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Adventurer’s Guild in the center of Kugutfulm.

The receptionist on the shift was startled when Gemel showed up in the lobby that didn’t lose out to a bank. She quickly switched to the customer service smile, but it still managed to piss Gemel off.

“Hey.”
“I-It has been some time, Mr. Gemel of Seventh Dice. You haven’t shown up at this branch for a while.”
“Yeah, the handyman was in charge of all that. But he kicked the bucket so I’ll have to do it until I find a replacement. I’ll mention it just in case, but I did try to stop him, okay? But he stubbornly insisted on coming along on the quest.”

The guild was already aware that he had died. He always showed up at the Guild, but stopped doing so for the past few days, so the guild went directly to Gemel to inquire about it.

“Oh, yes. My condolences for… um… your manager.”

—She paused? Did she forget his name as well?

He couldn’t care less about her condolences. He just found it strange that his name didn’t come up. That said, he had a feeling that he’d find out something frightening if he focused on that, so he just stayed quiet.

“Well, whatever… Give me some quest. Are there any nominated quests for us?”
“Not at the present.”
“Then just give me some good one.”
“Then what about this investigation and subjugation quest? The estimated threat level is five.”
“That sounds like our level. The reward’s gotta be quite high, right?”

The receptionist showed him the quest paper.

The quest paper written in a formal style was very hard to understand, but it could be summarized as, “the cattle were attacked so thinking it was monsters we issued a quest, but no one’s coming due to the low threat level it was assigned. With no other choice, we dispatched a vigilance squad but three people were killed. It must be some ferocious monster, so someone come and save us already.” It was filled with resentment and irritation.

“The preliminary investigation assumes it to be the work of legion wolves. Here is the investigation report. The reward is, as always, the basic amount plus a piece-work system based on the subjugation target and the number.”
“Not bad. I’ll take this one.”

Following that, Gemel had to wait for twenty minutes and then had to sign a few times to accept the quest.

—What a f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g pain. I really need a handyman. No way in hell I can endure coming here every f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g time for the procedures.

Gemel was completely fed up after handling the procedures that his manager used to handle.

The Seventh Dice was rapidly distinguishing itself (at least in Gemel’s mind) fast enough to overtake a dragon let alone a bird.

They would do high-paying quests one after another, and Gemel’s divine money management skills (at least, in his mind) would make it so that the money would just keep coming no matter how much they spent.

He had enough leeway to hire one handyman. A single servant that he could push the chores on wouldn’t hurt.

But he also thought that he should choose an obedient guy who wouldn’t butt in on their work. A young girl with big boobs would be even better.

—Ah well, let’s just think about it once we finish this quest.

Gemel took the quest paper and returned back.

It would be a week until he would return to the guild raging and screaming.

＊　＊　＊

“You f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g tricked me, you b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲!!”
“Eek!”

Gemel slammed down his fist on the counter with all his strength.

He was a huge man, and his strength was already near the physical limits of a human after adventuring for so long.

The counter that was supposed to be sturdy got cracked like a field after drought.

“Legion wolves my a̲s̲s̲, there weren’t even any wolves there! Just f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g goblins! And just a trash group of six without a single superior species!! I’m from Seventh Dice, you know?! How could you give me a cheap-a̲s̲s̲ quest like this!!”

The guild’s lobby turned noisy with Gemel’s raging.

Instead of the powerful monsters that the investigation assumed, they turned out to be worthless small fries.

It was an easy job, but from Gemel’s standards, it was a chore of a quest that didn’t pay more than a pocket change.

If he had time to take on jobs like this, he would instead want to take on the work more suited for their level and earn more.

“M-My apologies! But it was all according to the guild’s regulations…”
“Then go and f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g hire whoever investigated it!! Ace adventurers (in Gemel’s mind) like us are wasting our time on it!”
“But t-there are many cases where different monsters than what the investigation assumed show up, and it also serves as the minimum safety baseline for the adventurers’ safety…!”
“Stop making excuses! I haven’t taken a high-paying quest that turned out to be trash in over a year, you know?!”

Gemel’s yells were heard by the adventurers in the lobby and they exchanged glances.

“Huh, what is he on about?”
“Isn’t that normal…?”
“Huuh?”

Everyone stared at him like he was crazy, making him a bit chilly.

An elderly staff member came out from the office behind the counter and took the place of the young female staff member who was curling herself from fear.

“My apologies but that is normal. Adventurers of your level often get the bust quests like that.”
“Then, why…”

Gemel was taken aback.

“Your party had…um, Mr. Manager? He… used to turn down all such quests.”

The teary-eyed female member mustered her courage and said so clearly.

The older staff member also gave a deep affirmative nod.

“Yes, he really had a miraculous insight. He read the investigation reports without missing a single letter and even grasped the habits of the reporters and investigators, allowing him to see the truth behind the test, and saw through the bust quests. We also asked for his opinions, and he would start with, I don’t have conclusive evidence for some of them but then continue to present his reasoning… which would turn out to be incredibly accurate. In fact, we used his pointers for the assessment of the investigators of our branch.”

“That guy… did all that?”

Gemel couldn’t understand any of that, as if she was speaking elvish. The only thing he understood was that the handyman he killed the other day had some strange skill.

“Also, Sir Gemel. Please be quiet in the lobby. In addition, intentional destruction of our equipment is punishable according to the guild’s contract.”

The older staff member glared at Gemel with a cold light in her triangular glasses.

He then felt a presence behind and turned around, only to find two large men that wouldn’t lose out to him standing with folded arms and glaring his way.

“…F̲u̲c̲k̲! I need booze!”

Having lost a target to vent at, Gemel kicked the floor and scuttled back.

“That was scary. Thank you for saving me, Chief.”
“It’s fine. Good grief… that Mr. Manager is to blame here for letting him get so carried away.”

As the signs of disturbance faded away, the guild’s lobby started to regain its ordinary bustling.

The two Guild staff members sighed.

Gemel was originally infamous for his bad attitude —which wasn’t particularly rare for adventurers— so many staff members were relieved ever since the manager he hired started to show up instead of him.

“…Did you remember that manager’s name?”
“Not yet… I’m really a failure as an administrator for forgetting our own adventurer’s name.”
“No need to feel that way. Even I forgot his name.”
“But still, why would a person like that work with Gemel of all people?”
“Who knows… People have various circumstances. Perhaps other adventurers didn’t want to hire a manager. It’s apparently common in Maltgartz in the north, but it’s quite rare for adventurers to hire a manager here.”
“If he could do all that he should’ve just become the guild’s staff member…”
“Don’t you know about the guild’s academic meritocracy?”

The elderly Chief rubbed her temples as if to loosen her head which was tormented by the abnormalities that were happening for the past few days.

“All the guild documents with his name on them have disappeared… He couldn’t have simply died. I wonder what really happened to you, Mr. Manager…”