Chapter 39: Side Story 4: The Guild Master’s Conflict - Part 1
Haaah~
Another sigh slipped out.
A few days ago, some monster calling himself Yabe registered at the guild and then left.
Since then he hasn’t shown up again, so things have finally calmed down a bit and my health has recovered.
Right after he left I was peeing constantly and getting nosebleeds easily, but that’s mostly settled now.
Lately my appetite has come back too, and lunch actually tastes good again.
Even now my hands were full, so I sent the sub-guild master, Salina, out to the food stalls to buy lunch.
There’s this new trending food at the stalls lately that’s insanely delicious!
It’s called "Wild Boar Sloppy Style." It’s super easy to eat and tastes amazing.
You take juicy Wild Boar thigh meat, stuff it with shredded fresh cabecabe and sliced tomatoma, then sandwich it all in soft bread and drizzle sauce over it.
Each one is the perfect size to hold in one hand and take big bites out of. From my stomach’s perspective, I can easily down about five of them.
Apparently this way of stuffing everything in and eating it all at once is called "Sloppy Style."
They also sell versions with Giant Viper, Sand Lizard, and even Orc meat.
But! There’s something I like even more than Sloppy Style.
That would be "Earth Bird Fried Chicken"!
This thing called "fried chicken" is incredibly innovative. It’s cooked in a large amount of oil, so it’s pretty expensive, but they can make a huge batch at once. The stalls were deep-frying them nonstop.
Each stall is already competing by advertising their own special sauces for the Earth Bird fried chicken. Personally, I like the plain, simple version with nothing on it the best.
From what I heard, the oil degrades if you keep reusing it, so the trick to making good fried chicken is to throw it out after a day and use fresh oil.
The cooking itself is simple, so not only the stalls but regular restaurants have started serving it as a side dish, and taverns are apparently going crazy over it as a snack menu item.
Even the magistrate Naise stopped by the food stall district the other day for an inspection and said the excitement could really help stimulate the local economy.
Well, I’ll leave the complicated stuff to Naise. As long as I can stuff my face with mountains of fried chicken, I’m happy. Honestly, I’d be fine eating it for all three meals.
Ah crap, crap. I was in the middle of talking with Randell.
Randell is the alchemist the guild commissions for magic tools.
Every year until now we’d ordered and received ten "Beast Servant Pendants" for . But for the last two years there haven’t been any new Tamer registrations, and we haven’t used any pendants. Just in case someone comes from another town, we keep ten at each of the four cardinal gates, plus twenty here at the adventurer guild. Honestly, making any more would be pointless. That’s why I called Randell over and told him we wouldn’t be buying any Beast Servant Pendants this year or going forward.
"...Isn’t there any way...?"
"Even if you say that, it’s been two whole years with zero usage records. The guild has decided our current stock is sufficient. Sorry, but we won’t need any deliveries starting this year."
"I see..."
Randell looked depressed that one of his regular jobs had been cut.
It’s not that Randell is unskilled or overcharges.
But the guild’s budget is limited. We can’t allocate funds to unnecessary things.
After the dejected Randell left the guild, Salina returned right on cue.
"Guild Master, I’ve brought the Wild Boar Sloppy Styles and Earth Bird fried chicken you wanted."
She placed what looked like easily five people’s worth of food on the table. She even prepared tea. That’s Salina for you—very thoughtful.
"Isn’t this a bit much? The Sloppy Styles have some vegetables at least, but the fried chicken is just chunks of meat. Your diet is terribly unbalanced, don’t you think?"
"Yeah yeah, I’ll get vegetables next time. Right now it’s all about the Earth Bird fried chicken!"
I ignored Salina’s motherly scolding, happily stuffing my cheeks with the crispy fried chicken while sipping the tea she’d prepared.
"Guild Master, this is terrible!"
Another staff member burst into the room.
"What is it this time!"
"We just received word from the West Gate—there’s a huge group of Fang Wolves sitting neatly in a row a short distance off the highway!"
"Pffft—!"
"Kyaa!"
I accidentally sprayed tea and half-chewed fried chicken everywhere.
"Cough! Hack! W-what did you say!?"
A huge orderly group of Fang Wolves... there’s no way that wasn’t that bastard’s doing!!!
"Guild Master, what should we do?"
"Sorry Salina. Can you head over to the West Gate and check on the situation?"
"Understood."
Salina left the guild immediately.
...Seriously, what the hell is that guy thinking.
I finally calmed down and resumed eating, but—
"Guild Master, this is terrible!"
Another staff member came running in.
"Now what!"
"The guard from the West Gate came by. They’re short 21 Beast Servant Pendants needed for proof of taming, and they urgently need us to send additional ones to the West Gate."
"...Ah!"
Oh noooooooooo!!
That bastard had "Great Mage" written on his registration, but he was also a . Come to think of it, he had sixty Fang Wolves... I just told Randell we didn’t need any more Beast Servant Pendants... Why didn’t I realize it?! I want to punch myself from a few minutes ago for telling Randell we didn’t need them.
"My head hurts... Wait, why 21?"
"Apparently the 10 kept at the West Gate weren’t enough, so they collected the 10 from each of the other gates, totaling 40. But since there are 61 tamed beasts in total, they’re still short 21 and would like to use the guild’s stock."
"Why the hell is there one extra?!?!"
The staff member flinched. But I can’t help it.
The guild registration form definitely said sixty Fang Wolves. When the hell did he add one more?!
"So, Guild Master, what should we do?"
"Take them from our inventory... Ah! We’re one short!"
"Eh!?"
"Dammit! Just give the guard all twenty we have in stock for now!"
"Understood!"
"And go call back the alchemist Randell who just left. As fast as possible!"
"Y-y-yes sir!"
The staff member dashed out of the room.
"I heard you called for me...?"
Alchemist Randell had returned.
"Sorry for making you come back. It’s an emergency. A special has appeared. Could you urgently make and deliver one Beast Servant Pendant...?"
"Huh?"
He had just been told we didn’t need them anymore and was sent home, only to be called back and immediately asked to make one. It was understandable that he was confused.
"I’m really in a hurry. Just one is fine—once it’s done, please deliver it straight to the West Gate."
"Eh? But earlier you said you no longer needed Beast Servant Pendants, didn’t you?"
"That’s why I said a special showed up out of nowhere!"
"Right away, yes...? This will incur an express fee, though."
"Ugh... can’t be helped."
I felt like he was taking advantage of the situation, but it was true that we needed it done urgently.
"Understood. I’ll start right away. Since it’s only one, it shouldn’t take too long. I’ll deliver it to the West Gate as soon as it’s finished."
"Yeah, I’m counting on you."
"Also, about the ten Beast Servant Pendants we deliver every year... what should we do?"
Randell asked with a slightly smug little smile.
"...Deliver them as planned."
"Thank you very much, as always. Then I’ll go make that one immediately and deliver it."
Randell left the guild in high spirits.
"Dammit... now we’re going to have to revise the guild budget again..."
I clutched my head.
