Chapter 23

"Good morning, Seal-san!" Shizuku said to Seal.

"En, good morning." Seal replied tiredly. Although he had slept early yesterday, someone woke him up in the middle of the night and made him turn dry.

"Good morning, Seal. How was your body from yesterday night?" Said the blonde culprit.

"It wasn't a good time to do it..."

"Fufufu~ I just couldn't help myself."

Seal looked at Yue with a hint of resentment for making him lose his sleep, while Yue just laughed it off.

"Yesterday's night? Wasn't a good time to do it? Body?" Shizuku said while tilting her head.

Meanwhile, Kaori and Shea were turning red.

How could they not know what Yue implied when she said that. Shea was especially red because she woke up and accidentally saw them doing it.

She wanted to stop them. But in the end, she kept quiet and watched Yue enviously. She also wanted to taste that.

"Hey, Yue-san! What are you saying in public!" Shea couldn't help but stop her from speaking further about the incident.

"Ahem! So, where are you guys going?" Seal coughed to get their attention and asked.

"Um, we're going to meet our other friends," Kaori replied.

"What about you guys doing?" Shizuku questioned.

"I'm going around town with Seal," Yue answered.

"Eh?! What about me?! You never told me about this!" Shea sulked because she felt left out.

"...Tch, you can come too."

"What's with that?!"

Shea retorted to Yue's annoyed tone while Seal chuckled at their interaction from the side.

After eating breakfast with Shizuku and Kaori, they left the inn and went to look around town. The first place they decided to visit the Adventurer's guild a few minutes away from the inn.

"Heh~ Shizuku, I'm surprised~." Kaori suddenly said to Shizuku.

"W-W-What are you surprised about?" Being caught off guard, Shizuku stuttered for a moment.

"You and Seal seem to be very close~."

"E-EH? Really? I mean no way!" Shizuku denied while shaking her head.

"Hoh? I don't believe you. He called you by your first name WITHOUT any honorifics." Kaori knew that Shizuku was someone who wouldn't let just anyone address her by the first name despite being kind and friendly towards everyone.

"W-Well, he let me call him by his first name to a-and gave me a katana which made it easier to fight." Shizuku tried making up some excuses to convince Kaori but ultimately failing to.

Meanwhile, Seal visited the Adventurer's Guild and went inside it.

The Adventurer's Guild here didn't look much different from the one they saw in Horaud. Instead, there were more variety of quests here.

"What are we doing here?" Shea asked.

"I wanted to see if there's anything we could do while we're in town and earn some extra money," Seal said.

Although they had plenty of Luta from the Great Reisen Labyrinth, it couldn't hurt to get extra money for free since they were strong enough to do almost any quests.

The quests were posted a few feet near the guild's entrance. There were many types of quests posted on there, such as gathering herbs, subjugation, and guarding.

"Hmm, not this one."

"Not this either."

"Nope, not this one." Seal continued looking through a pile of quests.

"Seal, how about this one?" Yue said while showing Seal a quest that required three or more people to escort a group of heroes to another town.

Seal thought it was a good quest to take as it had better pay. But he was a little confused why people didn't do this quest because it was simple and easy.

"We would like to accept this quest." Seal went to a receptionist and said.

"Hm? Did you accept this?" The receptionist looked at Seal with widened eyes.

"Yes, is there something wrong?" Seal said while tilting his head.

"Did you not hear? People ignored this quest because a dragon appeared near the town."

"Dragon? What kind of dragon?"

"Although it isn't confirmed yet, many said it was a black dragon."

"Could it be...?"

"Are you the ones who accepted the quest to escort the heroes?" A voice sounded behind them.

"You are?" Turning around, Seal said to the newcomer.

"I'm the Guildmaster. Can you come with me for a minute?" The Guildmaster asked while gesturing toward a private room.

They went and sat down on the couch in the private room.

"So, what is it that you want to ask us that required you, the Guildmaster himself, to come and ask personally?" Seal spoke first.

"I wanted to ask you to help us defeat the black dragon." The Guildmaster got straight to the point.

"...Why are you asking us?"

The Guildmaster's straightforwardness surprised Seal for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure and asked.

"Intuitions. You were very calm and collected while listening to the threat of a dragon. You seemed very confident."

"Mr. Guildmaster, aren't you being a little too hasty?"

"I know it isn't appropriate to ask an adventure like you to risk your life, but I can't wait any longer!" The Guildmaster said with a loud voice full of anxiousness near the last part of the sentence.

"My younger brother is endangered because of the dragon. So, please, I beg you, save him." The Guildmaster then stood up and bowed 90 degrees.

The Guildmaster expected to hear a positive answer from Seal, but when he looked up—

He understood the reality.

"No." The Guildmaster received a reply from Seal that felt as if tens of knives were stabbing him.

If one were to look closely at the Guildmaster, they could see his shoulder slightly shaking. The reply had truly shaken him up a bit as he didn't expect a refusal so instantaneously and sharp.

"...May I know the reason why?" Instead of getting angry, the Guildmaster asked while trying to maintain his emotions.

"Well, to put it simply, there are no benefits in us helping you."

"Um... I will promote you to the highest rank in the Adventurer's Guild and owe you one favor." The Guildmaster awkwardly said as he was too desperate and asked someone to do something without giving rewards.

"...That's still not enough."