Chapter 44: Dungeon 4
Our food arrived, and Reina and I ate together.
The bread was wonderfully soft and filled with plenty of ingredients.
“Thank you for introducing another delicious restaurant, Reina.”
“It’s fine. I brought you partly because I wanted to advertise my friend’s shop. But I’m glad you like it.”
We talked on the walk back to the Adventurers’ Guild.
“Huh? Adventurers have returned. Are they coming back from the dungeon?”
“Hmm, those adventurers came from another town. Rumors of the new dungeon have already spread, so they probably traveled here.”
Reina stared at them briefly and immediately identified them as outsiders.
She went around to the counters and sat.
“Can you distinguish adventurers from the capital and those from other towns?”
“Not every one. I can usually tell from the general atmosphere. I’ve also worked as a receptionist for quite a while. More importantly, what will you do this afternoon? Accept a request?”
“Yes. That’s my intention. Is there a good one?”
“Wait a moment. A new request may have arrived during my break, so I’ll check.”
Reina went into the back to examine the forms.
Several minutes later, she returned and showed me a few.
“How about one of these city requests?”
Most of the forms involved household assistance.
Every one concerned cleaning after the earthquake.
“The earthquake caused considerable damage.”
“Yes. My room contained few things, so I was fortunate, but a vase I’d displayed fell and broke. I imagine many homes in the city were badly affected.”
“…Understood. I’ll accept this one.”
I accepted a household-assistance request paying ten copper coins.
The client was a middle-aged woman with a bandage around one leg.
Apparently, she’d injured it during the earthquake and couldn’t clean.
I told her to remain seated and watch while I cleaned the room.
“Incredible. You transformed that awful mess in only two hours!”
She happily signed my report.
I returned to the Adventurers’ Guild. Since the sun hadn’t set yet, I accepted another request.
That one was also for household assistance, and the earthquake had left the house in a terrible condition.
After completing the second cleaning, I asked the client to sign my report and left.
A short distance away, I checked the screen.
◇
[Cleaning] training completed.
1 EXP acquired.
EXP until skill acquisition: 100/100.
◇
◇
[Cleaning] acquired.
EXP until next level: 0/100.
◇
I’d acquired [Cleaning].
“I acquired it in only one day… [Fixed EXP] truly is incredible.”
Unfortunately, I’d acquired the skill just as I finished cleaning.
That meant I still hadn’t experienced its effects.
“…Maybe I’ll accept one more.”
I wanted to test the skill, so I returned to the Adventurers’ Guild.
After submitting the completion report, I told Reina I wanted another request.
“Didn’t you say that after accepting a second request, you’d spend the rest of today training?”
“…The truth is, I’ve been trying to acquire [Cleaning] since this morning. I happened to acquire it the instant I finished just now, and I want to test it.”
“…You acquired a skill in only one day. Talking to you brings one surprise after another.”
Reina gave me the request forms.
I’d wondered whether other adventurers might have accepted some while I was out, but nothing had changed.
Every adventurer in the royal capital, from novice to advanced, was probably obsessed with the dungeon.
“I’ll accept this one.”
I selected a household-assistance request offering the slightly higher reward of one silver coin.
The form included the building’s size.
Since I was accepting it because I wanted to test the skill, I chose one that would let me clean a large area.
The client was a young woman.
The earthquake had toppled her cupboard, leaving the floor dangerous and impossible to walk across.
Her living room was also slightly dirty, so she’d submitted a request to have everything cleaned.
“I’ll begin immediately.”
After telling the client, I started.
[Cleaning] improved cleaning ability.
Consciously using it, I began the work.
“…This is an incredible ability.”
One effect of [Cleaning] was making dirt and debris much clearer to see.
When I looked at the floor, I could easily identify every fragment of crockery.
It also reduced fatigue while cleaning and made my movements slightly faster.
Using [Cleaning], I continued.
I’d hoped to finish by sunset, but the entire job took only a little over an hour.
“…Are you a cleaning genius?”
“Ah ha ha. Cleaning is one of my strengths. If you have another problem, please submit a request, and I may be able to come again.”
“Hee hee. Once designated requests become available to you, I’ll hire you for cleaning.”
The client was delighted and looked satisfied with the transformed living room and kitchen.
After she signed the report, I left and returned to the Adventurers’ Guild.
“Erik, how was the skill?”
“It was excellent! I never knew a skill like this existed. I wish I’d learned about it sooner.”
I told Reina what using [Cleaning] had felt like.
Then I submitted the report and completed the procedure.
I deposited the reward and ended work for the day.
I decided to return to the inn and spend the remaining time training [Swordsmanship] in the backyard.