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It was currently the day after I spoke with Fujiwara and Fumitsuki. As I went to check if any animal hunting requests had popped up, as I usually did, I noticed the atmosphere was very hectic.

This usually happened whenever something popped up on the request board, however, today it was so packed that I couldn’t even get close. I could certainly get there if I used force, but I didn’t want to cause any casualties.

I decided to give up for now and ask for information at the reception. Luckily for me, the reception had only a few people.

“Miss Finis, what brings you here?”
“I was hoping to figure out what all this fuss is about.”

I wasn’t sure why, maybe because I only took the same requests, or because of my looks, but it seemed like the receptionist had remembered my name. I couldn’t help but ponder if she had a nickname for me, something like ‘the animal’ or ‘the hunter’.

Though it could also be said that apart from that I wasn’t standing out in any other area. After all, the animal hunting requests were something that F Grade Adventurers would take up.

When hunting, it wasn’t strength that mattered, but rather if you used the right weapon, and knew how to hunt. It was such that F Grade Adventurers could hunt, but those who couldn’t hunt could become C Grade Adventurers and still not be able to do it.

Although the rewards for F Grade hunting requests were on the higher end, adventurers with the ability to hunt would steer clear of them. After all, rather than hunting, they could just go to the central areas where animals were kept as livestock, and were more delicious.

“It’s because of that thing posted on the board…”
“Do you think I can see there?”

The view to the bulletin board was blocked by a nicely set up wall of people. Though the word barricade would likely be a better way to describe it. Realizing what I was trying to imply, the receptionist apologized with a shy smile.

“A Crazed Bear was found not that deep in the forest to the south.”
“That’s the place I usually go to. So it’s around the entrance of the forest? Isn’t that dangerous?”
“It is. The Crazed Bear was killed by someone, but that someone is nowhere to be found. Furthermore, there are no signs that it was hunted deep in the forest and then brought out, so we have no idea who might’ve done it.”

(They must be having a really hard time. Who could’ve killed it? Such things should be reported immediately.) I pondered.

“Due to this, we are advising Adventurers below D Grade to stay away from the southern forest until the investigation is complete.”
“You’re just advising?”
“Yes. Adventurers are generally responsible for their own lives, and some have to go into that forest to earn their livelihood for the day. As such there are no bans at the Collegium.”

This was a world that allowed you to take up even high-ranked requests if you had enough money. With that in mind, I could see how they would find it hard to ban anything.

“Come to think of it, you’re good at hunting, aren’t Miss Finis?”
“I might be able to investigate, but didn’t you say that Adventurers below D Grade shouldn’t get close? If I do stumble upon a Crazed Bear, I’ll likely not make it.”

My current fake status was at E Grade Adventurer’s level, and my current Adventurer Grade was F. Even now I couldn’t figure out why they were only prohibiting Adventurers below D Grade when Crazed Bears were classified as C Grade.

Regardless, I had no intention of picking up this request. It seemed annoying. The request itself wasn’t all that bad, but what came after it would be a pain.

“I figured…”
“Isn’t there anyone willing to take it up?”
“We’ve put out a Special Request, but we haven’t had any luck…”

Special Requests were a type of request that did not require a deposit when receiving them, however, adventurers below the specified Grade couldn’t receive them.

This Special Request seemed to be quite urgent, and as such its reward would likely be high, yet no one was willing to take it on. Although I had no intention of accepting the request, I couldn’t go without going to my usual forest.

That’s when the idea to recommend someone who needed an urgent recommendation from the Collegium popped up. I knew just the people for the job who were in good shape and were strong enough.

“Come to think of it, some adventurers registered around the same time as me, no?”
“Yes. Did you get to meet them?”
“I did. And I couldn’t help but feel that they were in the same trade as me.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I don’t know if it was the way they moved or just the air about them but they seem like the kind of people who can get a job done secretly, though they did mention that they haven’t hunted before.”

Hearing my explanation, the receptionist became lost in thought. Truth be told, I’d never cared about the way they moved, or the air about them. I was just certain that Fujiwara had the Spy skill. And Fumitsuki was likely just as capable as him.

After all, both had managed to escape from the castle. Their disguises were also perfect, so if it hadn’t been for my Demigod Sense, which was now combined with the Appraisal skill, I likely wouldn’t have figured out who they were.

Besides, those two also wished to gain the trust of the Collegium’s head, so there was likely no harm in them receiving the request. They should’ve been thankful to me that I didn’t tell the story of how it took them 5 days to get here from the capital.

Regardless, given that I was the one who was initiating this, I was fully willing to support them from the shadows to the extent that they wouldn’t die. After all, I couldn’t just sit idly and wait until the southern forest was safe.

“Will they accept it?”
“They told me they’re traveling around the world to train, so if you tempt them with a permit to cross the border I’m sure they’ll accept it.”
“I will take you up on that offer.”

(Please do) I mused.

It would also be great if she told them that I’d recommended them. After all, I still wanted to ask those two what had happened to the other heroes. However, there was also a chance that they might think I was pestering them with annoying things if they discovered that I had recommended them. Though that was a matter for the future.

If they decided to take my gratitude I’d talk with them, and if they didn’t I’d just leave this town. I could, after all, find the same information in another town as I could in this one. It would not be an issue because I now had some savings.

If I managed to get up to D Grade I’d have no trouble moving around, but with my current fake status that was a bit impossible. To become a D Grade, one had to have a minimum average of 50, while my current visible status was about 35.

I didn’t know what the average rate of growth was, but not even 30 days had passed since my arrival in this town. If my average status increased by 15, it would indicate that I had gained 105 points in just 30 days, surpassing even the speed of heroes.

I reasoned that when it came to my promotion to D Grade, it would be preferable to think in terms of years, as a hero’s growth was extraordinary and an adventurer in D Grade was regarded as a full-fledged fighter.

I also thought that there might be something connected with monsters and animals that made one’s status increase faster. I could test this out by looking at my true status and seeing if there’s a change there.

Even though I was also welcome to the possibility that it wouldn’t have changed at all. In any event, I didn’t feel like it had increased, and I was more inclined to believe that it hadn’t changed at all.

Still, it was faster to just see it rather than think about it.

(Stay calm¹… Stay cool…)

I thought to myself trying to calm down. My status had gone into the four digits when I’d become a Demigod, so it all still felt like an illusion. I was sure that it hadn’t gone up by that much. Luckily, my memory wasn’t that great. Or rather, it wasn’t great when it came to things I wasn’t interested in. Though I assumed that was the same for everyone.

When it came to my status, I’d only been excited that it had gone over a 1000. That’s why I didn’t remember anything else. I swear I didn’t remember anything else. However, I couldn’t help but admit that I could somewhat vividly recall the numbers.
It seemed that my average status had gone up by a total of 172.

For the first time since I became a Demigod, I felt regret for having such a great memory.

1. Robinxen: STAY CALM?! ME?! My ancient nemesis has returned you know! THE TABLE! I haven’t had to deal with one of these since Not Sure Another World! Last time I posted a table was something like… three years ago! Ouch… I did some mental damage to myself with that one… have I really been doing this five years now… if I had actually managed to stick with learning Japanese properly in this time I could be doing actual translating now…