Chapter 68 – Dragon 1 Part 1
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Translator: SFBaka
Editor: Thor’s Stone
It’s been ten days since the Adventurer’s Guild issued the request for thinning out the monster numbers within the sea of trees and assigned areas to different Clans.
“Alan-sama, I feel like the number of monsters has already decreased to a great extent…”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’ve been using scanning magic but it really seems that the monster numbers have thinned out a lot. It looks like we don’t have to hunt monsters in our assigned area for a while.”
Of course, there’s a possibility of an influx of monsters coming over from the areas assigned to the other Clans, but since they probably also thinned the monster numbers in their areas, the numbers probably won’t increase for a good while, and we didn’t need the entire Clan to go out and hunt them anymore. We can just hunt them again once the numbers increase to a certain extent in the future.
“Honestly, I’d like for the guild to call off this request already. I’ve been checking with the guild every day, but they keep on saying the same thing. Yosh! I’ll definitely give them a piece of my mind today.”
“I’ll accompany you, Alan-sama.”
It looks like he’ll accompany me even though I was just heading over to complain to the guild. Walter really is such a good guy.
We didn’t take on a mandatory quest though, so we really didn’t have to hunt monsters constantly if we didn’t feel like it since there was no quota, but it just won’t feel right to skip on a job y’know. Since it’s already obvious that there’s no danger of a stampede, I’d like the guild to make a decision already.
We finished our hunt for the day and lined up outside the gates to wait for the mandatory inspection. The ones lined up were all adventurers and there didn’t seem to be anyone who looked suspicious. They were probably all members of the Clans that took on the guild’s request like us.
In our Clan’s case, I used the drones to scout ahead and pinpoint the location of the monsters, so we had a much easier time hunting monsters compared to those adventurers who went in practically blind.
After undergoing the inspection, I took all the magic stones and subjugation proofs the teams collected and headed to the Adventurer’s Guild with Walter.
When we entered the guild building, we found that the assessment was congested with people. We waited for fifteen minutes or so until the assessment for all the earlier adventurer parties was done.
Our total kills for the day consisted of 26 Gray Hounds, 5 Orcs, and 25 Goblins. Our earnings amounted to 29,600 Guineas.
We barely made a profit.
“Yosh, let’s go Walter!”
“Yes! Let’s give em a good one!”
We headed to the receptionist’s counter to offer a complaint.
“I’m Shining Star’s Alan.”
“Ah! It’s about the request, right? We just rescinded it earlier. We at the Adventurer’s Guild thank all you Clans for your cooperation. Thank you for doing such a fantastic job.”
“……Ah, is that so.”
“……”
And just when I resolved myself to give them a piece of my mind, they went and canceled the request. I and Walter headed back Home without saying anything.
“Hey, if it isn’t Alan-san!”
A guy who looked like a merchant suddenly called out to us. I looked at the nametag displayed on top of the guy’s head and found that he was called Geld. I didn’t have any recollection of him, but since Nanom had recorded his name on the database, he was probably one of the merchants who introduced themselves to us at the Commerce Guild.
“You’re Geld-san, if I remember correctly.”
“Oh! To think you even remembered my name! Yes, that’s right! It’s me, Geld.”
“It’s been a while.”
“To think I was able to meet you again today. Shall we go for a little drink? How about it? I know a good place with some delicious chilled ale. Your companion can come too of course. I’ll treat you both.”
Man, and I was just craving for some chilled ale. Perfect timing. When I exchanged gazes with Walter, it seems he left the decision to me. Well, it would be a shame not to accept his invitation, especially since he was treating.
“Okay then. We’ll take you up on that offer.”
“There you go! The shop is just ahead.”
The shop he led us to was a tidy-looking bar where a number of merchant-looking folks were hanging out. It was probably a bar that especially catered to merchants. Geld placed a large order of ale and snacks. The waitress immediately brought out the ale.
“I’ve always wanted to talk to you at length even just once, Alan-san. No, I understand. I promise I won’t take up much of your time.”
“No, it would be nice to converse with a merchant like you from time to time.”
“Alan-san, did you know that Shining Star has become pretty famous around these parts?”
“Hee, is that so? Maybe it’s because we always wear our Clan badges, so the people find it easy to identify our members.”
I showed Geld-san the Clan badge I put on near my left shoulder. I received reports from our Clan members of people thanking them for our bandit subjugation work from time to time.
“No, no. Of course, you’re all pretty famous in Gantz. But according to the rumors, you’re also getting pretty well-known in the Kingdom’s capital.”
“Hou, so our fame has even reached the royal capital, huh…”
“Well, the rumors are mostly spread by merchants of course. By the way, is it true that you’ve managed to capture more than ten bandit groups?”
“That’s mostly right. Precisely speaking, we managed to capture eleven groups, with a total of 215 bandits, I guess.”
“Two hundred fifteen bandits! My word. That’s one impressive number! Truly, thank you very much for your work.”
“No, it’s a request from the Commerce Guild after all.”
“Since everyone is saying that the guild does some meaningful work from time to time after all, Guild Chief Silas is often in a good mood these days.”
I see. So our activities ended up boosting the Commerce Guild’s reputation as well. We did manage to earn a tidy profit, so it was a win-win.
I downed two tankards of ale while listening to various rumors and parted with Geld afterward.
“We did it, Alan-sama!”
“Yeah, that was some good ale.”
“No, not that. I was referring to our fame in the royal capital.”
“Ah, so you were talking about that. I also think it would be nice if that was really the case. I hope it turns out to be true. Well, we don’t know to what extent the rumors have spread, so we still can’t confirm it though.”
“When you think about it, we did accomplish quite a feat, so I’m sure the rumors have some element of truth to them.”
I finally arrived back home while exchanging some small talk with Walter. Now then, it’s about time I took a bath. Afterward, let’s have some dinner with everyone.
After dinner, I called out to Captain Dalshim.
“Captain Dalshim, I want to conduct another meeting. Can you gather the rest of the sub-leaders at the Clan office again?”
“Understood. Alan-sama, um… I’m glad you still refer to me as ‘captain’, but the Clan already has a captain, so I think it isn’t quite appropriate anymore.”
“Oh, right, sorry. Come to think of it, I have an idea regarding that. Let’s talk about it later during the meeting.”
“Understood.”
When my party members and all the sub-leaders gathered up, I began the meeting.
“First, I’ll tell you about the latest announcement. The Adventurer’s Guild has finally canceled the request for monster culling within the Great Demon Forest. As expected, they judged that there is no danger of a stampede. I would have liked them to have come to such a decision four or five days earlier though.”
“The number of monsters has clearly gone down by a lot, so it’s just proper.”
“Well, that’s right. I have another announcement to make. It seems the rumors of our Shining Star’s bandit subjugation activities have even reached the royal capital. However, I’m still not sure to what extent the rumors have spread, so we still can’t say for sure if we really have achieved some fame.”
“Ooh!”
“They are spreading good rumors about us, right?”
“That seems to be the case. I heard this particular piece of information from a merchant, and it seems the ones spreading such rumors are mostly merchants as well. Also, he gave us some info that there have been signs of another bandit group appearing around here. There haven’t been any victims so far, but it’s fairly suspicious that a group of fifteen or so people has camped out in the same spot for two nights without even hunting a single monster.”
Of course, this info was captured using the drones. I watched a video recording of the group in question, and they certainly didn’t look like adventurers. They even searched for some good ambush spots at one point, so I was pretty sure they were bandits. We probably need to head out again to capture them.
“Please let the A Team handle it,” Selena requested.
“Understood. I’ll leave them to you then. They should be located around here. You can prepare yourselves and depart tomorrow. Alright then. Fancy some Orc hunting, B Team? Let’s attack an Orc settlement. Maybe we can even encounter a General Orc.”
“”Ooh!””
Since the bandits still haven’t secured a hideout, they probably don’t have that much loot on them yet. Assaulting an Orc settlement might be more profitable if that’s the case.
“Lastly, let’s talk about Captain Dalshim. If you’re okay with it, would you like to serve as my adjutant?”
“I will be serving as your adjutant, Alan-sama!?”
“Only if you don’t have any problems with it… Can I count on you then?”
“Of course I accept! I will certainly not fail your expectations!”
“That’s good then! We all know how capable Dalshim is as a leader and commander. He is fit enough to take up a leadership position in any organization. I know you already understand this, but I want you to always consider Adjutant Dalshim’s opinion in matters relating to the Clan. Got it?”
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
I’m sorry though, but I have already decided to have Selena serve as my Vice-commander. Dalshim was a lot more experienced right now, so he was actually more suitable in a sense. However, I’m glad Dalshim agreed to the position of adjutant.
“Yosh. Well then, the A and B Teams will head out together at 7 in the morning tomorrow like usual. Be sure to make adequate preparations.”
The moment I went back to my room, Iris contacted me. Maybe she waited until I was all alone before she called.
『Captain, here is the regular report regarding the dragon.』
The other day, I ordered Iris to find the wild dragon that appeared in the skies of Cecilio Kingdom, and she managed to find it within two hours. I compared its behavior to the footage of other dragons previously captured by the drones and found that there wasn’t anything particularly alarming. It was just flying around without a particular destination in mind, it seems.
It didn’t pose any harm even when it approached human settlements and cities, and seemed to have gotten bored after hovering around them from above for a short while. It hunted other monsters like Big Boars for food, and it hasn’t attacked any humans until now. It should find it easy to bring down humans, but it didn’t show any interest. Does it have an opinion against attacking certain creatures as a dragon or something? It seemed like quite an intelligent beast.
I displayed the current position of the dragon on the virtual HUD.
(Isn’t it actually approaching Gantz?)
『It seems so. However, there is no set pattern to this particular dragon’s movements. It’s probably a coincidence.』
( I see. Continue monitoring the subject for now.)
『Understood.』
The dragon’s movements certainly didn’t indicate a particular pattern like Iris said. When you think it’s chosen a course to fly toward two or three days earlier, you’d suddenly find it moving more than 150 kilometers away from it the next day. It felt like it was just flying around wherever it wanted to without a particular destination in mind. I can’t help but worry about it.
Oh well. I was certainly curious about the dragon, but we have to depart early tomorrow. Let’s just get some sleep.
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