Quest (2)
The next day.
“Uuuugh…”
Rain, who had drunk herself senseless the night before, sat slumped in a chair with her face planted firmly on the table.
“…If you feel that awful, just go to your room and rest.”
“Please don’t give that kind of order. If you do, she’ll start drinking every day just so she can legally skip work in this exact condition.”
Grace shot back at my suggestion without missing a beat.
Hmm… She had a point. That did sound exactly like something Rain would do.
I promptly rescinded the order, and Rain — who had already started rising from her seat under the compulsion of my command, ready to head up to the second floor — dropped right back into the chair and planted her face on the table again.
“We’ll leave her be for now… Did you finish the daily quest?”
“Yes. I brought ten units of lumber and ten of stone before you came downstairs.”
I didn’t ask where she’d gotten them.
Both Grace and I already knew exactly where the lumber and stone had come from.
Once I’d confirmed she’d brought them in, I stood at the counter and checked the quest window.
Complete.
The quest had completed the same way yesterday when Rain brought in the materials. Which meant employees could clear quests on my behalf — not just me.
Obvious, when you thought about it.
“Master. What do you plan to do about this quest?”
“Hm?”
As soon as I finished the daily quest, Grace pointed to one of the regular quests and asked.
Hire up to 3 employees
Reward:300 Guests Visited
The employee-hiring quest.
With the inn currently at Level 3, I could hire up to five employees total — so in theory I could push all the way through Hire Employees (5). Assuming I could find people worth hiring, of course.
“Anyone you’d like to recommend?”
“No. The people I know who would be worth recommending would be loyal to me, not to you. Their devotion to me runs so deep they might well do you harm.”
“…”
Right. Best to pass on those, then.
“Capturing a dragon and binding it with a Dragon’s Contract the way you did with Rain and me would be the surest method — but if we go hunting them instead of waiting for them to come attack us first, it gets rather dangerous.”
“Hmm…”
Even if dragons were individualists by nature, word of a dragon hunting its own kind would spread and cause problems.
“So I recommend purchasing slaves.”
“Slaves, huh.”
As a modern person, the word sat a little uncomfortably — but in a world this close to the medieval era, they were a common fact of life. And this being a fantasy world…
“Slaves can never disobey their master’s orders, so you could also ensure they never reveal this inn’s secrets.”
Apparently that kind of restriction was built in.
“But would anyone actually come all the way out here to sell slaves?”
“Unlikely.”
This wasn’t knowledge I’d received through the Dragon’s Contract — it was something I’d learned listening to Grace and Rain talk about the Dragon Canyon itself.
The ideal party size for traveling through the canyon was four to six people. Too few, and the monsters treated you as easy prey and attacked constantly. Too many, and you drew the attention of stronger creatures like wyverns.
The orc mercenary company can handle a whole flock of wyverns head-on without breaking a sweat, which is why they move in such large numbers. And the old wyvern hunter has a stealth trait that lets him slip past the monsters’ notice.
In other words, unless you were that strong a group or had some special ability, nobody had the luxury of dragging slaves through the Dragon Canyon.
“But Rain or I could leave the canyon, buy slaves outside, and bring them back.”
“Hmm.”
That much seemed fine. Still…
“Why the sudden recommendation to buy slaves? Purely for the quest? Or is there a particular slave you want?”
Grace shook her head at the question.
“I’ve been thinking about buying slaves for a while. We simply didn’t have the money until now.”
Rain didn’t have any money either, she added. Everything she’d brought with her was the kind of loot that was a nightmare to convert into cash.
“Thanks to trading with the orc mercenaries, we’ve built up a decent sum. With this much, we should be able to pick up three solid female slaves without much trouble. Highly educated ones would be a stretch, though.”
“Hold on. Why female slaves?”
Not that I particularly minded women over men. I was a man myself, after all. But according to the knowledge Grace and Rain had shared with me, female slaves were valued higher than male ones. Their physical capabilities were lower, sure — but establishments whose main clientele were men routinely paid premium prices for them. And that wasn’t just talking about the pleasure districts; ordinary restaurants and inns preferred female staff over male as well…
“Ordinarily, yes, female slaves would be more expensive. But there’s a war on.”
“…Ah. They’re conscripting slaves for the war.”
Which meant male slaves would be taken first. What remained would naturally be the women. Of course, slaves as a whole would become scarcer and prices would rise across the board — but still.
“With that in mind, once Rain’s condition improves, I’ll head straight to Coreloot — or even farther — and buy some.”
“Any reason not to buy from the Demon King’s Territory side?”
“Every slave over there is a demonkin, so they’ll all have been dragged to the battlefield.”
Demonkin, she explained, all either had exceptional physical abilities or could use magic.
“Besides, unlike the western nations that are relatively removed from the fighting, the Demon King’s Territory is actively at war. Even non-demonkin slaves — anyone old enough to be useful — will already have been sold off.”
“That tracks.”
…Come to think of it, if the Demon King’s Territory was at war, shouldn’t the orc mercenary company be fighting in it? A group that strong would be the kind of force the Demon King’s side would hire no matter what.
“There must be circumstances we don’t know about. If I had to guess… maybe the orc mercenaries’ fighting style doesn’t mesh well with the demon army?”
Not that it was any of our business, stuck out here far from the war.
“Hmm… fair enough. Not our problem.”
I agreed with Grace. We weren’t joining any war, and the people fighting one weren’t likely to take an interest in us.
That afternoon.
No amount of rest in the morning had been enough to bring Rain around. It took a bowl of hot meat broth Grace cooked up before she finally came to her senses.
“You could’ve made this in the morning, you know…”
“Enough. Now that you’re lucid, keep an eye on Master for me. If any guests show up and order food, I’ve prepped some dishes in advance — just pull those out.”
“Yeah, yeah…”
She was conscious, but her head still clearly ached. Rain clutched her temples and waved Grace off with an irritated flick of her hand.
It wasn’t the most reassuring sight — but sending her out to buy slaves in that state would be its own kind of problem. Grace let out a sigh.
“Fine. Just focus on defending the inn, then.”
With that, she told me she’d be back soon, stepped outside, and took her dragon form.
A dragon clad in golden scales.
Golden Dragon Topaz… was that it?
Looking at her now, I could see exactly why she’d been given such a grand name.
“I don’t know how long it’ll take, but I’ll be back.”
Grace said her piece, then launched into the sky.
WHOOOOSH!
I hadn’t realized it before, but a dragon’s wingbeats kicked up one hell of a backdraft.
“Cough! Cough! Ugh…”
I waved the dust out of my face and headed back into the inn.
“I’m going to wash up. Hold the fort.”
I left the first floor to Rain and went to rinse off the dirt.
Shhhh…
For the record, the rooms belonging to me, Grace, and Rain — the employee quarters — had been upgraded to something close to modern standards when the inn hit Level 3. So while we didn’t have full bathrooms attached to the rooms, we did have toilets and showers.
The guest rooms don’t have any of that, though.
Originally, when the guest rooms hit Level 3, toilets and showers had appeared there too — but Grace had insisted that toilets belonged only on the first floor or outside, and made me change the skin. In this world, she explained, if you needed to relieve yourself or wash up in your room, you used a chamber pot or asked an employee to bring water.
“That’s better…”
After finishing my shower, I towel-dried my hair and wiped myself down, then dropped the used clothes and towel into the basket in the corner of the hallway. Grace had said she’d handle the laundry if I left things there.
With Grace gone, does that mean Rain’s on laundry duty?
I was still mulling that over as I came downstairs, where Rain greeted me.
“Master. Perfect timing. We’ve got guests outside.”
“Oh?”
She said so, but the people outside showed no sign of coming in. I understood. Finding a lone inn plopped in the middle of the Dragon Canyon would put anyone on edge.
With that in mind, I headed to the counter. Rain took a seat positioned so she could protect me at a moment’s notice.
“…Is anyone there?!”
BANG!
A red-haired man with a sword shoved the door open hard enough to nearly tear it off its hinges.
“There is. I’ll be billing you separately for the door repair later.”
“Uh… right…”
The door hadn’t broken completely, but it wouldn’t close properly without repairs. The man seemed to realize it was his fault and accepted the charge without argument.
Three more people filed in behind him, still on guard.
The red-haired man who’d half-wrecked the door was carrying a sword — a warrior, then. Right behind him came a blonde woman with a bow and a quiver on her back — an archer. Behind her, a white-haired woman whose necklace was a cross-shaped rosary — a priestess. And bringing up the rear, watching their backs, a black-haired man with a pair of daggers — a rogue.
Hmm…
I had a pretty good idea who they were.
“You there — the warrior?”
“Ah, yes.”
“A mutual acquaintance stopped by a few days ago and left a message. He said to tell you the old man had been here.”
The warrior’s eyes went wide. He dropped his guard and sheathed his sword.
“The wyvern hunter came through?”
“He said your paths must have crossed. He visited exactly… five days ago, and again four days ago. Twice.”
“Ha… We took a full week to get here from Coreloot, and that old man made the trip in basically a day…?”
The warrior dropped into a nearby chair looking thoroughly deflated. The other three still hadn’t fully relaxed; they watched me warily as they sat down at the same table.