Units have been changed (to kg, km, m, etc.).
"I—I am Primera von Sanga, captain of the Fourth Unit of the Gunjou City Knights. I have been granted full authority to handle this matter."
She straightened her spine and introduced herself, but—
"Sanga?"
The surname attached to her name was the same as the head of this duchy. That caught my attention.
I quickly used Appraisal on her.
Name: Primera von Sanga Age: 20 Race: Human Title: Third Daughter of the Sanga Duchy, Captain of the Fourth Unit of the Gunjou City Knights
She really was a duchy's daughter.
"Yes, I am the third daughter of the duchy, but that is indeed the case."
"I see. So, what would you like to do?"
I continued the conversation as though it were nothing particularly important.
"Um, when you say 'what would you like to do'—"
"I mean the deal. If you don't want to, I'll take it elsewhere."
"You would do that for us?"
She asked with a look that said "Really?" Her attitude was completely different from before.
"If you pay an upfront deposit and sign a written agreement, I'll accept a deferred installment plan for the deal. However, gemstones are out of the question."
"Gems are more important to us, though…"
She tried to back away, but—
"Can you pay it? Over 20 million G in one lump sum? If I put this up for auction, it will almost certainly sell for more than that."
I made it clear that this was non-negotiable.
"Very well. However, please refrain from listing it for auction for a while. I need to consult with my father… Duke Sanga."
She reluctantly agreed on those conditions, her shoulders dropping.
"Understood. I'd appreciate an answer within ten days, if possible. The deadline for auction listings is coming up soon."
Registration for listings could be done through the Guild, but I wanted to hear back early to finalize my plans.
Once the deal was struck, we exchanged contracts with the Guild as a witness. The combined payment—bounty for the bandits, slave sale, weapon sale, and the rescue of Celia and the others—came to a total of 4.5 million G. I would pay 500,000 G as a deposit right away, 2 million G in two months, and another 2 million G two months after that. That settled it.
"Then I'll hand over the bandits and the bodies. Where would you like the bodies placed?"
When I asked, I was told to bring the prisoners as they were, but to have the corpses delivered at the knight headquarters. They must have thought it wouldn't be proper to display the bodies right here.
I agreed and went to approach the cart where the bandits were loaded. When Bansa spotted me, he panicked terribly. He was thrashing about and on the verge of wetting himself, and even the knights kept their distance.
Bansa would be sentenced to death. The others would be sent to the mines as slaves, apparently.
With that matter settled, Celia approached alongside a man.
"Thank you so much for rescuing Celia. My name is Marx, Celia's uncle."
He gave a courteous greeting. I wished the knights had learned at least half—no, a quarter—of his manners.
This Marx was the brother of Celia's mother, an accomplished man who had become an accounting assistant in the parliament without any significant connections (according to Flute).
"No, I just happened to end up rescuing her…"
"But you rescued her all the same!"
He kept repeating his thanks, bowing his head over and over until Celia stopped him.
After that, they took their leave to bring Celia to a doctor. Before parting, Marx said that if anything came up, I should feel free to come to him for help.
Next, I headed to the knight headquarters to write up the contract. Flute accompanied me as a witness. At that time, I was told to place the bodies in a corner of the training grounds, so when I stacked the frozen corpses into a pile, several knights and soldiers who saw it vomited on the spot, while others ran off to the restroom.
Since someone capable of ice magic had cast a spell to keep them frozen, there shouldn't be any concern about them rotting.
Under Flute's supervision, three copies of the contract were written—one for me, one for the knights, and one for the Guild to each keep.
After leaving the knight headquarters, I was only planning to stop by the Guild, but it was already late, so everyone returned to their respective inns and agreed to meet at the Guild after noon the next day.
When I arrived at the Full Belly Pavilion, the old man greeted me. It looked like the tavern was closed today.
"Oh, Tenma, you're safe! Word came in that you single-handedly defeated a bandit raid and told off a bunch of knights."
The story had already begun to pick up embellishments, so I corrected him while completing my check-in.
"Here, this is your key."
He handed me the key to the same room as before.
"But you really are fast. I said you'd be gone for several days, so I haven't cleaned the room yet."
"No worries, I can clean it myself. Also, I might be heading out again in about ten days."
I told him about the auction.
"That's a huge haul! Doesn't sound like something a newbie would earn."
He was astonished. Then the landlady poked her head out and said,
"You, knock it off. Tenma just got back."
She scolded the old man, then turned to me.
"Welcome home, Tenma. If leftovers are fine, I can put together a meal for you."
"Please do."
She served me dinner. She had called it leftovers, but she had made an extra herb-roasted chicken. It was quite delicious, and I decided to ask for the recipe next time to try making it myself.
After the meal, fatigue set in, so I headed to my room and decided to turn in.
"Old man, landlady, I'm heading to bed. Good night."
"Sure, good night."
"Good night."
The two of them saw me off, and I returned to my usual room. The moment I stepped inside, it felt like being home, and I could feel myself relaxing.
"This isn't so much physical exhaustion as mental fatigue. I'll get to sleep and maybe hit the bath in the morning."
The bathhouse nearby filled its tubs early in the morning for people who worked night shifts, which was really convenient.
"Good night, Slarin. Shiromaru."
I opened the bag and spoke to the two of them, but the only response was snoring.
I smiled wryly, closed the bag, and pulled the covers over myself.
The next morning, when I woke up, Shiromaru's and Slarin's faces were right in front of me. Shiromaru had stuck half his body out of the bag and was peeking in.
"Morning, you two. What's up?"
At that same moment, Shiromaru's stomach let out a thunderous growl.
"Got it. Let's have breakfast."
The moment I said that, the two of them hurriedly climbed back into the bag.
I smiled wryly, got changed, and headed out to the yard.
Today, I made Shiromaru's and the others' meal centered around vegetables. Slarin was happy about it, but Shiromaru looked displeased.
Shiromaru kept glancing at me, but eventually gave up and started eating the vegetables.
I ate my own breakfast and headed to the Guild early.
The Guild was bustling even though it was still before noon. The moment I walked in, it went quiet for an instant. Occasionally, I could hear hushed whispers about Bansa and the others, but no one approached me directly.
Ignoring them, I walked up to the bulletin board and scanned through the requests in order.
Among them, I found a special request to subdue Rock Birds—monsters found on a mountain about half a day from the city.
Special requests had no limits on number of kills or rank, and any registered adventurer could accept them. They remained valid as long as the posting was up. No application to accept was even required.
Apparently, the Rock Bird population was growing, and they wanted someone to thin them out before they caused any real damage.
Rock Birds had feathers as hard as stone, and ordinary weapons couldn't deliver a fatal blow. On top of that, they were bird-type monsters ranging from 1.2 to 3 meters in body length, with a wingspan exceeding 3 meters. Their flight capabilities were also high, making them difficult for a single person to take down.
However, their feathers could be used for decorations, weapons, and armor, and their meat was edible. The meat was delicious and low in fat, making it especially popular among women.
And then there were their eggs—high in nutrition with a rich flavor. Per gram, they commanded a higher price than the meat. The shells were also thick and durable, making them useful for crafted goods.
The subjugation fee was 1,000 G per bird, and the materials went to the hunter. It sounded like a pretty good deal. I'd try going on a subjugation run tomorrow.
I looked over the other requests to see if anything else caught my eye, but nothing drew me in as much as the Rock Bird posting.
While I was reading, Flute called out to me.
"Tenma. Could you come this way for a moment?"
Those nearby looked at us as if wondering what had happened, but since Flute didn't seem alarmed at all, they quickly lost interest.
"What is it?"
I walked up to Flute at the counter, but was immediately led to the back room.
I entered the reception room behind the counter, sat down in a chair, and—
"Congratulations, Tenma. You've been promoted to C Rank."
Flute said this and then clapped.
"…Huh?"
Flute continued as I stared blankly.
"Regarding the Bansa incident, I contacted the Guild Master in the Royal Capital using a magical device. The response was, 'Then go ahead and promote him,' so Tenma's rank-up has been officially approved."
That was the gist of it.
"Isn't that too easy? And what about the exam?"
Since everything was moving along far too smoothly, I asked the first thing that came to mind.
"No problem. It's a special authority of the Guild Master. However, this isn't favoritism—there is a precedent for this."
She then told me about said precedent.
Apparently, an adventurer who was a minor noble had caught a wanted criminal when he was just starting out, contributing to the city's safety. The criminal had been quite skilled and operated with a gang, so in that special case, his rank was raised from E to C.
Since then, a special rule had been established allowing those who performed similarly to have their rank raised up to C.
Incidentally, the rank could only be raised as high as C.
So the reason my rank went up to C was that this special provision applied to my recent accomplishment.
"Well, given everything you've done so far, Tenma, it wouldn't be strange even if you were B Rank," Flute said with a laugh.
"Then, I'll graciously accept."
I handed my Guild card to Flute. She said she'd give me the updated one later.
When I left the reception room, Lily and the others had arrived. The three of them were surrounded by other adventurers (almost all male).
I just watched from a distance (because if I said anything, things would probably not end well), but Flute called out in a loud voice,
"Lily, Nelly, Milly! Tenma is waiting for you."
The moment those words left her mouth, the three of them perked up their ears and glided smoothly through the crowd of adventurers to reach me. …Behind them, the men glared at me, as if to say "Him again?" Flute, meanwhile, was grinning with great amusement. She absolutely did that on purpose!
"Morning, Tenma!"
"Sorry—were you waiting?"
"Sorry, sorry, did we keep you waiting?"
They greeted me in their usual fashion.
"No, I just had business and came early, that's all."
When I said that, the three of them started complaining that this was the moment to say something like "I just got here" or "I was waiting because I wanted to see you sooner"—the kind of things you'd find in a shoujo manga.
I kind of wanted to ask what exactly they thought of me, but I decided ignoring it was for the best.
"I have something to discuss with you all regarding a request. Please, come this way."
I led them into the same reception room as before.
Inside, I sat in a single chair while the three of them took identical chairs across from me. Flute sat in a chair facing all three of them and said,
"I sincerely apologize for the trouble caused by the Guild's oversight."
She bowed her head. We told her it couldn't be helped, but—
"Normally, except in emergencies, clients are required to fill out identification documents. Those documents had errors."
The errors in the documents had been handled by an inexperienced rookie, which had made an incident like this possible.
"Therefore, as an apology, in addition to the original reward, a nuisance fee of 10,000 G has been added."
With that, Flute placed a pouch containing 15,000 G in front of us.
"Does this include a hush fee?"
Flute shook her head at my question.
"No. This incident will be posted on the Guild's internal bulletin board. So this is purely a nuisance fee."
She gave a wry smile. Apparently, they would have preferred to keep it quiet, but since I had confronted the knights in front of the gate, a considerable number of people already knew about it. Trying to hide it could have destroyed their credibility, so they decided to make it public.
"I'm sorry."
I bowed my head, but Flute said,
"The problem in this case was on the knights' side. It can't be helped. Please don't worry about it."
After that, we went over the details of what had happened at the village and then dispersed.
Later, Lily and the others and I divided up the money that had been paid out.
I proposed splitting it equally four ways, but the three of them objected. They said this request had essentially been a joint effort between 'Tenma and his Familiars' and the 'Wildcat Princess' party, so the standard practice was to split the reward two ways. I wasn't entirely convinced, but the three argued that if only the Wildcat Princess party had taken the request alone, they would have undoubtedly failed and suffered terribly, so I reluctantly went along with it.
As for the Dash Boars that Shiromaru and the others had hunted, those were entirely ours to keep, but I decided to give three of the boars to the three of them. They tried to decline, but I insisted half-forcefully that they had rights to the kills made during the request.
After that, I had lunch with the three of them, then borrowed the dissection area behind the Guild to butcher the boars. The area normally required advance reservation, but it happened to be free, so we got it. It cost 300 G per hour, and we rented it for three hours. There were also specialist staff at the dissection area who helped out.
There were seven boars in total, including the King, but thanks to the staff, we finished butchering everything in about two and a half hours. As a thank-you, I gave them a portion of meat and one boar's worth of innards. They were thrilled. Apparently, fresh innards were a rare treat—processing them was a hassle, but their value made it worthwhile.
The three of them planned to sell most of the innards and meat to a butcher they knew and use the rest for dinner that night. The materials were taken by the Guild.
I decided to sell all of my materials at the Guild, except for some of the boar bones. The bones were a snack for Shiromaru.
As for the meat, since I had a Magic Bag, I decided to keep it without selling.
After having everything appraised, I learned that the King's materials commanded more than double the price of a normal boar's. The fur, in particular, went for over five times as much.
Normally, this would have been cause for celebration, but since the money from the bandit subjugation was so enormous, all I could muster was a vague "Oh, is that so?"
I parted ways with the three in front of the Guild, but the timing was awkward for doing anything else. So—
"Alright, let's do it!"
I marched all the way to the gate and then walked a bit further to a meadow, where I summoned Shiromaru.
"Shiromaru, sit!"
"Woof!"
I gave the command and pulled something out of the bag. The instant he saw it, Shiromaru tried to bolt.
"Shiromaru, stay!"
"Woof…"
He whimpered weakly, his eyes locked on the handmade soap in my hand.
I ignored his pleading gaze and used water magic to soak him with water. He didn't like it, but he obeyed my command and stayed still.
Then I lathered him up with the soap, working it into a rich foam. In about thirty minutes, Shiromaru had become a foam-covered snowman. When I rinsed the foam off with water, a pitiful-looking Shiromaru emerged.
For the final step, I worked in something like a rinse. After about ten minutes, I rinsed that off too, and that was basically it.
All that was left was drying his fur—but that was when Shiromaru shook his body. Vigorously.
The result? I was soaked from head to toe. Shiromaru had been trying to sneak away, quieting his footsteps as he crept off, but when I said—
"Shiromaru. Stay. Right. There."
—he straightened his back more than usual and sat down. I walked slowly toward him. At that moment, Shiromaru rolled onto his back, exposing his belly.
"What do you think you're doing, Shiromaru?!"
Reacting to my voice, he twisted his body even further. By the time he got up, he was a brown wolf again. Shiromaru clearly had no idea what he had done, and he was sentenced to another thorough bath.
More time passed than I had expected, and by the time I made it back to the inn, the sun was setting and the surroundings were growing dark. Shiromaru, thoroughly washed down, was completely exhausted inside the bag.
"Oh, Tenma. Welcome back… Hey, haven't your clothes changed?"
The old man asked, so I told him about Shiromaru, and he burst out laughing. Hearing the commotion, the landlady came over too, and when the old man told her the reason, she laughed the same way. Even the regular guests who recognized me all cracked up.
That was the moment Shiromaru's dinner was officially revoked.
*The baking soda and other ingredients used in the handmade soap are available in large cities. This is the intended setting.*
*The rinse substitute is just lemon juice dissolved in water, so I added "substitute" to the name.*