The New Gate

Book 3: Chapter 1 (1)

“Then, let’s start getting ready now.”

Shin decided to head toward the Falnido Beast Alliance where his old friend Girard awaited, and they began making the preparations respectively. However, because Tsuki no Hokora could wholly be carried with him, most of the preparations were unnecessary.

The elf, Tiera, returned to her room to choose the clothes that were appropriate for going out. The Element Tail, Yuzuha, stood by on top of Shin’s head in the young fox mode. The High Elf, Schnee, looked back at Shin and said;

“I have to go complete the request. Could you buy some food and supplies, just in case?”

“Okay. Since I’m going to go to the adventurers’ guild after I lightly temper a sword, I’ll buy them on the way.”

“You’re going to the guild?”

“Yeah. I guess we’ll go do our separate actions for a while; Schnee, you’re still on the Skull Faces matter, right? Therefore, I’ll take a request toward the Falnido area, and improve my rank while I’m at it. It’s regrettable, but I can’t stay a rank G forever.”

To enter the guild and stay at the lowest rank forever, was not a good thing in the eyes of society either. Because he knew that staying as a rank G for a long time was a rare case, even for a person who didn’t have remarkable abilities, he thought to at least to make it to F rank.

Since the Skull Faces’ subjugation was not a request, Shin currently had zero request achievements.

“I understand. What about the meeting place?”

“I’ll decide it after seeing the status of the request. We can always use the message card to talk to each other.”

“If so, let’s form a party. We can use the voice chat in that case. It’s easier than using message cards.”

“EH, Seriously!?”

According to Schnee, only partners in the same party could use the voice chat. Now the speaking and writing via the mind was called 【Mind Chat】.

“However, only we, the old generation, are able to use it immediately. People like Tiera, a new generation; someone who was born after the Dusk of the Majesty, I heard they are unable to use it if they don’t trust each other. Even so, I don’t know how true that is.”

“What happens if the old and new generations are mixed in a party?”

“Only the old generation is able to use it.”

Because she didn’t know on what kind of principle it worked, she appeared to be unclear on the exact conditions. In the case of the new generation, they seemed to suddenly be able to use it one day. Certainly, the 【Mind Chat】 was not usable when the party was disbanded, but if the party united again, the person who experienced that communication would be able to use it right away.

“So that means, only Schnee and I can use it immediately, huh?”

“Yuzuha is also able to talk to Shin~”

A sweet voice came down from on top of his head.

“In the case of Yuzuha, I think it is because of Yuzuha’s individual talents and Shin’s tamer ability. I also think it’s better if you don’t announce that too much. Please remember the party that we are talking about and the guild’s party are two different things.”

“Different?”

“What do you mean?”

Shin and Yuzuha had a question mark floating above them.

“A party is only recognized by the guild after it has registered with the guild. However, the party formation system for the old generation, like Shin and me, was performed through the menu display so the general public is not aware of it. In other words, we can create a double party.”

To begin with, the menu screen seemed to be limited to the people who are still alive since the Dusk of the Majesty. For the new generation, they couldn’t read the precise explanation notes of the skills and arts and somehow only understood how to use it, not how it worked.

“If there is no guild card for the new generation, they only roughly know my stats, excluding my level, huh? But eventually, only a party that was formed in the guild is recognized by the guild, don’t you agree? Is there an advantage of forming a party the way the old generation did?”

“It’s being able to use the Mind Chat. In this world, when there are many partners who can do long-distance communication, only that alone is useful. Since there are almost no human beings that have the message card, I guess. Also in any country, the person who has the Mind Chat is given preferential treatment. Even if that person is not an adventurer for an old generation. Because there is no need to go to battle, if that person joined a party and it was dispatched to various locations, as they are able to quickly receive information.”

“I see, so a person who is able to use the Mind Chat is hired just because of the skill, huh?”

The communication method in this world was letter delivery by a messenger or a wagon. The speed of the information transmitted was extremely slow compare with Mind Chat.

From Schnee’s story, only a small handful of adventurers from the whole new generation were able to use Mind Chat. Now, since the old generation has decreased in number, it’s worth has become immeasurable.

“Kuu~? Is it really that amazing?”

Yuzuha asked while shaking its tails.

“Yeah, it’s amazing. As an example, I can convey my thoughts to my partner who is in a remote place immediately. If I’m hurt and can’t move, I can call for help, and I can pass along important information right away.”

“Kuu! Yuzuha will help if Shin is in trouble!”

“Please take care of me at that time. Yuzuha too, can call me if you are in trouble.”

“Okay!”

Yuzuha, who didn’t understand the advantage of fast communication, somehow understood that it was amazing from Shin’s words. It was not possible to say if it completely understood though, as it was still a child.

“Now, the old and new generation that are able to use Mind Chat have to form a party with the guild. So the Mind Chat is not usable with a commoner who has not registered to the guild. If you have time, it would be nice to help Tiera register as an adventurer.”

“That’s a good idea. Then, do you want me to bring her to the guild with me?”

“That would be really helpful. She should be able to move better than an amateur since I have trained her in basic fighting techniques for the last 50 years.”

“Eh, you trained her?”

The other day, Wilhelm, who had fought together with Shin in the Wraith Plains, said that he had received training from Schnee as well. And he was beaten up one-sidedly.

“Yes, is there something wrong with that?”

It seemed like Schnee didn’t know why Shin was surprised, as she looked slightly puzzled. That spontaneous action made Shin felt embarrassed, but he somehow kept his composure.

“Was it safe?”

“Yes, though I don’t understand what you mean by that.”

The figure of Schnee doing Spartan training just popped into Shin’s head. For some reason, that image seemed to be pretty harsh.

“I don’t know what Shin imagined, but it was only basic training that was done. Because I’m able to go outside of the barrier, I only teach her when I have time. Although her level is low, she should have superior movements compared to a newly fledged adventurer.”

Schnee, who seemed to have read what Shin had imagined, said that with a slightly displeased tone.

“Iya, that’s… well, sorry. Because I heard that training with you seemed to be a little harsh.”

Shin apologized upfront at this time. It was an inviolable rule, that his mother in the real world told him. Incidentally, in his father’s words, the situation would become worse if he did not apologize.

Somehow he recalled these kind of things from the talk with Schnee.

“Then, in exchange, you will listen to my simple request.”

“Ah yes…I understand.”

Schnee said it with a smile. The smiling face that could make the whole nation captive was a little frightening to Shin now.

He felt a little worried about whatever he was going to be made to do.

◆◆◆◆

Before long, Schnee went out for shopping, and Shin then took Yuzuha along with him to the blacksmith’s workshop. He wanted to lightly temper a sword before going to the guild.

“Now then, let’s do this.”

He took out an unprocessed iron ingot from his Item Box. It wasn’t bad one but it wasn’t a good quality one either, it was just a normal ingot.

A longsword was also a common thing to make. Of course, it would be forged. Although metal casting is easy and fast, he couldn’t sell it like that.

“Does this become a sword?”

“Yes, but don’t approach me too much when I’m forging, because it’s dangerous.”

After telling Yuzuha to keep its distance, Shin began making the longsword. His body moved without trouble since coming into this world, probably because he had done this for more than 5 years.

The iron was heated and beat with a hammer. The sound of metal being struck, “Clang”, “Clang”, resounded in the forge, and Yuzuha’s tails synchronized with a small flutter.

When hitting the ingot in the game, it didn’t matter where it was struck as the result was still the same. But now that it was reality, that wouldn’t work. Nevertheless, Shin somehow understood where he should hit. It might be the benefit of the skill. While thinking whether a real craft man might have such a sense, he set the metal and hit it with the hammer again.

“Amazing~!”

Yuzuha raised a cheer, as it saw the ingot changing form almost instantly. It was at a speed that would leave an ordinary blacksmith stunned. One would wonder whether it was alright to be that fast, but obviously it was not alright. Only inferior goods would be produced by striking it quickly.

It was the【Blacksmith】 skill which Shin possessed that allowed this. With the creator’s intended design known, it was a cheat skill that increased the production speed to an efficiency that was impossible to reproduce in the real world.

Certainly, it didn’t mean that any weapon could be created with the blacksmith skill. A Magic skill was needed for magic bestowal, and the skills 【Mixing】 and 【Tempered Metal】 were necessary for raw materials as well.

When the person tried to master a production job, it was inevitable that the person had to learn how another production worked.

“The first one.”

He looked at the completed sword he had made for practice. Though there was only a blade, no one would think it was only made from an ordinary ingot.

The light that entered from the entrance of the blacksmith’s workshop was reflected by the sword blade, and a dim white light on the blade showed its sharpness. Even if an amateur handled it, the item seemed to raised the probability of success in battle.

“…I was fired up a little too much.”

Though it was made just as an experiment, it obviously became goods that would cause uproar when put up on the storefront. It was not possible to simply say that this was a common longsword. When the item was bestowed with magic, it would be classified as 《Rare》 or 《Unique》 grade.

A sword that was bestowed with magic was known as a Cursed Sword, or sometimes a Holy Sword in this society. Because there were few people in this world that had a weapon that was higher than 《Legend》 grade, weapons such as a 《Rare》 grade were often found up to 《Unique》 grade. However, for weapons that were above the 《Legend》 grade, they had a higher ability than a Cursed Sword without any magic bestowal.

“A failure?”

“No, it’s not a failure, but this can’t be sold. There are no weapon shops in the kingdom that put up magically bestowed weapons.”

It didn’t mean that there were no magically bestowed weapons on sale, but it was rare. Moreover, because it was Shin who tempered it, the weapon’s performance was different from the other cursed swords around there. If someone bought a Cursed Sword with an average ability from the weapon shop and put two longswords together, that would be the limit that Cursed Sword could break. However, one of Shin’s tempered Cursed Swords would be able cut 4 additional longswords. If he put in some serious effort, even one of his low-grade Cursed Sword could break it. The weapons that Shin made and could rally with the 《Legend》 grade ones were not just for show.

Nonetheless, it backfired this time. There were differences between the blacksmiths in this world and the blacksmiths in the game era, especially when it came to weapon design.

“For some reason, I have a feeling. The next one should be good.”

He was probably doing it unconsciously. So, while being aware of the boosting performance from the blacksmith skill, he made another longsword. The second longsword had a bit of a high performance, and the third one was somehow a normal one. Because those ready-made goods were aggravating, he continued to mass-produce swords with a similar ability to the second one.

He repeated this for about one hour, and decided to stop after he had made several of them. Meanwhile Yuzuha, instead of moving around and making noises, was watching Shin and the completed longswords for a long time. It appeared to be so interested that it lost track of the time, probably because of the concentration that was peculiar to a child.

“I guess Tiera should be ready soon.”

They left the blacksmith’s forge and headed back towards the living room. It was partly because he presumed that the presence that came out of the room was Tiera, that he finished up.

“Ah, Shin. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting for so long.”

“No, it’s nothing. I just tempered with swords here and there.”

“I didn’t think I would take up so much time myself. After such a long time, I don’t know what I should wear.”

Tiera’s point was understandable. For the first time after about 100 years, she would have to go to a place where there were a lot of people. It couldn’t be helped that she was hesitating over what clothes to wear.

Because she was told that she had to register with the adventurers’ guild, Tiera wore clothes similar to what a hunter would wear, emphasizing easiness of movement. What Tiera chose was close to what Els had equipped before. Especially the combination of long boots and leggings.

On top, she wore a light green colored jacket with black colors on the inner side. Because its design was made to fit the body, Tiera’s body shape could be seen clearly. This might be the standard for elves.

She appeared to be unarmed, but it was concealed in the form of a card. A lot of elves had a battle style that combined magic with daggers and bows.

“Well, shall we go?”

“Yeah, let’s hurry up a little.”

“Kuu”

Yuzuha, who was in fox mode, was put on Shin’s head, and they walked out of the store. It was a fine day. Warm sunlight shined over the two people and the animal.

“Ha~, it is nice on the outside after all.”

“Yes, it is fine weather and ――!?”

It came into Shin’s view as he casually answered Tiera and he turned to face her, an astounding sight was displayed.

It was a pair of spheres.

It was the most magnificent pair of globes he had ever seen before.

(Amazing…)

To put it in simple words, while basking in the sunlight, Tiera was also stretching her body. However, when she raised her arms and bent her back in a nice way, her chest naturally stuck out as a result. Only the owner of that body could know, from the current posture, the size of what was being emphasized. Shin’s eyes were glued to it.

“Phew, shall we go?”

“Uhm, yeah.”

She didn’t seem to realize that her chest was being stared at, and Shin tried to look calm. “I didn’t see anything, at least not on purpose” was what he tried to say with his body behaviour.

While walking next to such Shin, Tiera coughed in a whisper.

“And, what are your thoughts on my chest?”

“Iya, they are seriously perfe――――HA!?”

It was said that a man’s glancing look was similar to staring for a women. Shin didn’t know whether it was true or not, but at least he knew he was found out by Tiera.

“Shin will be in charge of the shopping fee. And, really, you did look too much earlier.”

“That was my bad. Haa, that was an expensive view…”

“It’s only natural because you so rudely stared at a maiden’s breasts.”

Shin couldn’t help but smile wryly at Tiera’s smiling face. Did she aim for it? Or was it done spontaneously? Only Tiera knew the truth.

“Kuu?”

While Yuzuha tilted its head, it watched the exchange between the two people.

◆◆◆◆

They left Tsuki no Hokora and arrived at the gate of the Bayreuth kingdom after a short while. Was it a slow hour? There was not a lot of pedestrian traffic.

When they passed through the gate and entered inside, Tiera looked around while surveying the surroundings.

“Uwaa, there is a great number of people. Are there always so many?”

“No, it’s not crowded right now. There are twice as many people as this in the mornings and evenings.”

“There are? I can’t imagine what it’s like when it’s crowded.”

Tiera’s eyes sparkled like those of a child who went to an amusement park for the first time.

“So the things that the people, who came into the store, said is true.”

She seemed to have heard various stories from adventurers who came to buy goods. Since she couldn’t go out from the store, she couldn’t do anything but imagine. It seemed that when she actually experienced it by herself, she realized that what they had said was not a lie.

“You sure are in high spirits, aren’t you?”

“I-I’m not…that excited…”

She was probably aware of it herself. Though she denied it, the words coming out from her mouth were a little weak.

“Let’s register you first, and then do the shopping later. You can decide to do whatever you want in the remaining time.”

“T-That’s sounds good. Then, let’s go to the guild right away.”

Was she drawn to the word ‘sightseeing’? Tiera walked rapidly while grabbing Shin’s hand.

Didn’t she just say “The crowds are scary”? Now she was charging through the main street by force.

“Wait! It’s good to hurry, but do you know where the guild is?”

“…Ah!”

It seemed like she didn’t know. She suddenly stopped, and threw glances at the surroundings.

“Come on, over here.”

“…Okay.”

Because it was truly pointed out for the second time, Tiera also finally listened.

They walked down the street as Shin held Tiera’s hand to lead her.

From Tiera’s point of view, while in the crowd, she would lose sight of Shin if she took her eyes off of him for a second.

They walked along the street while being careful not to bump into any pedestrians. As they approached an intersection with a particularly lot of people, she unintentionally saw a man and a woman walking together in front of them, and Tiera now noticed what kind of situation she was in.

(Hands holding… remaining connected…)

Probably because she was carried away, due to this being her first time in the outside world in 100 years, but she didn’t notice that she was walking hand in hand with the opposite sex until now.

Because of the size difference, Tiera’s hand was wrapped in Shin’s hand.

It was different from hers, his hand was a bit bigger and more rugged. When she saw her hand in a certain way, she had a feeling that her face was somehow blushing.

Blushing Tiera

(So this is a man, right?)

Since she tended the store, she had obviously talked to men. However, she had never touched any of them. Tiera moved her legs while finding herself not really understanding her own feelings.

“Hey, that’s the Adventurers’ guild.”

“I heard it was big, and it really is!”

The largest building in the area came into view when they passed through the crowd. That was their destination, the adventurers’ guild.

While it was inevitable that adventurers would make up most of the pedestrians now, Shin was aware that an awful lot of gazes were directed toward them.

“Somehow, aren’t we being watched?”

“Yeah, probably.”

The passing adventurers were mostly men, and Shin didn’t know the reason for why their glances were mixed with hostility. He verified if there was something wrong with his state and noticed.The sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs ɴovelꜰɪre.ɴet

“Ah, we’re holding hands.”

Even under normal circumstances, Tiera was a beautiful woman. Naturally, a man who walked hand in hand with such a woman was exposed to jealous looks.

“Sorry, I thought it was likely that we would get separated since there are a lot of people.”

He separated his hand from Tiera’s in a hurry.

“Ah…”

That time, when he let go, he had a feeling that he faintly heard a sound that seemed to be disappointment coming from Tiera’s mouth. He decided to think that it was just his excessive self-consciousness and forgot about it.

“All right, let’s get you registered quickly then.”

“T-That’s right. Let’s do it.”

They entered the guild with Tiera looking a little flustered. Was it because the time was in the middle between morning and noon? There were not many people in the guild either.

The figures of Celica and Els were seen at the receptionist desk, and when Shin and Tiera were half-way there, the two people who noticed them showed dissimilar reactions.

Celica had a little of a sullen expression, but Els momentarily had a very surprised look on her face, which quickly erupted into one of joy.

“Tiera!”

Els jumped over the counter at the same time as she called out her name, ran straight to Tiera, and hugged her tightly.

“Wa, E-Els!?”

Though Tiera was surprised at the sudden embrace, she relaxed when she realized that the person was Els.

“Wait Els, it’s a bit tight.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Though I’ve heard the news, I couldn’t contain myself when I saw you in person.”

While having tears in the corner of her eyes, Els started to gently hold Tiera. The abrupt situation caused the adventurers who were there to stare in wonder.

“I really wanted to go see you immediately, but I’ve been very busy with the guild for a while now. It wasn’t possible to leave.”

“Because you’re not my mother, you really worry too much.”

“What are you saying. If you’re the daughter of Eilen, then it’s as if you’re my daughter too.”

Els embraced Tiera like a true mother.

Away from the two people, Celica talked to Shin.

“Shin-sama. What kind of acquaintance is that person?”

“Due to a little twist of fate, we will be traveling together. So she will register as an adventurer for the occasion.”

“I heard you were walking hand in hand like lovers though?”

“That’s absurd! How did you hear that!?”

Shin was surprised at the speed of which the information travelled. Perhaps, there was a guy who could use Mind Chat standing guard! Certainly a cautious lookout, but really, this was only a trivial matter. The adventurer, who knew Shin’s name and face, accidentally saw the two people, and Celica, who were receiving requests at that time, grumbled when she heard about it.

“Because she is a beautiful woman, right? Not because you are a man, right?”

“Um, you’re not using some scathing words, are you?”

“No no, not at all.”

‘I guess there’s nothing’, was what Shin wanted to say.

While they continued on with the exchange, they noticed that they had attracted some attention as well.

“Why is it that other people seem to be distancing themselves?”

“Ara, I think they don’t want to break the deeply emotional reunion, huh? Besides, it was Els who suddenly jumped out.”

“Uhh”

“Now, now, both of you. I want you to register Tiera for the time being.”

Thereupon, Celica and Els returned to their professional expressions, and bowed slightly.

“Ah, my apologies. I was acting shameful.”

“Just now was because I also wanted to meet the person in question.”

She was probably very glad. Els’ eyes were still a little red. Apparently, she seemed to have been a good friend of Tiera’s mother.

“Um, what should I do?”

“I will take care of the registration. It was my turn to take care of new registrations anyway.”

Els said that and lead Tiera to the second floor. Just like Shin did before, Tiera filled out the documents and listened to the explanation.

“Now then, I should go and look at the list of requests.”

“Oh, Shin-sama. I’m sorry, but may I have a bit of your time, please?”

“Me? Well, I don’t really mind.”

Shin, who was going to go to see about requests in the Falnido area, was called out by Celica. She seemed to have to talk to Shin individually about something or another.

Because he was asked to hand over his guild card, Shin took out the guild card from Item Box and handed it over to Celica. Celica then proceed to engrave the guild card, and placed it on top of the tray-like thing..

“What are…”

While Shin thought about asking what she was doing, the transparent guild card was dyed yellow.

“There we go, the improved rank ends with this. From now on, Shin-sama is rank E.”

“Yes?”

Shin absentmindedly replied, due to the sudden rank up. At this point, Shin actually had a zero request accomplishment rate at the present time. If just by an evaluation of the guild; let alone rank improvement, he would be defeated even by a newcomer who had the same rank G.

Nevertheless, to suddenly become a rank E, it was too much to be expected. He didn’t think about rising to E and skipping F altogether.

That reminded him of the explanation he had received from Celica before, the talk about the classification of the card by rank.

SS was gold, S was silver, A was black, B was white, C was red, D was blue, E was yellow, F was green, and the lowest rank G was semi-transparent.

“Errr, there aren’t any accomplished requests yet, so why did I rank up?”

“Certainly Shin-sama’s official request achievement rate is zero percent. However, there are the results of the subjugation of a high rank Skull Face and the suppression of the Skull Faces’ outbreak in a large quantity. Because Shin-sama’s report was proved to be authentic by an investigation handled by us, the guild, the promotion of Shin-sama was decided as a partial reward. It is rank E, but if one more request is accomplished, it will rank up to D.”

“I see, but why do it to an unfinished state?”

“If you rank up too fast, it would not look good in the other adventurers’ eyes. I think rank A is enough for an individual like you, but when I think of the strife it would cause, it only became a rank improvement like this. Of course, the bonus is paid, too. I need to return the previously borrowed jewel before that though, please wait here for a while.”

Celica gave the guild card back to Shin, and entered the inner room of the receptionist desk for a moment. She came back in less than 5 minutes. There was a bag and a dull shining jewel grasped in her hand.

“This is the jewel that was borrowed, and here is 250 J gold coins of reward inside this bag.”

For convenience sake, it seemed like she brought them in gold coins. Though white gold exists, it was not used in everyday life. One piece of white gold could make one live and enjoy life for more than ten years. The gold coins in front of him were considered a large sum of money from an adventurers’ viewpoint, and Shin suddenly voiced his thoughts.

“I’m just wondering, but is it possible for you to make the guild card as quickly as possible in exchange for the reward?”

“The guild card? Let me see. I think it can be done by today at noon if it’s rushed.”

“Then that please. Though I will be going afar for a little while, I want to leave as soon as possible.”

“I understand. Then, the reward will be 200 gold coins. Is that alright with you?”

“I don’t care about that, but is it fine to accept a reward of this magnitude?”

Though only 50 gold coins were deducted, Shin had heard that the guild cards were made with the guild’s original special technique, so he felt that there might only be a few of them.

“I will have the experts do their best for a little while, and the additional charge is satisfactory enough from the received amount of money. There will be too much when all of the bonus is returned.”

“I see, by the way, how much is the subjugation reward for the Skull Faces?”

“5 silver coins per Pawn class. For the Jack class, it is 5 gold coins. Actually you can earn a lot more because the Jack class’ armor and swords are valuable if sold.”

Celica added and smiled wryly, the degree of danger of a Jack class is in a whole other league. In fact, once or twice a year some adventurers go off to fight with a Pawn class, in a spur of the moment feeling, in spite of the warning from the guild’s staff, and then get killed by a Jack class that is avenging the Pawn class.

When thinking about the amount of money that Celica spoke of, Shin’s reward was naturally almost 500 gold coins, but because a formal request was not issued, the reward became this amount of money along with the rank improvement. To begin with, that was not the combat capability that a rookie should have shown on his own, so without Barlux, the guild master, and Els and her acquaintances, the skill successors, it was certain that the reward would not have been so easily paid like this.

“Do the Skull Faces appear that frequently?”

“There is a nearby spawn spot called the Wraith Plains, but normally there will be more than a couple of them. It’s not so bad when it is a Pawn class, but several individuals, which are higher ranked than a Jack class, appeared; I heard it happened for the first time, too. Such an event has never occurred before.”

“Is that so. By the way, does the guild deal in information, besides monsters?”

“Information other than about the monsters? Well, it depends. There is a lot information about monsters and ruins that comes in, but you should inquire about that with people who specialize in information.”

“Indeed. Incidentally, may I ask what kind of information you have on Sacred Place?”

If they had detailed information on monsters and ruins, they might have gotten their hands on some information on the city that fell after the Dusk of the Majesty, which was called Sacred Place, too.

“There isn’t a lot of information about the Sacred Place. Even though the guild investigated it, because the danger zone is not normal at all, it’s impossible to let someone go towards it just like that. About the information, it was decided to not disclose it to adventurers who are below a minimum of rank B. I’m sorry, but showing it to you, Shin-sama, with your current rank is…”

“Ah, don’t worry about it so much, I was just interested. I will come back to hear about it after I’ve raised my rank.”

As one would expect, she could not easily give out information on Sacred Place. Shin thought of confirming this again with Schnee some other time.

“Which reminds me, you said you are going away, right? Are you looking for a request towards the destination?”

“Yes, I intend to complete at least one request. Is there a request that is going to the Falnido area?”

He could go and look at the bulletin board, but it was quicker to directly ask Celica for a good request.

Celica picked up a thick file from under the counter, and removed a piece of request paper from that.

“Well, how about this request here? There is no request going to Falnido for the moment, but this is a request for going to Beirun, which is on the way.”

“Is it alright for Tiera to receive the request too?”

“Yes, if you form a party with 2 people, there will be no problem, because Shin-sama’s rank matches the rank required. Here is the content.”

He took a look at the presented paper.

――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

Request contents: Cargo guards to Beirun

Client: Nack

Number of recruitment: Up to five people

Rank: E and above(Individual, party, both are acceptable)

Reward: 10 silver coins per person

Note/Remarks: Meals included

――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

“The departure is three bells(3:00 p.m.) this afternoon. Though two adventurers have already participated, there’s still time. Other than this, I still have available requests for several days…”

“I will confirm with Tiera just in case. Can you hold onto this until she comes back?”

“Yes, I think it’s alright if she comes back soon.”

Nobody else came to accept the request, probably because of the time period. He continued chatting with Celica while holding onto the request. Tiera and Els returned before 10 minutes had passed, and Shin explained the contents of the request.

“I don’t mind. Then, it’s possible to finish our other task ahead of time.”

Tiera didn’t seem to have any problems either. They went out of the guild at once, and went shopping.

The ingredients were bought while walking along the street crowded with other shoppers. Bread was not a food to keep for a long time like dried meat was, but the strong point of the Item Box was that they could buy common ingredients. Basically, ingredients would not spoil if they were put into the Item Box, and they could buy various kinds of fresh food. Looking at the two people choosing fruits and fresh vegetables, no one would imagine that they were about to go on a long journey after this.

By the way, the luggage was already placed into Shin’s Item Box, hidden from prying eyes. Still, he didn’t boldly use the Item Box publicly in the middle of the street.

They also bought the items necessary for the trip, like hooded cloaks, insect repellent and so on.

The shopping ended after 30 minutes because there was no limit to their luggage. They still had time until noon.

“The Item Box is too convenient. I have time until the card is done, so what should I do after this?”

Tiera didn’t think it would be over this quickly; it was a little anticlimactic.

“There is a place I want to go to, is that alright with you?”

“It’s fine, where do you want to go?”

“I’d like to go to the orphanage.”

Shin too, was worried about Thoria’s situation over the seat of successor. Sister Rashia had learned the skill 【Purification】, and although the orphanage inheriting requirement had been cleared, the pig bishop* might have interfered with something when he felt that he was losing. *(T/N: Shin’s naming)

“Orphanage? Ah, the place of the person who buys the cake.”

“More of less. I thought of going there, just in case.”

“I understand. I’m interested in the church’s building too. Let’s go there now.”

They faced toward the church, guided by Shin. Did it look forward to meeting Millie? Yuzuha’s tails moved cheerfully to express a happy spirit on top of Shin’s head.