Chapter 259 – Adventurer Friends

On the way back to the mansion, I decided to stop by at the Adventurers Guild.

“Kathe. Take Tama and Grulf and go on ahead.”
“Hmm?”
“I want to stop by at the Adventurers Guild and see what kind of requests have been put out.”
“I want to… No, I will return then. Tama, Grulf. Follow me.”

Perhaps Kathe wanted to visit the Adventurers Guild as well.
But she saw that Tama was tired and decided to return with them.

“Thanks, Kathe. I won’t take long.”
“Mmm.”

As Kathe started to walk, Tama followed after her.
However, Grulf would not leave my side.

“Grr?”
“Do you want to stay with Locke?”
“Grrr.”

Grulf looked like he wasn’t tired yet.

“Alright, then you can come with me, Grulf.”
“Grrr!”
“And Tama will come with me!”
“Wuff-wuff.”
“We’ll buy something to eat and then go back!”
“Wuff!!”

Kathe and Tama looked very pleased as they walked away.
Apparently, they intended to buy some food first.

Grulf and Lord Gerbera reacted to Kathe’s words.
“Gruff!”
“Cluck.”
They were staring up at me now.

And I didn’t want them to regret coming with me instead of Kathe.
“…Then we’ll also buy something to eat before returning.”
“Gruff!”
“Cluck-cluck!”
Grulf and Lord Gerberga looked very happy.

Lord Gerberga stuck his head out from my jacket and gently rubbed his crest against my jaw.
I patted him gently on the head in return. The crest was soft and felt nice.

And then we entered the Adventurers Guild.
It was just midday, so it was past the most crowded time. There weren’t too many Adventurers around.

“Locke. It’s been awhile.”
“Ah, Mr. Locke!”

Ario and Ginny came running towards me.
I did feel as if I hadn’t seen them in a long time.
I think that the last time I adventured with them was when we had to hunt the demon rats.

“It’s unusual for you two to be at the guild during this time. Were there no good quests today?”
“No, that’s not the reason. We were out since dawn today to gather herbs. And we only just returned now.”

There were some medicinal herbs with flowers that bloomed when the sun rose, which meant they could no longer be used for making medicine.
They must have been gathering those kinds of herbs then.
While it was a hassle to gather herbs with a time limit, they also paid better.
And the danger was still low. So it was a recommended quest for beginner Adventurers.

“Oh, herb gathering, huh? Did it go well?”
“Yes! Perfectly.”

Ginny said with a bright expression. Apparently, it went very well for them.

“That’s good to know.”
“Gruff.”

Grulf seemed to be very happy to see Ario and Ginny again, as his tail was wagging.
His front paws pushed off the ground at the same time over and over again.
It was like he wanted to jump on them.

But we had told him that he could only jump on me or Kathe, and he remembered that.
As he was being very good, I patted him on the head.

“Recently, I’ve been visiting Shia’s homeland. So I haven’t been to the Adventurers Guild in a while.”
“I see. So that’s why we haven’t seen you!”
“What is Ms. Shia’s homeland like?”

As it wouldn’t be good to stand here talking, we moved over to the dining area in the guild.
There, we ate some light snacks and talked.

Of course, I bought a lot of treats for Lord Gerberga and Grulf as well.
Lord Gerberga sat down next to me and ate from a plate that was on top of my lap.
As for Grulf, I put his treats in a plate that was placed on top of a chair.
I was pleased to see that both Lord Gerberga and Grulf were very happy.

“Is Shia’s homeland filled with a lot of cute children like Nia?”
“Yes, as it is a beastkin wolf settlement.”
“I see. I would like to visit it one day.”

Ginny seemed to really like beastkin children.
It was understandable, as their ears and tails swayed around energetically.
After talking about Shia’s settlement for awhile, I asked them,

“How have quests been recently? Have there been an increase in goblins? What about demon rats?”

Goblins were among the weakest of monsters, but the vampire sometimes used them as servants.
And in the past, the effects of an Evil God Idol fragment had caused a great infestation of demon rats.

“Thankfully, nothing like that has happened.”
“And so we’ve been mostly just gathering herbs.”
“Even if we do hunt demon rats, there are never more than five. It’s usually just two or three.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Well, yes. But it doesn’t feel very satisfying either.”
“Brother. You shouldn’t say such things.”
“Th-that’s right. Sorry.”

Ario looked a little embarrassed after he was admonished by Ginny.
However, I understood how he felt.
As an Adventurer, you wanted to save people, defeat powerful enemies, and earn the gratitude of the people.
Just then, one of the guild workers came out from behind the desk, and began to add a new quest to the quest board.
Ginny watched this and said,

“Brother. It looks like a request to hunt goblins.”
“What!”

Ario said as he jumped off of his seat.