Chapter 487 – The Nostalgic Adventurer’s Guild
After leaving Angus’s blacksmith shop, Tauro continued his stroll through the streets of Saishi.
He noticed that the curry shop he owned was still open for business.
Tauro had already eaten dinner, and since the actual running of the shop was left to Branch Chief Leo, After seeing that the restaurant was doing well from a distance, he decided to stop by the Adventurer’s Guild, which still had its lights on.
The exterior of the Adventurer’s Guild had been renovated and looked new, but the interior hadn’t changed much.
It appears only the outside had been refurbished.
Tauro felt a bit sentimental as he stood inside the familiar building.
There were no adventurers in the room, just one man seemingly in charge of nighttime administrative and reception duties, working at a desk behind the reception counter.
Tauro didn’t call out to the man. Instead, he casually walked over to the bulletin board where quests were posted.
Of course, there were still G-rank and F-rank quests — the kind I had once taken on myself over three years ago. Out of curiosity, I glanced at the D-rank quests, which had been out of my league at the time, and was surprised by the kind of requests posted there.
“Oh? Are you an adventurer, kid? Haven’t seen you around, but I don’t recommend taking quests at night — better to come back in the morning.”
The man at the night reception desk noticed Tauro and called out to him, encouraging him to do so.
That was understandable. The night shift mainly dealt with adventurers reporting quest completions from earlier in the day.
“Ah, sorry. I used to be an adventurer here. Just got a bit nostalgic and wanted to take a look inside.”
Tauro apologized to the unfamiliar staff member.
“No way! You’re that young and already a former adventurer? If it was before I started working here, then that means over two years ago? That’s impressive! You kinda sound like that famous kid adventurer they talk about in this town — you know, the one from all the puppet shows and street stories.”
The receptionist, perhaps lonely from working alone at night, seized the opportunity to strike up a conversation with Tauro.
Tauro, realizing he might get to hear about what had happened in his absence, decided to play along and asked further.
“You see, in this Saishi branch of the Adventurer’s Guild, there is a story about a young adventurer that sounds like an unbelievable lie, told through puppet shows and storytellers on the streets. His name is Tauro—”
The man began recounting Tauro’s adventures — with some obvious exaggerations.
“Anyway, it all sounds like a tall tale, but even our branch chief, the ace solo adventurer Mina-san, and that top-tier team Blue Guardians, and the rising stars Five Arrows — they all talk about this Tauro kid. So, I figure he must’ve been real. I came to this town from the countryside two years ago and got a job here, so I never met him myself though.”
The receptionist went on and on about the legendary Tauro, sharing a long-winded, nostalgic retelling.
Tauro, listening quietly, felt genuinely happy.
It warmed his heart to hear that Mina-san, Roy and the others from the Blue Guardians, and even the adventurers who had helped him in the past, were **still working hard at this branch and still remembered him fondly.
“By the way… There used to be a receptionist here named Nei. Do you know what happened to her?”
Tauro couldn’t help asking, curious about Nei, the receptionist who had taken such good care of him.
“Oh, you mean Nei-san? Wait a minute…Were you into her or something? Can’t blame you — she was really popular. True beauty. A lot of adventurers had a crush on her.”
Was popular?
Tauro caught that the receptionist was talking about Nei in the past tense, and it bothered him.
“Uh… so, where is Nei-san now?”
He asked again for clarification.
“She’s still working here as a receptionist. But…”
The man hesitated, making it sound like something difficult to talk about.
“But…?”
“But she’s already married now. So give up, kid. I had a thing for her myself too, secretly… But out of nowhere, this top-class adventurer showed up and married her. Man, it was quite a shock. But yeah… I guess beautiful women do fall for amazing guys right away, huh?”
“No way — Nei-san got married?!”
Tauro was genuinely surprised by the male staff member’s words, not at all abashed.
The Nei I knew had always been calm and composed, brushing off all the advances of many adventurers with a polite smile. And yet she got married to some guy who just showed up out of nowhere?!
Tauro was starting to wonder if the Nei he knew and the Nei the male staff member spoke of were different people.
“Um… This Nei-san — does she have long brown hair, black eyes, about 160 cm tall. Is she a kind, reliable, caring person who smiles a lot?”
“Yeah, that’s her. Wow, you really knew her. You must’ve had it bad, huh, kid? That sucks… The guy who married her didn’t even stand out, he just suddenly appeared— looked like any regular adventurer you could find anywhere. Guess that B-rank title was all it took. Receptionists really go for those guys, huh?”
The receptionist sighed and gave Tauro a sympathetic look.
“By the way, do you know the name of the adventurer she married?”
“His name? Hmm… I can’t remember. He was friendly with Branch Chief Leo and Instructor Daz, but his name was so plain I forgot… Mob? Mauve? Something like that…”
The receptionist scratched his head, then casually uttered a name that shocked Tauro.
“Mauve… Wait — you mean Mauve from Team Silver Sword?!”
Tauro couldn’t believe what he was hearing and asked again.
“Yeah, I think that was the name of his adventurer team. Now that you mention it, those two kept bringing up ‘Tauro’ in their conversations.”
When the receptionist told Tauro this, he couldn’t but smile with delight.
Oh, I see…So Nei-san married Mauve-san… Somehow, that makes sense. I guess Mauve cannot be left in the corner either. When did things get that serious between them?
Tauro had thought Mauve had been away from Saishi for quite some time, so for him to return and marry Nei meant something must have happened in between.
“That adventurer helped us fill in for some missing members here, then left on another journey — without Nei-san. When I saw that, I realized — marrying an adventurer must be tough. If you’re an adventurer yourself, you should be careful about that too. If you’re going to date someone, I think it’s better to stick to someone you can adventure with!”
“Ahaha… yeah, you might be right. Well, it’s getting late. I should be going now.”
Tauro gave a wry smile at the advice and quietly left the guild.