"Percentage of the health of the slain monster…! I wonder how much exactly~! This is a treasure beyond treasures! Such an unbalanced thing would never make it into the game! Could it be a deleted item?!"
While on her way to her last stop - the adventurers guild, Melinda was giggling to herself, barely stopping herself from bouncing up out of pure joy.
With a hundred times more pep in her step than anyone else running around the city in the storm, Melinda braved her way to the adventurers guild and pushed the door open with both hands, making a flashy entrance of a main hero...
Or, well, of a villainess.
"?!?!"
"..."
Still, the magnificent entrance was wasted on the basically empty guild - with only a fearful young black-haired girl with fluffy bobcut and large green eyes, cowering behind the counter frightened by the howling of the wind that Melinda let in…
"Ah… sorry for that…!"
Melinda gasped and raised her hand apologetically, hurriedly closing the door before making her way to the counter.
"Oh… umm... Ahh… I-I'm sorry, Miss, but as you can see, all of our adventurers are preoccupied at the moment… The major requested their help with cleaning the dangerous debris from the dock after the winds carried a broken plank all the way to his residence's window…"
The fearful receptionist stuttered and began bowing apologetically to the hooded girl before she even managed to approach her.
"It's alright, Miss. I'm here for another reason~"
"Y-you are…?"
Melinda smiled encouragingly, and the receptionist looked up at her timidly.
"D-do you perhaps wish to sign in as an adventurer…?"
The timid girl asked hesitantly.
"Will it allow me to sell monster corpses in the adventurer guilds across the Empire?"
Melinda questioned back.
"Y-yes… We do offer good prices for any monster materials and provide the material carving, so you can bring in entire monster carcasses if you so please… ah… b-but please do not bring whole bodies of monsters below level 10 unless th-they are rare ones, th-the hired carvers c-complain that its too much work for what the materials are worth, so for example with g-goblin extermination quest you only need to bring in their hearts… Ah…!"
The receptionist girl nodded and began explaining before flinching.
"I-I know h-how it sounds, but the truth is their h-hearts are the l-least gross part of them…!"
"It's okay. I understand."
The timid girl hurriedly delved into details, but Melinda stopped her with an understanding smile.
She still remembered the explanation for that, which was provided by the game.
Some random newbie adventurers in the background of the guild during one of the earliest events would have a discussion about the change that happened with the goblin extermination quests. The explanation provided was that in this world, the goblin ears could grow back, so there was a case when some cunning bunch kept a colony of goblins and harvested their ears only to unintentionally create a huge monster wave that cost Diamondium Kingdom an entire city… and prompting all adventuring guilds around the Jewelboxia continent to change the mark of proof for goblin extermination from an ear to a heart.
Melinda memorized that piece of information only because it ended up being a conversation topic brought by one of the rare interactions with Zane, by the way…
"Do I have to disclose my country of origin?"
Melinda shook her head to get rid of the unnecessary thoughts, bringing herself back to reality, and asked.
"N-no… but… but if you were charged with a crime or expelled from the adventurers guild of another country and our guild will find it out, you might get expelled too... A-all depending on the severity of the reason behind the previous termination…"
The timid girl shook her head and explained while cowering again as if expecting Melinda to start shouting at her.
"That sounds reasonable. Oh, but don't worry, that wasn't the reason I was asking about that detail~"
"..."
The gold-haired girl nodded with a smile before assuring the timid receptionist, although the latter didn't seem very convinced by her words judging by the look in her big eyes.
"...aaaaaanyway…! Is there a need to record the inborn ability, too?"
Melinda leaned back, letting out a long-winded sigh before inquiring in a rather poor attempt to not be suspicious.
"We do re-require the applicant to have their level measured, but the artifact we u-use doesn't have the ability to access the inborn ability. D-disclosing it is t-to your o-own digression..."
"It's the same then, great! Then I do want to register."
The receptionist pointed out, and Melinda immediately agreed after hearing the confirmation.
"P-please fill out this form while I will bring the artifact and prepare the procedure…"
The timid girl bowed her head while sliding a sheet of paper and a pencil towards Melinda before trotting towards the door in the back.
"...hmhmhm…"
Melinda filled out the form that was much, much less detailed than the one she was given to send a letter and started humming while waiting for the timid receptionist to return.
Honestly, it took so much time that Melinda began to wonder how long it must have been since the last time anyone registered at that particular guild.
But, in the end, the timid girl returned, holding a small crystal ball, a small rectangle looking like a blank game card, and a large graphite plate.
"Oi-sho…"
The girl huffed, placing the plate on the counter first before putting the crystal ball in front of Melinda.
"P-please place your hand on it and f-focus."
"Okay~"
The receptionist instructed, and the gold-haired girl cheered out while teaching for the item.
Almost immediately after touching the crystal's surface and concentrating, Melinda felt the ball getting slightly warm. When she tilted her head to check it, she saw that it lit up from within and boldly displayed a number—24.
"Hmhm~!"
Melinda hummed to herself. Back on the ship, she counted the number of level-up rings and was satisfied that she hadn't made a mistake while doing so.