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　The day after Lily became crestfallen during the magic lessons, I was told that we were going to try out a small adventurer’s request in the royal capital. It feels like this is the first time I’m partying……no, no! I’m not a loner! I’m just a solo player!

　And so we came to the adventurer’s guild, but there were many people. There were also numerous receptionist windows. As expected, Harula was definitely a rural town in the countryside.

　When I glanced around the place, I also saw several demi-humans I hadn’t seen in Harula. There were also some dwarves, but there didn’t seem to be any elves. Ah, but it would be rude if I stared too much so I should be careful. Ah, there’s even someone with cat ears, how cute. I see, so in this world, demi-humans like beastmen, elves, or dwarves were considered normal? I want to learn more about them.

　I was in my cloak as usual. Of course, I was also wearing my glasses. Well, I was with Lily and Arisa so I don’t think I’ll be caught up in anything. Norn and Bell were also here. Eh? Isn’t it hot since it’s still June? It’s all good, I have an air-conditioning magic tool I made using magic stones inside my cloak, so the temperature is kept just right. Hooray for the Magic Conferment and Magic Tool Creation skill.

“By the way, what kind of request are we getting?”

　I was under 13 years old and an E rank, while Lily and Alisa were over 13 years old and D ranks, so I could only accept requests that were suitable for low ranks. In other words, subjugating was impossible since I could only gather herbs or take on miscellaneous tasks. So it would be rather boring for them.

“It’s alright. There is a loophole for our situation.”
“Yep. In some cases, there are gathering requests aside from the permanent one, such as a request to gather a specific rare herb~”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, In the case of a gathering request that is too difficult to go alone, such as ones growing in the depths of a forest, Ren can still take on the request if there is a higher ranking adventurer accompanying you. Like when we’re partying up.”

　If it’s a herb that is difficult to gather and preserve, some adventurers might even hire escorts that have specialized gathering skills. So basically with this method, even if a lower rank was in a party, a gathering request with a high reward could still be received.

　Such a request would naturally lead to encounters with monsters. But the receptionist would usually overlook it unless it was too difficult for the party. So would this be considered practical use or abuse…..hmm, the dark side of the guild?

“It’ll be fine, I’ll protect Ren even if a monster comes out~”
“Who was it that was helped by Ren during the bandit attack? Besides I was also the one protecting Ren using my barrier magic!”

　Why are you two competing for me? I don’t really understand why……I mean, I have Norn and Bell protecting me, so I’m fine?

　We went to the bulletin board where the requests were posted while bickering like that. The surrounding eyes were very painful so would the two of you quiet down a bit?

“Hmm, this one should be good, right Arisa?”
“Yes~ there aren’t any dangerous monsters in the forest there, so I guess it’ll do~? We also went there before so it should be alright~?”
“Then we’ll go with this one? Ren, is that alright?”
“If you two are fine with it so am I. I’m not familiar with this area anyways.”

　The two experienced people were saying it would be fine, so there shouldn’t be any problems unless there were any irregularities. Norn and Bell would also be with us, and the two weren’t the type to just care about themselves in the event of an emergency.

　As such, we accepted the request to gather a rare herb growing a bit back in the forest. Apparently, it was used as a strong pain reliever for medical use, and the demand for it was quite high.

　However, it was difficult to find because it grew in the depths of the forest, and because it grew in darker areas. Searching around in darker areas could lead to being ambushed by monsters, so the request wasn’t very popular.

　But since we have two people to watch the surroundings, and with my expertise in gathering herbs, the request would be fairly easy. We could gather a lot and make some easy money this way.

　Eh? What about self-prudence? Well, I want to show these two my positive points, right? So I should do my best instead, right?

　And so we arrived at the forest that spread out to the east of the royal capital.

　In this forest, the shallower areas were for beginners, and the deeper areas were for experts, so there was a wide array of demand for beginners and experts. Incidentally, there were more subjugating requests on the west side. The forest over here was small, so there were only goblins and lesser wolves, hence why it was for beginners.

　It seems that higher ranking adventurers would usually go to the lake up north or deeper forest areas further north.

　We traveled through the forest talking about such things while keeping watch on the surroundings. But both Norn and I have the Alert skill, so Arisa, there’s no need for you to patrol that much. Well, I’m not going to say anything to lower her motivation.

　Additionally, I wasn’t using any monster repellants. I had other people with me, and it was good to get some hands-on experience sometimes.

　As we explored around, we also saw some adventurers along the way. Some of them looked about 15 years old, and some looked around my age. We also didn’t see any monsters, so the shallower areas did make sense for beginners.

　But after going further in, the lower-ranking adventurers began to disappear. My Alert skill also began picking up monster reactions towards the way back. There were some goblins and lesser wolves, but there were also some orc detected further in.

“There are two orcs towards the northeast about 1km away. What should we do?”
“……1km away?”
“…….I didn’t sense them at all~”
“I think it might be better to go around them since it would be troublesome.”
“Orc…..I want to eat meat~”
“Arisa, let’s think calmly for a bit.”
“But it’s meat~?”
“……Then, let’s go defeat them?”
“No. Ren, don’t spoil Arisa.”
“Eh~ spoil me~”
“No.”
“Boo~ Boo~. Lily is stingy.”
“I’ll get mad, okay?”

　Well, the lack of tension is one thing…… but we continued on exploring in that sort of manner and reached a small spring in the back of the forest. Apparently, the herbs we were looking for tend to grow around this spring, it was considered a secret farming spot.

　It seems that adventurers who didn’t know about this secret spot would have to wander around to look for the herbs, so it would turn into a relatively tiring request for adventurers who didn’t know about this place. As such, it was said to be a troublesome and unpopular request for those sort of adventurers.

　I see, so that’s why they chose this request.

　I checked around using Appraisal and Detection and there were numerous herbs in the surroundings. There were even some areas that were completely untouched and gave off a tremendous reaction. I instantly stored all of them. Even if all the herbs disappeared, it wouldn’t matter since no one knew about them. Kahahaha.

　After committing my horrible deed, we went around searching for the herbs to gather. Lily was preparing a camp and erecting a barrier. By the time we return back to the royal capital after we finish gathering, it would be around midnight, so we decided to camp here today.

　Arisa was watching the surroundings. Since I had the Alert skill, it wasn’t something she really had to do. But it seemed that Arisa was also trying to gain the Alert skill. She was a frontliner, so having the Alert skill would be beneficial for her.

　Incidentally, Norn and Bell went hunting. I gave them permission since there was nothing for them to do. The two ran further into the forest, so they might end up hunting something ridiculous……please hold back a little?

　And so we continued on gathering herbs.