Chapter 30: A New Skill 2

Ryan had work to do afterward, so he told me we’d train in the afternoon.

That meant I’d accept a request as usual during the morning.

“I heard something rather astonishing. Was it truly all right for me to hear what you told us?”

“You’ve done so much for me, Reina, so it’s fine. Besides, if you understand my abilities, I think you’ll have a wider range of requests you can recommend.”

As I said that, we returned to the counter together.

She showed me the request forms for work inside the city, and I looked through them.

While doing so, I checked whether Marina had submitted another one. Surely there couldn’t be another already, and this time there wasn’t.

I selected a request and accepted it.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Erik, an adventurer. I’ve accepted your household-assistance request.”

The request was for household assistance, and once again, it involved cleaning someone’s home.

The house was about as large as Hanna’s mansion. When I rang the bell, a man appeared.

“Thanks for coming. I’m Cain. I’m an adventurer, just like you.”

Cain was apparently an adventurer like me, but our ranks were completely different.

He was Gold rank.

“We may have the same occupation, but our ranks aren’t remotely close. In fact, if you’re ranked that highly, couldn’t you afford to employ servants?”

“Well, I could, but I’m often away from home for days. Paying their wages while I’m gone would be a waste, wouldn’t it? It’s better to have an adventurer clean the place whenever I return home. This way, I also make more acquaintances among my fellow adventurers.”

“I don’t see much advantage for someone of Gold rank in getting to know someone of my low rank…”

“That’s not true. You never know who’ll rise through the adventurer ranks. Even being casual acquaintances can lead to work later.”

After Cain said that, he let me inside, and I inspected the areas where I’d be working.

The place certainly needed cleaning, but it wasn’t in a dreadful state like Marina’s house.

If anything, the garden needed attention far more urgently than the interior.

“Would you like me to clean up the garden too?”

“What, you can do that as well? If you can, I’d appreciate it. It looks terrible.”

“Understood. I’ll begin working.”

Once I’d inspected the site, I started immediately.

I gathered the rubbish and clothes scattered across the floor, putting the rubbish in the bin and the clothing in a laundry basket.

I worked briskly as usual. Once the living room was in order, I moved to the kitchen.

There were certainly many dishes, but not a scrap of leftover food remained.

Cain also seemed to rinse his dishes lightly after eating, so they weren’t particularly dirty.

“Wow, incredible. It became this clean in only an hour. In fact, it may be cleaner than it was before I made the mess.”

After finishing the living room and kitchen in an hour, I began cleaning the other rooms.

The first floor of Cain’s house contained the living room and kitchen.

There had originally been two private rooms, but he’d renovated them into a warehouse.

He used it frequently and kept some things there that he didn’t want disturbed, so I didn’t enter it during this request.

The second floor contained a bedroom and two private rooms, all of which were relatively clean.

I finished those quickly in about thirty minutes and went outside to the garden.

“Sorry I let it become so overgrown. Whenever I’m away on requests, I neglect the garden.”

“It’s all right. The worse it is, the easier the change will be to see. Is there anything you’d like me to preserve?”

“Nothing. You can cut it all down.”

With Cain’s permission, I took a sickle and began cutting away the vegetation.

Apparently, nothing had originally been placed in the garden, so removing the weeds alone transformed it into an impressively clean space.

“Wow. I never realized my garden was this large. Now I can occasionally train outside.”

“Yes. With this much space, you can also hang laundry here.”

“Ah, you’re right! There wasn’t anywhere to dry things, so I’d installed a clothesline pole inside. May I move it outdoors?”

“Of course. I’ll help.”

Cain and I moved the clothesline pole from inside the house to the garden.

Then I washed the clothes gathered during the cleaning and hung them on the pole we’d moved outside.

“That completes the cleaning. Once the laundry dries, please collect it yourself.”

“Of course. I can handle that much. Ah, thank you so much. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen my house this clean!”

Cain looked extremely pleased with his transformed home.

“The reward I listed for the request isn’t enough for this. Wait here for a moment.”

“What? No, wait—”

I tried to call out as he went to retrieve an additional reward.

However, his feet were faster than my voice, and he vanished in an instant.

Several minutes later, Cain returned carrying a necklace.

“It’s a magical tool I used long ago. I started using something better and left this one in storage. It should be useful to a novice adventurer like you, so please take it.”

“What? No, I can’t accept something so valuable for merely cleaning!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. It may seem valuable from your perspective, but to me, it’s only another piece of junk sleeping in the warehouse.”

Cain forced it into my hands.

“…May I ask what it does?”

“Simply put, when you channel magic through it, the tool detects living creatures in the surrounding area. It’s extremely useful for an adventurer without [Magic Detection] or [Presence Detection].”

“That sounds like an incredible magical tool! It must be expensive!”

“Hee hee. You truly are a good boy. But I’ve already given it to you.”

Cain’s manner made it clear that returning it was impossible.

In the end, I had no choice but to accept it. After asking him to sign the report, I left the building.