Their conversation got louder as they moved from the entrance to inside.
“So did you find anyone who might be able to fix the collar?”
“Right, about that…”
The girls entered the living room mid-conversation.
“Master Roland! Your beloved Dey is back!”
She hurried over to where I was relaxing on the sofa and clung to me. Rila watched with a dissatisfied expression.
“Move aside,” she commanded. “That is my seat.”
“Oh, come on. Just let me have it for a little while. Can’t I, Master Roland?”
I nearly replied with You can sit anywhere you like as far as I’m concerned, but Rila wouldn’t agree with that, so I kept quiet. Animosity shone in Rila’s eyes as she stared a hole into Dey. Whether the vampire noticed or didn’t, she remained glued to me.
“Dey, move over and give us the report.”
“Aww! But I just got back!”
At this rate, I’d lose a competent adventurer, so I pushed Dey aside. Rila immediately jumped between us.
“Ahem. Now let us hear what you have found,” she said.
“Ugh, seriously.” Dey looked disappointed, but took a seat on the sofa opposite mine.
Roje knelt on one knee next to the vampire and recounted the details of the search.
“To seek one who could repair the collar, we journeyed to the vampire city of Arzal.”
I’d never heard of that place before.
“Arzal… Are you from there, Dey?”
“Yes. Actually, most vampires live there. It’s a super gloomy place where the sun never shines.”
“Arzal is a subterranean city in Hell. Demons cannot fathom the circumstances, climate, or customs of such a place, so it operates autonomously,” Rila added.
It resembled how humans viewed the forests where the elves lived.
“Chasing leads in Arzal led us to the collar’s creator. Unfortunately, they are no longer in the city and haven’t returned in many years…”
Dey picked up where Roje trailed off. “Once I learned the creator’s name, it all made sense. He’s famous for being a real eccentric.”
“What’s his name?”
“Wawok Seiv. He had some anti-pure-demon sentiments, and it seems he developed the collar as a result.”
Wawok Seiv…?
Another name I was unfamiliar with.
“He’s supposed to be an astute problem solver, but he went down a rather unpleasant path.”
“That name is familiar to me,” said Rila. “I asked for his assistance in developing weaponry once, but he turned me away. That certainly seems in line with his alleged anti-demon ideology.”
“But wasn’t there a vampire force in the demon lord’s army?”
“Not all vampires are against pure demons. I’m not on the pro or anti side.”
“We recruited vampires because we required soldiers for the war. We sought troops from several races, but were careful not to draft any.”
“In other words, you collected all those willing to fight for Hell.”
“Indeed.”
Had the human side known that during the war, I’m sure it would’ve joined with the members of the anti-pure-demon group—the antis, as Dey called them.
“Did you find anyone else capable of repairing the collar?” I asked.
Roje shook her head. “It seems that Wawok made it on his own. We asked several people capable of understanding the formula for help, but none of them could.”
“Hmm… Then we’ll need to catch him and have him fix it or create a new one.”
Unfortunately, we didn’t know where this Wawok person was… All we’d learned was that he was the maker. There were no further leads to act on. Roje and Dey set their sights on finding Wawok, because it was really the only option. Just like Dey, Wawok would have perpetual youth and life as a vampire. Finding him would depend on how long it had been since anyone last saw him.
“Should I send a letter to Serafin, then?”
“Hmm?” Rila scowled. “You have another woman?”
“No, she’s the cleric from the party of heroes. You should know her.”
“I take it she is your current conquest.”
“No. At least listen to me before passing judgment. I wound up with the collar, but Serafin had it before me. She might know something.”
“Then I approve of contact with her! Mm-hmm.” Rila gave me an exaggerated nod.
While I was doing paperwork in the guild office, Milia asked, “Mr. Roland, how has Miss Prima Donna been doing?”
“She’s fine.”
“I haven’t seen her in a while.”
They met once on the island after Rila’s collar snapped. We had asked Milia about Rila’s mana, but apparently, she didn’t sense it at all.
If this search failed to uncover anything on Wawok, or if it turned out he was untraceable or dead, then Rila would remain in her current state. As long as no one else realized Rila had the same mana as the demon lord, she could continue her normal life. Anyone from Hell who sniffed her out would definitely come to retrieve her, though.
“…”
If it came to that, then I’d…
“Milia, could I borrow you?”
“Oh, of course!”
Milia stood and headed to the counter, where the female coworker who had called her waited.
“Nobody ever told me about it!” someone shouted. The bellow echoed through the entire office. “It’s a D-rank quest. That’s what I prepped for. How was I supposed to handle that when it came out of the blue? Giving my party members healing potions got us through, but if I was one short… I don’t even wanna think about it…”
It was an adventurer who’d come in this morning. There were three others with him then, but now he was alone.
“Hey, you!”
“Y-yes…?”
Evidently, Milia had given him a quest. I saw her shoulders droop, and she ducked down a bit.
“That monster was A rank, if not higher. How could you do this to us?!”
“What?! But…it was a D-rank quest. And I’m sure I explained the danger…”
Our coworker who called Milia over seemed to feel bad for her.
“What happened with Miss Milia?” I asked her.
“There’s no one to blame. From what I understand, something unexpected happened during the quest she picked out. Three of the party members are gravely wounded… I’m not sure how Milia described the job to them, but…”
Milia bowed, yet it hardly placated the furious adventurer.
“You better compensate us for your incompetence!”
“B-but…”
“I’m not getting anywhere talking to you. Get your manager!”
“Y-yes, sir… J-j-j-just one moment…”
Milia turned away and ran to the branch manager’s office, holding back tears.
I had a quick look at the quest stub. “Excuse me…,” I said to the adventurer.
“What?”
“You took on a D-rank quest to exterminate a nest of Killer Bees, and your fellow party members were injured. Correct?”
“Yeah!”
I read through the list of people assigned to the quest and saw that not all of them were suited to a D-rank job.
This angry man was a C ranker, and he seemed to be the leader. One other member was D rank, while the remaining two were E rank.
On the back of the quest stub, there was a memo scribbled in Milia’s bubbly handwriting: Two members not of suitable rank. Explained the dangers to them.
“The dangers of your quest were adequately explained to you, and you still suffered injuries. That seems like a normal occurrence.”
“What didja say?!” the adventurer growled out at me.
Some of my colleagues quietly advised me to wait for the branch manager and not throw oil on the fire, but I ignored them. “I mean that you reaped what you sowed.”
“Why don’t you step over this way and say that to my face…?”
His pupils were dilated, and I noticed his veins were bulging.
When I stood and headed over to Milia’s booth along the counter, the man hesitated briefly when he saw I was missing an arm.
“I think it’s unfortunate you came across an unforeseen circumstance during a quest, but you should consider it a lesson in not being overconfident. As many adventurers as there are stars have died the same way.”
“We weren’t overconfident! Who do you think you’re talking to?!”
“Then why did you take lower-ranking adventurers with you on a monster-slaying quest? Your group has two E-rank members, meaning the quest was beyond half of your party. You took the job despite knowing that risk.”
The man fumbled to answer, but swiftly recovered, spit flying from his mouth.
“L-like I said, that only was an issue because the quest wasn’t normal! If things went like the slip described, then—”
“You’re right. But no one’s at fault for an unforeseen incident. You simply had a case of bad luck.”
“Tsk…” The man looked like he wanted to say more, but didn’t.
“We can’t predict irregular occurrences, after all.”
“B-but—”
“You should be glad that your party returned alive. Not every group is so lucky.”
The man sighed as though admitting defeat, then sat down on a chair with a heavy thump. “You’re right… I’m sorry for taking it out on people I shouldn’t have… Would you let the other guild employee know?”
“You can tell her yourself.”
Milia had returned and was standing behind me with Iris.
“I’m terribly sorry, miss. I took up your time…”
“I-it’s all right,” Milia replied. “Perhaps there’s more I could’ve done to help.”
“I know this work comes with risks… But I got so complacent that I forgot. I need to reflect on this lesson, like the one-armed fellow said. All things considered, maybe we did get off lucky.”
He bobbed his head slightly, then stood and left the guild. The entire office relaxed once he was gone.
Iris smiled a bit mischievously. “And here I was trying to come up with all sorts of clever plans to make him back down.”
“I can’t thank you enough, Mr. Roland!” Milia said.
“No need. Branch Manager, I’m sorry for intervening without asking.”
“That’s all right. I could’ve explained the same thing, but it always sounds more convincing coming from you.”
Maybe that was because of my current appearance. I guess some good came from losing an arm.