The Revenge of the Soul Eater

A Way to Pick a Fight With the Guild Peacefully

Now that Lunamaria is in my hands, my next target is the 『Falcon Sword』’s warrior priest, Iria.

However, I’ll need a little bit of time to prepare for that.

I have to destroy a long relationship that was built with many years as its foundation. Of course it can’t be done in a day or two.                      

Well, it could be possible if Larz went crazy and use Iria as a wager to challenge me to a second duel.

I would be really helpful if he did that…but judging from how Iria is as a person, she probably won’t let that happen. Therefore, it’s necessary to just leave Iria alone until I’m ready.

So what shall I do in the meantime?

What comes to mind is to start some shit with the guild.

By that, I don’t mean that I’m going to commit some sort of crime like assassinating the guild master or their receptionists, nor do I mean that I’ll mess with the other adventurers.

I’m going to do it in a more fair and square manner, a way that would let me start something with them while being beneficial to the people of the world.

To put it clearly, I’m going to clean up the quests that the guild couldn’t clear.

I can’t pick up those quests myself since I’m expelled from there, but it’s okay since I have Lunamaria for that.

Following the guild rules that the receptionists love, there’s not a single line that says “Slaves can’t be adventurers” or “Adventurers who became slaves are immediately expelled”.

Lunamaria is still an adventurer right now even though she became my slave. I will leave『Falcon Sword』 alone, but I’m not backing off from the guild. I will get those quests from that guild receptionist window.

What I’ll be aiming for will be the quests that were left undone, the ones in the state of so-called “preserved”.

The quests with rewards that are too low, quests with okay rewards but takes too long to do, and quests with high rewards but are way too dangerous.

There are all kinds of reasons for a quest to become “preserved”, but those quests are a pain in the ass for the guild. The clients that made the quest would try to claim compensation for them never being done, and it would create a scene even if adventurers step in to mediate.

Those quests are mostly handed out as punishment for adventurers who have broken the guild rules. Sometimes they will even be cleared by the guild staff who are fit to be adventurers themselves.

That’s how preserved quests are normally dealt with in normal cities or towns, but this is the adventure city, Ishka. The number of quests brought in per day here is over hundreds, so the chance of a quest ending up as “preserved” is quite high.

If you just wait a day or two, there will be new quests right away. There was no need for people to go through the trouble of accepting bad quests.

I will get rid of those preserved quests that have accumulated.

From the guild’s clients’ point of view, the state of constantly having their quests open is nothing to joke about. It probably damages the trust they have towards the guild.

That will be where I come in.

Of course, Lunamaria will be the one who’ll be taking on these quests on the outside.

However, considering Lunamaria’s situation right now, even a dumbass would be able to see that I’m behind her.

An expelled adventurer cleaning up quests that the guild couldn’t handle. Anyone would be able to see what that is implying.

If they were regular quests, the guild might reject Lunamaria no matter what they are about. But since they are in a state of “preserved”, there’s nothing they can do.

Even if they do reject her, I will just secretly snitch on them to the clients. Like “The guild did not allow us to take the quest even though it’s been in a state of preserved”.

If I do that, the quest clients would get mad, and the guild’s reputation would take a large hit. It would be fine with me either way since we’ll be able to get the quest on the spot without going through the guild.

And that’s my plan of “Starting shit with the guild peacefully (Prelude)”.

◆◆◆

I decided on our immediate plans but the problem is what am I going to do with the beastkin girl slave, Ciel Alous?

To me, her role has ended after the duel between me and Larz.

If she wishes for it, I would gladly release her from slavery and let her return home. Rather, that was what I intended to do from the very beginning.

Even though it took me thirty gold coins to get her, I never worked hard to earn that money. It’s not like it’s really a loss if I think of that as easy money that just comes and goes.

However, the one who told me to wait on freeing her was Ciel herself.

According to her, even if she returned home as it is, she wouldn’t be able to pay the taxes in the end and she will just have to sell herself again.

There’s no guarantee that her next master will be a better person than me. She bowed down and begged me to use her how I see fit.

「…Um, from now on, I’ll do my best to serve you at night too…」

Before I glanced at Ciel who had her whole face dyed red, I saw Lunamaria with cheeks even redder than Ciel’s.

Yup, I did do my best last night after all. As to what that means, let’s just say that we kept Ciel awake for the entire night in the next room.

Let’s just say that Lunamaria’s soul was as sweet and rich as the finest wine. However, I’m just saying that from my imagination since I have never tasted wine of the highest grade though.

Anyway, back to the topic, releasing Ciel if she doesn’t wish for it herself would be silly.

Whether she’ll service me or not, considering the fact that we’ll be doing the “preserved” quests from now on, the more helping hands I have the better.

If anything, her light body, her good eyesight, and her sharp sense of smell will definitely come in handy.

I told Ciel that I tossed away my plan to release her and changed it into a plan to abuse her— as a joke, her head dropped down with a pale face. It dropped so low that it was enough to touch the floor.

…Yeah, we are slave and master after all. Even though I was only making a light joke, there was nothing funny about it to the other side.

I literally possess the right to kill her. 

Acting overly familiar with her like that will put a burden on her mind instead. Let’s not forget that from now on.

After that, I sent Lunamaria to the guild as planned and stopped messing with “Falcon Sword”.

Next, I got her to make a list of suitable “preserved” quests that we can take. Lunamaria is a sixth-tier adventurer just like Larz, so she can take up any quests as long as they aren’t too high in difficulty.

In the list that Lunamaria created, there was something that caught my eye. 

「…Gryphon Extermination, huh?」

「Ah, that’s a quest to exterminate a gryphon that rests on Mount Skim. The clients who put out the quest seemed to have lost both their son and grandson to a gryphon…」

「That’s not a demonic beast that you can encounter randomly on the road. Were they treasure hunting adventurers?」

Gryphons are known as the king of bird beasts. They are strong demonic beasts with an eagle’s head and wings, and a lion’s body and claws.

They usually live in the high peaks of mountains that people can’t reach. It’s also said that their nests are full of the gold that they hoard. There are endless stories of adventurers challenging gryphons for a chance to get rich.

「Yes. They would like to avenge their family since they are adventurers, but it’s troubling to fight a gryphon under those horrible mountain terrain conditions. Besides, unlike goblins and orcs, they are demonic beasts that won’t cause harm if you leave them alone. According to the information the receptionist gave me, they tried to ask veteran adventurers to do this quest many times, but the adventurers just called them greedy fools who got what they deserved」

「That’s why that quest became “preserved”, huh? Even though the reward…isn’t bad, it isn’t big enough for people to risk fighting a gryphon for」

If you want to fight gryphons, you have to start by making the preparations needed to climb the mountain first. Then, most of the reward will be canceled out by the expenses. I see, that’s why people won’t take that quest

 However, that’s exactly why this is a suitable first job for me.

「An adventurer who doesn’t care about gains or losses as much as the client’s emotions– That is quite an attractive slogan」

「So you intend to take this quest?!」

「Yeah. Luckily, I happen to know a way to get there. Mount Skim isn’t that far away, so it’d be the perfect practice」

「……I-I see…」

Lunamaria and Ciel both looked at me like “what is he talking about?”

The questions in their mind were reasonable, but I’m not going to tell them about the indigo wyvern here.

Besides, if I told them in full confidence here… It’d be embarrassing if I don’t even catch a glimpse of the wyvern when I get to the king of flies’ nest again.

Well, if it ends up that way, I will climb up the mountain the hard way using my kei at full force.

In any case, it would be impossible to bring Ciel or even Lunamarial along. I’ll have those two work on some other quests in the meantime.

「I’ll be away for the next little while. Find some quests that are suitable for you two to do. Also, Lunamaria, teach Ciel the ropes of an adventurer. I’ll leave it to you to decide what to do 」

「Understood, Master-」

「I-I will do my best as well! Um, please be careful, master」

I exited the room as the two beautiful girls with slave collars around their necks sent me off (?)

After tipping the inn owner’s daughter a silver coin on my way out today as well, I went into thought as I walked on the street. 

Now then, where can I get the reins and saddles that dragon riders use?