Chapter 49: Crisis 1

My savings had surpassed two gold coins.

Together with the money I’d already had, it was all in my account at the guild.

Having money made me happy, and it also gave me that much more peace of mind.

Still, I hadn’t expected to earn so much so quickly, so I was a little bewildered too.

“Well, I shouldn’t think too much about money. I’ll accept lots of requests again today.”

I did the morning laundry and training.

I helped Amanda.

After breakfast and the rest of my usual routine, I got ready and left the inn.

When I reached the Adventurers’ Guild and entered the building, there still weren’t many people inside.

Only a few people were lined up at the counters, so I headed over to Reina.

“Good morning, Reina.”

“Yes, good morning. You’ll be taking requests in the city again today, won’t you, Erik?”

“That’s the plan. Did something happen?”

“If you’re asking whether something happened, then yes, it did.”

As Reina said that, she brought out a bundle of requests.

It was a mountain of household-assistance request forms.

“There are even more than yesterday. By the way, Reina, how do you choose which requests to recommend to me from a pile like this?”

“I check whether the workload matches the reward. I also give priority to clients you’ve worked for before and won’t find mentally exhausting to deal with.”

The usual rate for household assistance was somewhere between five and fifty copper coins.

Requests that paid more than that had usually increased the reward to match the amount of work.

Also, when people’s lives were being affected by the aftermath of an earthquake like this, many offered higher payments because the work was urgent.

Thanks to that, almost all the requests in front of me now offered at least one silver coin.

“And these are more of a favor—or rather, requests I hope you’ll consider accepting.”

Reina placed another bundle of requests on the counter.

They were requests for household assistance and minor odd jobs with low rewards.

“Understood. Then I’ll finish some of these higher-paying ones first and make sure I earn enough before accepting those.”

These requests came from people who were struggling and had little financial leeway.

Realizing that, I told Reina I’d accept some requests without looking only at their rewards.

The first one I chose was from Cain.

After completing the paperwork, I headed to the address listed on the request.

“Good morning, Cain.”

“Oh, good morning! So you came, Erik! I submitted the request, but I was hoping you’d be the one to take it, so I’m glad.”

Cain said that happily and invited me inside.

The earthquake had left his house in a terrible state.

The request was for help cleaning it up.

“It’s been several days since the earthquake, but you only submitted the request yesterday, right?”

“I’d gone out of town again for a short while. When I came back, I found the house like this, so I immediately went to the Adventurers’ Guild and submitted a request.”

“I see. Understood. Then I’ll get to work right away.”

“I’m counting on you.”

And so, I began helping Cain clean up his home.

I’d cleaned his house before, so I already had a general grasp of everything inside.

I started with the living room.

Cain had paintings and other decorations on display, but some had fallen during the earthquake and their frames had broken.

I could’ve made minor repairs myself, but we decided to leave those to a proper craftsman.

We worked together to move the furniture back into place, right the fallen bookshelves, and return the books to them.

There was also a pile of laundry he’d apparently let accumulate, so I washed it by myself in the yard.

Cain said he could do laundry too, but after seeing how quickly I worked, he said he’d make progress elsewhere and went back inside.

“We’ve cleaned up quite a lot.”

“We have. I’m truly glad you came, Erik. It probably would’ve taken me several days on my own.”

About an hour had passed since I arrived, and the inside of the house was already becoming considerably cleaner.

The storeroom had suffered the worst damage, so we’d left it for later.

Surprisingly, Cain’s kitchen hadn’t been damaged very badly.

That was because he hadn’t owned many dishes to begin with, and the cupboard itself was small.

“Sometimes my friends and acquaintances complained that I didn’t have enough dishes when I invited them over, but now I’m glad I had so few. Otherwise, the earthquake would’ve made an incredible mess in here.”

“That’s true. I’ve cleaned several other homes over the past few days, and the kitchen has suffered the worst damage in most of them.”

“So that really is the case. What a relief.”

After Cain said that, we put away the dishes that had accumulated, cleaned the floor, and finished with the kitchen.

Then we headed to the storeroom we’d saved for last.

“All right, this is where the real work begins. First, let me apologize in advance. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m here to help you clean up, after all.”

With that, I looked inside the storeroom Cain had opened.