Chapter 203: Verulean Adventurer’s Guild

 

 Translated by Zzonkedd

Edited by Gumihou

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“So this is the Verulean Adventurer’s Guild. It’s not as large as Doran’s but it’s still fairly big, na,”

The City of Verulean itself was not as large as a dungeon city, but it still beats Claire and Neihoff in terms of size. [1] Since it’s a port city, the population should be quite high too.

Alright, let’s go in. [2] It’s noon now, so there were not many people around. Adventurer’s Guilds are usually busiest during the early mornings and evenings, so it was pretty quiet at the moment.

[3] I like coming to the Guild during this time since I could go right up to the reception desk without having to line up or be stared at by other Adventurers. I smiled at the receptionist and whipped out my guild card, “Excuse me, my name is Mukouda. Perhaps you have received some word about me from Neihoff…”

The receptionist accepted my card with an, ‘A moment, please,’ before leaving her seat. This is also why I prefer to come when there is nobody around, it would be so awkward otherwise to have people waiting behind me…

I did not have to wait long. Soon, a large muscular man in his mid-40s strode out. He was completely bald with a pirate-ish eyepatch over one eye. [3] Woah, did that guy used to be a pirate?

Um… he looked even bigger up close. My guess is he’s about 190cm tall.

“Ou! You’re finally here, na. I am Marks, the Guild Master of the Verulean Adventurer’s Guild. I have received a message from old man Yoran about you. We have very little time to waste, so please come this way.”

We followed Marks-san to his room on the second floor. Thus far, every Guild Master’s room appeared to be located on the second floor. [4]

“Please, take a seat,” he said, waving at a chair that looked like it was wide enough for two people, or one very big person.

“So,” he said, leaning forward on his desk. “I’ve heard a lot of stories about you. A Fenrir as a familiar and a Pixie Dragon as well, eh? I didn’t even know that such a dragon exists until someone told me about you. Gahahahahaha!” [4]

Ahahaha. “Yes, Pixie Dragons appear to be a rare type of dragon species. I also have a Slime as my familiar.” Naturally, I cannot allow people to disregard my lovely Sui.

Marks-san nodded at Sui, who popped out from her usual place in my leather bag, [5] “Ah yes, your slime is quite the special one.”

“Anyway, back to the topic. You’re saying that you have some time-sensitive, high-level mission for us?”

“Oh yes,” Marks-san became serious again. “We have a good number of Adventurers here so we don’t usually have that many high-level mission requests backed up. However, about three days ago, a Kraken appeared just off the coast of this port. [6] The fishermen spotted it and managed to escape after throwing a net full of fish at it. Unfortunately, the beast is still there. The fishermen can’t go out to the sea and it’s only a matter of time before it moves closer to the port for easy prey…”

A Kraken?

Fer, who had been snoozing behind the chair, suddenly perked up. He trotted around the chair and sat next to me, ears and tail alert.

“To be honest, the fishermen have been busting down my doors about getting rid of that Kraken,” said Marks-san with a groan. “I’m actually more troubled by them than the Kraken…”

From what I’ve heard, the fishermen of Verulean were a tough lot. [2][6] I imagined a bunch of strong, tanned guys looking a lot like the casts of Pirates of the C coming in to yell at the Guild Master…

“I do have a B Rank Adventurer party in town. They’re interested in taking on the quest, but the fact that the monster is in the sea upped the difficulty level so much that they ended up declining the request. A similarly ranked land monster would pose less trouble… So, will you take on this request?”

Well, we did kind of specifically come here to see if we can track down a Kraken, so…

“Umu, no problem. Krakens are delicious,” Fer replied before I could say anything.

“What he said,” I chimed up.

Ahaha, I could see Marks-san’s face stiffened.

“O-oi, Krakens can be eaten?”

“Can’t they?” [7]

We both looked at Fer and he licked his lips, “Yes, they are quite delicious.” [7]

Marks-san looked a little uncomfortable. I have no problem thinking about Kraken as food since it’s basically a giant octopus. [6] It had been more challenging for me to think of the Black Serpent as food since Japanese don’t usually eat snakes. Also, sentient-ish creatures like Orcs. However, I do understand that some countries did not see squids and octopuses as food due to their weird appearances.

“I-Is that so? I’ve never heard of anyone eating Kraken before… M- maa, the important thing here is the quest.” [8]

“Umu, we’re good.” Well, at least Fer looked excited at the idea of taking on a Kraken.

[9] He’s not the only one, Marks-san was beaming. [6] Clearly, he was happy that he did not have to face those angry pirate fishermen with a negative answer anymore. He leaned back in his chair and said interestedly, “By the way, I heard you cleared the Doran Dungeon?”

“Ah, yes, we did.” To think that even a faraway city like Verulean would have heard about that… Well, he’s the Guild Master and they do have ways to communicate with each other.

“I see, I see. Well, I shall be frank, I want to know if you still have any dungeon items with you.” [7] [7] “Eh?”

[7] “Basically, it’s like this. Verulean has a lot going for it, but the one thing we don’t have is a dungeon. This means we have very little access to dungeon items. If possible I’d like to purchase any dungeon items you are willing to sell.”

Well, this is certainly unexpected.

“I’d be happy to sell to you,” I said cautiously. “But I’ll have to take an inventory of my items first. I can’t recall what I have at hand at the moment.”

“Aah, but of course.”

“Anyway, since the Kraken subjugation quest is time-sensitive, how about we talk about the dungeon items later.”

“Ou, I shall count on you then.”

[7] “Oh yes, one other thing. May I know where the Merchant Guild is?”

“What? Why would you want to know about that?”

Oops, [6] is Marks-san probably thinking that I might be selling my dungeon items to them instead? Better curb that thought now.

[7] “I wish to consult them about renting a temporary house here. An inn is not suitable for me or my familiars. I’m sure you understand.” I smiled, indicating Fer and Dora-chan.

“I see…”

Potential trouble averted, Marks-san wrote a letter of introduction for me, just at Yoran-san did back at Neihoff. Once I have the letter in hand, I made my way to the Verulean Merchant’s Guild.

 

[Gumihou: A fairly short, but interesting chapter. I wonder how they’re going to take down the Kraken]

 

[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs

[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs

[3] Added Details for Texture: Give Mukouda-san some personal preferences for character development

[4] Deleted Some Inane Information: Like you already climbed to the second floor, there’s no need for you to mention that even the Verulean’s Guild Master is on the second floor, like, whatever.

[5] Adjusted Details: Switched passive sentence to dialogue tag.

[6] Added Details for Texture: Throw in some mildly interesting info to make the incident more exciting.

[7] Structural Change: Passive to dialogue

[8] Changed sentence location: Deleted repetitive information and rearranged some sentences.

[9] Deleted Inane Dialogue: You accept request? > Yeah. > Good. > Awesome. > Thank you

 

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