The Male Receptionist at the Adventurer's Guild (2)
Even though I'd lost the original owner's memories of this body, performing the receptionist work at the adventurer's guild itself surprisingly didn't seem like it would be much of a problem.
I'd only lost my memories, not my knowledge. No—strictly speaking, I hadn't even lost my memories.
I simply couldn't recall the memories belonging to Beor, the original owner of this body I'd possessed. Strictly speaking, those weren't my memories anyway.
Twenty gold coins, huh. Maybe it'd be better to just give up.
According to what I'd picked up from my senior a little while ago, an adventurer's guild receptionist's monthly salary was two gold coins.
That meant gathering twenty gold coins would take at least several months—maybe even years. I didn't think I needed to go that far just to recover the original owner's memories of this body.
Besides, even if I really had possessed this body and the memories had vanished, there was no guarantee that treatment at the church would restore them.
"Do you remember the receptionist work? I did explain it on your first day, but…"
"I'm sorry. I won't cause any more trouble, so please—if you could just explain it one more time…"
"No, no. It's not that hard. First, for adventurers who come to register as new members, the required documents are over here…"
Even though this was knowledge she must have already taught the original Beor once, Senior Elin kindly walked me through it all over again without a hint of annoyance.
I made a firm resolution not to forget anything this time—for her sake—and thoroughly grasped everything I needed to know as an adventurer's guild clerk.
After that, I simply guided the adventurers who came in, fulfilling my role as a guild receptionist. Since it was customer-facing work, there were occasionally people who were a bit of a pain.
"Haven't seen you around. New hire?"
"Ah, yes. How can I help you?"
"Hmm… More importantly, what time do you get off today?"
"Excuse me?"
"Are you free after work, by any chance? There's something I'd like to ask of you."
A favor after work? Was this also part of the adventurer's guild duties?
Not knowing how to handle the situation, I immediately turned to my senior sitting next to me for help—and she came over to my counter with a slightly angry expression.
"Ah, just a moment… Senior Elin, what time do we get off…"
"…I'm sorry, but our new hire is busy with overtime tonight! Stop with the weird advances and leave!"
"…Tsk. How stingy."
The female adventurer clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction and walked away from me.
Seeing Senior Elin handle things so decisively—the complete opposite of how she'd been acting until now—was strangely fascinating, and I found myself carefully watching her reaction, wondering if I'd done something wrong.
"Senior Elin, did I do something wrong?"
"Hmm? No, no. It's not your fault, Beor. That person was the one in the wrong for hitting on you."
"…Ah, so that was a date invitation?"
"Don't tell me you were about to accept without realizing?"
I'd never received a date invitation in my life.
The only "after-work plans" I'd ever experienced were hellish company dinners sandwiched between Manager Kim and Section Chief Choi. How was I supposed to recognize a date invitation right away?
"With looks like yours, Beor, I'd have thought you'd get date invitations almost every day."
"I'm sorry. My memories are still fuzzy…"
"Ah! S-sorry! You have amnesia, Beor. Of course you wouldn't remember getting asked out on dates…"
Apparently, the man named Beor whose body I'd possessed was considered quite handsome by this world's female standards. I still hadn't looked in a mirror, so I didn't know if he'd be handsome by my standards either.
And at least to my eyes, Senior Elin herself was quite the beauty—using my previous world's standards as a baseline, of course.
It wasn't just her face, either. She was kind-hearted, friendly, and as I'd just seen, she could be decisive when she needed to be.
…And for a slightly more indecent reason, she also had a large chest. Yeah.
It might actually be better if Beor's original memories never came back. If I could keep working here with a senior like her forever, living without the original body's memories wouldn't be so bad.
"If we're talking about date invitations, haven't you received a lot yourself, Senior Elin?"
"Eeh?! Wh-what are you talking about?"
"Well, you're a beauty, Senior. You've got a great personality, and sometimes you know how to speak your mind decisively. I can't imagine men would just leave you alone."
"Th-that again?! You need to say things that make sense!"
"…Excuse me?"
"A beauty? Someone like me is just average. And men not leaving me alone—what kind of nonsense is that? An ordinary commoner woman like me wouldn't even catch the eye of most men…"
"What does being a commoner have to do with anything? Looking at me working as a receptionist at the adventurer's guild, I must have been a commoner too."
"Even among commoners, men and women are different… Men are rare, so they're precious…"
…Something about this conversation had felt off for a while now.
That face was "just average"? And men were rare and precious?
Could it be that this world's common sense was a bit different from what I knew?
Just as the thought that I still didn't understand this world well was forming in my head, a blonde woman halfway down the stairs called out to me.
"Beor, did you go to the church?"
Blonde hair lightly braided down the back, red eyes.
Her crisp suit and glasses only enhanced her already haughty-looking impression, and even though I still had no memories, the intuition that this woman was my boss flashed through my mind.
"Ah, yes."
"So, how were the symptoms?"
"They said it's traumatic amnesia."
"Amnesia…?"
Despite her cold expression, I could catch a flicker of emotion in her reaction. Then, after hearing my words, the blonde female superior let out a shallow sigh as if she found it absurd.
Still halfway down the stairs, she gestured for me to come upstairs.
"Come up. We'll discuss the amnesia upstairs."
"Ah, yes. I'll be right back, Senior Elin."
"Okay, go ahead~."
Leaving the counter to Senior Elin, I followed the cool-looking female superior upstairs.
Having been dragged into what seemed to be the female superior's office—or something like a reception room—I was standing around awkwardly when the blonde woman pointed to a four-person table with a gesture and spoke.
"Sit over there."
"Ah, yes."
…I'd been feeling it for a while, but she had a strangely stiff way of speaking.
Senior Elin's words were soft and gentle, making you feel comfortable just listening to her. This bespectacled female boss, on the other hand, somehow felt like she was drawing a line between us.
As I was thinking she gave off a similar impression to the passionate by-the-book company commander I'd known in the military in my previous life, she held out a sheet of paper labeled Resignation Letter.
"Here. Fill it out."
"…Excuse me?"
"Amnesia, huh. You came up with a pretty decent excuse. Well, working while having lost your memories doesn't make any sense."
"…"
"Still, you lasted a long time for a man. A whole week of work. But even without using an excuse like amnesia, I won't stop you from quitting, so don't worry."
…Quit? Me?
I'd just started getting friendly with Senior Elin.
And if I got kicked out of here overnight… where was I supposed to go?
"…"
"What's wrong? Just use any of the pens stuck over there."
"Um… Boss."
"…What is it?"
"Is there… no option where I don't quit?"
"…What?"
My female superior momentarily looked blank, as if she couldn't immediately grasp the meaning of my words.
Faced with the crisis of being kicked out before I'd even properly figured out what kind of world this was, I desperately advocated for myself, trying to convince her I could still work.
"Even though I've contracted amnesia, my basic language skills and thinking ability haven't disappeared! I may have to relearn whatever work I was doing before, but if you just teach me, I'll give it my all and devote myself completely!"
"W-wait a second… Do you actually have amnesia? You're not lying?"
"…Excuse me? Didn't I tell you earlier?"
"I thought you just wanted to quit but felt awkward about simply leaving, so you were trying to wrap it up with some convenient excuse…"
"…"
"…"
With a soft rustle, the female superior quietly collected the resignation letter she'd placed on the table and tucked it into her jacket. Then, with a slightly apologetic expression, she withdrew her earlier proposal.
"…There was a misunderstanding. Boys usually quit work quickly, so I assumed you were the same type."
"So I can continue working here?"
"Yes. If anything, I'd like to ask you to stay. Just having a male receptionist changes the number of adventurer parties that visit the guild."
"Excuse me?"
"Ahem, never mind. That wasn't something I should say in front of a boy like you."
Fortunately, the crisis of being kicked out of the guild overnight was resolved as a misunderstanding on the female superior's part.
This way, I could keep talking with Senior Elin going forward—so I'd be able to get plenty of help learning about this world, too.