Ch 71 -- Oh Lord How The Money Rolls In
We went straight to the Adventurers Guild as soon as we returned to the city. When I handed over my Guild card at the reception I was immediately shown to the Guild Master"s room.
"Congratulations." he said, welcoming us back. "I"m really sorry I asked you to subjugate the Metal Lizard so quickly."
Well, it wasn"t me that carried out the subjugation, it was Fer of course. And it only took a single magic strike. Oh, and it wasn"t a Metal Lizard after all. I should really tell the Guild Master about this...
"Well, we subjugated it OK, but it turns out wasn"t a Metal Lizard after all."
"It wasn"t a Metal Lizard?" The Guild Master looked perplexed.
"That"s right, it was a Mithril Lizard instead."
"............ What did you say just now?"
"Eh? I said it was a Mithril Lizard there."
"A Mi-, Mi-, Mithril Lizard!?" The Guild Master stood up and yelled at the top of his lungs.
Please, Guild Master-sama, calm down. He sat back down after a moment, obviously thinking hard about what I had said.
"If what you say is true," he waved his hand, "I believe you of course but-" he furrowed his brows. "It means that there is mithril ore in that area. That"s supremely important. Anyway, I need to see that Mithril Lizard first."
Because the Mithril Lizard is a large monster we went down into the warehouse for the Guild Master to inspect it properly.
"Oh, Johan, sorry to bother you."
"Ah, Guild Master." The bald ojisan squinted at Fer and me. "And its you guys again?"
"Johan, please close the door." the Guild Master ordered. Johan quickly closed the warehouse door.
"So have you brought me something interesting this time too?" Johan was obviously intrigued. Well, it wasn"t supposed to be special but it"s what we were asked to subjugate.
"So, can I get it out now?" The Guild Master nodded so I took the Mithril Lizard out of the Item Box.
"" ............ "" The Guild Master and Johan-ojisan were struck dumb for a long moment.
"Ah, that ... ...."
"No doubt about it, right ..."
"Oh yeah, it"s got to be a Mithril Lizard, look at the way the skin gleams." Johan said in a reverent whisper.
Huh? Is a Mithril Lizard really that rare?
"I thought that it was a Metal Lizard at first, but this is definitely a Mithril Lizard ..." the Guild Master went on to explain.
"When it was first observed near Pasquale Mountain it maybe was still a Metal Lizard. The citizens who saw it and reported it as such didn"t get close enough to it to see it clearly since they were too busy running away, and there weren"t any Adventurers willing to even go and check it out for us." He waved his hand at Fer. "We definitely didn"t have Adventurers of high enough rank who could actually hope to subjugate a Metal Lizard so it was left alone for the time being. Since then it might have found a vein of mithril ore, ate it and mutated into Mithril Lizard form."
"That"s probably what happened." Johan agreed. They both sighed, then turned to stare at me.
Eh, what?
"The monsters your contracted beast brings in never fails to surprise us." The Guild Master shook his head.
"It"s true, only the finest top-ranked monsters from fairy tales." Johan-ojisan chimed in. I still looked puzzled so he continued.
"Look sonny, a Mithril Lizard is a legendary monster." Johan explained. "The Adventurers Guild records speak of only one other sighting ever of a Mithril Lizard and that was over 400 years ago."
Okay, 400 years ...... w- wait, Johan-ojisan. 400 years ago?
"A Metal Lizard has to eat mithril ore to evolve into a Mithril Lizard but mithril ore can only be found in a few locations. Currently there"s one mithril mine in this country, one in the Kingdom of Malbert and one in the Geisler Empire. Because you can only find mithril ore in those three places and nowhere else it means mithril products are very rare and sell for a correspondingly high price. Saying that it is rumoured that the mithril mine in the Geisler Empire has run out of ore which increases its scarcity even more." The Guild Master fixed his gaze on the Mithril Lizard again.
"Given that scarcity, if an A-ranked Metal Lizard finds a source of mithril and evolves into a Mithril Lizard, well you can guess how how valuable it is. Moreover, a Mithril Lizard means there"s mithril nearby. It means that you have discovered a previously unknown mithril mine."
You"re making this out to be a really big deal all of a sudden. It"s kinda worrying.
"Count Langridge-dono will have to be informed since Pasquale Mountain is part of his holdings. No one thought that that mountain had any mithril ore to be mined. I"m going to be busy for now dealing with this situation but..." the Guild Master looked at me with a frown. "I am sorry but the Guild will have to purchase this Mithril Lizard wholesale."
When it"s something this rare, apparently the Mithril Lizard"s skin will be sent to the King along with a report about the discovery of the mithril mine. Ah well. I was thinking about making armour for myself from the skin but really Fer"s Barrier magic means it"s not really needed and there isn"t anything else I could do with it so it"s OK to wholesale it.
"Instead, I will talk with Count Langridge-dono about increasing your reward. Given the future profits of the mithril mine present on his land I would presume that the Count is likely to be very generous. So," the Guild Master ticked off on his fingers, "Mithril Lizard subjugation, discovery of a mithril mine, purchase of the Mithril Lizard, my estimate is that you"ll get no less than 5000 gold coins and probably more."
Gold coins, 5000 gold coins ............. 5000 gold coins ... It feels like money is just appearing from nowhere and jumping into my pocket. It"s almost scary.
"You"re doing real good for yourself, sonny." Johan-ojisan confided. "You could live in luxury for the rest of your life with the cash from this deal. I kinda envy you, kiddo."
What Johan-ojisan said didn"t sink in right away. I"m a low-paid salaryman and I"m not used to having a lot of money. I"m not even doing anything to earn it really so it"s even more confusing to me. 5000 gold coins...
"Well, whatever it is, I have to inform Count Langridge-sama about all of this." the Guild Master went on. "You"re due a lot of money but the Guild can"t pay you immediately. It will probably take about a week for me to sort things out. Bring the Mithril Lizard back to us when I let you know the payment is ready for you."
The Guild Master indicated I should hold on to the Mithril Lizard for the time being. I supposed the Guild couldn"t keep it without paying for it up front. I just put it back in my Item Box, not a hards.h.i.+p after I heard what it was worth. 5000 gold coins...
"Oh, all this information is confidential of course." I nodded. "Johan, you understand too?" The bald ojisan nodded as well.
"Oh, before I forget," the Guild Master said. "How are you going to proceed with subjugating the herd of b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bulls?" Oh, the other request.
"It"s fine if you take your time, there"s no real hurry. You"ve just finished dealing with a Mithril Lizard, I can quite understand that you"ll need a rest before proceeding."
"Hunting a mere reptile like that wasn"t tiring at all." Fer said telepathically. "We"ll head off early tomorrow and deal with those cows." As usual Fer was fit and raring to go, especially if there were steaks involved. I pa.s.sed on his comments to the Guild Master.
"My contracted monster says he"s ready to carry out the subjugation of the b.l.o.o.d.y Horn Bull herd tomorrow."
"Well, are you okay?" The Guild Master seemed concerned. "After all you just completed the subjugation of a Mithril Lizard." I understood the Guild Master"s worry, but Fer used magic to blast the Mithril Lizard.
"Ah, I think it"s okay. You see, Fer killed the Mithril Lizard easily with one shot of lightning magic." Both the Guild Master and Johan-ojisan were stunned at my words.
"Lightning magic against a Mithril Lizard, a single shot ............"
"Truly he is a legendary monster..."
Sorry, sorry. Fer is too strong.