Chapter 100 - Chapter 99: The First Named Request
The 1st Month of Wind, the 2nd Week, the Day of the Sun.
According to the calendar, it had become autumn, yet hot days continued for a little while longer.
Still, recently it had become somewhat better.
"Hoeh~... what a huge mansion..."
Mika, being guided by a maid, gazed at the well-maintained garden.
No, looking closely, there were flowers that had withered and were left as they were in various places, and a few branches were sticking out.
Would anyone who looked think "they are cutting corners"?
To Mika, however, it was still a sufficiently beautiful garden.
And so, passing through the entrance decorated with excessive ornamentation, he was led to the reception room.
Since the entrance was overly decorated, naturally the reception room was too.
It seemed to have cost a lot of money, but honestly, I couldn't judge whether the taste was good.
Wasn't this the so-called "new money taste"?
There was another door in the room, separate from the one Mika had entered, located further back.
It seemed to be connected to the next room.
Both were lavishly carved and decorated; if they collided and got scratched, they might be charged for repairs.
Served tea in a high-class teacup by a parlor maid, Mika waited for a while.
He straightened his back, closed his eyes, and calmed his mind.
(...What kind of talk will come up...)
Mika let out a soft breath and recalled yesterday's events.
Yesterday.
After morning classes ended, Mika returned to the dormitory with everyone from the Leventein Group.
Since it was Sunday, after lunch he usually accompanied Rimliche to her special training, and afterwards visited the Guild.
He had been searching for the cause of "curse-type" quests throughout this week but found nothing, and planned to take a beast extermination quest tomorrow.
Just as Mika had climbed a few steps on the stairs, a cafeteria lady called out to him.
"Ah, Mika-kun! Wait, wait!"
She ran over with a patter-patter sound and handed something to Mika.
"Just now, someone brought this for you. They said it was from the Guild."
"The Guild?"
There was only one Guild that had anything to do with Mika.
The letter handed over was folded in two, sealed with wax.
To be honest, the contents could be easily read from the gap.
Well, it must be content that wouldn't cause problems even if someone read it.
A seal was pressed on the wax, but it was unfamiliar. ...Or was it?
Was some kind of emblem seen at the Guild like this?
"Thank you. I have certainly received it."
When Mika thanked her, the cafeteria lady immediately ran toward the cafeteria.
A large number of brats would soon pour in.
The cafeteria would become like a battlefield.
Since standing still on the stairs would be an obstruction, he dismissed Meserite, who was curious about the contents, and went to his own room.
There, he checked the letter.
On the front, it was written only "To Mr. Mika Noisheim".
He opened the letter.
'Named request. Since you came to the Second Branch.'
It was concise content.
With this, surely, there would be no problem even if someone saw the contents.
(Named...?)
A named request?
I know such things exist, but that is done when requesting a famous adventurer.
I don't understand the meaning of naming Mika, who is D-Rank.
Named requests also set the reward quite high.
It seems there is no particular market price, but it seems the adventurer must receive at least one gold coin as their take.
This is because the client names the adventurer, but the recipient is not necessarily required to accept.
If you really want them to accept the request, you must offer a decent amount, it seems.
Also, if named requests were allowed without setting a minimum amount, all requests would name famous adventurers.
Allowing such a thing would cause the Adventurer's Guild to cease functioning.
Therefore, a certain minimum reward is set so that named requests cannot be issued lightly.
By the way, for super famous adventurers, this minimum reward becomes three or five gold coins.
Since it is only the minimum reward, there seem to be clients who offer ten or more gold coins if they really want them to accept.
Naturally, it must be a request of difficulty worthy of such an amount.
(Hmm... I don't understand well just from this.)
Since I don't know the contents of the named request or anything else, looking at this alone gets me nowhere.
(Originally, I planned to go to the Guild today anyway, so I'll ask then.)
Mika stuffed the letter from the Guild into his pants pocket and headed for the cafeteria to eat lunch.
He told Rimliche to finish a little earlier than usual and came to the Adventurer's Guild.
Mika lined up waiting for the counter, but Yunressa called out to him midway.
"Mr. Mika Noisheim. Please, this way."
What he was guided to was the lecture room... no, the reception room.
During the guidance, Rosalinde waved her hands vigorously during a break in counter duties.
Is it better to just wave during a break in handling?
"Thank you for taking the trouble to visit us on such a busy day."
Saying so, Yunressa bowed politely.
...Yes, it feels very uncomfortable.
"Um, sorry... could you please just act normally, like usual?"
Mika scratched his cheek with a bitter smile.
"I'm surprised too, receiving something like this suddenly. But when the treatment changes suddenly, it's... unsettling. It would help if you acted normally."
When Mika took out the letter from his pocket, Yunressa's expression softened slightly.
"That's right. Since we are surprised too, Mika-kun must be even more surprised. But this is definitely a named request for you."
Saying so, Yunressa explained the request was "curse removal".
"Recently, Mika-kun, you have completed many requests for curse removal, haven't you? Moreover, it seems those curses were removed. The client heard rumors like that."
Indeed, Mika had handled over ten "curse-type" requests in the past few months.
It seemed he had become conspicuous enough to become a small rumor.
(...It was surprisingly fast. I thought a rumor would spread eventually.)
It had been over three full months since Mika started handling "curse-type" matters.
Even so, is this the better side?
(Since there was no evidence, I thought I wouldn't be caught quickly. ...Well, rumors don't need evidence, do they?)
However, it was surprising that a named request came out from such a rumor.
Probably the client doesn't even know Mika's name.
Mika asked Yunressa for the details of the request.
"We were a bit troubled here too, but the client didn't want to talk about the details much. I said 'Then we cannot accept it as a Guild,' but they insisted."
It seemed Yunressa had conducted the intake interview for the request.
With this, it wasn't strange that Mika could be identified.
(That client is quite lucky.)
If it were another Guild branch, they certainly wouldn't accept it.
However, I couldn't help but feel a bit suspicious of a client who didn't want to talk about details.
But if they had reasons they didn't want to make public, it wasn't hard to understand why they wouldn't talk about details.
After all, it was "curse-type".
There was nothing positive about being known by people.
"What kind of person is the client?"
"It was a family running a fairly large trading company. Wasn't it an antique dealer? ...It seems they also handle antiques and ornaments. The lady of that house is the client. She is the one who came here."
If they ran a trading company, they must be sensitive to rumors.
And I can understand why they would dislike rumors spreading that they made a "curse-type" request.
Did the suspicion lessen a bit?
"The reward is one gold coin. For this request, thirty percent of the order fee goes directly into your account. The rest is the success reward."
This advance payment upon ordering can be set somewhat freely by the client.
Since part of the reward is given before starting the request, there is a risk of running away with just the advance unless the partner is highly trustworthy.
Still, "even if you fail, you get this much" is one of the big points for accepting.
In that sense, setting an advance payment for Mika, who is still half-baked, would be a big risk.
If they were rich, they might easily offer "just three gold coins," but Mika felt the "client's desperate situation" in this.
(...They must be in a tight spot.)
No matter how wealthy a trading company is, they wouldn't offer three gold coins just for a rumor.
If the curse removal was just a rumor and Mika couldn't remove the curse, he would just be swindled of three gold coins as a half-baked adventurer.
Mika slowly took a deep breath.
The first named request.
He would need to face it with considerable resolve.
"I understand. I accept. Could you tell them I will visit tomorrow morning?"
Seeing Mika's eyes, which were so serious, Yunressa involuntarily gasped.
And so, arriving at the client's mansion.
As Mika was idly looking at a painting hung on the wall, the door was knocked.
Mika stood up to welcome them.
Entering was a middle-aged woman who looked quite refined.
This woman must be the client.
She held something like a handkerchief in her hand.
She was somewhat plump, but her complexion was not very good.
The mansion's decoration didn't seem to match this lady's taste, so surely the master's taste was strongly reflected.
The lady who entered saw Mika's figure and widened her eyes for a moment.
But she said nothing and stood beside the seat opposite Mika.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Please, take a seat."
When Mika sat down as urged by the lady, the lady also sat.
So they took their seats, but the lady did not open her mouth.
Since there was no choice, Mika decided to start the conversation.
"Thank you for the named request. To get straight to the point, I would like to hear the details."
Mika spoke, but the lady's expression remained clouded.
She looked at Mika, looked at her hands, and seemed restless.
"...Really, can you remove the curse? From appearances, you still look like a child."
And just when she finally opened her mouth, those were the words.
But Mika smiled brightly.
"I am still a trainee attending the academy, but I do have a record of removing several curses so far."
He put on a sales smile and acted politely.
(Not for one gold coin... no, I am an adult.)
It was not that his eyes were blinded by greed.
"...But, I must state this beforehand."
There, he tightened his expression slightly.
"I am sorry... but I cannot guarantee that it will definitely be removed this time either."
"What!? That changes everything! That won't do! We cannot have it if you don't remove it for sure!"
Shocked by Mika's unreliable words, the lady became extremely flustered.
Even if you say the story has changed, that is not what Mika said.
I don't know what story they heard, but they cannot take responsibility for other people's irresponsible talk.
As a matter of course, as insurance, Mika does not say it will definitely be removed.
There are some types of people who boost themselves by making big claims and draw out high ability
But unfortunately, Mika is not that type.
"Yes, even if you say so... Of course, I will do everything within my power. But it is troubling if you think it is absolutely possible."
Is it too unreliable?
Am I running away too much to avoid getting my words pinned down?
"Leave it to me, you can rest assured," reassuring the client might be a condition of a top-class adventurer.
But I would be troubled if Mika at this level was asked for that.
The lady bit her lips with a solemn expression.
She must be struggling with whether to entrust this to Mika or not.
After waiting in silence for a while, the lady placed the handkerchief she held on the table.
It seemed it was not a handkerchief after all.
It was a beautiful cloth with a sheen, apparently used to wrap something.
The lady slowly opened it.
"...A necklace?"
"Yes..."
Inside the cloth was a necklace adorned with many small gems.
She used a considerable number of gems, but the overall impression was calm.
"Is this the object with the curse to be removed?"
"Yes... That is also <...> but..."
That is also...?
Mika involuntarily made a suspicious face.
Either way, if this is also a cursed object, he would need to check it first.
Mika said "Excuse me" and reached out his left hand to the necklace.
Naturally, his magic power was concentrated to the fullest.
He picked up the necklace, but felt no fluctuation from the curse at all.
(Did I concentrate too much magic power?)
It was a request worth one gold coin.
I was too wary, thinking it must be a considerable curse.
Mika dispersed the gathered magic power and weakened the magic to suppress fluctuations.
But no matter how long he waited, he felt no fluctuation.
He gradually weakened the magic power, and finally stopped concentrating magic power altogether.
(What is this?)
Indeed, he felt a curse.
He felt it, but it was too weak.
It was probably no different from the talisman Mika first picked up.
A curse of that level.
"...Should I remove the curse on this?"
Due to the unexpectedly disappointing result, his voice naturally lost its strength.
"That one too, that... I would like to ask..."
But the lady's answer was terribly halting.
And even after waiting for a while, the continuation did not come.
Mika involuntarily sighed.
Even if he tried to listen, there was nothing he could do if the client didn't want to say.
With this, he would never grasp the full picture of the request no matter how long he waited.
It was a rare named request, but with this, he would get nowhere.
He pondered for a moment, then slowly stood up.
"It seems you are not yet at the stage where you want to make the request. For today, I will take my leave."
Saying so, he bowed his head.
Getting a fail
Well, thinking "three gold coins for travel expenses is fine," he walked toward the door, when the inner door opened forcefully.
"Wait!!!"
That was a cry that could be called agonizing.
Jumping in from the opened inner door was a woman who looked to be around twenty years old.
"Wait, please... Please, wait!!!"
In a voice wrung out like a groan, filled with suffering, Mika stopped and could not move.
Mika, the lady, and the lady's daughter sat down again.
"It seems you have quite a situation."
Like the lady, the daughter's complexion was not good.
Both looked down and did not try to open their mouths.
Both seemed quite cornered, but it seemed they still could not take that one step.
(...Did I try too hard to avoid getting my words pinned down? The responsibility that the two
Running to protect oneself is perhaps the sad nature of the salaryman era.
I take responsibility for what I say, but that is beyond the scope of my responsibility, a habit that had soaked into my bones.
Since I had been a salaryman for more than half my life, it was inevitable to become like this.
But Mika now is not a salaryman. He is an adventurer.
Then, he must behave appropriately as an adventurer.
Mika silently took the necklace.
And so, he performed the curse removal.
The two did not know what Mika was doing and just watched in silence.
Mika completed the curse removal in two or three minutes and tried to put the necklace around his own neck.
"W-wait! That is—!"
"I have already removed the curse."
Saying so, he put on the necklace and shrugged his shoulders.
"The curse placed on this necklace was very weak. This level is quick."
Mika took off the necklace and returned it to the cloth.
"This necklace is now just a necklace. But, the real problem is not the necklace
He spoke gently.
I have no intention of spouting big words.
But making oneself look small unnecessarily is not modesty.
It only makes the other party anxious for no reason.
Showing that one can do what one can do, showing appropriate power, is also the duty of an adventurer.
As Mika stared steadily at the two, the lady seemed to make up her mind and spoke to her daughter.
"Heminikki... Is it okay?"
At the lady's words, the daughter called Heminikki hesitated, but soon nodded slightly.
So, hesitantly standing up, she moved to the side of the table.
"...?"
He watched wondering what it was, but Heminikki did not move from there.
She just blushed and tightly grabbed the skirt part of her one-piece dress.
Her hands seemed to tremble slightly.
"Um... What is it?"
Not knowing what she was doing, Mika alternately looked at the lady and Heminikki.
"Heminikki... You are going to ask, aren't you? ...Come on, show us."
At the lady's voice, Heminikki's face turned redder, and she tightly pressed her lips together.
But she slowly began to lift her skirt.
"Wait!? What are you doing!"
Mika panicked, turned sideways, and turned his back to Heminikki.
(What are you making a girl of that age do!)
When Mika thought he should go outside the room, the lady's voice called out.
"...I appreciate your consideration, but unless you see it, I cannot explain. If you care for my daughter, please..."
At the lady's serious voice, this time Mika hesitated.
But if Mika does not confirm it, Heminikki will remain like this no matter how long it takes.
If so, it would be better to finish even just the confirmation quickly.
"Then... Excuse me."
Mika hesitantly slowly turned toward the daughter.
And immediately noticed "that".
"What...!?"
"That" was a pattern that could be seen at a glance as a certain kind of curse.
"that" drawn largely on the lower abdomen, protruding from the underwear Heminikki was wearing.
Pink, resembling a heart mark motif, combined with the location drawn, giving a rather vulgar impression.
Yes, that was unmistakably the Lust Crest.