“Wait—you want to open a hole in the guild’s first floor and run a path directly to the castle? Please don’t. If you need something from us, we’ll be more than happy to come to the castle.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“I figured you’d say that.”
Baran, the deputy GM of the Merinesburg Adventurers’ Guild, frowned and shot down the idea. Ifriita’s expression was a perfectly timed “No, duh.”
If travel to the Merchant Union or Adventurers’ Guild was too dangerous, it was obviously safer—and far less work—to summon representatives to the castle than to build an entire network of tunnels. Of course it was.
“There goes that idea…” I muttered.
“How disappointing.”
Ira and I both felt the sting of disappointment; we’d spent the whole carriage ride mapping tunnels and designing a rail vehicle. But I mean, if we thought about this logically, we would’ve come to the same conclusion Baran and Ifriita had.
Still, I made a mental note: Extending the subterranean paths beneath the castle to give the slime girls more reach was worth experimenting with later.
“Your Majesty is as amusing as I’ve heard,” drawled a large older man as he listened in with great fascination.
The man seated next to Baran was Cresta, the GM of the Adventurers’ Guild branch in Merinesburg and Baran’s boss. In other words, this was the head honcho of the Kingdom of Merinard’s Adventurers’ Guild.
His age had done nothing to reduce how imposing an individual he was. Thickset and built like Danan, Cresta wore his years with a white beard and an unruffled authority. Old, yes, but still imposing as all hell.
The reason Baran was the only one to greet us last time was because we’d just missed Cresta—he’d left for the Merchant Union. Since we’d given notice this time, he’d waited for us with Baran.
“How about we get down to business.”
“Ah, er, right. Um, okay. As we said in our message, we’re here to find out how the adventurer support program is going.”
Cresta and Baran nodded, and the Baran began.
“Thanks to your hard work, we were able to acquire funds from not only the Merchant Union, but the Kingdom of Merinard as well. This has allowed us to get our Adventurers’ Guild equipment grant system up and running. We’re also deeply grateful that you’ve been buying so many of the materials we have no use for.”
“You mean the goblin and kobold carcasses, yeah?” I nodded. “My skills let me turn goblin hides and kobold fur into useful materials and I can make the meat edible. It’s nothing fancy, so it’s no big deal.”
Goblin skins and kobold pelts were normally too thin or damaged to be useful for anything. The meat of both creatures smelled and tasted rancid, so barely anybody ate the stuff. But with my abilities, I could make those worthless things suddenly become usable supplies and food. In other words, if I turned them into steaks, they’d taste like beef, and if I made them into burger patties or wieners, they’d taste like delicious ground beef and pork. In the face of such absurdity, it stopped mattering what the meat used to be.
“Thanks to you guys, my food stocks have seen a big boost,” I added. “Now all I need are animal and monster parts. Like tendons and intestines.”
Since we hadn’t developed synthetic fibers or carbon-based substitutes, animal and monster tendons and intestines were still surprisingly vital. I couldn’t reproduce them myself, nor could I make monster hides.
“…I find it hard to believe goblin and kobold meat could ever taste good,” Baran muttered.
“Kousuke can make gizma meat taste like normal meat,” Ifriita said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he could do the same with goblin meat.”
Gizma meat looked like a giant shrimp, but when I cooked it into steak, it came out tasting like beef. Not much I could do about that, sadly.
“I heard you’ve been getting more job requests from the Merchant Union?” I asked.
“Yes. We also have you to thank for that, in a sense,” Baran said. “With new merchants starting up, we’ve seen an increase in bodyguard requests, and because of the equipment-loan program, more adventurers can take those jobs. They’re also accepting monster-subjugation and road security jobs from the farming villages near Merinesburg. Everything is starting to work as designed.”
“It certainly feels like the atmosphere in the guild has improved quite a bit,” I acknowledged.
The last time we visited, everyone looked so dour. There were lots of adventurers just sitting around aimlessly without work. But today, hardly anyone was idle. In fact, there weren’t many people around at all, but that was because most of them were out on jobs, which was exactly what we wanted.
“The food ticket system has begun operating properly as well,” Cresta added. “More eateries and inns are accepting them, and as a result, they’ve been improving each other through friendly competition.”
“Sounds great. I’m glad everything’s running smoothly. Any problems or concerns? Don’t hesitate to tell me. I’d rather deal with small issues before they become big ones.”
“At present, nothing comes to mind,” Baran replied. “Problems may arise down the line, but so far, none have reached my ears.”
“I see… So what do you guys think, as the guild, I mean? Is public safety improving at all?”
Baran and Cresta nodded in unison.
“If nothing else,” said Cresta, “the drifters who were hanging out here now have jobs and can feed themselves. Still a far cry from making a proper living, but compared to how they were doing before you extended your help, their lives have improved dramatically. They won’t need to resort to banditry just to survive, so I’d argue that public safety has definitely improved.”
“I agree with the GM,” Baran added. “As new adventurers gain experience, public safety will continue to improve. Plus, if the adventurers are thriving, the merchants who supply them will also prosper, and that cycle will create even more job opportunities. In time, I think everyone will come to appreciate what you’ve done, Lord Kousuke.”
“That’s what I like to hear. All I can do is provide the funding, but if you ever need support in the future, hit me up. And if you come up with a really great idea or something, send a proposal to me in the castle. You’d be doing me a real favor.”
The two top men of the guild bowed their heads gratefully. I wanted to stabilize the country through small, positive actions like this. Personally, I preferred to stay light on my feet by acting as a financial backer and stepping into areas Sylphy and the others couldn’t easily reach. Rather than sitting idle, I could help more people simply by taking initiative.
That said, it felt a bit strange accepting the credit for this stuff when all I was doing was mostly just funding projects and effectively telling people “Good luck!” Still, it was important for amateurs to know their limits, provide the necessary resources, and let the pros do their jobs. I didn’t think I was wrong about that.
“Then shall we be on our way?” I suggested. “I don’t want to interrupt people while they’re working.”
“Mm. Good idea. I want to see what’s going on with those assassins,” Ira agreed.
The assassins Ira had subdued earlier were taken into custody by Shemel and the harpies. By now, they were probably being interrogated at the castle. Elen was there, and her eyes allowed her to see the truth of things. Plus, Belta was an Adolist inquisitor, and on top of that, we had the slime girls as our trump card. No matter how stubborn the assassins were, they’d eventually spill the beans—and they wouldn’t be able to take their own lives either.
We said our goodbyes to Cresta and Baran, left the guild, and started back toward the castle. I had plenty of work waiting for me, but now that assassins appeared, tensions with the Holy Kingdom were bound to flare up again.
I really wanted to take my time and handle domestic affairs, but fate clearly had other plans.
Jeez.