Chapter 79 : I’m Not Really Trying to Make Silver-Rank
My new cart is finally finished, which means I can haul all the pelts and magic stones piling up in my Storage to the Guild.
I’m also bringing some of the wolf and bear meat I don’t really like. Just enough so I don’t raise any eyebrows.
Lately, I’ve been making trips to the Guild about twice a week, mostly because I’m clearing trees to keep the Great Forest from creeping closer to Lang Village and Carlton.
Every time I show up, Sally, the woman at the counter, looks a little more surprised with me.
Today, it’s the winter Almiraj pelts that get her attention.
“So many…” she murmurs, her eyes wide.
Apparently, they’re standard for a Copper-rank adventurer, but she still gives me a worried look, probably because I’m so small.
“These fetch a high price! Did you go deep into the Great Forest?”
She’s thrilled about the Pyrebird feathers and magic stones but disappointed I brought so little of the meat.
“The meat is what most people are after, you know,” she says with a sigh.
Too bad for them. Pyrebird meat is a favorite of mine and Selina’s.
Next are the Big Elk hides from a herd I took down.
“These are incredible!” Sally says, her mood instantly brightening. “They’ll make wonderful leather armor. The adventurers will be delighted.”
I only brought a small part of the meat from that hunt, too.
“And Big Boars?” she asks, picking up one of the hides.
I’ve eaten most of the meat already, so I was just wondering if the hides were useful.
“But they live deep inside the forest! That’s so dangerous! A hide this good can be made into a luxury bag.”
A luxury bag?
That gives me an idea. Maybe a new saddlebag for Noah?
The bears, though, might have been overkill. But my Storage is overflowing with bear meat…
“Er, Zoe?” Sally’s voice is suddenly tight. “This is a bear, isn’t it? And it’s already… butchered. How did you manage that?”
Wait, what?
I’ve gotten into the habit of having my Storage automatically sort everything into pelts, magic stones, and meat. Is that not a normal thing to do?
“My grandmother taught me,” I say firmly.
“We have people for that, you know,” she says, her eyes darting between me and the perfectly preserved pelts.
“Your skill is incredible… there’s hardly any damage. But hunting bears is a Silver-rank quest…”
“I just ran into them by chance,” I say quickly. “Is that a problem?”
“No, not a problem, but… three of them?” She leans forward, her voice dropping.
“Please, stop doing such dangerous things. This haul will bring you to three stars, but to get to Silver-rank, you need an evaluation from the Guild master. And you need experience with escort quests, not just gathering and hunting.”
Escort quests? Heck no!
“I’m not trying to get to Silver-rank,” I say, maybe a little too bluntly. “And I can’t do escort quests.”
She gives me a strange look. “We often get requests for female adventurers to escort noblewomen. Are you sure?”
I can see why they’d want alternatives. The guards I saw with that merchant at the gate looked like a seriously rough bunch. I wouldn’t want them following me around, either.
“I live with my grandmother,” I explain. “I can’t take jobs that keep me away overnight.”
Of course, my grandmother teleports to the royal capital whenever she feels like it, but Sally doesn’t need to know that.
A flicker of sympathy crosses her face. Raymond City has a lot of orphans, and she must think my parents are gone and my grandmother is all I have.
“Oh,” she says softly. “I see. In that case, it can’t be helped.”
Speaking of which, I’m still not allowed to stay overnight at The Foal’s Inn.
“A ten-year-old girl, staying away from home? Absolutely not!” was Selina’s final word on the matter.
This, from the woman who’s been telling me to “earn my own keep” since I was seven.
I still go there for meals, though. The stew is amazing, and Anna, who works there, is really nice. Noah seems to like their stables, too, which is a relief.
The Guild stables are fine, but I feel kind of awkward there because I basically copied their design for my cart. Besides, the old man who runs the place is obsessed with Noah and won’t stop nagging me about him.
I might not be aiming for Silver-rank, but I’ve definitely caught the attention of some Copper-rank blockheads at the Guild.
“I’ll let you join my party!” one of them will say, like he’s doing me a huge favor.
Why are they always so condescending? I just turn them down with a quick, “No, thank you.”
I saw Grant again, the adventurer I met on my first day here.
It turns out he really is Silver-rank. He saw a few guys cornering me and stepped in.
“Leave her alone,” he told them. “Forced recruitment is against the rules.”
The pestering died down a little since then.
“Zoe, wasn’t it?” he said to me afterward. “Spellcasters are always in demand, so the recruiting can get aggressive. It’s easier to turn them down once you’re Silver-rank.”
Grant seems to be a lone wolf himself.
“Don’t you have a party, Grant?” I asked.
He just let out a booming laugh. “Not my style!”
I know exactly how he feels.
There are other female adventurers here, but it always seems like they’re just tagging along with their boyfriends’ parties. It’s kinda disappointing.
Still, if being Silver-rank would get these guys to leave me alone… but those escort quests…
I guess I gotta think about it a little!