"Madam, this city has my lady's thoughts and prayers, but do believe when I say that providing a bit more assistance to us right now will result in a more favorable outcome for everyone in the end."
Adrianna didn't look away, instead lowering her head politely without breaking eye contact with the other woman and explaining, although keeping things very vague and adhering to Melinda's request.
"..."
Unfortunately, despite her best intentions and polite tone of voice, the receptionist's expression darkened as she mistook the maid's advice for nothing less than a threat.
"...hmmm…?"
Behind Adrianna's back, Melinda furrowed her brows and stroked her chin, struck with a sudden thought.
"..."
"...?"
The gold-haired girl reached to the side and tugged on Zane's clothes, prompting the monstrous servant to lean down in order to hear her out. It goes without saying that while doing so he made sure to keep his ability from activating.
"...Zane do you think this is… you know… The restoration side quest…?"
Melinda glanced at the receptionist and her maid, who kept glaring at each other, and whispered conspicuously.
"!!!"
As his first reaction, Zane's eyes widened, and he let out a small gasp.
"Technically speaking, the serpent's descent was a monster raid… I… I do believe we should visit places like the teleporter array and shops to make sure… If they ask for time to repair everywhere as they need to procure the necessary building materials, it would perfectly match the synopsis of the restoration quest!"
The monstrous servant perked up and responded harshly with an excited voice, agreeing with the girl's idea.
"In the game, the special restoration quest will become available within a settlement that has been ravaged by monsters or bandits. The only two facilities still functioning would be the inn and the adventurers guild. The inn would be much more expensive to rest in, and the adventurer guild would not post new quests and wouldn't pay the player for the monster materials they would like to turn in. Instead, the guild would accept either the monster corpses or the currency as the voluntary restoration funds. That side quest can be ignored, but it takes annoyingly long for the settlement to restore on its own… Reaching certain tiers will gradually unlock other facilities one by one… and in cases of some settlement, donating a lot will make their facilities upgrade. While they offer better items than before, their prices would be much, much lower for the player! Zane! If this really is the restoration quest, we have to complete it!"
Melinda's eyes lit up with excitement, and she kept tugging on her servant's sleeve, barely stopping herself from bouncing in joy at the thought.
"Slow down, we aren't sure… As I said, we have to test things out - if even the teleporter array is out, then yes, it is the restoration quest… actually, we can begin the test right now."
"...!"
Zane smiled, grabbing Melinda's hand and smiling cheekily, making the girl instantly turn to the receptionist.
"We can check whether the guild takes in the donations for the restoration fund! That should clear things out for us."
"Indeed~"
The monstrous servant pointed out, taking a step towards the counter, and the gold-haired noble girl mirrored him with a bright smile still holding onto him.
"...?!"
The woman behind the counter looked away from the maid's glare, only to flinch after encountering the piercingly intense gazes of the pair behind the brown-haired girl.
"Adi, it's okay."
"...my lady…"
The gold-haired girl let go of the tall man, who had something uncanny about his look, and instead placed her hand on the maid's shoulder. The maid recognized she was getting too overzealous, and the moment her lady spoke up, she visibly deflated and backed off without trying to talk back or voice any more of her own thoughts on the matter.
"..."
The receptionist furrowed her brows… at least that haughty girl took her duties very seriously…
Still… what did her master have to say?
"Ma'am! Since the city is in trouble, we would like to donate those to help!"
"!!!"
The receptionist fully expected to be threatened in her face, so when the gold-haired girl smiled brightly with this innocent look in her eyes instead, she ended up speechless for a moment or two.
"?!?!"
The girl's maid looked just as flabbergasted, but the man with the creepy look about him leaned down and began whispering something to her until she appeared to have calmed down.
"Is that something that we can do? We'd like to help in such a way, if that's possible, of course."
The gold-haired girl asked, tilting her head to the side, focused on the receptionist's expression as if gauigng her reaction.
"It… it is not forbidden or anything, of course… If you truly wish to donate those for the good of the Chainlink port city, then our guild gives you our deepest thanks. Pigkin Orcs can be dissected into many useful materials."
The green-eyed woman behind the counter couldn't really find any faults in the statement, and the girl didn't seem like having some hidden agenda against the guild or the city.
"Yes~!"
"...?!"
Hearing that her donation would be accepted, the gold-haired girl pumped her hand and cheered out, cousin the receptionist to raise her brows.
"That's perfect! We will come back with more monster corpses to donate later!'
The girl cheered out, taking back her guild card, and began to leave together with her servants, receiving far more curious looks than before.
"Oh, and those are Boarkin Orcs, not Pigkin ones! They are worth more~!"
"Wh-what?! Weren't you level 24, though?!"
Right before leaving the building, the gold-haired girl raised her hand and called out, making the receptionist lose her cool and call out.
"Damn, her companions must be strong…!"
"I bet it's that lanky guy! There was something off about him!"
"Yeah, his ability must be something crazy!"
While the receptionist was frozen behind the counter with her arm reaching out after the group that left, some of the guild members taking a quick rest, began gossiping without a second of delay.