Chapter 63: An Errand

Since much of the snow on the mountain had melted, I decided to go check the place where I’d hunted the Black Goat.

It should be a little past the midpoint—on the second day after entering the mountains, I’d come out onto a steep slope where the rock face was exposed.

Flying through the mountainous area while searching for steep cliffs, I found it quickly. Seen from the air, the area was broader and the sheer cliffs extended farther back than they appeared from below.

If Golden Goats were around, I figured it would be deeper in than the spot I’d seen before, so I flew cautiously toward the depths where the cliffs continued.

Snow still lingered on the north-facing slopes, but the south-facing slopes were mostly clear, and here and there were goats with magnificent horns.

Golden Goats are supposed to have golden lines running through their horns, but they were hard to distinguish. I’d only ever seen Black Goats before, so all I really knew was that red horns weren’t it.

It got troublesome, so I excluded Black Goats and those with red horns, then used a whirlwind to scoop up the larger goats and pull them toward me. Since they were dizzy, I set them down on the ground and checked their horns.

On the fifth one, I found a goat whose spiraled horns had lines close to gold in color. Stab. After that, it was just a matter of pulling in similar-looking ones with whirlwinds.

I’d heard they were headed for auction, so I figured taking two back would be enough, and decided to return to the royal capital.

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The return trip took two days, bringing me back to just outside the capital. I landed deep in the forest, walked toward the city, camped overnight, and passed through the entrance gate early in the morning, heading straight for the market.

After restocking my dwindling food supplies, I went to the Adventurers’ Guild, but I hesitated over how to get a message to Jäeger-san through Section Chief Holtz.

The dismantling area was practically empty. While lining up my game, I asked if anyone had seen Jäeger-san and the Fang party, but apparently no one had seen them recently.

As usual, after laying out birds and beasts, I handed over my guild card and headed to the dining hall.

First things first—I grabbed a mug of ale and headed to a nearby spot when someone called my name.

Turning around, I saw Nanga and the others eating breakfast.

“Drinking ale in the morning?”

“I just got back at first light. How’s business?”

“After watching Leon’s scouting and presence detection up close, we’ve started training seriously, so our earnings are about half the usual—maybe a bit more.”

“As long as we can cover lodging and meals, we’re focusing on training.”

“And we’ve decided to practice with short spears seriously too.”

“Do you come to the dining hall every day?”

“Yeah. Guild food’s the cheapest.”

“It’s not as good as the market food, though.”

“It’s cheap and filling, so no complaints.”

“If you’re here every day, do you know the famous adventurers in the capital?”

“I recognize most of the high-rank faces eating around the center.”

“I know them, but I can’t exactly talk to them.”

“Yeah, one glare from them and I’d piss myself.”

“You’ve got acquaintances, don’t you, Leon? They say ‘Leon the Gentle Breeze’ is pretty famous.”

“Where did you hear that name?”

“Rumors are adventurers’ favorite way to kill time.”

“Though most rumors are about someone messing up.”

“Then do you know the party Fang? Their leader’s an old guy named Jäeger.”

…Why is everyone making such weird faces?

“They’re top class in the capital. If you don’t know them, you’re a nobody.”

“Sounds like Leon knows them.”

“Look at the table in the middle. The party Iron Horn—who’s close with them—is eating there.”

I was surprised to see high-rank adventurers eating at the guild in the morning, but I decided to ask them about Jäeger.

“I’ll be right back.”

I took a big gulp of ale and headed toward the group eating near the center of the dining hall. Who was it again?

Wasn’t that… the guy who talked to me the other day—Gaines?

Perfect timing. I greeted him with a smile. “Good morning, Gaines-san.”

“Oh, Leon! You here for breakfast too?”

“I had some business with Jäeger and stopped by, but I was told he hasn’t been around lately.”

“Then why don’t you run with us until they get back?”

“Huh—are they somewhere far away?”

“Probably a nearby forest, but they won’t be back for a week or ten days.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll wait for Jäeger-san and his group.”

“You in a hurry?”

“Yes. I have an errand I was asked to handle, and once that’s done, I’ll be leaving the capital for a while.”

“You’ll be coming back, right?”

“That’s the plan. When I do, I’d love to work with you sometime.”

“Got it. I’ll tell him you were looking for him.”

“Please also tell him I stop by the dining hall every evening.”

Two of Gaines’ companions made strange faces, like they wanted to say something, but I ignored it and returned to Nanga’s table.

“Did you see that?”

“Can’t see it, but that’s an insane number.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He’s got a ridiculous number of spirits attached to him.”

“I couldn’t feel them when we took shelter from the rain. With that many, we should’ve noticed back then…”

“Most of the people in the dining hall are low-rank, so they don’t notice, but I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“There you go again. I can use presence detection too, but I don’t feel anything like that, so saying many or few doesn’t help me much.”

“Dennis and Morgan should know.”

“Yet they acted like nothing was going on and didn’t say a word.”

“Hey, he really went over there.”

“What’s the deal with Leon, anyway?”

“And he talks to them so casually.”

“Oh—he’s coming back.”

I returned to Nanga’s table and took another big gulp of ale.

“Leon, you’re a much bigger deal than we thought.”

“I can’t believe you can just walk into a place like that.”

“Hey now, it’s not like I went to pick a fight. I just asked about Jäeger-san and his group.”

Just as I finished my ale, Section Chief Holtz brought over the appraisal sheet. I checked only the total, thanked him, and accepted it.

This time it was 3,744,000 dara. Combined with what I already had, that should put me at a little over 14,000,000 dara.

Until I meet up with Jäeger-san and the others, I decided to spend my time shopping around.

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I bought higher-quality tea leaves than what I usually drank at home, along with various tea sweets and some beautiful tableware, and tossed everything into my magic pouch.
I also bought two nice baskets that I’d forgotten last time, and stocked up on some long-lasting food as well.

Every evening, I went to the Adventurers’ Guild, had dinner and a drink with Nanga and the others, and if it looked like I wouldn’t be able to meet Jäeger-san and his group, I returned to the Martins Hotel.

On the fourth day, while we were eating dinner, Nanga suddenly choked on his food. He then looked at me and pointed behind me.

When I turned around, Jäeger-san was walking toward me.

“Leon, did you need something?”

“I was waiting so I could hand over the smaller item you asked for.”

“Hoh. I was right to ask you.”

“Shall we go to the training grounds?”

“Yeah.”

After excusing ourselves to Nanga and the others, Jäeger-san and I went to the training grounds. Even though no one was there, just to be safe I created a dome that stirred up dust, then lined up two Golden Goats.

“Hoh, those are big ones. How was the snow?”

“There was still some in the shade, but it wasn’t hard to search.”

“What about Sham?”

“I didn’t go farther in than the rocky area. Maybe someday if I feel like it.”

“Understood. They should probably fetch over 4,000,000 dara each. Is it fine to transfer the payment to your guild account?”

“Yes. I’d like to avoid any trouble.”

“Got it. The money will come from the Grandis Trading Company. I’ll ask Butler Nielsen to handle it.”

After confirming that the two Golden Goats were stored in the magic bag, I released the mana from the dome and returned to the dining hall, where I handed over a slip of paper with my guild card number and name.

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“Sir Nielsen, Adventurer Jäeger is here. He says he has obtained them.”

“I see… Call him in.”

After parting ways with Leon, Jäeger separated from his companions, caught a hired carriage, and hurried to Chairman Grandis’s residence.
After explaining his business, he was immediately shown to Butler Nielsen’s office without having to wait.

“Which one did he obtain?”

“Two Golden Goats. The Sham habitat lies farther in, so he didn’t go that far.”

“I’ll inform the master. Please wait.”

Nielsen left the room, but returned shortly after and said, “The master wishes to see you,” then led Jäeger to Chairman Grandis’s office.

“Jäeger, well done. What about that man?”

“He has no intention of making a name for himself, and wants this reward transferred quietly as well.”

“If he’s with a party capable of hunting Golden Goats, I’d gladly act as their patron. Or is that unsatisfactory?”

“No, it’s not that. Apparently, he was once pursued by the Warrens Trading Company, and before that had some trouble with a noble in his hometown. Because of that, the guild sub-master told him to leave town and travel for a while. So he wants to avoid getting involved with people too deeply.”

“I see. Tell him that if he ever changes his mind, he’s welcome to come to me anytime. Now then, shall we take a look?”

They went out to the back garden and lined up the two Golden Goats. Chairman Grandis let out a sigh.

“Both of them are magnificent Golden Goats. Nielsen, check the auction prices and buy them at twenty percent above that.”

Hey now—just because they’re rare doesn’t mean you should buy them for more than our Armor Buffaloes.
Jäeger grumbled internally, then almost laughed as he imagined Leon casually spinning the Golden Goats around and pulling them toward himself.

Back in Nielsen’s office, Jäeger handed over the memo Leon had entrusted to him and requested the transfer of payment.

Nielsen handed him a small leather pouch and said, “Make sure you can contact that party at any time.”

He was probably forgetting that Leon had once said he was a shield-bearer, and had mistaken them for a highly capable party that could hunt Golden Goats.
He likely thought Leon was the party leader as well—but Jäeger chose not to correct that misunderstanding.