∗ ∗ ∗
“Woof...? Arf!!!”
I couldn’t tell whether the barks had come from Liber or Mataza, but the sound made me turn around. I saw the two of them holding something and looking at each other as they consulted. I approached them.
“Woof? Woof. (Just what is this? Ah, master.)”
“Woof. Woof woof. (You’ve come at just the right moment. We were wondering about this.)”
The two of them held out something. In Liber’s hands—or rather, on her forepaw pad—was a medal. An intricate design was engraved on it, and it looked to be fairly valuable.
“Oh, a medal? It doesn’t look like currency, though. Maybe it’s a memento, or belongs to some household? I don’t remember seeing this before, so it’s probably not from a noble house. It could be from somewhere less well-known, though. I should ask Katarina about it later.”
That was about all I could tell from looking at it. I didn’t really sense any mana from it either. Actually, there seemed to be a little bit of residue on it...
“Woof woof? (Do all human nobles carry around this sort of thing?)”
“Not all of them. It’s normal to have items marked with your house’s crest or whatever. Medals are usually made to give to your subordinates or acquaintances so they can prove their connection to you.”
House Olipiage had its own medals, but they’d all been taken from me when I was exiled, so I couldn’t show them an example. But this one was of a similar make. Of course, the engraved emblem was completely unlike ours, and the medal itself was made of a different material. The medals of House Olipiage integrated many complex techniques to prevent counterfeiting, and they were even made of mythril, as preposterous as that might seem. You’d have to spend dozens of gold coins to counterfeit just one, and this sort of fraud was met with severe punishment. Maybe it was for the best that mine had been confiscated, as it would definitely be a crime for me to carry them in my current position.
As I considered this, Liber came up with another thought. “Woof? Woof? (Is that so? You don’t make any, master?)”
“Who, me? There’d be no point. I have no use for them.”
I didn’t really have any acquaintances that I needed to pass them out to, and I didn’t have any political influence to support someone in the first place.
Or so I thought, but then Mataza declared, “Woof! (I want one as a token of serving milord!)”
Liber joined in. “Woof woof! (Me too! Please make some for us!)”
“Seriously? They wouldn’t serve any use. Where would I even get something like that made?”
I remembered that House Olipiage had commissioned a dwarf craftsman for its medals, but the details of the order had been left to the steward, so I didn’t know much about it. Even if I had known the details, the craftsman must have been a master of his trade. Given that I was exiled and financially constrained, I wouldn’t be able to commission him.
Money was precious. I needed to avoid spending it frivolously. It was miserly of me, but it had been on my mind ever since I’d fallen to this position. Of course, we wouldn’t need it at all if we were holing up in the forest, but it was a necessity in town. I wanted to eat out and buy lots of tools. Spending money on medals, of all things...
Cath, who was riding on my shoulders, seemed to sense what I was feeling.
“Meow! Mya-meow!” she ordered Liber and Mataza. I didn’t know what she was saying exactly, but I understood the general idea—basically, “Let’s not spend money” and “If you want a token, something cheap will do just fine.”
Hey, don’t give them specific ideas, I thought. But a look of clarity formed on Liber and Mataza’s faces.
“Woof! (The price doesn’t matter to us, so please!)”
“Woof! Woof woof! (We don’t mind if you just make them from wood! I’d like to receive something from you, master!)”
I wondered what made them so intensely loyal, but I quickly remembered it had to be the effect of my skill. Even then, I didn’t understand why Cath wasn’t as completely devoted to me as they were. She often had different wants than me too. The same applied to Aht.
It seemed <Follower Contract> didn’t completely rob them of their free will. They obeyed me under the contract, but I still wasn’t sure to what degree or in what manner.
In any case, I wish I had a magic tool that disrupted the controlling effects of these kinds of skills. With something like that, I could get a better idea of what’s going on here. But for now, I should promise to grant Liber and Mataza’s request.
“All right, you two. But don’t expect anything too expensive...and I’ll give some to the other kobolds too.”
“Meow!” Cath smacked my head, so I had no choice but to concede.
“Okay, you too, Cath. I guess I’ve got my work cut out for me.”
“Excuse me, I want to report in about a job,” I said to the receptionist as soon as we got back to the adventurer’s guild.
I’d never seen this staff member before. They looked young, and were a little confused by what I said. “Um...can I ask you to present your status card?”
That gave me a clue as to why they were perplexed. Usually one would present their status card preemptively.
“Oh, right. Here you go.”
“All right, thank you. Excuse me...huh?! Uh, p-please wait just a moment!”
As soon as they saw my card display, the staff member became flustered and ran off somewhere.
“Looks like they’re in a big hurry,” I murmured as I saw them leave.
Mataza suggested a possible explanation. “Woof woof, woof, wa-woof? (We’ve never seen them around before. Perhaps they didn’t know that Milord received a direct request from Mr. Fresco?)”
“I see, that could be it. I’d be pretty flustered too if I were in their shoes...I must look like a pain to deal with.”
Someone whom the guild leader, the very top member of the organization, was interested in had randomly come up to the general reception desk. Their superiors had probably instructed them to treat visitors like this with the utmost care.
This was going to be annoying.
“Meow...” Cath mewed discontentedly.
“It’s the guild leader’s fault for not making proper arrangements? Don’t say that, Cath. Well, any which way, we can’t really be blamed here.”
The staff member suddenly returned, in just as much of a hurry as before, and turned to us with a relieved look.
“Ah, th-thank you for waiting... Please come this way, Mr. Noah, Mr. Mataza, Ms. Liber, Ms. Cath...”
Judging from how they’d said all of our names, all four of us were getting special treatment.
I nodded. “Okay, thanks.”