The Male Receptionist of the Adventurer's Guild (3)
"You said you have amnesia. Can you tell me how much of your memory you've lost?"
"Almost all of it, ma'am."
"…Almost all of it?"
"Yes. Until Senior Elin told me, I didn't even remember my own name. But I've confirmed that my reasoning and language skills seem fine."
"…Worse than I expected. Are you sure you can still work?"
"I'll manage somehow! Please don't fire me, Boss!"
"No, I wasn't saying I was going to cut you… Anyway, fine."
Looking a touch unsettled, she met my eyes, then pulled a few documents from her desk and thrust them toward me.
The first line bore my name — Beor — so I figured the papers had something to do with my personal records.
"These might help you recover your memory. It's only a résumé with your name and a few basic details, but still."
"Thank you, Boss."
"I'm not giving them to you — I'm lending them. Read them today and return them tomorrow. It's only a single page, so it shouldn't take long to memorize."
"Yes, Boss! I'll read them carefully and bring them back tomorrow!"
"…And something's been bothering me. What is that 'Boss' title supposed to be?"
"…Is that not right?"
"Technically I am your superior, but I've never been called that before."
"I'm sorry. Because of the amnesia, I've forgotten everything about you as well… Boss."
"…Well, that stands to reason. If you lost even your own name, expecting you to remember me would be absurd."
After a brief silence, the blonde woman introduced herself with a faintly awkward look.
"Aisia Darkstone. That's my name. And I'm the Guild Master of this guild."
"Boss Aisia… ah, no — should I call you Guild Master Aisia?"
"…Yes. That'll do."
Compared to the impression she'd given at first glance, she didn't seem all that rigid after all.
Résumé of personal details in hand, I came back downstairs from Guild Master Aisia's office and headed straight for the counter, where Senior Elin was handling the work alone.
"Material settlement complete. Next, please!"
"I'd like to file a completion report for a request I took a while back."
"The Death Flower Nepenthes subjugation request, correct? Did you bring the seed as proof?"
"Right, I had it here a moment ago…"
With me gone for a stretch, the line had grown a little long, and Senior Elin looked busy working through the rush.
I was about to sit down and ease some of her load when she turned to me with a careful request.
"Beor, I need to check some monster materials, so could you grab the Appraisal Orb from the warehouse in back? It's a round purple crystal sphere — I left it in the usual spot, so you should find it the second you walk in."
"Ah, sure."
Apparently she'd decided I wasn't ready to hold the counter alone, so she sent me on a light errand instead.
Stepping into the warehouse for her — since she was too busy to leave her seat — I spotted the purple crystal sphere the moment I entered, just as she'd said.
So this is the Appraisal Orb… right?
Given that it was used to check monster materials, it was probably some kind of appraisal magic tool in this world.
Thinking it looked like something straight out of a fantasy game, I picked up the Appraisal Orb and its stand — and the object in my hands lit up, projecting a short line of text inside the crystal.
Click.
Appraisal commencing.
Do not remove the subject from contact with the Appraisal Orb.
"……Huh?"
I must have accidentally hit some kind of switch while lifting it.
Afraid something might go wrong, I couldn't bring myself to set it down, fretting in place — until the orb that had announced it was starting appraisal soon projected a different message into the crystal.
Classification:Ability Holder
Unique Ability:Vitality Massage
Rank:A-rank
"……."
Having displayed that incomprehensible text inside the crystal, the Appraisal Orb went still again.
I didn't fully understand it, but it felt like the thing had simply activated on its own while I was handling it.
What's a Unique Ability supposed to be? And Vitality Massage…?
I didn't know what it meant, but I figured I could just ask Senior Elin later. For now, her errand came first — so I carried the Appraisal Orb out of the warehouse.
"Senior, here you go."
"Ah, thanks, Beor!"
"But what's that floating text? When I touched it earlier, it briefly…"
"Aaah, this? Looks like the Guild Master used it again and forgot to reset it. This is the activation button, and this one next to it is the reset — you should remember that too, Beor."
Click.
The moment she pressed the button beside the one I'd hit by mistake, the writing inside the crystal vanished, and Senior Elin immediately put the orb to work appraising the next set of materials. Just like that, I'd lost my chance to ask her about what it had shown.
Well, there'll probably be another chance later.
I'd ask then. She'd tell me, surely.
"Whew. Finally, a breather."
After the wave of adventurers had come and gone, Senior Elin — who'd single-handedly weathered the rush at its peak — stretched her upper body in a long, languid arch. The unguarded pose only emphasized a chest that was already generous, and my gaze snagged for a moment before I hurriedly turned my head and shook the stray thoughts loose.
"Good work, Senior Elin."
"No, no. You helped, Beor — we finished way faster because of you."
"You handled almost all the customer service yourself. I only did a few simple tasks…"
"Well, you've got amnesia, so that can't be helped. So — working with me again, has any of it come back?"
"…I'm sorry, but not at all."
I felt bad saying it to her, but the memories belonging to this body still hadn't returned.
"You never were cut out for reception work to begin with. Whenever a female adventurer tried to talk to you privately, you'd always run off toward the back of the warehouse — just like earlier."
"…I did that?"
"Mm-hm. That's why I was a little surprised before. A female adventurer was hitting on you, and you answered her completely unfazed. You couldn't even talk this easily with me before."
"……."
So the original owner of this body had been hopelessly awkward with women?
When a woman like Senior Elin struck up a conversation, shouldn't you be grateful just for the chance to talk? No matter how I looked at it, I couldn't make sense of the guy.
In a way, that personality might even be a blessing.
Given what the original Beor had been like, Senior Elin probably hadn't felt particularly close to him — which meant it was better this way for overwriting her impression with the new me from here on out.
"I'm still a little rough around the edges, but I'll relearn as I go and catch up somehow. Just because I lost my memories doesn't mean I can sit around waiting for them to come back."
"That's the spirit!"
Cute.
The bright, sunny smile she gave me — like she was cheering me on — felt like it recharged my energy on the spot.
With a bit of free time now, I let my eyes wander around the quieter guild hall, roughly mapping out the building's layout.
Front entrance and warehouse… back door behind the warehouse… three rooms on the second floor, with Guild Master Aisia's office at the far end…
As I surveyed the interior with those thoughts in mind, a strange sense of wrongness brushed through my head.
Hm…?
Was it just me, or was the ratio of female adventurers a little high in here?
Over there, a dark elf warrior prowling around with a massive warhammer.
A sky-blue-haired mage sitting at a table with a vacant look, glancing around.
That black-haired priest in robes similar to the priestess I'd run into at the Kaleidos Church earlier.
And beyond them — people with bows, people with spears, people with shields, even people carrying nothing at all.
Adventurers in a medieval fantasy world… were they always this heavily skewed toward women?
No — looking closer, it wasn't just a high ratio.
Without a single exception, every armed person in sight was a woman. Naturally, a question formed, and I risked being rude enough to put it to Senior Elin.
"Senior Elin, can I ask you one thing?"
"Sure, sure. Ask away."
"Is our guild… normally this heavy on female adventurers?"
"Hm?"
"I've been watching, and it seems like there are only female adventurers here. I can understand a lot of women among priests and mages, but even the strength-based jobs — fighters, swordswomen — are all women. It's a little strange."
"……."
Senior Elin's eyes narrowed at me in pure disbelief.