Appraiser"s Job Chapter 19: Dissection Request
"Mornin"."
"Good Morning."
"Morning, Little Sheik."
Today, too, began with the same carefree morning greeting.
Mr. Sheik approached, scratching his bare chest, the guild counter where I was tidying up. The first thing out of his mouth was, "Io, how did the dungeon from before go? Did you catch any monsters that I can butcher?"
I was concerned that perhaps while I was absent my appraisal duties were suspended. Aside from Mr. Hansel, the guild was also quite well-known.
Shaking my head, I looked back at Mr. Sheik"s face. "Other than slimes, the dungeon didn"t have any monsters that could be butchered..."
"Slimes? Those are so boring to hunt, you know," Mr. Sheik shrugged.
"There were no materials to collect from them. Ordinary weapons are ineffective. They gather into swarms. I"d like to hold back if I was an adventurer fighting them." Certainly to a butcher, a monster that lacks bones or fur isn"t a monster worth capturing. Suddenly Mr. Sheik gripped his fist forcefully and declared, "The beast cla.s.sification should be restricted to only monsters with bones and fur! It feels exhilarating when I get to complete skin such a creature! The feeling of cutting through its flesh!"
"Mr. Sheik, your voice is a bit loud…Outsiders are looking." Even under normal circ.u.mstances, the half-naked Mr. Sheik was attention grabbing.
Aaah, the people walking down the street were already looking in the guild. I felt somewhat sorry for them.
"Is your workshop ready to go? It"s getting to be time to open the guild."
I glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. Five minutes to nine...the troublesome time where I have to finish up the morning business preparation.
"Oh," Mr. Sheik said, raising his voice. "I"ll start making the arrangements. See ya later." He waved goodbye as he left through the door in the back of the guild leading toward his personal workshop.
With it being such a suitable time to head to my own post, I got up to leave as well. "Well then, I"ll be heading to my workshop as well, Mr. Hansel."
"Got it."
Having finished cleaning off the top of the counter, it was time to head up to the second floor.
A man, who looked to be an adventurer, dragged a large package behind him as he entered the front door of the guild. "Is this the adventurer"s guild?" Did he catch something like a tiger? The stern-looking man had a deep scar running through his right eye. I couldn"t see what equipment was hidden beneath his overcoat. I spotted a large sword hanging on his back. Perhaps he was a swordsman.
"That"s correct. This is the adventurer"s guild," Mr. Hansel said, his upper body hanging over the guild counter.
Setting his package down outside the guild, the man continued with the words, "I want to request a butcher."
"A butcher, is it? Got it. Is the monster you want butchered the one you set down outside?"
The man nodded, going outside. Mr. Hansel came out from behind the counter and followed after him. I too chased after their exitting figures.
What is this….
My mouth hung open at the sight I saw there.
The thing the man took out to be butchered....a gigantic frog monster with its belly inflated strangely.
Footnotes:
T/N: 1 of 2 for the day.
Credits:
Appraiser"s Job Chapter 20: Cannibalistic Frog
Large Toad.
I identified the name of the monster with my appraisal magic.
A Large Toad was just like the name said, a gigantic frog. Having a large appet.i.te for living things, they often attacked the livestock raised by human civilizations. For that reason I often saw the name of the monster being requested to be dispatched by adventurers. Their size differed from individual to individual, but they were generally large to begin with. They"ll even attack humans if they"ve got an empty stomach. Therefore it can be said that they"re a monster to avoid approaching whenever possible.
"That"s a considerably large Large Toad," Mr. Hansel said, folding his arms as he looked over the monster"s entire body. "It"s worth butchering."
"I want to request that the contents of its stomach get preferential treatment during the process," the man said.
Mr. Hansel"s face turned suspicious at the man"s words. "The contents of its stomach?"
"I want to know if this guy ate a human."
"Hu….." I stared at the Large Toad at a loss for words.
The stomach"s strange swelling….did it swallow something whole? Surely when its body is that large swallowing a person whole would be easy.
Mr. Hansel"s expression tensed at the man"s words. "It"ll be good to have the stomach drained. Understood. I"ll get our butcher right on it." He quickly entered the guild and called out in a large voice, "Little Sheik! I"ve got work for you, please come here!"
"A person...was attacked?"
The man slowly shook his head, answering my inquiry. "There"s only the possibility of it. Whether or not this monster swallowed a person, we won"t know until we see inside its stomach."
"Suppose a person was eaten...is there a chance they"re still alive?"
"......" The man didn"t answer.
Was the chance of survival so low….?
"This guy"s body was already quite huge," Mr. Sheik said expressing his admiration as he looked up at the Large Toad. He had just come out of his workshop at Mr. Hansel"s call.
Mr. Hansel, with a face that was never serious, said to him, "Mr. Sheik I want you to immediately open its stomach. We want to know what this Large Toad has eaten."
"Alright. Would you gather some people while I carry this back to my workshop?" Mr. Sheik clapped his hands with a rush as he got fired up. He extended his forearms toward the Large Toad.
Mr. Hansel withdrew into the guild. Probably to gather some manpower.
It felt like something terrible had happened…
I fetched the gla.s.ses from my pocket and secured them in front of my eyes as I watched the dragging carca.s.s of the Large Toad pa.s.s me by.
Footnotes:
T/N: 2 of 2. Have a great weekend, loves. And watch out for killer toads.
Credits: