Leave a comment

The receptionist observed the girl, Merc, as she moved and conversed with the man who had accepted the request earlier.

“Excuse me, could I speak with you for a moment?”
“Ah?”

Brusquely responding, the man, Svemir, turned around. He immediately froze as he saw the person who had called out to him. He certainly hadn’t anticipated being confronted by a beautiful woman inside the Adventurer’s Guild.

Svemir’s appearance wasn’t very remarkable, and he was well past his prime. He likely had no experience being approached by girls.

He was, nonetheless, a skilled adventurer. He immediately moved away and assumed a position that would allow him to stand up at a moment’s notice as soon as Merc, an unfamiliar person, approached him.

“Whad’ya want missy?”
“My name is Merc. I’m an adventurer. I’d like to accompany you on that request you just accepted. Would you be okay with that?”
“Huh? Are ya talking about the escort request to Kirel Village? Why the frick would I let ya come along?”
“Thing is, I’m leaving for the Empire tomorrow. I thought that since I’m going there I might as well pick up a request on the way. However, as fate would have it, there’s only one escort request scheduled for tomorrow. The one you accepted.”
“Is dat so?”

Svemir said, showing a hint of sympathy for Merc’s situation. Keeping in mind to look her over as well. After that, he stroked the beard on his chin. It was obvious to the receptionist that he was thinking lewd things.

That perverted old fart. He’s ******* over young girls again…

The receptionist, who had long been the object of Svemir’s lustful glances, sighed inwardly. She started to regret encouraging Merc to share the request with him.

“This is pure gold. That geezer’s nuts! He’s actually ogling her. This is priceless… Hahaha!”

While Svemir’s actions baffled the receptionist, Merc’s companion, the young, muscular man, was having the time of his life.

The young man seemed to be completely relaxed even though his companion was being gawked at by another man. This made the receptionist more certain that Merc and the man were not actually lovers.

“I don mind taking ya with me. But what are we gonna do bout the reward? How bout 50/50?”
“That sounds good, however, you’re the one that accepted the request first. I’ll be content with 30/70.”
“Oh… A missy who knows her stuff. Fine then. I’ll let ya in. Since ya’re tagging with me, how bout we share a drink at da pub near here? To deepen our friendship that is.”

Svemir said with a smile, after accepting Merc’s plea. Merc, on the other hand, casually turned around and looked at the receptionist and the young man.

“Hey! He says we can join.”
“Wat?”

After being shocked by Merc’s behavior, Svemir’s eyes widened in disbelief when he observed the young man walking toward them while smiling.

“Hey there old man. My name’s Fol. Thanks for having us.”
“Who the fricks are ya?! I only agreed cause I thought only da missy was coming!”
“What? Only me? I’m sorry I didn’t explain myself. Are you worried about the rewards distribution, Mr. Svemir?”
“Huh? Y-Yea! Das right! Ya said dat you’d only take a third, but if this guy takes a third, dat’ll leave me with third as well!”

Svemir yelled, after learning that the young man would be accompanying them. Most likely, Svemir had already forgotten about the client and believed he would be traveling with Merc alone. However, his mood changed immediately upon discovering that a handsome young man would be traveling with them. The part about the reward was simply a farce.

Svemir, however, was unaware that by bringing up the reward as a farce, he had dug his own grave. He was unaware that he had been led to make such a choice.

“You don’t need to worry about that, old man. I’m not planning on accepting this request. There’s no need to share the reward with me. You can split it between you and Merc. I’m simply going to tag along.”
“Ya don’t want da reward? D-Dat’s…”

There was no reason for Svemir to decline Merc’s request as the reward was no longer an issue. Nonetheless, Svemir was put off by the idea that the young man was going to go with them, so he started grasping at straws, looking for an excuse to decline.

“I-I can’t have someone dat won’t accept the request accompany me… It’ll be problematic. I can’t trust my back to someone like dat… I’d feel uneasy.”　

Svemir said, trying to refuse by offering ridiculous reasons. Fol, on the other hand, simply smiled and said,

“Haha. You don’t need to worry about that. Originally, I intended to go to the Empire without taking any requests, but my friend here insisted on accepting one at any cost. If you don’t want to share, then so be it. You’ll just save us the trouble. In the end, it makes no difference whether you accept or decline.”
“I-It makes no difference?”

Svemir’s face went pale when he heard the young man say that. He had never anticipated that the other side would declare that it was irrelevant whether he accepted or not.

Svemir’s brow furrowed. He was most likely contemplating something.

A third of the reward, in his opinion, was a little steep, but having more than one person on an extended escort mission was unquestionably advantageous. The reason for this was that being constantly on guard would definitely wear one out. Additionally, having someone watch over the camp and equipment would be nice.

Furthermore, Merc also played a huge part in all of this.

Likely, Svemir thought Merc and Fol were lovers. Nevertheless, there was nothing wrong with having Merc there as eye candy. Even if Merc had a partner, it would be more enjoyable to have Merc with him rather than having to protect his client by himself.

And if Svemir managed to outwit the young man, he could have the chance to get close to Merc.

“Aight! Ya can both come!”

Svemir said while intentionally frowning. He probably made an effort to appear reluctant to accept. The receptionist, who had known him for a very long time, however, knew that reality was different.

“Really? Thank you so much, Mr. Svemir!” With a smile that was as lovely as any flower, Merc remarked and walked towards the reception.
“No biggie. Hehehe.”

Svemir said as he watched Merc proceed to the reception desk to properly accept the request.

Merc stuck out her tongue and bumped fists with Fol behind Svemir’s back without him seeing.

Oh my. Did they plan everything? I thought she was an innocent tomboy but it seems like I was mistaken. She’s quite the scary one…

The receptionist had assumed that Merc didn’t care about her appearance based on her messy hair and brusque demeanor. However, after seeing this most recent exchange her opinion changed. She realized that Merc did, in fact, realize her value.

Or at the very least, Merc was aware that she could capture the attention of men.

“Please show me your Adventurer’s License.”

The receptionist was once again taken aback when she was given Merc’s Adventurer’s License.

Clearly, this young woman has a promising future… That is, in more than one way.