Interlude 6
The Guild Master's Investigation, Part
1
Translator : PolterGlast
"Phew. Well, that
should take care of the Ogre horde for now. Why do emergency quests have to be
such a pain?"
In a quiet, empty
room, the exhausted voice of the Guild Master, Dwayne, echoed.
An emergency had
occurred while his work was piling up, and he had been swamped with dealing
with it, working all night long.
An emergency quest, as
the name implies, is an urgent request for which the Adventurer's Guild offers
a reward.
Because of this, there
is a lot of paperwork involved, and despite the urgency of the matter, the
quest cannot be issued immediately.
"I need to do
something about the misers at the top, but it's not like I can do anything
about it."
Dwayne himself had
given up on emergency quests, having long since resigned himself to the fact
that they were just a hassle.
Although it was a huge
waste of time, he had already accepted it, so he wasn't irritated at all.
Rather, his happiness
at finally being able to search for the person who had cut off the Ogre's head
was greater, and just as he was about to begin his investigation despite having
worked all night, there was another knock on the door.
The various procedures
for the emergency quest had just been completed, and he had finally managed to
secure some free time.
Dwayne could only
sigh, but on the second knock, he finally answered.
"Excuse me, sir.
I have an urgent report. The Ogre—"
"Hold on. We just
finished all the paperwork a moment ago. Can't you let me take a break?"
"I'm sorry, sir.
This is urgent, so please allow me to report."
Urgent.
The moment he heard
that word, Dwayne's heart ached, and he pressed a hand to his chest.
It was the last word
he wanted to hear right now, and it confirmed that his search for the person who
had cut off the Ogre's head would be postponed even further.
Once this is over, I'm
taking a few days off.
Dwayne decided this in
his heart, then prompted the guild employee who had come all this way to speak.
"Alright. Tell me
what's going on."
"Regarding the
emergency quest that was just issued, we have received a report that it has
been completed. I came to have you confirm it, Guild Master."
"Huh? The quest
was issued this morning. It's not even noon yet; there's no way it could be
completed."
He had received a
report that a horde of nearly a hundred Ogres was approaching.
That was precisely why
Dwayne had gone to the trouble of issuing an emergency quest.
A report of completion
in such a short time meant one of two things: it was a false report, or the
sighting information was a lie.
"But we really
did receive a report of the quest's completion. We have also received proper
proof of subjugation."
"Who was the
adventurer who reported the completion?"
"A middle-aged
rookie adventurer, and the B-rank adventurer, Aoi."
A geezer rookie
adventurer.
Any employee of the
Biodasdal Adventurer's Guild would know that adventurer.
He was a hot topic of
gossip among the adventurers, so the information reached his ears whether he
wanted it to or not.
Dwayne had expected
him to lose his life quickly, but it seemed he was more competent than he had
thought, having been promoted to E-rank at a near-record speed.
"Setting aside
the middle-aged rookie, it makes sense if Aoi was involved. She was the one who
handled the [Unbearable God Cult] last time, wasn't she?"
"Yes. She said
something about not having defeated them herself, but it is recorded that she
engaged them in combat and drove them away."
Aoi was another figure
who was a hot topic among the adventurers.
They had been making a
fuss about the birth of a new hero, but as far as Dwayne had seen, he
remembered her not being of that caliber.
Of course, he
acknowledged her skill in climbing to B-rank as a solo adventurer, and his
evaluation took into account her achievement of driving off the [Unbearable God
Cult].
However, if it was Aoi
who had also routed the Ogre horde in such a short time, then he would have to
re-evaluate his underestimation of her.
"Show me the
proof of subjugation, for now."
"Understood. It's
in this bag."
His interest in Aoi
now piqued as much as his interest in the person who had cut off the Ogre's
head, his earlier irritation had vanished before he knew it.
He took the tightly
packed sack from the guild employee and immediately began to inspect its
contents.
"...These are all
really Ogre ears. You said a special individual was also sighted. Did you
receive its ear as well?"
"It should be in
the other bag."
After confirming the
ears of the normal Ogres, he checked the contents of the other, separate bag.
He casually checked
the contents of the bag, but upon seeing the monster's ear inside, Dwayne
couldn't help but cry out.
"Wh-what is this!
This strange condition!"
"Was something
wrong with it?"
"Wrong doesn't
even begin to cover it... It's completely burnt to a crisp."
"Ah, perhaps it
was done to deceive us? To make us think a normal Ogre was a special
Ogre—something like that."
There was a
possibility of what the guild employee was suggesting, but the way it was
burned was strange.
Every single Ogre ear
was burned in exactly the same way, and they were thoroughly charred all the
way through.
There was an
adventurer who had tried this kind of fraud before, but at that time, only the
surface was burnt, and the inside was still raw.
You wouldn't get this
kind of charring without super high-powered magic, and considering the short
time between the emergency quest being issued and its completion, it's easy to
imagine there would have been no time for such trickery.
However... the point
that was bothering him was that he had never heard of Aoi being a mage.
"I think that's
unlikely. By the way, how many casualties were there?"
"We have received
reports that over thirty adventurers have died."
"What? Over
thirty people have died in this short a time? This is getting more and more
confusing. ...In any case, I have to go to the scene."
"I'll gather the
guild employees who can fight. Should we head out immediately?"
"Yes, we're
leaving right now."
He no longer had the
time to be searching for the adventurer who had cut off the Ogre's head, but
this case reeked of an incredible big shot.
In addition to a
master of swordsmanship, a master of magic had likely appeared at the same
time.
Regretting that he
only had one body, Dwayne headed for the scene where the Ogre horde was said to
have appeared.
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