kscans

Chapter 184 - An Adventurer's Guild Quest

A week had passed since the day the treasure was distributed.

Though some issues remained unresolved, Hayato could say that he had spent generally peaceful days.

Sales at the base, centered on woodworking products, had begun to pick up, and the customers who had been staying away had returned. That was part of it, but the most welcome thing was that the pestering from the bandit group and the Assassin Guild had ceased.

He could see that Rose, who was minding the shop, looked a little unsatisfied, but Hayato said nothing.

In contrast to Hayato's peace, it seemed Diite's situation would take more time, and she had contacted him to say she wouldn't be able to visit for a while.

The hacking wasn't being done by a single individual, but through players, making it difficult to identify the culprit. There was also no information on Ban's side for now, so they couldn't identify the other party either.

The method of hacking through players involved having them install a special tool onto their headgear under the guise of a "part-time job" within this virtual reality. It was a tool called a macro that registered specified actions and was easy to use. The system was that they would receive a small amount of money just for using it.

It couldn't be used for things like fighting, but it could automate simple actions like mass-producing items with production skills or mining in a mine.

However, that was just on the surface. While convenient, the tool had a hidden purpose. When a player logged in with the tool installed, it would hack through that player's connection.

Diite was impressed that they had managed to implement such a tool, but at the same time, she was quite angry.

She couldn't forgive the introduction of a foreign object like this tool into this virtual reality, which, while not a perfect world, had a certain degree of order. Although it was only a voice chat, her voice seemed to contain resentment, and Hayato could sense it.

She was making world announcements in the game that using illegal tools could lead to jail time, but many players still used them, and some were even saying that such a system should be officially implemented. A portion of players were even conducting a signature campaign within the virtual reality.

She seemed to suspect that even that was instigated by the other party, and Diite had become busier than before. However, rather than being stressed by it, her desire to find the culprits and retaliate was high, and her spirits were quite high.

Hayato wanted to help her somehow, but he had absolutely no knowledge in that area, so he was just thinking of treating her well the next time she came.

As for the airship blueprints, they were currently being dealt with.

Sonia, Ney, and the others had recently been completing quests in the Empire.

This was because the Grand Prison under the Empire was off-limits, but it had been changed so that entry was permitted with the Empire's approval.

To obtain that permission, one needed to complete quests in the Empire and earn a certain amount of fame from the NPCs. Because of this, Sonia and Ney had been repeatedly completing monster subjugation quests at the Adventurer's Guild.

Cecil the Collector was originally an Imperial citizen and had a certain amount of fame, so she could still enter, but she probably wouldn't be able to find the blueprints even if she did, so she wasn't doing anything for now.

Also, Rosalie of the Black Rose and her group were originally from the Demon Country, so they seemed reluctant to raise their fame in the Empire and were passing on it this time. From what Hayato heard, they were busy formulating a plan to rescue Lunaria.

And so, the base had been peaceful recently.

Hayato spent his mornings producing items to sell, and he was living a leisurely life.

However, this morning, Sonia and Ney came over.

"Good morning, you two. Are you able to enter the Grand Prison soon?"

He had only asked lightly while drinking his coffee, but both Sonia and Ney had serious expressions.

"About that, I came today because I want to borrow your strength, Hayato. Could you come with us to the Imperial Capital Gralmorat?"

"I don't mind lending a hand, but what are we doing?"

"We're doing a quest right now, and we need you to make the item for delivery."

"Can't I just make it here and give it to you?"

Delivery quests didn't require you to make the item in front of the NPC. In fact, it didn't matter how you obtained the item for delivery. It could even be something sold at an NPC's shop.

"No, you see..."

What Ney explained to Hayato was this.

Currently, Ney's group and Sonia were completing quests at the Adventurer's Guild to raise their fame, but they were all subjugation quests. Because they had completed a considerable number of those quests in a short period, they had been warned by the Adventurer's Guild.

A penalty was imposed on them, preventing Ney and Sonia from taking on subjugation quests for a while, as there would be no quests left for other players and NPCs to do.

Now, Ney's group and Sonia could only do delivery quests or errand quests.

There was also a limit to the number of quests they could accept at once, so they wanted to complete as many as possible on the spot. However, accepting a quest, going to Hayato's place to request it, and then returning to the Empire was a time-consuming process.

So they wanted Hayato to wait at the Adventurer's Guild in the Imperial Capital and make the items on the spot.

(So it's to save time. That's not a problem... but I'll need an escort. I still haven't been contacted, but the Ten Holy Demonic Swords are apparently after me. I have a Ring of Teleportation, but that's a last resort.)

Thinking this, Hayato contacted Relic.

"I apologize, Hayato-sama. I must attend a meeting at the Butler Guild today, so I cannot perform escort duties..."

"Is that so? No, it's alright. I'll ask Esha then."

"Yes, I apologize."

After that, he spoke to Esha when she logged in, and they all headed to the Imperial Capital Gralmorat.

The Adventurer's Guild in the Imperial Capital Gralmorat was bustling with activity.

Adventurer's Guilds were everywhere, but the ones in the Imperial Capital Gralmorat and the Royal Capital Anhemudal were probably the largest.

It was a building with three floors above ground and one below, about a hundred meters square.

The first floor had a reception area and an attached dining hall, with a considerable number of tables. There were many players and NPCs, so although it was spacious, it didn't feel deserted.

The basement was a training ground, and the second and third floors had various rooms, but Hayato had never been there, so he didn't know much. In fact, he had rarely been to an Adventurer's Guild, and even when he had, it was just to gather information, and he hadn't done many quests.

All Hayato knew was that there were quest papers posted on a bulletin board on the wall, and you could accept a quest by taking one to the reception.

Ney's group immediately went to the reception and accepted a quest.

Hayato looked at the delivery item and instructed them on what to gather. Ney's group and Sonia split up to get the items.

Hayato and Esha sat at a nearby table and were about to order something to eat. They had nothing to do until Ney's group returned with the materials, so they thought they would kill time by having a meal.

Esha looked at the menu with a serious expression.

"How much can I order?"

"How much are you planning to order?"

"Just before I get banned, I suppose. The judgment is important. Whether I touch the master's reverse scale or not... it's quite difficult. This tension is unbearable."

"Don't talk about it like it's a sport. And you're banned from all the restaurants in the Royal Capital, right?"

Simply put, she had lost every time. There was no judgment or anything of the sort.

"By the way, Master, are you going to the Grand Prison?"

"You changed the subject so blatantly. No, I'm not going. Unlike the salvage, production skills aren't needed, and I wouldn't be much help in a fight, so I'm leaving it to Sonia-san and Ney's group. That's why I haven't been taking quests in the Empire either."

"I see."

In the case of the salvage, Hayato had been quite useful because of the ship repairs. He had also gone along because it was romantic.

While the Grand Prison was a romantic location, it was like a normal dungeon, so it was a bit tough for Hayato. The ability to cook and maintain weapons and armor during an exploration was a strength, but it wasn't the kind of place that required such a long exploration.

Unlike the Labyrinth Castle he had gone to with Ash and the others, there weren't consecutive boss battles, so Hayato would be of little use.

Besides, he wanted to focus on enriching the products for sale at the base right now. It was plain, but he enjoyed gradually stocking the shop's goods and increasing sales.

For these reasons, Hayato had no intention of going to the Grand Prison from the start.

However, the fact that Esha had brought it up meant there was something to it. He decided to confirm.

"Is it perhaps that you want to go, Esha?"

"No, that is not it. Besides, if I go, the monsters will become ferocious, and I will attract rare monsters."

"Diite-chan said there's no such system, you know."

Esha had the demerit of being attacked by monsters that normally wouldn't attack, but there was no system that made them ferocious or attracted rare monsters. If Diite, the administrator of this world, said so, then it was definitely not the case.

"So, you mean I attract rare monsters naturally?"

"...There were a lot of people at that time. Maybe something about someone other than you reacted."

"So, Master is also a suspect."

"A suspect? Well, that doesn't matter, but is it a problem that I'm not going to the Grand Prison?"

"No, not at all. I just thought you might be bored staying at the base all the time."

"I'm an indoor person, so I don't really mind... Speaking of being indoors, Noat-san hasn't shown any signs of leaving the base even though it's been a week. The period of treating her to meals is over, you know..."

The prima donna, Noat. He had hired her for the destruction of the bandit group for a week of free meals, but for some reason, she had taken up residence at the base and was eating her fill. A week had just passed, but she showed no signs of leaving.

"Come to think of it, Noat was here too. I think she probably has no intention of leaving in the first place. Well, you should just charge her for lodging and food. She should be able to pay since she earns a decent amount."

"We're running a shop, not an inn... Ah, speaking of which..."

Hayato and Esha continued their conversation like this until Ney's group returned.