Kays Translations

Chapter 7: Work at the Guild

The room was inside the guild.

It was the room assigned to Tauro.

The furnishings were simple, but Tauro nearly cried with joy at having his first bed in this world. As he lay there, he reflected on everything that had happened that day.

That morning, he had been at the depths of despair, nearly dying in an alley. Now he lay on a bed beneath a solid roof.

The contrast left him deeply moved.

“…I’ll keep doing my best tomorrow…”

It had been an exhausting day even by an adult’s standards, let alone an eight-year-old’s.

Fatigue swept over Tauro all at once. He soon began breathing softly and slipped into a dream.

When was the last time I slept this peacefully?

Tauro basked in the lingering comfort of a good night’s sleep.

“Wait—what? It’s almost noon!”

Only then did he realize that he had unintentionally slept until nearly midday. He leaped up and hurried to the reception counter.

“Nei, I’m sorry! I overslept!”

The branch manager had only just told him yesterday to conduct himself responsibly as an adventurer.

Being late on his very first day was unacceptable.

“Good morning, Tauro. It’s fine. After everything that happened yesterday, we deliberately let you sleep.”

Nei answered with a smile.

From noon onward, Tauro was extremely busy.

The Adventurers’ Guild occupied a large building on Saisi’s main street. It had a basement, two floors above ground, and even a courtyard.

Cleaning the place alone was an enormous task.

Tauro was still rushing around cleaning as evening approached. When he passed the reception counter, he found it overflowing with adventurers.

They had flooded in to report the completion of their quests.

It seemed to be an everyday occurrence, because the guild staff worked briskly without the slightest panic.

Thinking he ought to help, Tauro approached a nearby employee.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Hmm… I’d certainly appreciate the help, but you can’t read, can you?”

“Actually, I can read and write reasonably well. I can also do arithmetic, so I may be able to help sort documents.”

“What?!”

Every adventurer around the counter—and every employee who had been hurrying about—stopped dead.

Literacy in this world couldn’t be called high by any stretch of the imagination.

Education was far from widespread.

Even some guild employees couldn’t read or write very well.

As for adventurers, that went without saying.

An eight-year-old who had been a vagrant until the previous day being able to read, write, and calculate was extraordinary.

“Huh?”

Tauro noticed that the noisy hall had fallen completely silent and everyone was staring at him.

Nei looked up from the reception counter in astonishment.

“Tauro, you can read, write, and do arithmetic too?!”

“…Yes.”

Tauro had gained those abilities when the memories of his previous life returned.

Because he had known how to read and write in that life, the knowledge had apparently overwritten his current limitations as an ordinary ability.

“Wait, seriously…?”

“I can only read and write my own name…”

“You can write your name? I can’t even write mine!”

“I can count all the way to ten!”

“That’s just addition and subtraction on your fingers.”

Tauro had dealt the adventurers a considerable emotional blow.

“Then please help us!”

After Nei gave him a brief explanation, Tauro tackled the work briskly.

“Thank you, Tauro! You’ve helped us make so much progress!”

Nei thanked him on behalf of the staff.

Words of thanks came from the other employees as well.

“I’m glad I could help.”

Tauro answered with a smile.

Still…

Nei’s questions about Tauro had only deepened.

But there was one explanation that resolved them.

His [Garbled Text] skill.

No one knew what the skill did, so if they assumed his abilities were one of its benefits, they had little choice but to accept them.

Tauro himself had no idea what [Garbled Text] truly did, but that very uncertainty made it a convenient explanation for now.

Even if his knowledge counted as an acquired ability, he could hardly reveal that he possessed memories of a previous life.

“You never cease to amaze me, Tauro.”

Nei was thoroughly impressed.

“Ah! I didn’t complete a single quest today, so my quest income is zero!”

The realization left Tauro stunned.

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