Volume 3 Chapter 14: Adventurer Business

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Author: 夜州 (Yashu)

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Having been promoted to a count, Cain spent his days being very busy. He had to look over the items that were sent to him as congratulations for his promotion, including the greeting cards to the nobles, and reply to them.

Messengers on fast horses were sent to the Holy Country of Marineford from the Kingdom of Esfort regarding the attack of the Saint.

It was also written in the letter how the captain of the Saint’s bodyguards was the person who had requested the attack, and that he was currently imprisoned in the kingdom for doing so.

Then, as there was a lot of evidence found during the search of the Dark guild, many nobles were either disgraced and made leave or made to pay hefty fines. All of them had either made requests to, or were involved in the plans of the Dark guild.

Hinata would also be staying in the kingdom until a new party of people came to pick her up.

“Cain-sama, another company has come to visit, asking if they could sew your formal wear for the announcement party.”

Cain was being chased all over the place by preparations for the announcement party for his engagements, which would be happening not long from then.

The king had been the one who had announced it out of nowhere, but the one getting everything ready, as well as showing the guests in would be Cain. However, it was not something that could be done in time without getting the whole Silford family involved in the preparations.

The venue would be the royal castle, as he was engaged to a princess.

“Ugh… I seriously can’t take this any more!!”

Koran was also in contact with the royal and ducal families on where to send the invitations. But even then, the preparations weren’t finished yet.

Cain’s stress had just accumulated and accumulated due to the constant stress.

“That’s it. I’ll go alleviate some stress for a bit.”

“Hey Cain-sama!!”

Cain said, and transferred away.

Cain transferred to his office in Drintor, told Darmeshia what he was going to do, then headed to the adventurers’ guild.

The building in the centre of the town, the adventurers’ guild, was quiet, as it was the afternoon. However, there were still a number of adventuring parties at the bar, already drinking.

Cain went straight to the reception and called out to the receptionist lady there.

The one who came to answer him was a girl still in her teens, seemingly just reached adulthood.

“Excuse me. Is there somewhere where a lot of monsters have gathered?”

Even if Cain was a count and the lord of Drintor, to people who didn’t know him, he was just your everyday kid. The receptionist lady appeared not to know about Cain. As such, she talked to him as she would to your everyday child.

“Children shouldn’t be going to such dangerous places, okay? You should do jobs in the safety of the town, alright? Nowadays, the job offices the lord-sama set up can help find you a job. Go do that. The lord-sama here really thinks about the commoners and adventurers, so– –”

The receptionist lady endlessly pointed out the good things about the town with a proud face.

Cain became embarrassed at being praised, and looked away.

“…I’d like to defeat monsters, though, if it’s possible…”

Answered Cain with a strained smile, still not having been recognized as the lord.

However, he still didn’t admit it to the receptionist lady, who, worrying about Cain, was trying to show him different jobs.

“…Excuse me, is the guild master in? If you just tell him ‘Cain’s here’, he’ll understand.”

Said Cain, tired of their back and forth that got nowhere.

“…!? So you’re Cain-kun. I can’t just go call the guild master that easily you know, especially if it’s just a child that said it. Okay?”

Cain sighed at the receptionist lady’s answer.

“Well then… could you call someone in a managerial position…?”

“Awww! I might be new here, but calling for someone else is just mean!”

The receptionist lady seemed to have become a little angry, her face now red, as she stood up, slamming her desk.

The receptionist lady neighbouring her, as well as the manager in the back looked up at that sound.

“Cain-kun, children should stay in the town like they should– –”

*Slaaaaaap*

The back of the receptionist lady’s head was slapped.

“O-owieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Wh-what!?”

The suddenly hit receptionist lady turned around hurriedly. Standing there was deputy guild master Letia, who usually sat in the very back.

“Deputy guild master! Hitting me out of nowhere, how mean!”

Ignoring the angry receptionist lady, Letia bowed to Cain.

“It has been a long time, Cain-sama. I will go call the guild master immediately. I’ll prepare the reception room immediately, so please come this way.”

Letia called out to the staff to go call the guild master.

The receptionist lady, surprised at Letia’s conduct, asked in a small voice.

“…umm, Cain-kun is…?”

The receptionist lady was hit on the head once again at calling him ‘Cain-kun’.

“O-ow…”

Letia frowned at the receptionist lady, who was now tearing up, and said.

“Ness, this person is Count Cain von Silford Drintor, the lord of this town. I told you the other day, didn’t I? That the territory’s lord was promoted to a count from being a viscount…”

Realizing the shocking truth, the receptionist lady’s eyes widened.

“Eh, eh!? I thought the lord-sama was that handsome young man who occasionally comes to talk with the guild master!?”

And, once again, she was hit on the head by Letia.

“That’s Baron Alec, Cain-sama’s older brother. He’s this town’s deputy governor… honestly…”

Letia turned to Cain and lowered her head deeply again.

“Cain-sama, I’m terribly sorry. The education of our receptionists seems not to be perfect… I hope you can pardon her for her rudeness… Hey, you lower your head too.”

Ness, the receptionist lady, also lowered her head, which was half pressed-down by Letia.

“It has been a long time, Letia-san. It’s fine. For people who don’t know me, I do look like just a simple child. And Ness-san over there was also just looking out for me.”

“Thank you very much. Then, I’ll show you in, so come this way, please.”

Leaving the dumbfounded Ness behind, Cain was guided to the reception room, where he sat down on the sofa.

“The guild master will be here in a moment, so please wait just a bit.”

A different staff member made Cain some black tea and put it down in front of him.

Not long after, the door was opened vigorously, and Rikisetsu and Letia entered.

“Oh, Cain-sama, long time no see! Glad to see you’re doing well. So, what’s up today?”

Sighing at only now having arrived at the main topic, Cain told them why he was there.

“Aha, you want to go defeat monsters… Letia, is there anywhere fitting?”

“Cain-sama is A-Rank, no? Then, there’s no other options than a dungeon…”

Cain’s eyes started shining when he heard the word ‘dungeon’. He had heard that the forest near Drintor had dungeons some time ago, but as he had been busy, he had completely forgotten until now.

Cain had instantly decided that he would be going to a dungeon.

When Cain said he wanted to go to a dungeon, Letia left the room to go get a map, and Rikisetsu chatted away with him.

Cain was given the map and left the reception room behind him, where Ness, seeing his face, stood up hastily, and, even while trembling a little, bowed politely.

Cain waved back, smiling, and left the guild.

As he walked around the town, no-one noticed that he was the lord, and the place was full of energy.

The food stalls were giving off enticing scents, and there were people who were selling grilled skewers and the like, as well as people in front of the shops calling in customers.

Cain made his way through all that liveliness, and went out the gate.

Although, the guards obviously recognized Cain as the lord of the territory, and saluted tensely as he passed by.

Waving to them too, Cain went outside.

The forest was in a straight line from the west gate, with the two kilometers leading there now paved with cobblestones. Even if the industry of the town had developed, Drintor was still a town of adventurers. Due to the roads having been improved, there were now companies that offered to carry the dead monsters from the forest’s entrance to the town by cart.

A simple fenced fort had been set up next to the entrance to the forest, with a number of carts inside it.

There was also a simplistic lounge, and, in case of emergencies, there was even a guild branch office.

This was also something Cain had implemented to attract adventurers to the town.

In order to go into the forest or the dungeons, one had to first register at the guild before entering. The reason for this control on entry and exit of the forest was so that the guild could search for and manage missing persons more easily. It was decided after Cain had met with the guild and discussed it.

Naturally, not everyone returned unharmed, and some had to be declared missing or deceased.

It was something unavoidable in the adventurer business.

Cain passed through the gate of the small fortress. Inside, there were adventurers gathered there to have their monster corpses carried for them, as well as people who had finished exploring the forest/dungeons and were now eating.

And so, in the midst of all that, Cain went to the guild branch office as per procedure.

The receptionist didn’t know Cain, and thus tried to oppose him going into a dungeon alone, but after having seen the golden A-Rank adventurers’ guild card, the receptionist did a one-eighty and hurried through the procedure.

Some of the adventurers eating creased their eyebrows upon hearing that a child would be entering a dungeon alone, but Cain, as an adventurer, was responsible for himself, as all adventurers were. As such, they couldn’t complain.

Cain, not carrying any luggage other than his leather gear and simple sword, certainly stood out from the other adventurers.

Someone from a party of adventurers approached Cain.

“Oi, kiddo. Isn’t it too early for you to be going into a dungeon alone? Especially in that get-up. Wouldn’t it be better for you to accept requests inside the town or something?”

The young man in his mid-twenties with a stout body and a longsword on his belt asked Cain.

“Thank you very much for your concern, however I have faith in my strength, so I will be fine.”

Cain replied to the adventurer with a smile, and proceeded on into the forest.

Even if it was a forest, there was still a signpost pointing to the dungeon, so people wouldn’t get lost. And even though the path seemed to also be used by animals, it was somewhat maintained, and Cain didn’t really stay on alert while walking along.

And then, an opening came into view, surrounded by huge stones that one could even have called ruins.

“So this is a dungeon, huh… I’m looking forward to this.”

Cain excitedly stepped into his first ever dungeon.

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