175. The First Request (2)
175. The First Request (2)
They say to strike while the iron is hot, and once the goal was set, Shin Se-hee headed straight for the Request Office to pick up a request.
The Request Office, located at the heart of Velvet Academy, was a large hall.
And all kinds of requests floated in the air, displayed on holographic windows sorted by grade and deadline.
"Looking for a Healer!! Anyone with a 1st-semester midterm grade of C or above is welcome!!! 0.1 Sofia especially welcome!"
"One person, any role! Just come!!!"
"If you join our party, we'll provide 1 D-grade artifact!"
"A-rank Damage Dealer, Swordsman. LF party."
"Hey, you with the spear. Someone left our party last time—interested? Joining a party of upperclassmen would be way better than starting from the bottom."
The Request Office was packed with first-year students looking for parties, parties checking current requests, and even spies checking out the activity of other parties.
Countless people milled about, the place buzzing with energy.
And through them all.
Click—
The clear sound of heels rang out.
Shin Se-hee.
The moment she stepped into the hall, everyone fell silent as if on cue.
"······."
A heavy stillness settled, and countless gazes fixed on Shin Se-hee, but she headed for the reception desk as if she didn't care.
"Hello."
"Ah, h-hello!!"
The staff member at reception stammered in reply to Shin Se-hee's greeting.
"Could I see some requests?"
"Yes, yes! H-here you are!"
A list of requests spread out before Shin Se-hee.
And her slender finger went straight for one request in particular.
"!!!"
The eyes of everyone watching filled with shock.
For the staff member handling the registration, it was even worse. The staff member looked back and forth between the request and Shin Se-hee as if asking if she was serious.
"Th-the lowest grade!? A-are you really going to take this request!? As Utopia? I-I mean... there are reasons a request gets the lowest rating..."
"Yes, Utopia Party's first request will be the lowest-grade Insomnia Resolution Request."
Then, the staff member actually began to dissuade her.
"······Are you absolutely sure? It's a bit awkward for me to say this, but the first request is actually incredibly important. You could say a party's future evaluation is determined by this first request."
But, unusually, Shin Se-hee shook her head with a resolute attitude.
"No, that one, please."
"······Why."
The staff member nodded and registered it when she spoke so firmly, but still muttered to themselves as if they couldn't understand.
'We have to take it anyway, but it's a chance to manage our reputation. Can't afford to miss it.'
Shin Se-hee beamed a bright— innocent smile.
"Well, unlike other parties, we're a party that received special benefits."
"······Pardon? Benefits?"
"Yes. Unlike the other first-years who are only now forming or joining parties, we formed our party a whole semester early and have been exploring dungeons, haven't we?"
Her calm voice rang out with clear articulation through the hall.
"Therefore, our name value is rated far higher than those of other parties just starting out. On top of that, due to that special treatment, we're being overvalued even compared to parties of upperclassmen that already existed."
"······!!!"
"I thought that if we, in that position, monopolized high-value requests from the very start, it would be no different from pulling the ladder up behind ourselves and kicking away the opportunities of other parties just starting out."
A complaint that had only been thought in private, never dared spoken aloud.
But now that the words came from the person in question, everyone's eyes widened like saucers.
"We, Utopia, don't want to steal other parties' opportunities. Since we started early, we'll be considerate of other parties for this first request. After that, we will compete fairly based on skill."
"Ahh, as expected of Utopia—!!!"
The staff member, who had been wondering why Utopia chose such a trivial request as their first, clasped their hands together as if deeply moved.
Then the staff member clapped their hands together.
"Ah, by the way, are you not choosing a standby request separately?"
"Hmm, standby request? What's that?"
Shin Se-hee tilted her head with an innocent face, as if hearing it for the first time.
The staff member chuckled, suddenly reminded that Shin Se-hee was still a first-year student.
"A standby request means putting your name down in advance among the currently available requests. If the Utopia Party succeeds at its current request before that other request is resolved, it's a system that allows you to accept it immediately."
"Wow, there was something like that?"
"Yes, you can also select multiple standby requests at once. Would you like to look at the standby requests?"
"Hmm, then, by any chance, among the requests up right now, are there dangerous ones?"
"Dangerous requests···! One moment, I'll show you the list."
The staff member picked out and showed her the dangerous requests that had decent pay and were reasonably worthwhile.
With the staff member actually becoming more enthusiastic, the work went smoothly.
Shin Se-hee looked over the lists intently, then chose the U.S. Monster Subjugation Request at the very top.
"Then, please put our name down for this one."
"Yes, and what other requests would you like to stand by for······."
"No, I won't do any other requests."
Shin Se-hee didn't even glance at the other lists, putting their name down solely for the U.S. Monster Subjugation Request.
"As I said, I don't want to pressure other parties with our name value."
"Ahh! I understand! The Insomnia Resolution Request is accepted, and I'll put your name down as standby for the U.S. Monster Subjugation Request. If no other party takes that request by the time you complete your current one, you'll be able to accept it right away."
"Yes, thank you so much."
And Shin Se-hee's unorthodox decision was witnessed by the countless students in the Request Office.
The speed with which it spread across the whole academy was instantaneous.
— Breaking! Breaking!! They say Utopia took the lowest-grade request as their first one! Their only standby request is the U.S. Monster Subjugation Request!
— What? You sure? Pfft! The lowest grade!? Are they on drugs or something? That's a request no one takes even if forced to, so why'd they make such a stupid choice?
— What did you just say? Did you just insult Utopia? They said they made that decision because they didn't want to use their party's fame to steal other parties' opportunities!!!
The first-years, who had just launched their new parties, were genuinely touched by that unexpected consideration.
— Wow, they really are Utopia-level; definitely on a different level.
— Yeah, honestly if it were me, I'd have just immediately grabbed the wicked-good requests and put a standby on all the rest too.
— B-but······! They said they put a standby request on the U.S. Monster Subjugation Request······! Isn't that a request we had our eye on too!? They went and called dibs on it after all!
As the atmosphere suddenly turned strange, the student who'd asked if they were on drugs and criticized Utopia quickly ate their words.
— Hey, didn't you hear what Lady Cheonhwa said earlier!? She was asking what the most dangerous request was! She didn't even know what a standby request was!
— Wow, is this guy's personality for real······? Hiss, I think we need to include personality in party member evaluations from now on······.
— Lady Cheonhwa was considerate thinking of us, and this guy repays it with ingratitude like this.......
— Plus, she only put down one out of hundreds of requests, is that really so offensive?
— Ah, no, no!! I-I didn't know! I wasn't even at the Request Office, so how would I know what Cheonhwa said there!!
Once things reached this point, the student who'd raised the objection a moment ago was instantly vilified as trash.
— Hey, is Cheonhwa your friend!? Don't you put an honorific on her!?
He only managed to avoid the students' criticism after reciting a string of praises for Utopia and Shin Se-hee.
And no party laid a hand on the U.S. Monster Subjugation Request where Utopia had put its name down as standby.
* * *
As soon as the Utopia Party accepted the request, they finished packing and prepared to depart right away.
There were no classes today, and as I'd said, this was a request that would slip away if we delayed even a little, so time was of the essence.
After completing the frantic preparations.
"Everyone ready?"
I glanced back and asked.
The party members nodded, their faces tense.
Their expressions were far too serious for people heading out to do the lowest-grade request.
"Then, let's go."
It meant traveling to another country, but we didn't need to take a plane.
Between Velvet Hunter Academy and the countries that issued requests, a Spatial Movement Formation had been installed through Chairwoman Rina's magic, so we only had to go through a slightly inconvenient identity verification process.
"Confirmed, Utopia Party. Jin Yu-ha and four others. Identity verified."
"Stay safe out there. Jin Yu-ha."
Shin Se-hee, who couldn't come with us because she still had a lot to do at the academy, waved her hand.
"Yeah, I'll be back."
And so we entered the Spatial Movement Formation headed for Japan.