kscans

Chapter 85 - The Beginner's Workshop

A boy, his face full of expectation, was visiting the Adventurer's Guild in the city of Laurenzen. He might have looked like a boy hoping to register as an adventurer, but his attire was strange. He was dressed in simple clothes that seemed almost shabby, though anyone with a discerning eye would recognize them as first-rate quality, but he carried no weapons or armor. In one hand, he held a package that seemed to contain writing implements. In a word, his appearance was out of place in a place like the Adventurer's Guild, yet for some reason, the surrounding adventurers showed no signs of questioning him. ...It was as if they knew he had the right to be there.

"...So you’ve come. Yuri, was it?"

"Yes! I look forward to learning from you!"

"This workshop is originally for new adventurers... but well, ‘Lucky Footsteps’ vouches for you, and we had a request, a strong push, from the Adon Company, so the guild has no problem with it... but are you sure about this? What we teach here is, after all, just a beginner’s course."

"Yes, that’s exactly what I want. It’s not like I’m aiming to become a master craftsman or anything. Most importantly, I’m a beginner myself. It’s convenient to be taught a wide range of basic subjects."

"If that’s the case... but are you really going to take all the courses?"

"Yes. In my situation, it would be bad if I couldn’t do a little bit of everything."

"...You live alone in Salt-Sour Mountain, was it... If it weren't for the Adon Company’s guarantee, I wouldn’t have believed it. To think you’ve managed in a place where even adventurers hesitate..."

That’s right. Holing up solo in Salt-Sour Mountain, teeming with ferocious monsters, was a situation that would make even intermediate adventurers turn back. For a prodigy who had continued that for five long years, it wasn’t strange for him to be here at the Adventurer's Guild, even if he was a child. What’s more, if he had hunted four Greed Wolves almost single-handedly, no fool would try to pick a fight with him. On top of that, the final blow was the recent punishment of the con man. Who in their right mind would underestimate an opponent who had been immediately christened with the moniker "Merciless Crusher," regardless of his appearance?

"Um... I don’t live in the forest, but on the plains before it, and the area around my village is surrounded by a sturdy wall."

"Even adventurers wouldn’t camp in the forest of Salt-Sour Mountain. Besides, I heard you sometimes leave the village to gather things?"

"Well... I can’t get everything I need just by staying inside the village..."

And on those trips, he would hunt monsters for food and materials, but there was no need to go into that much detail. Yuri thought this and remained silent, but the eyes of the guild staff were not blind. They had noticed that while the things Yuri wore were made with a somewhat amateurish touch, their raw materials were of the highest quality... in other words, they were materials from considerably powerful monsters. If one considered how he had obtained them, Yuri's abilities were self-evident, even if the person himself seemed unaware.

"Well... it’s not our place to say, but... you’ve managed without these skills for five years, right? You might just be disappointed if you learn beginner techniques now."

The Adventurer's Guild's beginner workshop covered a wide range of fields, from blacksmithing, pharmacology, and carpentry to tailoring and cooking, but the content was only slightly better than what an amateur would know. It was questionable whether it would be useful for a high-level mission like living in Salt-Sour Mountain.

"No, far from mastering them, I couldn’t even practice many of them because I didn’t have the tools. Now that I’ve been able to buy tools here in Laurenzen, I can finally try them out."

Seeing Yuri’s beaming smile, the male staff member swallowed the words, "Most people would have given up and left before that." Prying into personal matters was a breach of etiquette.

"...Well, if you’re fine with that, then do your best."

"Yes!"

Yuri replied cheerfully, but then decided to ask something that had just occurred to him.

"By the way... do you have something like a list of monsters that appear near my home in Salt-Sour Mountain here at the Adventurer's Guild?"

"Yeah. It’s in the archives on the second floor. It’s open to non-adventurers too, so feel free to take a look."

"Thank you very much."