Information in the Shadows

I had obtained information that a hero visited the farming village once a month to see an E-rank adventurer. The hero’s name was Baista. For me, that was more than enough. The rest of the details would be dug up by Syucali. ‘Let’s head back.’ I left the place known as the Underground Tube and made my way back to the general store. As I walked, I could feel eyes on me from every direction. They were probably after the money I had given to the people I bumped into earlier. It looked like they were waiting for a chance to take some for themselves.

“Damn it! Missed by a hair!”

“You idiot, I told you to pick carefully.”

Speak of the devil. The trio I had run into earlier burst out of the gambling den’s door. “Hm? It’s that guy from before.” “Right~ It’s the treatment fee big brother? Hehe.” They must have spotted me too, because they came walking over with laughter on their lips.

“Hey, big brother.”

“Stop right there~”

“Hehehe.”

The three women called out to me as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I stopped in place and slowly turned around. “What do you want?”

“Well, about that treatment fee you gave us earlier, big brother. It wasn’t enough~”

“Hehe.”

“Yeah. I was watching from the side and they said it would cost more for treatment.”

The trio spouted their lies without hesitation. “So you get treatment at the gambling den these days.” “You don’t need to know that. Just hand it over quickly, yeah?” “That’s right, big brother. We’re kind of in a hurry.” “I see… the treatment fee wasn’t enough, huh.”

-Shing…

“Huk!”

I drew my sword from beneath my robe and pointed it at one of the three. “Drawing a sword in the Underground Tube?! Are you insane!” “You bastard! You wanna die?!” “Looks like you’re begging to be killed.” “Greed really does tighten the noose around your own neck.” “Bullshit.” “How dare a man act so cocky!”

The trio each pulled out knives and glared at me. “Let’s just kill him and take everything.” “Sounds good.” “Hehehe.” The three charged straight at me. “Kill me, huh… Got it.”

I hadn’t let them pass earlier because they were strong. I had simply gone along with them for a moment because I thought the Underground Tube had its own set of rules. I didn’t want to cause a scene since I would be leaving this place soon anyway. The owner here would probably find it annoying too. But to run into me twice in such a short time… it felt like their fates were telling me that this would be their end. “You girls sure are lucky.”

The heads of the trio rolled across the floor. I sheathed my sword and continued on my way. After I drew my blade, the gazes that had been following me from all around disappeared.

“Huuu… That guy really makes extra cleanup work for us fast…”

The bodyguard of the information guild known as The Ear. The woman who had been smoking a cigarette let out a sigh as she looked at the corpses in front of the gambling den.

-Creak…

When I entered the general store, the owner greeted me. Eos and Vera confirmed that I had returned. “Did you find it?” “I did.” “What kind of information was it?” “I’ll tell you on the way.” Since I had finished my business at the general store, it was time to head to the next location. “Hehe, come again next time.” “Yes, I’ll see you next time.”

I left the store and looked out once more at the peaceful farming village. “Baista.” “Who’s that?” “They say she’s a hero.” “Hero Baista? Wait… Huh? You don’t mean that Baista, do you?!” As we walked, I shared what I had learned about the hero. Vera’s immediate reaction showed just how famous she was. “You know her?” “There’s no way anyone on the Tera Continent wouldn’t know that hero. Ten years ago she was an S-rank shaman who played a major role in the sixth demonic beast subjugation force.” “Ten years ago…” “I heard she retired and started a business…” “Apparently she runs a wheat beer business in this farming village.” “That’s right! The beer factory… Ah~ So that was Kron Village~” Vera clapped her hands as if it had finally clicked.

“You went back and forth from Cashew Village and never noticed?” “I’m not interested in shaman heroes, okay?” A hero whose name was already well-known. But now she lived a new life as a retired businesswoman. “Is she a woman?” “Of course she’s a woman. I’ve never even heard of a male hero. I think she was twenty-six ten years ago…” “So she’s in her mid-thirties now…” “She’s probably married too, right?” A married woman in her mid-thirties. It didn’t seem like I would need to ask Syucali for anything else. “Let’s go to the adventurers’ guild.” “Finally!” Vera looked thrilled, as if she had been waiting for a monster-hunting request. I had blown through two hundred gold in the blink of an eye, so it was time to refill the coffers. We arrived at the adventurers’ guild to take on a request. “You two wait outside. I’ll come back after I get the request.” “Hurry back!” “I will wait.”

The adventurers’ guild here was larger than the one in Kron Village. And it was packed with people. It seemed everyone had the same idea I did. The value of gold coins here was different from other villages. There was no way other adventurers wouldn’t know that you could make serious money in Kron Village. “Welcome…” The woman at the reception desk greeted me. With so many visitors to the guild, her workload must be enormous. Her exhausted face made that clear. “I’m here to take a request.” “Please show me your adventurer tag.” “Here it is.” “F… Yes, confirmed. The request board is over there.” Even in a different village, a single adventurer tag was enough to verify me. Of course, since it was an F-rank tag, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the receptionist didn’t seem particularly interested. ‘It’s big.’ The request board was nearly twice the size of the one in Cashew Village.

In Cashew Village, most F-rank rewards stopped at silver coins. Here in Kron Village, even F-rank requests paid in gold. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The rewards for E-rank and above were also substantial. “The red-furred rat’s bounty went up again.” “No kidding.” “How fast is that thing that even adventurers can’t catch it?” “Don’t even get me started. People say it uses Blink like a mage.” “That fast?” As expected, the Red Ratman was famous here too. Its bounty was more than ten gold higher than other C-rank requests. If this many adventurers still couldn’t catch it, then it was clearly better at running than I had imagined. And at the very top of the board were…

The prostitution requests started at a hefty thirteen gold and made up the largest portion of the board. After scanning through them, I picked out a suitable request and took it. [C] Hunt Giant Hog Pack — 26 gold. Since the reward was lower than the Red Ratman’s, I figured this would be something Vera and Eos could handle together with me. I also grabbed a personal prostitution request. [F] I’ll show you my grappling techniques in bed — 21 gold. ‘Grappling techniques aren’t a bad idea.’ I had felt it to my bones when the Salamander’s flames had melted my sword. I could lose my weapon at any time. Learning at least one bare-handed fighting style would be a huge help for situations like that. I went to the reception desk and showed the two request forms. “Adventurer, do you have a party?” “I do.” “Aha… I see~ Hehe.” At first she must have seen the prostitution request and thought, ‘Of course it’s a man.’ Then she saw the C-rank request and wondered, ‘A man by himself?’ which is why she asked about a party. When I answered that I had party members, she gave a slightly mocking smile. She probably thought I was a guy riding the party bus. Or maybe she assumed I was just a man running errands for the request forms after seeing me come alone. ‘I really need to rank up.’ With nothing but a shabby F-rank adventurer tag, I was still only hearing snickers from those around me. No matter how strong I was, I couldn’t prove it in this moment. “How does ranking up work?” “Ranking up~?” The receptionist smiled and pulled out a guidebook.

“There are several methods like this~ The first is by donating to the adventurers’ guild~” The amount needed to go from F to E was two hundred gold… five hundred for D-rank… ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thirteen hundred for C-rank… One way was to simply buy the certificate with money. “The second is to steadily complete requests and rise naturally. From F to E, you’d need to finish about a hundred requests. Oh! Of course, completing higher-grade requests will reduce that number significantly.” The honest grind method. “Finally, each village’s adventurers’ guild has designated requests. They’re called ‘promotion requests.’ For F to E in this village… that would be the Red Ratman Stalker. If you complete that bounty request that’s currently posted, you can quickly start working as an E-rank adventurer~” The last method turned a nuisance into a promotion opportunity. “Thank you for the clear explanation. I’ll see you next time.” “Have a wonderful day, adventurer~” Now that I knew how to rank up, it looked like I should take the promotion request the next time I came.