Chapter 139 (Self Edited) – Traveling to the Demon Territory
To be honest, it was Soma’s impression that the guild was more normal than I thought. Perhaps, he should say that he already expected that. It was a short walk to the Demon territory, Demento.
It had been a week since they left the Elf forest. It took about three days to get to the first town, or rather a village, and in a sense, it might have been the most surprising. When he thought that it was a village on the Mankind side, he was actually already stepping into the land of Demento.
Although the village was said to be near the border, there was no barrier or fence. So, it was very difficult to determine when people crossed the border due to poorly formed geography. Nevertheless, if it was about the other places from this first encountered village, the nearest place would be the Elf forest. Elves had declared its neutrality including to the Demons. Hence, there was no surveillance in the vicinity.
It was even harder to tell, and it seemed Sheila and the Elves also didn’t know much about the area. It was her first time to hear about this village.
Be that as it might, the village that was taking care of Aina was also normal at first glance. Even if they considered the history of the Demons, that place seemed to be normal.
Although there were some surprises, it was due to these factors that Soma was able to accept it honestly. Sheila and Felicia also had no particular prejudice to the Demons, and had no particular problems. Conversely, when they told where they came from, the villagers seemed to be more surprised.
It would be nice if they were friendly with each other. It could be said that their journey were alright. This reminded Soma of the journey with Aina and Lina without seeing monsters too much.
Then, the third place they reached after getting into Demento. This was the first time they got to a place that could be called a town. Without caring about the eyes of side lookers, they came to the adventurer guild branch for a simple reason. While on the way there, Soma realized something.
That they didn’t have money.
When they left the Elf forest, they secretly defeated the monsters that Joseph held, and while in the middle of the travel, they managed to barter with the first two villages. However, they couldn’t do anything more without making money.
In fact, Soma already knew that the guild of the adventurer also exists in Demento. Well, he heard from Sheila that when a city reached a certain size, the adventurer guild would usually try to create a branch there.
Since the first guild built should belong to a country, it wasn’t possible to do that on Demento where a country didn’t exist, so he was wondering what was going on here. In any case, that didn’t change the fact that Soma’s group was relieved.
Anyhow, the a.s.sumption that there would be a guild if it was a town like this was brilliant. They came to the guild which was located in the heart of the town, but the moment they stepped inside… they were surprised because it was relatively normal. When they saw it, the place was indeed like a guild.
…It was difficult to describe in words, but to put it simply, it wasn’t much different from other guild branches that Soma had gone so far. To tell the truth, Soma thought that there was a clear difference in the guild.
Anyhow, speaking of the adventurers here, they were ruffians. He had learned from Aina that the Demons treated strength as the law. If that was the case, the slight feeling he had now wasn’t considered to be normal.
In a sense, he could imagine that these people would be rude, but that expectation was brilliantly betrayed. Soma had no choice but to reflect on it.
“Hmm… in this case, to whom I should apologize? Is it to the adventurers… or to the staff? If not, is there a staff representative?” (Soma)
“…Yeah, Soma is acting as usual.” (Sheila)
“Sheila is unusually harsh toward Soma-san, isn’t it? Well, that’s a normal response.” (Felicia)
“I feel like I’m being told something rude…?” (Soma)
“Isn’t fine since it’s not because of your mind?” (Felicia)
“…Yeah, it’s fine.” (Sheila)
“I don’t get it…” (Soma)
Soma thought that he was only trying to reflect, so why they told him that?
While continuing that nonsense talk, Soma looked at the surroundings. Suddenly, he tilted his head. He thought it was strangely quiet, but for some reason everyone was looking at the direction of the day after tomorrow.
Soma turned around, thinking if there was something but there wasn’t anything. He wondered whether those people were acting…
“Hmm… I see, the bartender is sleeping. Is that a good thing?” (Soma)
“I don’t think this is a compliment, but there aren’t many people who use the bar since the morning, so it’s not a good thing, right? For starters, we shouldn’t interrupt their conversation.” (Felicia)
“…Yeah, if they become angry, it is that person’s fault.” (Sheila)
“Is that so? Well, it’s not like we have any business with her.” (Soma)
At that moment, it felt like strength was leaving that person’s body, but… again, it wasn’t something that they should be concerned about. Anyhow…
“By the way, I think it is likely that a written request will be issued from now on…” (Soma)
The request form was a piece of parchment that described the request that the adventurer could receive, and it was possible to accept the request for the first time by taking it to the reception. Conversely speaking, if people couldn’t bring the request form to the reception, they couldn’t accept the request. The forms were hanged to a specific place in the guild, and this update was only done once a day and that was in the morning. He had heard that this system was common to guilds, so it shouldn’t be different here.
Now, it was just morning, and it was natural to think that that was the reason why the adventurers were gathered. However…
“…Isn’t peaceful here?” (Sheila)
“Hmm, what does that mean?” (Felicia)
“I have never partic.i.p.ated in anything other than what I have seen, but the timing when the request forms are hanged in the morning seemed to be the reason why everyone is excited. Depending on whether you can get a good request or not, it will of course affect the future as well as the day.” (Soma)
“I see… but since there is no such a thing, it’s peaceful here, isn’t it?” (Felicia)
Strength was the law. It might be because of grading, receiving a request here seemed to be in order. On the contrary, it was also ironic, but…
“Now, regardless of what’s going on, I wonder what should we… For the time being, should we wait until the request forms hanged.
“…Yes, I think we should decide depending on the movement of everyone over there.” (Sheila)
“I don’t understand well about this thing, so I leave it to the two of you.” (Felicia)
“Hmm… Now, let’s wait and see.” (Soma)
If the grading of the requests had been decided, it was cause of friction if they decided to cut the line. Even if something happened, Soma thought that it was possible to do anything by force, but they should be pointlessly make a fuss.
Anyhow, since they didn’t understand the etiquette here, they couldn’t make a move. So if the grading had been decided, it was a matter to put up with something bad and thought how to deal with it. They needed to know it first, so they were waiting for a while.
Soma felt that someone stared at him, but when he turned his head, that stare had disappeared at the same time. Before long, a woman walked from the other side of the reception. Without a doubt, there were many requests forms in her hands. At the moment of confirming that, there was certainly a sense of tension between the adventurers.
“Hmm… Is this still like any other guild?” (Soma)
“…Yes, I think so. …But, why aren’t they moving?” (Sheila)
“At a glance, it looks peaceful. Maybe, they are holding each other in check or something? Or maybe, they are pretending that they don’t care to keep others off guard?” (Felicia)
“That is possible…” (Soma)
However, while the request forms were actually hanged as they discussed it, there was no movement seen among the adventurers. While wondering about that, the request forms were completely hanged, but still… no one started moving.
“Let me see…? This is… I have no idea…” (Soma)
“So, what should we do?” (Felicia)
“…Don’t care about everyone, and just get the request?” (Sheila)
“I wonder if that is the only choice… Oh well, if there is a problem, someone will say something.” (Soma)
Since they couldn’t helped with it, they went to where the request forms hanged. Nevertheless, no one was moving… so they decided not to mind it anymore. They took a quick look at brand new request forms that were just hanged.
Although the request form was written with the contents of the request, what was written in on it was often simple. It is because there were many things that people couldn’t write in detail, and things that they wanted to keep secret to anyone other than the person who receives the request. Therefore, when choosing a request, it was necessary to make some a.s.sumptions.
Other than the content, all that were written on the request form were the amount of compensation and the required rank, but still, it was enough to make a.s.sumptions. If the amount of compensation wasn’t appropriate to the content was presented, it was likely to be a nuisance in practice, and that was also true for mandatory ranks.
The fact that it was necessary to have a certain rank or higher was because the client or guild had determined that they needed suitable people to receive it. This was also likely to be a problem.
Well, that was what Sheila told him… In this way, Soma was convinced when he was looking at the request forms. Obviously, he felt that they were things were unclear.
As a result of the requirements being straight forward, some request forms probably be left untouched by anyone. It seemed that it wasn’t uncommon for requests not to be picked up by anyone.
Anyhow, after looking at several requests, the reason why Soma picked a particular request was because it was the most profitable request. Soma’s group had come here to make money, so it was normal to consider this as a top priority. That didn’t mean that they weren’t interested with something adventurous or interesting, but… if they have the opportunity, they would do it sometime later.
If possible, he wanted to do it together with Aina and Lina at that time… Sylvia and Hildegard would be difficult to join them though. While thinking about them, Soma moved his feet to the reception.