After handing off the assassin to the guards, I returned to Fran. Together, we made our way to the Adventurers’ Guild. We entered and found the inside to be unusually quiet.
Well a whole load of adventurers just left with the princess so I guess it makes sense for it to be empty.
“Ey! ‘Elcome!”
A loud voice called out to us from the counter. The receptionist was a hearty, middle aged man with a rolled up headband around his forehead, one that would not look out of place at a fisherman’s market by the wharf. We approached the counter.
“Interestin’. You the Black Lightning Princess, lassie?” he asked.
“Nn. Me.”
“I knew it! Good to have you ’ere!”
He nodded as he examined Fran’s guild card.
Goddamn, this dude is way too lively!
“So what can I help ya with today?” he asked.
“Want to know how to get to capital,” said Fran.
“The capital? Oh, ya wanna go to Vestia? Normally, ya wanna find yourself a horned carriage.”
“Normally?”
“Yeah.” He scratched his head. “They’ve all been rented out for the time being.”
“Princess?”
“Yeah. I told the guildmaster he was spendin’ way too much on the adventurers and the horned carriages, but he didn’t listen to me. Our guildmaster’s the type that really likes to please his higher ups, ya see.”
The guildmaster employed all the adventurers and horned carriages available just to ingratiate himself to the royals.
“But honestly, I can’t really say anythin’ too negative ‘bout it. I can get why he’s goin’ all out for our royals, y’see.”
“Why?” asked Fran.
“O’course. The country’s been doin’ real well since the current Beast Lord took over. He ‘imself used to be an adventurer, so he’s been givin’ the guild a good cut of benefits too.”
At first, I’d thought that the guildmaster was just a tool, but it turned out there was a bit more to it. He and many other adventurers simply adored the Beast Lord and the adventurer-benefiting policies he stood behind.
But will Roserraccoon be okay with so many adventurers and horned carriages missing? What if there is an emergency?
“Guild empty, okay?” asked Fran.
“Haha don’t ya worry! We can deal with it lassie” he replied. “This city’s a hotspot as far as adventurers go. They gather here from all over the country, ‘specially if they’re planning on makin’ use of The Shortcut. Give it 10 days or so, and we’ll be just as full as we were this mornin’.”
“Got it,” Fran nodded.
“We’ll ask for reinforcements from the guild in the capital,” he said. “Couple o’ strong guys would come and keep us covered for a bit. Our guildmaster’s pretty capable too.”
“Guildmaster, strong?” asked Fran.
“Yeah. He’s gotta be to be a guildmaster,” he said. “Plus we’re in this situation cuz of his selfishness, so we’re gonna work ‘im to the bone haha!”
Seems like my worries about the lack of manpower were needless.
“So,” he said. “A normal horse carriage takes ‘round five to six days to reach Vestia, ya see.”
“Route complicated?” asked Fran.
“Route? Naw it’s basically a straight line from ‘ere to Vestia. There’s even a highway built for carriages, so ya can’t get lost.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“You plannin’ to head over by yerself?”
“Nn.”
“Well, if even half the rumors ‘bout ya are true, then you’d be there sooner without a carriage.”
I don’t know what these rumors are but if they are basically equating us with an A rank adventurer then they’re probably accurate enough.
“They be some crazy rumours. They sa—” the receptionist was about to continue talking, but suddenly stopped himself short.
“Something wrong?” asked Fran.
“Seems like the guildmaster’s callin’ for ya,” he said.
“Nn?”
“Our guildmaster here’s a wind mage. ‘e can send his voice to specific people.”
Huh, interesting.
It definitely sounds plausible if you can control vibrations in the air. Although you’d probably need a good amount of skill in order to make the message clearly reach the person you’re targeting. It seems the guildmaster uses this technique to give orders to people around the guild.
“Just go upstairs?” asked Fran.
“Yeah. Sorry in advance,” he said. “If our guildmaster says somethin’ stupid just smack ‘im.”
“Got it.”
“But he’s not a bad person at heart so don’t worry.”
Those words alone gave me a rough understanding of his character. We went upstairs and entered the indicated door only to find a frivolous looking man standing beyond the doorway.
“Hello there!” he said with a cheap smile. “I am Emyute, the guildmaster of Rosserracoon’s adventurer guild and a Wind Soul Tanukikin.”
“Rank C adventurer, Fran. Black Heavenly Tigerkin.”
“So you’re the legendary beastkin? This is an amazing moment for me. You definitely look as strong as you look cute, so I can see why the Beast Lord approves of you.”
He seems to be an evolved tanukikin, and from the species name, he is a subspecies that specializes in wind magic. Overall the receptionist was right about him. He seemed lighthearted and kind of annoying but not a bad person at heart.
“Had business with me?” asked Fran.
“Straight to the point I see,” he said. “To be honest I wanted a favor from you.”
“Favor?”
“Yes. You see we just captured an foreign assassin. The problem is, his target was the princess.”
“Princess Nemea?”
“Exactly.”
Does he mean the assassin I just caught? Holy shit, information in this town travels really freaking fast. I really didn’t think information would have gotten all the way from the guards to the guildmaster even if there were no delays up the chain of command.
“You see, we have a magical item for communications in the guard room,” he said. “Everything they report goes to me. I just got this information a few minutes ago so your timing was absolutely perfect.”
“So, need what?” asked Fran.
“It’s simple. Deliver this letter to the capital. You can treat it as a proper quest.”
“Okay to deliver to guild in capital?”
“You can move much faster than a horse-drawn carriage, right?”
We’re being directly asked by the guildmaster himself so why not? We’re going to the capital anyway and doing this will put the guildmaster in our debt.
“We should accept,” I said.
“Got it,” said Fran. “Will accept quest.”
“Thank you so much!” said the guildmaster. “You’re doing me such a huge favor. Inside this letter is a request for more escorts for the princess so the faster the better okay?”
“But guarded by lots of adventurers already?” asked Fran.
“Hmm…well I guess it’s okay to tell you since I want this letter delivered for sure. But no telling other people, okay? An oath of silence will be included in this quest.”
“No problem” said Fran. “Will swear on tail.”
“The truth is that the princess that just left town is a fake. The real princess is elsewhere.”
Booyah! I fucking called it!
Sending thirty adventurers and all those horned carriages with the fake princess seemed kind of questionable. It turned out it really was all a ploy to make the fake princess seem more real. The assassin I captured had some doubts. There was a chance that other assassins may have started catching on as well.
“Delivering the letter is also for the safety of the real princess,” said the guildmaster.
“Got it.”
“That aside, would you care to join me for a meal before departing?”
“Not hurried?”
“That is that and this is this. It would not do for you to travel on an empty stomach. Above all else I get to have a meal with a lovely lady!”
But Fran is a still a child, you pedophile!
“Hmph.” Fran landed a beautiful jab right into his abdomen.
The guildmaster groaned. “But why…?” he asked.
“Receptionist said: ‘If our guildmaster says somethin’ stupid just smack ‘im’.”
“Damn him…ugh that hurt.”
“Hurry up. Tell way to get to capital.”
“Fine…”
And so we got the letter and managed to extract detailed directions to the capital from the guildmaster. It was pretty much just a straight line down the highway with only one branch somewhere in the middle. We had to turn right there then just follow the road. Information in hand, we exited the guild and made our way out of town to a place suitable for departure.
“Alright let’s do this!”
“Urushi, do best.”
“Woof!”
Fran mounted Urushi.
“Fly, Urushi! Fly!” I commanded.
“Woof woof!”
Urushi accelerated into a full run. His top speed was so fast we might even reach the capital in a single day.
“Aww hell yeah! YAHOOOOOOOOOO~!”
“Yahoo!”
“Woof woof!”
Urushi’s clearly having fun since it’s his first time running without hindrances in quite some time. Wait. Holy shit, he’s still accelerating. We might arrive even earlier than I anticipated.
