as Rei thought.
And maybe there were adventurers also interested in Rei, there were a lot people frequently glancing at Rei.
Though they were interested, it was hard to talk to Rei as he gave off an atmosphere that kept people away. Meanwhile, several adventurers entered into the meeting room which had a somewhat uncomfortable atmosphere.
When their figures were seen, the noise it created was incomparable to when Ray entered.
Rei and the other adventurers attentions were directed to a group of 3 adventurers who just entered.
The first person to catch everyone's eyes was the man at the front. He was in his late 30's to early 40's. He had green hair and glanced around at the adventurers in the meeting room with a smile of a mischievous boy, not matching his age. It might be best expressed as a mischievous boy who grew up to an adult. He was covered in muscles, and it felt that he had a considerable weight although his height was that of an average adult man. He carried a huge battle axe on his shoulder, it seemed to be his weapon. He seemed to be the same as Varags in regards to his battle axe weapon. If you compared Vargas to a Goblin, then this guy's atmosphere could be expressed as a cyclops. Moreover, the battle axe on his back had a charm that attracted glances, even though Rei wasn't able to feel magic power, even he expected that it was a magic item.
Behind the man was a female adventurer in her mid 30's. Looking at the cane in her hand, she was probably a magician. Maybe to make it easy to move, her blue hair was cut around her shoulders. As soon as the woman adventurer came into the room, she reflexively looked at Rei and unintentionally pulled back when she saw his magic power.
The last of the three, who caught the woman adventurer, was a young man. There wasn't much of a age difference between the first two, so it seemed. He hung a sword in his sheath at his waist. Maybe it's purpose was for light movement, he wore a leather armour that seemed to be made from the skin of some sort of monster.
With pale blue hair, his features and face looked similar enough to the first two that he was probably related to them. Looking in the direction the woman was looking at, after leaving the woman to the other man, he rudely stormed up to Rei and opened his mouth after stopping in front of Rei.
「Oi, you. What did you do to my mother!?」
He grabbed Rei, who was sitting down, and dragged him up.
This was the first contact Rei had with the famous A rank party in Gilm, Axe of the Thunder God.