Chapter 50: Crisis 2
The storeroom had borne the full force of the earthquake and was in an awful state.
Cain and I went inside and began by separating the things that could still be used from those that had broken.
“You’re throwing this away too?”
“I suppose I have no choice. I bought it because I liked it and planned to display it someday, but I never stored it properly, so it fell and broke.”
The storeroom contained all sorts of things.
Some were decorations for the house that Cain had apparently bought because he liked them, only to leave them untouched for ages.
They’d fallen to the floor and broken during the earthquake, so he was now going to throw them away.
It was someone else’s home, so I couldn’t criticize him too strongly, but I cleaned while thinking it was a terrible waste.
I’d felt the same way while cleaning Belinda’s detached building.
I couldn’t understand the idea of immediately throwing things away simply because one had money.
I followed the client’s instructions, but if it were mine, I’d repair and keep using it even if it were somewhat damaged.
I continued working while thinking about that.
“You truly were a tremendous help, Erik.”
We finished cleaning up.
The storeroom took a while, and the entire job required about three hours, but we somehow completed it.
“Sorry for making you help for so long.”
“It’s fine. I’m being paid for that time.”
After I said that, I had Cain fill out the completion report.
He’d considered giving me an additional reward, but I immediately told him I wouldn’t accept one and somehow convinced him to leave it at the agreed payment.
With the job finished, I returned to the Adventurers’ Guild.
“Please! I’m begging you—please help us!”
As soon as I entered the guild building, I heard someone crying out like that.
I recognized the voice and turned toward its owner.
His back looked no different from what I remembered.
“Henry?”
“!?”
When I called out, the man pleading at the counter whirled around.
His face belonged to someone I knew well—or rather, it was the man himself.
Henry was crying and looked exhausted. When he saw my face, his expression changed to surprise.
“E-Erik!? Why are you in the capital? Ah, no—you said before the ceremony that you were going there to become an adventurer.”
“That’s right. I’m working as an adventurer in the capital now.”
Henry was the son of the chief of the village where I’d lived.
He was twenty, ten years older than me.
As the chief’s only son and his eventual successor, he interacted with all sorts of people in the village.
He took pride in his speed and often boasted that his legs could carry him to the capital in only three days.
Henry had also been one of my regular clients.
He’d probably understood my circumstances and frequently found things for me to do.
“Erik, do you know this man?”
“Ah, yes. He’s Henry, the future chief of the village where I used to live. He helped me a great deal.”
After telling Reina that, I asked why Henry was here.
“A wyvern appeared near the village… So you came all the way to the capital to submit a request, Henry?”
“Yes, but the village doesn’t have that much money. We managed to collect several dozen silver coins, but they told me it wasn’t enough to submit the request.”
Henry said that sorrowfully.
A wyvern.
It was a flying creature similar to a dragon, although smaller.
Even so, some individual wyverns were extremely dangerous, and they weren’t monsters one should approach carelessly.
“What color was the wyvern?”
“The hunter said it was red.”
“A red wyvern. That’s a dangerous monster.”
A red-colored wyvern was known as a red wyvern.
Just as its color suggested, it was a monster that wielded [Fire-Attribute Magic].
It was highly dangerous, and if provoked, it could probably burn the village down in an instant.
“Reina, how much does a wyvern-subjugation request usually cost?”
“A wyvern is difficult to defeat without the strength of a Silver-rank adventurer or higher. Even a Silver-rank isn’t guaranteed to defeat one, so you’d need at least one gold coin.”
“…Understood. Then please submit the request for one gold coin and fifty silver coins. Make the condition that the wyvern must be defeated.”
I decided to use the money in my account to issue a request that would save the village.
“E-Erik? Do you really have that kind of money—gold coins?”
“Several things happened, and I recently received a large amount of money. I don’t have any particular need for it right now, so please let me use it for the village.”
At my words, Henry began crying again.
“Erik, I just want to confirm: are you certain we can use the reward you just earned to issue this request?”
“Please do. I don’t care about my family, but that village is my precious hometown. I’m here today because of the people who live there. Besides, I can always earn more money.”
After I said that, Reina completed the final confirmation and went into the back of the guild.