Chapter 44: Core

Two weeks had passed since Lia and I first accepted the request to hunt down oversized-pigs back at Canta Town.

It was noon by the time we arrived at the Guild. I strolled to the counter with confidence together with Lia, my new charcoal leather armor looking absolutely fabulous. We met with Jenny to claim our reward. She welcomed us with a smile and I handed her two sets of envelopes that contained the proof of deed that we received from Rando. Jenny unsealed the first one and pulled out the folded documents contained in it. She straightened it out and read the contents. Having verified its authenticity, she signed the document and put it aside. Next, she took out a ledger from a drawer and jolted down something, then passed it to me together with a quill. I read over the contents written on the ledger. The request name, the dates, the sum of rewards, all seems to be in place. I gave my approval and shoved the ledger back to her.

"One moment, please."

She went to the room behind the counter, taking the ledger and document with her, and reappeared a couple minutes later with a pouch. She handed it to me and we all counted the contents together, a total of 4 Gold and 5 Silvers. The missing 5 Silvers being the ten percent handling fee the Guild charges for Adventurers.

She shoved the ledger once more to me, this time with a quill. I put my signature next to Jenny's and pushed the ledger back to her.

"I don't know how you guys do it, but it's amazing how you managed to hunt down so many Great-Tusked Pigs. From what I've heard, they are difficult to deal with due to their superior endurance and thick hide. Even most Silver-Rank Adventurers would have trouble dealing with more than one," she complimented with awe.

Me and Lia looked at each other with a knowing smile, having used some unorthodox method to complete the request.

Jenny unsealed the next envelope and read its contents, her mouth agape.

"I-I need to get the manager, I'll be right back," she said flusteredly, scampering to the back room. Soon after, a middle-aged leanly built man walked out the room, followed by Jenny. He stood on the opposite of me, taking a moment before noticing Lia and automatically recognizing me, "Adventurer Mike?"

"That's me."

Norton, the Guild's manager who supervised our rank-allocation-test seemed thoughtful for a while. But I guess I could understand his reason for being doubtful. It's not everyday you see an Iron-Rank Adventurer rake in as much money as an average Gold-Ranker. And one that's recently registered on his first request at that!

Right after I shouted out my consent for the contract to be made, a surge of dizziness suddenly overcame me. The familiar feeling of having my soul embraced and stroked, this time by Adelrinthia's. As I felt Adelrinthia's soul being siphoned from her original host to me, Diana's gray hair gradually reverted back to what I assumed to be her original hair color.

I blinked and the world returned to normal. Resuming at the scene after I called Adelrinthia's name, myself still sitting on the wood stump surrounded by my party members.

"Who's Adel?" Rando replied to me. Everyone stared at me weirdly for blurting that name out before being dragged into some creepy-ass Genjutsu realm.

Whilst everyone was busy wondering, I noticed a girl lying motionless on the ground not so far in front of me, behind everyone else. She wore a skirted brown outfit, unlike the pristine simple dress that Adelrinthia wore. She had black hair. Just like Bastion. Diana. My eyes opened up in realization and I called everyone's attention to her.

The expected happened. We all were baffled for a while. Bastion ran to her, and after confirming that the girl is really Diana, he bawled whilst cradling his unconscious daughter. We went back to town for a good rest. Eventually, Bastion's daughter woke up and they both visited us to offer their sincerest gratitude. He then produced two pouches from of what I assumed to be monetary rewards from his coat and offered them to Lia and Sigrid. They both rejected it though, saying that the rewards from the request Rando made is more than enough. Like hell it is. Last I checked, they weren't the one who had to traverse to the Spiritual Plane in order to fetch Bastion whilst dealing with a gazillion angry spirits trying to kill you, or perform an exorcism by letting the being residing in the possessee, possess you in exchange for un-possessing Bastion's daughter. I protested silently as Bastion and Diana walked towards me. He kneeled down and laid down the sack he's been carrying on his back. Pulling out a set of chic-looking black leather armor.

Bastion was an armor-smith before the entire thing with his daughter happened. But had sold all of his work, except this one in order to afford the attempt to find the missing Diana.

He thanked me one more time for rescuing him and bringing back his daughter, and insisted that I take it. He had apparently heard of what I did from Rando.

Anyway, I felt embarrassed for thinking pettily and accepted his token of gratitude graciously. Later that day, Rando came and visited us at the inn. He passed an envelope to me and Sigrid. Each containing the details of the request, including the sum of rewards.

Realizing what it was, Sigrid shook her head and rejected it, saying that she hadn't been any help and promptly went back to her room. I, of course, accepted it. Me and Lia frickin' earned it.

As soon as Rando left, I went up to Sigrid's room. I wanted to convince her to accept some of the rewards we earned. Contributions or not, she still deserves some of the rewards. That's just plain ethics. It's like when you hire a bodyguard; you still pay them despite having no incidents that requires their expertise.

I knocked. There was no answer. I knocked again. Nothing. But I knew she was in there. I sigh and through the gap under the door, slid the envelope that she rejected previously. I had Rando made a new document on the spot, cutting the reward by 7 Gold so that she'd be more inclined to accept it. Hey, don't get me wrong, 3 Gold is still a hefty sum of money. At least by my standards. I told her that the rewards were severely reduced for her, then rambled on with my bodyguard logic for a while, then left.

The next morning, after breakfast, me and Lia handed the keys back to the innkeeper before looking out for a passing caravan to hitch a ride back to Barissan City. I asked about "the Elven chick" and the innkeeper told me she'd left just about an hour before we do. I snorted. No matter the versions of stories that were told, she definitely isn't a bad person at core.