Chapter 162

Finally. It was finally my turn.

“Thank you for waiting, Mister Asagi.”

“No problem.”

“Now, if you would just show me the materials.”

“Of course.”

I took off the hollow bag and thrust an arm into it before realising that there was a problem.

“Uh…”

“…? Mister Asagi?”

“The thing is a little large…I don’t know if there is enough space here…”

Indeed, if I took out a whole wind dragon here, it might destroy the building. I’d become a terrorist.

“In that case, you can have it inspected in the heavy disassembling area in the back.”

“Thank you.”

I nodded and the guild worker proceeded to guide me to it. A different guild worker took over the counter in the meantime.

I followed the guild worker until we reached a back door that led outside. It was a large area surrounded by high walls, but as this was outside, there was no ceiling. It would be pretty difficult for intruders to scale those walls. In any case, this was more than enough space for me.

“When you’re ready.”

“Alright.”

I took a step forward and grabbed the wind dragon’s tail from the bag. And just like that, I pulled the entire thing out. A shriek of terror rang behind me from the guild worker. A headless wind dragon now lay at our feet. And so I thrust my hand in the bag again and felt for the horns. Then, with another pull, an incredibly fresh dragon head popped out of the bag.

“Oh…uh…”

“Well, there it is. The big guy.”

“Oh… it is a wind dragon…!!”

“Yeah. Freshly killed wind dragon.”

The shocked guild worker told me to stay where I was before running back into the building. And so I waited there quietly as if I were the most loyal dog in the world. After a few minutes, Rio and several others stormed outside.

“Ah, Asagi, you. I see you’re still busy trying to gain even more popularity.”

“Uh, I thought I told you that that’s not the case?”

“And yet you prepared such a thing. Now what excuse could you have for that?”

I just wanted it cut up and convert some of it into gold. Damn it, Rio…stop smiling.

“If you could just take it apart for me. I want to keep the parts that can be made into armor, and the rest I will sell.”

“Yes-yes, very good. We will dismember it and make a list of all the parts for you. Please come to the guild tomorrow to see it.”

“Alright. Thank you.”

The others who had come with Rio now went to the wall and picked up tools that included great saws and knives. It seemed that they hadn’t had much opportunity to see a dragon like this before, and their eyes shone with eagerness. It was kind of scary to watch.

□ □ □ □

After that, I returned to the counter to turn in the smaller monster materials we had collected. In the end, I left the place with three pieces of gold and eighty pieces of silver.

“Well then, Mister Asagi. I trust we’ll be seeing you here tomorrow, so we inspect the wind dragon materials. Please do not forget.”

“Yes, I know. Sorry for surprising you back there.”

“Oh, it’s…nothing at all…”

It seemed to have caused a bit of a panic, and so I apologized. She turned red and looked at the floor. I knew what that meant. She liked me.

I was finished here, and so I said goodbye and decided to explore the rest of the guild. A glance towards the bar showed the typical assortment of rough gentlemen drinking alcohol. I didn’t feel like getting involved with anyone at this time though, and so I turned away.

After wandering about a little more, my feet took me to the stairs. There was a sign right next to it that read, ‘Resource Room ahead.’

“Resources…eh? Information about monsters, maybe?”

It seemed like it was open to everyone, and so I decided to take a look.

So I climbed the stairs to the second floor, where I was met with another sign pointing me in the right direction. At the end of that, I found a door with the words ‘Resource Room’ written on it.

“Excuse me…”

I knocked before entering a room overflowing with…well, not quite, but still, there was quite a collection of books. There were a few other Adventurers here who were turning the pages of the books they were reading. Hmm, so you were free to look around after all. And so I moved over to a shelf in the corner and looked at the covers.

“‘On Becoming an Adventurer of the Empire.’ …That’s of no use to me.”

Next to it was a book titled, ‘A Guide to Joining the Imperial Army.’ Was it a popular occupation then? …I think I’d rather be an Adventurer than participate in parades.

This shelf was not looking very promising, and so I decided to move on. I would check out the area where an Adventurer had been a moment ago. There should be something related to Adventuring.

And so I scanned the books that he had been browsing…

“‘I was Reincarnated into a Pot, and so I will build a Country with an Exciting Harem!’…?”

What the…is this a light novel? A pot? What a bummer.

“‘I thought I had Reincarnated into Another World, but it was just the Countryside, so I walked home.’ …So he just got lost then.”

Why were these kinds of books here… Did Rio like them?

In any case, I had no use for them either. What the hell was wrong with that Adventurer?

I left, looking a lot more tired than a moment ago. As I wandered around aimlessly, I caught sight of an Adventurer who was reading something intently. He paid me no mind, and so I stood next to him and checked the shelf he was closest to.

‘Monsters of the Empire.’

‘Killing the Demon Lord with the Strongest Cheat! -But I maxed out at level 10-’

‘Monster Distribution Map.’

‘Monster – Proof of the Hunt List.’

Now here was a selection of useful books. But hey, someone inserted a random light novel!

“Damn it…”

As I had nothing better to do, I returned the light novel to its rightful shelf and returned to the monster books. The Adventurer was gone now. In any case, I picked up Monsters of the Empire first. It had a list of all the surrounding town names in alphabetical order in the table of contents.

“…Huh.”

I found Replant. Hmmm, page 267…hehe. It had monsters both familiar and unfamiliar. It said that you should be especially wary of blood apes. Yes, yes. Those guys were horrible… I thought I was going to die.

There was also something about what I thought were forest goblins in Valdorf’s Berulu Forest, but they were actually known now as Berulu Goblins.

Apparently, there was some debate about this, as there were those who argued that they were nothing more than forest goblins who happened to like tree sap. The mayor’s daughter(aged 3) suggested that they be called syrup goblins, but this was promptly rejected.

“Who the hell cares…”

It was truly a universal thing to argue about pointless things.

I continued to look through the book and take in as much information as possible. Knowledge of the monsters we would encounter here was worth a lot. I had relied on Daniela most of the time up until now, but I needed to do my part where I could… It would be nice if I could get a map of the entire Empire as well, but they didn’t seem to have one here. I would have to gather more information… Well, maybe I could leave that bit to Daniela. She had lived so long that her head was full of such things. It wasn’t because I was lazy or anything.

“Mmm…uhhh…”

My shoulders were starting to feel stiff. My neck hurt too. Maybe it was time to stop reading. Besides, Daniela had probably been freed from Bacon right about now…

I sighed tiredly and returned the book to its shelf. Really, books should always be returned to the proper shelf.

□ □ □ □

I decided to check a clothes shop before returning to the inn. This was because I had realized that the percentage of being harrassed tended to increase in my current clothes. It was very shocking. These rough clothes were cheap and easy to move in, and I had liked them a lot…

“Hey, you. I’m not in a great mood today. Pay up or get knocked down. Take your pick.”

“Eh? What the…I’ll kick your arse!”

“Look at this guy. He looks so weak but carries a sword with him. It pisses me off!”

“Out of my way, you brat!”

It seemed that I could not walk ten steps without some thug taking issue with me. I lost count of how many times it happened. But I could probably fill a book with them. It would sell, too.

In any case, I came to the conclusion that my appearance was doing me no favors. But then again, I always ended up choosing similar types of clothes.

Maybe I just had unfortunate tastes…

“…Hmm?”

Tired and depressed, I dragged my feet as I walked. But suddenly, a certain alley caught my eye. I wasn’t even sure why it interested me, but I stopped in my tracks and watched.

“No one goes in…”

Everyone was passing it as if it wasn’t even there. No one even glanced in its direction.

“…”

My curiosity forced me to go closer. I stood right next to it and looked through the corner of my eye. It was still there. An alley between two stores. Did no one enter it because there was nothing there?

I continued to watch for the next five minutes, but no one went inside. There might be something to this…

“Might as well check…”

I had my equipment in my bag. And I could always use Legs of the Forest Wolf to escape.

I waited until there was no one watching. And then I casually entered the mysterious alley.