CHAPTER 55: THE LUMINOUS TERRITORY CLEANUP PLAN

The Luminous territory was considerably vast. We’d never be able to visit each village if we straight up walked from village to village.

However—

“Woow, Albert! The meadow is so pretty!”

“Sure is.”

We gazed at the ever-extending, green lands from above.

We flew through the sky using my Magic Arrow.

Flying with Magic Arrow was much faster than walking by foot, and whether it be a massive river or a perilous path, we end up ignoring all obstacles entirely.

It wasn’t impossible to visit all the villages in a single summer.

Laura and I followed what the request papers said and visited each village in order.

“Magic Arrow.”

“Gugi!?”

We exterminated goblins that troubled the villagers.

“Magic Arrow.”

“Gei!?”

We exterminated lizardmen that troubled the villagers.

“Magic Arrow.”

“Buibui!?”

We exterminated orcs—which were a species of demi-human that had the head of a pig—that troubled the villagers.

“Magic Arrow.”

“Kuun!?”

We exterminated kobolds—which were a species of demi-human that had the head of a dog—that troubled the villagers.

“Magic Arrow.”

“Magic Arrow.”

“Magic Arrow.”

We defeated absolutely every last monster that threatened the villagers.

We were thanked by each and every village.

“Thank you very much! You are the benefactor of our village! Might you be adventurers?”

“No, not quite. We don’t need the rewards, so please withdraw your request to the guild.”

“I-I couldn’t! Are you serious!?”

“Yes.”

“Could you at least teach me your names!?”

“I’m Albert.”

“I’m Laura.”

Just as I did when we cleared the landslide, I decided to only go by my first name.

…Well, I won’t be inheriting the title of marquis until quite far into the future, and there probably wasn’t much of a problem with my face or name being remembered.

Laura’s presence was very much appreciated in regards to communicating with the villagers.

If it were just me, I would’ve came off as some shady, mysterious dude that came out of nowhere. However, when a young, sociable person like Laura was by my side, then the villagers weren’t as cautious with us. On top of that, Laura knew the subtleties of interacting with the villagers, so she acted as a cushion between me and them.

In addition, when I exterminated the monsters that bothered their village, the villagers came to completely trust Laura and I.

“Albert! At least eat something before you go!”

We were warmly welcomed, and the villagers told us about the various things that the village was troubled by.

That was exactly what I wanted to hear. I was sure that information would be useful to me in the future. I nodded my head up and down in agreement and listened carefully to what they had to say.

Some of the villagers had some complaints about the feudal lord, though…

“Noble people seriously don’t get what we go through!”

…I’m sorry for hiding my true identity.

…It felt like I was deceiving them.

Naturally, I had no intention to report their bad-mouthing to Father. I decided to keep only the constructive opinions and forget everything else I heard that day.

Father was the type of noble to bear his people in mind, but after all, there was the gap known as a hierarchical relationship between him and the citizens. The people on the bottom half of that relationship probably thought, “Why won’t you even do something so simple for us!” or something similar.

I’ll gather the sentiment of their voices while I’m currently free to move around as I want. 

I’m sure that this accumulation of opinions has something good in store for my future—

As well as the Luminous territory’s future.

Around the end of summer break, at the Luminous capital—

The receptionist lady for the Adventurer’s Guild received a single letter. Villages occasionally sent these to request people to do jobs.

The receptionist knew the contents of the letter without even needing to look.

…It’s probably another request cancellation…

When she cut the seal, it was just as she expected.

This has been happening continuously for the past couple of weeks.

“We no longer need to keep our request out. It’s been taken care of.”

“Someone defeated the goblins for us!”

“We somehow managed. Please suspend our request.”

Such letters came one after the other.

It was highly unlikely that the monsters just disappeared all of a sudden. Someone must be defeating them at an unbelievable pace.

Who could it possibly be—

“Hey, I’m taking on this request!”

A warrior-looking man stood in front of the receptionist.

It was the middle-aged drunkard that picked a fight with the eccentric pair that came here some time ago, which consisted of a man that gave off a calm impression and a white-haired girl.

The man’s face teemed with impatience and displeasure.

“Unfortunately, that request was cancelled just now.”

After the receptionist snatched the paper from his hands, she ripped it apart and threw it in the wastebasket.

“W-What did you just say!? Aren’t the extermination jobs I set aside disappearing too quickly!? What the hell does this mean!?”

“Hell if I know.”

The receptionist mercilessly gave him the cold shoulder. The Adventurer’s Guild’s job was to smoothly act as a middleman between request and requestor. The men’s attempts at sabotage to artificially raise the reward were, frankly speaking, unpleasant. It wasn’t like the guild employed them or anything, so their actions were tolerated.

“If you’re feeling vexed, then you should’ve just accepted the requests from the start.”

“Shit, just give me the other requests! As long as it’s profitable—!”

“It’d be best to give it up.”

The receptionist called the man to a stop from the kindness of her heart as he tried to dash over to the bulletin board.

“The extermination requests affixed over there aren’t trustworthy anymore. It wouldn’t be strange for any of them to get cancelled at any time. If that happens, you’d just be wasting your time and effort by going to the villages.”

His face completely red, the man ground his teeth together.

The receptionist continued indifferently.

“Can’t you just steadily work as a guard or something like before?”

“Such cheap work won’t be enough! You know that! If I don’t strike gold with the extermination quests, then my debt…!”

“That’s right, you can’t pay it back. The money you borrowed from the guild, that is.”

The receptionist spoke with a voice as cold as a blizzard.

This man got into debt, drank alcohol and continued to fool around. He did that day after day, counting on the increased reward money from the extermination requests.

“You intend on properly paying it back—is it alright for me to think that?”

“O-…O-…O-O-O…Obviously!”

He said that as he averted his eyes.

…This guy’s gonna make a break for it….

Using her professional experience, the receptionist could see through him.

However, she didn’t say a word. All she did was silently watch as he took his leave.

Her job was to be the middleman for requests; It was not debt collecting.

There were people more suited to collection—The hound-like personnel who chased debtors to the ends of hell would probably deal with him.

Nevertheless, could it possibly be those two…?

The receptionist had a hunch that it was that duo hunting the monsters.

Depending on the village, there were occasions where people would come to the guild in person and inform them of cancellation.

“What did the people that came to your village look like?”

When the receptionist asked that, they responded like so:

“I think their names were Albert and Laura. One was a quiet young man that gave off a gentle impression, and the other was a girl with pure white hair.”

A duo consisting of a quiet man and a white-haired girl.

Around the time summer started, those two visited the guild. She remembered that the girl’s hair was pure white.

If we’re assuming it was those two—then who on earth are they…?

The number of villages canceling their requests were far too many. It seemed highly unlikely that they were traveling by foot, considering the intervals between each cancellation. 

They traveled at a pace far beyond normal.

Maybe I should tell the higher-ups that it might be best to inform the main guild what those two have been doing.

They’ll surely be of some sort of use—

The receptionist believed that.