Volume 3 Chapter 4 Quest： Dream Castle I
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
The East End Adventurers’ Guild is located next to the central district guard station in the town’s main street.
After bypassing the bustling first-floor hall during the morning quest rush, one climbs 3 flights of stairs and opens a large door at the end of the corridor, where they are greeted by the guild master with a skull for a face.
”Good morning, Kian. And to you too, Kitsune and Tengu.”
”Good morning, Guild Master.”
”────Good mornin’!”
Natra offers a silent bow, while Rufna waves cheerfully.
Both are wearing masks, which might seem suspicious to some, but among adventurers, having a unique style comes with no judgment.
After all, there are those who wander around with the heads of ‘Spoon Wings’ atop their own, so there’s no point in constantly preaching about manners.
Friedrich might have seen their faces before when he brought an urgent quest from Natasha at ‘The Boar’s Trot Inn,’ but just in case, he had them wear masks.
”Before we get into the urgent quest, there’s something I need to give you. Here it is.”
The guild master gestures with his arm towards a large wooden box in the corner of the room.
”It’s from Princess Maribel. Here’s the letter. According to the courier, it contains surplus guard equipment, as well as homemade painkillers, antidotes, and hemostatic ointment. They’re all in bottles, so they’ve been packed in another box to prevent breakage.”
Last month, Kian had done a great favor for Maribel.
In return, he was granted a knight’s title and permission to build a house, but he received no monetary compensation.
He had returned the Anti-Magic Ring, and there was no replenishment for the used arms.
Already short on funds, the southern and western wings of the Main Castle were nearly destroyed.
Many weapons and important books in the southern wing were lost to the flames.
Most of the supplies, such as food and fuel, stored in the basement of the western wing were either obliterated or buried under rubble.
Maribel found herself swamped with the costs of debris removal, repairs, and wages for the newly hired staff.
Rumor had it that she had sold some vineyards and territories to Renaud.
Emotionally, she wished for a fine magic sword to replace the ‘Nightshade’ series or the Windsong Blade, but she couldn’t just wave her hand and make one appear.
”Master, what does this say?”
”It says that now that I have a bit of leeway, I’m sending over some spare weaponry. The potions seem to be ones Christy prepared. The rest is just unremarkable chatter.”
Upon opening the wooden crate to inspect its contents, she found that neither the swords nor the armor bore any magical inscriptions, and by the standards of Western swordsmen, they were mostly subpar weapons and armor for facing a Rank 6 monster.
Nonetheless, he might as well reequip with the long sword, since it was better than a wooden sword or a staff.
It was good timing that it arrived before the urgent quest.
As for the potions, Christy’s mixtures were effective.
However, Kian’s body had evolved to be resilient to injuries, and his vampire nature significantly reduced the impact of poisons and curses.
While it wasn’t a bad idea to keep them on hand for emergencies, they weren’t particularly useful.
He couldn’t sell the gifts from them, so he kept them in her pocket.
The armor would need to be moved to his room at The Boar’s Trot Inn later.
”…We’re seriously running out of space in here.”
”My potion brewing’s already moved up to the roof. If I’m being honest, we could really use another room.”
”If we’re renting, it’ll have to be at a tavern other than The Boar’s Trot Inn. They don’t have any vacancies right now.”
At this point, it might be easier to have Rufna use her earth magic and build a shelter somewhere just outside of town.
The real problem would be how well we could protect it from beasts, bugs, and the weather. Not to mention how we’d maintain it while we’re away on quests.
And then there’s Rufna’s… craftsmanship.
If she could follow Kian’s instructions exactly, it might work out. But knowing her tendency to cut corners, he had his doubts.
However, he should at least mark any promising lands he came across.
Suddenly, the manor from “Labyrinth of Roses” came to mind, but it was currently co-managed by the Adventurer’s Guild and Maribel.
It was a place with quite the reputation, and approaching Maribel for help should really only be done when there were no other options left.
By then, it could have already been put up for auction in the royal capital and purchased for a bargain by someone else.
”Kian, if it’s okay, I can have the staff transport the armor to the back of ‘The Boar’s Trot Inn’?”
”I’m sorry, but may I ask you to do that?”
”Ah, understood. That’s all I had to relay to you. Now, let’s move on to the urgent quest.”
Friedrich said this as he pointed to a nearby guest table.
”In a mountain village, a monster believed to be a Bloodsucking Kind is causing trouble. We’ve also lost contact with the Rank 5 adventurer party we dispatched earlier. In response, I’m adding extra rewards and have sent out requests to 5 parties as an emergency quest.”
On the table lay what appeared to be a map of the area surrounding the incident in the mountain village.
Friedrich continued.
”As a result, you’re the only ones who responded to my call. The others found various excuses to decline. The original quest reward was only 5 silver coins. Even with the extra compensation for this urgent quest, if the monster’s materials can’t be sold, it would lead to a significant loss. It seems your party is… although Serena isn’t here, will the 3 of you take on this quest?”
”Yes. Serena seems to have other things to attend to.”
Specifically, she was training for a duel with Kian.
From her perspective, if she could extract information from Kian, it would be like checkmating her opponent in her goal here, so she likely planned to approach it as thoroughly prepared as possible.
”Will the three of you be enough? It’s our fault we couldn’t hire another adventurer party in time, so I plan to offer as much support as I can.
──But aside from some supplies, these three are the only combat-ready staff I can send. Lately, we’ve been overwhelmed dealing with the sudden outbreak of Bloodsucking Kinds around the Guild-managed dungeons across the region.”
That’s how Friedrich explained it as he introduced the team.
Judging by their abilities, they were about lower-intermediate rank at best.
No beastmen, no elves, no one from a race with any special abilities—just ordinary humans.
One of them was a young noblewoman, fresh from the academy in the central region.
(A combat officer… and an academy graduate from the capital?)
”……”
They might be exceptional talent, not evident on paper, but the opposite is also quite possible.
One cannot simply nod and say, “They were a burden after all,” once they’ve joined the team.
The difficulty of fighting while protecting someone is well understood.
(Staff who are available during the Guild’s busy times. And seeing Friedrich’s slightly awkward expression, it seems they are all staff with somewhat lacking abilities…)
Still, increasing the numbers is appealing.
As long as they don’t recklessly destroy monster materials when finishing them off, it might be acceptable.
While pondering what to do, suddenly there was a commotion from downstairs.
The same black, sludge-like magic power felt earlier on the main street could be sensed.
There were two of them.
The sludge-like, powerful magic power was equivalent to Christy’s.
Their footsteps climbed the stairs and soon burst into the Guild Master’s room where Kian and the others were.
The one who entered was a medium-built man with blonde hair and blue eyes.
And a lady with flaxen hair.
The blonde man was clad in black armor and carried a black sword on his back.
His sweet mask was expressionless, and he wore a delicate obsidian horned cup accessory around his neck.
This young man was the one emitting the black, sludge-like magic power.
The flaxen-haired woman who followed him into the room was, in a word, elegant.
The outfit consists of a white blouse.
Below, she wears a blue mini skirt that reaches just above the knees, paired with black underwear underneath.
The design of the mini skirt features a side slit that goes up to the waist, revealing glimpses of her curves wrapped in the underwear.
Her long hair is styled in a Gibson tuck, tied with a blue ribbon to match the skirt.
With her elongated eyes, long lashes, and beautiful features, she exudes the air of a refined young lady from a good family.
About a month ago, Kian had received various assistance from a black-haired airhead, but he knew that this flaxen-haired woman was entirely different from Christy.
The golden-haired young man stared at Natra and Rufna, who were standing behind Kian.
He didn’t even cast a glance in Kian’s direction.
In contrast, the flaxen-haired beauty squinted her eyes slightly as she looked at Kian for a brief moment.
However, she quickly shifted her gaze back to the golden-eyed youth.
”Mr. Friedrich,”
”Rean… Is something wrong?”
”Earlier, we ran into the Swan Brigade. They told us there’s an emergency quest out.”
”Indeed, I’ve already sent requests to 5 parties that seem capable while currently waiting in East End. Just to clarify, I didn’t send a request to you.”
”But I heard the reward is only 5 silver coins. Surely, there were no parties willing to take it, right? I’m available, so I’d like to head out now.”
”You just returned, didn’t you? The party members must be at the inn resting.”
”That’s why I’ll take the quest by myself. An urgent quest around Rank 6 should be a breeze for me.”
”No, hold on. I trust you’re capable of managing yourself, but──”
”I’m in perfect health.”
Rean met the guild leader’s gaze with strong determination in his blue eyes.
”I will go on the hunt.”
”…”
The flaxen-haired lady interjected as Friedrich frowned.
”Just to let you know, it’s not just Sir Rean who can accept the quest. I will also take it.”
”Lady Lyritisse…”
”I will take on the quest as well. I won’t allow Sir Rean to face this alone.”
With a hand placed firmly over her chest, the young lady declared her resolve.
Even though it was only an emergency quest ranked at Party Rank 6, she carried herself with the tension and determination of someone preparing to face a legendary dragon.
By the way, unlike the golden-haired, black-armored young man, Rean, the auburn-haired girl, Lyritisse, looked a little pale.
Her shapely legs, clad in black leggings, trembled slightly.
It seems her muscles were fatigued.
”Rean, Lyritisse, you two are the aces of my East End branch. You are invaluable, the top-ranked adventurers.”
Friedrich, the guild leader, looked at the two with a stern gaze as he spoke.
”I need you to take on this important task. Receiving one quest after another, operating in an exhausted state could lead to injuries, a huge loss for our guild. To prevent that, it is my duty to manage you.”
”We are in perfect condition, Guildmaster.”
Rean repeated this, his body completely steady.
The amount of magic power radiating from him was immense; he truly was in top form.
However, Lyritisse was not, and Friedrich was a man of common sense.
He hadn’t hesitated to assign the next quest to Rean immediately upon his return.
”However…Even if you aren’t here, I have already asked Kian’s party to handle this.” Friedrich began. “They’ll surely…”
”Assigning a rank 6 extermination quest to that man is insanity.”
Rean looked straight at Kian and stated this without hesitation.
”He’s a lowest-ranked adventurer. What was the Guildmaster thinking, assigning an emergency quest to someone like him?”
”Kian is the best choice. While you two were traveling around Franz, Kian single-handedly defeated the Griffin and saved Izerland. He’s now even a Knight.”
”What utter nonsense──”
Rean narrowed his sharp emerald eyes, ready to argue.
But then, his gaze shifted toward Kian—
And he did a double take.
”…?”
He tilted his head, a faint furrow forming between his brows.
”――――.”
His eyes widened as he stared directly at Kian.
The feelings he couldn’t voice were quietly spoken for him by Lyritisse, standing just behind.
”You… you’re really Kian?”
”Yeah, that’s me. Long time no see, Rean, Ms. Lyritisse.”
”────”
”Well, it’s been a while…”
Rean frowned, lips pressed into a thin line.
Lyritisse looked confused, placing a hand on her cheek as she gazed up at Kian’s muscular frame.
(Strange.)
As the two stared at him with curious eyes, Kian thought to himself.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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