Kays Translations

Chapter 333: Starting from the City of Salt

　Tauro and his team, the “Black Golden Wings” were visiting the city of Caxart in the northwest, about a week away from the royal capital.

　Caxart was one of the towns in Count Graunewald’s domain, and the largest town in the count’s domain.

　Although the territorial capital is the city of Graunewald, the city of Caxart has a salt lake near it, and the salt produced there is the biggest source of revenue, and the count Graunewald family had a base there, which is why he was regarded as one of the leading figures of the aristocratic neutral party.

　The reason why Tauro visited this place is because he was having dinner with his parents, Count Graunewald and his wife Aida.

“Actually, we’ve been having trouble recently with a large number of monsters spawning in the salt lake within our territory.”

　He let it slip in the course of conversation.

　As an adventurer and the adopted son of these two people, Tauro had come here after consulting with Ragune and Ankh, in hopes of being useful as the eldest son of the lord.

　The city of Caxart was larger than Tauro and his party had imagined.

　The city was built on flat land, so there was not much difference in elevation, but I got the impression that it continued to expand horizontally.

“It is a big city.”

“Well. The city of Caxart is the largest city in the count’s territory. Most of the salt in the northwestern part of the country comes from here and the rock salt from the mountainous regions.”

　Ankh had visited the city several times and explained it to them.

“Still, I can’t say it’s very lively considering its size. No, compared to the royal capital…”

　That was Ragune’s first impression after entering the city.

“…That’s true. The last time I was here was almost two years ago, but it seems a little lackluster. Maybe it’s because a large number of monsters have spawned in the salt lake.”

　Ankh showed his guess when Ragune pointed out the atmosphere of the town and tilted his head.

“If they can’t get salt, which is their biggest earner, then the mood of the city will be bad.”

　Tauro understood what he was saying.

　Then he continued.

“Well, let’s get an inn first, then go to the Adventurer’s Guild.”

“Okay. By the way, since the leader is the eldest son of the lord, shouldn’t you show you face to the town mayor?”

　Ankh suggested something plausible.

“Hmmm ……. I’m an adopted child, and Count Graunewald hasn’t even held an unveiling party for the officials in his domain yet. At that stage, I don’t think it would be a good idea for a child to show up claiming to be the heir to the Count’s family. So this time, as an adventurer, I’ll just put all my efforts into solving the problem…’’

　Tauro was cautious about Ankh’s proposal.

　

“Yes, I suppose so. If leader suddenly appears, the other party is bound to be confused. Well, it might be a good idea to go around the territory, exterminating monsters incognito.”

　Ankh was convinced that Tauro’s cautious attitude might be because he thought there would be some backlash from the people involved in the territory since the Count adopted a commoner.

“That’s great. Me, you, and Tauro, I will go around exterminating monsters, helping the people, and travel around the territory. —It sounds like fun.”

　Ragune agreed with a smile.

“Well then, as soon as we get the inn, let’s go see the Adventurers’ Guild.”

　Tauro said, and the three of them went looking for an inn.

　I am Armine, the receptionist at the Adventurers’ Guild Caxart Branch.

　I’m a four-year veteran of this Blossoming job.

　This town is wealthy because it is famous for its salt, so it is easy for strange people to flock here to try to make money.

　I have dealt with many such people and have been able to identify them.

　So, based on my experience, I can easily spot suspicious adventurers.

　That intuition of mine is sounding the alarm bells that these guys are suspicious. ……

　The silver plate on the tag indicating the adventurer is a D+.

　And from that record, his age is 13 years old! ?

　

　he looks cute with his dull blonde hair and blue eyes, but he definitely doesn’t look like a D-rank adventurer.

　The team, of which he claims to be the leader, is the “Black Golden Wings”.

　When I asked, they said that they used to be active in the royal capital as well.

　His friends are also suspicious.

　I mean, a beautiful black-haired, golden-eyed woman dressed as a warrior type who’s also a very rare dragon person !?

　And although the combination of the two alone is suspicious, then there is the uncle adventurer with disproportionate red hair and all-black equipment.

　I thought he was the most experienced, but the uncle seemed to be the most novice adventurer.

　The combination was so disproportionate that I double-checked the tags to see if they were a group of fraudsters pretending to be adventurers…

“…That’s the real thing. (smile)──That’s very helpful. We are currently short of adventurers at this branch, and I was just in the process of requesting dispatches from the neighboring adventurers guild branches. I didn’t expect them to be dispatched from as far away as the royal capital.”

　With her long purple hair, purple eyes, and voluptuous figure, the receptionist, Armine, responded to Tauro and the others with the branch’s most popular sales smile.

“We weren’t dispatched by request, but… We heard that there a lot of monsters proliferating in the salt lake?”

　Tauro denied that part, lest there be any misunderstanding, and asked about the extermination of monsters in the salt lake, which was also the objective of his and his group.

“Oh. The local residents are in great trouble because of the large number of these monsters called flaming crabs. Since the rank for subjugation were D- and above, there were few adventurers in this branch who could handle the task, so we had to make a dispatch request.”

“What’s that, onee-san? There’s only a few D-ranks or above in this branch?”

　Ankh called out to Armine, the receptionist, from behind Tauro.

“This town usually doesn’t have many monster subjugation quests. Even if we do, they can be solved in the E rank zone. So, for a big town, the workload is limited, and although many adventurers of rank E and below gather here, those in the higher ranks don’t come.”

　Armine, the receptionist, explained the current state of the guild in this city.

“By the way, what rank are the best adventurers in this branch?”

　Ragune asked, somewhat interested.

“Currently, the veteran C+ rank team is at the top team of this branch. That team is an adventurer team favored by the mayor of this city, and it seems that they will not be participating in this monster subjugation quest. As of now, you all are currently the highest ranked team in this branch.”

“Hey, hey. We’re the best? ……. ─ ─ Does that C+ team always take on the town mayor’s job?”

“The mayor has a lot of trust in me, and he regularly asks me to nominate them. ──Ah, I have a duty of confidentiality, so I can’t tell you any more about the details.”

　Receptionist Armine covered her mouth in an exaggerated manner.

“…… By the way, how many other adventurers are there who are D-rank or higher?”

“There is one D-rank team, but that team has been sent out at the request of the town mayor, so there are no more D-ranked adventurers. ……”

　The receptionist, Armine, pretended that she couldn’t say anything more.

　In the end, it’s just us!

　Tauro realized that they had arrived before the teams that was to be sent from the other branches.

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