“Um… a countryside guild branch like ours doesn’t keep that kind of money in the vault… We’ll send runners to several nearby branches to gather it, so the earliest we could have it ready is… tomorrow, I’m afraid.”
“What time tomorrow?”
“First thing in the afternoon… or thereabouts.”
Well, can’t be helped. Honestly, complaining here would be the unreasonable move.
“Understood. Oi, Sonya? Maria? We’re staying the night.”
“Then let’s get a room where we can all sleep together~!”
“Yes, I believe that would be best.”
”…Exercise some restraint tonight, both of you. You’re LOUD…”
We’re talking noise-complaint-from-the-inn levels here.
How do I get them to keep their voices down mid-… activity… I was pondering, when—
“A Calamity… confirmed in the Forest of No Return! Someone get the guildmaster!”
A burly adventurer burst through the guild doors hard enough to nearly take them off their hinges, face pale, screaming.
“A CALAMITY, you say?!”
“Oi oi, you’re kidding!”
“What’s the monster?!”
Sprinting toward the counter, the burly adventurer shouted again.
“An Evil Cyclops…! Extermination difficulty SSS!”
At those words the guild hall fell — for one long moment — dead silent.
Then, a female mage’s small scream broke the seal, and the hall erupted.
“That can’t be right?! Forget the guildmaster, run STRAIGHT to the king!”
“No — the king can’t handle this either! Someone get word to the imperial capital — ANYONE!”
The receptionist, already pale from the arc dragon incident, drained several shades further.
“Ah… ah… awawa…”
Face somewhere past blue and into gray, she retreated deep into what I assumed was the guildmaster’s office.
“Hey, Maria? Is this Evil Cyclops really that bad?”
“It stands fifty meters tall, you see. So — yes. Quite bad.”
Yeah, that’s bad.
That’s not a monster, that’s a kaiju.
Just then, every adventurer’s gaze in the guild converged on a swordsman in his fifties, drinking black tea at a corner table.
“—Adventurer King Marcus, sir!”
“An S-rank-plus adventurer, one of the world’s finest, here in our little country guild — thank the gods! Please, protect our town from the Evil Cyclops!”
Hearing them all, the man called Marcus shook his head.
“You lot telling me to go die?”
“But sir, you’ve slain an Evil Cyclops before—”
“That time I had comrades and a proper safety margin… Right now I’m solo. Soloing that thing, we’re dead even in strength. Fifty-percent win rate.”
“But…!”
Then Marcus grinned.
“—If anyone here has the spine to hunt the Evil Cyclops WITH me… I might consider it.”
“W-well, but…”
“Don’t ask another man to bet his life when you won’t bet your own. My life’s precious to me too. Now — if you could partner me with someone at my own level… that’d be a different conversation.”
“But someone at your level or above, sir, that’s…”
And there, Maria walked up to Marcus—
“It has been a long time.”
“You… Maria? What happened to the demon realm?”
“Oh, all manner of things.”
Maria nodded lightly, looking briefly nostalgic.
“That we reunite here must be fate of some kind. I shall join the hunt.”
“Well, if it’s you — my equal in strength — I’d hardly refuse, but… even with the two of us… we could still take losses on our side…”
At that, Maria sent a glance toward Sonya.
“The queen of the palm-top rabbits. She — will also be joining us.”
“A palm-top rabbit… you’re… serious? No. But… if THAT’S the lineup…!”
Marcus grinned wide.
“Then the reward splits three ways, clean and even!”
“Yes, sir~!”
Incredible.
I have never been so completely outside a conversation in my life.
And so, well—
—all I came here to do was fact-check Arisa’s rip-off… and somehow it’s turned into THIS.