Guided Off (2)

I can guess as much. Sometime I wish Nine remained a male. She– he said he wanted to be more manly yet he– she spends the vast majority of the time as a girl.

You guys already know what's the issue here right? One guy, five girls? I'm sure the author of this story must be some obsessive pedophile to always drop males into this sort of situation. Why can't there be more references of a 'balanced' party like that one over there? Two females and three males. They look like a pretty strong bunch.

"It's fine if you want to join, you know? This guild accepts outside help."

"I get what you mean, but it's alright."

I don't want to get involved in this. This is his story, I have my own course to run.

The breakfast lasted longer than expected.. by the time everyone finished, it was 9, close to 10.

They headed over to the counter and booked the caravan quest and the Horde subjugation quest as a joint expedition. From what I heard, the escort quest was goint to be later this evening, Reina's party, called Pigeon Pipe, will leave for the village first. Aoki and Takata will join up later after they finish their tour with me acting as the guide.

Yea.. Pigeon Pipe. Their reasoning was that: they wanted something that had the exoticness of a pigeon combined with some reference to a specific game from their world. Not in my authority to question the logic.

They way this guild manages things.. it's really different from the management system in Sea Gold. I guess it's because there are less members here so they can accommodate a better service.

Sure, Sea Gold is the go-to guild for most people because of its popularity and stability, but because of the crowd, it can sometimes get quite messy inside. A smaller base of adventurers does have its perks at times.

I'm starting to think maybe we should've thought about our guild decision better… or maybe this 'the grass is greener' phenomenon at play. I only saw what had transpired in this guild today. Maybe on most other days, it's not as calm.

Welp. I experienced something new today.

Now onwards to the tour. I've written up a plan of places to visit in advance yesterday night, so I've got everything from the best markets to the few weapon dealers in town.

"Here. You'll need it."

"N-no way.."

"Seriously?"

"I'm not charging extra for this alright?"

I'm saying this first before anyone falls into a misconception. I'll be running a deficit during the tour– I just gave them a wafer ice cream. The packaging is all Japanese so maybe they can relate to the flavour back to their Japan.

As for why I'm running a deficit.. I don't know. I thought about that 10 silver coin and realized this trip would be extremely boring if I had to be frugal with it.

"Thank you!"

"You should probably eat it now.. unless you have an inventory that allows you to store food?"

"Ah, okay."

"Okay, let's go."

Onwards we go.

===

I said weaponsmith before but, I've never really invested in good equipement. I just felt like maybe I didn't need it.

It might just be naivety on my part but there had not been any problems happening so far during the past month.

"This district sells a lot of adventurer-related items," I dub it the adventurer's street cuz it's buzzing with well– adventurers.

From swords to spears– rations to camping bags– talismans to potions– armour to enchanted accessories–

Enchanted as in that piece of equipment had been engraved with some sort of circuit or rune magic.

Rune magic is rare by the way. It's a mysterious magic and most magicians only have a superficial understanding of it. Liliath is one of the better ones out there when it comes to rune magic knowledge, but her understanding is also very heavily dependent on memorization.

After going a round inside the adventurer's district, I walked them down various markets for fresh food items. You know, meat and all. By the way, I also dropped by the meat house to sell some of the wolf meat in my inventory I had decided to not exchange for points. I got a good 7 silver for two decent sized corpses– beats the 4 silver if I sold it in the guild.

Afterward we took the carriage towards the merchants guild– the one Miss Margrett frequents. I walked them through the services that this type of guild provides.. I expected them to be surprised of course. It's not every day you hear about a fantasy world where there's a job-hunting service.

And then we had lunch at the cafe there.

I have other things planned for later in the afternoon, but let's chill first.

"This place doesn't feel like fantasy at all.." Aoki said, chopping the cake with his fork.

"If you look outside and see the streets.. I'm not sure if you've studied history books but It kinda feels like Europe back during the beginning of the industrial age."

"I know a little about it." said Takata, glancing out towards the cobblestone streets.

I left my spoon in the swirling latte, locking it with my thumb. I picked up the cup for a drink.

"Noel-san.. I'm just curious but.. do you know of any slave shops.. ouwh!?"

I almost spat my coffee.

Takata kicked him under the table to shut him up. Good job.

Sheesh. He sure likes to be hurt by his significant other; not that I understand the mind of a masochist– ahem. Anyways.

"There's one on the way to the west gate. You know that main road where the Sea Gold guild is located? It's somewhere around there.. close to that bridge that stretches across a large canal."

Oh, also another reason why Sea Gold is so popular– its location– real estate. The guild is built out in the bustling main street. Easy access and readily seen by the public.

"I'll take note of that," said Takata with an astute expression.

I wonder if Aoki is considering a female slave– that's like the only thing that comes to mind you know?

'Enjoy your lunch everyone!' Nine replied to my message in the group chat.

"Is it alright if I went and tried the caramelized Brapple pie?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Takata left the seat to order it.

"What?" Aoki glanced at me with a look. Hey, I'm not advocating or suggesting anything in regards to getting a slave alright? It's your decision.

I acted disinterestedly, "Nothing."

"Actually, you know.. about sensei.. Jiwon-san, you know? Sorry about that."

"Oh, I'm fine really. It's okay. You're not at fault here."

"I don't know what he's thinking at times.."

"Did they get into an argument? The regressor and Laura-san?"

"Regressor? What's that?"

"Do you read web novels?"

"Ah, yes??"

"Korean ones?"

"Um.. not really."

"Nevermind. A regressor is basically someone who can go back to a set point in time after death. And the cycle usually keeps repeating until who knows when."

"Oh, so it's a Korean term?"

"Something like that.. It's particular to the Korean genre of web novels."

"I prefer manga."

I nodded.

Takata was at the pay-out counter.

"I've been wondering. Where are you from anyways?"

"You mean? Which country?"

"Yeah."

"Um.. I basically came from a different world from yours. I'm from a country called Gilgamesh, I'm a Gilgan. It's quite close to Japan, so there's a heavy influence of the culture on our country."

Both of them looked at me like some smoked fish. Huh? What?