Side Story 44:A Guild Master's Story
My name is Warzel. I’m the guild master of the Adventurer’s Guild in Harula. To be more accurate, I was forced into the position by my old friends.
The town was located in a decent area. It was located roughly in between the territory of Count Mubarro and the territory of Baron Nathan. As such, it was relatively important in regards to trade. In addition, there were also rich gathering sites located on both the north and south of the town. But its negative point was also the location. Everyone who wanted to sell merchandise or earn money would usually go to the fief capital.
The guilds were the same. The talented folks would also go there. If you traveled a bit further, you would reach the royal capital. To be frank, no one else wanted to be the guild master of this town due to a lack of manpower. As such, I was forced to take on the troublesome job. I just wanted to go back to the royal capital and live in retirement.
But I had no choice but to work, I tried negotiating with several people to transfer over from the guild of the royal capital and fief capital, but there still wasn’t enough people. As such, I had to make various adjustments. And so, Harula continued on being a place that lacked talented people.
Until that one day. I was busy with annoying paperwork that day, but a staff member suddenly rushed into my office. It seems that some adventurers did something. When I listened to the story, it was apparently Ziggy and Kimble.
Those idiots! I knew they would cause some serious trouble one day!
Those two guys have been troublemakers since way back then. A few years ago, they had tried swindling newcomers and even the kids who were under thirteen of their money, those two were truly complete trash. Those two had absolutely no skill and horrible attitudes to boot, to be frank, there were numerous times where I felt like pummeling them.
Anyways, I got side-tracked. And so, I listened to the details of the story. Fortunately, the victims appeared to be in good health and managed to return back to the town, they even came to report on the matter themselves. Moreover, there was a credible third-party witness who had been accompanying them. With this, those two wouldn’t be able to escape. When I thought that I would be able to get rid of those two idiots, to be honest, I felt refreshed.
The merchant and his companion were brought into the office, and I was immediately surprised by his companion. So tiny. A child? Judging from the height, I think she would be around 12-13 years old? No, wait, the growth of that was quite swell though. She was a bit short but I guess she would be around 14-15? But what was with that wolf? A familiar? Judging from the size, a Greater Wolf? But the fur was completely different. She might be a dangerous fellow. I would have to question them a bit more then.
When I heard their story, the crime committed was a seriously grave one. Those two would be sent to the mines to work as slaves. It was inevitable. However, when I listened even further, I was told that it was apparently the little lass that defeated the orcs. If it was the wolf familiar that did it, I could understand, but this little girl?
I was surprised once again when she removed her hood during the conversation. She was still quite young, but she had a beautiful face. It would be considered more as cute right now, but when she grows up she’ll be an astounding beauty. Furthermore, she exuded a strange sort of charm. Just who was she?
After listening to their explanation of the events, I was then told that they even brought the defeated orcs. They said it was inside a magic storage bag, but it was most likely actually a high level Item Box or Storage skill.
During the purchase transaction, the orcs that were brought out were in perfect condition. Even though it had only been a day, there should’ve been some decay. Although I looked like this now, I was still a former B rank so I could instantly tell.
She had been against taking her hood off and she had tried to hide her storage skill, it was probably because she thought her face or skill would cause her to get involved in something. As such, she was trying to make every action as inconspicuous as possible. Although it was useless.
But the more we talked, the more surprised I got. Even though she had familiars and was able to easily defeat orcs, she claimed that she wasn’t an adventurer yet. Furthermore, despite having those looks, chest size, and sex appeal, she said she was still only 11 years old? You’ve got to be kidding me?
But the surprises didn’t end that day and continued on the next day. She had gone gathering, but managed to bring back a ridiculous amount of herbs. And there were a lot of rare ones too.
Somehow, she also defeated numerous monsters too even though she should’ve only been gathering. But she didn’t even try to sell them. In addition, she even defeated an ogre. I had to make her sell everything. However, to be even capable of defeating an ogre, I knew it, that wolf was definitely not a Greater Wolf…….well, it was actually obvious even before this. But I wasn’t going to point it out, regardless.
After a while, I noticed that she began taking orphans along with her to gather herbs. As such, the recent amount of herbs being delivered to the guild ended up increasing drastically. As a result, the amount of healing potions also increased, which led to a decrease in the amount of adventurer casualties. It was all good news. With this, she could even take on subjugation requests……but she was still only eleven years old.
I was pleased with all the good things she had brought since she came here, but then one day she disappeared. Apparently, she had gone to a village in the south. She had said that she would be back soon, but it was still painful to see the decrease in herbs being delivered to the guild. If she was traveling from Harula to the village in the south, she should be back in about 1-2 weeks.
That was what I thought, but she never came back. Just what was that girl doing!
At that time, sightings of a herd of ogres came in. Apparently, the one that the little lass defeated was a scout from a distant place. The damage started as soon as the sighting was received, I was also able to discern where the ogres came from. It seems it came from a large forest in the west. Some of the villages between the forest and Harula seemed to have suffered damages. If the ogres were left alone, it would become dangerous.
I decided to form a subjugation party immediately, I contacted the fief capital and a C rank party was sent over. There were C rank parties in Harula, but only one was available at the moment. According to the sighting information, there were about 20 ogres in the herd. But with enough people, we should be able to manage. I also gathered some promising D ranks and immediately went to subjugate the ogres. Naturally, I went too.
But there were several unexpected elements. First, the herd of ogres wasn’t just a simple herd, but a herd led by a commander-type monster. If it was just a high-ranking monster, it would still be manageable, but it was a ruler-class ogre lord. The herd’s fighting ability was drastically increased. Naturally, the D rank members of the subjugation party were easily scattered.
It was just me and the ogre lord, I could perhaps manage it, but it was too much when having to deal with the herd and protecting the subjugation party. Just as I was thinking that we would be annihilated, a familiar big wolf suddenly appeared in front of me with a letter. I ordered the C ranks to hold the enemies back for a while and read the letter, but the contents of the letter were absurd, I was perplexed.
Could that girl really defeat the ogre lord?
However, if the subjugation party and I were to be wiped out, Harula with its shortage of talent would fall. I gave a nod to the wolf and prayed to the heavens.
But it ended almost instantaneously. I could only laugh. The surrounding ogres began to fall and the wolf started attacking the escort-less ogre lord, but suddenly the ogre lord’s foot and head got blown off. I had no clue what happened.
After the ogre lord was defeated, I let the members of the subjugation party clean up the remaining ogres and spoke with the little lass for a bit…….but to be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what she was thinking. I could tell that she didn’t want to stand out, but even so…… In the end, I couldn’t really understand that girl. But it was probably better to not and try to understand her.
Afterward, as I was heading back to the town, I was once again perplexed upon seeing the little lass sitting on the roadside resting.