Chapter 48: The Young Adventurers

Another boy entered the reference room after Ren. He was about a head taller than Ren.

“Viktor, if it’s going to take a while, let’s eat first.”

“No, I found it.”

“Oh, fast!”

He called out to the boy with chestnut brown hair over Ren’s shoulder. The boy called Viktor pulled a board from the shelf, glanced at it, and then held it up.

“Hehe! I’ve mastered the reference room!”

Viktor puffed out his chest proudly.

“Wow! Not bad! …So? Think you can do it? Horned Rabbit dismantling.”

The boy who entered the reference room later passed by Ren’s side with loud footsteps. Ren could see he was carrying an axe on his back.

“No, I just found the materials.”

“What? Hurry up and read them.”

The beginner’s corner became noisy and lively. Ren decided to write notes in another corner where there was a counter, and took out a memo board, a quill pen, and a small bottle of ink.

He glanced back at the two people talking while looking at materials behind him. The numbered boards with red strings seemed to be being used properly, so he felt a little happy.

He wrote down the information about magical beasts he had heard at the purchase window, and wiped the ink from the tip of the quill pen with a cloth. The two from earlier were still talking in the beginner’s corner. He had thought about adding the board with information about Ashvale that he had written down to the beginner’s corner materials, but since the two from earlier were still talking there, he decided to wait for another opportunity.

He left the reference room, but it seemed the appraisal at the purchase counter wasn’t finished yet, so he decided to have a meal in the cafeteria.

He ordered the usual vegetable soup with scraps as he always did and waited. Then a bell rang. Shortly after, the boys from earlier rushed into the cafeteria in a hurry.

“…That old man kicked us out even though I was still reading!”

“Well, you read it, didn’t you? That’s enough.”

“I only skimmed it. Fred, you should read it properly too.”

“If Viktor’s reading it, that’s fine.”

They were complaining. Apparently, they had been kicked out of the reference room by the staff when the noon bell rang. The reference room staff locked the room at the start of the lunch break and in the evening. The cafeteria was open in the morning and evening, but the hours when the reference room could be used were limited.

(White feeling…? …”White”? …)

While carrying vegetable soup to his mouth and thinking absentmindedly, another person burst energetically into the cafeteria.

“Viktor! You’re late!”

“Loren, you could have eaten first.”

“Huh? I was waiting for you to dismantle the Horned Rabbit!”

“If we start dismantling now, it’ll take time. We’ll eat lunch at the cafeteria.”

“Huh?”

The red-haired boy pouted his lips in dissatisfaction. He was smaller than the chestnut-haired boy called Viktor. He looked about the same age as Ren or slightly younger.

“Loren, you said today’s practice was dismantling. …Viktor, do you understand how to do it?”

A girl with green hair in a ponytail came up behind them and spoke to them. She wore a light brown dress with leather arm guards and carried a small wooden shield on her back.

“I ran out of time so I only skimmed it, but I mostly understand. Did you finish the purchase, Colette?”

“It was just medicinal herbs. It was quick. But after we finish dismantling the Horned Rabbit, we’ll take the magic stones and such to purchase again, right?”

“If it’s just magic stones and horns, another day would be fine.”

“What about the fur?”

“Ah, there was fur too… Well, let’s just eat for now.”

Viktor urged them toward a table in the back of the cafeteria. Ren watched the scene somewhat absentmindedly while carrying soup to his mouth.

(Dismantling, huh… I want to try it too… But Three-Eyed Eagles fly around…)

Ren wanted to be able to do dismantling too. He had read the dismantling procedure for Horned Rabbits in the guild’s reference room many times and memorized it. However, on the grasslands, even just bleeding them out would attract Three-Eyed Eagles with the smell of blood. It was a high hurdle for Ren, who acted alone.

(If I have the guild do the dismantling, it’s easy, but there’s a dismantling fee… …Huh…? The guild does dismantling, right?)

Ren swallowed the thick part of the vegetable scraps and raised his face. He stood up and hurried to the purchase window.