Read Novel Full Chapter 163
Chapter 163
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Chapter 163 – Excessive Expectations
Day 2 in Biblons Marsh.
In the end, I didn’t get any significant results yesterday.
Or rather, I didn’t get any results from the side quest to find people.
After entering the interior, I switched to a fixed-point hunt with a wider range. I had so many materials, or rather magic stones, that they overflowed from the oversized basket, and even the large leather bag I was using to collect them was bulging.
By the way, I have no intention of using Orlando-san’s letter here.
If I were to use it, it would probably be for an A-rank hunting ground that I would visit in the future.
In other words, I wouldn’t be able to deposit the reward with the guild until then, so I took the wooden board with the number of magic stones written on it and lined up at the reception desk.
This time, for some reason, I avoided the receptionist who had answered me yesterday.
It wasn’t that I did anything wrong.
Hunters are free to accept or avoid requests.
I did everything I could, even if it was just a favor.
But I got nothing.
When I look at the receptionist who so desperately gave me information, I can’t help but feel bad, especially when I think about the fact that despite all that, the only thing I got was a magic stone.
“Next person, please~.”
“Please take this.”
“Yeah, but there are so many… and they’re all magic stones? U-um, and I’ll also need your guild card, please.”
“…..”
There are ranks for each request to limit the number of orders you can take.
But since I accept requests all the time, my rank shouldn’t really matter…
“I don’t take normal requests, but do you need it anyway?”
“If you only accept normal requests, that’s true, but you’ve never been seen in this town before. So just to confirm that you’re a hunter, please.”
“…I understand.”
If I don’t have the qualifications of a hunter, I can’t even change money, so it’s not surprising that something like this would happen in a new town that I’ve never been to before.
It’s a reason that makes sense, so I present my guild card with trepidation.
Please, Onee-san?
That’s what I thought.
“Huh?”
This is bad.
“You’re a B-rank?!”
Please don’t react to everything.
“No wonder you have so many magic stones…”
Stop it. The expectations you’ve raised…
“You’re a B-rank? H-how did the search for the missing person go?!”
Ahhhhh… See, I knew it.
Did she hear us talking, or did she try to listen to us even if she had to?
The receptionist stopped what she was doing to join the conversation.
Give me a break.
I’m not that interested in finding missing people.
I just thought it would be a bonus if I could find out something during the hunt…
Despite my thoughts, the receptionist, who called herself Reimi, looked at me with a look that was both pleading and hopeful.
▽ ▼ ▽ ▼ ▽
I wonder why things have turned out this way.
This is my room at the inn where I’m staying.
In front of me is the receptionist, Reimi-san.
It’s after 9 p.m., and in this world, some people would probably be in bed by now.
Isn’t it a bit careless to visit a man’s room at such a time?
Well, I guess it is when you’re dealing with a 13-year-old boy.
“Sorry to bother you at this time.”
“No, it’s fine. I guess you couldn’t move until you finished working at the reception desk.”
“I couldn’t leave the reception desk because of my selfishness…”
“So the missing person this time is related to you personally, not the guild, right?”
“The leader of the party of three who has been missing for three days is my husband.”
“I see… You’re the axe-wielding one, Sephor-san’s wife, right?”
“Yes.”
Reimi-san’s passion for the missing person was clearly different from the others.
It was only natural to suspect that there was some kind of connection between the missing person and Reimi-san.
And then Reimi-san let out a barely audible sigh as if to say, “I knew it would be the hardest of all the cases I was expecting.”
Acquaintances, friends, lovers, brothers and sisters, parents and husbands.
Reimi-san is probably in her early to mid-twenties.
Given her age, I didn’t think there was any chance that it was a missing child, so I secretly hoped that the parent, sibling, or husband pattern would be avoided if possible.
This is too much for me.
“By the way, why do you come to see me after work like this? You’re the receptionist at Lipsum, and you must know a lot of hunters who use this place as a base, right?”
“That’s because… I’m sorry, but I found out that you’re a B-rank hunter. There are B-rank hunters who pass through this town, but there are almost no people who stay and accept requests.”
“Even if they are higher-ranked, it’s not like they can find people at a moment’s notice, you know?”
“Even so. When it comes to searching a wide area for a D-rank hunting ground, there is a certain amount of risk involved, so the hunters in this city will inevitably avoid it. In fact, even though I made an urgent request, only a few people came to ask for details…”
“If they judge that the reward and risk are not balanced, then the hunters who value their freedom will probably back out.”
That’s the way it is when you work.
And it’s the same for me…
Even as I think this, I sit back in the chair in my room and look up at the ceiling as I think.
“(I plan to stay in the Biblons Marsh for at least two more days, so there’s no problem with looking for it on the way. After all, the basket will be filled in less than a day, and I can do some extensive searching by combining Flight and Investigation. But what if I can’t find it in those two days? Will Reimi-san give up so easily? After all, it’s not like you can find someone just by searching for them, so staying here for a long time is just too much…)”
Suddenly, the hand that had been tapping on the table wrapped around it.
When I looked, it was Reimi-san’s hand.
“If there’s anything I can do…”
I was drawn to her voice, and I couldn’t help but shift my gaze from the wrapped hand to Reimi-san’s slightly reddened eyes.
Her eyes stared at me as if she had made up her mind, but her hands trembled slightly.
“If you can help me with the search, I will do everything I can. Normally, I should ask a B-rank hunter, but I don’t have the money for that.”
“…..”
I see.
It wasn’t because she was dealing with a boy that she wasn’t on guard.
On the contrary, it was because she was dealing with a boy that she put her femininity on display.
Even without looking closely, Reimi-san is a beautiful woman.
She has a face with clearly defined features, which is characteristic of this country. Even compared to those around her, Reimi-san’s skin tone is quite close to that of the familiar yellow race.
Her hair is also light brown, a color that is easily accepted even among the wide variety of hair colors in this world. So, if Reimi-san had been at the company I worked for, she would definitely have become the company’s idol and been adored.
“(Hah… I don’t know about that…)”
I want to break through the current situation, even if it means grasping at straws.
I am told that she loves her husband so much that she is willing to sell her body.
If I made a deal with someone like that, I’d be a total clown.
Still, before I met Riste, I might have asked her to do various things for me under the influence of my sexual desires, but now I can say that it would be different.
AhhhーーGood grief!
“If you say so, please cooperate.”
“Y-yes.”
“First of all, has it always been the case that people go missing at such short intervals?”
“Uh…?”
“I’m asking because the receptionist at the guild should have the information, right?”
“Ah… well, there have been cases. But I think it’s pretty rare for all the party members to disappear like that. There are times when one or two people get attacked by monsters or get separated in the hunting grounds, so if the timing is bad, it’s possible for it to happen in such a short period of time. Also, in the past, there have been cases where the monsters have turned into higher species and caused more damage. It seems to have happened before I became a guild employee, and there have been no reports of it yet, but the guild master seems to think that it is a possibility.”
“Hmm? What do you mean by higher species?”
“They are monsters that suddenly appear and do not match the rank of the hunting grounds. They are said to be a phenomenon that can be seen in various hunting grounds, and they are said to be the result of a mutation that causes them to eat the magic stones of their own kind, which increases their internal magic power and turns them into a different species.”
“Hoho, that’s an interesting story…”
It’s possible that I heard some good information in an unexpected place.
When she says “higher-ranked species,” does she mean something like the “named” creatures in video games?
Could they be like the magic gem King Ant I encountered the other day?
Or are they like the golden frogs at Lake Voice that I never got to see?
Hmm, I’m never short of things to be curious about, but that’s not the important thing right now, so I’ll leave it there for now.
“I think I explored a large area today, including the interior, but I didn’t encounter any high-rank monsters. Since there weren’t any at the dismantling site either, it’s unlikely that I killed one without noticing. However, from what you’ve told me, it seems likely, so I’d like to continue exploring the areas I haven’t been to yet tomorrow.”
“R-really? Thank you very much!”
“There’s something I’d like to check, if that’s okay.”
“What is it?”
“I didn’t know about the existence of the higher-ranked species, so I hunted monsters while looking for the axe used by both parties. As you might have guessed, I didn’t find it. So, have you ever heard of a story about a swamp monster dragging people into the swamp?”
“I’ve never heard of that. There are stories of people being distracted by monsters and falling into the swamp, but the swamp isn’t that deep to begin with, so I’ve never heard of anyone drowning.”
“I see…”
Then it’s out of the question that they fell into the swamp with the axe.
Using the process of elimination, I can only think that they’re in a place I’ve never been.
However, when I think about it like that, it seems to be a big deviation from the hunting pattern of the missing party that I had heard from Reimi-san beforehand.
Especially the two-person party didn’t even have a basket, and they collected their loot in a large leather bag, so I can’t imagine a situation where such a light party would go into the depths on their own.
Well, if I can’t figure it out just by thinking about it, I guess I’ll have to check it out for myself tomorrow…
I’ll think about taking more reliable measures after Reimi-san returns.
“I think I’ll go hunting tomorrow too, so I’ll report back at night while I’m exchanging money. It’s a cruel thing to say, but if it’s been four days since they went missing in a monster-infested hunting ground, the chances of them still being alive are extremely low. Please understand that there is a possibility that I will have to give you a disappointing report.”
“I-I understand… but even so, as long as their bodies have not been found, I cannot help but think that they might still be alive, and if not, at least if you could find even one of their belongings, I think that would be good enough.”
“I see… then I will do my best.”
In the end, Reimi-san left with a face that said, “Are you sure this is okay?”
I have no idea how much it costs to request a B-rank appointment.
Still, it must be a lot of money for the guild staff, and even though she suggested selling herself because she couldn’t afford it, she was still sent home with a vague answer.
Normally, such a negotiation with an adolescent boy full of sexual desire would be a sure knockout.
Even I, an old man inside, was a bit too cool, wasn’t I? I’m already regretting it.
I was overcome with a sudden desire to see Riste, so I rolled around in my futon. After crashing into the thin wall, I calmed down with a wall bump, and then I started thinking about whether or not to take a more reliable approach.
My Investigation was about to level up, but it’s still level 1, and the range is 30 meters in a radius centered on me.
Since the goddesses would probably have high-level skills if I wanted to seriously search for them, it would be more efficient if I flew around while looking at the map and asked one of the goddesses to use Investigation to search for the missing person’s name or axe.
However, is it okay to ask the goddesses for help with problems in the lower world?
I don’t really understand the situation here.
If I’m too casual about it, I might get lectured by everyone.
“Well, I guess I’ll ask them anyway. They’re probably bored now that the search for the Otherworlders has stopped.”
If they get angry, I’ll just apologize.
With that in mind, I used Divine Communication without really thinking about it.
And when I lightly explained the situation to the Goddesses…
For some reason, a fight started in the divine realm, and I was left behind when the time of Divine Communication ended.
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