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Hmm, if only these people weren’t here, I could quickly use [Storage] to stash it away, but what should I do…?

As I pondered how to deal with the corpse of the large magic beast we defeated, someone else from the town arrived, yet again.

“Guild Master! What was the source of that noise earlier…? …?! Oh! This is incredible!”
“Mayor, I told you not to come here until it’s confirmed safe, didn’t I? Why are you here?”
“Well, I couldn’t help but be curious about what happened.”
“It’s not about curiosity. What if something had gone wrong?”
“Well, in the end, everything seems to be fine, right?”
“Please don’t just rely on hindsight. Besides, coming here alone…”
“Enough with that, Guild Master! Anyway, I can’t believe you managed to defeat this monster! Fantastic! Was it you who did it?”

Oh, so that staff member was the Guild Master of this town’s Adventurer’s Guild, and despite being told it might be dangerous, the town’s mayor decided to come here anyway, and he rushed to Rad’s group instead. The situation was full of comedic details, but I felt like this was another troublesome individual.

“This is incredible! You must be incredibly skilled adventurers! Could you please tell me your names?”
“No, we aren’t…”
“Mayor, they didn’t defeat the magic beast.”
“Hmm? Then who did? There doesn’t seem to be anyone else around here who could have done it…”
“It was those girls over there.”
“Those girls? ………?…???”

Oh, the mayor’s face is a mix of confusion. I can understand his feelings, though.

“Guild Master, don’t say nonsense. It’s impossible that these young girls, who are barely of age, could have defeated such a monster. Please stop making unfunny jokes.”
“It’s not a joke, Mayor. These girls accepted the request a few hours ago, and no other adventurers have come to this spring except them. You can confirm it with the gatekeeper. Those gentlemen over there are just accompanying us as our escorts.”
“…Are you really saying that these girls…? Excuse me, but were you really the ones who defeated it? Just how did you…?”

Oh boy, this is getting complicated. What should I do?

“Um, we’re the ones who defeated it. As for the method we used, it’s a bit personal…”
“Hmm…”

As I was pondering what to do, Lily stepped forward and handled the situation. Truly, she’s a great leader, especially in times like this.

“Well, never mind. The important thing is that the magic beast has been defeated. This means we can resume fishing! Luckily, the town is currently overflowing with adventurers, and selling dishes made from this magic beast will help the town’s finances. We need to hurry back to town and gather people! Dealing with a monster this ridiculously huge is going to take a lot of effort just to dismantle it!”

Wait a minute… Something doesn’t sound right. Is he saying what I think he’s saying?

“Mayor, please wait!”

Before I could speak up, the Guild Master stopped the Mayor.

“Wait? What’s the matter, Guild Master? I need to hurry and gather people…”
“No, why do you intend to use the materials from this beast without permission?”
“Huh? What are you talking about? Why would I use them without permission? What are you saying?”
“What I’m saying is what you just said. Mayor, please understand. The quest you issued was for the subjugation or elimination of this beast, not for collecting materials. Any materials generated from subjugation quests belong entirely to the adventurers. Therefore, all rights to the materials from this magic beast belong to these girls, and if you use these materials without their consent, it would be theft.”
“What? How come?!”
“Why would it be? I explained everything when you came to make the request. If anyone ignored the explanation, it was you, Mayor.”

Ohh… He went and said everything I wanted to say and some more!

“No, wait… Let me change the quest contents then.”
“After it has been completed? Such a convenient quest change won’t be accepted. That would be a breach of contract.”
“This is ridiculous! I can’t just accept this so suddenly!”
“It’s not sudden, and it’s us who are inconvenienced. This is fundamentally about the rights of adventurers. Besides, if unreasonable quests like this go through, in the future, adventurers won’t take on high-difficulty quests like this one. Moreover, I feel it’s deeply unfair to these young individuals who achieved so much at their age. If you absolutely need it, you should negotiate for a purchase or something.”
“But, you see… the town’s finances are also in dire straits…”
“That’s the town’s problem and has nothing to do with them.”

“But… No, I’ve got it! How do you plan to transport such a massive amount of materials? You can’t possibly carry a significant portion, right? In that case, most of it will just rot! We should find a way to make effective use of it, don’t you think!? Do you agree!?”

I mean, we were left out by the Guild Master’s sudden offensive here, so suddenly coming at us with that question is a bit…

In the first place, why are you assuming we’ll provide everything for free? There are various negotiation tactics, like trying to buy it at a reasonable price even if it’s not the full amount, right? I understand that you’re in a tough spot, but this is a bit much…

But the truth is, I can actually transport it easily with my [Storage] skill. The biggest problem is that if I do that, it might reveal that I have the [Storage] skill, and that’s a matter of life and death for me.

Ugh! Seriously! This is why I wanted to quickly store it in [Storage] and discreetly report it to the guild! While I was pondering how to handle this, the Guild Master and the Mayor continued to argue fervently. Alright, this is my chance to have a secret discussion!

“Lily, what should we do?”
“Even if you ask me…”
“How is it in reality? It will fit, right?”
“Well, yeah… but…”
“You don’t want your skill to be revealed, right?”
“If possible…”
“Yeah…”
“Hey, can I interject for a moment?”

As we whispered among ourselves, Rad interrupted the discussion between the Guild Master and the Mayor.