NOVEL NEXT Chapter 90: Anonymity in the Request
"..." I adjust my mask on my face excitedly and quickly as I open the guild's door! I'm extremely excited to go to a new dungeon and get a lot of money to become strong and be able to return to the castle with wealth and power.
The first dungeon Eve and I went to wasn't that good in terms of earnings; it was a common dungeon without anything too valuable, and I didn't even store most of the materials we got since we didn't have a storage ring.
There, I focused on watching Eve fight, learning to handle the leadership situation at least a little, and seeing how strong we were. And now that I've achieved that and a bunch of other things, I think we can already go to another one.
"Yoruhime!!" I practically skip over to Yoruhime, who is free. She hears me calling her and gives me a polite smile, waiting for me to reach her to talk.
"Good afternoon, Evelyn." She gives me a slight nod as she greets me, and I return the greeting in kind.
"Good afternoon, it's warm, isn't it?" I say, feeling the pleasant heat. It's December 23rd in the year 66356, and since it's December here on the demon continent, the weather is a pleasant spring-like.
Although next month the cold weather will come, so I'll have to adjust to the change in climate. I sometimes even forget that the demon continent has a cycle of 6 types of weather, unlike Earth which has only 4 seasons during the year.
"Yes, activities will probably slow down since the cold weather is approaching. Frankly, I hope the cold season harvest is as good as last year's and we can have a stable food source," she says with concern, while I decide to just get straight to the point.
"I want to take a mission. I want to go to a better dungeon and..." Before I can continue, she interrupts me by raising her hand with some rigidity.
"I'm sorry, Evelyn, but all dungeons are closed for any adventurer below Rank S..." She says with a certain fear in her voice and looks around, seeing that it's somewhat empty for now, so she moves closer to me.
"Do you remember Darian, that Rank B adventurer you saved?" she asks while I nod, still remembering that bastard. How could I forget when he charged me a fine even though I saved his life!
"Thanks to Darian returning alive, we discovered a worrying pattern. Someone is hunting adventurers. The number of suspicious deaths is near the normal margin, so we hadn't noticed before since it seemed normal."
"But now that we've found a victim of these attacks who is alive, we finally noticed that the deaths being slightly above the standard margin is abnormal and it mainly affects specific classes of adventurers."
"Most of the killed adventurers are between Rank C and Rank A, and they are all being ambushed in dungeons. Someone is using summons to kill them. We even sent some teams to search for the bodies of the adventurers who disappeared in dungeons within this suspicious margin."
"And unfortunately, Evelyn, you are... well, a Rank C. We can't let you go to any dungeon. Of course, we can't stop you, but we won't accept any materials you bring from an 'irregular' outing since you've been warned not to go." She makes it clear that I can go.
But I won't be paid for anything I get by adventuring in a dungeon, which breaks part of my reason for going, since going to a dungeon only serves a purpose if I can sell the materials or if the material is good for fortifying Eve and Syl'Vyr.
"It might not seem like it, but the guild cares a lot about its adventurers. The only way to discourage you all from doing dangerous things is not to pay you... Besides, if we find out you sold dungeon materials on the black market, we will fine you."
"After all, the Demon King has a partnership with the guild and made it clear: the processing of any material from a dungeon that is below Class S items must be done specifically by the guild, and items above Rank S must be handled by seeking out private individuals for the analysis and sale of such an item," she says with a sharpness in her voice.
Her look is one of disdain, though not directed at me, but rather at people who sell dungeon materials on the black market, which is no surprise since there's always someone who wants to cheat the rules.
"H-Hahaha, don't worry... I won't get involved with the black market..." I say quickly, waving my hands in denial. After all, I don't want to be suspected of interacting with the black market, even though I really am not; I've never been there, and the original Evelyn never went there either.
'Although... there could be some very interesting materials for creating a puppet...' Maybe in the future I'll go there to buy things. Lucien buys from there, so why can't I?
"W-Well, Yoruhime, if I can't go to a dungeon... do you have any good missions that pay a lot and..."
"I have the perfect one for you, Evelyn." She speaks professionally, quickly placing a paper in front of me. I take it to read what's good about it, and after just reading the payment, I'm shocked.
"Escort mission... 30 MILLION GOLD COINS!!!" I am absolutely shocked by the payment, which is far higher than anything I expected to get for now.
"30 million gold coins is like... like... 30 MILLION!!" I say, amazed by this value for an escort mission that asks for adventurers of at most Rank C.
Normally, someone who could pay that much would ask for help from at least a Rank B or a Rank A. Of course, I know that money in this world works differently from money in the modern world.
But still, 30 million would help me so much! I could buy good materials to fortify Eve and Syl'Vyr and still save a portion or spend it on important things for me to create good relics.
"Hey... Yoruhime, there's no client name... how do I know it's reliable? Not to imply anything, but normally people who request things from adventurers introduce themselves right on the paper," I ask suspiciously, wondering if this is a trap.
"Oh, don't worry, Evelyn. The guild has seen the client personally and we can confirm they are trustworthy. Besides, the client themselves wouldn't even need this escort since they are already strong and influential, but they said they will take an escort for personal reasons."
"And the guild shouldn't delve too deeply, so we ended up not being able to provide exactly why they want an escort when they don't need one."
"And this person also wants the escort to be at most Rank C so they don't have to worry about being hindered along the way, according to their words. Furthermore, they specified that a group of girls would be preferable."
"And look, you are Rank C, your group only has girls, and you want quick money." She just raises real and genuinely good points. 30 million for a mission that doesn't even seem that difficult. But I'm still fearful. The universe hates me.
Knowing that fate really wants to screw up my life, can I trust that this isn't a trick of fate to cause me problems? Frankly, so far everything fate has done is give me minor bad luck, making me slip on things or bump into doors.
However, horrible things have already happened to me, and I have no way of knowing how far fate's hatred for me can go. Maybe it can go further than what I can withstand.
"Hmmm..." I read where we're traveling to, and the distance isn't that far, actually. The total carriage journey will take 3 weeks, and the objective is to transport a cargo along the way. And if the guild classified the trip as Rank C, it means the person accompanying us is very strong to the point where no bandit could do anything.
"Eve, what do you think?" I ask Eve, who ponders briefly, tilting her head curiously.
"It's suspicious. The request for a group of girls coupled with his anonymity is really very suspicious... but I will follow your will, Evelyn-sama." She raises an important point.
"And you, Syl'Vyr?" I ask for Syl'Vyr's opinion too. The two are important members of my team and I think their opinions are important for this.
"I think it's relatively good. And if the guild says it's safe, then it should be. And if it's not, we can maybe charge the guild for lying... besides, with 30 million, you could buy lots of beauty materials, couldn't you?" When Syl'Vyr says that, something snaps in my mind.
"Yoruhime, I accept!" I need this money! I haven't managed to buy any beauty products for myself. I really want to buy a magnificent shampoo, a real hairbrush, but no makeup.
I really don't need it; my skin is perfect and has an incredible, healthy glow, and makeup would just ruin it all. But an expensive, fragrant perfume would be a dream! And elegant, beautiful clothes would be great too.
Not to mention materials for me to create clothes myself. I know I can create magnificent dresses because the original Evelyn had supernatural sewing skills on a level to surpass many professionals.
"Okay, Evelyn, so you'll accept, right?... Wait a moment, I'll mark it here. The trip is in two days, and it's good we found someone so quickly. You really got lucky since this mission arrived just two hours ago." She speaks with a smile as she stamps the paper.